In Defense of SILLY: The Unstoppable Princess Boy

I’m not going to lie, things have been heavy around here for the past few weeks. Death, hospitalization, coming out, state testing, travel for mom and other serious stresses.

So when I picked up the kids yesterday knowing Hala needed supplies for a project I decided to throw a little levity in our lives.

Hala was in full grump mode, while Jack slumped in his seat. Neither happy we had to run an errand instead of heading straight home.

We ended up at Party City of all places and as soon as we walked in I went into mischief mode.

I declared ALL CANDY AND SILLY TOYS UP FOR GRABS!!!!

They both looked at me like I was nuts.

They grinned cautiously while following me down the aisles as I quickly found the items we came for and shifted directly to everything we didn’t come for.

What started out as buying plastic tablecloths turned into a mad dash of penny candy being thrown in the basket, laughter, endless sarcasm and jokes, super balls being bounced back and forth, up and down to each other down the length of the aisles, and Hala deciding he was moved by my mischief enough to lose the grump.

So moved Hala began grabbing bags of tiny rubber ducks, kazoos, princess crowns & wands…and the plea: Mom I NEED to throw these at everyone in class tomorrow for the end of testing!!!!

I didn’t even blink. Of course you can.

Chaos and giggles ensued as Hala, Jack and myself literally tore apart the store with wild hilarity and rambunctiousness. We considered every ridiculous plastic toy from Chinese yo-yo’s to a bag of pig erasers. LOUDLY from across and THROUGH aisles…LONG aisles GREAT for testing each contraption.

We need to use a Sharpie to make some of the ducks Emo! Done.

We need pixie stix too! Done.

Throws several more super balls towards Jack while watching his eyes get wide, entirely astonished yet elated I had done it while simultaneously trying to capture each crazy bouncing ball. Done!

We need fun dip! Done. And smarties! Done.

I stopped short of breaking the seal on the tiny My Little Pony container to blow bubbles….but was close.

We need my FAVORITE: white rock candy- and stocked up in obscene amounts! Done.

In the end Hala was asking the cashier a million questions about if anyone has ever done this before (no)-Do you get many people like us (no)-what about families that act silly (no), totally forgetting his social anxiety as Mom threw out the store behavior rule book.

Jack, shaking his head, said ‘Mom, sometimes you surprise me and I don’t know why that surprises me still.‘

Adrenaline pumping we carried our many bags to the car and for the moment everything was joyful. Everything was silly. Everything was perfect.

In case you are wondering, Hala left for school this morning giddy at the prospect of tossing his toys at classmates- wielding a wand, wearing a crown and declaring he is an UNSTOPPABLE PRINCESS BOY.

Jack looked at me and said, ‘Aren’t we all?‘

In honor of the Unstoppable Princess Boy in us all go out and be a little silly today.