The Pacifier Switcheroo
A few nights ago, I was putting down my nine-month-old for the night. On this particular night, I was going solo, as Brenda was away at a work event. We always sing together to Drake when we put him down for bed, but Brenda typically takes the final act: she sings one of my songs, Mercy Falls, when she puts him into his crib. On this night, I was singing Edelweiss to Drake as I rocked him and moved towards his crib. As I began singing Mercy Falls, however, Drake got this mischievous grin on his face, pulled out his pacifier and began trying to put it in my mouth. Recently, I have been making him laugh by taking out his pacifier and putting it in my mouth. He always gets the funniest grin on his face and a quizzical look, as if he gets the joke but is thinking, “That doesn’t belong there!” So Drake turned the joke around on me. When I began singing my own song to him, he pulled the “pacifier switcheroo,” shoving his binky towards my lips. I grabbed it in my teeth and then kept right on singing through clenched teeth and a smile, with Drake laughing the entire time. So there you have it: at nine months old, my son pulls his first practical joke. You had better believe that this boy has a sense of humor.