Your Mom wasn’t feeling very well this week, so we took you to our workplace in Portsmouth two days in a row.

There was also lots of chatterbox chatting along the way, including the following Jack-isms:

Do you want to go to work with Grammy?

Yes, but how am I gonna get back?

 

Grammy, do you think we could go to Old McDonald’s?  I think we could have a  very nice lunch there.

 

Boy, you’re smart Jack.

I am smart. I got that from my teachers.

 

Do you know why I don’t like church?  Because they talk and it’s boring. I don’t really sing, I just listen.

Once at the office, you took turns going back and forth between mine and Grammy’s. When it was my turn, I showed – and taught you – the things I had shown your brother and sisters when they were younger and used to visit.

You learned how to take the weathervane fish apart and put it back together.  You played with the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour bus and I showed you how to pop the Beatles out of the Yellow Submarine while the song played (you hadn’t heard it before, shame on me). You rang the big brass bell.

We watched boats and birds glide by on the Piscataqua.  I taught  you how to ring the Japanese gong.  You loved the see-through plastic ball with the map of the earth and revealed a fascination for Earth and the planets.

When it was time for lunch, we took you to “Old McDonald’s” and bought you a new baseball cap (the Red Sox just started the new season, hooray!).

Here’s the picture you drew for me (you also drew one for Grammy).  When I asked what it was, you looked at me and quickly blurted out (as if a bit disappointed I actually needed to ask the question):

“It’s me at the beach!!!!”

You, sir, are an adventurous, spirited three year old soul.   This means on occasion you will try new things as you explore the vast, curious, inviting and sometimes curious world around you.

Here’s a case in point:  one day you decided to combine a tiny candy with a new personal orifice.

The candy was a tic tac.    The personal orifice was one of your nostrils.

I can visualize in my mind’s eye how the whole thing might have played out.

The tic tac was in hand.  You had eaten or chewed several already and were bored by the sheer monotony of always putting something to eat in your mouth. So you thought to yourself:

Hey@!  why does my mouth get all the food action?  What’s up with that?  I have plenty of other places I can put it right? I’ve got two ear holes!  Cool!  And that’s not all!  I also have two nose holes… ( I hope you stopped there).  Why don’t I try one of those?  That sounds like a smart thing to do.

 

And that’s exactly what you did.  In went the tic tac.

Soon the aroma began to fill your little nasal cavity with what must have felt like a very minty fresh sensation, perhaps a bit too minty fresh.  At some point your Mom discovered the spontaneous deed and attempted to free the tiny white object from your nose… but it would not budge.

Some degree of Mom panic set in and you were soon off to the ER with your Dad so they could explore the area and retrieve the stubborn “I never should have gone in there” visitor.

At the ER, they lit up the area, looked and probed and – strangely – couldn’t find anything unusual up there… no tic tacs, no foreign objects, no uninvited visitors.  What gives? Where did it go? Life is such a mystery.

Soon you were back home, breathing normally and living life with your usual aplomb.  But things were different.  You were a changed three year old – a different person – because you had learned an important life lesson which you shared with your mom and dad by saying:

I’m not going to put tic tacs up my nose anymore.

 

And there you have it.  Wisdom for the ages, and quote of the year for Jack Clickman.

There was a rocking birthday party at 3 Chestnut Street to celebrate your 2014 birthday.  It included your Beaupre cousins and even Great Gram St. Laurent who is 92 years older than you Jack!  The incredible thing is that she’s still “sharp as a tack” and doesn’t miss a trick.

You loved your super cool new racing car set, getting some help from Camden, Emma and Ben. 

Happy birthday Jack, I love you lots.

(to Grammy) For real, is it going to snow at the beach?

 

(I’m getting yogurt for you out of your refrigerator and you ask, out of the blue) … Why don’t you and Grammy like coffee?

 

(your teacher is talking to  you and you’re a bit nervous. as is often the case, you prefer saying something – anything – instead of just standing there… so you say)  “You can’t put a lot of pepper on your food because it makes things very spicy.”

 

(your teacher mentions an upcoming birthday party for one of your school friends; you’re a bit nervous and say)   I can’t go to that party.  It’s trash day.  I have to be home for trash day.

 

(you’re getting your picture taken at school and you say)

“this is my picture day smile (a big wide grin erupts).  this shirt is a winner.

 

(you’re looking for your birthday list and ask Emma)  Emma!  What’s on my list?  (Emma doesn’t remember, your eyes roll, you grow impatient, maybe even desperate and shout out)

Oh Emma!!  What’s on my list?