At breakfast.
Charlie, 7: "Daddy, do you love me?"
Me: "Of course I do!"
"How much?"
"Why, I would do anything for you! I would hop in my spaceship and fly to the moon and back just to give you a hug. I'd swim to the bottom of the deepest ocean just to -"
"Can we buy a horse?"
"I - a what?"
"A horse. I could ride it places, like to get ice cream."
"Ah. Well, no, we can't buy a horse."
"Why not??"
"Well, horses are very expensive, and they need a lot of room to run. And the mess ... Mommy would really not like the mess."
"Can we get a shark? Sharks don't need room to run."
"That's true, but we don't really have room for an aquarium, and - Sophie, what are you doing in the cabinet?"
Sophie, nearly 3: "I need a medicine. I has a owie."
"That's not medicine; those are Skittles. You can't have those now."
"Why not??"
"Because it's 8:15 in the morning. And you shouldn't be standing on the counter. How did you get up there?"
"I'm a lion! Raaaaaar!"
Henry, near the front door: "Daddy, where are your car keys?"
"They're in that drawer. Why do you need them?"
"To move your car."
"Please don't move my car."
"Why not??"
"Because you're 9 years old."
"How am I going to get to the tarp, then?"
"Why do you need the tarp?"
"Parachute."
"Parachute?? From where?"
"..................... nowhere."
"You know you're not allowed on the roof, right?"
"I can jump on by myself from the swingset!"
"I know, Henry, and that's very impressive, but it's - Sophie, put down that milk!"
Milk spills. Lots of milk.
Sophie: "I do it myself!"
"Sophie, why do you need milk? What's in that bowl?"
"Popcorns."
"Those look like Skittles."
Mommy, upstairs: "We're leaving in three minutes! Henry and Charlie, did you brush your teeth?"
Both, unbrushed: "Yes!"
Me: "No, you have not brushed, and no, you may not drive the car, we are not buying a horse and nobody is eating any more Skittles!!"
Silence. Sophie crunches; probably Skittles.
"Anyway, where were we? Ah, yes - Charlie, I love you so much that ... well ... so much that I'm headed to work this morning to pay the mortgage on this house so we have a place to read bedtime stories tonight."
Charlie, bounding upstairs with his siblings: "Wow, Daddy. That's a lot of love!"
Me, wiping up milk: "Yes, my sweet boy. Yes it is."
- Peter Celauro is a
contributing columnist.
