Hippos! Hippos on Parade!

First, a anecdote: Every time something makes a loud noise in our house, like the house is setting, or something falls off a wall or something, Eric now looks up and says "...potatoes?"

This is a story about how sometimes parenthood is really, really fun.

When my parents were first married, and when I wasn't around yet (how much must their lives sucked? I mean, I am FABulous!) they had their hands full with my brother. My brother didn't like to sleep, he was CONVINCED that my parents had parties at night, and broke out the chocolate and all the other things he wasn't allowed to eat.

This, obviously, was not the case. Well, maybe the chocolate was, but either way, they were too exhausted by him and usually just passed out cold.

So, after many sleepless nights, or interrupted nights, my parents finally decided to get some revenge. Now, before you judge my parents too harshly, I want you to get an air horn, and I want you to somehow set it up that someone comes into your bedroom around 2 a.m. and blows it off next to your head. Do you want to kill the person with the air horn? Yeeeeeeeah you do. My brother is still living, and thus my parents should be up for sainthood.

Anyway, I keep getting sidetracked, sorry about that. So, they calculate their revenge. First, they bust into his room in the middle of the night, and scream "Get up buddy! There's hippos! Hippos in the BACKYARD! ON PARADE!" and my brother runs out of bed and over to the window, only to see a completely empty backyard. "Oh sorry buddy, you must have just missed them" sighs my father. Meanwhile, my mother is dying of laughter in the other room. My brother is pissed off that he got woken up for nothing, and my dad just looked down at him with a knowing smile.

So if your children won't sleep through the night, just remember, a hippo parade can happen at any time, at any place!