Masquerades

Across my fireplace mantel are several masks all nicely lined up in purposeful display, carefully arranged by their proud owner. Merrick leads each new visitor into the room by their hand after clear instruction to "close your eyes and keep them closed!"

Then with a flourish he unveils his collection. "Ta da!" Eyes twinkle and lips refuse the full grin that wants to burst forth as he awaits the anticipated reaction. And, of course, everyone knows enough to be pleased -- well, most everyone. And the most favored response is that of ecstasy. And ecstasy isn't difficult to muster when such enthusiasm is displayed by this young man!

He points out the lion, the scarecrow, and the tin man. Next we have the king's crown and then Batman. Today we will make one more - Sonny, the robot. For you iRobot fans, you may recognize him as the special robot in that film. We watched it last night. And this morning, after being urged to get dressed for the day, Merrick came bounding into the family room with stone colored summer pants and white button down dress shirt. I almost called out,"What are you wearing Sunday clothes for?!" But before I did I caught the impish grin. He was clearly delighted with his plan -- but what was it? What had this mind concocted now?

Aha! Revelation comes -- this is a Sonny costume! In the movie, Sonny sports a white and transulscent rubbery-type outfit. I overheard Merrick discussing the color with Jamie last night. So - this was his best effort at reproduction of said costume. He promptly brought me scissors and white paper, commenting that this mask may be tricky to make. So that is today's project -- at least for now. We shall see what else develops!

This boy is destined for something -- don't ask me what!