Our little Tom Sawyer

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“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to let on that you like it?”

The brush continued to move.

“Like it? Well I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?” 

That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom swept his brush daintily back and forth—stepped back to note the effect—added a touch here and there—criticized the effect again—Ben watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed. Presently he said:“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.”    ~ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

R had come home a day early to help out with the aftermath of the accident and to provide some much needed huggles and moral support. He got home around 5:00pm and E was very excited to see him. Especially since Daddy always brings a present.

After we had our hellos and hugs and ate a bit of dinner we settled in to relax on the couch together. E decided he wanted to do his big floor puzzle which is black & white on one side so that it can be colored with crayons.



E: Come do this puzzle with me, k mom?


Me: Sure buddy. 

Somehow, as I gingerly (because I was still sore from the accident) get on the floor to help him put the puzzle together, the situation becomes one of slave labor. Mommy is putting together the puzzle while Ender drives his hot wheels truck over it and steps on it repeatedly. Once the puzzle was complete, I proclaimed myself finished with all puzzle play and returned to the couch.

E: Mommy! Come color the puzzle with me now. It's fun! See?


Me: Daddy will color it with you, hon. (oh, don't pretend you don't do the 'daddy pass' too)


E: No you! I want you to color with me. It's really really fun - you can have the red crayon!

Image by @Doug88888 via Flickr

After a couple of minutes of his cajoling I decided that it frankly would just be easier to get back on the floor and color. Besides - I actually do like to use E's 'colors' as he calls them.






Ender 1; Parents 0.

E: Daddy.  Dad. Daddy.  DADDY! Come color with us! You can have the blue color! Come down here! It's fun...

R: Ok - I can see I'm going to have to do this.


Ender 2; Parents 0.

As R gets down on the floor (hardwood btw) and we are both laying there working on this big puzzle with our assigned crayons, E proceeds to fill in (with yellow) exactly 1/2 a square inch of tree. And then declares himself 'too tired to color' and climbs on the couch.

E: You guys keep coloring though ok? Because it's really fun. I'm just too tired to do more. But you guys do my puzzle okay?

R: .... You're going to be a great game producer some day....

Me: We've just been conned by a three year old. Go us.  ... Stay in the lines, dude!