Where’s Wally Now?

OK.  So, here’s the thing.  I’ve always been a little worried about Mulligan, as far as social skills are concerned.  He’s never had neighbors (besides his cousins) that are his age, or gender.  He’s usually been surrounded by girls.

On one of his first days of school, there was a little girl that kept following him as they waited in line for their teacher.  He would go stand behind a group of boys, and she would wait a few seconds and then she would go and stand with him.  He’d go to the end of the line, and sure enough, a few seconds later, there she was next to him.  Finally, she got some courage and said, “Hi, Mulligan” in a shy, quiet voice.

Mulligan was starring at the ground, and then all of the sudden he whips his head up, gives her his “scariest” facial expression while holding both hands by his face, pretending he was going to attack her.

I watched the whole thing.

As if a simple “Hello” would have been as difficult.

I was mortified.

Well, after we returned from California this time, he saw the picture of Dr. Axelrod dressed as Waldo, and out of no where, Mulligan shouts:

“Mom!  There he is!  That’s the guy we’ve been looking for!”

Apparently, while we were away, he got his hands on his first “Where’s Waldo” book, and got hooked.
Since then, he has convinced himself that his baby brother knows the “REAL Waldo”.  Now, every time we go to the library, he checks out a “Where’s Waldo” book.  He usually asks me to sit down and help him find “that guy”, and so far, I’ve been sucked right in.  (I’ve let a pot of boiling water, boil long enough that when I pulled myself away from the hunt, the pot is empty.  The babies have been found soaking wet, as their diapers have leaked, because I’m searching for a stinking pair of binoculars Waldo lost.  Only two batches of laundry have had to go through the wash twice. I’ve forgotten to put them in the dryer,  because I’ve been sifting through the swarms of pictures hoping to find Wenda, because I’ve already found Waldo, and I can’t move on to the next page until I’ve found everyone and everything--it’s that darn OCD).

Anyway, when I finally had enough self-discipline to peel my eyes off the pages tonight, Mulligan said,

“I’m just going to call the ‘Real Waldo’ and tell him to come here to help me find himself.”

(…and I’m just chopped liver??  Just because I couldn’t find him on one page—That’s the ‘thanks’ I get?? The ungrateful little….He’s grounded!! ;)

As I just said goodnight to Mulligan, he let me know that he doesn’t want his nickname to be ‘Lasagna’ anymore (I’m already dreading junior high for him, he comes up with his own nicknames!), he said, "I want it to be Wally!”

Oh help.

However, I am taking a little comfort.  I was just recently informed that ‘geek is chic’ (or, as a direct quote: #geekischic)

He may just make it after all.