If You Give a Mouse...

Here's an ode to Laura Numeroff, the writer of "If You Give a Pig a Pancake," "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," "If You Take a Mouse to School," and "If You Take a Mouse to the Movies." (We're BIG fans. She has other books, but we own all four of these.)

Here goes. My version, with a twist.

If You Give a Boy Access to the Computer Room
by Tanja

If you give a boy access to the computer room,
he'll probably get a couple dozen sheets of computer paper out of the ream that is stacked on the desk. He'll do it when nobody is looking.

He'll ask his mom if he can color with crayons.
Because she's cleaning the bathroom at that moment, she'll absentmindedly say, "Not yet, honey."

He'll still want to do something creative though,
because he's bored with the mountain of toys in his room.

He'll think for awhile and then ask his mom if he can "punch," using the hole puncher and the heart-shaped scrapbooking tool that she long ago turned over to the kids' craft supply box.

By then his mom will be upstairs doing laundry,
but he'll have toted the stack of paper along with him on his quest.

She'll say, "In a minute," because her arms are full of wet jeans that she's transferring to the dryer.

He'll decide to stop asking mommy.

He'll carry the paper to his room,
and he'll remember the book that his Meemaw gave his older brother for Christmas.
It's called "Flight School: Paper Airplanes That Soar."

He'll recall all the fun they had as they went through all 96 sheets of decorative paper that were included at the back of the book for plane construction. It took only two weeks.

He's pretty sure he can make a great airplane all by himself. He won't need the book or his big brother's help. And he can use plain paper.

He tries his first plane.
It's okay,
but he's certain he can do better.

In 15 minutes, he's worked his way through the whole stack of paper.
He wants to do more,
so he heads back to the computer room for extra paper.

In another 15 minutes he's filled a plastic storage container with all his masterpieces... and three Wal-mart bags as well.

Having finished the laundry and a few other chores, his mom peeks in on him. She sees his hard work and all his paper airplanes. She realizes she has an addict on her hands. (She's recently tossed more plane parts than Boeing does in a year's time.)

She takes a picture.



She decides to clean it all up in a few days,
when he's not looking.
After he's had time to enjoy his planes.

And chances are, she'll pay more attention next time he asks to do crafts.

And he won't be allowed free access to the computer room, and the paper, again.