The new favorite toy

Mike has so many toys that we have an entire room dedicated to them.  And even with the “play room”, we only get a few toys out at once.  Otherwise, Mike goes completely ADD on us.  He’ll play with a toy for 2.8 seconds before moving on to the next.  And the next thing you know, all 185,284 toys have been thrown about the room by the “boy tornado”.

And I find all of this interesting.  Perhaps someone should study adults and why they provide so many toys for their children.  Particularly when children seem to be happier with toys that aren’t really toys.  Like the lid from the disposable “tupperware” container (they are 4 for $1 – and the four “magic toy lids” also come with four bowls.  Bonus!).  Perhaps some budding psychology major needs a research idea for their PhD thesis.

But I have digressed completely!  I meant to talk about Mike’s new favorite “toy”.  Which isn’t the tupperware lids (that was SO last week!).  And it’s not really a toy at all.  It’s his rocking chair!

Mike wasn’t sure what to think about it for the first couple of weeks that we had it.  Then, one day he realized that he could get in to the chair “all by myself”.  And this suited him (and his newly developed independent streak) very nicely!  Shortly after that, he realized that he could also get back out of the chair without assistance.  Suddenly, the chair was becoming a symbol of things he could do “all by myself”.  And – what’s this?  It also rocks?  Holy moly, batman!  This thing just keeps getting better and better!  And the latest in the the “rocking chair bag of tricks”?  It scoots across the floor and Mike can push it to wherever suits him.

 

Check out my new rocking chair!

“I can get in it all by my self!”

 

“This thing ‘rocks’!!!!!”

A floor clean enough to eat off of…

We may not be the best housekeepers in the world.  OK.  We probably don’t even make the top half of the list.  Not that our house is “dirty” (although it certainly has its moments).  Not that our house is “cluttered” (although we have plenty of these moments too).

But let’s face it.  We have a toddler…

Mike has been fairly understanding of our “momentary lapse in household cleanliness”.  And while his vocabulary might only consist of 50 or so words (and none of them are “momentary” or “lapse” or “household cleanliness”) – he can still communicate rather effectively.

And how does he tell us that he doesn’t mind the occasional clutter.  Or perhaps the rug that should have been vacuumed a day (or two or three) ago?  How does he let us know that these things don’t bother him?  That he understands that he demands a lot of attention and things like “mopping the kitchen tile” might slip a little?

Well – I’ll tell you how he does it!  In just a minute…

But before I just “spill the beans” – Let me tell you about one of Mike’s favorite foods.  It’s yogurt.  And while he’s somewhat partial to the “Yo Baby” yogurt (because it’s not as sweet) – he will certainly not turn down any other brand or flavor.

As a matter of fact, as soon as he sees the container he will point and say, “Yo.  Yo!  YO!!!”.  From that point you have approximately 3.8 microseconds to have a spoon and yogurt in his hands (did I mention that he is “really turned off” when we try to feed him?  He can do it himself – thank you very much!).

In that 3.8 microseconds – you usually don’t have time to get him up in the high chair.  Which brings me back to the not minding that the “kitchen tile needs to be mopped”.  So – what does he do to let us know that the floor is more than clean enough to eat off of?  Why – he eats off of it!!!

“Mmmmm.  Gimme the YO!”

“I LOVE IT!  And eating from the floor is FUN!!!”