For the past several months, N has been having fun experimenting with the different phrases that we use. Like all kids, he runs the gamut between understanding things we don’t expect him to, and not getting the ones that seem obvious.

At times, I’ve felt as if he’s intentionally being dense just to get a reaction. Expressing this opinion has resulted in rather extreme drops in my popularity. I suppose that’s to be expected.

A couple weeks ago, however, I learned The Truth.

He and I were home alone. I was busy doing the dishes while he was playing. I’d repeatedly explained to him that I just needed to finish my chore and then we could play together. I’d carefully pointed out that the more times he interrupted me, the longer the dishes would take.

After a brief interlude of productivity, I heard him in his bedroom. “Oh no! Oh no! Daddy, oh no!”

I ran over to see what was going on. He was standing in the middle of the bedroom, looking around. “What?” I asked. “What is it?”

“I lost it!”

“What?”

His little face started to crumple up into his crying face. “I lost it!”

I walked over to give him a hug. “What? What did you lose?”

“My temper! I lost my temper!”

I looked down to see him grinning up at me.

sigh.