The doorknob turned with ease, but Colin hesitated to push open the door. He didn't want Lucas to feel pressured or anything to talk, so instead Colin raised his hand and knocked on the door. Lucas hearing his father knock immediately worried about his dad being in the cold and rushed to pull the door open. Lucas looked up at his father and asked, "Why are you just standing there? Come inside and tell me why we can't go to grandma's with mom!"

Colin stepped inside, pulled a chair from the dining area into the kitchen, collected some books from the shelf and stacked them beside the chair. Colin worried about Lucas feeling hungry, or hangry, and wanted to start on dinner as soon as possible. He also knew he wasn't the best cook, and wanted the maximum amount of time to make sure he followed all the instructions perfectly from his wife's recipes. Plus, the added distraction might help him pause and think of a better answer to what would surely be difficult questions. Colin then ushered a confused Lucas into the kitchen and gestured for Lucas to sit saying, "Ask me while I cook."

Lucas felt frustrated, wondering Why can't dad just focus on me? 

"Why can't we follow mom?"

"I already answered that."

"Fine. When can I learn to drive so I can follow mom?"

"When you are old enough."

"How old?"

"Depends on the country, state, province, etc."

"Fine. What are you cooking?"

Colin smiled, knowing his distraction worked for now at least.

"Looking at the ingredients so far, what do you think we are having tonight?"

"Spaghetti!"

Colin nodded, then turned his attention solely on cooking. Lucas felt dissatisfied with the discussion, but truly did feel hungry and decided to wait until after dinner to question his dad. He picked up the books and began to read, periodically interrupting his dad's focus by pointing out random things he read about to his dad, or asking random questions related to the books. Colin patiently and promptly answered each question. Lucas felt pretty happy with how his dad wanted to hear about the stories while cooking. Finally, dinner was ready and they moved to eat at the table. Lucas, who had been obsessed with the marine animal figurine set he had been gifted for his birthday quickly brought his toys over to eat dinner with them.

"Lucas, no toys at the table."

"How about just the penguin?"

"No put them away now."

"Why?"

"Because right now is dinner time. Meals are for you to focus on eating and digesting, and chatting with the people you are eating dinner with."

"What if I was eating alone?"

"Then you focus and enjoy the meal to show appreciation to the cook."

"What if I cooked?"

"Did you cook today?"

Lucas was silent for a moment, then went to put all the toys away except for the penguin. Colin worried that Lucas was getting too obsessive over his toys. He had even refused to share his toys when Lucas' cousin, Liam, who had visited last weekend. He wanted Lucas to learn not to be materialistic, and to prioritize and value people and proper etiquette and morals.

"Lucas put away the penguin."

"NO!!! Just this one!"

"Why do you need to eat with the penguin?"

"Because the penguin is my friend!"

"When Liam came over last time, you spent more time playing with the penguin and other toys than playing with Liam. You also didn't share. Liam is a real friend for you to play with. And I am your father whom you can talk to."

"Penguin is with me everyday. Liam isn't and you are always working or talking to mom about boring stuff."

"I am not working right now and your mother isn't here. Penguin is only a toy. Put the penguin away now, or I will take all your toys and donate them."

"NOOOO!!! THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

Lucas started crying. Lucas looked over and saw how his dad simply waited for him to stop. I can't believe dad doesn't even care about how much I like penguin. Lucas felt that nothing would change, so he sulkily picked up penguin and put him in the best corner of the toy box.

Colin exhaled a deep breath of relief. I am so glad Lucas stopped crying and listened. I have no idea what to do if he continued to cry and refused to eat dinner. I wouldn't want his dinner schedule to be messed up, it's bad for his digestive system.

When Lucas rejoined the table, he shoved spaghetti into his mouth without saying a word to his dad. Colin looked over, and felt happy that Lucas was eating well. They ate in silence for a couple of minutes. Suddenly, Lucas asked, "Can we go to see grandma tomorrow?"

"No we can see her on Friday."

"Why Friday?"

"Friday is a week from now."

"..."

Colin looked over and saw the unimpressed look on Lucas' face. Colin awkwardly scratched the back of his neck and said, "I also really want to spend this week with just you."

"Really!!!"

"Yes. I planned a lot of fun bonding activities for us."

"What are bonding activities? and don't you have work?"

"I took your winter break off. And bonding activities are outings or tasks we can complete at home to get to know one another better or just enjoy each other's company."

"So you want to hang out with me!?"

"erm... yes. I really do. I always do."

Colin smiled shyly at Lucas, and felt his heart swell just seeing how Lucas was beaming up at him with spaghetti sauce covering his chin. He handed Lucas a napkin and offered to refill his bowl. Lucas just excitedly shook his head and wipes his face, then jumped up and asked, "What are we doing first!?"

"Well, we can clean up together first?"

-_- Lucas couldn't help but groan and scrunch his nose at his dad. Wow, mom was right. Dad needs help being taken care of, while mom can do all these things by herself as she doesn't ask for my help. But I like being a helper anyways.

"Fine. But after?"

"Well, I want you to keep your bedtime. So if we clean for 30 minutes, then it will be about 7:13pm. We have an hour and 45 minutes. You usually take around 18 minutes to shower, and 12 minutes to brush up. If we read the shorter bedtime story it takes 6 minutes without all your questions, probably around 8 minutes with your questions. So we have an hour and 7 minutes to do what you want to do."

Lucas had long ago tuned out his father, and quickly suggested, "Let's play animal kingdom!"

That night, Lucas learned many facts about his beloved animal toys and his respect and admiration for Colin grew. Colin learned that his son had a very creative and inaccurate understanding of the animal toys he was slightly obsessed with, and felt maybe he should be a little more understanding of Lucas and try to figure out what unique and bizarre thoughts run through his mind. Despite their differences, both father and son thoroughly enjoyed their bonding time.

Too bad mornings are opposite of nights.