The lineup

The photo below shows either:

1. Future owner of a car dealership.
2. Someone has more cars than he needs.
3. Big dreams about a garage for the future.
4. My son's OCD orderliness and neatness kicking in early.
5. Clear appreciation of horsepower.
   

I vote for #5.

Language arts

Jeff had to cover a basketball game last night, so Biscuit and I met one of my friends out for dinner.

I can't remember what started us on the conversation, but my friend and I were talking about how little kids take everything you say literally, mostly because they don't know the colloquialisms or adages we use.

Tonight at dinner, I was trying to prompt Biscuit to tell Jeff what we did last night, and this conversation happened:

Me: "Tell Daddy what we did last night. Who did we hang out with?"

Biscuit: "Hang out coat, Daddy."

Me: "Yeah, we put up your coat, but who did we hang out with last night?"

Biscuit: "We hang out coat, Daddy."

He heard the word "hang," and he couldn't get past the literal meaning.

Last night after we got home, I wanted to help Biscuit blow his nose. "Biscuit, can you get me a Kleenex, so we can blow your nose?" The box of tissues was on the table behind him.

Biscuit looked around, threw up his hands and said, "Don't see them, Mom."

"Turn around and you'll see them," I said. Biscuit then spun all the way around until he was facing me again and said, "Don't see them, Mom."

I said "turn around," and he did ... ALL the way around.

Of course, Jeff is just as bad sometimes, and he doesn't have toddlerhood as an excuse.

He came in the house the other day holding his arm. I asked him what was wrong, and he said he rapped his elbow (that's Jeff speak for he banged his elbow!).

"Where?" I asked him.

"Right here," he said, pointing to a spot on his arm.

"Where did you hit it?" I asked.

"RIGHT HERE," he said, making a bigger gesture to the spot on his arm.

He still didn't get that I was asking what he had hit his elbow on.

Now that I think about it, maybe it's just a male thing.

Beach, Part 2

There were a few other things about our beach trip that I wanted to mention. Biscuit is at such a fun age right now. He’s starting to put things together and make comparisons and just really seeing things his own way.

The ocean: When we got to the room, I took Biscuit to the sliding glass door that opens to the balcony and asked, “What do you see?”

“Ooo. I see a ocean,” he said. “It coming to us. Look, Mama. It coming right to us.”

The bridge: Atlantic Beach is on a long, skinny island, so there’s a tall arcing bridge that connects the island to the mainland. The first time we went over the bridge, we were all excited to see the ocean. But as we were going back over the bridge to go to dinner, Biscuit got chatty. He had to repeat what he said a few times before we got it.

“This troll bridge, Mama and Daddy,” Biscuit said. “Big troll live under bridge.” I’m guessing he’s talking about the “Three Billy Goats Gruff.”

A new game: Biscuit came up with a game to play on our trip. It takes about 4 to 4½ hours to get from our house to the beach we were going to. We thought it was cute … well, at least the first 20 times we had to play it.

“What your favorite animal, Mama?” Biscuit would ask.

I didn’t know my choice would be my final answer, so I said, “My favorite animal is … um … a … um … brown cow. Moooooooo.”

“That nice cow mooing, Mama,” Biscuit said. “What your favorite animal, Daddy?” Biscuit asked.

“I like dogs,” Jeff said. “Wuff. Wuff.”

“That nice dog barking, Daddy,” Biscuit said. “What your favorite animal, Mama?”

I thought I was change things up a little, so I said, “My favorite animal is a gray dolphin. Eeek. Eeek. Eeek”

“No, Mama. Your favorite animal a brown cow. Mooooo,” Biscuit said. I didn’t realize that my first choice would also be my last. I think I would’ve picked something a little more interesting than a brown cow.”

Griffin’s favorite animal, by the way, was a brown horse. That worked out well because there’s an island near Atlantic Beach that is home to a population of 40-plus wild horses. It’s called Carrot Island if you want to check it out.

The postcard: I found a postcard with a great picture of one of the wild horses on it. “We have to buy this for the boy,” I told Jeff.

You would’ve thought we handed him a 24-karat gold brick. He was so excited about his “horse picture.” He carried it around while we were at the beach, then he kept it on the kitchen table for at least three days after we got home.

Winter vacation

Jeff is usually really busy this time of the year covering college basketball. So when we realized that he was going to have four days in a row, including a weekend, with no games to go to, we decided a quick vacation was in order.

