This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Dunking
Sep
2
2008
The Labor Day weekend was a relaxing one. The weather cooperated quite nicely, and one late afternoon I sat outside reading a magazine while the kids played in the large plastic tub better known as a kiddie pool. It was filled with water, of course, which made all the nearby vegetation jealous as they have not received much rain lately and were probably thirsty.
Part of my job as a parent is to ensure that the children share, play together, avoid injury, have fun, etc. So I would take breaks from my magazine to help them with the hose, pick some apples from the tree and throw them in the pool, or whatever. The older son wanted to bob for apples, so that’s what the apples were for. He made me go first, so I tried a couple of times and did get anything. He went next and spun the apple around so the stem was up, then he just bit the stem and pulled out the apple. The younger son didn’t want to play.
A little later, after I had read some more, I heard the older one telling me that his brother had dunked him in the pool. It is not uncommon for one of the two to do something not nice to the other, and then the other comes to me and complains. So when I heard that he had dunked him in the pool, I assumed it was a complaint and started to proceed down the let’s-play-nicely path. But I was mistaken, as they were both in a good mood.
It turned out that they were pretending to be at a dunk tank, as they had seen real-life dunk tanks in operation at both a local festival and a local fair. The kids had set a T-ball tee in the pool and a plastic chair next to the pool. One child would sit in the chair and the other would throw apples at the tee. If he hit the tee, the other child would slide himself off the chair and into the pool. So he wasn’t complaining, he just wanted me to watch the operation.
For those who were wondering, I did empty the pool by dumping its water into the closest flower bed. At least some of the plants also enjoyed their Labor Day holiday.
“Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree;”
– Genesis 18:4
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 10:03 pm and has been carefully placed in the Family category.
