When I was a Lad

Prince likes throwing rocks. In an attempt to help him stop, I told him about "back when I was a little boy." I threw a rock and unintentionally smashed a car window. I spent the next two+ years paying to have it replaced. I was very sad to have broken the window. 

While telling the story may not have stopped his rock throwing, it has given him a newfound interest in his parents.

"Daddy, what else did you do when you were a little boy?" he asked the other day. That led to a family time sharing of pictures of me as a little boy and stories of some of the less-violent things I did ... like play chess as a two year old, for instance.

Then yesterday he told Joy, "Mommy, once when you were a little boy, you threw a rock and broke a car. Pop was really mad."

Oh, did I, she asked.

He continued, "What did you do when you were a little kid? What next when you little kid?"

J: "I told him that I went out and made friends and brought lots of people home and sang and skipped to school. He asked me why I skipped school. I said, no, I didn't skip school, I skipped TO school, and I showed him how I skipped. ... Let's see, what else? I told him I liked to sing in the choirs."

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Another interesting conversation happened when Prince bit the inside of his mouth. Joy expressed her empathy by telling him she was sorry.
"Did you do that to me?" he queried. "Then why do you say sorry?"

For some reason, Joy thinks he gets that from me. I think he gets it from her because I've had to learn to stop telling her I am sorry for her, but have to say, "I empathize," because she keeps trying to reassure me that life isn't my fault if I say "sorry." As a result, I find this comic hilarious. [On showing Joy the comic, she says that it was in reference to that that she thinks it's my fault.]
 -- Derrill