Prank

This morning before school, as most mornings, I was doing approximately seventeen things at once. Packing Leo's and Ellie's lunches, unloading and loading the dishwasher, bringing up laundry from the basement, popping Lucy's pacifier back in her mouth as she squirmed and whined softly in her plush papasan swing (Harry was uncharacteristically sleeping in, snoring blissfully upstairs in the center of our king size bed.)

Leo woke up grouchy. Erin had to leave for work early and he was not happy that he didn't get to say goodbye to her. He stomped around the house and was a veritable miniature black cloud of crabbiness. Nothing I said cheered him, not even the promise of his beloved scrambled eggs.

"What if we call Mama? Do you want to say good morning?"

"Yeah!" Leo popped up like a top and finally, a smile.

I dialed Erin's number, she answered, I handed Leo the phone and walked back to the kitchen to return to my chores.

They had a brief conversation. And then, quiet.

I should have been suspicious of the silence, I suppose. I guess I figured had just found "Hey Diddle Diddle" or "Humpty Dumpty" on YouTube (his go-to favorites). The next thing I knew, Leo was bounding into the kitchen and shaking my cell phone at me. I blinked, and clearly on the phone saw Mrs. L's (Leo's teacher) name and number being dialed. Did I mention it was 6:45 in the morning?

I grabbed the phone and punched "end call," but not soon enough, since not even a minute later, the land line rang. It was Mrs. L. Was everything OK? She wanted to know. Since she had just received a call from Leo.

I love that Leo can read now. But not so much at 6:45 in the morning (I do not love that Leo is an iPhone expert). Our apologies again, Mrs. L. Thanks for being such a good sport. And a great teacher.