Obviously yesterday was Mother’s Day, so I took two of my kids (Ben and Ava) to Target to pick out something for my wife (aka their mama) as a gift. Ben’s coming up on 11, Ava is 6 1/2. It’s always fun to see what goes through their minds when they pick out gifts. One year Ben picked out a really soft pink blanket. Another year, he chose a coffee machine (which we love and still use).
He was pretty good at taking a hints from Tiff (if you’ve never been here before**, that’s my wife/their mama) and picked up a gift card to Starbucks.
** If you’ve never been here, also check out my About page and my Foundation page to see what Operation Jack is and why I run myself into the ground to fight autism.
Ava, on the other hand, was the entertainment this year. She was dead-set on getting Tiff a mini-pillow pet that was a duck. I don’t know if there is such a thing, because we couldn’t find it. But then she was absolutely certain that Tiff wanted a pillow pet that was a cat. Never mind that we’re a dog family and Tiff has a pig pillow pet already, I think as a Mother’s Day gift from last year. Despite a good half-dozen attempts by me and Ben to talk Ava out of it, we picked up the pillow pet.
A couple of hours later at home, Ava started up a “random” conversation with Tiff.
Ava: Have you by any chance always wanted a baby pillow pet?
Tiff has never worked as a detective, but she was highly suspicious at this point and decided to play along rather than break a 6-year-old’s heart …
Tiff: Well yes, I always have!
Ava: OK, then, my next question: Do you like cats?
Tiff: Well no, not really.
At this point, Ava’s smile turned upside down in an instant and the tears were seconds from flowing. So mama switched her tune.
Tiff: Oh, I’m just just kidding, I do like cats!
And the frown turned upside-down!
Ava: Do you like purple cats?
Tiff: Yes!
Ava: Do you like purple cats with cute whiskers?
Tiff: Of course I do! Am I maybe getting this present next year for mother’s day?
Ava: No, it’s not a maybe!
Ahh, my little girl! Don’t ever share a secret with her.
Loud and Proud!
If you were at the Target off 36 and Church Ranch/104th in Westminster, Colo., yesterday afternoon, and you saw a really cute little boy with curly hair yelling “zeke” every 20 seconds and his incredibly good-looking dad laughing despite how out-of-place the yelling seemed … yeah, that was me and Jack.**
** If you’ve never been here before, Part II: Jack is my 8-1/2-year-old son who is severely autistic and despite randomly yelling “zeke” when he’s at Target, he doesn’t talk. Speech, yes. Conversation and/or communication, no.
Several years ago, I might have been embarrassed. Now, I don’t really care. We weren’t at a library and we weren’t ruining anybody’s shopping experience. If Jack wants to laugh hysterically and shout “zeke”, well then I’m a happy dad.
Technology #Win
So, now that I’m in Colorado and my family (well my parents/grandparents/brother, not my wife and kids) are back in California, we couldn’t make it to the family Mother’s Day get-together yesterday. But yay for Skype! We spent a good 30-40 minutes doing a video call with them, which was nice. At one point, I was talking to my grandpa and my stepmom and my grandma.
And then, I look off in the background, and there’s my brother with an ear-to-ear grin … getting a massage from my grandpa’s nurse? Who finagles a massage from their grandpa’s nurse during a family Skype chat? Mad game!
OK y’all, happy Monday! Have a great day!
sarah says
ohhhhhh josh.