I Make a Good Deck Hand

Shortly after we came home with hundreds of pounds of apples a few weeks ago, I sent my children out to the garage to bring in an apple a piece for a snack.

They took far too long and when I went into the garage myself to see what caused the delay, I discovered that Daniel had decided to remove the last few apples from one of the boxes and settle in for a while.

(At least he had the forethought to remove the apples before having a sit down. Ahem.)

As each box was emptied, the apples were turned into an intoxicated blend of Honeycrisp and Ruby Jon applesauces.

The boxes themselves were claimed by eager children and whisked out of the kitchen to sail the seven seas… of our living room.

It turns out that to make a boat out of an apple box, you simply add a small child and as many of their favorite stuffed animals and blankets as will fit.

Daniel’s boat is small but mighty. It’s proved itself on dozens of voyages in the past few weeks.

My favorite part is that he insists I come aboard:

I make a good show of climbing in there with him (and his lion, his okapi, his snuggly blanket, and his stuffed ninja)… but ultimately I usually convince him that I’m better at manning the sails and zooming the boat around.

Being a stay at home mother to young children means my days invariably involve lots of wiping and buttoning and teaching the same lessons over and over again. But those same days also have woven into them moments of pure wonder and spontaneous delight.

The first time I nonchalantly walked over and picked up my six-year-old’s boat, with her still inside of it, the look on her face was priceless. I informed her in a very bad pirate accent that I was commandeering her vessel and she promptly went bananas with excitement. There’s something special about the uninhibited joy that little children express. Their sense of fun and sense of silly is right near the surface at all times.

It’s a distinct privilege to be invited “on board” to see the world alongside my children.