Tony Woodlief | Author

Snapshots of Life

Listen

As I left my bedroom the other morning Eli’s squawks drifted up to me from the kitchen. Apparently the interval between the last dregs from his milk bottle and the next course (pancakes) had stretched out too long. He was standing at the refrigerator door, alternately banging on it with his palms and grunting with …

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Prayers

For Caleb, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. He knew I’d be home this morning, so he decided to lobby God during last night’s bedtime prayers: “…and Lord, thank you for all the wonderful things you give us…” “And please give us eggs, and bacon…” “…thank you for our home, and our …

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Vindictive

I’m not sure where he gets it, but Eli can be both stubborn and vindictive. He’s so Southern that way. Last night he sat over a wooden cut-out puzzle, slowly removing pieces and trying to fit them back into place. This proved to be immensely frustrating for him, because in his opinion each piece belonged …

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In excelsis deo

Caleb likes to read signs. He can’t actually read them yet, but he does some creative deciphering. He told me that the sign on the Minneapolis airport’s moving walkway, for example, says “go to the airport.” That doesn’t quite capture it, because he emphasizes each word when he is sign-reading. So it came out like …

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Fromage Du Pied

One night months ago Caleb noticed that little bits of fluff from his socks had collected between his toes. “What’s that?” “Toe cheese.” “Oh.” This might have been a mistake. It wasn’t really toe cheese in the improper foot care sense. It is only a matter of time before we have some embarrassing public announcement …

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The Bath

So we decided last night to bathe the two urchins at the same time. Caleb, who will soon be three, sometimes gets a bath based not on his grubbiness, but on our need for some short-term containment. “Oof!” “I tackled you on your stomach, daddy!” “Actually it was a little lower, son.” “Let’s tackle again!” …

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Good Job!

When potty training a two-year old, it’s important to give them lots of encouragement. So, my wife and I developed the habit with Stephen Caleb of saying “good job!” whenever he was, well, productive on his little plastic potty. So now, if he hears a porcelain seat being lowered, he drops what he’s doing to …

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