Busted by a Three-Year-Old

My wife came home from work on Saturday and we all decided to head over to the mall for some shopping and dinner. 'Tis the season, right?

I had just spent the morning alone with my girls and was relieved to have my wife home from work to lend a hand, although Saturday mornings are my favorite as far as 'Daddy Time' goes.

As we were headed over to the mall, my three-year-old daughter chimed in from the back seat,

"Daddy! Tell Mommy about when you got MAD!"

Uh oh, I thought. Here it comes. I replied,

"Yes, Daddy got a little mad this morning but it's OK now."

Just when I thought that this would blow over...she chimed in again,

"Yes, Mommy. Daddy bonked-ed his head on the kitchen chair and he got mad...and yelled at it...and then he KICKED it!"

Yep, I was toast. I've got a pretty good handle on the old Italian temper these days. Still, I was bent down, trying to fix a loose screw on the cast-iron chair when the phone rang, the doorbell rang, the baby started crying, and the dog started barking.

I jumped up and slammed the right side of my eye socket right into the cast-iron chair. For a moment, I thought I was going to have a black eye and I momentarily went a little ape.

I could tell that I had scared my three-year-old, though, so I immediately went over and told her I was sorry for yelling at the chair (no BAD words, thank goodness) and that I shouldn't have kicked it.

I also made sure she knew that I wasn't mad at her, that I had just gotten mad at that silly chair.

Eventually, the family had a good laugh about what is now known as 'the kitchen chair incident'.

For now, I am focusing on 'breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out'. :-)