May 25, 2012 ~ What I Did With My Day Off

7:22  Alarm goes off. Attempt to sleep in.

7:28  Billy starts crying.

7:32  Daddy asks if I want him to get Billy up, aka I need to be up in 5 minutes to make breakfast. No thanks. Sleeping in.

7:36  Billy quiets down.

7:45  Daddy comes in to ask question. Remind him again I still have the day off. Attempt to sleep in. Again.

7:55  Daddy comes in to tell me he's leaving and I have to get up to wait for the roofer who is, now, one hour late for his appointment.

7:56  Give up on sleeping in. Get up and get Billy up too. Go about our normal morning routine.

8:35  Call Doctor to make appointment for Billy. Suspect an ear infection.

8:45  Ready to go to daycare, but continue to wait for the roofer.

9:00  Give up on the roofer and go to daycare.

9:15 Drop Billy at Daycare.

9:30 Arrive at Old Navy to buy swim trunks for Billy since the pool opens this weekend. Have a coupon. Pick up an outfit for myself- mother's prerogative.

10:15 Pick up Billy from Daycare to take to doctor's.

10:30 Have appointment with Doctor. Billy has a raging ear infection. Shocker.

11:00 Drive Billy back to Daycare.

11:10 Call Daddy to tell him about the ear infection.

11:15  Go to Sam's Club to drop off the prescription. They don't have it. Effing son of a monkey's mother.

11:17  Call Doctor and get him to send prescription over to the pharmacy at his office. Contemplate why I didn't just wait there for it.

11:45 Finish buying all of the groceries and baby products we needed from Sam's that Daddy forgot to buy when he was there two days ago. Came home with 50lbs of sausage instead of diapers.

12:00 Drive back over to the doctor's. Remember that I've had to pee for an hour.

12:15 Drive home before the groceries bake in the car.

12:30 Unpack melty groceries. Actually pee.

12:40 Change from cloudy chilly morning outfit to holy crap it's hot afternoon outfit.

12:45 Eat breakfast. Krispie Kremes. Yum. Reheated coffee. Um.

1:00  Vacuum. Had to be done.

1:20  Attempt to finish Buddy's haircut that I started last week. The clipper died and I took it apart to repair it- apparently not so successfully. Make a mental note to buy new clipper. Lament over Buddy's half-haircut.

2:00 Run errand to Rite Aid.

2:20 Run errand to Home Depot.

3:00 Pick Billy up from Daycare for the LAST time today.

3:30 Play with Grandma and Billy in the backyard.

5:30 Finally meet with the roofer.

6:30 Feed Billy dinner.

8:00 Put Billy to bed.

8:15 Blog.



And now?

To finally sit down. Just kidding- I've got stuff to do. I guess it's true...a Mom's work is never done.

May 24, 2012 ~ Why?

Whoever taught my one-year old to answer a direct command with the question, "why?" needs to be taken outback and beaten. Not literally. But you know what I mean. He's one. The answer to "Billy, pick up your toys" should be "Yes, Mama" not "why?" Can I answer a one-year-old with "because I said so?" Probably not. And I'm SO not ready for that.

Billy is in a class of all girls and one other boy. I suspect the sweet little girls in his class. They are darling, but you know, in the middle of their terrible twos and can really turn in to little witches when the mood strikes them. (So can boys-even Billy, btw.) The boys seem to just hit each other and the girls talk back. It's a good thing they grow out of that. Oh, wait...

So, I have a question for the jokester that started Billy on this path. Why? Why, why, why????????????

___________
Let's learn Billy!

Rah-rah: rabbit
Ray-rah: raisins
Rah: robin

Drawn In Thursdays: Things Kids Do #6

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Billy really tried to lather his skin like sunscreen or moisturizer with ketchup. He has also tried it with mustard and other dipping sauces, not to mention bubbles.

Drawn In Postponed

Drawn In will be postponed until lunchtime on Thursday.

Please check back after 12:30pm for your weekly dose of silly Billy.




Sorry about the delay!

May 22, 2012 ~ First Bubble Bath

Today I gave Billy his first bubble bath. He was so thrilled he couldn't wait to get in. "Bubbles!"
Billy loves bubbles. LOVES.

Once he got in he refused to sit down in the tub. He crouched instead. The bubbles obscured the bottom of the tub, but really, he watched the tub fill with bubbles and water, so I don't know why he refused to sit.