We went to Atlantic Beach, the place where we got married back in 2003. Some people think we're crazy for going to the beach when it's cold, but we really like it a lot. I don't get sunburned. The beach isn't crowded. The restaurants don't have waits. The only drawback is that some restaurants, stores and attractions are closed for the season. But seeing as this was more about the three of us spending time together than anything else, we were okay with having limited distractions.

We went on Thursday and came back on Sunday, so we had two fulls days and two partial days. It takes about 4 to 4 1/2 hours to get there.

Thursday night, we went to one of our favorite restaurants. Unfortunately, we didn't call first. When we got there, we found out they were still closed for the season. They weren't opening until the next night. So we ended up trying a restaurant we had never been to before. The parking lot was full on a Thursday night in winter, so I figured that was a good sign. And I was right. It was a nice place with great views of the water and great food.

Biscuit was so good. It helped that we were sitting near the bar where there were several TVs mounted on the walls. He had his choice of race cars or hockey to watch, and they both captured his attention enough that we could relax and have a leisurely dinner. Jeff was a backup P.A. announcer for his college's hockey team and ran the penalty box at most games, so he's liked hockey for a while. I had been to Charlotte Checkers games back in the day. And once we started dating, Jeff and I would occasionally go to Carolina Hurricanes games together. But we realized that even with all of that, Biscuit has never really seen hockey for any amount of time.

"Play ice skate baseball, Dad." Biscuit said. Ice skate baseball. How cool is that?!?

Biscuit had snacked some on the trip, so I figured we could let him munch off of our plates. He had shrimp, hushpuppies, corn and fries. And he was quite taken with all of it. He ate well over the whole weekend.

When the server brought back the change from our bill, there was a green piece of folded fabric under the money folder. I asked him what it was, and he said the owner of the restaurant was so impressed with Biscuit's behavior that she wanted to give him a T-shirt. How nice was that?

The truth is, Biscuit was good at all three of the restaurants we chose for dinner. The first night he had the ice skate baseball and race cars as a distraction, and the second night was easy because it was a family restaurant that's kind of noisy all the time. But the third restaurant has more ambience. And it was Valentine's Day weekend. So I was a little worried about being a distraction for couples seeking a little romance. My worries were for naught. Biscuit was so good during the whole meal that we ordered dessert. And were able to sit and enjoy that, too.

Breakfast and lunch, on the other hand, were no picnic. Biscuit didn't sleep well while we were there, so when he got up, he was just pure joy to be around (she said sarcastically). He said he was hungry, but he didn't want to eat. He said he was ready to get up, but he said he was still sleepy. He wanted to go outside, but he didn't want us to get him dressed. Saturday morning, I finally told Jeff that if we didn't get Biscuit out into the sand soon, I was going to toss him over the balcony.

Once we finally force-fed Biscuit breakfast and wrangled him into some clothes, he was his happy, normal self. But boy were our mornings trying.

It rained all day Friday, so we spent a good part of the day at the aquarium. There were several groups of elementary schools kids there, and I'm not sure what was more fascinating to Biscuit, the kids or the fish.

Saturday was still a little cool, but we bundled Biscuit up and took him out to play in the sand. With a sweat suit, baseball cap, hooded coat and sunglasses, plus the pacifier that we couldn't pry out of his hands that weekend, all you could see of Biscuit was cheeks and hands. We made sand castles, picked up shells and chased the sea gulls. Biscuit played so hard Saturday morning that he took a 2 1/2-hour nap, leaving time for Jeff and me to hang out on the balcony watching the dolphins play in the ocean.

After Biscuit woke up, we saw a huge flock of sea gulls in the yard outside our balcony. Jeff took Biscuit to see the ruckus, and Biscuit started yelling, "BIRD! BIRD! BIRD!!!" The people in the room next to ours were throwing little pieces of bread out to feed the gulls, and they heard Biscuit. Jeff said all of a sudden, this disembodied hand reached around the edge of the balcony to hand over two slices of bread. Jeff said it was very nice, but it was a little freaky to see a hand appear like that. It's sort of an unwritten rule that you don't feed the sea gulls, but it's so much fun, everyone does it anyway.

We tried to visit Fort Macon on Saturday afternoon, but we had barely made it in the door of the new section of the fort when a man stepped out of a hallway and laughed real loud, scaring Biscuit enough that he tripped over his own feet and slammed his head into the wall. It was so hard and so loud that everybody around us stopped what they were doing and turned around to see what was going on. I scooped up Biscuit and moved out to a spot that had better light, so I could see the damage.

