Keep safe

To keep JP occupied on our vacation (when we’re not in the pool, looking at bugs, savoring American abundance, or hurting ourselves) my step-grandmother dug up a bunch of old toys. [Side note: Old toys are made from metal, not exclusively produced in China, and, amazingly, last over twenty years and killed fewer children than one might expect.]

One toy that JP was not allowed to play with was my mother’s collection of antique marbles. Not to say that these marbles are actually valuable or anything—they’re just old. She’s kept them from her childhood and didn’t want JP to lose or break them, as he most certainly would. Much merriment was had on my part at telling JP not to lose his marbles, which, yes, means that I like making jokes at my son’s expense even if he doesn’t understand them. I am a stinker.

Anyway, we went to the aquarium the other day, and as we were working our way through the gift shop on the way out (what is it with kids and gift shops? They are obsessed), what did JP find and simply have to have? Marbles.

I was happy to buy them, but as soon as we got them home we were faced with a dilemma: what the heck do you do with marbles … other than lose them?