hauberks, and pole arms and flails*--oh my!

My mom used to tell me that when choosing a gift for someone it is best to get them something that you would like to receive. I recently realized that that is darn good advice. I did not follow it and I'm stuck reading Lift a Flap Castles every single night. It was the gift that I would never want to receive, but I gave it--to my 6 year-old son on his birthday.

It looks harmless enough (even a little fun) from the outside. But as the rule goes...don't judge it by it's cover. It doesn't take long to realize that this winner, put out by the good people at Active Minds Publishing, is about as harmless and fun as the Batan Death March. It is wordy and boring and technical and even the small excitement you feel when you "lift the flap" ends immediately when you are faced with more lengthy descriptions of every implement, article of clothing, castle room and weapon used in the Middle Ages.

I'm a little ashamed to say that I've tried to hide Castles and break out If you Give a Moose a Muffin for another read, but to no avail. He loves the thing, and I'm the one who found it, wrapped it and gave it to him.

So I read again how the lord and lady's bedroom is called a solar, how the enemy could dig a hole to undermine the castle and how every tower had enough food to be self sufficient. Again and again until I feel like I'm in some midevil torture chamber--excuse me "oubliette".

As I'm reading and listening to his questions--the same ones he asks every time we read it, I hear the ticking. That sound in my head that I'm glad is there to remind me that these days will not last forever, they are numbered and when they are gone, I will never see them again. The days where a little boy who is fresh from the bathtub hangs on every word I say. His sleepy eyes struggle to stay open for a few more minutes and his huge mind dreams of all that will be.

K

*hauberk--the mesh chain shirt a knight wears
*pole arm--a type of spear that is stuck into the ground
*flail--a weapon with a wooden rod, a chain and a square pointy thing on the end