My first instinct in a bubble bath is to splash around and pick up bubbles in my hands. Generally the normal thing, right? Billy? He picked up a huge handful of bubbles and... wham! Shoved them in his mouth. Oh, wait... those taste like yuck! He spat them out and then tried to wipe off his mouth, but his hand was covered in bubbles and he ended up with another mouthful of bubbles. Yuck! He spat them out and then tried to wipe them off with his bubble-covered hand again!

Mommy to the rescue! I wiped off his mouth and tossed some toys into the tub. When did bubbles look appetizing?

You would think that Billy had had enough of eating bubbles, right? Wrong! The next thing I know he grabbed a toy cup, filled it with water and bubbles and took a sip. It was disgusting so he spat it out immediately. Then he started giggling. That was pretty funny. Had enough bubbles in the mouth? No! He goes to drink it again!

Ok, Mommy intervention. Cups go away.

At that point he'd had enough. Not with eating bubbles, just with the whole bath in general. Time to get out and go cause toddler mayhem elsewhere!

May 21, 2012 ~ The Ultimate Toddler Mine

Billy is in the "mine" phase. He sees something that he wants, and regardless of actual ownership, claims "mine!" and wants it immediately. Yesterday he offered Daddy his last yogurt bite (snack candy), not realizing it was the last one in the bowl. When he did realize, Daddy had already swallowed it. Too bad. Billy decided it was "mine!" and demanded it back. Good luck with that little man.

Today I had to change the crib sheets so we were playing in his room. As usual, I made a pile of his crib  loveys on the floor. He has a bunch in the crib as any given time, so it's easier to change the sheets if I remove them all.

Well, that started Billy in on a pillow pile- an old game we play. But Pillow Pile suddenly became a new game. "Mine! Pile".

He gathered all of his loveys from around the room and all of his books from his bookshelf into the middle of the floor, climbed on top of the pile and proclaimed, "Mine!"

May 20, 2012 ~ Big Protector Mamma

I don't know if there is a "Be Afraid of EVERYTHING" stage in kids' development, but Billy is in it right now.

Things he fears, in no particular order:
bugs
booboos
freckles
the dark
dog hair
the lawn mower
giraffes
something not being "mine"

I'm sure there's more, but this is what I can think of offhand.

A few days ago he had his first about of fear with the dark and needed me to sleep by his side with a protective arm around him the whole night (lost our power- no light).

Well, he loves to watch people mow from a distance. But today Daddy fired up the lawn mower right next to the porch. Billy jumped with fear and darted behind my chair. Yep, they're loud up close. He wanted to watch Daddy mow, but he was scared. I picked him up and held him so he could watch, but holding 30 pounds of squirmy gets old after awhile.

So, I put him on the ground and crouched behind him. This was only acceptable if I wrapped me arms around him. Which I did. Every time I removed a hand to point to something, or scratch my nose, he would firmly take my arm and place back across him. In hindsight, crouching in jeans was a bad idea. Ok for a few minutes, not for the whole lawn.

So, I ended up relocating to a chair to save my legs. Billy was ok with this, as long as he got to sit in my lap with my arms wrapped around him.

Mowing is the most fascinating thing to him right now, and he didn't want to go do something else, but he had to have protector Mama there to keep him safe from the big bad mower.

The Sunday Post ~ Things I Wish My Toddler Didn't Know Yet

While I cherish every milestone, here is a list of things that I wish he didn't know QUITE just yet:

~ How to open doors
~ How to hide in a closet with bi fold doors- because he knows how to open them
~ How to turn on the water in the sink
~ How to climb on the toilet to reach the faucet
~ How to climb a full-sized ladder. In the pouring rain
~ How to place calls with a telephone
~ How to place calls with an iphone
~ How to crawl into the tub and turn on the water
~ How to work my ipod. ...really, he's one...how can he know this?
~ How to leverage his weight to pull his highchair down
~ How to escape almost any highchair


And just for kicks... a list of things I wish he DID know:

~ How to safely go up and down a flight of stairs (really, he can do a ladder, why not stairs?)
~ How to use the toilet

May 18, 2012 ~ Who's Afraid of the Dark?

Last night, in the middle of the night all of the power went out in our neighborhood. No big deal, except for my alarm not working, right?

Well, Billy is used to his projector nightlight in his room as well as some glow from the streetlamp outside. So, when the usual light in his room was suddenly gone, he started screaming.

