Slip'n and Slidin'

James has been introduced to the time-tested.. holy crap! I just went to the website for Wham-O to grab the link to the Slip 'n' Slide, but there's no longer a simple Slip 'n' Slide. Now there are character variations (Superman, Spiderman, Batman...), there are tandem slides, those huge inflatable jammies, you name it! Anyhoo, we got the slight-ritzier than the original one with sprinklers along it and a little pillow at the end to stop your slide (hehehe.. remember when you used to shoot off the end into the grass and it HURT?!?! LOL). So Sterling and Shawn, who were having a Daddy playdate, laid it out and Shawn hurled the kids down it. It was hilarious, and we got some awesome pics!

Happy Father's Day!

First, a Happy Father's Day to all of the dads we know! HFD to Dads W and C and Poppa Cooley! HFD to new dads Brent and Dave! To Dad-now-to-a-brood-of-THREE, Mike! To soon-to-be-dad Jim! Hope your day was awesome!

Ours was! We spent it at my family's, and just pretty much had a blast hanging out, grilling out, and watching the kids splash around in the pool. Pics posted to the collection. HAPPY HAPPY! (wow, you'd think *I* was the one drinking!!)

Higher volumes, better performance!

Whew, what a ROTTEN morning! We are dealing with some major preschool angst. I guess James is not transitioning as perfectly as we thought, and the fact that he didn't get enough sleep last night really didn't help matters much (what are we going to do? duct tape him to the bed?!?!). So he SOBBED brokenheartedly when it was time to go to school.. all. the. way. there. Naturally, I feel like the worst mother in the world because I'd snapped at him for going through 2 sets of clothes before he even left the house this morning... sobbing all around!
We touched base w/ the school 2 or 3 x this morning to see how he was doing, and he gradually improved. Darling Daddy took a 1/2 day, and swung by to pick James up a little early, only to find that he was sacked out! He said, "I walked in there and every kid in there is asleep! How the (*& do they get like a dozen kids to take a nap, I can't get ONE! I'm not kidding, it looked like someone shook up a handful of jelly beans, tossed them all over the place, and they just fell asleep wherever they landed! What do they DO?!?!"
Whatever it is, we need some... because sleep is NOT something that's happening around the Woodruff House.

Ever vigilant!

If your 3-yr old has been very quiet for quite some time, you should question it... I don't think I need to say any more...

School is GOOD

The preschool update: So there was a smidge of sniffles when Daddy dropped off James this morning, but the teacher took him over to play with some puzzles, and it seemed like it was going to be ok. I was nervous all day, worrying about my poor sad little man!
I arrived to find James sitting in one of those cute little chairs at a table with 2 other kids, playing just as happily as a clam. He didn't want to leave, barely said "hi", and I had to drag him home! So much for worrying!
His teacher also reported that he had a GREAT day, and did great with the potty! Apparently, he impressed even himself, as he called over to her, "look at my HUGE poop!" Wow, that line is going to REALLY score with the ladies in a few years, eh?

Busy week

You would think a holiday week would be calm. People would take the week off or long weekends, not many deadlines, that kind of thing. Last week was insane! Here's how I feel:

Aren't these funny? After adamantly protesting yesterday that he did NOT need a nap, he clearly took a HARD one. When he woke up, I laughed so hard! I took him into the bathroom and said "look at your hair!", to which he replied, "That's CRAZY!". I asked if I could take a pic, and he said, "sure!". So we did... and he even made funny faces upon request! Doesn't he look alot like Calvin? LOL

First Day of School

Today was James' first day at his new school. He's been very excited for the last few weeks! Although we're so sad that he's not pal-ing around with best buddy Keaty, it really is nice for him to start school and begin the transition to big boyhood! We bought him a new backpack (or as he calls it, "packpack") for his lunch, and he's been putting on and walking around the house pretending to go to school! So the day finally came!
... and went off without a hitch! We arrived in the lobby behind a daddy and his little boy, and James cheerily greeted them with "Hi, Kid!". He tore down the hallway as soon as we got there. He's in the "Fantastic Frogs" room, with several other kids his age and a very nice teacher, Ms. Towanda. He plomped his little tush in the chair in front of the computer, grabbed the mouse, and didn't even make eye contact when I said goodbye! I got a quick kiss, a very distracted "bye", and that was that! I think he's going to like it!

