One of my favourite parts of the day is the ten minutes I always have – round about half six in the evening- sitting on the sofa, breathing out at the end of a long afternoon, and listening to DorkySon and DorkyDad chatting in the bath.
If he isn’t travelling for work, DorkyDad always does bathtime. It is sacred boy time, where he and DorkySon chat about their day, sing songs to each other, make up stories, practice the alphabet and generally enjoy each other’s company.
More recently, DorkySon has started using it as the time to ask any big questions that have been troubling him, or bring up any issues that have been playing on his mind.
A few nights ago, I was eavesdropping as usual, when I heard DorkySon’s voice.
“Daddy, what does die mean?”
There was silence. A long pause. I held my breath, and imagined DorkyDad holding his breath as he processed the question, wondering how to answer it.
I imagined a tiny water droplet falling from the tap, splashing into the bath, and the resulting ripples as father and son looked at each other in quiet contemplation.
The silence continued.
“Gosh,” I heard DorkyDad say eventually. “I’m not sure, what do you think it means?”
DorkySon laughed loudly.
“Silly Daddy. I know what it means. It’s when you swim down underneath the water.”
Dive, he’d said. Dive. Of course.
I breathed out, and heard DorkyDad do the same.
Close one.
Dorkymum | Stories from Tasmania 
Sadly bathtime has always been one of my worst moments of the day because I’m exhausted, the kids are hyper and my husband is never home till later. But it’s funny how compelling ones children become when one is eavesdropping on their chatter rather than facing the full onslaught.
I could feel you holding your breath there! Very astute of Dorky Dad to ask him the question back, or he could have found himself in an unwitting pickle!