The second day of school

Have you ever met one of those kids who always seems to get stung at the park? That kid who routinely loses the top of his ice cream cone, gets gum on his shoe, can’t keep his hair fixed and always manages to be right at the front of the line when Santa takes his hot cocoa break?

That is Rex (6).

Take Rex’s second day of German school. Not only does he not speak the language and pretend to be a monkey/puppy when he’s nervous (80% of the time), but he’s prone to wardrobe malfunctions.

Harrison hates shorts, so this summer Rex has inherited a slough of slightly larger than necessary “short pants”. On the second day of school he pulled out a pair of Harry’s gray cargo shorts and climbed in. They fell to the floor.

“Here baby,” I said, checking the shorts for an inside draw string. I found it and carefully tied them so they would stay in place. In hindsight, I should have traded them out for something safer, but Rex only started taking the initiative to dress himself unassisted last year and I really don’t want to mess with a good thing.

And so off he went for his second day of German school. In the afternoon I sent Harrison down to pick him up from the bus and walk him back up the hill. As they approached, I could hear a frantic, “Mom! Mommy! You gotta see this!” from Harry.

I looked out over the upstairs balcony at the boys running up the hill, Rex clutching his stomach. He saw me, broke into a grin and stopped to wave.

And his pants fell to his ankles.

We’re not talking about slipping down around his hips, we’re talking about a dead fall to the floor and BAM! There’s Scooby Do. It had been happening all. Day. Long.

Today is Harrison’s second day of school on base. Here’s hoping he has better luck than Rex.