Oh! My Hat!

One thing that I like about my husband is how good he is with kids.  Last night poor Dan was coming out to get me so that I could tuck him and Jake in.  On the way down the hall he managed to bonk his head on the wall and so he was crying.  After a few minutes his crying took on a "waa, waa" quality that seemed to say "please still feel sorry for me" instead of "I'm in a lot of pain".  He was sitting on my lap and I was on the floor where I had been folding laundry.  Derek came in and started picking up various clothing items and saying "Oh!  My hat!" and then he would put whatever it was on his head.  Pretty soon Dan was giggling so hard that he forgot he had been in pain at all.

Something else that has worked when Dan has been throwing tantrums is that Derek will ask if he wants to go to the laundry room, the room our kids sometimes end up in when they insist on yelling about something instead of talking.  But Derek does not ask if he wants to go to our laundry room.  He changes it from the church's laundry room, to McDonald's laundry room, to pretty much anywhere that doesn't really have a laundry room.  Dan is so busy explaining that those places don't have laundry rooms and laughing that he forgets to be mad about not getting his way.

Of course I enjoyed the hat game the most.  I wished I had a camera, but Derek assured me that he could get those pants / shirt / big boys off of his head very quickly if I had a camera in my hand.  I think fun distractions are a good way to get our minds off of ourselves and get us moving in a happier direction.  I am thankful for humor, and something to smile about.