People have asked me today why I didn't just go get one of our camping lanterns. Or, why don't I have those glowing loveys for Billy? Well, he's never been afraid of the dark before. And I have no idea where the camping lanterns are. Finding them in the dark would first require finding a flashlight, then digging through our storage closet, meanwhile dealing with a screaming baby. And it was well past my bedtime, so looking for light wasn't in my thinking. I was attempting to coax my tired lil man back to sleep.

First I tried him in the big bed with us. He spent an hour cataloging the features of my face. Nose! Eye! Hair! Ear! Teeth! After an hour Daddy was fed up and sent him back to his crib. Mind you, Billy didn't catalogue Daddy's face. And each item came with a poke to that part. He also danced a jig on my belly with his feet. But Daddy insisted back to the crib and go to sleep.

Billy only listened to the first part. I could hear him moving his toys around in the crib over Daddy's snores. I was awake from the sounds of the BGE trucks outside and the flashing lights from the truck and the men on foot with flashlights.

The lights came back on and Billy settled down. His room was back to normal. But after about a half hour the lights went out again and he started screaming in fear. Clearly, he'd never fallen back to sleep.

So I tried to bring him into the big bed to get him to calm down and go back to sleep. But he attempted to recatalogue my face. At this point Daddy was pissed and sent us out of the room. I rocked him in the rocker, which soothed him, but he wouldn't go back to sleep. I Slow danced him around his dark room, but it wasn't enough.

I thought about CIO and stuck him in his crib. But he immediately attempted to climb out, and having gotten one leg up onto the crib rail, I think he would have succeeded. I relented and did the only thing I could think to do- grabbed my pillow and blanket from the bed and made a a bed on the floor in his room.

I tried first to sleep on the floor with him in the crib, but that was still too far away for him. He was just too afraid. I I let him snuggle in with me on the floor. He tried briefly to roam around his room, but I explained he either had to come lay down next to Mommy or go back in his crib because it was bedtime. He decided to lay down beside Mommy.

He cuddled up under the blanket and lay his head on the pillow beside me. Then he pulled my arm over him and went to sleep. I woke up when the sun was up and put him back in his crib. There was plenty of light in his room by then and no reason to fear.

Daddy says that I am teaching him bad habits and letting him walk all over me. He thinks Billy should never be allowed in our bed. But I don't think Daddy remembers being small. Late night thunderstorms, blackouts, and other things often sent me scurrying to my parents bed for safety. Especially power outages in winter during snowstorms, where staying warm meant sleeping in my parents bed.

Can you blame a little guy for being afraid when things are suddenly different?

May 17, 2012 ~ Fire Trucks, Bubble Blow-Ups and the Sushi Incident

This morning a gave Billy a new shirt. It has a fire truck on it. Nothing special, but he likes trucks, so I picked it up when I saw it. I held it up this morning for him to see. He likes to pick out his clothes each morning. He has very discerning taste- airplanes always beat out monkeys.

So there I am holding up his brand new shirt. He lays it in my lap and pets it like it's "my precious!" At this point I'm thinking he's going to want me to put in on. Nope. He cuddles it. In my lap. Again, I'm thinking "my precious!" It's a shirt. With a fire truck.

I put it on him and he freaks out. "Off! Off!" How can he hug his shirt if it's on him? Don't worry. Billy has a solution to that. Hug himself! He spent all morning hugging himself. If I pointed to the truck on his shirt he would cover it with his arms and say, "Mine!" At school he did the same. I think he likes his new shirt...


After school I took him out in the backyard to play with bubbles. I thought this would be a great idea. I found them at the dollar store, 3 for 1 dollar. How can you beat that? And I've seen the teachers at school, like pied pipers, gather the kids around and blow bubbles. The kids chase after the bubbles in a trance-like state. Time to try this out at home.

So I had some trouble getting into the bubbles which got Billy riled up to begin with. Then when I whipped the bubble wand from the bottle he started screaming "Mine! Mine! Mine!" This morning it was Lord of the Rings and now onto Finding Nemo. I blew some bubbles, which only made him scream and cry. Tears streaking down his face in frustration of not holding the wand. So, I relented and gave him the wand. Only, he started poking his finger through the holes and then blowing randomly into the air. This brought on more screaming tears. "No bubbles! No bubbles!" Finally, I wrested the wand back from him and blew some big bubbles that clung to the grass. But he only wandered away defeatedly crying about "mine bubbles!" I give up. I don't have the pied piper magic that the teachers at school have. No more bubbles.