Lock your doors!!! (unless you'd like some help with that...)

My mischievous little imp of a child has discovered that doors lock. Granted, he knows how to lock and unlock the exterior doors (also a bit of a gray-hair-sprouter!), but now he's discovered what that little button on the back of the interior doorknobs does.. and he enjoys using them! His new favorite pastime is to lock and close all of the upstairs doors. What a stinker! By the time you respond to the first slam and get upstairs, it's too late, and you're rooting around for something to pop the knobs. For the record, a q-tip with one end broken off works really well.
Well, for some time now, I've shared with you the fact that the Woodruffs obviously have something special in that Roanoke Rapids water, which results in James taking long blissful naps and sleeping in each morning. Hehehehe... payback's a pickle, ain't it? While staying with them this weekend, he first demonstrated his new trick for them the first day he was there. When it *really* got interesting was this morning, apparently. Mom W said she heard him come in the room, and could feel him standing beside the bed looking at her while she feigned sleep. He left the room, seemingly to go back to bed, but WAIT! There was a *snick* a *slam*, and a little boy announcing that he could not get back to bed because the door was shut. So Grandaddy had to get up at 5am (sorry, Dad!!) to let him back in his room, and later that morning he completely removed the locking mechanism! LOL... James will probably figure out how to reassemble it before he comes home tomorrow!

Happy Memorial Day, all!

Don't make me wake up!!!

If this is 3, just imagine what 13 is going to be like on school days!

The price of beauty

When James gets a batch, it involves about 5 mins of actually cleaning him, followed by about 20 mins of him splashing happily to himself and playing with tub toys. So I figured, I'll give myself a face mask while I'm hanging out here in the bathroom. James wasn't quite sure what do with this new look. He kept giving me the strangest looks... "Mony, what's THAAAT?". I explained what it was, and he just kept giving me this amused/grossed out look (see pic). I had to wait for it to dry, so I figured I'd finish him up.. drying off, dressing, cutting nails. So I'm hunched over his little toes, cutting his toenails when he says, "Mony? May I see your face? May I touch it?".. and he says it in this totally fascinated voice, like wow... I"m going to TOUCH that! Then he asked like every 2 mins until I washed it off! Boys, they just don't appreciate what we do for beauty!The look of "what the heck is on your face, lady?"

Nutritional footnote

Oh yeah, and just in case you were concerned.. the gelatanous Krabby Patties are FAT FREE! Because that's what I look for in a gummy confection. Just so ya know...

Best incentive EVAH!

Daddy RULZ! He and James came home from BJ's with a new potty incentive... SpongeBob Gummy Krabby Patties. Frankly, we both think they look revolting, but of course James thinks they are totally poop-worthy. Within 5 mins of getting home, James stripped from the waist down, hopped up on that potty, and produced like a champ. If only we'd found these sooner...

This just made me laugh...

