Houdweebie
Josh’s parents have often spoken of Josh’s childhood in terms of “Houdweebie” stories. They are basically odd things that Josh would do to escape situations and pretty much just be the weird kid that he was.
Here is a recording (from Josh and Kevin‘s college radio show Mission Control) of Josh’s mom sharing some Houdweebie stories about Josh:
Well, I think those wonderful genes have been passed down to Caleb.
First, Caleb has escaped the church nursery (out the first gate only) twice. TWICE. How many other babies have I known that have escaped even once? None. I haven’t even seen another child consider it. But, Caleb has learned to sit very very quietly near the gate (while feigning interest in a toy) and pay close attention to adult movement. When he sees an adult reach for the gate, he quickly slips in step behind them. Luckily, the second gate is not as easy to get out of, and he has just cried and banged on it, which alerts people that he escaped (again) so they can put him back in the nursery.
I have since had people in the nursery, upon finding that I was Caleb’s mom, say, “Oh, he’s the escape artist.” Indeed. He’s our Houdweebie.
On a similar note, although not a story of escape, we have found that Caleb has also developed excellent slight of hand skills. In the nursery at our church, babies are labeled on the back so we know who they are and if they have any special needs. So, every baby has a name tag, and some babies have special instructions (usually “diaper rash,” “spits up,” etc.). Recently, while I was working in the nursery while Caleb was in there, another volunteer pointed to an unidentified child and said, “Who is that baby?” It was at this point in time that we realized that not just that one, but FIVE babies did not have nametags on their backs to identify them. This baffled us since all of these babies had nametags when they came in.
Well, I didn’t have to look any further than my own son, sitting quietly in the corner playing with five sticky nametags. Though we were all playing with the babies, none of us noticed Caleb’s little collection spree.
The next time I picked Caleb up in the nursery, besides having his own name stuck to his back, he had another identifier “Escapes. Steals nametags.”
So, already at 14 months of age, Caleb has begun racking up his own Houdweebie stories. But, now he’s going to have to up the ante because we’re all on to him. I hope his next attempts include something cool like a top hat and a small flock of doves.
You don’t remember why PBCC got those little locks on the doorhandles? it was a little girl named Abby that escaped and it was more than once. we had wiggly worms at our house too…we’ll have to swap stories some time!