What do you call little boys as a term of endearment? I routinely call them “silly goose” when they are acting silly. Occasionally when they are both acting inane I will use the plural, “silly geese.”
RJ’s homework for the weekend was to read a book on baby animals. The book explained that a baby cow was a calf, a baby goat was a kid, etc. This brought up different names for animals and RJ asked why I call him and Tony “silly geese” when they are together. I tried to explain that one goose is just goose, and two or more are called geese.
As we were sitting in the couch with a large stuffed animal moose, so I asked RJ what you call more than one moose.
Without hesitation he responded, “Toose.”
We were putting Tony to bed, when he stuck his feet in the waistband of Beth’s jeans and tried to cover his head with her shirt. When we asked him what he was doing he said that he was going back into Mommy’s belly.
The last month has been full of a lot of milestones for RJ, the latest of which was his Karate recital this evening. The last month has included:
- RJ’s First School Program
- RJ’s First Optometrist Appointment
- RJ’s First Recital
On top of this, we just learned that enrollment for before and after school care for Kindergarten is enrolling now, and school enrollment is very soon. Already it seems like RJ is growing up too fast. As soon as I get used to where RJ is at in his life he changes. Is this how all parents feel?
On a lighter note, we took the boys out to eat for dinner after the recital. Going out to dinner after a special event is a treat that I remember very fondly when I was young. RJ has been asking for Wendy’s for nearly a month, and since this was his special event we were off to Wendy’s. The boys devoured their dinner, perhaps out of hunger or perhaps out of the promise of a frosty if they ate all of their dinner. Either way, dinner was concluded with chocolaty frosty goodness.
By the time the boys finished dinner it was also past Tony’s bed time, so we took the Frosty to go. RJ could not be persuaded to part with his treat do he carried out to the car. While Stepping off of the sidewalk onto the parking lot, RJ fell. With the dedication only a four-year-old can have with a cup of ice cream, RJ held on to his treat for dear life.
Beth reached down for RJ, but he would not take her hand. RJ started to scream. Beth took the frosty from RJ as made no attempt to get up. RJ looked at the frosty in his mother’s hand. Beth said the frosty was fine and he could not have it back until he got in the car. I have never seen RJ recover to quickly from a fall.
RJ had his very first optometrist appointment this afternoon. The eye doctor said that he had a touch of near-sightedness that did not need corrected and that this is very normal for his age. RJ had his little heart set on a pair of Power Ranger glasses and was extremely disappointed that his eyes were not “broken” like Mommy’s.
The optometrist that RJ (and I) go to is the same one Beth went to as an adolescent. Her first visit was around age sixteen, and she continued through age twenty, when we got married. When we moved back to Ohio, Beth picked up right where she left off, going to many of the same physicians she did as a child. Her optometrist is no exception.
The eye doctor seems very good with children. To put RJ at ease he offered to let him sit in the doctor’s stool as he adjusted the seat up and down. RJ asked if Mommy could come, too and the doctor explained that Mommy was an adult and therefore too large to play on the chair. Beth innocently chimed in with the fact that she did play with the stool when she was younger. The doctor said that made him feel old to watch a patient of his grow and return with their own children.
I have been at the doctor’s office more times in the last year and a half than I have been in the prior twenty-seven years thanks to the boys. It is usually just routine visits, but between the two of them, it adds up. I also have to give Beth credit, until RJ was two, she handled the doctor’s visits without complaint. RJ had quite a few checkups before he turned two to monitor for any permanent damage after having meningitis when he was four weeks old.
Once I left active duty I enjoyed the fact that I could take on more of these routine visits, and took the boys to almost all of their appointments. However, Beth was afforded the opportunity to take Tony to his two year checkup. Everything went well up until his vaccinations. Like most of us, Tony does not like to be stuck with needles.
After his inoculations, without missing a beat, Tony promptly told the nurse, “I don’t like you.”
I have never heard Tony state his feelings so succinctly. Is it wrong that I am proud of him for that?