March 3, 2009

• Holding up the Wall

  I heard a noise in the kitchen after naptime. I was putting things away in the high cupboards this morning, and left the stool set up, so I suspected that William was looking for snacks on the counters again. Sure enough, I rounded the corner to find him standing on the stool in front of the dishwasher, the open tub of mixed snacks in front of him. He leaned against the wall where my memo board covers the fuse box. “William, you already had your snack!” I urged him away. He looked up at me sideways, “Fall down.” He didn’t have any snacks in his hands, and the cup he’d been using to store them earlier was absent, too. Well, if he wasn’t filching snacks, what was he doing on my stool, anyway? I started to pull him away, when I realized–the memo board had fallen off it’s nails, and he was leaning on IT, not the wall, trying to keep it from falling. I had to laugh, but just to myself. His little face was so serious, and he handled it so calmly. I hung it back up and grabbed him in a hug. “Did that scare you?” His face was in my neck, but I could see his sheepish little nod in the reflection from the microwave. My brave little boy didn’t even call for help. Probably was afraid to get caught in the act of filching!

  I used to think Anna Kathryn was the calmest of children under stress. But I think William has her beat.

  • 4:32 pm
  • 3 Comments