Sun Goggles & Nerf Guns
We were just about to get on the highway for school that morning. I could hear the squeak of a black Sharpie against scotch tape in the back seat as Puck continued systematically layering tape and Sharpie against the lenses of a large pair of lab goggles he found at Heidi’s basketball game months ago.
“I’m covering these glasses so I can look at the sun through them,” he explained. “I’m going to work on them during recess. This will be funner than other recesses.” Then he paused. “More fun. Them grammars. Gets ya every time.”
When I left him in the gym with his classmates that morning, the shades were already being passed around. I kept reminding him to not actually use them for any formal sun-staring until they had been approved for solar use.
Back home while I tried to reassemble the pieces of what I had felt like before this whammy of a head cold, I let Yali watch a little more “Garfield” in my room. When I checked on him a few minutes later, he was sitting on my bed licking a hair brush. The bristles. And clearly wasn’t bothered by it.
By the time we left to pick up Puck, I was feeling better, but was gradually losing my voice again. I already have a hard enough time talking over my boys, but this certainly wasn’t going to do me any favors.
During carpool, a light wrestling match evolved between Heidi and Annie-Bea as they battled over Yali’s time. Annie pulled out a box of dried blueberries from her lunchbox and Heidi opened a package of sour patch kids. They were both a hit with the little guy. And what do you know, Yali behaved himself and kept the screaming to almost nil.
On the way to Heidi’s and Annie-Bea’s voice/piano recital that evening, Puck and I made one important stop at Target to use up the birthday money burning a hole in his pocket. Some super-charged over-powered whistling-missile Nerf gun. The thing had some range. Puck tested it out on the parking lot before the recital.
For the next hour, Puck lounged in the seat next to me, listening to student after student crank out tunes, with his eyes fixed on the ceiling, thinking about the Nerf gun, no doubt. Then I let him stand in the back so he could see his classmates better – several very brave souls in a warm, packed chapel – including a sweet and bashful Heidi singing “My God is so Great” with a pink bow in her hair.
And although Puck kept one eye on the stage, I knew he had the other eye trained on the refreshment table. The recital wasn’t over for five seconds and he was already loading up his plate with cookies, watermelon, and carrots. This just gave him all the more energy to proudly display the power of the Nerf gun to Heidi on the parking lot before we left for the night.