Why We Call You Gentle Ben

What'cha doing Ben?

Giving Bakugon a bath.

By the way McDonalds, when a mother regularly comes through your drive-through (yes, regularly) and orders 4 kid's meals, be nice to her. You know me, I'm the one with the van whose window won't roll all the way down. I apologize profusely every time because I don't want you to think it is some sort of statement of fear of the drive-through workers. It's just that my window doesn't roll all the way down anymore, and I don't want to pay to get it fixed. Yeah, me. When I order 4 kid's meals and ask for 2 girl, 2 boy meals, it means I have 2 girls and 2 boys at home. Do you know what chaos you introduce to the house when you grab into your toy box and come out with different toys for each of them? Inevitably one of the toys becomes a favorite and the other one is deemed crap. Then the negotiations start. That all falls apart after about a minute, and we just run around the house yelling at each other. Yes, me too. I fall in line and start chasing them around in circles like I'm 3 as well. And really, I'm too tired to be doing that. I am chasing them around trying to grab that little bitty piece of plastic junk so that I can threaten to throw it away. Or so that I can actually throw it away--it really depends on my mood. Meanwhile, Elaine has pounded down 2 1/2 cheeseburgers, and once I take the toys away the boys, who were no more interested in eating than they were watching HGTV, suddenly fall into histrionics over their lack of food. So, after the un-cool toy had been deemed junk by one-and-all in the Stuber house, I inevitably have the same conversation at daycare sometime in the following days because some other single child has gotten what the Stubers consider the junk toy but he considers the great toy because that is all he knew. And when he got that junk-to-the-Stubers-but-great-to-me toy, he stuck it in his pocket and hauled it to daycare. And yes, they always get taken away at daycare because three-year-olds do not have the good sense to try to keep their secret toys secret. They will ALWAYS haul them out of their pocket during circle time. And suddenly there is a reconsideration from the Stubers as they deem the junk toy to be the cool toy because Aden had one too. Then I spend that evening digging through abandoned toys looking for the now cool toy that was once deemed junk, and then I remember that I had thrown it out already. So the appropriate thing to do when I come rumbling through your drive through, and I will trust me on that, is to go ahead and have two of every toy you have available ready for us. If it will help I can start bringing a piece of fabric and we can just make a slide from your window to my window to ease the passing of toys from your business to my toy infested car and home.