Ravings of a Mad Man: vol. 6.36
It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid then open it and remove all doubt
-Mark Twain
You know what they say being a dad would be a lot easier if you didn't have any kids. But where would the reward come from? Work? Sports? Sudoku? I doubt it the most rewarding things you do in life are the things that require the most effort. Like spelling or potentially grammar (for me that is). I pretty much rely on technology for both of these aspects. I guess you could say the same thing about my parenting style. Technology really helps a person that doesn't really know what they are doing. Speaking of which, computer where are the children? "Beep, Beep, Beep." (In a robot voice) "The children are safe, one is watching Star Wars the other is bed." I respond, "Thank you computer." The whole point of this introduction is to tell a story that has happened several times with Gigi while out in public. Gigi is a very good talker and she talks a lot. She will talk louder and louder until you recognize what she is saying. So it is always better to give the traditional, "Oh yeah," response to most everything she says. The story I am about to tell is an interpretation of the reaction of the other (not Jenny and myself) people in the story. A similar story has happened to either of us on numerous occasions. We were at Target doing some Christmas frustrating shopping, if you catch my drift. We had been there for about an hour which is 55 minutes longer than what I like to spend in any public location. As we checked out Gigi finally wanted to sit in the cart and indicated such by asking very politely. Then she asked, "Where are my Lego's?" The lady behind the counter asked, "How old is she?" We both responded with little enthusiasm, "2 and ½." The lady then said, "She speaks really well for her age." She then talked about her 3 year old that doesn't speak that well. Both Jenny and I said, "She speaks so well because she practices a lot." The lady then went back to her task at hand, which is all we every wanted from her. I told Jenny that she and many others probably think we are most rotten parents because we show little enthusiasm when it comes to the vocal abilities of our daughter. The truth is we probably have taken for granted her abilities and truly we are so amazed everyday at her repertoire of words. What two year gets excited about what mom brought home from the grocery store and says, "You bought us paper plates, how wonderful for me!" The point is as a father I think about all of the time my parents spent with and wanted to tear their hair out, which I am sure was the majority of the time. Then I think about all of the times they spent with me that were just wonderful, mostly while I was sleeping. I think if I had to put a numerical value on it would have been an 80/20 split of terrible to wonderful times. However, you can't really calculate that because the wonderful times are so much greater than the terrible times. So in reality I survived my childhood because I took a lot of naps oh and played outside a lot. I have put a video of Gigi talking on my blog so you can see a glimpse of what great things she says every day.
Trivia Time: Lego's are probably the best gift I have ever received. How much weight is an acceptable amount to put on during the Holidays?
Have a good week I know I will
Eric Jones
This message was approved by Eric Jones
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