Proud....And Embarassed...Mostly Proud

A million kisses and counting. No, I don't sit around counting the number of times our son kisses our daughter, but after three months and a large number of kisses each day, it has to be a million by now, otherwise I would be exaggerating (and who would do that?).

Our daughter likes to just sit and hang out on the couch when it gets too hot in the house. Its been neat lately as whenever our son sees his sister chilling on the couch he always runs over and jumps on the couch to sit next to her and be with her. Sometimes he gets too excited when running to jump onto the recliner with her, and since it rocks has nearly launched his baby sister off of it a few times. When he sits down with her he likes to hold her hand, put his arm around her, rub her head, share his food, give her toys to play with. They smile at each other and he gives her plenty of kisses. Today, he saw his sister sitting on the couch by herself, ran over to her, brought her the Dolly named Molly, sat next to her and gave her a cute kiss. Then, he smiled a crooked smile, stuck his finger in his mouth, soaked it with his nasty toddler milk saliva and kindly and gently stuck his finger in his sister's ear. MY SON GAVE HIS SISTER A WET WILLY!!!!!

How the heck did he know how to do that? I can't described my reaction. But I'll try just for you. I laughed, I told him no, laughed some more, laughed at my daughter smiling over her wet willy, took him away from his sister and told him firmly not to give his sister wet willys. Then I walked away and laughed some more as I turned around to see my kid placing his finger back in his mouth, either preparing to make his sister even by getting the other ear or thinking her ear wax was Lemon Jello Pudding (sugar free of course).

How did my son know what a wet willy is? He is already mischievous, where did he get it from? He did more today. He threw his soccer ball (a soft Nerf like one) at his sister's head and laughed at her surprised face, and then kissed it to show her no hard feelings its just a joke. Then at bath time, he grabbed the wash cloth and did his best Indiana Jones impression whipping it around his head flinging water all over his mommy, soaking her beautifully dry face and pants. I was in the room and knew this was a teaching opportunity to tell him its not okay to splash water at his mommy unless we're outside engaged in the classic legendary combat known as water fights. But, that opportunity passed by as I laughed hysterically at my soaking wet wife. By the way, when I say I laughed hysterically, I mean I laughed in that high pitched little girl laugh that scares my fellow men of the species (although they all do it I'm sure) and usually makes females laugh harder at the guy who's laughing (Ha ha, you sound like a girl). As my wife reached for a towel, and I was still laughing, she gave my son a somewhat disapproving look, and he joined me in laughter, and father and son laughed together for a few minutes. Good bonding time for us.

While laughing, with my wife joining in at times, I again said to her, "I don't know where he gets this from." And her reply was immediate. "Duh, he gets it from you." How insulting, how could that possibly be I asked her, and she encouraged me to think about it. Just then my mind went into flashback mode, which was cool because apparently I have an internal soundtrack in flashback mode and although you'd think it was probably Star Wars music it was actually the theme to Back to the Future mixed in with Raider's March and Spice Girls' Wannabe. In flashback mode, my mind found how it may be possible that my son inherited a naturally mischievous nature from his father. My mommy did warn me that one day I'd have a kid just like me if I kept on pulling pranks on people.

Much to my family's chagrin, I like practical jokes. There is a long list that maybe I'll share someday of some of my proudest moments. And it was evident that maybe my son learned what a wet willy was because he's seen me do them to his mom, and yesterday saw me attempt to sneak up on my brother and give him one. So if this is the first in a long line of pranks my son is going to pull on people, I best start being on my guard now, because I tested my pranks on my parents and sister first.Plus, I'll have prepare my "I apologize on behalf of my son" speech ahead of time, that way when he puts a fart machine under the pew at church and sets it off during evening praise like dear old Dad, locks his youth pastor in a port a potty, hurls water balloons down the staircase at surprised victims in college and calls friends and family pretending to be a surveyor and asking strange questions (like how old is your shirt and what size shirt does your wife wear, what kind of whale does your spouse remind you of, on a scale of 1 to 5 how lazy is your wife, does your husband know you don't like him), I won't get tongue tied trying to figure out what to say to people while attempting to hold back my laughter....for a few minutes. I've got to admit, though, when those moments come, I'll be proud.....and embarrassed......but in the end mostly proud.

BLT says.........apparently apples don't always fall too far from the tree, or in my case the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree as my kid launches it at the first passerby.