Bedtime Stories

Since I work all day, I get the Daddy pleasure of putting the boys to bed each night. Gabriel is a constant source of hilarity and poignancy. He's earnest and sincere, and he's always learning. Each night, we lay down together and read three books and then chat a little bit about the day. He says, "How were your meetings, Dad?" I tell him they were good, and then I ask if he had a good day. He almost always says Yes, and then I ask what was his favorite thing during the day. The stock answer is "playing with my toys", but we also get a lot of "playing with [insert friend's name here]" or "playing at Old McDonald's".

***

Tonight we read books and chatted, and then he said, "Ask me how my day was, Dad." I asked, and he said, "It was an especially good day."

***

Poop is a common topic of conversation, almost like I was back in the Peace Corps. Changing his diaper last night I could see that he was constipated. He said, "It tried to come out, Dad, but it was too hard!"

***

As I leave every night, he gives me a kiss and then says, "Go to sleep in your bed now, Dad. If you get out of bed you're going to be in trouble!"

***

Last week when I was changing his diaper before bed he had a very obvious erection. "My li-li (Greek baby slang) is hard, Dad!" he said. "Why?"

"Well...because it's all full of blood, Gabriel."

That made him think for a little while. "Why is it all full of blood, Dad?"

"Um...you should ask your mother that question, Gabriel." I'm just not sure I'm ready for a discussion of the biology of erections with a 2-year old...

***

The next night when I changed him, he said, "My li-li isn't hard tonight, Dad. Why not?"

"Well, that usually just happens when you're excited, Gabriel."

"But I AM excited, Dad!"

"What books would you like to read tonight, Gabe?"

And so it goes...