Hook, Swipe and Stab

I pick my spots when it comes to aggression. I've found little use for the emotion, relying instead on patience and terrible wit. Every now and again a situation presents itself when your patience fails you and a man is overcome with a testosterone fueled moment of aggression.

It happened this past Valentine's Day. I happened to be out to lunch with my beautiful wife. Is it a coincidence that something like this would happen on our 13th Valentine's Day?

There we were at a lovely Italian Restaurant conversing over one subject (Pierce) but a myriad of topics. They were normal conversations that parents of a 16 month old have: upcoming pre-pre-schools, potty training, his latest abilities and possible vacation plans.

It was clear to us that the guy next to us was clearly frustrated, over what, we weren't sure but it was coming to a point where I was going to have to make my displeasure known because it was starting to interrupt our lunch. It seemed like he was struggling using his fork. I was just trying to be nice when I handed him my unused fork, he placed it in his right hand and he immediately made and aggressive hook/swiping motion into a plate of pasta and stabbed a penne. He shoveled it into his mouth and smiled a smile that would let anyone know he was pleased with himself.

His Mama and I clapped and cheered as only two loving parents can. The penne made a perfect prey because he could stab it and cram it into his mouth without it falling off. He's made more progress since that day. We had mashed potatoes last night and he quickly learned that all he had to do was jam his spoon into a pile and they would stick. That strategy did little for him tonight when Dada made brown rice.