I glanced up at his forehead, and it was flaming red. I started to get shaky, then just as my first aid knowledge started kicking in, Jeff reached up and wiped his hand across Biscuit's forehead. Most of the redness disappeared, then Jeff showed me his fingers, and there is was. Apparently, the walls in that part of the fort were made out of the same pine they would've used when the fort was built, and the stain on the wall had a powdery finish, which rubbed off on Biscuit's head as he scraped down it.

Even though I realized that the scrape wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it was, he still hit hard enough that I was worried about a concussion. Biscuit had already had his nap, so we just kept him up and going for the rest of the afternoon. Jeff knew I was too distracted to enjoy the fort that day, so we left with the plan to stop by on our way out of town.

The next morning, the only evidence you could see on Biscuit's head was a bluish line across his eyebrow from his sunglasses. Last year, we couldn't get Biscuit to keep sunglasses on, but on this beach trip, we could hardly get him to take them off. He was wearing them inside at Fort Macon, so when he fell, the frames of the glasses pushed into his forehead.

Before we left Sunday, we stopped back by the fort and were able to get a good look at the new addition they opened this year. It included a lot of stuff about the fort, which we've seen several times, plus a lot of information about the animals, plants, sea shells and other things you can find on the island.

All in all, it was a fun trip. Or as Jeff likes to say, "Refreshments were served, and a good time was had by all."

Sometimes you gotta laugh

I shouldn't have laughed. Jeff was making a point. But I couldn't help it. It was too funny not to laugh.

Biscuit was stomping his foot into a box of cars - repeatedly.

"Stop stepping on those cars, or I'm going to take them away," I said to Biscuit. "You have to take care of your toys if you want to keep them."

"Yeah, Biscuit," Jeff said. "Toys are a privilege not a right."

I just cracked up. I'm not sure why that struck me as so funny, but the way Jeff said it was just so serious. And he was pointing his finger at Biscuit, too. I just kept laughing.

Then Jeff said, "What?!? I'm parenting here!" Except to me, it sounded like Dustin Hoffmann in "Midnight Cowboy," "I'm parentin' heah!"

Sometimes you gotta laugh.

Ride 'em, cowboy

Biscuit is a big fan of horses and cowboys right now.

He has a bouncy horse (he calls it his cowboy horse) that he loves to ride (just like the one below). As a matter of fact, if Jeff is watching a Western movie on TV, Biscuit will slide his bouncy horse out closer to the TV, then he'll get on his horse and ride as long as the TV cowboys are on their horses.

For the past hour or so, Jeff and Biscuit have been in our bedroom watching TV, and I've been in the living room watching a TV show on my computer that I missed this week. About five minutes ago, Mr. Biscuit walks in.

"Hi, Mama. I get horse. Okay?" Biscuit said.

I have to admit, it was a pivotal point in my show, so I just said okay and didn't really pay a lot of attention to what he was doing. When my show ended, I realized that Biscuit's horse was gone.

I walked into our bedroom to find his cowboy horse and cowboy hat at the foot of our bed and he and Jeff were on the bed watching "Conagher" with Sam Elliott.

Jeff said he was flipping channels and came upon the original "True Grit." Biscuit yelled "Cowboys. Horses." and wanted to watch. Jeff knew the movie would be a little too much shoot-'em-up for Biscuit, so he put the "Conagher" DVD in the player.

As soon as Biscuit saw the first horse, he asked Jeff to set him down off the bed, then he said, "Be right back, Dad."

That's when he came in the living room, grabbed his horse and dragged it from the living room, through the dining room, through the kitchen and into our bedroom.

I think I'll go join Jeff and Griffin. I have always had a thing for cowboys!

Zoo day

We took Biscuit to the zoo a couple of Sundays ago. We've never taken him before, mainly because that place is so big, we just wanted him to be a little more independent. And I'm glad we waited. It was a good trip.

The zoo nearest us has two parts - North America and Africa. On the way there, I asked Jeff which side he'd like to start with because I didn't know how long Biscuit would last, and if there were certain animals Jeff and I wanted to see, I figured we should see them first. We agreed that we would go in at the Africa entrance because the elephants, rhinos and lions were the main attractions for us.

Plus, a friend of ours figured out the laziest way to see the zoo. And with a 2-year-old in tow, I was going to happily try out her method. She figured out that the middle of the zoo is the highest point. So as soon as you enter the zoo, take the trolley to the middle of the zoo, then walk downhill through one side. Then take the trolley back to the middle and walk downhill through the other side.

