Adventures Of Fatherhood

Adventures Of Fatherhood
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The mind of a 3-year-old is a wonderful thing.

That’s what I was thinking as I overheard a conversation on Saturday afternoon between Pam and Beckett, who was trying to work his charm on his mom after losing a perk due to some bouts of misbehavior.

Earlier in the day, Beckett had been asking about ice cream, and, as we are often prone to do, we told him it depended on whether he wore his listening ears on that particular day.

Eventually, after about a dozen too many bouts of defiance, Beckett lost the ice cream treat.

It didn’t much matter to Carson, as he has a diary allergy, although he’s just as excited over a simple cone because he’s never had ice cream before, or at least the kind with milk in it.

After it started to sink in that he wasn’t getting ice cream, Beckett didn’t lose his cool. Instead, he immediately resorted to trying to charm us.

That’s a significant progression for him and seems to be a sign of maturity.

Since Pam was the one who retracted the treat, he set his sights on her and immediately starting calling her “pretty” (as well as “handsome” just to make sure he was covered on all fronts) and using excellent manners.

This was the conversation I overheard.Beckett: “Can you please turn up the volume, please, mommy? Thank you.”Pam: “Very nice manners Beckett”.Beckett: “Thanks Mommy, you’re pretty. “
Pam: “Thank you Beckett.”
Beckett: “You’re welcome … now can I have some ice cream, mommy?”
I admired his tenacity and creative approach to schmoozing to get his way.

However, it didn’t work on this particular day, but we made the same deal with him on Sunday. It appears the message was received, as he was able to get his chocolate ice cream cone on the Boardwalk.

Carson did, too, but just without the ice cream, and he didn’t seem to mind at all.
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Hats are big around our house, as evidenced by the 20 or so that are piled in a basket for the kids to use liberally.

My favorite hat of late is the Baltimore Ravens’ helmet that’s big enough to fit me and engulfs the heads of Beckett and Carson.

Carson does not seem to have a favorite hat, but he has recently been leaning toward a camouflage baseball hat handed down to him. What’s funny is he never puts it on straight, it’s either cocked to the side or on backwards, and it’s never on for very long unless he forgets about it.

In those rare moments it’s on for a while, it can be a funny scene. My red-haired, blue-eyed son is quite the sight riding his Winnie the Pooh airplane around the house with his camouflage turkey federation hat on sideways.

Oddly enough, Beckett’s favorite now that the Santa gear has been stowed away for the year seems to be a cowboy hat that hasn’t fit him in at least three years. It’s incredibly small.

For some reason, he likes this hat a lot. From what I can tell, I think it’s the fact he tries to balance it on his head. It’s a hat he wore to his cousin’s 4-year-old birthday party (cowgirl theme) three years ago when he was just a few months old.

It looks so completely ridiculous resting atop his head as he walks around the house that it’s actually cute.

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Sibling relationships are interesting to observe at all ages for a variety of reasons, but when it comes to watching my two young boys together it’s all about the unknown.

With my kids, being prepared for the unexpected is always the best play because they are both unpredictable and capable of just about anything.

That makes life a lot of fun, but also exhausting as we have to be on our toes at all times if their eyes are open.

This is particularly the case with Carson, who seems to have gained some sort of insane climbing ability along the way.

It’s not so much that he can scale anything that’s in front of him. It’s the pace that he accomplishes the feat that I marvel over.

What has developed of late is Beckett has donned the role of Carson’s cheerleader. This seems a bit odd considering Beckett is the oldest, but nonetheless it’s something that has come about recently.

For example, one of Carson’s favorite things to do is push over all the dining room chairs and position them so that he can easily climb atop the table. Usually, that goal can be averted thanks to the crashing sound of the chairs toppling over.

Of late, through a little teamwork, the boys seem to have perfected a plan, where Beckett encourages Carson to knock over the chairs and then he helps Carson climb atop the table through some ingenious distractions.

However, as soon as Carson reaches the table, Beckett yells for us to tattletale on his younger brother.

What’s most interesting is when I rush to get Carson off the table Beckett just stands by and watches, presumably to see how much trouble his younger brother gets into.

He usually adds, “see Carson, you have to turn your listening ears on.”

About The Author: Steven Green

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The writer has been with The Dispatch in various capacities since 1995, including serving as editor and publisher since 2004. His previous titles were managing editor, staff writer, sports editor, sales account manager and copy editor. Growing up in Salisbury before moving to Berlin, Green graduated from Worcester Preparatory School in 1993 and graduated from Loyola University Baltimore in 1997 with degrees in Communications (journalism concentration) and Political Science.