Dads Ink - 2010

I have a recliner at home.  It's mine.  I like to be in it.  But when I am in the recliner and my wife isn't around, it goes like this: first, I make they boys get out of my recliner so I get sit down; then, the dog comes over to get in my lap; seeing the dog causes my youngest to come over and climb up in my lap; seeing the youngest causes the oldest to come over and climb up in my lap.  Four out of the five members of the Maples Family are in my recliner.  And all I was trying to do was watch football or play Angry Birds.

At one point this weekend, the above happened.  Sometimes it can be a lot, especially when no one wants to be still.  So I made all three of them get down.  "Get off of me!"

Then, after failing at my stage of Angry Birds a few times, I remembered just how fast these boys are growing up.  Just yesterday - it seems - I was bringing them home from the hospital.  All of a sudden, one is almost in Kindergarten and the other is, well, like the Tazmanian Devil.  And if they're growing up this fast overnight, it's only a matter of another day or two until they don't even want to be in my lap.  And when that day comes, I'm going to be very sad.  So I put down Angry Birds and made them all come back over so we could watch cartoons and I could tickle their bellies.  Then we all got in the floor to roll around and wrestle.  It was much more gratifying than Angry Birds.