Good Humor

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Oh, Parenting. You never fail to give me a little chuckle. If life was about making great first impressions than it might not be a good idea to take your kids with you... they sort of tell it like is in more ways than not. The one day that you wear a shirt that is perhaps a little low cut for your taste (the joys of laundry day)... you bet this is the day you are climbed up like a tree in a mean game of chase ... um yeah, by the neckline of your shirt. See, kids keep it real.

The best thing is that there is sort of a commune of fellow "over-exposed" parents in this world and it is like you become instant allies in awkward social situations. All I can say is, THANK GOODNESS. It is always a little nice to have a chuckle at another's expense (knowing full well it could be you any second). Like today for instance....

This afternoon we escaped down the street to the "chick-fil-a playground". It seems that my children consistently pick the coldest, dreariest day to become crazy monsters of the house.... at least at Chick-Fil-a my couch is no longer the trampoline. Whew. Gauging by the number of kids at Chick-Fil-a I am guessing that this whole house monster thing is more of an epidemic.

Enter comical relief.

I am sitting next to a 6'4'' Dad who is there with his three sons all under 4 years. Instant respect. It seems in all the chaos of kids, his 18 month old managed to scale to the highest point of the enclosed structure and became too scared to come down. So you do what we all do... send the other one up to get them... yes, big might end up dragging little down the slide but let's face it... this really could happen on a daily basis. In fact, the could is much more of a likely in our household. I always support an underdog and in this case that 18 month old gave his big brother a piece of his mind... and remained totally and completely lodged at the top. So you empathize. Perhaps, share your story... all the while stifling a smile of an all too familiar scene. It turns out that scaling a playground is a lot more difficult when you are 6'4''. This poor guy. Slow, steady and mortified the entire way up. Slowly we trickled out because of tired kiddos and by the time we left he was still at the top, pleading with his 18 month old to let go and come down. When I left they were discussing some ice cream incentives. Which I am confident worked... at some point or another :)

And while you are humbled on a daily basis in this world of parenting, the afternoons that I can curl up on the couch with my two house monsters and watch Toy Story 3 over hot chocolate seem to make it all worth it.