... hope it does you, too

The storm after the calm

Every time James gets sick, we have a re-training period that follows. He has to remember how to go back to sleep soundly, and how Mommy and Daddy are not going to join him at random intervals throughout the night. Last night was that period.
For about a good hour (?) last night, we battled the "I won't go to sleep by myself" monster. Several times, Mommy tucked him in, we threatened the gate in front of the door, we put the gate in front of the door... nothing was working. The really pitiful thing is, when we put the gate there, we're treated to these plaintive little inquiries.. "Monny? I want my Monny... you come lay down wif me?". It's pitiful. But it's also so sweet, and I know that he won't want me to lay down wif him much longer, so that makes me want to even more. What do you do? Do you stick to your guns, knowing that he needs to go to bed on his own, or do you suck it up, and acknowledge that so what if he likes some company while he's winding down for bed.. that means he can count on his parents for comfort?
I'd gone downstairs to walk Becky for the night (Daddy KONKED.. hard!), and walked back in to sobbing (standing at the gate). So, rather than let him see me, I sat at the top of the stairs to wait it out. ... then I noticed that the crying had a bit of a doppler effect to it.. it was getting closer. "Monny? What you doin'?". He'd shimmied under the gate and busted me. The jig was up at this point, so I took him back to bed, laid down with him for a while, and we talked. I finally realized he was thinking that I was supposed to go to bed with him! So I reminded him that Mommy and Daddy sleep in their room (which is boring and has no cool stars or planets), but he gets to sleep in the cool room with his friends: Saturn, Lion, Thomas Pillow, Moon, Planets, etc.. I think we finally made a connection, and we parted ways with the agreement that his little bottom would stay firmly ensconced in his own bed! Whew!

wish us luck tonight...

Loooong weekend

Master James fell ill this weekend to some kind of tummy bug, thus we had a pretty long weekend full of caring for the boy and keeping up with the laundry produced. Anyhoo, it really only affected him ALL of Saturday night, and he was mostly back to normal on Sunday. But no nap, a little grouchy, and we were still keeping an eye on him. So it was assumed he was just still a bit out of sorts when he woke us up again last night... at 1:30am. and 2:00am, and at 2:30 I'd had enough and just went to bed with him to get some sleep (that, and I was struggling to explain to him that no, in spite of what he was telling me, bees were not chasing him in his room at 2:30 in the morning). Now, we both slept just great after that! Until I woke up around 7am with a small finger in my nose. I'm sure it will surprise you to hear that this woke me STRAIGHT up! Naturally, I explained to James that I was not enjoying his finger up my nose, at which point he proceeded to shove it up the other nostril. Firmly, I explained that he'd better stop NOW, to which he replied, "but Mooonnnyyy... it's FUUNNN!". And so it was time to get up.

Video Supahstah!

Check out the Woodruff Video Collection (not those kinds of the videos!) link on the left.. have posted more fun vids of LL Cool J*.

*Bethany has decided that this is James' new moniker. Apparently, it originally stood for "Ladies Love Cool James", which is very true. Our super neighbors, Mike and Steph, just moved this weekend (so sad!!! but good for them), and they had a little going away bash, at which James wooed several little ladies with the awesome allure of his bubble-blowing skills. He's quite the little Romeo.

Just gweat!

James did not nap yesterday, which means that the afternoon was especially trying. So yesterday evening, while Daddy was grilling, we made a potty attempt. James decided to hold out, sitting on the lid of the toilet so i couldn't even open it. Every minute or so, he'd stand up a smidge, lift the lid about an inch, then sit back down hard, as if to make sure you knew that he wasn't going to budge on this. At one point, he stood completely up, and I quickly opened the lid... but then he sat back down again and kept going... up to his pits in the toilet! Seriously, the look on his face was truly priceless! I hauled him out, laughing my ASS off, at which point I think finally started to shake off the shock. Then he *lectured* me! He said, "that's not funny, Monny... I'm soaking wet! That's just gweat... I'm alllll wet. I'm soaking wet, Monny, don't laugh". Then I guess it got the better of him and he started to chuckle too. MAN, I have not laughed that hard in a very long time!

Best Daddy EVAH!

Look what Daddy made for his little man... who now, btw, thinks Daddy is the coolest person on the planet! The last pic is my favorite.. d'ya think he likes it? He's so hard to read...

Whispering not-so-sweet nothings...

