A Mouse in the Restaurant

We do things in threes in our household. Mainly because Dora does. If you've ever watched Dora the Explorer, you'll see that her itineraries always come in threes-check the Map--you know, the place where you go when you need to ask for help. The kiddos seemed to remember the trip trios from her show so we started organizing our days tripartite-ly.

Today was "Meeting. Library. Restaurant." Easy. Though, DD kept switching the last two, mainly because she is always hungry. So we went to my Weight Watchers meeting weigh-in, which wasn't bad considering 4 days in Chicago, and then headed to meet friends at our storytime program. Which, coincidentally, had the theme of three today--three bears, three pigs, three kittens.

Afterwards, we went for lunch. And while we were there, DS became obsessed with a clock, complete with pendulum, on the nearby wall.

"Hickory Dickory Clock," he kept saying. "Hickory Dickory Clock."

And then he started asking about when it was going to chime.

"Mouse? Mouse?" Of course, where was the mouse. Now, all this seemed fine and dandy to me but the people at the next table only caught the last bit and looked concerned. So I explained to DS rather loudly that the clock wasn't quite about to chime so there was no mouse but we could sing the song.

Which one of the passing workers heard and thought was cute. So, then DS asked her where the mouse was and she replied, without missing a beat, "it's his day off."

You are What You Eat, Part Two

We went to the local Mexican food place today after church, encouraging the kids with stories about how Dora and Diego ate fajitas and tortillas. We encouraged DD and DS to say "hola" and "gracias" to the servers, just like their favorite explorer and animal rescuer respectively. And when the food came we said it was "caliente." Which was the opposite--a word that was the focus of a recent storytime--of "frio."

And what did DD say? "I'm a frito."

Maybe she did eat some frito chili pie the other night . . .

_An_ Apple a Day

Is it wrong to tell a child to stay away from apples? The one way I can tell that DS has grown taller is that his reach has improved. The fruit basket on the side table used to be safe. Not anymore. Earlier this week, I found a trail of red, limp skins leading from the kitchen to the couch--by the way, there is a strict eat-only-in-the-kitchen rule here--and two pluots with chunks missing. His sister kindly handed me another piece of wet skin. And I knew then that the fruit basket was no longer safe. And so now, he likes to reach in and grab for apples. He loves apples. And green grapes. And blueberries. Blueberries are big right now, especially because there is a Dora the Explorer episode with blueberries and a bear. And an icy cold lake. Ayudame. Sometimes, however, he doesn't get an apple. He's gotten a lime. And today he got a huge bite of underripe nectarine. It hasn't put him off his attempts though, so I found myself refusing him fruit. No, DS, no apples. You just ate three, and bit two more. In the last twenty minutes. Did I mention my kids can eat? Playgroup moms wonder at my food bill (which I will only say has doubled, makes sense, with twins, right? Especially because it's mostly organic and specialty stuff). They wonder where the food goes, as my children are some of the smaller ones for their age (you should see the diapers. Ayudame.) So, um, why haven't I moved the fruit basket? Mainly because it has a banana attachment hanging from the top and doesn't fit under the cabinets. There's not any counter space anyway. Until I figure out what to do with the fruit basket, I'm in the ironic? enviable? position of denying my child apples. Ayudame.