Page 56 of Her Dragon Daddy Disaster
Kids.
“Which one was strongest?” I pushed. “Keep your eyes closed. Think about it. You have to be able to focus to do this. Which feeling was the biggest in your mind?”
“Happy.”
“Okay. I want you to focus on that happiness. On how it made you feel inside. Focus on it really hard.”
Jakub screwed his face shut even tighter. I stifled a laugh. To him, it wasn’t funny, he was just doing as I’d said.
“Put your hand out in front of you, palm upward. Yes, just like that. Now, keeping your eyes closed, I want you to take that happiness, that energy, and push it into your hand. Transform it into flames of happiness.”
I sat back and waited, curious as to whether anything would happen. Predictably, it didn’t. Jakub opened his eyes and stared at his palm with undisguised sadness.
Without being told, he closed his eyes again. I knew he was focusing extra hard because he began to shake.
“Focus only with your brain and mind. Not your body. You don’t need to shake your muscles. Relax them.”
“I … feel funny,” Jakub said.
I sat upright. “What kind of funny?”
“Weird. It tingles, Dad.”
“Good! Focus on that. Try to push it into your palm. Tell it with your mind what you want it to be. That you want it to be fire.”
He was silent for nearly a minute. In child, that was an eternity, and I wondered if perhaps he’d fallen asleep. Then he shouted, “Fire! Fire! Fire!” Nothing happened. Jakub stared at his empty hand, then dropped it. “I can’t do it.”
“Yes, you can,” I said, carefully not glancing at his mother, who watched from the stairwell. “You did it last night. That’s proof youcando it. Now, you just need to learn how. You’ve only tried two times.”
“Yeah, but it didn’twork,” he said plaintively.
I frowned thoughtfully. “You’ve seen babies before, right?”
“Yeah,” he said suspiciously.
“Can they walk?”
“No.”
“Can you?”
“Yeah.”
“So, it took you time, right? But now you can walk and run.”
“I’m fast!”
I laughed. “Exactly! Because youworkedon it. Can you count to ten?”
“I’mfour and a half!” It was all the answer I got, but I supposed it meant yes. I decided not to test him on it. Now was the time for encouragement, just in case. Besides, I had no idea if that was good, bad, or average for his age.
I had lots to learn about being a dad.
“So, let’s practice again. You’ve done it two times. What comes after two?”
“Three.”
“Right. Let’s go number three!”
