Wednesday, May 20, 2009

From the [Toy Closets] of Babes

Little kids are amazing. They are honestly naive and naively honest. Gosh, do you remember being that young and just saying whatever popped into your mind? (Some people don't grow out of that.) When I was three, I walked by my pre-school teacher as she was eating lunch and talking with a colleague. As she rambled on around a huge bite of her sandwich, I looked her straight in the eye and said, "It isn't nice to talk with your mouth full." BAM! Take that, social structure!

In April, my coworker brought one of his sons to the office during Spring Break. My coworker has three great sons, and Devin is the youngest and most talkative. "Talkative" is kind of an understatement, actually. I was once told that "he was talking so much I thought I was going to throw up." That sounded a little harsh to me, but when I met him last month I got the gist.

Devin's dad had told him that I'm a big fan of panda bears, so Devin was explaining a Nintendo DS game he owns that lets you raise a baby panda (or a dog, or a cat - you know, the basic domesticated animals). This sounded pretty good to me, so I mentioned that I might want a DS so I could play, too. Please read the following paragraph without taking a breath, it is the response I got to this innocent idea:

"Yeah? You're not that old but maybe you'll have kids soon. If you have a son someday, you can buy him a Nintendo DS and get him this game. And if he goes to school at the same place where I go to school, ___ ___ Elementary, he'll be gone from 8-3 everyday and when he's at school you can use his Nintendo DS then!"

Hahahaha, really? I feel like that would be very delayed gratification. Not only would I have to fall in love, get married, conceive a child, and move to a new town, I'd also have to wait another 7 years after all that for the kid to obtain the dexterity required for a handheld gaming device. But it was said so matter-of-factly that I couldn't help but agree. I mean, to an 8 year old boy, there's no logical reason for a woman (which is weird for me to call myself, I still feel like a kid but it's all relative...) to buy herself a gaming system. I have cooties and such, and people with cooties don't own cool things like Nintendo DS-es.

In a nutshell, this kid is extremely endearing. Definitely pulled the ol' heartstrings.

A few weeks later, it was an especially crappy Monday morning - I'd been at work until 3:30am that morning, and was back in at 9:30am. I was seriously trudging through the day when I walked by my coworker's office and he says, "Hold on, this is for you." He hands me a blue gift bag and inside is a WebKinz Panda Bear and a folded up note. Devin had two of the same WebKinz toy, so he asked his dad to please give me his extra one. My heart just about melted. Then, I opened my note and saw this:


That is possibly the sweetest AND scariest thing anyone has ever drawn for me. It's taped up on my desk for all to see. And of course, I had to reciprocate in kind, so I got through the day by sneaking in art-recess whenever I could:

You should be jealous of my wide array of Sharpie markers.

I can't even explain how much this improved my day. It was so selfless and unnecessary and most of all, nice. Of course, Devin didn't remember my name - he told his dad to give it to "the girl at your office that likes pandas" - but that's besides the point. It's just one of those things that kids do without analyzing to death - they just act.

Meanwhile, this is actually the third WebKinz panda I own. I dunno, people just give me these things as gifts. Now how much of an ass do I feel like for having spares and not donating them to other panda-lovers?

4 comments:

Adam said...

So when is this whirlwind of activity going to happen so you can get a DS? Does mom know your new fast-forward-so-I-can-"borrow"-my-son's-DS life plan? I gave her a puppy "grandchild", you can give her the first human one! hahah! Tag, you're it!

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

that is so freakin cute it makes me wanna puke.

Lex said...

great read! you always make me laugh.