A little attitude adjustment

I don’t know, I guess it’s just one of those moments that makes you re-think what it takes to be happy.

My brother is in town for a visit with his wife and two sons (three and 9 months). Given that my brother was a bit of a hellion, it’s always a surprise to see that his boys are high-spirited, but basically well-behaved boys. The older boy, C, is a little mischievous and mercurial, and the younger is a pretty happy-go-lucky little soul.

It was raining yesterday, so they were stuck in the house. And while C was laying on the couch watching Sponge Bob, his little eyes just fluttered closed, in spite of the fact that he as not sleepy, and did not need a nap (at least according to him). After about 45 minutes, his mom decided that if they didn’t want him bouncing off the walls at midnight, it would be a good idea to wake him up. Maybe, the rain was messing with him, they don’t get much of it back home in Arizona. Because he was rubbing his eyes and blinking and giving a cranky “No!” to any question – “C, want some juice?” “No!” “You want a snack?” “No!” “You want to lay back down?” “No!” Just more rubbing and frowning, with his hair sticking out in all directions.

I asked him, “You want to go outside and look at the frogs?” My dad likes pottery frogs, so there are quite a few out in the front yard. After a few minutes of consideration (which evidently involves, squinching one eye and frowning a bit), I finally got an “uh-huh”, and it being the only thing that didn’t rate a “No!”, I thought I’d better jump on it. So, we found his orange Crocs, and pulled his sweatshirt hood up and ventured outside.

It was a three-year old walk. Down the sidewalk to inspect the frogs, and the gnomes that keep them company, across the street to watch the water go down the storm drain, around the corner of the house, and back up the side to make sure we caught the frog house.

But once we got back in, the eye rubbing and cranky puss were replaced with something called the “Hot Dog Dance”, which involves wigging, jumping in place, then spinning around until you fall over dizzy. And a lot of laughing.

That’s something we adults could learn from 3-year olds. It doesn’t really take that much to blow out a bad mood. A little walk. Some good stuff to look at. And it’s time to do the Hot Dog Dance