T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Hugo came home from school a week ago acting a little funny. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets. I asked what was up? He tried to hide for a minute or so... then, ever so slowly, produced this rubber bat from out of his pants pocket. Hugo told me that it was his Teacher's. At first, I thought his teacher passed them out for little prizes or something. Then Hugo's words hit me and I got it.

Hugo had stolen the rubber bat from his classroom. Uh oh.

A Batman obsession is brewing here in our house. Hugo loves to watch Batman cartoons and movies. He hauls his superhero figurines around in his Ole the Viking backpack. He especially loves to play Lego Batman on the xbox and his favorite character to be is the Man Bat. The little turkey will even happily do chores in exchange for game time. Hugo has told me that he wants a Batman costume for his birthday. Oh, and by the way, Hugo has been trying to convince me that he is going to turn 5 on his upcoming birthday. "Not 4 Mom, 5. Just like Parker." says Hugo.

I wasn't much surprised at all by my son's choice of stolen objects, just that he did it. When questioned as to why Hugo took the bat, it was very clear to me, that he knew he had done something wrong. He did try to explain it away as that he only wanted to play with it for a little while at home. I told him we were going to take the bat back to school, return it to Mrs. Newton and he would need to apologize.

Long story short, in a weak moment while I was messing with the girls, I let Hugo play with the bat and then, he lost it. I hauled Hugo and both girls into school the following Thursday to inform Mrs Newton that Hugo had taken the bat. Then I had to confess that I allowed him to play with it and it was now lost. She was not pleased with me, I felt like I was 4. I promised that we had every intention of finding the rubber bat and returning it to her.

Hugo found the bat buried in the bottom of his animal drawer and ran with a big smile on his face as he brought it to me. We talked about how it is wrong to take things from other people. How he needed to return the bat and say sorry to his teacher.

Today the bat has been returned to the classroom. Hugo said he was sorry to Mrs Newton. She was nice to me, I can feel 38 again.

Just before I departed down the hall with a baby carrier slung over each arm, I asked, "There wouldn't happen to be a ghost that goes along with the rubber bat would there?" Mrs. Newton looked thoughtful for a moment and answered that there was a ghost, why? "Oh, Hugo has been talking a lot about a ghost, so ahhhh, maybe you should watch him, if and when, he plays with the ghost." She laughed with me and said that she would!