Ho, Ho, It's Magic, You Know

By Kelly

Around 6:00 every evening, something magical happens at my house.

Doesn’t matter if the children have been playing happily while I make dinner or if they are crabbier than Dr. Cox on a busy day.

When that garage door goes up, the very air around us electrifies. (In a good way. Not in a horror movie, we all scream and fall to the ground contorting kind of way.)

”Dad’s home! Dad’s home! Mom, Dad’s home!”

If the evening is typical, Natalie will rush to the door and throw herself on Corey as soon as he steps inside. “Daddy!” she squeals.

Connor, meanwhile, scurries to hide behind the red chair in the corner of the living room, and waits for Corey to walk by. As soon as he hears footsteps, we hear a little voice. “Dad, come sit in the red chair!”

”I wonder where Connor is,” Corey monotones amicably, playing along with the nightly ritual. “I sure wish I could find my buddy. I guess I’ll just sit in the red chair and wait.”

“Boo!” screams Connor, jumping out from behind the chair. “Did I get you, Dad?”

A wrestling match ensues.

These days, even the baby is getting into the act.

Last night, Corey walked into the kitchen. Our six-month-old was sitting in her exersaucer, banging on the warbling piano keys.

“Hi Teyla!” Corey said.

She looked into his face, with her huge blue eyes, and grinned as wide as she could. Her arms and legs pumped and she uttered the sweetest cooooo I’ve ever heard.

My goodness. We are so in love with her.

Corey pulled her out of the exersaucer, to indulge in a real hug. Then he lifted her overhead to say a proper good evening, when the most amazing thing happened.

(Choose your ending.)

Either:

a. the baby started to speak Spanish due to an excessive amount of "Dora" in utero
b. Connor tackled him from behind with a maniacal laugh
c. he flicked a wolf spider off his stomach
d. the baby spit up right into his opened and upturned mouth.

The correct answer would be d.

And for the record, this wasn't a little spit-up. It was a hunk of spit-up. Corey had to put his head under the faucet to wash out his mouth.

Magic, I tell you.


I never said it wasn't dark.

Kelly, who would give anything to go back in time and have a video of her husband at that very magic moment, also blogs at Love Well .