For dinner we joined Grandpop and Uncle Alex and his girlfriend at my favorite sushi bar for dinner. Enter the problem. The high chair had the safety strap going across Billy's knees. It was designed this way. Not the kind where the harness comes from the back and really holds the kid in. Nope. Across the knees. AKA: F this, I'm outta here suckas! No matter how tight, Billy only had to scoot back and pull up his feet to find freedom. And oh, didd he exert his freedom.

Mommy's lap. Grandpop's lap. Batting the curtains behind Mommy in the booth. Removing the entire contents of the diaper bag. One item at a time. Flinging dumplings. Crawling up onto Mommy's head. Stealing chopsticks. Eating edamame faster than I could pop the beans out. Back to Grandpop. Back to using Mommy as a jungle gym. Getting scolded to behave by a four year old boy.

And that's when Mommy wrapped up dinner to go and left the other three adults to enjoy their dinners at the restaurant while monkeyman and myself went home.


Billy word of the day: cockle. otherwise known as a motorcycle. Not to be confused with keckle, a freckle.

Drawn In Thursdays: Things Kids Do #5

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From this morning. Yes, he really thinks you bless the choo choo (train). Ok, maybe he didn't give me flowers this morning. I still blame the flowers on my sneezing. Not the ones he gave me specifically, just all flowers in general.

May 15, 2012 ~ I Heart Roomba

I am in love with a robot. It's true. I pilfered it from Grandma (I swear I'll give it back soon, Mom!) Here's how my day goes with my favorite robot:

Turn Roomba on. Ignore.
Make dinner.
Empty Roomba. Turn back on. Ignore.
Eat dinner.
Relocate Roomba after getting stuck. Turn on. Ignore.
Watch TV.
Empty Roomba. Turn back on. Ignore.
Blog.

Ok, it always misses spots and can't handle stairs, but I can go about my evening and do chores while not having to actually DO the chores. How awesome is that?

Hey Grandma, can we work out a custody agreement on Roomba? Until Daddy buys me my own, anyways. ;-)

May 14, 2012 ~ Beware the Zombie Mommy!

Beware the Zombie Mommy, it could be lurking anywhere. You'll know her when you see her. Bloodshot eyes, the walk of the dead and moaning for "more coffee!" Her clothes will be unkempt and you might even find a stray cheerio clinging to her Zombie Mommy boob. She will also appear deaf to the screaming passel of small people running around her.

Be warned! Zombie Mommy is out there. I know. I've been her. Some days I return to the living dead.

Seriously, I think I should change my blog name to Zombie Mommy. It would be more fitting. The only thing that gets me through the day is caffeine. I couldn't make it without coffee. How did I get here from zero caffeince during pregnancy to living off of coffee? I couldn't have been the 5 months of being woken up every hour to stick the binky back in lil man's mouth. But that was last year, and I'm still the walking dead.

I guess it's just the result from being on the other side of Mommyhood. Hello, Zombie...bring on the coffee!

May 13, 2012 ~ Don't Feed Buddy!

So, today, being a holiday and all, I was preparing a big meal for our family. Normally, because I have an impatient toddler, I make food with a combined prep + cook time of under twenty minutes. This minimizes the amount of stress in my life so that I don't have to hear Billy whine the whole time about being hungry.

Today I was making a more complicated meal than normal. Nothing terribly fancy. No, that would have meant hours or days of prep work. I've done Thanksgiving before... not that level of prep. Daddy was responsible for the burgers, but I was handling everything else. So, over an hour of prep time for everything. With a one-year-old this is asking a LOT.

I prepped for prepping by bringing boxes of toys into the kitchen. I'm skilled at cooking in an obstacle course, but less skilled at removing a screaming, clingy toddler from me while pouring boiling water out of a pan. So, distractions. It's the name of the game.

I neglected to take into account that Billy likes food. LIKES food. Who needs toys when there's food? He told me he was hungry. No problem. This is good. Perfect, even. He will be confined to the high chair eating and busy (read distracted!) while I prep. I'm all for this. He wants apple. Even better- it's already cut up and ready to go. I love it when a plan comes together.

Or not.

Billy has tossed his apple to Buddy. All of it. I remind him that we don't feed Buddy. Then he asks for rice. I'm not cooking rice, but  have it ready to go. I heat it up, add butter and serve. Voile!

Or not.

Suddenly, it's like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Only, instead of pretty, sparkly lights, tiny kernels of rice fly everywhere in an outward exploding fashion. Billy giggles and tells me he's feeding Buddy. Major scolding. Not to mention, Buddy doesn't like rice. Don't feed Buddy!

