Little Handyman

Noah thinks I can fix anything with a screwdriver. The reason he thinks so is that whenever one of his battery-operated toys is not working ("It's broken", he says in the saddest little voice), the fix is generally because the batteries ran out. In today's toys, every battery compartment is tightly shut with a screw or too. So I ask him to hand it to me, and he trails me into the kitchen imploring me to "fix it, Daddy" and looking up at me with hopeful eyes. He stands at my feet as I get out one of the many screwdrivers we keep in the kitchen drawer for just such an occasion, replace the batteries and hand it back to him. It really is sweet to see how happy he is when I hand his toy back to him, all fixed, and he says "Yay!!! Thanks, Daddy!"

When he sees me getting the step ladder to change a light bulb, he runs to the kitchen, grabs a screwdriver and hands it to me so I can "fix" the light. The other day our downstairs bathroom lights both burned out at once. They are sconces that take a special bulb that we didn't have on hand. He kept asking me to fix it, and even though I told him we didn't have any light bulbs, he kept getting me the small screwdriver kit we had in the kitchen drawer so I could fix it. He couldn't understand whyI couldn't just work my magic with my screwdriver.

An hour or so later, I went to the hardware store, got the light bulbs and replaced the lights. Noah wasn't around, so he didn't see me do it. A couple hours later he apparently got tired of me not fixing it, grabbed a screwdriver and started trying to adjust the screws on the light switch for a few minutes. Then he flipped the light switch on, and voila! The lights worked. "Yay! I fixed it Daddy! I fixed the light!" I told him I was very proud of him, and that he did a good job - he was so happy with himself.

Well, you can imagine that now that he nows how to fix stuff, he's taking it upon himself to be our little handyman. There was another light switch in the kitchen that didn't do anything when he flipped it (it goes to an outside light, which is why he didn't see it doing anything at the time). He's actually getting pretty good (too good) at getting the screwdriver into the screw slot.

I come from a family of handymen (I am easily the least handy), who all have heavy tool belts. So I know that your pants sagging a little bit is an occupational hazard that will occur on occasion. So I think Noah will fit right in, although I think he may be better suited to plumbing rather than electrical work.