But our plans were doused when we got there. Because it's off season, the Africa entrance wasn't even open. All zoo traffic had to enter at North America, then you could take the trolley or walk all the way to Africa. So we headed into North America.

I looked at the map and realized that the seals and polar bears weren't far from the entrance, so we started walking. I figured we could just walk until we were tired, then we could pick up a trolley wherever we stopped.

We got to the seals first, and this was the first picture I took. See that face? I could've taken this picture of Biscuit all day long. This was the face he had at pretty much every exhibit.

The seals were really active. We watched them for a while in a cave-like area where you can see them swimming by. Biscuit called them dolphins at first. Actually, he argued with me saying they weren't seals. They were dolphins. I figure he has plenty of time to learn the difference between dolphins and seals, so I didn't argue with him. Plus, he was in a great mood, and I didn't want to jinx it with an argument.

Willie the polar bear was spending the afternoon relaxing on the rocks. He was lying still with his eyes closed when we got to him.

"WAKE UP, POLE BEAH!" Biscuit yelled. I think he thought the animals were there for his entertainment, much like the animated ones he sees on TV. And oddly enough, Willie decided to wake up and look around a bit right after Biscuit yelled at him.

We also saw a couple of black bears. One of them grabbed the trunk of a skinny little cedar tree and bent it all the way over. Then it just propped its front legs on the tree and relaxed. It was so funny.

"Beah funny, Daddy," Biscuit said. In the past few months, he's been learning a lot about emotions and how to tell them apart. The other black bear was just kind of skulking around. "Beah mad, Daddy?" Biscuit asked Jeff. Sometimes it's hard to answer those questions. If you ever pay close attention to people, they're often mad for no good reason (or for really stupid reasons), and when Biscuit asks, you have to try to explain it to him. Right now, changing the subject seems to work really well!

Anyway, we saw desert animals, including road runners, ocelots, some funky-looking lizards and some other birds. We also saw bison, elk and wolves.

After that, we got to a sign that said, "Congratulations. You've made it to the mid-point of the zoo." Then there was a sign that said "Africa" and had an arrow pointing straight ahead. We just kept walking from exhibit to exhibit and never caught the trolley. At that point, we figured we might as well just walk through Africa.

We got to the gorillas, and I said to Biscuit, "Look, Biscuit. Check out the gorillas."

Still in his argumentative mood, he said, "No, Mama. Not bogillas." Bogillas?!? I'm not sure where that even came from because he has the book "Good Night, Gorilla," that we've had to read 1,000 times.

We checked out the rhinos and ostriches. Then we got to the elephants. They have these cute little metal sculptures of the animals that kids can sit on. We got pictures of Biscuit on a praying mantis, a ladybug, a honey bee and this elephant. For some reason, he didn't take to the giant rhino sculpture, and the bison sculpture was too big to even get him up on.

All in all, we had a nice day. Biscuit has asked me a couple of times since that day to see the animal pictures. I can say for sure, that won't be our last trip to the zoo.

Two thumbs up

I realized that I've been using the phrase "more on that in a later post" a lot lately. So I figured I better start making good on my word.

A few weeks ago, my friend Holly invited Biscuit and me to see a movie with her at one of the local theaters in town. Biscuit had never been to a movie before, so I thought I better have the chat with Holly before we went.

"Here are the potential problems with taking Biscuit to a movie," I said to her. Then I proceeded to explain that Biscuit, like all 2-year-olds, has an attention span of about 20 minutes at the most (figured by the average length of a show on Nick Jr.). He doesn't have a filter on his sweet, little mouth, which translates to "if he thinks it, he says it." He might be bored and go to sleep. He might not be able to sit still. And probably a few other warnings that I don't even remember.

Holly was not scared. She was excited. So I don't think there's anything I could've told her that would have made her want to cancel.

The movie, which was a fundraiser for an area children's home, was "Muppets Take Manhattan." Remember a blog post last June about Biscuit having an Elmo vs. Zoe fight with a grown-adult friend of mine? Well, Holly is that friend. It's an understatement to say that she has a thing for the Muppets.

I picked Biscuit up from day care that evening and took him straight to have a quick dinner.

And let me take a minute to say that despite the fact that baby car seats are safe, and I would never ever consider taking Biscuit anywhere without one, they are a big pain in the backside, especially when you're making several stops in a short amount of time.

