Doobins and the Giant Chocolate-Chip Cookie

Most Sunday mornings, I pick up bagels.

Mr. Doobins doesn't care for bagels so I pick up something else for him. More often than not, it's a doughnut from Krispy Kreme. This morning, though, I bought a giant chocolate chip cookie at the bagel place.

Back home, I unwrapped it, put it on a plate and put it down in front of him.

"Looking at it makes my teeth feel sparkly," he said.

Sparkle Girl's Eye Doodles

You Just Never Know

Mr. Doobins is in his Scooby Doo phase. For those of you who have not had the pleasure, let me fill you in.

Each episode has a scary mystery that the Mystery Inc. team is working to solve. While the brains of the operation are seriously seeking clues, Scooby Doo and his buddy Shaggy are seriously seeking snacks.

In the end, the monster or ghost turns out to be some human being trying to scare people off for one reason or another.

Mr. Doobins has a fine an imagination as anyone I know, and he creates his own adventures.

The other day, he said, "Let's take off the mask and find out who the Marsh Monster really is."

He took off the imaginary mask and said, "Billy Graham."

Overhearing him, Garnet said, "Did you say, 'Billy Graham?'"

"Billy Graham," he repeated.

The Undersea World of Mr. Doobins

From time to time, Mr. Doobins likes to peruse the Lego listings on eBay. There are so many that we have to narrow them down in some way. One day it might be Lego Star Wars. Another day it might be Lego tanks.

On this particular day, it was Lego submarines. After getting him going on eBay, I went about my business. After a few minutes, he called me to come see a particularly good find. The picture showed the box for a small red submarine. It had a couple of grappling arms.

He said he really wanted it. The "Buy It Now" price was quite good, so I said that was fine with me and paid for it.

When we buy things online, I have to remind Mr. Doobins that it will be a while before things get here. The first time he bought something online, as soon as the transaction was complete, he walked to the front door to wait for the letter carrier to deliver it.

When I told him that it would be a few days before the submarine arrived, he asked me to be more specific. I took a look to see where it was coming from. When I saw that it was coming from Puerto Rico, I told him it might be a week.

Puerto Rico was new to him. I got a map and showed him where it is. He thought it was great that the submarine would be coming over the ocean to get to him.

Over the next few days, he would mention the submarine from time to time. More than once, he said that he was really looking forward to showing it to his friends at school.

When package arrived, I saw that it was flat.

Uh-oh.

I opened it up, and my fears were confirmed. We had ordered not the submarine itself but the instruction booklet. No wonder the price had been so good.

I checked on the computer, and it was quite clear what we were buying.

No question about it, I owed Mr. Doobins a trip to Target to get a Lego to make up for my mistake.

Before giving him the booklet, I told him what had happened and that Garnet and I would take him to get something else. Even so, I was fully ready for him to blow.

Instead, he said, "That's all right, Kim."

He took the booklet, sat down and began going through it. Before getting to the instructions, it had a number of pages that showed what else you could buy in the series. He looked at each of the other undersea items and commented on the elements of interest.

When we went for our evening walk, he took the booklet with him. As we walked, he pointed out this and that and created this elaborate undersea world in his imagination for the Legos to inhabit.

Sometimes Mr. Doobins amazes me.