It always amuses me when I hear parents say, “I have no idea where Bobby or Tammy gets his or her stubborness/curiosity/temper/peacefulness/competitiveness etc. from!”  It amuses me because they fail to see the same traits within themselves and they fail to realize that 50 percent of the child’s genes were inherited from them.  It seems unlikely that a dormant trait suddenly shows up in your child after three generations.

So, all this to say that Sue and I are beginning to laugh and sometimes cringe at the traits we see starting to manifest within our son.  Here are a couple:

Stubborness: Tau has the advantage of inheriting this trait from both of his parents. It is, however, his mother that imparts the absolute refusal to try new food groups, tightly closing his mouth, gritting his teeth and shaking his head left-to-right muttering, ”No-no-no,” only to later fall in love with the apple/muffin/juice etc. that you were initially ”forcing” on him. This reminds me of Tau’s mom.  Sue’s initial refusal of food groups like sushi and roasted garlic and then her subsequent denial of her refusal is enough to make me shake my head and laugh!

Ability to puke on a dime: Certain Walsh family members who shall remain nameless have the ability to puke at whim - Tau is one of those.  It appears the gene lies dormant in his Dad but it is certainly active within my generation of Walshes. It starts like this. Tau has had some food or milk, he gets upset for whatever reason, the crying starts, then the pre-puking coughing, the gagging and finally “Hello! Here’s my breakfast/lunch or dinner, or a combination of the three.” This behavior makes us choose the table outside of the restaurants we frequent, situated slightly away from others, shielded by a large potted plant and hopefully downwind from the other paying customers.

The lyrics from The Facts of Life theme song went: “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have The Facts of Life.” Parenthood seems to be no different. Don’t get me wrong; Tau possesses many of Sue’s most wonderful traits - her cheeky, teasing sense of humor, a warm loving personality and her great looks (modest Dad speaking here!). I just hope that, when life’s temptations arise, Tau first refuses to sample those temptations, but if he does, that he upsets himself enough to puke up whatever he has tasted.