my one-eyed monster

That's what he calls himself. It's from the book, "I Love You, Stinky-Face." But, in truth, he is neither a one-eyed monster nor a stinky face. He is a good Joe and this is what he's been up to:

1. impressing upon me that I need to clean up my act. Joe and Henry both like to attach themselves to my pantlegs as I'm making supper. And the other day, Henry kept pushing himself around me and getting into the lazy susan. After one too many times, with an exclamation I banished them both to the playroom. Henry toddled in soon after and got back into the cupboard, pulling out multiple cans of soup. Joe rushed in after him and dragged Henry away with an exasperated, "Aaargh! Lord!" Okay. So clean up the language. And the attitude.

2. using the potty. Hooray! Maybe, after only three days, I'm getting ahead of myself but he's doing really well and surprising me with his readiness. Praise. The. Lord. I told David that, after "Gillian, will you marry me?" the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me was, "Mommy, I think I have to poop." It was just such a surprise, a relief, and the hallelujah chorus sang. Awesome.

3. saying his prayers. I can hear him and David right now, saying the Our Father in French. This will soon be followed by some songs... my favourite is how he sings a whole verse of Alleluias to the tune of Seek Ye First. If only I could sneak a camera into bedtime... you, too, would be impressed.

4. reciting commercials. Today as I was making supper I heard him chatting away to himself. Usually he's recreating a story from one of his books or an episode of Thomas. But today I heard something about "personalized service" and "work with my budget," followed up by, "Master Mechanic - you talk to the mechanic." He also knows the jingle for Alarm Force Home Protection Services (these are the commercials on when I'm watching the morning news).

5. playing trains. Always playing trains.

6. teaching Henry valuable lessons. One car ride, I could hear from the back a few tidbits, including:

"Sometimes, Henry, the answer is no."

"Don't do crazy tricks with your milk at the table."

"Never eat with your fingers or your foot."

7. baking. He likes to help in the kitchen. This has its plusses and minuses. Plus: he puts his arm around me and says, "I like baking with you, mommy." Minus: he's pushy and controlling (ie. he pushes me out of the way and controls the number of chocolate chips that go in the cookies).

Have I made him sound perfect? Good. Then you and I are both fooled.

Yeah, we have our moments of Trouble. Time outs. Stand-offs at the kitchen table over what to eat. Crazy time when he gets so rough with Henry. Some days I feel like there is more Trouble than not. But he warms my heart, that fellow. We used to have more one-on-one time when Henry napped in the morning. Now both boys are with me all morning and take naps after lunch so it's all three, all the time. The other morning, Henry was having a rough time after a night of teething/ sleeplessness/ hanging out until 3 a.m., and I decided to put him down for a morning snooze. I told Joe my plan - "I'm just going to put Henry down for a nap and then I'll be right back" - and he grinned and whispered, "After Henry is asleep, then you and me will do something fun."

So this is our something fun - we decorated a race car. Me and my one-eyed monster.