Frankly . . .

Last night we stumbled onto Gone With the Wind.  We were sucked into the whirlwind and Theo started enjoying it too.  In fact, we missed some of the NCAA championship game because we couldn’t escape the vortex.  Theo loved it though and during the burning of Atlanta he became excited with the noise, fire and music.  Finally it was getting late, so I took Theo to the bathroom with his pajamas.  However, he did not want to sit on the potty, nor change his clothes.  So I took him back to the movie and he settled down.  So, as a Southerner (Texan), I did the right thing and let Theo watch Scarlet and Rhett.  You should see him watch boxing with me.

The three amigos

Last night Theo joined Holly and me on the foot of the bed.  Often we will watch America’s Funniest Home Videos and encourage Theo to say, “Uh oh.”  During these family times, Holly tries to get Theo to sit next to us and snuggle.  Earlier than usual, Theo gave signs he wanted to sit in-between us, so we cheered him on.  He gets embarrassed, shuts his eyes and covers his face with his hand.  This time though, he went for it – with his Spongebob backpack, which he loves and I hate.  It is from Bikini Bottom Hell.

So there we are the three of us and a thirty pound, “porous is he” backpack.  After a while Theo dumps his backpack with a loud thump, which makes Holly a believer in my reports of weightiness.  Then Theo starts snuggling with Holly.  Things have progressed.  So they both fell asleep staring into each other’s eyes – except they were closed, you know what I mean?  It is a good thing I have been brushing his teeth a lot lately.

Bed time stories

Every night I put Theo to bed and lay down with him.  We don’t really chat about things, since he doesn’t really chat – yet.  But I will look at him, then smile and he will see it out of the corner of his eye (if his eyes aren’t crossed).  Then there will be a brief moment, attempting to ignore my pearly whites, after which he can’t contain himself and he breaks into a smile.  It’s like an embarrassed smile.  So we lie there and exchange smiles for several minutes, until he begins to close his almond eyes in sleep.

Then one night I had a brilliant idea.  Why don’t I read to him?  It would be therapeutic, educational, and, I guess, spiritual too.  And, I thought, it doesn’t really matter what kind of book I read, since he doesn’t really understand it – right.  What a selfish Dad.

So I see on Elizabeth’s bookshelf a book by Rushdoony on Daniel.  I grabbed it and started reading out loud and Theo’s expression changes.  It is like he is not happy about the new ‘idea.’  Then after a few paragraphs Theo just turns over and faces the wall.  He is clearly insulted.  It finally dawns on me that Theo is disappointed in me because we are not exchanging smiles!  So I put the book down and try to recover the smile routine.

Today while watching a movie (The Boys are Back) I illustrated the smile routine to Holly and Alex.  Hysterical.