Edison Update

Being our firstborn, Edison provides us with many parental firsts. That means that a lot of the awe of being an adult parent can be attributed to what Eddie does. It seems that every few months, he seems a year or two older. There have been a lot of fun developments and stories revolving around him lately. I’m going to share some now.

In the fall, Edison took gymnastics lessons. Melanie and I got him into gymnastics because it was something he was genuinely interested in. He loved it, and would often count how many days (or, in his terms, how many sleeps) remained until he would return to gymnastics. Gymnastics has now come to an end for the season, although he’ll be starting again in January. In the meantime, soccer has started. (Yes, outdoor soccer can start in December when you live in Florida.) It’s only been a few weeks, and he’s had some mixed feelings about it. (Soccer isn’t something he was especially interested in, but he wanted to try it.) Overall, I think he likes it. He’s been especially excited since Melanie and I got him some shin guards and a soccer ball with which to practice at home, and his team (the Rapids) gave him a jersey. He now wants to practice soccer every day. If I do say so myself, he’s got a rather powerful kick. I’m hoping this will be a very rewarding experience for him.

Eddie is also a great source of entertainment. He’s still not quite getting knock-knock jokes, but he loves them anyway. I recently told him the old “orange you glad I didn’t say banana” one. He now repeats it back to me in varied forms, usually something along the lines of this:

Edison: Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
Edison: Banana.
Me: Banana who?
Edison: Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
Edison: Banana.
Me: Banana who?
Edison: Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
Edison: Banana.
Me: Banana who?
Edison: Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
Edison: Banana.
Me: Banana who?
Edison: Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
Edison: Banana.
Me: Banana who?
Edison: Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
Edison: Banana.
Me: Banana who?
Edison: Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
Edison: Banana.
Me: Banana who?
Edison: Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
Edison: Banana.
Me: Banana who?
Edison: Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
Edison: Banana.
Me: Banana who?
Edison: Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
Edison: Orange.
Me: Orange who?
Edison: Banana, banana, banana, orange, orange, orange!

Speaking of bananas, Edison recently learned that his three-year-old friend refers to a certain part of the male anatomy as a “wee-wee.” Edison had never heard this before and was quite amused by it. He and Peter kept laughing at the idea of kicking a bad guy in his wee-wee. As we were driving home shortly after Edison learned this new terminology, he said to me, “Dad, are you thinking about wee-wees?” I said, “No, son, but I can tell you are. Just let me know if it becomes a problem and you start thinking about them a lot.” Several minutes later, after a few moments of silence, Edison suddenly chimed in and said quite seriously: “Dad, I think I’ve got a problem. I’m thinking about wee-wees.” Melanie and I nearly passed out from laughing so hard.

And finally, a couple of days ago, we returned to the Wild Adventures amusement park for which we bought season passes not that long ago. It was only our second time there, but Edison was much braver. He went with me on a ride called Aviator, which is basically like a giant swing that lifts you high above the ground and has you go around in circles at a rather brisk speed. He loved it and immediately wanted to go on the ride again with Melanie. He had refused to go on this ride on our previous visit. Even more surprisingly, after watching Melanie go on Swamp Thing, a relatively mild roller coaster where the track is above you and your feet dangle from your seat, Edison said he wanted to try it. I was amazed. I got in line to take him on it, and Melanie gave me a look of concern. She mouthed to me that it was more intense than she had expected, and she was worried Eddie might hate it. The ride was a bit jarring, mostly because it jostles your head around, but as soon as it ended, Eddie turned to me and said, “I love it! I want go on it with Mom now!” And so he did. And I took him on it again a short while later. And then he asked to go on it again, but we were already leaving the park. He has since decided that, on our next visit, he will ride Swamp Thing ten times with Melanie, ten times with me, and ten times by himself. He has also expressed interest in trying numerous other rides that he was previously opposed to trying. Wouldn’t it be funny if Edison ended up being a little thrill seeker? I wouldn’t mind it one bit.