Things in Tolkien's muffin

This morning Tolkien was eating a muffin. While he ate, he listed off what was in it: "grapes, carrots, crayons..." Technically it did have raisins, but I don't know where he got crayons...

Rules #222

Stolen from a friend.

Very few things are better burnt.

Beware of Over Confidence.

I am the mother of a wonderfully creative 2.5 year-old little boy whom I call Tolkien.  He, like many toddlers, has an impressive desire to learn about the world around him through play, imitation, exploration, and through observation.  Also like many other toddlers, his learning sometimes takes on the role of household mischief maker.  He is willingly aided in this through the family dog, Molly.  

When we got the dog (which is its own long story) my thought process was that every child should have a pet growing up.  We also happen to live in an area that has a healthy population of wildlife; including snakes; including venomous snakes. Therefore, as Tolkien grows (and Montgomery as well), I have taken pains to ensure that Molly-dog fully embraces the children as her pack, and therefore, her puppies.  This includes giving them both opportunities to play with the other, spoil the other, and snuggle.  Mr. Gabrielle is on board with the bonding, but I'm not sure he likes the snuggling part.  Part of this bonding experiment includes Tolkien feeding Molly-dog her favorite treats.  As you might imagine, this makes all toddlers VERY popular with Molly. 

We are having a soggy, cold fall here in Texas. As part of my attempts to placate the toddler who hasn't been able to play outside much in the previous few months because we had a hot summer that my pregnant self couldn't stand, the month or so of mild weather was spent in recovery from the birth of Montgomery, and then we had cold and rain, I've been trying to find indoor activities that are not hazardous to anyone's health or my sanity.  This includes play-dough, an assortment of cars and other toys, and crayons on long rolls of butcher paper. 

Now that I've set the stage, I'd like to present my morning. I'm still trying to help the house recover from the birth of Montgomery, so any time I can work on this while she (Montgomery) is sleeping and Tolkien and Molly-dog are distracted, is welcome indeed.  While I was tidying to the kitchen, mentally congratulating myself for being so on top of things in the house, mentally stimulating my toddler, getting Montgomery into a schedule, and keeping all of us (Mr. Gabrielle, Tolkien, Montgomery, Molly-dog, Bash-turtle, and myself) fed, clothed where necessary, and clean, I noticed that Tolkien was doing something with Molly.  I didn't think much of it: this was a mistake.  

You may recall the scene in Peter and the Wolf where Sasha the bird gets cocky while flying circles around the wolf and then flies into a tree, just after the narrator states, "Beware of over confidence."  That's what it felt like when I looked over and realized that Tolkien gleefully fed his 24 count box of crayons, one by one, to Molly-dog.  Molly-dog gobbled them up.  And now I have an empty cardboard box of crayons, a long wet, cold day ahead with a bored toddler, a full dog, and an order to Amazon for more crayons that I am planning to coat in cayenne pepper and Tabasco sauce.  Beware of over confidence.

Breakfast

Now there are two: Tolkien and Montgomery, both sharing the initials of two of my favorite authors. However having a 2.5-year-old and a 3-week-old means a lot of big changes. High on the list including, 45 minutes intervals between night feedings for Montgomery, crack of dawn wake up calls from Tolkien, constant battles with household chores in spite of helpful toddlers restarting just finished loading of laundry so the clothes are soaked and have to go through another spin cycle only for the toddler to do it again, and Montgomery projectile vomiting on a freshly laundered basket as well. I just can't win. And then my offspring have a significant aversion to letting me eat. Or have coffee. It's enough to make one rethink IVs just to get enough caffeine to function.

Last night Montgomery didn't sleep well and Tolkien didn't want to hold still. And of course, my beloved husband had to work. I looked at the easy breakfast I had thrown together for myself, including coffee, and thought "it's lovely but there is no way my children will let me eat it. Lord, do you think you could help me?" And just like that, Montgomery fell asleep and stayed asleep for ten minutes. And Tolkien played quietly at the same time. It was a miracle!!! And just as I finished my coffee, Montgomery woke back up and Tolkien needed attention. But it was enough, to remind me that even on a bad day, I'm not done this alone.

Rules #221

This one comes from my beloved husband. 

Don't either over ten cents and buy the onions your actually want.