March 28
It was cold again. Collette cut Puck’s morning walk short. He was already wrapped in a blanket, jacket, gloves, hood, and knit cap, so there wasn’t much left she could put on him before he could no longer see, which was already a little difficult from behind the layers of cushioning. He grinned at her as she pulled back the edge of his cap. Collette had heard of “dancing eyes” before, in various books, but she hadn’t really seen dancing eyes, until she had seen Puck’s.
Those same eyes were dancing when Collette found him hiding on the side of the couch.
“What did you do, Puck?”
He couldn’t look more pleased with himself, nor more guilty. From the evidence (i.e. the powerful smell of his breath), Collette concluded that he had found a lost piece of chocolate under the couch. It probably had a peanut butter center.
Carrie IM’d Collette about Elazar’s newest hobby in Australia – “sky running”. From the video clip that Carrie sent her, it looked like they were pogo-stick shoes.
“I want moon boots,” said Carrie.
While Puck napped, Collette watched a documentary on an Uzbek wedding. But when the little dude woke up early, Collette snuggled with him to try to get him back to sleep. She handed him the old television remote control, then closed her eyes and pretended to sleep while he fooled with the little rubber buttons.
“Crack!”
Collette’s head was ringing.
“Crack!”
She opened her eyes. Puck was smiling at her from behind his wow. He thought it was very funny that he could bonk his mom on the head with the remote control.
“No, Puck,” Collette said.
She was trying not to laugh.
Then Puck dozed off and slept for another hour before waking up to pillow hair. His sweaty blond wisps were usually “kerfuffled” (as Grandma Combs would say) after a good nap. Collette changed him in to his “Chick Magnet” t-shirt and his track shorts. So chubby and happy. But he wasn’t a baby anymore.