My youngest son is sick, so while he and my wife were at the doctor's office, Elijah and I had to find things to occupy our free time. Amazingly, I was able to fire up the grill and cook hot dogs for lunch without any major mishaps. I credit the toy bus that was the first thing in view on the porch this morning, and I think that Elijah got so engrossed in the bus and his little 'peoples for the bus' that I was able to cook two hot dogs without either burning the food or my kid (just kidding on the kid part, although his desire to 'help' always brings him too close to the stove or grill, in my opinion).

 

At any rate, we had a great morning making our first pirate sword. My creation looks somewhat more like a knight's sword, but since he's two, I think I can get by without too much scrutiny. Of course, now that we have the sword, here come the inevitable sword fights. I realize now that he likes the thing so much, we have to be sure that hedoesn't hit his little brother with it, so it looks like a stress-free afternoon activity will only create more stress down the line. Boy, I love being a dad! :)