Summary: I was recently dropping Noah off at his cousins’ house for a sleepover and I gave him the usual dad spiel about behaving, being awesome, going to bed when he’s told, yada yada yada. I ended by saying, “and when you’re here, who’s the boss?” “Aunt Tomi,” he said rolling his eyes because he already knew. “And you’re going to do everything she tells you to do, right?” I said. “Yes, Dad.” He was shifting his weight back and forth, chomping at the bit to head off and play with his cousins. Then Tomi Ann chimed in. “Anything I say?” Noah laughed. “YES!” “You promise?!” She asked with a goofy sneer. “YEEESSSS!!!!” “Okay, then hop up and down on one foot!” she said. Noah started laughing. “Hop up and down on one foot?” “You said you’d do anything I tell you to do while you’re here!” And while still giggling but not saying another word, Noah walked over to Tomi Ann and started jumping up and down on top of her foot. My sister and I looked at each other for the briefest moment trying to figure out what Noah was doing. And almost as quickly as we looked at each other in confusion, it dawned on both of us. He was hopping down on one foot. Her foot. And we both started laughing hysterically. Apparently it was the first time anyone had requested such an absurd thing from him. And he got mad kudos for doing everything his aunt told him to do. Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing PS. This one reminded me of when I told Noah to give me butterfly kisses the first time. So dang cute.
