Good Dad, Bad Dad

I can be both a good dad and a terrible dad at the same time: I make sure the boys are fed enough and on time. But I feed them chocolate cereal and muddy buddies. Then, I give them a bath--mostly, I fill the tub up with water--a couple inches or so--and then I sit and wait while they play in the tub. When they start crying I take them out, dry them off and get them dressed for the night.
Tonight, we watched Cinderella after the bath.
And,oh, I don't leave them alone in the tub--that would make me a really terrible dad. I sit next to the tub and think about other stuff--you know power tools....and water skiing.

Every now and then Oliver will wind himself up into a roaring cry. It sounds like the cranking of an engine when you turn the key until it turns over. Oliver does the same thing. Only, it usually stops after 10 seconds. I started timing it.
The other day, though, Jonah and he were playing quietly in the front room and I was in the kitchen--(I could have been on Facebook for the terrible dad scenario). And Oliver started his cry up. And it didn't stop. I thought, 'Hmmm, that's longer than usual.' When I went into him after a minute, he had been playing with a clothespin and got it stuck on his finger. Poor guy.
Am I going to be accused of child neglect for posting this?
As soon as I took it off his finger, he immediately stopped crying and resumed playing. What a trooper.
And I went back to doing the dishes.

Um, tonight I fed the boys Jambalaya with sausage. It was spicy and delicious. Jonah loves the stuff. Oliver stopped eating the rice after two bites, and only ate sausage from then on. Jonah has acquired an immunity to spicy foods. At first, his cheeks would be wet from watering eyes as he continuously shoveled the food into his mouth. Now, he just shoves it right in with no symptoms.
Is it time to increase the level of heat and spice?

Just now--and I'll finish with this--Jonah came out of his room and asked me to sing him a song. I put him to bed over 3 minutes ago. But, I obliged and I asked him which song from my repertoire he'd like me to sing. After a few offers and his response of no's, I just started sing the 'little brown mouse' song. It's about a little brown mouse that laps up the spilled liquor on a bar room floor and at a quarter past 2, eats a 'gosh-darn cat'.