The Put-Away Gourmet

This is the second night in a row that Wilder has helped pick up his toys before bed. I'm sure I should have been helping him learn this ages ago, but what a thrill it's been now! I keep remembering Mary Poppins' adage, "For every job that must be done there is an element of fun,...and *snap* the job's a game!" Make it a chore and it will be like our nightly teeth brushing battle, but turn it into a song and a game, "Put the toys in the basket, toys in the basket, toys, toys, toys, we're picking up the room" (it really does have a melody, trust me) and Wilder gets a kick out of throwing the appropriate toys in their designated bins. *Ah* Bliss. If this is just a stage of cooperation, I'm LOVING it no matter how fleeting it may be.

And it has become quite apparent that Wilder loves: crab. When you're shelling crab, especially the kind with the really skinny legs, it takes ages. But Wilder, with outstretched hands, begs and begs for the next piece. It's a calorie burning exercise, for me at least. The satisfaction though of seeing him greedily stuff his face with crab is so worth the extra effort, seeing as how he generally lives on macaroni and cheese, top ramen and broccoli. A touch of the gourmet in him, I think. Perhaps stuffed mushrooms will be next on the menu. Then again, I think not.

The initial novelty of Brian being gone has utterly worn off and now it's just me missing him, a lot. Yeah, yeah, it's just a month. What's a month when we've done 15 months and most recently 12 months? It still stinks. I'm reduced to watching John Wayne films during the day and thinking about my husband every, well, five minutes. Brian loves The Duke. Plus his films are a tad less violent than Clint Eastwood's, another of his favorites. Wilder has been enjoying all the cows and horses, and the brawls, of course. But we leave in one week to Washington; hard to believe it's coming up that quickly. It will be great.

So that's our update. Just had to share Wiley's latest and greatest -he's also expanding his vocabulary to include "book," "shoes," and something else, I can't remember right now. It sure isn't "please." Must work on that one.

God bless your evenings and we're sending our love!