The Man of the House

Fridays with Merrick (my grandson)...chapter 14.

Merrick is closing in on 15 months. How did we go from a baby who wouldn't even crawl...into this little monster who thinks he runs the place?

He spent the first 30 minutes climbing on a diaper box that my daughter told me to take to his room. He would crawl up the box, and then stand up, and then shoot me an evil grin. I almost expected him to give me a Tarzan yell.

The next 28 minutes we watched Mickeys Clubhouse. He normally won't sit still for the whole show. Too busy. But...he's a little under the weather...so he sat on my lap for the whole 28. It was...as Minnie says..."Easy breezy...lemon squeezy."

Then the wooden blocks came out. He doesn't know it...but I am secretly testing him to see how ready he is to help Grandpa make a sand castle in Florida. So far...he is failing miserably. I make a nice block structure that is as tall as he is...again he shoots me the look...and then he goes at it with both hands until every block is off the base.

My question is this. Where does he get the gene that makes him want to control the remote? From his dad? From watching Archie Bunker? From watching Homer Simpson? I'm sure that he's never seen either show...so... from where then?

I had 2 shots of him sitting on the couch trying to change the channels. They both made him look like he was 50 years old, so I settled on this one.

I put him down for a nap at 1:30 p.m. I read my book for about 15 minutes until my eyelids grew heavy. I put my book down, and grabbed a pillow. I was just reaching Dreamland when I heard a voice..."Can we count the 5 horses?" It startled me. It was a Sesame Street toy that appartently has a mind of its own. I couldn't tell if it was Bert or Ernie.