The Payoff for Tedium

I feel I should set the record straight on a statement I made on the last post, about parenthood always degenerating into unrelenting tedium. While true, it sounds more negative than it really is. I mean, sure, I really can't think of a great positive to the fact that every single day I have to wipe multiple bottoms other than my own, but other things that children do on repeat definitely make this gig more pleasant.

Take, for example, that book I mentioned, The Big Caribou Herd. All three of my children LOVE this book. It's about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and all the animals in it. It is, as I said, a very long book. But when I read it with Jack, he always, without fail, makes a growling sound when he sees the grizzly bear, a hooting sound when he sees the snowy owl, and a howling sound when he sees the wolves.

There are few things more adorable than a toddler trying to growl like a bear.

But there is one thing even more adorable and endearing than that. When we read Time for Bed and we get to the page with the deer: "Time to sleep, little deer, little deer. The very last kiss is almost here." On cue, every blessed time, Jack turns and gives me a kiss.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we soldier on with the unrelenting tedium.

Those kids sure are clever that way.