Elephant Slippers

My little munchkin's name is Jack.  He's four and a half.

On his next birthday he is turning sixty seven.

Jack at dinner in Hawaii contemplating his next investment opportunity

-20 months old

The next afternoon by the pool...liquidating his assets.

Jack is....how do I say this....Jack has a lot of emotions in his little four and a half year old self.

He loves what he loves to the moon and back, not once but twice....

Jack and his favorite friend of the moment 'Finny' 

When we arrive at his brother's baseball games he walks up to the front of the bleachers and announces

"Hi everybody!  I'm here!"

The smile on his face when he hears "Hi Jack!" from all the families is the biggest thing in the world.

You can thrill him beyond belief by giving him a mint from your purse.....

The flip-side of all that joy, is that when he drops that mint you so lovingly gave him....his heart is absolutely, achingly broken....his world is bleak....and man is that kid loud.

Yesterday morning Jack came downstairs scooting around on his tushie saying "Mommy, my foot really, really, hurts...I can't walk".  And like any mother worth her salt I said "...uh-huh" and poured more coffee.

So imagine my surprise when I finally looked at him and saw some huge prehistoric rock thing stuck in the poor guy's foot (by huge I mean the size of a sesame seed).  That's when the cursing in my head started.  Not because I was scared the foot would fall off, but because I knew I would have to be the one to pry it out of his body....with tools.

I put on my big-girl pants, downed my coffee and warned the husband what was about to begin.

".....No Mommy pleeeeaaaassssseee.  I'm begging you...I'm BEGGING you...don't do it...."

He begged....

Actually begged...

Since I really didn't want the foot to fall off...the begging didn't work.

You know what did work...

".....Thank you Mommy for fixing my foot.  I'm sorry I wasn't brave, I think I really need a hug..."

That did it....I started listing all his favorite things that might make him feel better...

"Would you like juice on the couch and a TV show?"

"no thank you...sniff"

"grandpa cookies?"

"no thank you"

"lollipop?"

"no thank you"

So I pulled out the big guns....
I had these stashed in a 'treasure box' of reading rewards.  I thought since they were soft they might actually make his foot hurt a little less....

He hasn't taken them off since.
He leaves them in the garage so he can put them on when he take off his shoes.
They are at the foot of his bed when he goes to sleep..."facing left Mommy 'cause that's easier for me".
They are going to share time at preschool tomorrow.

That's Jack...

Thanks for stopping by,

Lizy B