Mrs. Kong

Normal school-day wake-up protocol in the boys' room this morning. I say "Good morning, boys, time to wake up." Then I sit at our reading spot, cushions and a blanket in the corner, and watch as Engineer nimbly climbs down the ladder to cuddle. He's always first. After a minute, Charmer (who is usually still comatose) perkily pipes up, "Hey, get up, M. It's my turn." So I give Engineer a squeeze (how did he get so big?), send him off to his morning ablutions, and make way for the tiny dude padding toward me.

Charmer, snuggled in my lap, points to the end of the bunks and proclaims the newest revelation: "Look! It's Mrs. King Kong."

You have to see this.


Yes, that's a clock tower; and not just any tower. A Cinderella Barbie castle tower. And no, I did not buy it for Charmer - he inherited it from neighbors. Yes, that's his purple monkey. It's a she. You get the idea.

Well, I immediately start laughing: the open, sparkling kind, like the cork just popped out of a bottle of champagne I didn't know I had. Does 6-year-old Charmer know about King Kong? As if reading my mind, Charmer adds in a tone of approval and appreciation, "M did that."

Ah, that explains it. And makes it even funnier. M, whom we are calling Engineer, scurries back in to bask in the laughter. I squeeze them both.

I am pleased, not only for this witty humor, but also for this precious evidence of tolerance between my oh-so-different offspring. You see, Engineer has Classic taste in toys: Legos, plastic army men, marbles and such. Charmer, on the other hand, is not limited to such dated notions. Without knowing it, he is PC, with his bin of Barbies, the gaudy castle, and a bin of pastel-colored pop beads that make wonderful jewelry for Miss Monkey, now also-known-as Mrs. Kong. These two individuals are forced to share toy bin shelves and floor space in their fairly small room, and Engineer has pleaded with me in a pained voice on the occasions when half-clothed plastic ladies have been left strewn across the floor. (I don't make him touch them, heaven forbid. Even I know that there are limits to tolerance.)

They get along fine, these boys of mine. Definitely a reason to feel Radiant today!