Scene: The playground of AJ�s school. We are approaching the school as the first graders are heading back inside after recess. They have a big crate of playground balls with them.

Harriet: Do you get to play with those balls when you have recess?

AJ: Well, The Broken Arm Girls used to bring them out. But now they don�t.

Harriet: Why?

AJ: Because they don�t have broken arms anymore.

* * * * *

I can�t remember if I have mentioned The Broken Arm Girls before. Three of the girls in AJ�s class of 23 showed up on the first day of school with their arms in casts. Because the whole concept of an arm in a cast is pretty exotic and interesting when you are five, AJ continues to refer to them as a collective known as The Broken Arm Girls. The Broken Arm Girls are all better now, but AJ still calls them The Broken Arm Girls because that is who they have become in his eyes. I�m hoping they�re going to start an all-girl band. But I�d like to advise them against any crowd-surfing. They seem kind of accident prone, even for five-year-olds.

* * * * *

Lately, AJ is like the proverbial girl with the curl: When he is good, he is very, very good and when he is bad he is horrid. Yesterday was a day of the latter variety, where we spent most of the day getting on each other�s nerves. This morning, however, he made up for it by being an absolute angel while being dragged first to the grocery store (where, admittedly, he did get to pick out cookies) and then to three different stores where I could try on clothing in hopes of finding something respectable to wear in the classroom. Of course, it definitely helped that he brought along his favorite Calvin and Hobbes book. He sat giggled to himself in a giant armchair in the corner of one store while the sales clerks smiled at him and gave him a penny to throw into a small fountain in the front of the store.

Afterwards, we went to a store that sold things of greater interest to him and bought some totally awesome skeleton pajamas with glow-in-the-dark bones (thanks, lass!). Although the anatomical correctness is highly suspect, especially to AJ�s eyes, they will be a nice adjunct to his Halloween costume � and also a backup in case I have overestimated my costume-making abilities. AJ can hardly wait until bedtime to see if he�s really going to glow in the dark.

If truth be told, neither can I. If the results are good, pictures may be forthcoming.

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