Not Not Not a Box

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It's been one of those weeks for me at work.  It seems there have been a lot of them lately.  You know the kind, right?  Deadlines to meet, emails coming in faster than you can read them, stress levels through the roof, a constant line of people outside your door, looking for solutions to their problems.  It doesn't help that I don't have a window, or any natural light. The Humanity!

In fact it's been so busy that as I was exiting my building yesterday I entered into a world bathed in sunlight.  It took my eyes a few moments to adjust.  I just shook my head while soaking in the Vitamin D realizing that I hadn't left the building all day.

Then, after picking up Lukas I realized I was mentally exhausted as I drove him  home, struggling to muster the energy to hold a conversation with him about how his day went.  I literally wanted to just zone out and think of absolutely nothing. 

Arriving home, I actually did something I rarely do.  I prompted Lukas to see if he wanted to watch a video.  "You earned enough stars today Buddy."  "Anything you want to watch." I offered.  After all I still had to get dinner together, since Mrs. LIAYF was still an hour from arriving home.

Instead he just ignored me, walking into the dining room where a large, empty, white box sat on the floor.  "Look Daddy!" he grinned, pointing at the open box on it's side.  "Okay, go ahead and play with that while your figuring out what you want to watch" I responded, walking into the kitchen to unload my arms.

When I returned, Lukas wasn't there.  There was just the box sitting upright and closed.  "Hmmm, Where's Lukas?"  I called. 

A giggle came from inside the box.

"What's in there?  I played along.  "Ribbit!" replied the box. "Ribbit, Ribbit"

"Is there a frog in this box?  Lukas, you have to come in here and see this.  I think there is a frog in this box."

"Meoooow" said the box.  Followed by louder giggling.  "Meeeeeoooooow".  At that I couldn't help but burst out laughing myself.

It was at that point, Lukas popped out and said with a huge smile "It's only me, Daddy.  Hey, now it's your turn."

This is reason #3423 that having a child is so awesome.  Not so amazingly, this interaction changed my whole mood.  No longer was I sullen and spent from the day, but rather laughing and engaged in a fun game of What's in the Box.  It gave meaning to why I was subjecting myself to these brutal weeks at work.

I then obligingly put the box over my head, squatted down, and when Lukas, laughing, asked "What's in there?".....

I let out a deep "Moooooooo"