Being a Good Daddy

When we moved into our house everyone gave us chairs.  I’m not sure what gave everyone the impression that we needed chairs.  Maybe we look like the sort of people that need to sit down.  Or maybe we look like the sort of people that like to sit down.  Whatever the reason, we must have given out the impression that we were short in the chair department.

We were given a reclining rocking chair, a red step stool, 2 fold out chairs, half a dozen folding chairs, a small kid’s recliner, 2 childrens rocking chairs, a dining room set and 2 kids wooden chairs.  Our very large “formal” room was full of chairs. for awhile we called it “The Chair Room”.  Eventually everything found a place in the house except for the kids sized furniture.   Then the room was called “The Little People Room”.  And then all of the little furniture found a place.

Since we had several small chairs, they’re all over the house.  Most of them have books and blankets on them to encourage impromptu reading and cuddling.   I think the only rooms that don’t have little chairs in them are the bathrooms.   Honestly though, I should put some in there too. Our bathrooms don’t seem to have the normal occupancy of one, but rather an average occupancy of 2-3.   I can’t seem to pee in peace!  With a small chair in there at least the kids would have somewhere to sit.  Knowing my kids though, they would be fighting over who got to sit in the chair.

Mostly who sits in the little chairs is Marshall.  Marshall may technically fit, but I doubt that an almost ten-year-old was in the design specs for these cute chairs.  Dave has fixed the legs a number of times.

This weekend Dave has made quite a dent in his to do list.  Besides being an auto mechanic, a sprinkler installer, a gardener, a plumber, an electrician, and a fix-it man, he’s also a furniture repairman.  He fixed the rocker on the chair and left it in the middle of the hallway.

Nathaniel circled it like a wary animal encountering something strange in the wild.   He walked all the way around it and then turned around and walked around it the other way.  He tapped the rocker with his foot and watched it rock and then he tapped the other rocker.  He pushed the back of the chair and watched it rock.  I told him to sit in it, he looked at me like I was crazy.  I’m not sure if he expected the leg to collapse or it to bite him.  Dave told him to run up and get his dolly.

Nathaniel ran upstairs and returned with Jesse.  I thought for sure that he’d put her in the chair and rock her like crazy.  Instead he sat down and rocked her gently on his lap.  I asked him what he was doing and he said, “I’m being a Daddy.”