Fatherhood

Last night, we found that Patrick's little Leap Frog Fire Engine was broken. Well ... basically, the batteries corroded and it no longer worked ... played music and honked. Thinking that it was a pretty simple design, I decided to take it apart to see if I could clean the leads and possibly get it working again.  As I removed the dozen or so one-inch screws, Patrick decided to step in and help. With Patrick's help (Mama's distracting him at key moments), I managed to get the steering wheel disconnected and the wheels out to finally get it apart ... basically to find that the sections I needed into were deeper inside (more screws ... more complications). I decided to let it be and search for a few one later. Today, I searched ... and searched ... and searched (yes, I teach computers and pride myself on being able to locate just about anything ... a detailed knowledge of databases helps).  Apparently, it was a limited release and I really didn't find anything ...

Patrick is in a good mood tonight. In particular, after drawing, sweeping, unscrewing the screws in our chairs, climbing our step-ladder, and driving the car, he wanted me to go through on of the books we have with pictures of various animals. As we went through the animals (yes, with me providing the appropriate sound effects that he tries to mimic) he got tired of standing while I lay on the couch. Indicating he wanted up, what was a father to do? So, there we were, me laying on the couch with my son sitting on my stomach (you can guess from the title where this is going) ... it only took a few minutes for me to figure out the logistics and get back to the sound effects, a bit muffled since I could not get a full breath. Then, it happened ... Patrick decided to bounce. The air pumped from my lungs, he bounced again ... I actually think he was bouncing to the rhythm of Jen's laughter. I even managed  to keep my dinner down as this went on for about ten minut...

Last night was awesome ... Patrick was an awesome little helper. I was assembling a bookshelf that took several screws on the outer edges. He plodded into the kitchen where I was working and saw me working with a ratcheting screwdriver. He then proceeded to sit on my lap and help me screw in the screws. It was so cute that Jen turned on the video camera and got some awesome movies. Then, as I was attaching the back, he wanted to help again ... with the complexity of the processes, Jen took him downstairs to help her with the laundry. Later, as I stood the bookshelf up, he came over and helped me insert the metal dowels and put the shelves in place. And to top of the bookshelf process, he pushed on one side as I dragged it into place. We then had dinner and Patrick jumped in with his own broom as Jen cleaned the floor afterward. He even managed to sweep toward the dust pan, although not a lot of what he did made it in. Later, Jen was cleaning some spilled cereal (originally ...