My son is now in the 1st grade and my daughter is 17 months old. With the birth of our new boy approaching faster than I can believe, I have been amazed about how much my children have grown and most of all, how smart they are.

Samuel can now read a book with no problem. He read all by himself, for the first time, a book that I wrote and illustrated. That was an amazing experience! He spells words that I still struggle with and he has begun to beat me regularly when we play Nintendo together. He is becoming an independent young man and has already begun to develop teenage habits. The other day he came home with a girls phone number.

Aubreigh is amazing as well. She now opens child safety-locked cabinets with the ease of a master locksmith. They still perplex me. Now if I need a cabinet open, I spare myself beat up knuckles and just ask her to do it. She dresses herself, although not tastefully. Her outfits consist of large socks, shirts worn as skirts and various articles of clothing slung about her neck. She even feeds the cat many times throughout the day (2 pieces of a cat food at a time. It is adorable.)

A few things have happened in the past weeks that have really put things in perspective for me.

1. I decided to play a joke on my usually gullible son. I took a pinch of black Play-Doh and smeared it on one of my front teeth. I then approached him and casually said “Did Mommy tell you what happened earlier? I got a tooth knocked out.” I grinned to show him the blacked out tooth. “DUH,” he replied, “That’s just Play-doh. That’s preposterous.” He was right. Play-Doh may smell tasty but it isn’t. And it doesn’t easily come off teeth. Who was the smart one here? The 6 year old with no Play-Doh on his tooth or the 29 year old with black Play-Doh smeared across his tooth and the horrible, salty taste associate with it.

2. My youngest is akin to a cat. She does things that make no sense to anyone but herself. I was in the shower when I was greeted with a “DAAAADDY.” Then suddenly, my clean underpants were thrust into the shower and were  soaked. Of course she was trying to be helpful. All I could say is “Thanks,” followed by a mumble of “what a nut…she makes no sense sometimes. What is she thinking” A little later, she begged for my car keys, which I let her play with. She immediately took them to the VCR and shoved them in. Again, all I could do was say to myself “what a nut! No sense at all, that one.” I went to the VCR to fish them out. The lights on the VCR begun to flash wildly, in and out, as I dug around blindly inside with my hand. That’s when it hit me, who is the smart one in this situation. Who is the nut? The 17 month old thrusting my clothes into the shower and my keys into the VCR? Or the 29 year old wearing wet underpants with his \hand jammed into an electronic device, still plugged in and powered up. 

Jeff – Zero. Kids – Two.