Okay, so over the last few months, I have become very aware of an annoying trait that I (and other people in my family) may possibly possess. Turns out, I'm a loud talker. Who knew? Well, I'm guessing pretty much everyone I have ever known knows, but I had no idea. Perhaps I'm a little hard of hearing or something.
The reason this has become so glaringly obvious to me is lately we have been trying to teach Zachary the difference between indoor and outdoor voices. Turns out, he has only an outdoor voice and beyond that, apparently so do I. It is really crazy annoying. I'm not sure how anyone hangs out with me and to all of my friends that have hung in there for me, thank you. I'm so grateful that you want to still associate with me with the potential damage I have done and continue to do to your eardrums.
So Zach recently went on a shopping trip with some friends to Target and even his three year old friend had to tell him to tone it down a bit. The kid is amazingly loud. And amazingly neurotic. We are really struggling with him right now - not only with his noise level but also his ability to freak out about pretty much anything: He can't get his shirt off, he can't turn on the water, his sister looked at him, his seat belt is stuck, you get the picture. I have taken to calmly telling him to calm down, it's not that big of a deal which is met with one of the following responses (at an amazing decibel, usually in some sort of enclosed space that makes the sound even further resonate): "I can't talk normally!" "Don't tell me to calm down - that is a naughty word!" "It is stupid - goll dangit!" The other bad thing about this trait in Zach is that you never really know what is going to come out of his mouth. It could be something amazingly clever or witty, but often it is something amazingly clever and inappropriate.
If I will warn my kids of one thing, it is that God has an amazing sense of humor and a way to craftily work some karmic retribution in little ways in my children (and therefore, the same will be true for their children). Zach is obviously pay back for all of my friends and family that has put up with my super loud voice over the last 33 years. By the way, I am now incredibly self conscious, so if you are talking to me on the phone and I suddenly drop the noise level, it is because I just remembered that I don't have to shout at you.
