What's In Zachary's Throat Today?

The weekend before Christmas we headed to Chattanooga to ride the Polar Express. It was a fun day, but very cold. As we headed back to the car after the train ride that evening, Zachary said, “I feel like I have a raccoon in my throat!” We all kind of chuckled at that. It was so random, but so very Zachary. The next day he said he felt like he had an iPod in his throat. Silly Zachary. This “game” has continued on just about every day since then. I wish I could remember all of the things that have been in his throat since that first day. I know one day it was a light saber (or “light saver”, as he calls it), and one day it was a chair. Then on Sunday he said he felt like he had a piece of wood in his throat that was covered with sharp things. That’s when I thought maybe his “game” wasn’t really a game at all – maybe he really DID have a sore throat. So we trekked off to the pediatrician yesterday to get his throat looked at (as well as some little red spots that had appeared on his tummy). Turns out, his throat is fine (other than his large tonsils – which he has his daddy to thank for those). And the skin thing is just eczema. Then last night as I was reading him his bedtime stories, he said he felt like he had a bed in his throat. And so the game continues.

Zachary’s appointment yesterday was early enough that by the time we finished up there, I had time to put gas in my car and still make it back to the school to pick Liam up around 3:30. I had decided I wasn’t going back to work (wasn’t worth it for what would have been a short time), so I embraced the extra opportunity to hang out with the boys. When we went in the school, we saw that all of the kids (well, not the babies or Liam’s class) were in one of the classrooms watching a juggler show. Both Zachary & Liam were peeking in the window, and since it was early and we had nowhere to be, I asked if they wanted to stay for the show. They did, so we went in & watched the show. I guess this guy calls himself the “Amazing Juggler”, because that’s what Zachary kept calling him. He was good – better than me – but I wouldn’t call him “amazing.” He dropped more balls than a professional juggler should drop. Although he did a cool sequence he called “bounce juggling” where he juggled by bouncing the balls off the floor (think upside down juggling). Then he rode around on a unicycle for a few minutes before juggling some rings. He had one little girl stand on one side of the room, and as he finished juggling, he was going to toss the rings towards her, with the intent being that the rings would go over her head. He had 6 rings, and only one made it on (he did take a 2nd try at the last ring and got it on the 2nd try). Was a little disappointed in that. Then he pulled out a big giant ball – a very heavy ball. He kept trying to tell jokes, but I think he forgot that the kids in that room were mostly between 2 & 5, and his jokes were going WAY over their heads. Anyway, his last trick required the kids to take an oath promising to never do this at home or at school. For his final trick, he climbed up on top of the ball, and started “walking” on the ball. Once he stabilized himself in a steady pattern of motion with his feet, he whipped out 4 knives. And not just any knives, but these were probably about 12 inches long (the blade part!) and they were the kind shaped sort of like a very elongated kite – scary looking stuff. After seeing how many balls he had dropped earlier in the show, I got very nervous – especially for the kids in the front row (luckily we were in the very back of the room). Before he started juggling the knives, he went ahead & told everyone to start clapping as soon as he started so that he could stop faster. Not a good sign. Anyway, he juggled for no more than 10 or 15 seconds before stopping & hopping off the ball. It was scary, but thankfully, nobody got hurt. But it was nice to be able to pick them up & not feel rushed to get home to get dinner going, and be able to sit there & enjoy something like that with them, that I normally would have missed out on.