Silence Is Golden

When I was young we had a little wooden Fisher Price giraffe that I played with. According to my mother, I spent hours sitting on it. Shortly after Jake was born my mom found a slightly older, nearly identical version on e-bay and sent it to us. Through the years our kids have all enjoyed playing with it.

Grace (approximately 9 months) aboard the giraffe

Recently part of the back came off. Thanks to the wonders of Gorilla Glue, Cam and Abby had it back in working order in no time. Not long after, I noticed that Jake had attached a little leash of sorts to the giraffe.

He is a little boy, so he couldn't just gently walk the giraffe on the leash--he was using it to twirl the giraffe around in the air. I watched and thought about issuing a warning about potential disasters or at least a reminder of the giraffe's recent surgery. But then I thought about what Jake's response to my counsel would be.

"Oh, I'll be careful, Mom." And then in his head he would be thinking something like, "Mom is always underestimating my awesome skills. Mom has no idea I can do this...or this...And she would never believe I can do this..." So I bit my tongue and didn't say anything.

Somewhat to my surprise (but not to Jake's) neither Jake, the giraffe, nor any local animate or inanimate objects were harmed during any of his stunts.

Some parenting books claim that parents should talk less and act more. I'm not sure I'm good at either one. How nice that I have so many opportunities to practice.