Radioactive Mommy

Tyler has recently discovered the joys of cooking. More specifically, the joys of pushing the buttons on the microwave oven. He likes to reach into the box of frozen mini-pancakes and count out 8 of them onto a paper plate. He likes to open the microwave door and carefully place his plate into the center of the oven. He will hit TimeCook and enter 45 seconds then jab the Start button. Other than closely supervising his actions and making sure he doesn't fall off the stool he's perched on, I just grin and watch his efforts.

This morning ritual went on for several days then I got a break and slept in late one morning. Daddy took over breakfast duty and Tyler schooled him in the proper Pancake Procedure. But Daddy added an interesting twist.

When I resumed my morning post as breakfast supervisor, Tyler went through the motions and made pancakes. But immediately after he hit start, he took a dive off the stool and ran to the other side of the kitchen. I watched him in bewilderment and sat down on his vacated stool.

Tyler looked at me with a stricken expression. "Mommy! You're too close! There's radiation!" That last word he whispered with a quavery note of terror in his tone.

It was just too priceless. I started to laugh! "Honey, what has Daddy been telling you?"

"The microwave has radiation and it's dangerous to be too close!"

Ah ha.

"Mommy? What's radiation?" He comes back to me and climbs into my lap on the stool.

Oh boy. So I launch myself into a little lecture about wave and particle physics. I talk about electromagnetic radiation and how it cooks the food. Meanwhile Tyler removes his pancakes from the microwave and starts eating them. I let him have the stool. I talk about uranium, fusion and nuclear reactors/power plants and ... uh ok. Tyler's eyes start to glaze over. Too much information, Mommy. He is ready for another batch of pancakes, so I stop talking and supervise the process.

As he hits start on the microwave, I suddenly lunge and snatch him off the stool screaming "Oh no! There's radiation! RUN!!!!" I bobble him up and down as I hop to the other side of the kitchen with him laughing hysterically in my arms.

"Do it again, Mommy! Do it again!"

Whew. Avoiding radioactivity is exhausting.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I've been behind since I was at the hospital, but I see you have a following, lol. Probably someone from the 'ol stomping grounds with a little too much time on their hands. Let's give them something to talk about.. Can't wait to see ya'll in October! :) -- Kim
Virginia said…
That's an adorable story!

Peace, Virginia
Chris said…
Ok, that is hilarious but one quote cracked me up even more:

sat down on his vacated stool

I know, I'm a sicko!

Chris
My Blog
LOL.I love how much you enjoy mothering. I would be interested to hear Tyler's explaination of radiation. Some poor teacher will spend hours unexplaining your explaination! Margo

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