I'm Becoming a Wimp!
After all these years since my trampoline accident, I should know by now that my sense of smell will endlessly play tricks on me.
“You smell like chocolate,” I told Oxbear that morning.
“That’s just my natural aroma.”
“You must have adopted it because you knew how much I loved it.”
“Evolution, baby.” He paused and grinned, as if he needed to clarify. “Even creationists believe in microevolution.”
Meanwhile in the other room, I could hear Yali bellowing heavy with his newly acquired “evil laugh”. Puck, however, was not moved.
“You’re not one bit evil,” he told his brother. “You haven’t even stolen a dime.” He turned back to reviewing for Friday’s science test. “Oh, come on. I make the perfect paper airplane out of a review sheet. And now I have to unfold it!”
It didn’t take long for Puck to convince himself that he was absolutely ready for that test. I found him doing arm curls at the kitchen table with one of Jacob’s smaller hand weights. I left him to it, reminding him to finish his breakfast before he managed to distract himself with something else.
A few minutes later, I heard him bellow at me, “MOM! I’M STARTING TO LIFT WEIGHTS RIGHT AFTER I FINISH MY YOGURT! I’M BECOMING A WIMP!”
It was an easy sort of afternoon. I probably should have ended things earlier than four-thirty, but I was in no rush to beat traffic back home. Besides, we were too busy with goldfish crackers, basketball, and sliding-across-the-gym-floor-in-our-socks contests with Heidi to worry about the time.
Besides, Heidi needed those 90 minutes to cajole a few hints out of Puck and me about her birthday present for tomorrow’s big day. We somehow managed to get out of there without her learning the truth. Apparently all it took to keep Puck mum was throwing himself on the ground like a dead fish in a desperate attempt to keep himself from blurting out the answer. This kid is about as good at keeping surprises to himself as his dad is. He could just hardly help himself.
Then we hit the highway to some catchy K-Pop, which the boys have also discovered they enjoy for our twice-daily road trips.
Oxbear met us at home about an hour after we got back, after making an emergency stop – good man that he is – for duct tape (that one was Puck) and chocolate (three guesses who put in that request).