Little man was running around in front of the bleachers when he saw a little girl about his age. He walked up and gave her the patented wave and very loud,"Hi!" that has earned him many other girlfriends. They were soon playing together and having a good time. Then, the little girl's mother made a deadly mistake.
They were playing near a sign, and the little girl's mother asked her to point to the T. As the little girl struggled, I watched my son try to contain himself. To his credit, he waited a good five second before sticking his grubby little finger over the correct letter and loudly yelling,"T!"
In case any of you were wondering if two year old girls have already developed the laser like stare when they're angry, the answer is yes. That little girl gave Garrison a look that could kill. Unfortunately, her mother didn't help her much. She promptly yells out," Thats OK! Find the S!" There was no hesitation this time. Little man immediately found and loudly proclaimed his discovery of the letter S. As if unleashing a torrent of pent up knowledge, he then began going down the letters in rapid fire yelling out each one.
The poor little girl, at this point, had no choice but to change tactics and run interference. She threw herself between little man and the sign and wouldn't let him see any of the letters. This didn't bother him in the slightest. Several inches taller than her, he simply got up on his toes, reached over her, and kept going.
Fortunately, the little girl's mother separated them at this point, otherwise little buddy probably would have been on the receiving end of his first slap from a girl. I will say that I don't think he really understood what was going on. After the little girl was dragged to the other side of the bleachers, he kept going up to her trying to get her to come back for more spelling. After a few holes burned through his forehead by her gaze, he finally dropped it.
You might ask where I was during all of this? Well, I was standing off to the side about 10 feet away rolling with laughter with other members of our family. Our general strategy was to enjoy the moment and then simply pretend to not know whose child he was if things went south quickly. Nothing will build your parent street cred like grabbing the unruly, show off toddler and loudly proclaiming that you're going to go find their mother. Dad of the year? You betcha.
