recreational screaming

Sometime in the last week, Caleb fell in love with the sound of his own screams. He likes to see how loud and high-pitched he can make them, and he especially enjoys the reactions he gets from those poor souls subjected to listen to them. He has, in particular, mastered the ability to drive Garrett absolutely crazy.

Late on Saturday afternoon, following an outing to visit the Met and walk through Central Park, Garrett was footsore, exhausted, and, consequently, increasingly moody. As we made our way back to the subway he started to complain about how tired he was. In response, Caleb, who was apparently not nearly as worn out as his brother, let out a gloriously loud, happy scream.

"Stop it, Caybuh! Stop screaming!" Garrett called out.

Encouraged, Caleb screamed again.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" yelled Garrett in a voice that was almost as loud as Caleb's.

Another shrill scream came from the stroller.

"Dad! Talk uh him!" Garrett said in a vain attempt to try a new approach to make Caleb's screams stop. Unfortunately neither Blake nor I have figured out any better than Garrett how to make that happen. And so Caleb screamed again, grinning with the knowledge that he had the upper hand.

"That's not funny, Caybuh!" Garrett said, his irritation growing ever more intense.

This time Caleb laughed, rather than screamed, in reply. And then he was quiet.

We all enjoyed a few pleasant blocks with two silent boys when suddenly Caleb decided to scream again, and as joyously as ever.

Garrett smacked his forehead in frustration. "Oh, not again, Caybuh!" he moaned.

Caleb laughed and, since Garrett apparently requested it, screamed again.

Partly because our attempts to persuade either boy to quit screaming are usually made in vain, but mostly because this entire exchange, as headache-inducing as it was, was incredibly amusing, we, for the most part, chose to ignore Garrett's pleas for a bit of peace and quiet. The eventual distraction of our entering the subway was what ultimately got Caleb (and Garrett) to cut it out already -- for the moment, at least. Recreational screamers, after all, can't stay quiet for too long.