The Fireman

We've been using our gas logs a lot lately. Partly because it's been freezing here, partly because Jody is obsessed with them. Seriously, he'll crank the logs up until it's eighty degrees inside and the boys are sweating as they watch Noggin. Or he'll say, "You cold? It's gotten down to seventy in here, maybe I should turn the logs on." So we usually have the fireplace on in the living room and the den for a substantial part of the day. In turn, I have found myself saying (and often yelling) the following quite a bit lately...

"Get away from the fireplace."

"Don't touch the screen, it will burn you."

"Don't put chips in the fire."

"Don't spit on the fire."

"Don't sit that close. I understand that you're cold, but it's not necessary to pull a chair that close to the fireplace."

"No, your animals do not need to sit there to get warm."

"Why are there m and m's in the fireplace?"

So I really wasn't that surprised to find this...

Jack (any surprise that it was Jack and not Sam) got a little too close to the fire. The same Jack who burned the tip of his finger off last year by touching the pilot light. Thankfully,the logs were not on when he decided to venture too close this time. After giving him the "stay away from the fireplace" lecture, I must admit that I laughed when I went to remove the toy. He hadn't chosen to stick a tractor, truck, car or jeep in there. Nope. He stuck his fire truck in the fireplace. How appropriate. I am sure the wheels in his brain were in high gear when he stumbled across that toy fire truck... "Hmmm, here's a fire truck. And there's that funny looking thing over there that has fire in it sometimes. Mama says I better stay away from there. And Daddy spanks me if I touch the screen. Hmmm. But look at this shiny fire truck. I bet this shiny fire truck could put that fire out if it got too big. Yeah, yeah. That's a good idea. I'm sure this plastic won't melt and there's no way this fire truck could start a bigger fire. I'll just put this right here so that fire doesn't get out of control and burn our house down. Man, Mama and Daddy are going to love me for this. I am so, so smart."
Yes, thank you Jack. I choose to overlook the danger in this and instead find the humor. I have no doubt that you thought you were doing a good deed. Now, we will begin working on learning how to make sure our "good deeds" don't cause any bodily harm...or structure damage. I love you, my little fireman.