Thursday, April 27, 2006

The One and Only

On the third night since I returned home from Houston the Boy and I were going through our night-time routine and had got to the point where it was time to pick out a book. The night previous we had read the one I'd bought in Houston. You should know that on nights where it's not a rush to get to bed on time, the Boy picks out the book. On other nights, I'll pick one out. Often a short one. On this night, we had time so the Boy picked.

Boy: I pick THIS one!

Me: Hey. We read that last night.  You want to read it again?

Boy: Yes. Because this is my new best book.

Me: It is, is it?

Boy: Yes, because you bought it for me.

Me: Oh, that's very nice.

Boy: So it's the very best book I have.

Me: Oh thank you.

Boy: And you are the very best Daddy ...

(Wow!  I thought.)

Boy (cont): ... that I have.

We laughed together.

Early On In The Week From Hell.

Our normal routines are in complete disarray since the wife is on a full week of having to report to work at 4am. This means my work day shifts  from 7am - 3pm to 9am - 5pm on account of somebody has to get the Boy to the schoolbus. That would be me. And I'm finding those two hours of "Me Time" that I'm not getting anymore in the late afternoon make all the difference in the world when you're not able to get to the gym or the driving range (recently open) or for any after-work chores.

So early in the week, fresh back from my business trip to Houston, I decided to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things we needed then head over to the Daycare to get the Boy. You should know that the past two weeks involved a family trip to Florida, a family trip to Newfoundland to spend Easter with Nanny, being fogged in and stuck for an extra day in Newfoundland, Daddy leaving the very next morning after that (4 am) for the Houston trip, Mommy having a big reunion party downtown and the Boy being travelled up to stay with Granny and Poppa since both Mommy and Daddy were gone for the weekend. All this to say that there wasn't much opportunity to grocery shop for the period of two full weeks. The fridge and the cupboards were pretty empty. I took it on myself to get a few things to make supper and make sure that the cats at least had some food for the next couple of days.

From the store's parking lot, I called the Daycare (me walking toward the big front entrance to the store) to let them know I'd be there in about 10 minutes to pick the Boy up, please get him ready.

The lady on the phone said that Mamma had already picked him up.

I stopped walking. As far as I knew, Mamma wasn't supposed to be home yet. I thanked the Daycare, hung up and called the house. A Boy picked up the phone.

Me: Hi. I thought you were still at the Daycare! I just called them to say I was coming and they told me that you were already gone!

Boy: Mamma already came and picked me up.

Me: Yeah? How was your day?

Boy: Good.

Me: What's Mamma doing. Getting supper ready?

Boy: Yes.

Me: Hmmm. Does she need me to get anything while I'm here at the store?

Boy: She already went to the store.

Me: She what?

Boy: Yes, she went to the store before she came to pick me up. Where are you?

Me: I'm at the store right now. I came straight here from work to get something for uus for supper and then pick you up.

Boy: Well, that was a waste of time.

Back Talk

There is a well established routine for the end of the day. There actually are two, if my suspicions are correct. Mamma has a Boy-routine and I have a slightly different one. The routine goes very much like this:


  • Boy gets a bath
  • Boy gets on PJs
  • Boy brushes teeth
  • Boy gets into bed
  • Mamma or Daddy read Boy a story (sometimes Boy reads, if he's feeling adventurous)
  • Boy says prayer
  • Boy gets his back rubbed
  • Mamma / Daddy leave
  • Boy goes to sleep

Some nights he's very chatty. Some nights we giggle and talk. We'll add "God-blesses" to the prayer if we encountered certain people during the day. But on some nights the Boy just wants to get to sleep ... without pre-empting the most important part of the routine. It's a very polite way of telling Daddy to shut up.

Boy: I'll just sleep. You just rub my back.

What A Drag It Is Getting Old

The great Florida Blogging mystery comes to you courtesy a 40-something mental decline and the ol' "there's-never-a-pen-and-paper-around-when-you-need-it."

Wife and I are driving down Commercial Boulevard just north of Fort Lauderdale and I asked her if she had a pen and paper to write down a list of blog entries I wanted to capture for when we got home. There were three of them. Wife says to me, You tell them to me and I'll remember them. There are three, I said, and told her. Perhaps it was only the next day when we were reviewing these items. I said, there's this one, and that one... what was the other one?

I can't remember, says Wife. I remember it was the funny one.

Right, I said. The third one was the funny one.

A couple of days later, we could, neither of us, remember what the second one was either.

Trust me, you would have laughed until you stopped.

All that remains is:

Boy and I are sitting in our executive class seats on the way to Toronto, our first leg in getting to Fort Lauderdale. The flight attendant comes by with an armload of newspapers. She looks at me.

Flight Attendant: Globe and Mail?

Boy: No thank you.

The others were funnier. Man, were they funny.

I wish I could remember what they were......