My son is four and I have no doubt he will try to be an X-Games athlete. We have our hands full.
My daughter spoiled us when she was his age. As is true with most daughters, mine was and continues to be the living picture of a Disney Princess. Of course I’m speaking as a Dad who still melts every time she busts out the smile and wants a big Daddy hug. When we ask her to put her toys away, they get put away and are ordered and alphabetized based on color, toy maker, size, and the genus and species of the animal they are modeled after. Pink ponies on one shelf, Pet Shop toys in descending order of size on shelf two, etc. All of this is of course followed by an “I love you, Daddy.” What Dad doesn’t crumble with hearing that from his little girl? I know, the teenage years are right around the corner, so let me enjoy every moment I can right now.
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| Dad and Tyler when the Cavs used to win! |
My son on the other has figured out that by stacking several kitchen pots, an upside down garbage can from the bathroom, and two living room pillows onto a kitchen chair he can essentially quadruple his reach to just above the refrigerator. This used to be the hiding spot of all things Mom needed to keep from him. I’ve seen his designs first hand, and although I don’t think I have a future architect on my hands I do give him credit for his ingenuity and the structural integrity he is able to achieve through odds and ends that have no right doing what he does with them. When I admire his handiwork, though, somehow I still seem to catch Mom’s ire about letting him do things that during her watch he’s never allowed to do (this will be a future Life Lesson of the HR Dad subject: How to follow Mom’s rules when you don’t even know what they are).
As a result of the Mad Architect, we have proceeded to move things further out of his reach in our home. Consequently he has to launch more elaborate plans to achieve his goals. The most recent object of his attention is to get into our basement storage room that is kept locked for all of the above reasons. You see, he has learned this room contains all the spare toys which become much more exciting when he doesn’t see them every day. For him, this room has become his Well of the Souls, and like Indiana Jones he going to break in so he can get the Ark.
