Happiness Is A Warm Coat

For awhile, L was obsessed with a Bob the Builder jacket that he had borrowed from a friend. "Miss Lisa said I could borrow it forever," I was told repeatedly. He wore it to bed, and on hikes in 75 degree weather. It was a little wierd. Then it went into the closet, and then back to the friend's house, and it hasn't been missed.

Yesterday, I showed him the LL Bean catalog and told him to check off things he might like. He made check marks next to everything, and drew some dinosaur bones and then some boats. Until he found this:

And his heart apparently stopped, and then it began racing. He immediately brought the page to me and said he wanted it. Now. I said, Sure we can get that in the winter, it's nice. And he just kept asking for it and I said, Yes, he could have it. We then went to the grocery store. When we got home, he asked, "Is the jacket here yet?" We had to delay leaving for a birthday party so that we could order this.

He has since asked, on the quarter hour, if the jacket has arrived. This morning he told me he was too sick to go to school, and that he needed to stay home to make sure no other kids steal his jacket when it gets to our house. Only upon being reassured that mail tampering and theft is a federal crime was he willing to leave.

I just got an e-mail from LL Bean that the jacket has left Freeport and is on the FedEx dock in Portland ME, waiting for pick-up. I am so excited, I can barely stand it.