Photo-A-Day #3831

So, do you recall yesterday when I was proud of Andrew for being our Character Switcher when we play Disney Infinity 3.0? I was excited as I looked on while Andrew put out all those toys, those figures so that he could get them ready for everyone to use. Tonight after dinner while I was preparing to leave for work I was saying goodbye to the kids and Allison. The kids usually come and give me one more hug a few times over. Andrew went back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. The kids had been playing Disney Infinity 3.0 before dinner and there were a ton of figures out on the floor.

Andrew came down the hall slowly and I heard him say “Uh Oh”. Eva, always wanting to know what is happening intercepts Andrew and she’s crestfallen. In Andrew’s hands is Darth Vader. He’s been snapped off of the base and his lightsaber has also popped off. Andrew held it up to me and told me that he broke it. He had stepped on the figure. He’s almost four and at that age you don’t look where you step. I’ve seen him plow over all sorts of things rather than pick them up. I have tried and tried and tried to get him to look where he is going and where he is stepping. Frankly, I’m surprised that this hasn’t happened sooner.

Actually, I take that back. Up to this point I have only allowed the kids to play with the Skylanders and Disney Infinity characters while under my supervision. Up until this point I only had the figures out while I was playing. The kids have shown interest in the game and I like that. So, I let them play more freely with the figures. However, like any other toy in the house the kids leave them around and don’t pick up unless expressly asked to do so. So this one got broken.

I accepted the toy from Andrew. I saw that Darth Vader was separated from his base. The lightsaber was also disconnected. Nothing looked like it was snapped in an odd place and it could easily be fixed with some super glue. Was I disappointed in his lack of care and paying attention? Yes. As I was processing this Eva said, “I really thought that you were going to yell.”

That took me aback a bit. I am a dad who yells. Before we had Andrew I wasn’t a dad who yelled. We could ask Eva to do something and she would do it no questions asked. With Andrew we have to tell him repeatedly and often loudly to get him to even recognize that we are speaking to him. Oh he hears us fine, he’s just very willful. And he keeps doing dangerous things because he is nearly 4. In this moment however, I did not want to yell. I didn’t feel the need to yell. I simply took the figure’s base and placed it on the game, it still worked. So no real harm done.

I did have Andrew pick up the other figures and put them away and I probably won’t let him put them all out on the floor for a while but I didn’t yell. I’m going to try and do less yelling. I don’t like it and I see that Eva sees me doing it. I see her doing it too and I don’t like it. So I have to be the one who changes and show both kids that it can be done. It certainly won’t be easy, especially on those Fridays when I know I won’t get any sleep and Andrew won’t nap. But I’ll try.