A trick...

Driving home yesterday afternoon from our weekend up north, Colton was again sitting in the front seat between dad and mom. I'm not sure what he ate before we left, but about ten minutes into our decent and I asked the family if anyone had given him coffee. He rattled about and jabbered on, barely taking time to breathe. It was happy babble, but my husband and I both looked at each other as if to say, can we possibly take this for a full two hours?

With my husband's gift of creative thinking, he quickly came up with a game. (I call it a trick, but wasn't going to speak up, given the close quarters and loud child.) Colton, the most competitive of our offspring, is always up for a challenge and eager for a game. The rules were simple. My husband offered the young one a dollar for every consecutive minute of silence. It took some time for the two of them to really agree on what this meant and at one point, my husband said, "OK, now you owe me two bucks." After some tears, Colton regrouped and put his game-face on. He had victory in his eyes.

As we quietly careened down the mountain, me tapping away on my computer and Wade on his phone, the little guy in the middle quickly learned sign language and competed in the Home Run Derby on his hand-held DS.  The three in the back watched a movie with headphones, without making a peep. Ahhhh, peace and quiet.

After quite a long period of peace, Colton began explaining that he needed help adding. The game was over and he wanted to know just how much cash was coming his way. After helping him with his math, the total number of consecutive minutes of silence was 53, or $53 the way Colton saw it.  I looked over at my husband, waiting for some more creative thinking while the little one was chanting a song about his windfall. Luckily, the three in the back still had their headphones on and heard none of this. Whew.

One of my husband's gifts is rendering long bouts of uncomfortable silence. It is his philosophy that these long bouts of silence make others uncomfortable, thus forcing them to blurt out anything to break the silence.  As I watched the little one taunt his father over the 53 dollar pay-out, my husband said nothing. He just smiled and let the little one go on and on.

And then it happened.  

After not getting a reaction from his dad, Colton said, "OK. How about you just get me a pack of gum that I don't have to share with anyone. Just my own pack of gum?"

My husband was slow to answer. "One pack of gum?"

Colton negotiates with every breath. "How about two packs of gum!" Obviously, Colton has absolutely no idea what the value of a dollar is.  

I sat quietly, which was a feat, and waited for Colton to ask how much a pack of gum costs.  He never did.  

With that, Wade broke his silence. "OK, Colton. Two packs of gum and you don't have to share. Great job staying quiet."

My husband calls it a win-win...he's happy and Colton's happy. I still call it a trick.