Calvin and Hobbes

Remember the comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes? It was penned by Bill Watterson, and I loved reading it in the daily paper, the Sunday comics, and between Phil and I, we even had all the books. Actually, we still have most of them. The kids love to read them, and I thought it was so cute that they were enjoying one of the comic strips that I love. Awww… gave me the warm fuzzies. Until they started plotting against their babysitter, much as Calvin plots against his babysitter, Rosalyn. At that point, I put them up on a shelf in my closet. These kids don’t need any ideas.

One night, she (OUR babysitter…not Rosalyn) showed up at the door, only to find a note taped to the window next to the front door:
DERE SHANTEL, AR PARNTS DCIDED TO NOT GO OWT.
YUR SURVICES AR NOT NEDED.
I swear to God, this actually happened. Shantel, bless her heart, knocked on the door, anyway, and gave us a much needed night out. (She must know I can spell better than that!)

I can remember reading the comic strips and thinking that they were completely hysterical, and maybe just a little ridiculous. That is, until I became Calvin’s mother. Now, they’re more like a slice of my daily life. Davis even looks a little like Calvin, with his blonde spiky hair, and his unwillingness to do anything except make a ridiculous face for the camera. All he needs is a stuffed tiger instead of his stuffed giraffe to complete the picture.

The kids even went so far as to use a big cardboard box to make a Transmogrifier, which was alternately a Duplicator. That gave them a few hours of entertainment. And my apologies if you have ABSOLUTELY no idea what I’m talking about here. But those of you that know what I’m talking about… they did manage to not turn each other into worms, eels or baboons. Hah!

So, yes, I still love Calvin and Hobbes. And I have to chuckle when I see my kids, mostly my son, do something that’s especially ‘Calvin-ish’… makes me feel for Calvin’s mom. (That poor, tired, overworked woman.) The books are down off the shelf now, and the kids are back to reading them, looking at the drawings, and coming up with a little mischief, a la Calvin. And if that’s the worst thing they are reading, I guess I should consider myself lucky.

But I think I’ll keep the Far Side books up there just a little longer. ;)