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Thursday, June 28, 2012

The Lightning Kid, The Throne, and The Food

The months flew by, and the Lightning Kid continued to grow.  He had gotten a strong back which he could arch when lying on his belly, to better see the world and whoever was visiting.  The King and Queen brought in advisers to help him with learning more... and the next big step was to sit.

Sitting is very important when you're a monarch!  You can't exactly lie down on the throne (though the King and Queen sometimes found themselves wishing they could try, as both children had given them more than a few sleepless nights).  At first the Lightning Kid needed a lot of safeguarding so that he wouldn't throw himself backwards.  As he progressed, he was able to sit on the throne, as long as there were many pillows surrounding him and propping him up.  They were rather regal pillows, so no-one at court was too bothered or offended.

Through hard and diligent work the Queen was able to get the little prince to sit indefinitely, as long as she kept singing, signing and generally keeping his gaze and attention off the floor.  All were impressed, and the next steps would be to work on transitioning from sitting back into lying on the belly and ultimately crawling.

Until then, the Prince's newfound ability to sit would come in handy for his next trick: eating solid food.  The Queen started him off on sweet potatoes, which he ate eagerly and readily.   This was in sharp contrast to Shark Boy, who had always been a very picky eater and refused a lot of food.  "A Shark that doesn't like to eat... the castle must be under some kind of irony curse..." the King used to grumble.

The Lightning Kid continued meals while the King had many affairs of the kingdom to attend to.  Days later he wanted to check up on how feedings had been going.

"He eats everything!" beamed the Queen.
"Really?! He likes everything you serve?" asked the King.  The King, being only a man, was not the greatest listener, but the Queen was used to being patient.  She patiently explained:
"I said he eats everything, not that he likes everything."
"So wait, what happens when you feed him something he doesn't like?"
"He makes a face, then eats it anyway"


And so the Lightning Kid grew bigger and stronger, ready to take on other adventures.