Baching It

Tonight, my wife went back to her women’s Bible study for the first time in a year. This meant that Troy and I were baching it. I had high expectations, remembering days long ago when he and I used to play for hours together. But those days are gone. The first thing he wanted after I got him out of the bath was for me to turn the TV on Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, so he could watch his dinosaurs. I tried to recreate the show, using his little dinosaur figures, but he wasn’t having it. So, I had to up my game and invent dinosaur bowling instead. I set up his dinosaur toys like bowling pins, and then we used his toy cars to knock them down. This was a game he could get behind! Destruction he could do! After a few rounds of that, he got bored and wanted to ride his bike around the house. So, I obliged by chasing him around to make him go faster. Having pushed it as far as I could go, I finally had to relent on the TV when I clipped him in to eat.

After dinner, we snuggled up on the couch together and watched a few more episodes of the show. Well, not really episodes, per se, because Troy has seen them so many times that he insists on me fast-forwarding through the storyline, straight to the dinosaur scenes. He knows when they’re coming. Moments before they appear on the screen, he’ll scream out the dinosaur that’s coming, “Compie, Bumpy, Toro, T-Rex!” If I hadn’t already seen it as well, he definitely would be giving a spoiler alert. Not to self, always watch movies BEFORE taking Troy to see them. But the intro scene before each episode is by far my favorite to watch. Troy gets so excited that the T-Rex is about to burst through the gate, that he is literally shaking with excitement. Hand pointed at the TV, grin from ear to ear, screaming, “T-Rex! T-Rex! Teeeeeeee-Reeeeeehhhhhxxxx!”

After I put him in his crib for the night, I went to the other room to read a little and wait for my wife to get home. I heard him asking, “Mama, mama, mama?” So, I went in to check on him, and I found him standing in his crib, reaching over the back toward the bed, and trying to touch the bed where my wife sleeps. I rubbed his back and asked him what was wrong, and he simply pointed at her pillow and asked, “Mama?” Then, it dawned on me. He’s not used to going to sleep without my wife kissing him good night and telling him that she loves him. He missed his mama kisses. I gave him some extra love, and I stroked his hair until he settled down a little. I guess there’s some things dada can’t do.