candy is dandy

Yesterday was a rainy day that begged for books in bed along with a little "Go Fish" for the 5 year old, you know to brush up on his math skills and all. So the 8 year old and I snuggled in as he read me poetry. To sweeten the deal, I brought with us a little contraband in the form of a half full box of chewy SweetTarts. Just for him and me. We giggled as we read and chewed. Our little secret. Once the box was empty (we both have an insane sweet tooth), we could hear the 5 year old coming. "Hide the box!" commanded the sneaky boy. "Please don't gloat." I reminded the sweet-breathed lad. As soon as the door burst opened, "We were NOT eating candy!" Our cover was blown. I decided to play along. "Yes. Whatever you do, don't smell our breath because you will not smell sugar. I am telling you." The left-out-boy, jumped into bed and began wrestling. Then we showed him the empty box. "Whhhaaaaat?" He was incredulous as well as hurt. The 8 year old weakly explained,"That wasn't what we were eating. We were just looking at the box. I am thinking it will make a nice presentation for C.C. on Friday." By this point we were all in stages of fury: I was about to wet my pants from laughing, the 8 year old was riding his sugar high and the 5 year old was on the precipice of causing some real damage to himself as well as my bed. He was fighting mad. I held him tight and sweetly whispered, "I have more. You. Me. Later." He calmed down and snuggled in as he showed me his cards-"Go Fish" time. And just like that I dismantled an atomic bomb. We played a rousing game of cards with "Where's the candy?". I love moments like this when we can be silly and serious and mix in a little lesson to boot. And when no one was looking, we snuck downstairs to get him his own piece of something sweet-just for him. The sugar made Charlotte's Web all the sweeter.