Balance

So we took Grandma back to her office after getting Joey off the bus. The afternoon was a perfect temperature for hopping in leaves in front of the office building, so I let the boys do that for a while before the proposed gathering of pine cones from across the street. Grandma has been held up by a phone call, the boys get restless. Snatching Joey off the bus isn't really the best idea, he has no downtime to dispel after-school-mood, so I want to get him engaged.

"Ok, guys, let's go get pine cones."

"OK!" Joey calls back and makes a beeline for the road at his trot-trot-trot. I run, but I am to going to be fast enough; I must rely on my voice to recall him from the blacktop as the car appears around the curve. Of course, it fails; audial processing takes too long. Fortunately, the driver is paying attention and there is a good stretch of road to react on. Joey processes a car is on the road with him and flees to the further side. I can see the driver wave at me. What if it had been someone less careful, someone on a cell phone, someone moving a little too fast?

***************

Allan and I sit in the kitchen, a new breath in our routine. The boys are watching their new favorite, Max and Ruby. Recounting the day, having a drink together, a luxury. Allan's had a new claim. I'm making plans for the holidays. A boy walks in.

He has no shirt on.

Apparently this is incredibly funny, and Joey starts to giggle with his playful, "Oh! I have no shirt!"

"Yes, no shirt," we confirm. More giggles.

Andy appears, also shirtless, but this is less of a shocker. Andy is not as fond of clothes as Joey is. Whatever the joke it, the boys are in hysterics over it. We shoo them back into the livingroom. Adult conversation recommences.

A boy walks in, laughing.

Joey is now completely naked.

This is apparently even more funny than having no shirts, far too funny for articulate speech. Even funnier is Daddy's shocked question, "Where are your clothes?"

The other boy runs in, also naked as a jay-bird, and starts the "neeeee-kiiiiiiiid BUTTS! Nekkid butts! Nekkid butts!" chant.

Adult time over. Boy time recommences. Life is short.