Wordjanitor Strikes Again

Generally, I like it when @ makes new friends. And I like that he loves to be outside and is curious about the plants and critters that populate the yard. But, everything has its limits. Take this morning, for instance. The wee boy opted to use the blissful nine minutes between right-handed alarm clock snooze-button bashing to leap on to the bed and steal one of my pillows. OK, fine. I skipped my morning push-up, crunch, etc. ritual, so I should have been up anyway, but stealing my pillow while I'm groggy can be dangerous. After we sorted out that the pillow thief was relatively benign, we agreed that said thief would snuggle up with said pillow in my bed while I took my shower. A hunch told me that he would not indeed be in the same spot in which I left him upon my emergence from the shower. However... when the dog barged in and the wee boy knocked on the shower door with "Mama, look what I got" I really wasn't expecting to see a snail. But, that's indeed what ...

This morning, @ was looking at CDs in the rack and pulled out two Beatles anthologies, asking what the music was. I told him that it was the Beatles. "Oh," he says. "The ones from the car show." Fuddled, muddled, and suddenly astounded. "You're right, the band from the car show we went to with Grampa Doug." A YEAR AGO, a (very good) Beatles tribute band played at the annual car show where my dad lives. A YEAR AGO. @ was two and a half then and the band probably played for two hours max during a long, hot, chaotic day filled with cars, trailers, engines, people, dogs, music, hot dogs, playgrounds, motorcycles, and such. So, of course, we listened to the Beatles this morning. At the moment, he's measuring the porch. I bought him his very own tape measure this afternoon. I measured the porch to build a deck a couple of weeks ago and ever since, tape measures are suddenly something more than the ever-present boxes on his daddy's hip pocket. T...

Luke is having a slumber party. His bestest buddy Butch is here. Butch belongs to Jeff and Katie down the street. He and Luke can chase each other, wrassle, and otherwise convince the uninitiated that there's about to be bloodshed. If I open my front door, Luke tries to bolt to Butch's house. If Jeff and Katie open theirs, Butch bolts over here. I swear they have cell phones; it's as if they can hear the respective doors open three houses away. I'm trying to decide whether the two knuckleheads can both sleep in the house tonight. They're alternately chilling and then remembering that they're nuts. Luke is nosing a chair across the dining room and Butch is trying to figure out why. It's like watching a cartoon, at least until one attempts to mount the other. Then it's more like Animal Planet. It's good to get insight into your friends' lives. Unfortunately, I now have insight into Jeff's knee. Butch is here because Jeff and Katie are at the...