But Billy insists that he's hungry. So I break down and go for the treats. Really, he doesn't deserve them, but maybe he will be distracted for 5 minutes so I can get stuff done. And...raisins fly around the room. Buddy loves raisins. Of course, because they are poisonous to dogs. LOTS of scolding. Don't feed Buddy!

So Daddy comes in and makes him a quesadilla for dinner and tries to give it to him. He looks at it, doesn't take a single bite, and tosses it on the floor. Don't feed Buddy!

At this point I give up on the food. I take it away and plop him on the floor. Look! Toys! Beepbeeps and Neeyowums and a book! Forget it. He stands by make leg, pulling on my pants whining for food. He spends the next fifteen minutes begging me for an egg. This is problematic, since I am currently cooking eggs, but not the way he's used to and not for him to consume stand alone. They are being hardboiled to add to a salad, not sunny-side up like he's used to. Once they are done though, he continues to harass me for an egg, so I give him a slice. Bring on the refrain. You know it's coming. Don't feed Buddy! Yup. One bite and off to the belly of Princess Fuzzy Butt (Daddy's new nickname for Buddy since he needs a haircut).

And of course, Billy then proceeds to whine for more food.

So I do what any good Mom would do. I play the Mother's Day card. I send Daddy off to the store and make him take Billy. It's amazing how much you can get done without a whining weight attached to your hip. Dinner was done and I sat down to a cocktail with plenty of time to spare.

Bring on dinner.

We all sit down to eat. I fix Billy a plate with only a small amount of food on it, hoping that if he chucks it he won't be able to toss too much to the dog. He did chuck cheese at Buddy, which I gave him to keep him quiet while we served up. C'est la vie. He whined for his hamburger. "Mine!" Then threw it to the dog. Don't feed Buddy!

But, of course, he couldn't get enough watergate salad. Two seconds flat and it was gone. Then he went around the table asking for up from each adult, hoping to swipe the watergate off of their plate. Grandma was a sucker, but I swallowed all of mine down before he could snarf it from my plate. He didn't like that too much, but I made it, so I get to eat it. And enough sugar before bed, already.

I'm all for sharing, but Buddy got more food out of Billy today than his usual doggy dinner, and a lot of it stuff I'd prefer he never eat, especially the stuff that makes him sick. I just can't figure out how to convince Billy... don't feed Buddy!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the Moms, Moms-To-Be and other wonderful women, here's wishing you a happy and wonderful Mother's Day!

Today Billy got to try out his new slide from Grandma, a late Christmas present, since the stores were sold out of slides back in December. He was in such a hurry to try it out he barely let me put it together. Then I set it up in the yard and massive amounts of fun ensued.

So, the first couple of runs he was completely naked going down the slide. We had been playing with the water table and, well, soaked everything. So, he decided to go down on his belly, feet first. I think this was probably a very wise manly decision. I wouldn't know for certain, but seems that way. About the fourth time climbing the ladder, he stopped at the top and turned the slide into a water slide. Ok, quick! Grab the baby, fetch the cleaner and a fresh diaper and off to try again.

Second round he had a diaper on. I decided to sit and go down feet first. He flew so fast that his head fell back onto the slide and he flew off the end. Wow. That's a fast slide. Ok, time to HOLD the baby going down. So, I kept a hand on him the whole time and it worked out. Each time he landed with a thud on his bum, giggling from fun. Who doesn't love to slide?

So, from Billy to the super-most-awesomest-slide-buying-Grandma-in-Billy's-whole-world...

Happy Mother's Day!

The Saturday Post ~ Mother's Day

This weekend I'm going to switch it up and do my Sunday post on Saturday.

Still looking for that awesome Mother's Day gift?

Here are some ideas. If you're young, go for the homemade cards and other homemade gifts. But if you're the Dad buying the gifts, think outside of the chocolates box. Moms work extra hard to make sure everyone is fed, clothed, living in a clean house and generally happy and healthy. Thank your Mom in a way that takes some of the everyday stress out of her life.

Here's what I would like:
That pile-o-dishes to magically wash themselves
That pile-o-laundry to magically wash, dry, fold and put itself away
100% clean house without me lifting a finger
Not wiping other people's butts for a day
A massage- for all of those attack hugs

But I'll take with gratitude the flowers Billy brought home for me today from school with a handmade card. It's all the thanks I need.

May 10, 2012 ~ Daddy Gas

This evening Billy kept shouting, "Daddy gas! Daddy gas!!!"