At daycare, I put Biscuit in his car seat, then we drove five minutes to the restaurant. I got him out of his car seat, took him into the restaurant, got his belly full, then put him back in his car seat. I then drove two minutes to a convenience store, took him out of his car seat, went in and bought a drink to sneak into the movie theater, then put him back into his car seat and drove five minutes to the theater. I took him out of his car seat, put him in his stroller and took him into the theater.

Each time I put him into his car seat, I have to get his arms through the straps, finagle the straps to the right position and fasten three buckles. And depending on whether he's wearing a coat or a light jacket or just a shirt, I have to adjust the length of the straps, too. It's not terribly difficult, but after you do it that many times in that short a time span, it gets to be frustrating.

Back to the movie.

We got to the theater at the same time as Holly, and Biscuit was really excited to see her. She brought a stuffed Kermit for Biscuit to play with. And of course, she was wearing a Piggy shirt. Piggy is her favorite.

On another side note, every once in a while, Holly will meet Biscuit and me at Target to do some shopping. Somewhere down the line, Biscuit has associated Holly and Target, so now every time we pull into the Target parking lot, Biscuit says, "See Hah-ee? See Hah-ee?"

Back to the movie ... again.

We bought our tickets, got our popcorn and went into the theater. They had booster seats for kids, so we grabbed one of those, and it put Biscuit up high enough to see.

We got settled in, and the movie started.

Biscuit's first comment (out loud, of course) was, "It dark, Mama. It dark."

"Shhhhhhhhh," I said. The first of many times I made that noise.

Then, Kermit came on the screen and started to sing.

"FOG!!! FOG!!! WIBBIT!!!! WIBBIT!!!! Mama, fog! Fog, Mama!" Biscuit was really loud, and I was really worried. I was trying to figure out how I would handle anyone who made a comment about him.

I whispered to Holly, "Is he too loud? Should I take him outside?"

"Dude! Of course not," Holly said. "Everybody has seen the movie before. Plus, this is a fundraiser. It's supposed to be fun. He's fine."

Then the pig showed up!

Miss Piggy started her song, and Biscuit yelled "PIG" and "OINK" just like he yelled "FOG" and "WIBBIT" for Kermit. And much to my relief, the people nearest us laughed every time Biscuit named a new animal. He continued to call out every animal he could make out, including Rowlf the dog and Fozzie the bear, but he grew quite quiet when Gonzo appeared on the screen. I don't blame him. I don't know exactly what Gonzo is, either.

Biscuit got pretty involved in the movie. He was following the storyline and seemed pretty content. Then all of a sudden, he was done.

"Want to go home, Mama," Biscuit said.

I only needed to hear it once. As soon as he said that, I was on the move. I got our stuff together in record time, and Holly was already taking Biscuit down the steps. I finally had to admit to Holly that I had never seen the movie before, either, and I wanted to know how far Biscuit made it. "So how much of the movie is left?" I asked Holly.

After she got over being horrified at the fact that I had never seen the movie, Holly said that we were only missing the last 15 minutes or so. I was really impressed with Biscuit's staying power, and so was Holly.

I'm not sure if he's ready for a new release, but I'd be very willing to take Biscuit to a fundraising-type event again. So Holly, I guess you should be on the lookout for a showing of "Muppets in Space."

Here are Holly and Biscuit in the lobby before the movie:

Sharks ... and ... sharks ... and sharks

Jeff, Biscuit and I snuck away for a long weekend at the beach (more in a later post). Friday turned out to be a rainy day, so we took Biscuit to the aquarium. Want to know what Biscuit wanted to see most at the aquarium? Watch the video, and you'll find out.

Do the manners count?

Jeff: "Want to go to bed, Biscuit?"

Biscuit: "Um, no thank you, Daddy."

Guess how the conversation ended?!?

No way, no how!

Here's a recent frustrating conversation between Biscuit and me.

Me: "Come see Daddy on TV, Biscuit." (Jeff was covering a college basketball game that night.)

Biscuit: "No, Mom. Dad not TV."

Me: "Yeah, he's at the basketball game. Want to come see?"

Biscuit: "No, Mom. Dad not basketball. Dad wuk." He doesn't get that Jeff's work is basketball.

Biscuit has been asserting his own opinions lately - sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. Although, it would be safe to say that the bad way doesn't get him very far! On some topics, he can argue all he wants, and he still won't get his way. And boy does he hate it when that happens.

We went to the zoo Sunday afternoon (more on that in another post), and Biscuit argued with me about some of the animals.

Me: "Look Biscuit, a seal!"

Biscuit: "No, Mom. That dolphin."

