Short Week

“Yali, buddy. Hey, buddy. Could I trade you this penny for that nickel? Yeah. That’s right. Could I trade you?”

Yali grinned back really big at his brother. Of course he would trade the nickel for a penny. If Puck thought it was a good idea, it was a good idea. He scooted the shiny nickel across the countertop.

“I swindled you!” Puck announced.

Yali just grinned all the more and laughed. “Swindled” must be a good thing.

Back in the school office to answer phones during staff meeting, I got my second kid of the year with a lost tooth. He seemed very surprised with himself over the fact.

“It came out by accident. I just bit into something, and it just came out.”

So I congratulated him – which he thought was funny – and handed him a ziplock.

Puck and Heidi did homework together in Hans’ room after carpool. Shared some fruit snacks and peanut butter pretzels. Yali wasn’t forgotten about either. Heidi tossed him a pretzel every once in awhile, too.

“I usually give snacks to my dog during homework,” she explained.

Yali probably growled his thanks in return. Almost everything’s a growl or a roar these days.

And of course we left for home with one more cardboard addition before the afternoon had ended. Because Puck just can’t help himself.

The boys watched “Inside Out” for dinner. Puck had some thoughts on the subject for me, as always.

“You know, Mom, if Riley goes to Heaven… Anger, Sadness, Disgust, and Scared will all disappear.”

“Or… they’ll reform and become Joyful.”

“Yeah,” Puck grinned.

Meanwhile, Puck was recovering quickly from his cold that he claimed to have collected from his desk partner at school that week. However, it didn’t make him too shy about already passing it on to Oxbear. And trying to nudge it my way as well. As he went to bed that night, he came over to give me a hug.

“Mom,” he grinned. “I have a very important gift to give you!”

“Oh, yeah?”

“WAH-CHOO!!”