Turbo on Shuffle

Tonight was a rare occasion where all four of us had dinner together. The reason this rarely occurs in our house is because our darling Smiley goes to bed super early. Jealous.

But tonight we tried something different and so I ate my meal with a high-chaired Smiley on my left and a sitting-on-his-knees Turbo to my right.

Nothing noteworthy until Smiley started getting a little overtired. She began to giggle every time I turned to look at her. So I did the most natural thing and kept doing it. I made a dramatic, in-your-face turn in her direction and she squealed with delight.

Turbo, not to be excluded, caught on to the fun and started leaning over me to get as close to her as possible. He'd lean over and say a single word and she would laugh.

This 'single word' I mention? It wasn't one particular word repeated with each lean-over, but rather it was a different word with each turn and appeared to be whatever word leapt to Turbo's mind. He'd pause a moment in between words to see what would come to him.

The first word: "Snowman!"
Smiley giggled.

Next word: "Water!"
Smiley giggled again (I wish I'd caught this on camera, but there are some moments that are better left as is, uninterrupted).

Other words that made the cut: Jakey (friend from school), milk, Thomas (the train), Logan (another friend from school).

Then Turbo said, "Shaun the Sheep!"
This time when Smiley laughed, Turbo observed, "She likes Shaun the Sheep."

Huh. I had no idea that one way to gauge someone's interest in a television show was to shout the name of the show in their face as loudly as you can.

Cheers!

Magnum PI!

So... do you like those shows? Are you laughing?

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm going to have to regroup and post more details about this great weekend, but, for now, as I can barely support my sleepy head on these tired shoulders, I will simply share what Turbo said so eloquently this evening.

"Happy Thanksgiving is aaaaaaaaaaaaaall done."

He said this as he was enjoying his dinner of a bowl full of Ruffles potato chips and a cup of juice. I looked him in the eye and said, "This is a special day, so you can have all these chips for dinner. We're not going to have chips for dinner again."

He looked thoughtful, then said, "Mom, this is our last chips. Happy Thanksgiving is all done now."

And then the "aaaaaaaaaaall" done version came loudly, several times over.

I love my kid. He's got spunk.

Where's a Camera When You Need One?

I hope I can adequately describe the scene at dinner tonight. This is one of those fleeting moments that would be better conveyed in video rather than in the written word, but I shall do my best.

I made homemade pizza for dinner. Turbo used to love pepperoni and olives, but now he makes it very clear, in case I've forgotten from the last time we had pizza, "Mom, I don't like olives. Just pepperoni."

"Yes, Turbo, I know, but thanks for reminding me."

And tonight was even more fun because he helped make it. I carefully used the back of a spoon to spread out the pizza sauce and Turbo kept slapping his spoon on the sauce, sending it splattering in all directions and laughing, "This is more fun."

In splattering the sauce he got some on his hands, which he made me immediately wipe off, several times, thankyouverymuch, and I mention that because it makes the next part of this story even more funny. At least to me. And my husband. It's fun to laugh at dinner, especially if you and your spouse are enjoying a private moment that the kids don't really get.

Here's what happened.

Toward the end of the meal, Turbo realized he had a little sauce on his arm. The location of the sauce is a crucial part of this tale, so I hope I get it right... it was a pencil-eraser-sized spot on the sort-of-inside of his arm, between his elbow and shoulder. And it was juuuuust out of reach.

Turbo exclaimed, "Mom, there's sauce on my arm!" and as I leaned in to wipe it off, he started trying to lick it off. So I backed off to watch the show unfold.

As mentioned, the sauce was just out of reach and so began a series of arm twists that had my husband and I rolling with laughter. Didn't he know it was his own arm he was twisting to get at this spec of pizza sauce?

He kept going in! Twist left, nope. Twist right, nope. We were in tears from laughter and he didn't even notice us as he was so intent on this near futile exercise.

He eventually got the sauce.

I hope he didn't sprain his tongue.

Dinner by Whole Foods

I'm not cooking this week.

Life has been a bit over-packed with happenings and stress and so in planning this week's meals, I through out any kind of plan and went to Whole Foods and bought food that someone else had made. Steak, meatloaf, chicken... all looking yummy because someone else had done the prep work and the cooking.

This week it's all about reheating.

Amen.

Who Bite This?

Gourmet meal tonight, frozen pizza. But in my defense, it's been a rough week and it was Paul Newman's yummy pepperoni pizza. Nom, nom, nom.

Turbo did his typical trick of sitting down with us, taking one bite and announcing, "I'll be right back," and before I could finish chewing my food to say something parental, such as, "Hey, young man, please come finish your dinner," he's already deep into dramatic play in the next room. At least he's visible from the kitchen table, so i'm kind of parenting, right?

Turbo had 1 slice of pizza on his plate, cut down the middle for 2 smaller slices. He had taken one nibble out of one and left the other untouched.

I was trying not to eat too much pizza, so I stopped at 2 pieces. But then, hmm, Turbo's slices were just sitting there... so I grabbed one and bit off the yummy point.

My husband said, "He's gonna freak out, you know."

Me: "Oh, please."

A few minutes later, Turbo decided to grace us with his preschool presence and picked up his pizza (the one I stole from; eek!) and started to take a bite and then pulled it back out of his mouth to study it.

After a short pause, he said, "Who bite this?" and then he looked suspiciously back and forth between my husband and me.

Gulp. To lie or not to lie here.

Me: "I did. I took a bite."

And then he gave me this look, while advancing on the slice for his own bite, as if to say, "I can see I'm gonna have to keep an eye on you."

Totally busted!

Be Patient, Mom

Homemade chili for dinner tonight, with cornbread muffins. Yum! A shout out to my own mom for the outstanding recipe. You gotta love a soup recipe that calls for a little red wine.

Turbo, ever unadventurous when it comes to food (yawn), would only eat the corn muffins. He also pulled one of his in and out of the kitchen routines, where he eats a few bites, leaves to go play with toys, returns for another couple of bites. We don't usually let this go on too long, but I was happy to have an adult conversation with my husband tonight, so it was kind of helpful to have Turbo in the other room.

The third time Turbo tried to exit the dinner table, I finally said, "Hold up there, pal. Are you going to finish your dinner?"

Turbo: "Yes. I'm going to eat my muffin and my milk and my other muffin. You can eat the chili."

Me: "You need to come eat your food, or I'm going to clean it up."

Turbo: "In a moment, mom."

[pause to play with a toy]

"Be patient."