Earning his keep

Our first experience with the concept of someone who makes zero financial contribution to the household earning his keep (did you catch all that?) came with Captain. We got Captain, and he was (sometimes) loving and affectionate, and his funny antics and (sometimes) cuddles made it all worthwhile when we had to clean out the litter box or pick up a hairball or perform some other unsavoury cat-related task. Then, one day, Captain made a tangible contribution to the household. We had a bat in the house, and Captain caught it, a feat that neither Chad nor I could see ourselves performing; and from that day on we have given Captain a lot less grief about his lazy ways, since the price of looking after him is more than made up for in bat worries I no longer have.

As of yesterday, Liam has joined the ranks of those working for a living. The pure joy of having him around is, of course, priceless; but sometimes it's nice to get a little something more out of the deal, yaknow? A few weeks ago I was out alone looking for a Christmas item for a member of the family who may read this and who shall therefore remain nameless. I went to a local merchant in search of said item, asked for it at the register, and was coolly told that they didn't have any so I should make a trip to their sister store in London or Windsor or some other major city centre instead. On Monday Liam accompanied me back to the same store, where I asked the clerk if they would mind calling London or Windsor or some other centre to find me my item so I would know whether to head east or west, and I was thinking about when and how I would work this excursion into our schedules. Two minutes later the clerk came back to me, having located the item and having arranged with the other store to ship it into my store so I wouldn't have to make a trip to pick it up. And, I'm convinced that they did this because I had baby in tow. (I'm even convinced that it's because I was holding him in my arms, not pushing him in the stroller, and looking exactly like the run-ragged mom that I am.) I have received perks for having him with me before; people are more willing to hold the door open, or let me cut in front of them in line at the grocery store. But to have the clerk save me a major road trip: that has got to be the biggest Liam-related windfall to date. (Now let's just hope that he was cute enough to land us a slot on the CBC - then he will *really* be earning his keep.)

Despite this pleasant little turn of events, we had a day yesterday. If, last week, I said that Liam has been ten times crankier than usual, then yesterday I would say bump that up to a thousand. After being up and cranky all night, he got progressively crankier through the day, even bursting into tears if we so much as looked at him the wrong way. I must have swiped his gum looking for signs of life (a tooth, any tooth) about ten times. Nothing. Please, please, let it be soon.