So Serious It's Laughable

It was hard to keep a straight face around here today. This afternoon I heard the wind chimes jangling rather vigorously outside. There was a nice breeze, but definitely not anything particularly lively. This meant one thing. Son1 was up on a chair again, dangerously wobbling, clanging those wind chimes. I wasn't up for a trip to the hospital for stitches. I raced down the stairs and found Son1 jangling the wind chimes from atop a chair. He has been told not to do this before. He heard me open the screen door, snapped his hands down to his sides, flashed the widest grin and said, "Oh , HI!!!" I asked him what he was doing. "I'm ringing the bell!" I explained that he wasn't ringing a bell. "Yes I am ringing a bell. See?" And he turned to jangle the wind chimes again. My camera happened to be within reach.I told him he could fall and had to get down from the chair. Then I explained that this was not a bell, and that you don't jangle wind chimes, let alone wobbling from a chair. I had never explained exactly that these were wind chimes before. "Wind chimes," he whispered carefully, like he was concentrating, and then again as a matter of fact, "wind chimes." I explained about the wind, and how it makes the wind chimes jangle. I pointed out that we had a nice breeze, but that the wind was not blowing so hard to make the chimes ring very loudly, only softly. He looked at me intently, and said, "No, it's [the wind] broken." I busted up laughing, and he looked at me sheepishly. What was so funny?

Later in the evening, Hubby and Son1 played a little Wii together until bed time. After Son1 was tucked into bed, Hubby and I had ourselves a little Wii date. We love playing Brain Academy speed matches against one another. All of a sudden we heard the pitter pattering of three year old feet from upstairs, definitely out of bed. We just didn't stop playing. We were in a little competitive groove. Some minutes later, I sent Hubby up to regulate. Just as he turned to make his way up the stairs, we were surprised to find Son1 standing at the bottom of the stairs! We just looked at him before either one of us spoke. "HI!!!! I got dressed!" Sure enough, he had taken his PJs off, pulled on a new shirt, shorts, and even had new underwear on. No, he hadn't had a potty accident. He was ready to go somewhere. I asked him where he was going. He looked at me like it was obvious. "I'm coming downstairs. I want to play." Hubby recalled that he had turned off the only overhead light in his room, attached to the ceiling fan cord. So, Son1 had gotten dressed in the dark, with all of his clothing going in the right direction. We were so impressed that we weren't even upset. He wasn't kidding. In his mind, he got his clothes on just so he could join us to play Wii. We complimented him on his blind dressing skills, and Hubby marched him right back up the stairs for bed time.

Well, so much for discipline today. Son1 was so serious and earnest all at the same time, that we didn't really have too much to say besides, "Get down from that chair," and then a little later, "it's time for you to get back in your bed."