The Tale of the Terrifying Tube

Santa Claus surprised the boys this year with a couple of gifts handmade by some Swedish elves and made available for pickup at the local Ikea store. One of those gifts is a six-foot-long, light blue, nylon slinky tube through which children and people not suffering from claustrophobia can slither through.

A new purpose to this toy was discovered, however, when Aunt Elspeth's super-skinny boyfriend, Gonzo, demonstrated how he could sheathe himself entirely within the tube and then lurk in wait for hapless children to walk by. All this, of course, to scare them into using their diapers (even if they're not wearing diapers any more).

Daddy, thus inspired by Boyfriend Gonzo, adopted the practice of cramming himself in the tube and trying to scare the children, even taking it to the point of wearing the tube and chasing them around the house like some creepy worm from a horrific Tim Burton movie. But, it delights the children (although Mommy suspects that some psychological care will be needed at some not-to-distant point in the future).

From the Archives...

Today Mommy was helping Aunt Elspeth put together a project of photographs and family information for Grandma Joan's upcoming birthday. She asked, reasonably enough, if there was a picture of all four of us together (there's not) or a picture of just Mommy with the kids (negative, cap'n). However, Mommy was able to share with her this one snapshot, found in the archives of late 2006.

This could be Mommy's favorite picture to date of the family. First of all, Mommy is absent, which is a wonderful thing since she's extremely camera averse. Second, all three of the highly photogenic life forms in the photo are staring at the camera for once, and at the same time. This is rare onto itself, although in Helios' case, that result was gained only by placating him with an oatmeal cookie. Third, this picture is from the time when Hesperos didn't know how to walk yet, meaning that he couldn't get into things. Anyone who's spent time with Mr. Sneaky recently would know how truly wonderful a thing that is.

Fourth, and finally, this picture was taken the night we got new carpet installed in the master bedroom, meaning that it gave Mommy a free ride from vacuuming for about a week. (Hey, Mommy is very practical!)