Don't Cry Over Scrambled Eggs (HOL 72)

House of Laughter 72

Last Monday we took Isaac to the Four Season’s Mall to see Santa. If you are familiar with Chris Rock, The Four Season’s is Greensboro’s second type of mall. There were two shootings in the parking lot last year. I wanted to get in, do the Santa thing, and then stay the hell away from any large shopping center until mid January.

There was no line at Santa’s chair, and Isaac wasn’t particularly scared. He had been briefed all afternoon as to who Santa was. Several signs and the photographer kindly reminded me “Only Two Personal Photographs Please.” We took a few pictures and headed toward the exit. That is when they tried to sell us the thirteen dollar five by seven photograph.

Nancy hates dealing with the high pressure sales tactics, especially if it is something ludicrously over priced and sentimental. However she prefers dealing with sales people to the embarrassment of me dealing with them. Rarely will a polite, “No Thanks, we aren’t interested” suffice.

Thanksgiving was very low key around here. We slept in then watched some of the parade. We visited a friend who was in Women’s Hospital with Placenta Previa. She will be on bed rest until she delivers her son in late December. It was weird walking around Women’s hospital realizing that it was just over two years ago that we were there… waiting. Our friend is right down the hall from Nancy and Isaac’s old room. I thought about how many lives had changed so radically in the span of a few hours in each of those rooms.

I walked down the same hall that I carried Isaac down when he was only a few minutes old, and I was shocked that I remembered vividly exactly how I felt that moment. My mind had trouble connecting that the fragile newborn with the shock of black hair was now this husky blond toddler running down the hall.

After the hospital visit, we went for a walk in the woods at Price Park. (The trail was only a mile long, but takes 45 minutes with Isaac walking.) Isaac has been reading the book “Going on a Bear Hunt”. For 45 minutes solid, he kept asking “Are we going on a bear hunt?....We’re not scared!”

The rest of the weekend has been a relaxing time of long walks, good food, movies, Christmas decorating and music.

I don’t want you to think that Isaac is a perfect child. He has begun to assert himself much more which is a normal part of toddlerhood, but can be frustrating. For example, when he comes downstairs at breakfast time, he won’t eat something unless it is his idea to eat it. I could sit him in front of a plate of eggs with a fork in his hand, and he will scream “I don’t want eggs!”. He will cry for ten minutes with the occasional tearful sob of “I don’t want eggs!” long after I have put the eggs back in the refrigerator. After 15 minutes, a tiny switch in his brain flips and he stops crying and politely asks, “Can I have some eggs please Daddy?”. He then happily gets into his seat and eats every last bite of the same plate of eggs that sent him into a fifteen minute crying jag.

He has also developed an artistic side. Whenever we take his picture, he now wants to take a picture as well. Some of his artwork is on display at the top of this page.

Strength and Honor,

Big Matt