{"id":2195,"date":"2026-02-13T02:30:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T02:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/?p=2195"},"modified":"2026-02-13T02:30:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T02:30:31","slug":"children-see-the-things-we-choose-to-ignore-i-should-have-listened-to-him-the-first-time-%f0%9f%98%b1-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/?p=2195","title":{"rendered":"Children see the things we choose to ignore. I should have listened to him the first time. \ud83d\ude31"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

My 5-year-old, Toby, had been home with a fever, so I left him napping with my new husband whom I’ve been married to for a month. A few hours into my shift, my phone rang. It was Toby. “MOMMY… NEW DAD WOKE UP… BUT HE’S ACTING.”<\/p>\n

I blinked. “Honey, what do you mean? Acting weird?” But he just repeated it, sounding scared. “No, Mommy. He’s just… acting.”<\/p>\n

I tried calling my husband. No answer.<\/p>\n

I drove home like a maniac. I rushed inside. The house was silent. I called their names. No response. Then I saw Toby sitting in the living room, eyes wide. He pointed behind me and whispered: “He’s still doing it.”<\/p>\n

I spun around. My husband was standing in the kitchen doorway, perfectly still. He wasn’t moving a muscle, not even to breathe. He had a stiff, frozen smile plastered on his face, eyes locked on a point just above my head.<\/p>\n

“Mark?” I whispered, my heart hammering. “Is this a joke?”<\/p>\n

He didn’t blink. He looked like a wax figure. Then, I heard a faint click-clack sound coming from his chest. I stepped closer, trembling, and noticed a thin, skin-colored seam running behind his ear.<\/p>\n

Just as I reached out, a voice\u2014flat and electronic\u2014emerged from his unmoving lips: “Scene 42 complete. Uploading behavioral data. Resume human simulation in 3… 2… 1…”<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Mark gasped, his eyes focused, and he wiped sweat from his forehead. “Hey honey! You’re home early,” he said perfectly naturally, as if he hadn’t been a statue seconds ago. “Toby and I were just playing. Right, buddy?”<\/p>\n

Toby didn’t look at him. He looked at me, his face pale. “See, Mommy? He’s really good at it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My 5-year-old, Toby, had been home with a fever, so I left him napping with my new husband whom I’ve been married to for a month. A few hours into … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2197,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195\/revisions\/2197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}