We went to our local<a href=”http:\/\/www.carters.com\/”>Carter\u2019s store Friday to buy M. some cold weather pajamas. It seems the days of her sleeping in just her diaper and a t-shirt are over, at least until next spring. There\u2019s a little play area for kids to occupy themselves while parents shop, so M. and I hit that while S. checked out the latest in sleep-wear trends for toddlers (Bunnies and Duckies are the new black). There was a little boy, probably three or so, who came over and started playing too. The area had puzzles, Legos, and those weird wooden toys where you slide things all over the wires that turn and twist. This kid was awesome. He had a standard line, \u201cHey! What\u2019s this?\u201d He didn\u2019t seem to mind that I was a strange man squatting in a kids play area. I was his new best friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey! What\u2019s this?\u201d he asked as he turned a large wheel that made the smiling sun on the ceiling rotate. He spoke with one of those husky, toddler boy voices. If he was 19, I would have though he had been out late at the bars the previous night.
\n\u201cHey! What\u2019s this?\u201d as he pointed to a wooden puzzle with sea creatures on it.
\n\u201cWe have skeletons at our house.\u201d
\n\u201cAre they scary?\u201d
\n\u201cYes,\u201d he said with a look that wondered how on earth a skeleton wouldn\u2019t be scary. \u201cHey! What\u2019s this?\u201d I couldn\u2019t even tell what he was referring to this time, so I made something up. Not my kid, I don\u2019t care if I mess him up for life.
\nEventually his mom came over and attempted to get him to try clothes on. She was carrying a much smaller child, maybe eight months or so, and had the look of a mom that had been woken up too early in the morning and had been struggling to get control of the day ever sense. Tired eyes. Makeup slightly askew. A visage of impending panic. We shared a parental nod as her son refused to help her out in the slightest. \u201cHey! What\u2019s this, mom?\u201d I cocked my head towards M., who was playing quietly, and said, \u201cI can\u2019t wait for her to get to that age,\u201d and laughed. Hey Boy\u2019s mom offered a tired laugh and said, \u201cI bet.\u201d
\nWhat happened next was even funnier. His mom went back to picking out clothes and he played for a few more seconds. Then, he suddenly stopped and said, \u201cHey! We have to clean this mess up,\u201d and he began gathering up all the puzzle pieces, race cars, and stuffed animals that had been scattered over the course of the day. He had made none of the mess, yet felt an obligation to clean. This kid\u2019s been trained well. \u201cHey!\u201d as he took the puzzle M. was playing with away from her, \u201cWe have to clean this mess up. Hey! What\u2019s this?\u201d I began looking for his mom, wanting to find out how old he was when she began brain-washing him to clean up any mess he encounters. This could be useful information.
\nI decided I had spent a little too much time with him, so I scooped up M. and began searching through the store for S.. As we left the play area, I heard a familiar voice say, \u201cHey! We have to clean this mess up…\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We went to our local<a href=”http:\/\/www.carters.com\/”>Carter\u2019s store Friday to buy M. some cold weather pajamas. It seems the days of her sleeping in just her diaper and a t-shirt are over, at least until next spring. There\u2019s a little play area for kids to occupy themselves while parents shop, so M. and I hit that while S. checked out the latest in sleep-wear trends for toddlers (Bunnies and Duckies are the new black). There was a little boy, probably three or so, who came over and started playing too. The area had puzzles, Legos, and those weird wooden toys where you slide things all over the wires that turn and twist. This kid was awesome. He had a standard line, \u201cHey! What\u2019s this?\u201d He didn\u2019t seem to mind that I was a strange man squatting in a kids play area. I was his new best friend. \u201cHey! What\u2019s this?\u201d he asked as he turned a large wheel that made the smiling sun on the ceiling rotate. He spoke with one of those husky, toddler boy voices. If he was 19, I would have though he had been out late at the bars the previous night. \u201cHey! What\u2019s this?\u201d as he pointed to a wooden puzzle with sea creatures on it. \u201cWe have skeletons at our house.\u201d \u201cAre they scary?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d he said with a look that wondered how on earth a skeleton wouldn\u2019t be scary. \u201cHey! What\u2019s this?\u201d I couldn\u2019t even tell what he was referring to this time, so I made something up. Not my kid, I don\u2019t care if I mess him up for life. Eventually his mom came over and attempted to get him to try clothes on. She was carrying a much smaller child, maybe eight months or so, and had the look of a mom that had been woken up too early in the morning and had been struggling to get control of the day ever sense. Tired eyes. Makeup slightly askew. A visage of impending panic. We shared a parental nod as her son refused to help her out in the slightest. \u201cHey! What\u2019s this, mom?\u201d I cocked my head towards M., who was playing quietly, and said, \u201cI can\u2019t wait for her to get to that age,\u201d and laughed. Hey Boy\u2019s mom offered a tired laugh and said, \u201cI bet.\u201d What happened next was even funnier. His mom went back to picking out clothes and he played for a few more seconds. Then, he suddenly stopped and said, \u201cHey! We have to clean this mess up,\u201d and he began gathering up all the puzzle pieces, race cars, and stuffed animals that had been scattered over the course of the day. He had made none of the mess, yet felt an obligation to clean. This kid\u2019s been trained well. \u201cHey!\u201d as he took the puzzle M. was playing with away from her, \u201cWe have to clean this mess up. Hey! What\u2019s this?\u201d I began looking for his mom, wanting to find out how old he was when she began brain-washing him to clean up any mess he encounters. This could be useful information. I decided I had spent a little too much time with him, so I scooped up M. and began searching through the store for S.. As we left the play area, I heard a familiar voice say, \u201cHey! We have to clean this mess up…\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26,14],"class_list":["post-724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-family","tag-parenting"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15440,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions\/15440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}