6710 Grand

 Ike is a talker.  More of a shouter really.  There's no wondering about gender stereotypes--he is ALL boy ALL the time.  It's a different world raising a son.  He barrels head first into whatever he sets his sights on.  Sometimes it's the couch.  Sometimes it's the cat.  I suspect neither one of them likes it much but he just keeps going. One thing that's the same though are the things he says.  Sometimes we laugh and sometimes we cover our mouths (and his) in embarrassment.   A few weeks ago we were in Target.  He's the only one who doesn't have to wear a mask.  Most of the time, I'm glad for it.  Not this time.  I wanted to plant one on him and never take it off.  As we're walking through the store, he just starts yelling.  This isn't new.  He's not making words, just OOOOOOOHHHHHHH!  OOOOOOOOHHHHHH!  Sometimes it's jabber but mostly just yelling.   Until it's not just yelling.  It's him yelling that word.  A word he NEVER hear

 I’m reading a book about life lessons.  The lessons themselves aren’t really memorable.  I can’t even think of one of them.  Of course, I’m only halfway through the book so maybe it gets better.  In one of the chapters, the author is talking about growing up in a far north part of the world.   It’s cold.   It’s dark most of the day.   He describes how a cat’s greatest worry in winter is not being run over but rather finding a nice warm engine of a recently driven car, falling asleep there and waking up too late after the driver decides to make another trip.   Yikes!   He talks about the dangers of driving on cold, slippery roads.   At one point he describes a sign that reads: “Be Alert…the world needs more lerts.” I read this and laughed.   A big belly laugh.   A laugh that required me to throw my head back.   It’s not that it’s really even that funny.   But it’s totally something my dad would say.   And THAT’s what made laugh and laugh and laugh.