Tux

It was a normal gray, dreary winter day as I was waiting in the infamous car line to pick up the little man from a day of school. I had just tucked my Kindle back into my purse (a necessary staple of my purse now to help pass the time waiting in the aforementioned car line) when the I heard the back door swing open. I looked back to find the little man smiling from ear to ear and holding a bright turquoise bag along with his Transformers backpack.

"What you got there buddy?" I asked, wondering what was in the mystery bag.

"It's TUX!" the little man answered as he crawled into his seat. "It's MY turn for TUX!"

Tux ... Tux ... Tux ... I thought as I wracked my brain for exactly what Tux was. I had been busy at work, but thought for sure I was on top of all classroom and PTO activities.

I drove home reminding myself that it was Friday, therefore I had a whole weekend to deal with whatever this Tux situation was. No emergency trips to Hobby Lobby this night for last minute mommy-should-have-been-on-top-of-this supplies tonight.

As we got home the little man ran inside with the turquoise bag and pulled out a small stuffed penguin.

Tux.

I picked the bag up off the floor and found a notebook and a note inside explaining it all: It was the little man's turn to bring home Tux, the class "pet." Each kid in the class has the opportunity to bring Tux home for one week. We then had to commemorate our time with Tux with a page in the notebook detailing our adventures with Tux.

I opened the notebook and found a written account of Tux's adventures thus far. There were photos of him and the other kids in the little man's class doing everything from playing computer games to visiting grandpa to going out to eat dinner.

And now it was Tux's turn to visit our home.

The little man was looking at me, hugging his new friend.

"Well ..." I said as I bent down. "Does Tux like cookies?"

"YEAH!" the little man shouted. "We should make him some cookies!"

And with that our week of Tux began.

We welcomed Tux with some of mama's famous homemade chocolate chip cookies.

And then we made Tux his very own penguin home to stay in.

No trip to our house would be complete without helping Daddy on his Jeep.

And of course, 'Tis the season to visit Santa and his helpers.

But the highlight of the week came that weekend - as Tux came along to celebrate the little man's BIG 6th Birthday celebration.

Of course we also slept with Tux each night, introduced Tux to the four-legged family members of our house and made emergency trips back into the store to find Tux (after the little man of course swore he wouldn't loose his penguin friend if we allowed him to bring him inside the store).

And at the end of the week, it was a pair of sad blue eyes that looked up at me when I broke the news to the little man that it was our last day with Tux before having to pass him along to the next classmate.

"But we need to put a page in the book," the little man said as he pointed to notebook of Tux's adventures.

I opened the notebook and looked at the blank page that was supposed to be our family's entry.

"That's not even fair to everyone else," my husband said, snickering. "You're going to give everyone after us a complex, aren't you?"

I closed the book and smiled.

For once, being a working mama had it's advantages.

Especially when this working mama works as a Graphic Designer.

"Don't worry buddy," I said to the little man. "Your mama has this one in the bag."