"GO!" "CAT!" "GO!"

House of Laughter 50

Last Wednesday, I took Isaac to daycare like I always do. I parked in the back parking lot, and carried Isaac in through the common room. As I was going through, I saw his teacher hugging another woman, visibly upset. I was in a hurry so I didn’t stop to ask what was wrong.

When I stopped to sign Isaac in, I noticed his class had a substitute teacher. At this point, I was much more curious as to what was going on, but was still in a hurry, so I signed Isaac in, and headed for the door.

I made a right on Lawndale, and pulled over for a fire truck and ambulance which sped past me and turned into Isaac’s daycare.

(A quick fact for those of you who don’t live in Greensboro, a local high school burned to the ground a week ago.)

I pulled into a nearby neighborhood, and called the daycare. I identified myself as Isaac’s dad, told them I saw the ambulance and fire truck, and asked if I needed to return and pick up Isaac. The girl on the other end said, “No everything is okay”. My response, (in a calm steady voice) was something to the effect of “No, everything is not okay, there is a fire truck and ambulance at the front door. If I don’t get a straight answer, I’m coming back to get my son.” She put me on hold.

In a few minutes, another teacher got on the phone and told me that one of the teachers was having chest pains so they called 911. (Turns out that Isaac’s teacher had gall stones.).

His teacher is back so I guess all is well.

In other news, Isaac had to go to the doctor for a check up. He is in the 90^th percentile for weight, height, and head size. This means he will get probably get a football scholarship (Chapel Hill has already expressed an interest.) . I’ve noticed that when I pick up my nieces, or other children older than Isaac, I’m surprised at how light they are.

The doc asked Nancy if Isaac could identify body parts. To be honest, we hadn’t asked him to. She felt like a bad mom (for the 476^th time this week) and confessed that we hadn’t asked him where his nose was, etc. The poor little guy got four shots today. (Flu + three others). He was pissed when he got home.

The doc asked how many words Isaac knew. Nancy told him that “Cat” meant any mammal smaller than dad, and “Go” meant alligator (No kidding, if he sees the University of Florida mascot on anything, he says “Go!”). She neglected to mention that he says a word that sounds remarkably like “Shit!” fairly regularly.

When I got home from work today, Nancy told me about the doctors visit. I asked Isaac where his nose was. He immediately pointed to it. Nancy and I were both a bit surprised that he got it right. I asked where his “Moneymaker” was and he pointed at the dishwasher….not so impressive.

We are looking forward to my folks coming up for Thanksgiving (Despite what the folks at Wal-Mart or Target may tell you, Thanksgiving is the next big holiday.) Mom has already said she wants to take Isaac to the zoo.

If I don’t write again before then, I want to recommend a great Thanksgiving movie you may have never heard of, “Pieces of April”. It stars Katie Holmes (I think I read in the paper that she is marrying that guy from “Days of Thunder”.) It is a very funny, sad, but ultimately redemptive movie about families and holidays.

Strength and Honor,

Matt