Now, I bet you're thinking that Billy was taking issue with stinky farts. Well, I think most people take issue with that, but that's not what he was talking about.

Let's learn Billy:
Daddy gas=Daddy's cutting the grass!

Yes, apparently mowing the lawn is very interesting. I  took Billy outside (oush-shide) so he could watch Daddy fire up the mower. It sprang to life with a loud rumble that had Billy quaking. "Mommy, insh-shide!" Billy will do anything- ANYTHING- to be outside at all times. Asking for inside is like an adult asking for a root canal. "Mommy, insh-shide!" Yeah, those mowers are pretty scary.

But watching from the safety of the window was pretty cool. He pulled up a chair to watch Daddy mow the back and then got to stand at the front window (it's lower) and watch the whole front mowing entertainment.

A few times the mower cut out. "More?" he asked me every time, expectantly, using his sign language too. Really, mowing is so exciting he wanted more.

He even told Grandma on the phone about fifty gazillion times that "Daddy gas!"

To Billy's great dismay, Daddy ran out of grass to cut. Well, our yard is only so big. But no worries, the grass will grow again. And when that happens, "Daddy gas!"

Drawn In Thursdays: Things Kids Do #4

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May 8, 2012 ~ Billy's First Field Trip

We went to the zoo.

Ok, there is only one word for a field trip involving and entire daycare. Zooey. And I'm not talking about the animals.

Before we even left the house Billy knew something was up and his entire routine was off. This devolved into two epic meltdowns, including one over Mommy's outfit. Apparently, he didn't like my shirt. I wore it anyway and the fashion police never showed, so it couldn't have been that bad.

I asked him what he wanted to see at the zoo. "Grandpop!" Well, already in for disappointment. I think Billy thinks Grandpop lives at the zoo. Grandpop usually refers to his house as the circus, not a zoo.

When we got to the zoo the keepers made up wait around a lot outside- I guess for head counts. For adults, this lined-up mass chaos is just boring. For a one-year-old it is excruciating. Bring on epic meltdown number three prior to ten a.m. The other kids in his class were melting down too. It's a little too much waiting for the Under Two Club.

But we finally made it into the zoo and walked around with his class. We did the petting zoo where a donkey tried to drink out of Billy's sippy cup. But he got to pet that same donkey while it licked his cup. No worries, Billy didn't drink after the donkey. He also got to pet some goats, and hug one very patient goat.

This pic would be the highlight. Billy got to ride a camel. He was all excited to get on it after another girl in his class went for a camel ride. But then we got on it and he was suddenly terrified. He started to whimper in fear, but I kept coaxing him to pet the nice Mr. Camel, who was letting us ride him. The funny thing was, when we got off the camel he talked on and on about it, all excited. I have no idea what he said, since most of what he says is unintelligible, but he was thrilled- after the fact.

Note to self: field trips with the Under 2 Club- pass.

May 7, 2012 ~ Mine! Mine! Mine!

Think seagulls in Finding Nemo... "mine! mine! mine!"

Over the past week or so Billy has developed a new word and a new habit...mine. Now, I'm not talking about him grabbing something from me and running off screaming "mine!" I'm sure we'll get there, but that's not what I'm talking about.

Today we were playing with Noah's Ark on the sofa. He wanted to play with the lion. So he took all of the other animals and shoved them behind his back, and when he ran out of room he shoved the rest under his butt. I, of course, was given one to play with. They work very hard on sharing at daycare, so he always makes me play with a toy.

Yesterday we were playing with crayons and he had to hold all of them to his chest except the one he was coloring with. It made it very difficult to switch colors. He did the same thing with his sidewalk chalk the day before. He held the chalk to his chest and colored with one hand. It's not easy holding 5 sticks of fat sidewalk chalk at once, especially when your hands are teeny tiny.

He's also big on hiding toys behind his back now. He got a new choo choo and if he thinks I'm going to take it away (say, for naptime) he hides it behind his back and says mine. He also does this with food. He took his loaded spoon of yogurt and hid it behind his back. Or, all over his back and the high chair. Wasn't really all that hidden, what with the giant mess.

The only thing I can think is that the kids at daycare must snatch any toy as soon as it hits the ground. I can't convince him when we're home alone that I'm not going to take his toys. That no one is going to take his toys. They're his. But, he's not convinced.

So, in case you weren't sure, Billy just wants you to know, "mine!"

I will now commence hiding this blog behind my back. "Mine!"