Buckwheat and Haystack

When Nate was little, Jon called him Buckwheat, which I think is adorable. When he got older and more... active... we started calling him other things. Like "The Terrorist". Anyway. Henry's nickname is Haystack, because he looks like one and he's lazy and I always thought that "Buckwheat and Haystack" would be a great name and idea for a children's book. This is an example of the sort of material we have accrued for one such book.

This happened this very afternoon. Buckwheat decided after a round of "chase the dog with the clatter toy" that he wanted to hug him. Haystack didn't put up with it for long, but the joy in Buckwheat's grin as he hugged the dog was enough to start this conversation after Haystack ran away.

"Henry, why don't you just let him hug you? He loves you. You should be nice to him."
*Buckwheat chucks a full water bottle at Haystack*
The dog looks at me with those eyebrows of his... See? My point exactly. No hugging... ever!

Minutes later, Haystack, in desperation, grabs his de-stuffed toy and brings it to Buckwheat, which he does when he wants to play tug of war, one of two approved activities for said child, according to the dog (the first being cracker sharing). Buckwheat wants to play dodge ball instead and heaves one at Haystack, successfully slamming it into his poor doggie butt. Eyebrows aim themselves at me and I give up.

Sometimes Haystack looks at me and his eyebrows talk. They usually say, "Nobody fed me today... or... ever... can I have your food?" But on occasions like this, they say, "Remember a couple years ago when I was the only child and life was quiet and simple? Yeah. That was nice... jerks."