The Dynamic Duo

Greetings Dynamic Duo Readers.

Well, it seems that all my good intentions have gone by the wayside. My plan was to put Johnny to shame by dazzling everyone with my frequent, witty and piquant posts, but something got in the way. It’s called LIFE.
And, frankly, UltraBob’s snake story and video left me in awe. That’s a pretty hard act to follow.
   A topic occured to me today as my boss, the bank manager was relating how his little daughter, Mayla (about 9 months old) fell off the porch. It seems she had just handed him the family kitten, and was so proud of herself that she toddled backwards right off the porch. She escaped with minor cuts and bruises, thankfully.
It reminded me of a time when I had toddlers of my own. We lived in, what we now call, the “old house.” We now live in a newer manufactured home, but then, in the late 1970’s, early 1980’s we lived in the old house, which still stands on our property. And it is OLD. The story is that it was a Sears and Roebuck mail order house from many decades earlier. That’s right; you used to be able to order a house out of a catalog, but it came unassembled. It sounds quite daunting to me, but I think people were a little more resourceful back when. The plumbing and electricity were a nightmare. Nothing was a standard size, as my husband discovered whenever he had to repair something, and if I tried to use the stove and clothes dryer at the same time, we always blew a fuse, and I would have to trudge down the rickety stairs to the basement to replace it. Circuit breakers are a much better way to go! I think we spent a small fortune on fuses. Also, there was (and still is) a concrete platform outside the front door with some concrete steps leading down. That was what we called the porch. I think, however, that it was a similiar porch at Ultrabob’s grandparents house that was the star of the following tale. It, however was made of wood instead of concrete. But I digress….....
Bob was always single minded, and when an idea took hold of his mind, all other notions would flee. He was often so focused on the thought of the moment that practical things were relegated to the nether regions of unimportance. For instance, we would NEVER find his shoes together in the same place. He would take one off, and then a bit later would think to take the other one off, and could never remember just where that was. On this particular day, little Ultrabobby (yes, I know, but we DID call you Bobby back then. I wouldn’t do it NOW) was playing outside at his Grandparents home, and I was visiting with his grandmother. Suddenly we heard the sound of crying, and when we responded we found him laying in the grass, very upset. “What happened, Honey?”
“I fell off the porch!” “How did you do that?” “I don’t know. I was just singing, walking backwards with my eyes shut.” To this day, we don’t know how it possibly could have happened.
Another porch tale involves Johnny, and this time we will go back to the concrete porch at our own dwelling. Johnny was the cutest little boy, but he jabbered on constantly. One of the most endearing things about him was that he substitued the word “my” for the word “I”. For instance, “Can my do that? Can my have that?,” etc. As you may have experienced, or will someday as a parent, it is hard to always give the child your strict, undivided attention, especially when they are talking continually and asking SO many questions, most of which only involve a yes or no answer. “Is that a bug? Is it pretty? Does the bird want to eat it? Are you watching me? Can my catch the bug?” etc. etc. etc. I was fondly gazing at my loquacious little son, absently intoning “uh huh” or “um hum” whenever a pause in his ceaseless queries seemed to call for a response. I was snapped back into awareness, however, when I suddenly saw him flying through the air after leaping off the the concrete porch (about 4 feet high). I belatedly realized that his last question had been “Can my jump?” Again, some crying, cuts and bruises, and a remorseful mother vowing to think before answering in the future.
So, what is your favorite porch, or falling off something story? Let’s see if we can generate as much enthusiasm for this fascinating topic as we did for huge, ugly reptiles.

Ultramom