As always, James crawled into bed this morning to snuggle. As always "snuggling" with James (or trying to take a nap with him) is very similar to what I imagine it would feel like if you were thrown into a sack full of angry monkeys, and someone were to shake the bag.. vigorously. Seriously, it's part aerobic exercise, part physical torture. Yet I digress..
After some light tossing and turning, he whispers, "Monny.. it's morning time.", and I get my obligatory good morning kiss. He then whispers, "Monny... I'm weawwy hongwy. I want a cereal bar". I reply, "Tell Daddy". He then tells me, "he's sleeping". Guess what, Einstein, so was Monny until she got pummelled awake!

Where can he be?

I heard, "Mooonnnny!! Find me!" .. and this is what I found, "hiding"...

Feels like a hundred bucks!

Toddlers have such an interesting way of interpreting things. As I sit here typing, James walks up and says, "MONNY! I uh thirty saommgublu HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!". To which I naturally reply "hunh?". Sterling interpreted for me.. "he's thirty eight and a half inches tall.. we just measured him". So yeah, like he said.. HUNDRED DOLLARS!

I didn't realize we were on a first name basis...

While making breakfast for His Highness this morning, Sterling burned his hand on the toaster. Naturally, he yelped and gave the impression of having just acquired an owie. James replied, "What's wrong, Sterling?"... and I had to leave the room to go laugh.

And so it begins....

I wondered how long we'd get away with not dealing with the "whys". They've begun. Not so much in a "why is the sky blue?" kind of way, but in a "James, stop doing that", ".. but Why?" kind of way (vs. "pleeeease?!"). The funny thing is, he actually prefaces with "but".. "but, why?".

He's also started to ask, at random intervals, and typically when you're in plain sight, "what are you doing?". As we drove to grab some dinner last night, Sterling and I were each asked about 3 or 4 times each, "Mommy / Daddy, what are you doing?" from the boy in the back seat... who could see us both... as we sat in the same seats in the same care all the way to Jersey Mike's. My new weapon is "what do you think....". James: Mommy, what are you doing? Mommy: James, what do you think Mommy's doing? James: You reading a book. Mommy: That's right, very good! If he's going to ask obvious questions, he's going to work for a response as hard as I am!

Inappropriate requests

James has very good manners. He consistently says "please", "thank you", "may I..", "excuse me".. very nice. Unfortunately, he thinks that manners = getting what you ask for. Like they're some form of currency that can buy you whatever you'd like. Thus he frequently pleads for completely inappropriate things:
Mommy: James, pls stop kicking the back of mommy's seat (in the car)
James: pleeeaase?
WTF!! Who begs for permission to kick a freakin' seat? He does this with all kinds of naughty / mischievous behavior... does it, and when asked to stop simply replies "please?", like we'll say, "oh, alrighty then, my bad... beat mommy over the head with that toy all you want. Don't let me stop you!".

Spelling Champ

James has a little wooden puzzle with the alphabet that he loves to put together then shake to bits. He asked me to help him with it, so naturally I decided to make it an educational opportunity. I started to use the letters to spell short words. I spelled H A T. We said each of the letters, and then their sounds... or tried to
Mommy: What letter is this?
James: H! Huuuh!
Mommy: Good! What's the next letter?
James: A! Ah!
Mommy: Great, this one?
James: T!! Teh!
Mommy: very good, now let's say just the sounds and see what it spells...
James: It spells JAMES! Jumpy James!
Mommy: Sweetie, no, let's do the sounds. *points to H*
James: Huh
*mommy points to A*
James: Ah
*mommy points to T*
James: Teh
Mommy: good, now let's say them faster...
James: Jumpy James! It spells Jumpy James!

the world may not revolve around him, but I"m not sure he's grasped that yet...

AWESOME Weekend

So wow, we had a totally awesome weekend. Gotta work now, so more later, but I couldn't wait to share at least one or two pics. Also, Elizabeth has started a blog! The link is over on the left with my other favorite sites, and it's adorable.. love the template she used! That's all for now! Happy Monday!

It's all in how you say it.

