Acul

Finally! Luca finally did something naughty! I was beginning to worry about the kid. He’s so…sweet. By this time with Elijah, we had already named his evil doppelganger, “Hajile.” When Eli was almost 2, Hajile was toppling bookshelves, yanking his diaper off and whizzing all over everything that wasn’t nailed down.

Luca, is much more mellow (by the way, God. I owe you one). He would just rather lie on the floor and play fire trucks than cause me or Diana even the slightest bit of despair.

So imagine my surprise to hear Elijah running through the house shouting, “Luca did something bad! Mom! Dad! Luca did something really, really bad!”

I decided not to get into the whole tattletale thing with Eli because I was overwhelmed with curiosity. Eli led us to our guest room and Diana gasped. Elijah had drawn all over our white pleather couch with a red marker. Wait a minute. I just wrote “Elijah” out of habit. LUCA had drawn all over our white pleather couch with a red marker.

He had also drawn all over his tummy with a red marker, which was beyond cute. But the pleather couch was bad bad naughty.

“No no no, Luca! Bad boy!” The words felt new and exciting coming out of my mouth. Luca began to wail. I was getting kind of a kick out of it. But I could see Diana’s brain pot begin to boil, so I ushered Luca out of the room.

Luca looked at me and said, “I want to sit on the steps.”

“Good idea,” I said.

Luca dutifully sat on the punishment steps and I returned to the room. Diana was cleaning off the couch. Thankfully, Luca had used baby markers that easily wash off. He would live.

By then, Luca had returned from the steps. Apparently 1 minute was punishment enough. Elijah protested, “Hey! Luca got off the steps. He’s in trouble!”

I explained that he was too young to really grasp the concept of the steps, but I was sure he felt bad about his transgression.

We placed the markers out of reach and I took the boys downstairs. I could have sworn I saw a change in Luca’s face. A sense of satisfaction. Maybe “Acul” was born.