Andrew Sank the Boat

Andrew has this larger-than-life view of cosmic injustice.

Might be a middle-child thing.

Or an only brother to two twin brothers thing. 

I've had a sense Ian was born to bring balance.

Until Ian is older, we have addressed the great cosmic wrong with understanding and a sense of humour.

Andrew is  a very very good kid.  He has a deeply ingrained sense of right and wrong (or of what he sees as right and wrong) and as deep a need to see justice prevail.

You can imagine the trouble that gets him into.

Add to that a witty, precocious sense of humour and his inability to keep his mouth shut.  (He's inherited the latter, at least, that absolute need to share the wonder of his thoughts, from his mother.  Sorry about that, mate!)

So that, although Andrew is almost never the culprit, he is most often the one getting yelled at unjustly.  (Ryan tops the chart for involvement, again making me grateful for my four sons to one daugher ratio.)

His quips, absolutely on the mark, are so well-timed they are ill-timed. 

You would laugh, and do laugh later, but want to throttle him at the same time.

My guess is his teacher at school has the same problem.
We call him the straw that broke the camel's back.

That last flea on the bed.  (On top of the granny, the grandson, the dog, the cat, and the mouse in  the book 'The Napping House' by Audrey and Don Wood.)

The tiny mouse in the mitten. (On top of the bear, the badger, the owl, the rabbit, the fox, the hedgehog and the mole in the Ukrainian folktale 'The Mitten' retold and beautifully illustrated by Jan Brett.)

And lastly, the mouse in the Australian children's book 'Who Sunk The Boat?' by Pamela Allen.  (Was it the cow?  Was is the donkey?  The sheep?  Or the pig?)

So that when the boat is rocking precariously around here we can at least laugh at at the quip that threatens to send it to the bottom.

"Oh Andrew, you just sank the boat again."

And we DO laugh. 

Which beats any alternative that comes to mind!