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river rat: Friends
I've been resisting the urge to post much of what I write every day about life taking care of my kids. Some of it is so sappy and better suited to Hallmark's grandparents division that when I re-read it the urge to delete makes my pinky twitch for an hour or more. So many snarky comments have been made on happyrobot about the baby explosion/invasion/plague that another cutesy post about how cute these wee humans are could goad the currently non-breeding readership into an unprecedented level of snarkiness, but....
Every day starts with Adam and Liza eating breakfast in the kitchen and then, while I clean up the remarkable mess that one little boy can make with Nutella, peanut butter, bananas, pancakes, or whatever's on the menu, Adam does that funny little orangutan walk he can't seem to grow out of, moving from the window seat to the patio. I've been meaning to post this since May when we had our first major fire in the patio, but taking care of the boy and his little sister has kept me pedaling fast.
Some days his exuberance and innocence cripple me with awe of the whole process whereby children learn the simplest things. We forget that we all had to discover the many different angles one could possibly look at a small group of toy pigs, cows, farm animals and plastic barn and that the whole mess could burst into an imaginary fire at any moment. And who else but the fire trucks and paramedics manufactured by HotWheels and Tonka would be better suited to help out? Adam's excitement is almost always shouted loudly, clearly, and often followed by "daddy!" Here's the dialogue I wrote down minutes after the exchange took place.
adam: daddy! patio! barn fire!
me: let's go! (I grab liza, bouncy seat, coffee, and camera on the way.)
a: daddy, fire! fire!
me: wow, buddy. it seems like the authorities are taking care of it, though.
a: firemen! paramedics! taxi! mini-loader!
me: that's great buddy. those guys will help, won't they.
a: friends. friends help out. firemen help out.
me: that's right, buddy.
a: paramedics fix friends. they help. firemen, daddy! firemen.
me: yeah, with their trucks.
a: ladders, daddy! ladders help rooster and chickens, daddy. fire!
me: and the other animals, too, right?
a: yup. firemen help people. firemen help friends.
me: what's the taxi for, pal?
a: take animals away, daddy! take 'em to new barn. take 'em to grandma's.
me: and the mini-loader? what's the mini-loader for, adam?
a: mini-loader cleans up. flat bed helps mini-loader. mini-loader helps friends clean up fire.
me: that's really nice that they help each other like that, adam.
(adam held up a small cow and a fire truck and smiles at them. then he turns to me.)
a: friends, daddy! friends!
