School bus blues

Lowe's has a program called Build and Grow. Kids can sign up to build projects for free. A few weeks ago, John took Jack for a Lady Bug bug-box project. As the project title suggests, the bug box was indeed for the purpose of holding bugs hostage. It had a little removable clear plastic lid that functioned as the capture/release door for these unfortunate souls. This weekend the project was a school bus. The school bus also has a little removable lid though it is black. Thankfully the purpose of this container is a holding cell for chalk not renegade insects. Here is Jack proudly displaying his accoutrement for the school bus project.

Let me see...hit the thing with that other thing...

Unfortunately the side rails broke off of the bus Jack was building. The folks at Lowe's told us those rails had been breaking off of other kids' buses all morning. Then they gave us gorilla glue to bond the pieces together. I think gorilla glue was an idiotic choice as it EXPANDS which would prevent the little removable door from being installed OR removed...and it takes at least a half hour to set up. I tried to convince Jack to wait long enough for me to get a different glue, but he was inconsolable. I am weak. I gave in and used gorilla glue. It expanded. The door wouldn't work. Jack was an emotional wreck. I finally asked if there was a spare bus that Jack could put together. No dice. But they did let me take the already put together display model. I thought things were fine. Might I draw your attention to the fact that I said "I thought things were fine." Things were not fine. OK - Jack managed to keep it together until we were in the car where he lapsed into a deep depression.

He didn't like this substitute bus. He didn't build it. It wasn't his bus. Fortunately I am sometimes clever. For some weird reason I can't explain, I kept the stickers that came with the original (now broken) bus. I told Jack we could pull all the stickers off of the impostor bus and put on the stickers from HIS bus kit. He thought this was brilliant. One by one he peeled off stickers and stuck their straggly little torn off pieces to my arm as I drove. He replaced those stickers with the exact same stickers from the kit of supplies he had been given and now he loves his bus.

After solving the problem of the bus, we stopped by the K-mart to pick up some tennis shoes. Jack has decided he wants to play soccer. "Soccer is where you kick a ball. If you kick it to right goal you win. If you kick it to the wrong goal, you are a loser." He spent a long time debating over which shoes to get because he needs "shoes that will make me faster than Dominic." I told him I liked the white shoes. He IMMEDIATELY said he wanted the black ones. I asked "If I told you I liked the black ones which shoes would you pick?" You know he said "The white ones." And the lady standing behind me left the aisle laughing. At least he is honest.

p.s. - don't tell me I have to go buy him actual soccer shoes. A few people dropped this on me after I bought him tennis shoes.