Rhythm and Bruise (HOL 44)

House of Laughter 44

Now that Isaac is walking around, he actually needs a helmet. Nancy got a call from the daycare yesterday that Isaac had fallen and will have a large bruise on the side of his head when she picks him up that afternoon. Sure enough he has a large bluish black spot over his left eye and temple. Otherwise he is fine.

With school back in session, Isaac is on a pretty regular schedule. This is good in that he now sleeps through the night every night. The bad thing is that I know that I have exactly two hours to see him from the time I get off work. We hang out in the morning some as well, but most of that time is spent trying to keep him from eating garbage while I shave and eat breakfast.

I started saying “No!” loudly whenever I catch him doing something he shouldn’t. I then pick him up and move him to something that is okay for him to do. Last night, Nancy and I were trying to eat dinner. He kept coming over and trying to play in our food. I would say “No!” loudly and firmly, and pick him up and put him over with his toys. (Isaac inherited a surprisingly large collection of beer coasters from me. He may not ever recognize Elmo, but he will sure know the St. Pauli girl.)

I see why parents don’t want to raise their voice at children. I want him to be happy, and it would be a lot easier to just give him some food off of my plate. Thankfully whenever I feel a twinge of guilt about raising my voice, I think of the hundreds of little darlings I’ve seen at restaurants, stores, and museums who walk all over their parents. When I raise my voice, Isaac gives me a pitiful look, and then sensing that it has no effect on me, goes back to playing.

We took Isaac to his first football game last week. He seemed to enjoy most of it, but kickoff was right about when he normally takes a nap. He napped through most of the third quarter. Football is one of the few television shows we all watch together. Last year when Nancy and I would yell and cheer for the Panthers or Gators, Isaac would get startled and cry. He seems to enjoy it now and cheers along with us.

Right now his two favorite toys are a farm puzzle, and a plastic cube that my sister gave us. He takes all of the pieces of the farm puzzle, stuffs them into the cube, empties the cube, and repeats the process.

For the last few days, whenever Isaac sees a cat, he says the word “cat” (There are enough of the damned things around our house.) This is pretty consistent, so I think he actually associates “cat” with “small black and white furry thing that leaves dead birds at our back door”. I think for the history books, “Cat” will be the first word. (Sure he said “Duck”, but that was with much prompting, and he was probably just mimicking. “Cat” comes on it’s own with no provocation.)

Strength and Honor
Big Matt