Find-a-Saurus

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

My mom was recently in Italy for a while. During that time I found myself in a bind: I had to go to the bank to open a new account, something I would normally NEVER do with Duke in tow, but circumstances dictated that it be done that day. Armed with several books, pretzels, and a prayer that it would be quick, we set off.

It wasn't long before I realized that there was a very good reason why I don't normally drag Duke along with me on certain types of errands. At first he was not interested in the books. Then he decided he wanted me to read them to him. Over and over again. "READ IT, READ IT." Very hard to answer questions about the new account while reading "Apples and Pumpkins", and I felt kind of silly doing "Left foot, left foot, left foot, right. Feet in the morning, feet at night." Regardless, I appeased him for a brief time by reading and alternately stuffing pretzels in his mouth.

When books had lost their appeal, he started a new chant. "GET UP, GET UP." (As he was restrained in the stroller.) I tried giving him pamphlets from the bank. They were interesting, for about a second. Then he saw my wallet. Which for some reason is one of his favorite things. So I gave in and let him have it, hoping that she would hurry up and finish by the time he had completely destroyed everything in there.

No such luck. He took all of my cards; credit, business, frequent shopper and otherwise, and flung them all over the lobby of the bank. As I repeatedly collected them for Duke to fling again, the woman helping me open the accounts assured me that it would be just "5 more minutes". All of a sudden, Duke's attention shifted. He was looking into a corner office that was unoccupied and started saying "Dinosaur." I asked him if he saw a dinosaur. He nodded. I asked where, he pointed and said "Office". I thought maybe there was a picture or something in there that resembled a dinosaur. Nope.

I asked him what color the dinosaur was. "Red. Pink." How many dinosaurs are there Duke? "One, two, three, four, five, six." Six dinosaurs? Wow! That was a pretty small office for 6 dinosaurs. I guess they don't take up as much room when they're invisible.

At this point, I must admit, I was feeling pretty proud of my little imagination station. The woman looked up and asked what he was saying and I told her he saw dinosaurs in the office. She was not amused. Apparently she has forgotten what it is like to have an imagination and to see things that are unseen. Obviously. She works in a bank.

Thanks Duke for reminding me that even a somewhat stressful trip to the bank that lasted almost 2 hours can be filled with excitement and adventure.

And on another note, when I had to go back with Darrell to have his name added to the accounts, I most definitely did NOT bring Duke.

Words of the Day

Monday, November 17, 2008

F is for Flamingado. This is a pink bird that stands on one foot, often made of plastic and frequently found in trailer parks or Palm Bay.


H is for Hydratant. These come in handy if your house is on fire; it's where the fire department puts their hose to get water.

Don't play with your food

Why not? I have been pretty impressed with the emergence of Duke's imagination, and it has been most evident at meal times so far.

We had some spaghetti last week. (Apparently everything tastes better with "red sauce" on it). Well, you and I would call it spaghetti. But did you know that Duke was eating snakes? Ssssss.

The next night, we were having some green beans, pumpkin seeds and other assorted items. He started making a structure out of the green beans, then sticking the seeds in all over. "Nest, nest." Duke, are you building a nest? "Chickens, hens. Roosters."

Too bad they don't have anywhere to live now, he ate the nest. Come to think of it, I think we were having chicken that night too. Oh, well.

Charlie Brown and the Great... Punky Patch?

Friday, November 7, 2008

Our first Halloween with a toddler. What fun! Well, we didn't do the usual costume and such. Since Duke goes to bed at 6, it didn't seem like there was much point to Trick-or-Treating at 4 in the afternoon. We got an orange shirt with a "siber" on it and called it a day.

Daddy was home from work on Halloween and Mom was in bed trying to take it easy (easier said than done, I was going stir crazy!). We had talked about getting a pumpkin, but with everything else that had gone on that week, we never made it. I was feeling kind of blue about it. Given Darrell's amazing carving skills, I really wanted to have one. And I was feeling kind of cheated having never gotten any photos of Duke at the pumpkin patch.

I shipped the boys off to find a pumpkin patch at 1:30 on Halloween, not knowing if they'd even find anything. They came back about an hour later. I started to ask how it was, but Darrell told me not to say the word "p-u-m-p-k-i-n p-a-t-c-h". Apparently somebody fell in love with the "Punky Patch". He kissed every pumpkin, then patted them all and finally picked out one for us to have. Darrell did his best to get photos and videos (not an easy task when you're the only adult chasing after him). Since last week, he's asked for the punky patch repeatedly.

It might be a long year...