The Wristband

I'm trying to think of how this got started.  I'm remembering that my friend Krista invited Bitty to her son Luke's 5th birthday party almost a year and a half ago, and that the party had a pirate theme.  Krista did a great job putting together these cute little cardstock treasure boxes with booty for each party goer inside.  The treasure that was the most contested at our house was a black terry cloth sweat band with a skull and cross bones stitched into it.  And when I say "contested," do you really have to ask by whom?  Bitty brings it home, Stomper sees it and desires it; she, in a moment of love and kindness hands it over and then later feels sorry and wants it back....sheesh.  It was the topic of their bickering for quite some time.  I think it only took about six months for Bitty to finally give in and just forget about it.  And Stomper has worn the thing nearly every single day since then.  Every. Single. Day. He often takes it into the shower with him to get it clean though that is having less and less affect these days; it is now starting to dissintegrate and the pirate skull is certainly white no longer.  It's more of a dingy grey color but as long as the jolly roger is still recognizable I think he'll keep it up.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that the wristband arrived in our home just days before Stomper started second grade with the revered Mrs. Lloyd, who, on every child's birthday, dresses as a pirate and leaps into the class room so the birthday child can battle her with a saber.  She loves pirates.  In fact, for about the first three months of the school year she has a pirate theme to every stitch of homework the kids have.  It's kind of great; the kids sure love it.  So I think I need to let her know that her love of pirates has rubbed off on my child and doesn't seem to be wearing off. She'll be so proud.

I do not know what is going to happen when Stomper's permanent accessory finally decays and crumbles into dust from off his wrist.  I've tried getting him replacements - that was one attempt at solving the tug-o-war over the wristband between Stomper and Bitty, but both of them wanted the original, don't ask me why.  But at some point, he is going to have to let it go.  I am curious to see how long this lasts and what state the wrist band is in before he finally sends it to its final resting place.

I have to mention one other current passion of Stomper's.  It's called Hero Factory. It's a series of toys made by Lego, bless their expensive little selves.  They don't appear to be anything spectacular at first - basically they're these guys made up of a bunch of pieces that can interchange with legos but more importantly they interchange with each other.  This means, as long as your child picks up a few (or a ton) of them through various holidays, birthdays, prizes and earned cash, you can get quite a collection of them and then you know what you get?  Hours and hours of little boys playing happily together building, imagining and creating.  It is quite amazing.  I highly recommend obtaining a few characters and setting your boys free with them.  It's awesome.