“I can’t get the bike lock open!” My older son came up to me with the keys to my bike lock in his hand. He was supposed to be unlocking his bike from the rack at school.

“Uh, just make sure you put it in carefully. It’s kind of fussy. Why don’t you try again?” I said.

“Hahaha, I was just tricking you!” he said. I sighed. He went back to the bike.

A couple minutes later, he was back again. “I really can’t open it. It’s really stuck.”

“Uh, okay, I can help then.”

As I started walking towards the bike, he laughed and said, “I got you again!”

Cue me looking at the non-existent camera in my life, like I’m a sitcom character.

“Ha ha. Yep, you definitely got me. Go unlock your bike, please.”

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I felt a nipping at my jeans and looked down. “Hey, stop that!” I chided our pet rabbit Hoppity. I frowned. “You have plenty of hay, water…do you want attention?” Softening, I sat down criss-cross on my son’s floor. The bunny hopped over and started licking my jeans. I petted him, running my hand over his soft ears and back. He hopped onto my leg and started licking my other one. I smiled, realizing that this is the first time he had hopped into my lap that didn’t involve food.

What was first a moment of annoyance turned into a moment of connection.

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