January 07, 2005
Call and Answer
It was a tender moment. I held Eli in my lap last night, and began to sing:
"Ba-by Beluga in the deep blue sea
Swim so wild and ya swim so free
Heaven above, and the sea below . . ."
"Stop dat singing."
"You want me to stop?"
"Yes. You sang dat song lesterday."
"Oh. Well then. Do I, uh, need some new material?"
"Yeah."
Ah, children. Aren't they so refreshingly truthful?
Little stinker.
A new year means being buried under work. I called home yesterday to let the wife know I would be running late. After barely half a ring, my call was answered.
"Who is it?"
"Caleb? Is that you?"
"Oh! Hi Daddy!"
"So you've started answering the phone now?"
"Yeah!"
"Where's mom?"
"I don't know."
"Are you downstairs?"
"Yeah. We're playing with the castle."
"Is mom upstairs?"
"I don't know. I don't see her."
"Can you go . . ."
"Do you want to talk to Eli?"
"Yes, but first . . ."
(in background) "Here, talk to Daddy."
"Hi Daddy!"
"Hi Eli. Can you get mom for . . ."
"We're playin' wif da castle!"
"I know. Listen . . ."
"And wif da cars, and da trains. Caleb took dat one from me and I said 'give dat back' but he said . . ."
(in background) "No I didn't."
". . . and I said 'I want dat car' and . . ."
"No I didn't, Eli. That's not true."
". . . and I cried . . ."
"It's not true."
". . . da other car. Are you home?"
"Well, I'm on my way. Listen, go get m. . ."
"Want to talk to Caleb?"
"I already talked . . ."
(in background) "Here, Caleb. Talk to Daddy."
"Hi Daddy!"
"Hi. Listen, I'm going to hang up now, because I can't come home until I get off the phone."
"Want to talk to mom?"
"YES! Yes I do! Where is she?"
"I don't know. Just call her and see."
"Ugh."
"Bye Daddy!"
"Bye."
Note to self: unless it's nap time, call wife's cell phone.
Posted by Woodlief on January 07, 2005 at 08:53 AM
As I understand it, this is a stage they eventually grow out of. Having labrador retrievers and not kids, I can safely say we've not gotten even this far with the dogs with regard to telephone etiquette.
Posted by: greg at January 7, 2005 10:46 AM
Kids and phones, my 15 month old walks around putting any cell phone sized object to his ear and having conversations with his invisible friends. I bet I didn't do that when I was a kid ;)
Posted by: Josh Harmon at January 7, 2005 11:43 AM
"Amazing Grace" was the special lullabye for my two oldest boys and was replaced by "Baby Beluga" with the next two. Of course, we sing Baby Child'sName in the deep blue sea. . .
Posted by: TulipGirl at January 7, 2005 2:43 PM
Please add me to the list of legions who absolutely adore your children.
;-)
Posted by: Christina at January 7, 2005 3:14 PM
Maybe with the kids happily occupied on the phone your wife was taking the nap. Great story - thanks!
Posted by: doug at January 7, 2005 9:13 PM
One handy technique is to hand the children the phone when telemarketers call. That's what I used to do until one telemarketer cussed out my 4 year old.
Posted by: Michael at January 10, 2005 4:01 PM
At our house the 6 year old will rarely give the phone up to anyone, the 5 year old doesn't like talking on the phone, the 2 year old tells me "I can't reach" because he hates the phone, and the one year just giggles.
Posted by: flesh99 at January 11, 2005 11:42 AM
