J was very well behaved this morning. He was sweet and snuggly, and made me very happy. He got up before H left for work, but seemed to understand that I was really tired. He snuggled up to me in the bed and watched Treehouse contentedly for a little while while N and I slept. Once we got up, however, all bets were off.
J refused to eat his breakfast. It was just dry Cheerios and a glass of milk, which is J's favorite breakfast. I let him eat it in the living room while watching cartoons. This usually entices him to eat his breakfast. But he just sat there and picked at his food. When he finally decided to eat some of it, he gagged and threw up all over the floor and couch. And that was when I first noticed that we were out of paper towels. I managed to clean up the mess with napkins. I washed the couch with soap. I went to wash the floor. And that was when I discovered that we were out of Swiffer solution. I used different solution, and got everything suitably cleaned up.
N began to squawk at this point. I picked him up for a moment, but was interrupted by J's announcement: "I pooped in my pull-up". J continues to be less than stellar on the whole potty training front. In any event, I took J to the potty and then went to change him. J did not cooperate with either activity. It was most unpleasant; let's just leave it at that.
It was a beautiful day out today. It was quite hot, but not unbearable. J wanted to go for a stroller ride. I got out the double stroller, got the kids ready, and away we went. Took them on a nice brisk walk around the storm pond. J likes water, and was interested in seeing it. I let him pick our destination. He has several other places where he likes to go, too. Since we couldn't do them all, we had to save some for another time. Specifically, we had to forego the waterfall and fountain in the neighbouring community, the playground, and the candy store.
J enjoyed his walk. It was a fairly long walk. He made me stop periodically to pick up rocks. And from time to time, I had to push the stroller over various sewers so that he could drop the rocks in. This is his favourite activity. Drives us nuts, but it's all he really wants to do.
We returned to the house, hot and spent but happy. The double stroller is quite heavy, and I felt like I'd gotten a nice workout. I got J out of the stroller first. I figured he'd do the usual thing: climb up on the veranda and play with his rocks, trucks, and sandtable while I got N out of the stroller. He did climb up on the veranda. He grabbed some rocks. I worked on getting N out of the stroller. And then:
J: I want to drop these rocks in the sewer.
T: No, J. We're going inside.
J: How come?
T: Because I have to think about N too. He's hot and tired. It's time to go inside.
J: I'm going to drop these rocks in the sewer.
T: No. The sewer is too far away. Let's go inside.
By this time, I have N in my arms. J sees his opportunity, and starts running down the street, rocks in hand, toward the sewer. I can't chase him down and pick him up, since I'm holding N. I holler "J! STOP!!" J looks back and sees me approaching, N in my arms. He laughs defiantly. He continues to run down the street. At one point, he throws two plastic dinosaurs in my path. I step over them and continue to walk toward my openly defiant child.
J drops his dang rocks in the dang sewer. Then he runs back to me and N. He loses all play privileges for the rest of the day. And as we walk back to the house, I scold him openly.
T: You don't ever run off like that!!!
J: Can I walk off?
Lovely. Okay, so I can't run off. What if I walk? What if I crawl? How about if I prance off? He is just the most sarcastic little 3-year old I have ever met!!!
I told H about it. His comment was that J comes by his sarcasm honestly. I guess that's true. Between me, H, and our respective blood lines, sarcasm definitely runs in the family. I'd just kind of hoped it would start a little later.
Go ahead! Laugh at my pain!!
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