Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Funny thing happened on the way home from Buffalo

Parenting is full of those moments when you just have to laugh at yourself. The other day I had bought a few wooden puzzles for Charlie at a consignment sale. Then, I let Charlie play with one of the puzzles (featuring utility vehicles with sound effects) while we drove to Buffalo to meet the grandparents. Charlie was headed there to spend his very first weekend with Gramps and Gram-- sans parents-- Whoo hoo. Anyway, we successfully exchanged our cargo (one rambunctious toddler) after dinner and headed home. Bob and I were chatting when suddenly we started to hear a police siren. Bob looked anxiously in the mirror, then (nervous laugh) realized that it was the puzzle. A few minutes later we heard an airplane taking off, then an ambulance wailing. It was like the puzzle was possessed. After another ten minutes or sporadic sound effects, I started scrambling around in the back seat trying to find all the pieces. My theory was that the pieces had to be in their place to silence the noises. So, yes, this worked! The only problem was that we couldn't find the locomotive or the helicopter. My solution was to hold the puzzle in my lap with a forefinger strategically placed over the sensor in both of the empty puzzle spots. Silence was restored...almost...I could not stop giggling!

3 comments:

rachel said...

That is too funny!! It reminds me of a time when Doug's brother had left borrowed our car and left some of his kids' toys in the trunk - which we didn't know. I was driving home from work one day and getting freaked out, because the radio was off, and I kept hearing this low voice coming from somewhere! Thankfully, I remembered that Doug's bro had borrowed the car, and upon arriving home, I quickly emptied all the contents of the trunk!

Anonymous said...

Haha =) Jay has a similar puzzle. We found out about those possessed sensors when we turned the lights in his room off at bedtime -- and the changing light would set the sirens wailing. (Real conducive to sleeping, right?) That puzzle now lives in the living room, on a high shelf where I can monitor its use and make sure we don't lose any of those pieces...though in a pinch, turning the empty board face-down on a solid surface will also shut it up.

Anonymous said...

Hey Bob! This sounds like a little someone is taking after his father!I seem to remember a siren going off in the backseat being operated by 2 brothers,scaring their father into slowing done and checking how fast he was going-with this ocurring only a day after said father was pulled over and stopped by the police because he was weaving and the police thought he was drunk-only he was disiplineing(?sp) his 2 cute misbehaving sons in the back.His sons were sure impressed with that siren though,and got their Dad good the next day-I'll never forget that one Bob!Who is Charlie taking after in this instance?Are you reaping something that was sowed??This is too cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!Love. Mom