My Hero: The Man in the Yellow Hat

We've got a 3 year old, and sometimes that's a little hectic.

And by hectic, I mean; [insert horror-movie scream here]

I know that I don't have it all that bad, comparatively.

There are hundreds of thousands of parents out there who have it WAY worse than we do, but that doesn't mean that we all don't want to pull our hair out sometimes.

At least they'll grow out of the one-sided reasoning soon...

But could you imagine having an eternal 3 year old!?!

And one who can climb trees and effectively use his feet as hands!?!

All of this in a package that could be, at any time, "returned" to somewhere other than your small-ish living quarters...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like you to meet a hero of mine:

The Man in the Yellow Hat

(sans hat)

Ben has recently been watching the PBS-kids cartoon of Curious George in the mornings. We all love it! Its got the same loveable feel as the books and cartoons from days gone by... but all the humans are WAY more patient!

It used to be that the entire town would be chasing down our little primate friend by the second-last page of the book, but now, along with "The Man", everyone else seems to have developed a knowing tolerance for George's antics.

Could you just imagine though, your three-year-old wanders off on his own (I'm assuming that George's developmental state is roughly similar, and I know that might be a little optimistic, but let's go with it...), he wanders off on his own and drives a steam-shovel into a building under construction... after he pours wet cement all over the workmen's tools... after he eats all the lunches... after he dumps a bucket of rivets from a 5th story I-beam onto the Foreman's head... after... what?... "My monkey wandered off and may or may not be in that construction site!?!"

OK, so maybe "The Man" isn't a prime example of parental watchfulness, but he is a prime example of parental patience and unswervingly committed forgiveness and love!

There's ALWAYS a picture like this at the end of a Curious George book:

And it makes me wish that I was able to be more patient in the moments of craziness...

I mean, come on! Why stress, right? Let's all just put on a yellow outfit and 'chill'! Its not like we have to wear a ten-gallon hat the color of mustard and live life without a proper first name...

"Um... Excuse me! You forgot to mention my cool tie!"

...the model dad in every way.

...