Paul and the Family

This evening Kelli was on the phone and I was chasing the kids around the upstairs. Adam was in a silly mood (he has been exceptionally silly lately) and he got running a little out of control. He ran right into the frame of our door, rebounded off the frame and bumped into the door itself, then fell forward onto the floor. Needless to say, he started to cry.

I scooped him up and took him out into the hall. To try to comfort him, I started to swing him, which he likes (and Brian has always loved too). I used to swing Brian all the time, but he’s gotten so big that it often hurts my back to swing him so I don’t swing the kids too much any more. I hoped Brian wouldn’t notice that I was swinging Adam, but soon enough I knew that he had been very aware of the whole incident.

I hadn’t been swinging Adam for more than a couple of minutes when Brian went running headlong into the door. He slowed down before he hit, but he bumped into it and “fell” onto the floor, then started to “cry.” When I asked him, he confirmed that he had indeed staged the whole thing in an attempt to try to get me to swing him, too. He saw that Adam got hurt running into the door and got a swing to console him — so Brian decided he’d try and see if the same thing worked for him too.

So I gave in a swang (swung?) Brian too. After a few swings I put him down, and naturally my back started to let me know it was feeling the burden. Then something new happened. Both Brian and Adam came up to me and stood, one grabbing each leg, both fussing and whining because they wanted to swing again. This is a new and not very exciting development, for them to both clutch my legs and beg for play time.

Finally I gave in and laid down and let them wrestle with me. Adam kept trying to put his finger in my eye or lift up my shirt and look at my belly button. In either case he would burst into giggling fits. Brian, on the other hand, kept wanting me to give him a “flip,” a little game I do where I sit him on my legs (with me laying down) and flip him over me so that he lands on his feet up by my head. But with Adam crawling all over my torso, that just wasn’t going to happen.

I think we all had a good time, though. They sure are silly and fun.