I do believe I've been remiss in mentioning that we've recently taken a technological step forward and begin using a DVR. For the family members reading this who have no idea what that is, it's like TIVO but it doesn't pick stuff out for you (digital recorder... like a VCR but all digital and no tapes).
When we first switched to digital phones (vs. cell) I made it a point to say "mobile" vs. "cell" phone.. because it's incorrect. Other than that, I don't guess I'm especially picky about things like that. Unlike my DH (dear hubby).
There used to be one thing that would set Sterling's blood to boiling. If you said, "hey, I'm going to the store, want to go with"... he was absolutely just refuse to answer. No acknowledgment whatsoever, because I'd left off the final noun so the sentence must not be finished.. therefore no answer yet required! (kindof annoying).
So now he has two grammatical pet peeves. The going with, and inappropriate terminology with regards to the DVR. For the first few weeks, if I asked him to "tape" something for me, he would just ignore the request... we no longer "tape". I had to specify that I wanted him to RECORD something for me. Whatever, I just learned to program the danmed thing myself.

Birth of a mutant

Holy crap! I get weekly emails from various parenting sites, and one of them had a cool "predict your child's height" calculator. Now I've seen variations on this before where they basically say that if it's a boy, take the parents' avg heights and add an inch, or something like that... but check THIS out!

Height Predictor

Thanks for using our calculator!

Your son will likely be 6 feet, 6 inches tall at age 18.

This prediction is a "best guess" but it's still just that -- a guess. Based on the formula we used,* there's a 58 percent chance your son's full-grown height will be within 1 inch (above or below) of this prediction, an 85 percent chance it will be within 2 inches, and an 96 percent chance it will be within 3 inches.


The fine print:

This method relies on where your son falls on the Centers for Disease Control's growth charts, and it assumes that he'll remain in the same percentile until he reaches his adult height. The accuracy of the prediction varies because some children will fall into different percentiles throughout childhood.

Trash Talk

My straight-to-the-point, mince-no-words husband has a few favorite expressions he relies on when setting our son straight during times of naughtiness. They are, "don't make me get with your britches" (which we've had yet to act on) and "James, if you do x, it's going to get ugly up in here". James has gotten at least one of these warnings downpat. While I was travelling last week, Sterling was reminding James that he wasn't supposed to do one of the myriad of naughty things that we always find him doing, and said, "James, if you don't stop doing that right now.." to which James replied, "I know, Daddy, it going get ugly up in here"... at which point I'm sure Sterling had to leave the room before James realized how funny he was. Whatever he was doing, I'm sure it was forgotten.
This is now his stock response, even if it's not the answer you're looking for. For example, James likes to ride around the downstairs loop on this little car like a maniac. Once he gets up a good head of steam, he likes to chase Becky, which he KNOWS (doesn't stop him) he's not supposed to do. What happens when he does this? Mommy takes the car away.. that's a given. But when I ask him "what happens when you chase Becky?", his first instinct is to reply "it going get ugly up here".

Happy Easter, ya'll!

Yeah, ok, Easter was like 2 weeks ago.. sorry! I don't even have any fabulously witty things to say today, just a quick update to let you know that Easter pics are posted in the Photo Collection. Here's a teaser....

Must.... have..... waaaaterrrr

James is mastering the adjective. He routinely throws around "very" and "really" (or bewry and weally). We were walking through BJs today, and James informed us that he was weally fiwrsty. I told him he could have some water as soon as we got in the car.. we were headed towards the checkout anyway. Apparently we weren't headed fast enough. We were then treated to a very plaintive "Monny... I'm BEWRY FIWRSTY.... *cough* *cough*... I need water.. pleeease??" So I told him we'd go to the water fountain and get some now. Still, I did not move fast enough for the likes of his highness, and I got a coughing act all the way.
One AT the water fountain, James always insists on drinking from each one.. typically there are 2 side by side. So, he drank from each, each sip followed by "Aaaaaahhh!" as if he'd just crawled out of the desert. He's bewry dwamatic.

