More good advice

Zoe didn't have school today, and I haven't been feeling quite right, so I took the day off and dragged her around to various appointments I made to figure out why my blood pressure has been whacked out.

She was relatively well-behaved (and by that, I mean, she didn't kick any of the doctors in the shins), so I let her pick a place to go eat, and she chose, of course, the "tricks place." Japanese grill.

We snagged Jacob from day care and headed to Sapporo. As the cook started the show, I noticed Jacob, with his fork, was imitating everything the cook did. If the cook waved something around, Jacob waved his fork. If the cook used a spatula to spread oil on the grill, Jacob did the same to his high chair tray.

We all got a big kick out of this, me mostly because our other trips to the tricks place seemed to leave Jacob bored. But he was so into it now! He was watching this teenager before us toss shrimp into his hat, flip eggs, drum on sesame seed jars.

The cook sliced a few onions and piled them up. Zoe said, "This is my favorite part!" And then BOOM, he switched off the lights and up went the onions in flames. Jacob was tickled and giggled with glee.

After the cook switched the lights back on, Zoe leaned over to Jacob, and for an instant, my blood ran a little cold: "Don't try this at home, Jacob."

Oh. Dear. God.