mmmmm!
it helps to have a looooong tongue for this job!
oh, this is so good.....
ok, bus, now you're just being a pig!
that's right, get a good grip on it!
because, when it comes to peanut butter,
we dyed our easter eggs a couple nights ago, and i gotta tell ya, t.willie is not big on waiting.
like waiting for the eggs to actually get some color! his motto is "get em in, get em out!"
as a result, it was a very speedy process. it doesn't take long to dye 11 eggs with t.w's method. (one exploded its guts in the boiling water!)
but we had a nice time and t.w is getting some practice in counting. and maybe, we won't even wait til easter to dye eggs again!
yet, as much as i have delighted in my gals, i have always longed for a little boy. and as luck would have it, i was given one when kaye gave birth to t.willie almost two and a half years ago! because kaye is a single mom, she has to work two jobs and she is seldom home. i am the boy's primary care taker. and as you all know, we have our good days and our not-so-good days! today was a good one...sort of.
a neighbor one street over was plowing up a garden with a very loud tractor. we could hear it from our yard and t.willie wanted to "go see guy on tractor." we walked back behind the yards and watched the man finish his job then we walked back home. i decided it would be a good idea if we picked up all the fallen sticks in the yard. t.willie was a lot of help...at first.
after he got bored with the stick job, he started looking for other things of interest. a patch of moss inspired him to pet it and lay his cheek against it; that was cute. after that, he collected rocks for a bit . then, he turned to me with something else in his hands and when i saw it was old crusty dog doodie, i freaked! i kinda smacked it out of his hands as i was telling him that we NEVER NEVER touch dog poopie and i scooped him up to take him into the house to wash his hands. we came back outside and for about five minutes, he collected more rocks. but then, i looked over at him and saw him drop something real fast and hide his hands behind his back. i went over to him with a feeling of dread and saw a dead mouse lying at his feet! i said "did you pick up that mouse?" he answered "yes, gammie." again, we raced back into the house, back to the bathroom sink, squirted a bunch of soap into his hands and scrubbed REALLY well!!! all the while, i was giving him the talk about how we NEVER NEVER pick up dead animals.
at this point, i was kinda re-thinking that thing about wanting a little boy. i was thinking, "what i wouldn't give for a girl and a barbie right about now!" so i told him we were done with the sticks and we were just going to hang out on the porch. he played with his wagon for a few minutes and then he stretched up onto the railing to see a big truck go by. when i saw him kinda scratching at something on top of the railing, i just knew it was bird poop and i sighed as i picked him up, carried him inside and AGAIN washed his hands. i told him gammie had had enough nature and it was time for naps. i didn't even have the energy for the "never never" talk.
after all that nature and fresh air, he did take a nap, which was my plan all along when i took him out. little did i know, it would be me that really earned the nap!
a boy and his dog. what could be more iconically american? this boy and this dog had a rocky start. buster was used to being "top dog" (pardon the pun) until t.willie came along. he was extremely interested in that new little bundle of joy in the household, but he wasn't sure he was gonna like it!
things were okay for awhile...until t.willie started to crawl. oh, the places he would go; mostly to anywhere buster was! the poor dog would just get up and move, but before he could settle down and get comfy, here came that baby again! after a few minutes, we'd take pity on buster and put t.willie in his walker or swing. you could almost hear the sigh of relief from the dog!
as time went by, t.willie started walking and became a REAL headache for ol' buster. he would get agitated whenever the kid got too close and sometimes he'd even growl to give warning. we would try to explain to t.willie that buster was afraid of him. trying to keep the two apart was nearly impossible! if t.willie was playing on the floor, buster would have to get in his face to sniff and lick him. if buster was resting, t.willie would have to go bother him. we'd have to take turns yelling at first one, then the other! it was exhausting!
and now, as t.willie is about to turn two and a half, they seek out each others company and the two have become real friends. t.willie looks for buster first thing after i open his door in the morning and the dog is always right behind me waiting to go in. they happily greet each other through the rails of the crib, ready to start another day together.
So, ok, here is a day in the life of me:
Get up, go into hallway toward bathroom. Immediately notice two fresh spots that look suspiciously like cat puke. Ah! It IS cat puke. Great! So then, I go into the bathroom and almost step into a fresh pile of cat POOP! WHY ME???? I scoop it up with t.p. and dump it into the toilet (yes, I know that cat doo-doo is a no-no for the septic system, but do ya blame me??!) so then I use a disinfecting wipe to clean the floor. I go back out into the hallway and clean that mess up with paper towels, then use a brush, soap and water. All this and I still haven’t gotten to pee yet!! I do THAT and wash my hands REAL good!
Now I go into the kitchen and am greeted by the dog and the retarded cat. I am putting my shoes on to take the dog out but realize I am hearing what sounds suspiciously like a dog barfing. (yes, cats puke, dogs barf!) so I race toward him, pleading for him not to mess the carpet, but to move onto the tile floor. I tug on his collar and get him to the tile WHILE he is barfing. LOVELY, I hear you say! Yeah, so I drag him out to his tie-out chain and go back inside. The mess is waiting for me and as I am cussing under my breath and considering a good cry, I hear my two year old grandson calling me. All this, and I have only been up for 15 minutes! Welcome to the HELLHOLE friends!
today's gratitude list:
1. grateful for the roof over my head
2. grateful for the retarded cat and dog
3. grateful for my grandson, who shall be known henceforth as "t.willie"