Methinks he doth protest too much

Yes, I should have known better. Surely the open house wore his little tush out, but I wanted lunch, and on many occasions we've grabbed something to go and eaten it at the airport observation field. So, I agreed, and we went. BUT.. he didn't really want to sit and eat, he wanted to play. Mind you, we were still dressed somewhat warmly.. jeans and such, because we left the house at 9am when it was still a tad chilly. Well, the field is in the sun, ya know, airport and all! So he played, and I got him to take bites in between climbs, and eventually we just got to the point where I was hot, and I'd put no sunscreen on him, and decided it was time to go. Clearly this was at odds with HIS plan!
So we drove home amidst sobs of protest and much pleading to return to the airport. It was quite apparent that the child was desperately in need of a NAP. Sadly, he refused to accept my logical conclusion, and then the wearies settled in. Ya know, when you've already crammed too much into the day, even though there's alot of day left? Yeah.. those! After alot of fussing (on both of our parts), he took a good hard nap, and the day proceeded nicely from there.
The point is, here are s'more cute pics from the airport..

Barnyard Fun

Every year NC State's Vet School has their open house, and it's quite cool! If you've ever wondered about those plugs in the sides of some of those cows, this is where you can see them up-close and have them explained (found an article here that explains it pretty well). There are lots of live animals, you can milk a cow, watch animals being spayed/neutered (you can't really see much, but you can see the dr's working with tools on something mostly under surgical cloths), you can bring stuffed animals with boo boos to have the vet students sew them back up. It's just an awesome day AND it's educational! James LOVED it. Here are some pics!
He petted: a police horse, 1 small turtle, 1 large turtle (scared the pickles out of him when he popped out of his shell!), 2 rabbits, 1 cow. We tried to get him to milk the cow, but I think the cow was getting a little cranky and it was freaking James out a bit.. so no milking, just a very cautious pat.

Pictures POSTED!

Can it be true? Have I really found 5 mins in which to post some pics? YES! I have! Great Wolf Lodge is out there, as is James' birthday. Check 'em out, enjoy!

Sppprrrriiinggg!

*Sigh* Spring has finally sprung, and it's about time! Naturally, because we live in N.C., it went immediately from the 50s to the 80s! But who's complaining! We hung outside quite a bit today, and I convinced James to actually hold still long enough for me to snap some photos. We "caught" bubbles with his butterfly net, and then hung out in the grass, just enjoying the nice evening!

Great Wolf Lodge

If you've never heard of or been to Great Wolf Lodge, you are missing out on a good time! The Woodruffs treated us to an overnight trip to the one in Williamsburg the weekend of James' 3rd birthday. So, following the insanely busy Saturday birthday party, James went home with Honey and Grandaddy, and we packed in order to get up bright and ugly the next day.. which we did. We drove to the rapids, where we all piled into the mini and drove a few hours up to VA. We did get to ride the ferry across the James River. Mind you, it was CHILLY, and James wanted to stand outside the van to watch the water. I asked him if we could get back in the car, and he said, "no, want to stay on the BOAT". I tried to explain that we'd still be ON the boat, just inside a warm vehicle, but he didn't quite grasp that!
Anyhoo, we eventually arrived, and let me tell you.. I have never seen such a line to check in at a hotel! Check-in isn't until 4pm, but on your day of arrival, you can pre-check-in, get your wristbands, and head on over to the pool. So that's what we did! We played HARD until a little after 4, and then decided to head to the room. It wasn't quite ready, so Mom W Wanda-ed her way into an upgrade and free breakfast for all of us! We munched, unpacked, and went BACK DOWN for more pool fun!
The next day, breakfast, pool, munch, more pool, then a long drive home. Holy crap, what a busy weekend. Pics posted in the photo collection, and here are some of my favs to entice you!

