This One is Free (HOL 36)

House of Laughter 36

Well it’s official, Isaac likes pie. The three of us went to the Greensboro Farmer’s Market this morning. After we finished shopping for locally produced veggies and cheese, Nancy remembered something she wanted to buy. Isaac and I bought a small coconut pie, and sat on a grassy hill next to a creek. I let him sample the crust, and he really took a shine to it.

I had several paragraphs written Thursday night, but the power went out (right in the middle of the third period of the Carolina/ Buffalo game with a tied score) and I lost it. I wanted to write last night, but it was a dreary rainy night. Nancy was feeling crummy, I was tired, and the boy was tired and hungry. That set the atmosphere for an unpleasant evening. I will complete the picture with the warning, “If you are having a small stupid fight with your wife, and by chance you are listening to a comedian doing a bit about couples who have small stupid fights, you had better not laugh your ass off.”

Nancy and I are teaching Isaac the word/concept of “No”. Right now, it mostly relates to throwing his sippy cup to the ground from the high chair. The routine goes like this: 1) Isaac dangles his sippy cup over the edge of his tray. 2) Nancy and I say “No” firmly several times 3) He looks at us with a mischievous grin as if to say , “Are you two shitting me?” 4) More often than not, he puts the cup back on the tray.

This morning, at a garage sale, I bought a plastic construction set. Even as a kid, I thought this particular set was cool. It comes with a little battery operated car, that wound around a track moving about a dozen black plastic pellets around. At different points in the track, the car became a dump truck, earth mover, and another piece of construction equipment. I brought it home, and took it out of the box, and was disappointed to find that several key pieces were missing. I was disappointed that I had wasted that 50 cents, but Isaac ended up playing with the bright plastic pieces of track, and the box all afternoon long.

Isaac has discovered the dog and loves him. Nancy and I were worried that Max would be aloof and territorial. On the contrary, Max seems to love Isaac for two reasons. 1) When Isaac is eating, it’s a free buffet for Max. 2) Isaac loves petting Max. The other night, Isaac crawled over to Max, and reached out to pet him. Max shifted. Nancy and I tensed up hoping the dog would just move out of the way. Instead, Max rolled on his back and let Isaac pet him until his heart was content. (Just to stem the concerned letters now: The two of them will never be alone unsupervised).

Finally, I wanted to share a concept that was in one of Nancy’s baby books. It’s the concept of “This one is free”. It’s the idea that sooner or later, all parents are going to have a lapse of judgment, and a potentially bad thing will almost happen. For example, you walk out of a room for a second, and return to find a bottle of Tylenol spilled on the floor around the toddler, and three pills are on their way to his mouth.

Evidently these sorts of things happen to every parent, and you just have to be grateful that things don’t go as badly as they could have, and you sharpen the parenting skills for next time.

And yes, we had a “This one is free” moment about a week ago. I was lying on the floor, Nancy was “Freshening” Isaac’s diaper on the changing table. She turned for a second to throw away the diaper, and I saw him start to tilt and fall off the edge of the table, head first. I was lying flat on back, scooting as fast as I could to catch him, or at least give him a soft landing spot, all the while yelling a stream of profanities at the top of my lungs. Nancy turned back and caught him at the last moment.

Yes we felt like the worst parents ever that night, but Nancy learned her lesson. From now on, I have to change all the diapers.

Strength and Honor

Big Matt

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