The Universal Parental Poker Face

Last night as I walked home with Theo we passed the steps that go up to the subway. As usual, he started pulling me with all his might, trying to get me to go up the stairs so we could take the train. This tugging was accompanied, naturally, by whining.

I put on my best stern mom face and voice and made him cross the street to go home. But of course, I was secretly beaming. My cute little boy just wanted to take the train. Thousands of grumpy New Yorkers begrudgingly get on the train each day as a means of transportation and nothing more. But not to my frog. For Theo the train is a source of sheer joy and entertainment.

The other day Joe was carrying Theo on his shoulders. When they passed by those same subway steps, Theo turned Joe's head to the train as if Joe were a horse that Theo was trying to change direction by tugging on his reins. Similar to my story, Joe scolded him to stop but was really bursting with laughter.

This reminded me of the story I was told where our nephew Ethan walked in with his pants down and wearing sunglasses on his hoo-ha. He announced, "look, my balls are on vacation!" You can imagine the room full of poker faces!