Birthday Bash

Whew! Cramming 30 people (nearly half of them age 5 and under) into our house is madness... sheer madness! Thank heavens it was a beautiful day, because most folks ended up out on the back deck, and the kids ran around the yard like little lunatics. One of James' gifts (which were opened in shifts... too much going on!) was a bubble blower (similar to this one), which we broke out shortly after round 1 of the gift opening broke down, and the kids ran around like they were on the Lawrence Welk show. I'll be posting more pics, but here are a few for now to keep ya interested!

Grown-ups are stupid

Remember how stupid you thought your parents were growing up? Apparently it was true. Have you seen this new show, "Are you smarter than a 5th grader"? We have, and we are not. Granted, 5th graders these days are studying stuff we probably didn't get to until like high school, but STILL! What the heck is a "rhombus"?
I came into the family room last Saturday while James was watching "Go, Diego, Go", and Diego was singing "Sube" (I think that's the word), and I asked aloud, "what's Sube?", to which James replied, "climb, Mommy". He also, completely unprompted, counted to FIVE IN SPANISH the other day, which I have not taught him! Amazing... he'll be explaining quantum physics to me in a few more years...

Happy Birthday!

Politely Manipulative

James' new strategy for getting what he wants (it's not totally new, but he's perfecting it!) is being extremely polite! Here's an example of the actual verbiage, along with a translation...
"Mommy, may I have x?"
"Pleeease?" (he goes up on the end here? like a question?)
"Pleeeeaaasse." (now it's more like a "c'mon... you know you want to say yes")
"yessss." (and here's where he knows you're about to cave"
"yeeeeeessss!" (he almost whispers this.. like "just say yes, mommy, don't feel bad about it".. he knows he's won)

He's really a riot. The whole time he's got this cheese eatin' grin and it's just a matter of time before he starts to wiggle his eyebrows while he's going through his little schtick. Mommy and Daddy are total suckers for this.

Peering into the heavens...

James has his first telescope! We can't remember where we got it, but we've had it in a closet for a few years and decided that James was old enough to appreciate it. It now occupies a place in his room, and he is in LOOOOVE with it! Here's a pic of Daddy setting it up (notice how ELATED James is.. he was practically vibrating with excitement!), and here he is spotting which star he wants Daddy to find in the telescope.

Planetary Pals

What a ham! James routinely requests now that I take his picture whenever he's feeling espeically photogenic! After I fixed his hair the other morning, he sat down on his bed, put his arm around Saturn, and said, "James and Saturn! Take a picture, Mommy! Take a picture of me and Saturn!". So here it is, along with some others that are just really darned cute!

Those aren't olives...

Products James has tried to eat or put near his mouth in the last week:

• Toothpaste (pretty frequently, in fact)
• Dog Food
• Cat Treats
• Lotion
• Hair Gel

The first three are pretty par for course (I know.. ew.), the last two were new to me. I had him at home, but still had to work last week, when I caught him sucking lotion out of a bottle right behind my chair (while I was on a conference call, no less!). Having resolved that little situation, I was chagrined to later find him on the floor of our bathroom with his hair gel open, and smeared across his hands and cheeks. I think he actually though this WAS lotion.
It seems he's played the same routine for Sterling, who caught him in a similar situation yesterday. Upon being discovered, James informed his Daddy, "that's not toothpaste". Gosh, really?!?!

Ah, the sacrifices we make for our children...

Well, we ran out of the "grown-up" hand soap in the guest bathroom upstairs, which also serves as James' bathroom. When Sterling told me this, I informed him that we actually had a backup soap right there on the counter which James had been using for a while, Kandoo Jungle Fruit-scented kid's soap. He said, "don't we have anything stronger? I need something with lye..". I pointed out that the prior soap wasn't exactly the toughest guy soap on the block.. it's all-natural, but I guess it smelled a little more, uh.. neutral?
He stooped to using it, but pointed out that he was going to have a long road ahead of him, as his next stop was Harbor Freight (Man Land if you're unfamiliar with it), and you don't walk in there smelling like bubble gum and asking for an impact wrench and welding supplies... the guys there would probably point him to the craft department. *sigh*