Little Droppings

Lilly's favorite afternoon snack is a bright red box of Sun Maid raisins, and, yes, they have to be in the box. Dumping them onto her high chair tray or transferring them to her snack holder is unacceptable. She wants that box in her hands so she can meander through the house leaving little droppings as she goes. She is learning to pick up the raisins that accidentally fall out of her box as she jams her hand inside for the next fistful, but she usually loses about five more each time she squats down to pick up the abandoned ones. It never ceases to amaze me where I find these little treats lying around, and I can't stop thinking about how they look as if they belong in the toilet instead of on my floor. But I guess it comes with the territory of having two toddlers in the house! Just the other day I found a Cheerio under my pillow! At least there have been no raisin sightings in my bed..... yet!!!

While on the topic of Lilly and "little droppings," I have to share Cody's experience from Tuesday night. I was out at a meeting, so Cody was in charge of dinner, bath time and bed time. When I got home later that evening, this is the story I heard:

"Both kids were great! They played happily for about an hour before dinner, sharing nicely and enjoying 'Daddy time.' "

I paused waiting for this happy story to go south, but he continued on with a smile on his face.

"Dinner went smoothly. Both kids (even Jake) ate everything on their trays. I was able to sit down and enjoy my leftovers while they ate. It was so easy!"

I was starting to doubt my initial theory of an evening gone awry, but couldn't ignore the unusual grin plastered all over my husband's face. So I listened as he continued his account of the evening. He told me about the wagon ride he took Jake and Lilly on after dinner and all the fun they had in the bath tub. He explained in great detail how he got both kids out of the tub and got everything he would need (PJs, lotion, diapers, etc) and took them into Jake's room to get them dressed. He told me how Jake laughed and laughed as he dried him off, while Lilly waited patiently seated on her towel until her turn.

At some point, Lilly must have decided she was dry and ready to play. She got up and began playing with Jake's puzzle stool in front of his sink. (For their birthdays, my sister-in-law got both kids these great stools that have the letters that spell their names cut out of the top like a puzzle.) Anyways, Cody told me he kept glancing over his shoulder while diapering Jake to make sure Lilly wasn't getting into anything she wasn't supposed to have. I knew by the extensive details I was receiving that this story was about get good!

"After glancing over a few times and finding everything in perfect order," he said, "I did a double take and saw Lilly standing among a small pile of brown stools, and one oddly large one about the size of a small avocado. I panicked since Jake was still on the changing table without his diaper, and suddenly I realized that Lilly badly needed hers!"

At this point in the story I was almost crying I was laughing so hard. I said a quick prayer, thanking God that it happened on his watch not mine! I was dying to know what he did and would have given anything to have been a fly on the wall as this scene played out.

He continued, "So I put Jake's diaper on him as quick as I could, then put him in his crib so he would not be able to get near the mess. But I guess I was not quick enough because in the 10 seconds it took me to slap a diaper on Jake and set him down, Lilly had stepped in her poop and smeared it all over the floor and Jake's stool."

I just have to say I think it is incredibly ironic that she smeared her stool all over Jake's stool!!! With tears streaming down my face, I listened as Cody finished his story of the "not-so-perfect" evening.

"Then as I walked over to her, not sure if I should be yelling, crying or laughing," he told me, "she picked up the biggest piece of poop (and I am not exaggerating when I say it was the size of a small avocado) and handed it to me, as if to say, 'Daddy, I don't think this belongs on the floor. You better clean it up before Mommy gets home!' "

Oh, I cannot wait for potty training!!!! Fun times!!