07/08/2007

Nathan doesn't understand the concept of personal space. Perhaps he has some feelings in regard to how much space he himself would prefer to have, but when it comes to others, he feels no reason to ever restrain himself. Parents have to cope with this in their children. At this stage of the game, strangers are finding their space invaded by our toddler as well. This problem becomes most apparent at restaurants. Booths are perfect spy stations, and Nathan has been known to crawl back and forth over the table peeking into the booths on either side of us. On rare occasions some ornery individual who likely has no experience with children gives a look that indicates they feel very violated by our peeping Tom, but for the most part, people are quite taken with the little Toddler. Most especially taken, we have found, are the old and the lonely. We purposely aim to sit by those who have learned patience throughout the years and are deaf enough to tolerate Nathan's outside voice. The other day at Ryan's Restaurant we found one such neighbor.

I didn't ever catch his name. Nathan might recall who he was, but he doesn't contribute to the writing of the Jones' Chronicle, so this man will remain nameless. He was eating alone, definitely taking his time, and even commented to the waitress that he was just sitting and 'waiting for the food to settle.' Waiting for food to settle? That is something you NEVER do when you eat out with kids! Anyway, Nathan struck up a conversation with this man. It consisted of the only regular vocabulary terms that Nathan has: Hi, Bye (said while ducking behind booth), Hi (again and again), laughing (not a word, I guess), and Coke?? Peeeeas? (this was directed at us, not the Grandfatherly gent.) The man was delighted with this attention from someone...anyone. Nick finally felt guilty about permitting the conversation to continue with this lack of depth and he joined in, speaking in full sentences, with our new friend. One thing leads to another...

'Grandpa', as it turns out, has grandsons who are all "older" now. He thinks the best thing about being a grandparent is the ability to spoil children rotten. Nathan jumped in and said something equivalent to a definite concurrence at this point. As it turns out, 'Grandpa' thinks he may have some toys appropriate for a male toddler in the back of his pickup truck. He'd hate to see them go to waste. Wouldn't Nathan like one or two? Again, Nathan responds positively to the suggestion. When our meal comes to a close, he leads us out to his pickup and presents Nathan with two toddler-style plastic dump trucks. You know, Tonka or something like that? Nathan is thrilled! "Tuck, Tuck!" he says. This sort of thing happens to Nathan all the time. It also used to happen to my brother Kyle all the time.

Kyle, like Nathan, had wispy white/blond hair that was kept in a short, boyish haircut. Kyle also had big, blue, expressive eyes and a HUGE grin. And, the mystery ingredient: charm. I read somewhere that charm is something you are either born with or without. Nathan was born with two doses. Everywhere we go, Nathan (just as occurred with Uncle Kyle) is treated like royalty: Free toy for the toddler, a sample of Godiva chocolate for the little man, and even, once, $20 for his college fund. Randomly, out of the blue...I wish I had that effect on people! It's hard to tell where he got this innate ability to woo people. I don't think it was me...I'm a little too sarcastic to win over the multitudes. Maybe Nick? Maybe it was Uncle Kyle. I suspect perhaps I was a gene carrier.

Here is Nathan at the beach. He is playing with his toys and his new trucks. We spent a while on Galveston today. It was hot, but Nathan enjoyed himself. Look at his blondies! I think they are darling!