Breakfast with Henry...

01/04/2010

You would have had to have had a breakfast with a three-year old to appreciate how incredibly awesome an experience this is. 

I picked up Henry at 9am this past Saturday.  Saturday was his third birthday and to say he was a little excited would be like saying Christmas to a three-year old is just another day.  He was smiling from ear to ear and nearly jumping up and down.  Henry’s mom told me not to expect Henry to talk as much as his sister, but I think she forgot to tell Henry. He didn’t quit talking for the hour or so we were together, keeping me laughing the entire time.  Everything is wonderful to a three-year old.

Henry’s sister Vivienne and I have had many breakfasts together, just the two of us.  This day was Henry’s first with me, an event I have looked forward to since before he was born.  I have been doing this with grandkids for about ten years, asnd it is a joy to behold.  Henry and I did the Panera Bread thing – orange scones and chocolate milk.  I gave him carte blanche as he scanned the display case full of pastries, muffins and other confections, and that is what he chose.  It is what his sister gets when she and I do “Breakfast with Grampa.” As we got to the table he picked for us to sit and eat, he informed me he only liked to eat the “icing.” He also told me I had to cut the scone in “little pieces.” As he began to pick the frosting off the bits of scone, he began to enlighten me as to the musings of a three-year old.  Not everything he said quite made sense or was understood, though I nodded in the affirmative as I repeated some of his words, but needless to say, I loved every second of it, and he seemed satisfied I understood completely.

Henry talked of trains and riding on one called the “Durbin Rocket” (Durbin is a small town on route 250 in West Virginia).  He rode it on an excursion back in the summer and talks of it as if it were just yesterday.  Henry loves all things mechanical and loves anything to do with trains.

The experience for me may be one of the best of my life.  As I described it to The Nancy later that morning I found myself getting a little emotional and glassy eyed.  Three-year olds do not have an agenda.  Everything they say or do is honest and sincere.  They are just one hell of a lot of fun.

May I suggest to each of you to find one and go do breakfast?

And that is all I have to say about that…