Beware the Look
June 17th, 2009 by Grandpa OddballCopyright © GetOddNews and Grandpa Oddball June 17, 2009. All rights reserved.
Getting bored my daughter asked if they could wade through a puddle or two. Well, they had boots on and seeing no harm I said okay. Of course they chose the largest puddle in the yard but it was only a 3 or 4 feet across and initially didn’t look more than an inch or two deep so I had no qualms in letting them proceed. Surely the boots would protect them.
Well they attacked that puddle with gusto, especially my son. Only a few years old he seemed to delight in stomping through the puddle and his enthusiasm was infectious. In short order they were not just stomping but spinning, kicking and jumping in that puddle sending sprays of water and mud flying everywhere. They were busying having a great time when my wife and her uncles came out to join us.
Swirling dancing steam tendrils framed the look in a most impressive way. I’d never encountered the look quite like this before and I can tell you it was both awesome and a little bit unsettling. Discretion mandated standing rock still since I could tell from the look accompanied by a confused babble of angry and reassuring and mostly incoherent sounds my wife uttered that something apparently was wrong. I’m not sure what. The kids were having a grand time, her uncles seemed quite amused and besides it only took twenty minutes in the shower to clean the children up. We were only an hour late to dinner and everyone except my wife seemed to enjoy themselves.
See, no big deal. It was really quite amusing. I’d have forgotten it years age except that it seems to keep coming up in conversation with my wife all the while accompanied by another instantiation of the look.
What else can I say? I guess wives are like that.
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I love this story. I don’t know why “the look” gets such a bad rap. Seems to me it is part of good mothering. It reminds me of the time I came home from work and Chuck had all four kids in the back yard painting the yard furniture. White paint everywhere (even on the grass) alog with four kids wielding brushes somehow didn’t quite mix. They all remember fondly that time and with much laughter too. I am pretty sure “the look” was evident on that long ago day.
Love, Selma
Well, I just have a couple of comments. One, we were on our way to Minnesota when this incident happened. And two, I think any mother out there would agree with me that “the look” was well deserved! ‘Innocent’, my eye. We were getting ready to go to a restaurant for dinner and all I could do was shove both kids into the shower, clothes and all! Luckily we had changes of clothes for both of them in the car; otherwise I would have had to do a quick load of laundry. The kids were 6 and 2 so of course they relished jumping in the puddles! Even 30 years later my uncle laughed about the ‘mud puppies’. MEN!!!!!