I don't think there are seals in any of his animal books, so I could understand that one. But still, it's hard to know when to let things go and when to correct him. It turns into a "pick your battle" situation. Figuring he'll learn the difference between seals and dolphins at some point, I didn't push it. But then later that evening when I was showing him the pictures I took that day, he said, "Look, Mom. A seal." So not pushing it was the right call.

The other frustrating part of toddlerhood is his love of the word "no." He uses it quite freely.

Bath time ... no. Dinner time ... no. Bed time ... no.

I think those are pretty common to most toddlers. But Biscuit has some others that are just him being stubborn.

The other evening when we got home, I reached down to unzip his coat, and he grabbed the front of his coat with both his hands. "NO, MOM. WANT COAT ON!" We were home for the evening, and he walked around for about half an hour with his coat still on.

One morning he was eating pancakes (with pancake sauce, of course), and I tried to push up the sleeves of his pajamas, so he wouldn't get them sticky. "NO, MOM. WANT SLEEVES DOWN!"

Ugh! Did you see the scene in "A League of Their Own" when Tom Hanks' hands were shaking in front of him as he tried not to throttle one of the more clueless players? That's exactly how I feel sometimes.

So short of shaking him, I guess I'll just keep trying to pick my battles. But just in case, does anyone have the ZIP code for Outer Mongolia?!?

Water, water everywhere

I think our son is an ocelot.

We were at the zoo today, and every time that ocelot passed a rock, tree branch, leaf or speck of dirt, he marked his territory. In the past week, Biscuit has marked Jeff and me on two different occasions.

Last week, Biscuit was lying on our bed and Jeff was drying him off after a bath. Biscuit started flailing his legs, and Jeff scolded him and told him to stop kicking. Biscuit, like most 2-year-olds, doesn't like to be scolded, so he got upset and started crying.

Jeff was in the process of standing Biscuit up to put lotion on his back, when he realized that his shirt was getting wetter and wetter. Biscuit was peeing on him. He got Jeff's shirt, the changing pad, the towel and of course, the comforter on our bed. Luckily, my washing machine will hold a king-size comforter!

Then tonight, I was sitting in the bathroom floor with one leg folded under me while I rubbed lotion on Biscuit after his bath. All of a sudden, my folded leg started feeling really warm. We walked all day at the zoo, so I thought, "Is that some weird cramp or something in my leg?" Then I realized ... it's WET!!! HE JUST PEED ON ME!!!

We've been talking with Biscuit about potty training, but he just doesn't get it yet. We got him one of the potty seats that fits on top of a regular toilet seat. He likes to sit there, but he has no idea why he's up there.

And I've been getting the potty training question a lot. I guess because that'll be the next big milestone for Biscuit. But I just don't see any point in trying to push him into it. He'll get there when he gets there.

In the meantime, though, it seems like Jeff and I need to be more careful after bath time!

Make it stop!!!

WORST. SIREN. NOISE. EVER!!!!!!!!!!

I told him to

Don't you hate it when something you teach a child comes back to haunt you?

In an effort to keep my little man from whining when he couldn't get something to work the way he wanted it to, I told him that he needed to learn to ask for help.

I went through the whole speech of how whining doesn't accomplish anything, but if he asks for help, he can really get things done.

And what's my payback?

"I need help, Mama" ... all ... the ... time ... about ... every ... thing ...

In the long run, I know I taught him something good, but until he learns to temper his help-asking, I think I'm going to regret this one for a bit.

Where's the fire?

A conversation I just heard between Biscuit and Jeff as they played with a firetruck with detachable ladders.

Jeff: "Be careful, Biscuit, or you're going to bend the ladder. You don't want to bend the ladder, do you?"

Biscuit: "Ummm, yeah."

I guess he's not ready for that kind of logic yet.

Can you hear me now?

Sometimes when Biscuit talks, his speech is so plain, and I can understand everything he says. Then other times, he’ll try to tell me something, and I just have no clue what he’s trying to say. When that happens, he gets very frustrated. Here was a conversation we had yesterday evening after we left Target.

“Bucka, Mama?” Biscuit asked. I didn’t understand what he was saying, so I asked him to repeat himself.

“Bucka, Mama?” he said again. And I still didn’t get it.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you’re asking me, Biscuit,” I said.

This is where the frustration happened.

“FASTEN SEATBELT, MAMA!!!” he yelled. Then I got it. He was asking if I was buckled in.

“Yes. I have my seatbelt fastened. Thank you for checking, but you do not yell at me again,” I said.

“Sowwy, Mama,” he said.