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September 21, 2004

Just Me & My Dad

WildChild finally got to see his dad (my son) last night for the first time in almost 2 years, and as Mike put it, that boy be trippin'. He was wound up tighter than a $2 watch when I picked him up from his mom's yesterday afternoon....nonstop chatter and bouncing off the walls. The only time he stopped talking was when I let him play on his computer for a little bit before we went to the airport to pick his dad up. He normally doesn't talk all that much, so I could tell he was VERY excited.

And I was a little concerned because I could also tell his dad had assumed mythical proportions in his little head. Example: he noticed some Snoopy Christmas ornaments that I'd put up out of his reach on a high shelf and wanted them. I told him he couldn't have them, they weren't toys and that Pa had bought them for me. He kinda cut his eyes around at me and smarted off that "My daddy will buy me 2 Snoopys." That and a few other things he'd said lately made me wonder if he had, like many kids with absent parents, build up an unattainable fantasy about his dad........you know, that he's 10 ft. tall and bulletproof. And I was concerned that he would be disappointed when he saw that his dad wasn't a superhero member of the Justice League. I was also concerned that he would be a little intimidated since he hadn't actually seen his dad in so long. My son's about 6' 4", which is like Godzilla size when you're only about 38 inches tall.

Not a problem.

He was sitting on Mike's shoulders as we were watching the passengers unload and finally saw my sister waving at him from across the terminal. "There's my aunt!" he squealed. "And who's that guy walking with her?" I asked. "That's MY DADDY! HEE HEE!" he giggled. He was wiggling like a worm in hot ashes as my son walked up, and as soon as he got close enough WildChild laughed and held out his arms for his dad. Daddy got a big hug.......as did Ma, Pa and his aunt from one very happy little boy.

All the way home he was non-stop "What you want to do Daddy? Play games? Play Bunny game? (Reader Rabbit) Play Mickey Mouse? You go to our house Daddy? Where your house? Ma, Daddy stay your house with us? Daddy you want sleep in my room with me? Daddy you big like giraffe. I little like penguin." On and on and on....he'd get quiet for a few seconds and then just burst out laughing.

As soon as we got home, his Daddy had to sit down & play computer games with him.....which got him so excited that he was literally screaming at the top of his lungs and laughing. He clearly thought his Daddy was all that and a bag of chips, to put it mildly. It took a while, but I finally got him calmed down enough to go to bed & watch a movie with his Daddy around 10 pm. I checked in on them about 30 minutes later. His Daddy had already dozed off; WildChild had pretty much lost his battle to keep his eyes open too. They lay slumbering in almost identical positions, like the two peas in a pod they are.

It was a beautiful thing.

Posted by Rita at September 21, 2004 09:00 AM

Comments

That's a great story. Makes me grin.

Care to post a picture of the two of them? I'd like to see that.

Posted by: Keith at September 21, 2004 09:59 AM

Me too!

Posted by: yayaempress at September 21, 2004 12:25 PM

Me too.

Posted by: Jim at September 21, 2004 08:22 PM

I'd say me four but that doesn't sound right.

I'm so happy for the family, Rita! So glad your son is home and that Wild Child is having fun!

Posted by: Da Goddess at September 22, 2004 12:11 AM

I'm hoping to get time today to take them to the park, so maybe I'll have some pics soon. We stupidly forgot to take the camera to the airport in all the rush.

Mike said WildChild announced last night at dinner that his name was now [my son's first name]. I was in class, so I missed that 'Aaaah' moment.

Posted by: rita at September 22, 2004 07:52 AM