MOU: the game of parenting

It has taken Otter a while to teach us his new game, but last night we finally caught on. He stood up on the sofa and said "Dih dow?" As I began to open my mouth to tell him to sit down, I realized that he, himself, was saying "sit down."

Saying it, not doing it. So I said "Sit down, Otter." And he giggled and sat down. I turned to his bright-colored plastic dresser to get out his pajamas for the night and two seconds later, as I am opening the drawer, I hear behind me "Dih DOW" and I turn to see Otter standing up, giggling. I say "sit DOWN, Otter", and he sits down, giggling still. I turn back to the pajama drawer, and one second later, hear a cheery "Dih dow" and turn to see...

Otter standing up on the sofa wobbling back and forth giggling. I say "sit DOWN, and stay sitting down" and back up to the dresser, saying "sit down" over and over while Otter sits and leans back into the corner of the sofa giggling madly, clearly waiting for me to stop saying "sit down," which he sees as his cue to stand up again. Repeating "sit down" in that broken record moment (a metaphor that kids of Otter's generation, raised on CDs, probably won't even recognize), I grab blindly into the drawer for PJs.

G comes in and then, as we get Otter ready for bed, Otter, half-dressed in clean PJs, squirms out of G's grasp and stands up again on the sofa and says "dih down?", looking expectantly at his dad, as if to say "hey, want to play? here's your line..." I start to say "sit down Otter" but instead, I am overcome with glee at the sound of my son's voice and his hopeful up-eyebrows face, and I hide my face in the sofa, my shoulders shaking with laughter.

That leaves G to struggle to say sternly "sit down Otter", as I peek out to see G's face twist in that grimace of "I'm not going to laugh I'm not I'm NOT" while Otter giggles away, sitting down readily as soon as we ask, standing up as soon as he decided it's his turn again, time for another round of "Dih dow." It's like a toddler version of musical chairs.

I don't know if this is a story of parenting success or failure.