The Power of Three

Fiona had skating last night and Quinn opted to go with to watch (part of Mike's not-so-secret plan to get her interested in learning how to skate). With only one co-pilot for the night, I decided to take the dude out to run some errands. First stop was Kohl's to see if they had his missing blue camouflage mitten in their lost and found. Success!

Then we headed over to Target. Dec was adamant that we didn't need a cart and I agreed. We walked over to get the pants we needed and then to the customer service counter. There was a bit of a line, so while I waited, D wandered around the dollar aisle. He wasn't misbehaving, but I knew I would have to turn my back to him when it was my turn. And there's a discomfort in not seeing the three-year-old while in Target. 

So I called out, "D," and he turned, looked at me, and continued with what he was doing.

Then I called out, "Dec," and he simply ignored me.

"Decker." Barely perceptible head nod.

"Declan." A glance at the nice lady shopping the dollar aisle near him and no acknowledgement of me. 

"Declan George." Half turn to see how serious I really am. Nice Shopping Lady raises her eyebrows.

"Declan George Vanneste." Turns to Nice Shopping Lady and says, "That's three. Gotta go." and hustles his little self right over to me. Nice Shopping Lady bursts out laughing.

At least he knew I was serious when I got to all three names.