Puck's New Game

It was time to rest up at home for a day before the holidays began. Collette was bordering on laryngitis.
And Puck, who was always a ball of energy, happily ran his usual activities of the day — watching his dad leave for the day from his perch in the chair in the living room, sorting through books and papers (which seemed to be always in stacks everywhere), gathering stuffed animals and spoons, stuffing himself inside the water bottle box (pulling Collette with him), teaching himself how to blow his nose, reading books with his mama, setting himself in the corner whenever he thought he had been naughty and then being excused after a “shorry”, examining underneath the vacuum cleaner, feeding palm tree plant dust to his mom, etc.
This last thing, Puck thought very funny. Somehow he had taken it into his baby head to scratch the little bit of artificial potting soil dust from the silk palm tree next to the couch and turn it into an imaginary snack. Then, after pulling Collette over to have her lay on her stomach on the couch, with her chin propped on the arm, he would pinch off the invisible pieces of dust.
“Ahm!” he said, with happy dimples, imitating an eating sound, giving it to Collette.
After Collette had pretended to eat the dust, Puck would scratch the arm of the couch with his chubby fingers, trying to remove any stray dust.
In the mail arrived dental papers for OLeif and Collette. Collette had put off her originally scheduled dental appointment back in January long enough, that OLeif’s employer switched dental insurance companies. And Collette was suspicious that, despite never missing a brushing, she might have cavities after nearly three years’ absence from routine cleanings.