Fiberglass and Chocolate

The Nugget at a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles party.

During the Nugget's dance recital, Hubby and I had to suppress our giggles and eyerolls at his constant pleas for attention.   "Miss B, look at me!  I'm doing it, Miss B!  Watch my moves!"  He wasn't the only attention-seeker in the group, but he definitely had the most requests.  Miss B was incredibly patient, as always; that woman is a saint.  The funniest thing that happened was when Miss B led the children into a rocketship pose, with their hands and one foot planted, and the other leg held high in the air.  She was encouraging them to be very strong, and the children were proudly exclaiming how strong they were.  "I'm as strong as a tree!"  "I'm super duper strong!"  The Nugget added, "I'm as strong as fiberglass."

N:  Did you know that moles wear glasses?
M:  Really?
N:  Because they can barely see, so they have to wear glasses.
M:  Where do they get glasses?  From the doctor?  From a store?
N:  Well, no.  They have an underground shop for the glasses.  And they can also get candy or other things that they want.
M:  Do they have jobs to earn money for the mole shop?
N:  No, everything is free.
M:  So moles are communists...interesting.
N:  Yup.
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We recently hosted "Chocolate the Bear" for 36 hours.  According to the paperwork, we were to give this teddy bear a "typical family adventure" with 3-4 photos, then send him to work with Daddy who was also to take 3-4 photos with Chocolate at work.  Then we were to journal Chocolate's experience and the Nugget was to draw a picture of something fun he did with Chocolate.  Now, I knew there was a traveling bear and that the Nugget was eager to have his turn, but I didn't realize that we would have zero notice about the project, just an ominous exciting note that said, "Check your locker for Chocolate!"

My first thought was, "I don't have time for this damn bear today."  The Nugget, in typical Nugget-fashion was elated and literally vibrating with excitement.  So I plastered a smile on my face and let the Nugget stay up a bit past bedtime so we could give Chocolate a proper teddy bear adventure.  As we were out of milk, we determined that Chocolate had probably never been to a real grocery store before, "He can meet the lobsters," the Nugget squealed, so off to the market we went.  After I managed to shake off my grouchiness about the inconvenience of it all, I ended up feeling stoked that I captured some sweet pictures of our big boy's fleeting innocence.  The Nugget insisted on bringing the doll-sized Ergo, and when we first arrived, he whispered, "Chocolate is feeling a little scared, so he's going to stay under my coat."  But Chocolate was very excited to meet the lobsters, so he got over his shyness to wave at the tank of doomed crustaceans.  (Did I ever mention that I used to beg my mom to let me buy one so I could rescue it from its fate?  She never did cave, but if the Nugget asked me to save a lobster, Hubby would come home to several of them in the bathtub.  Ok, maybe just one since they are apparently $14.99 a piece.  Actually, knowing this boy, when he finds out they are edible, he'd probably just ask for some melted butter.)

The Nugget really wanted to weigh Chocolate on every scale he saw.  Bear is a little heftier than I thought.

Chocolate decided he wanted to try the baby seat in the cart too, which was very convenient for propping up the live basil.  "He just loves the smell," the Nugget translated for him.

Hubby was at first a better sport than me.  "Just be glad it's not something alive, like a rabbit."  That was until I told him he had to take the teddy bear to work with him the next day and photograph it 3-4 times.  Then my serious hardworking Hubby turned a shade paler, ha!