i’m used to three little boys in a car and their noises and their conversation.

today was different.

today they were three little boys in a car all making their own individual sound effects

three little boys in a car making sound effects sounds very much like nineteen little boys.

i don’t ever want to be in a car with nineteen little boys.

but if i were, i’d know how they sound.

a little like parrots,  cartoons, and Elvis.

they were occasionally singing a little Elvis.

the nineteen boys.

or three.

whatever.

no difference.

and then we arrived at our destination: a basketball game.

and the seatbelts came off.

only because they HAD to.

not because i wanted them to.

God knows i didn’t want them to.

and then it got worse.

the game was cute.

the ride home was the same as the way over.

but the nineteen boys smelled like sweat, Gatorade, and sugar from hideous sour stringy snack things.

that’s an unpleasant smell.

the sound effects started up again and then there was much dipping and swishing of the hideous sour stringy snack things into the Gatorade.

then there was much wailing and crying and gnashing of teeth when i took those things away from the two boys responsible.

it was LOUD.

and dramatic.

and the squawkiest, blue eyed kid can fake-cry like nobody’s business.

so well that it doesn’t even look or sound fake.

but oh, it is.

the kid is destined for the stage.

the one child not stripped of his Gatorade and hideous sour stringy snack thingys chews loudly and murmurs his delight.

just to make his brothers crazy.

he actually doesn’t even LIKE the taste and wishes he’d gotten something else.

but it works.

and his brothers are miserable.

so then he points out, helpfully, how he has made ‘good choices.’

but he’s 4 and all my babies talk funny until a good speech therapist gets ahold of them and it comes out sounding like ‘good foices.’

which is adorable.

the pronunciation, not the sactimonious four year old act.

he plays the part of the angel child perfectly, really laying it on thick.

giving the blue-eyed wailing kid some stiff competition in the acting department.

and now.

having survived lunch,

i put the little ones down for naps.

and it’s quiet.

finally.

the echoes of parrots and cartoons and Elvis are fading away finally.

it’s good.

for now.

because  the next game is in 2 hours.

mike’s turn.

(thanks, honey.)