Showdown at Wedding dinner!

Brought Nat to a wedding diner tonite. There were family members and friends and the evening was pleasant and as usual the food was great. Nat started to twitch after the 3rd course (of a typical 8 course dinner). we kept him occupied the LEGO for a while but by the end of the 4th dish, he had to go round the tables with other kids of course. Then they (the kids) discovered the stage! The stage had a wedding cake and karaoke sets and champagne glasses laid on it. Why am I not surprised that the children would dance around the stage acrobatically, practising moves that would just make u sweat. (I know I did). My wife was nudging me to control the situation.
So when I made eye contact with Nat, I signalled him to come over (on a pretext of giving him a mouthful of water before letting him off to the battle field!). He complied (to my surprise!) and during that brief moment of timeout, I sternly told him to (a) not dance around the stage like a dinosaur or monkey amd (b) avoid the danger zones. If he doesn not promise to comply, I would not let him continue playing. If he FAILED to keep his promise I would impose SERIOUS penalties.
Nat nodded and I let him go. You can imagine, a kid goes back on stage, almost made a dinosaur step and froze suddenly remembering his "oath" and continued to move more sheepishly on stage.
The mother tucked my shirt and asked how could I have let the boy back on the prowl. I leaned towards her and said, "Let the boy play, he is still a kid and can be forgiven to act like one (even a very naughty one). As long as he knows there is a no fly zone around the 5-tier wedding cake and doesn't go near or touch anything that resembles a electric wire. He will be fine.".
Believe me, my eyeballs never left that boy for a single second.
My nightmare would be that the kid hits the table and topples the cake over the newly wed sitting nearby. The kid then steps back realising his mistakes and trips on the karaoke wires and electrified some poor singer (in all sense of the word). And I have to put up with the silent treatment from my dearest wife for the rest of my life.
LUCKILY, nothing like that happened. And I breathe easy... for now. Which is why I can say, I don't intend to put my kid on a leash. I think a boy allowed to be a boy. We can only set some guidelines and let them move around these guidelines. These guidelines may need to to reviewed constantly though... Anyway that's my night. Goodnite. Q

Getting him to write

Nat is four and has a healthy dose of curiousity like any 4 year old boy (I think?). He has boundless energy and would do what he is specifically told not to do. I was watching his mum giving him writing lesson and boy did my tears flow thinking that my mum probably had to put up with the same type of torture (she did!). Nat can't sit still for 5 seconds, can't focus on finishing that one stroke without whistling some tune, and can't seem to keep his pencil on his hands. (I would say he is missing his butt).
But having said that I know he is smart (enough) to write some of those words and he can really disarm u with a winning smile. It took us plenty of FIRM and CONCERTED effort from both of us to get the message across to our son, "look you can try anything but mum and dad is here to stay and we (all) say finish that one stroke". It's hard to reframe from busting into flames sometimes but I think that's a bad idea and would probably encourage Nat to respond poorly (similiarly).
I am Rick and am trying to blog for the first time. I choose to do it by bringing up a topic which is meant for a family I love and cherish. I hope to share some of these flashes of parenthood wisdom (I think) with anyone who would care to share theirs too. Signing off. Q