That Kid of Mine

The Boy has been practicing his letters lately, and his drawing skills are improving. This is his first known attempt to draw a train... do you see all the wheels? the headlight in front? The steam streaming back from the smokestack? Not bad, eh?!


A few weeks ago, while grocery shopping, we made our usual stop at the "cookie factory" (bakery) to pick up free treats for the kids (snickerdoodles). I went about my usual business, not paying much attention to the two rugrats safely buckled into the cart-front kiddo racecar.

Nearly 30 minutes later, as we pulled into the checkout line, I realized that while Little Sister (20 months old), was covered in sugar and crumbs, with no cookie left in sight, Big Brother (3 1/2) was still holding an entire, unbitten treat.

"Why haven't you finished your cookie?" I asked.
"I'm saving it for later" he matter-of-factly replied.
"Okay, whatever" I thought to myself... okay, maybe I said it out loud... but the kid certainly has a mind of his own, so I wasn't going to argue or try to figure out his logic. Besides, I had a huge cart of groceries to unload and pay for.

I paid, made the trek to the car, loaded the groceries in, returned cart to corral, unbuckled and helped kids from giant plastic car, and STILL, he is holding that darn cookie.

"Really? You aren't going to just eat the cookie now?"
"No Mama, I'm saving it until we get home."
"Right."

We arrived home, unbuckled, headed to the house, and as soon as his shoes were removed, He made a beeline for the dining room table... to eat his cookie, I presumed. I commenced with a few trips to the car to bring in the groceries, Little Sister meanwhile content with yet another Wilbur the cow re-play.

I peeked in at Him, only to find him still sitting there, cookie uneaten. Good grief!

"Buddy, why aren't you eating your cookie?" I not-so-patiently ask.
"I'm waiting for my milk!"

Aha! So that's what he was up to. I complied, bringing him a small, kid-friendly glass. And then, the final Aha! moment, as he tried to dunk his cookie into the milk. Of course, not anticipating this move, I hadn't given him a glass with a wide enough mouth, so a quick swap-out for a martini glass, and my oh-so-patient and focused preschooler (not normally words that would apply to this kiddo, trust me), was happy at last.

So happy that the cookie disappeared before I could grab my camera to snap a few pictures of the dunking action.

Finger-licking good...


And yesterday, all by his very self, the Big Brother figured out how to spell his Sister's name...

I'm raising a genius, I tell you.