Father of the year

Several months ago, we were at the grocery store and saw a little toy barbecue. Chad and I commented on it, but you didn’t pay it much attention. Fast forward to this past week, after a summer of assisting your dad with the grill almost every night… suddenly you have been talking non-stop about getting a toy barbecue. “Maybe me can have a toy barbecue,” you say, which is your way of asking.

This is the first time that I can recall you actually asking for something. When we go out shopping and you see Diego toys and play equipment and other things little kids gravitate towards, you go over to examine them and sometimes pick them up – but not once have you ever stopped to ask that one come home with us. You always return them to their spots without us even having to tell you.

I mentioned these comments of yours to your dad yesterday, and to my surprise he said that you’ve been hinting to him lately, too. And so, because it seems to mean so much to you, we wanted to get you your toy barbecue. We even thought we might be able to pick one up on clearance, given the time of year. So Chad went out and stopped at no fewer than five stores, but there was no toy barbecue to be found. He came home empty-handed. You told him you knew where in the grocery store the toy barbecues could be found, and he took you back out so you could see for yourself that they were gone.

When you came home, though, you weren’t empty-handed: you had a big set of cheap plastic toy food in your hands, and you tore into it the minute you stepped in the door. I didn’t know where Chad was at first, but then he came into the playroom. He set the little indoor grill we use in the winter (sans plug) down on the floor, and then pulled out a small set of barbecue tongs and the plastic plates and cutlery from the picnic basket… all the makings of a toy barbecue set. Better, even, because this was the actual grill you’ve seen us use day after day.

You were overjoyed, to say the least. You spent the rest of the night (and all morning today) cooking up everything: hamburgers, eggs, cookies, bananas… anything and everything made it onto that grill. You offered us plates full of food and mugs full of chocolate milk. You made me an egg, bacon and potato chip sandwich. Yum yum!

I love that Chad is so good at coming up with stuff like this for you. He totally thinks outside the box and stretches himself to make you happy. And happy you are. I think there will be a steady stream of meals from you for quite a while to come. And, come winter, I don’t even think we’ll miss having that grill for ourselves – I’d much rather continue to see you put it to such good use.