Mama of Boys

Saturday morning, a little after six o’clock, Oxbear and I received a welcoming committee in bed. Two giggling boys threw themselves on top of us after Puck heaved Yali up top. Whatever Puck does, Yali has to do.

About an hour later, I began the three-times-a-day process (sometimes more), of de-crusting meals from Yali’s head. Banana on the face, banana in the hair, banana in the eyelashes. Long, silky black eyelashes. Already taking after his Uncle Curly in the food department.

Since Oxbear was in South City with his buddies for breakfast, it was my job to add a little music to the mix as the boys ran around the house easily hunting up fun.

“Okay, what about this?” I offered an old Irish music CD to Puck for the boom box.

“Boooooo!”

“Boo?”

“I’m gonna turn on some rap!”

“You don’t even know what rap is.”

Puck quickly shuffled through the CDs. “Here! The song of rap!”

I read the cover: “The Ultimate Medieval and Renaissance Collection”.

Later, when I asked Puck to babysit Yali while I showered, it didn’t take long for Puck to yell through the door, “MOM! I THINK JOE JUST SWALLOWED A WET WIPE!”

We spent a few hours with the Silverspoon’s later in the afternoon as usual: grilled burgers, fresh vegetables, summer watermelon. Izzy was busy handcrafting a wood cutting board for his girl. Puck managed to capture a large amount of grill smoke in an empty garbage bag box which he wafted through the house upstairs. And Yali apparently bopped himself in the nose with the tree swing; a little blood; makes him a boy.

“The soul is our great priority. Strange is the drowning man who ignores the need for air in his lungs because he is captivated by the colors of the fish around him. If he does not care for his lungs, he will die. …all of human civilization across the centuries is ultimately an ornate effort to squelch our innate sense of immortality and unavoidable death.” – Dane C. Ortlund: “Edwards on the Christian Life”