Thursday, July 31, 2008

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 .

18 comments:

  1. Oh man, sounds so much like our house when Daddy comes home and I wonder what will happen with the new baby, too.

    And, ick!

    Steph

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  2. Classic! My son (who is named Connor) gets so excited when daddy comes home as well. My husband always calls me to let me know. I then tell Connor and he sits(no lie) by the window and waits for him. If i happen to be somewhere in the house that is not he living room he comes running to me saying, Mommy, daddy's home. It is so cute since he is only two.

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  3. The Man Beast learned almost 11 years ago that weird and unexpected things come out of the smaller crowd. Luckily, this never deterred him from getting his Daddy Loves.

    When Daddy comes home, it is a special time, indeed.

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  4. Would you believe I had a KITTEN do that to me one time? Tell Corey I feel his pain, man. GAH-ROSS. Lately when Daddy gets home at our house, Bean and I race to get the "first kiss from Daddy." (Don't worry, I let her win. Usually.)

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  5. I love when daddy arrives. The other day we watched and waited, and greeted him with water balloons as he attempted to cross the lawn. Should let him know he doesn't have it half as bad as Corey.

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  6. Wow, it's good to know that sometimes even daddies have to deal with the gross to take one for the team. The Hawkeye got his baptism by fire while the Big Boy was still in the hospital. Hawkeye picked up naked big boy to give him a bath, and big boy christened his tie. Thoroughly. While the nurse and I were laughing so hard we were crossing our legs, and he was all 'could somebody help me out here?' few things in life are as entertaining as parenthood.

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  7. I was transfixed by the perfect retelling of that magical moment when Daddy comes home, and then perfectly grossed out by the ending.

    I guess that's good storytelling, huh?

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  8. Indeed. I have to echo Jennifer, Snapshot's comment. I was so into the story of Daddy arriving home and the happiness surrounding it that I totally didn't expect to be so grossed out. HAHA! Love it!

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  9. We have joked about that happening so much, but hasn't become that much of a reality - ucky! My baby is 13 mo now and is just as excited as the older 3 when Daddy comes home - very fun :)

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  10. That is a completely PRICELESS moment!!! Isn't it just a little satisfying sometimes when Daddies get to experience the "realness" of having kids, rather than just the magical excitement that happens when Daddy comes home?? ;)

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  11. Oh that is too, too hilarious. The whole first part could have been right out of a slow-mo commercial, for, I don't know, fabric softener or something. Then the ending. Now it's a candidate for Funniest Home Videos!

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  12. I was always quite lucky / skilled at averting my face when spitup was imminent; this talent did not help me, however, when my daughter's three-year-old friend once sneezed fiercely into my open mouth.

    Can you imagine the taste of a mouthful of Purell? It's not pleasant.

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  13. Yep, to quote our friend from years ago, "When you have a baby, you never know when you are going to need a shower."

    That is hilarious. Since it didn't happen to me, of course!!

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  14. oohhh...ick! Some parts of babyhood I don't miss. Great retelling of the moment, Kelly!

    We had lived in the Sahara for 2 1/2 years then got to spend the better part of a year in France. When it snowed, Ilsa and I snuck up to the park near our house and waited for her daddy to come by on his way home, then we pelted him with snowballs! It was totally her idea and great fun. I love it when kids are so excited to see their parents. Mine are a bit more blase now, but when Ilsa came home after 6 days at camp we got to experience it again.

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  15. Ew! That happened to me once. The trauma!
    My husband manages to come home RIGHT at the witching hour, so his welcome isn't quite as warm - the kids are surly, I'm worn out... he must be so happy!

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  16. Okay, Kelly.

    Your hubby hopefully knows by now that I am unbiased in giving a high five where one is due. He's gotten one or three from me.

    But this?

    BOOM BABY!

    That's uber girl power at it's finest. Corey's gonna have to punk you good to get one up on the Teyla Bomb.

    :))

    Love ya!

    Lisa

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