Unpredictable Imagination

So, today Jake worked at home until I got back from my OB appt--only ten weeks to go, which sounds so nice on one hand until I remember that this means I need to cope with the issue I've been avoiding, namely, finding the baby clothing and stuff, none of which I've seen since before the move and which undoubtably is resting in some of the yet-unpacked boxes in the nooks and crannies of the house, far behind or under lots of other stuff.

BTW, has anyone noticed what neat cool stuff they've come up with since all the folks that were having their first babies when One Step Ahead started accumulated everything they were told by OSA they needed and now need new stuff to spend their money on? I admit, a lot of it is simply ingenious. A battery-powered aspirator, for one--hold it near the nostril and it sucks up baby snot without you having to find a third hand to hold the baby while your other two hands try to seal the nostril around the stem of the little bulb while keeping the thing squeezed in the hopes that when you let go some suction will actually exist that will suck the snot out--and that you manage to wash the snot out of that tiny opening once you're done. And a clever froggy bath-toy holder whose basket detaches and acts as a scoop to scoop the toys from the water. I admit, I can appreciate good ideas when I see them.

The funniest part of leafing through the catalog, though, was the ad for the neat video monitor with the hand-held receiver that lets you add a second camera and monitor two rooms at once "for families with two kids." HAH! They didn't even say, "with two or more kids." I found that amusing--I apparently exceed the child limit by almost five kids, which is fine, because the obnoxious one-yuppie-child-per-camera-please monitor exceeds my price limit by almost five kids--so if I sell five, I can monitor the two I have left.

Anyway, the point, if there was one, was that we drove Jake to the train station and for Alex, this generally involves getting a cupcake from the bakery, because getting Alex something from the bakery justifies me getting a chocolate croissant from the same yummy bakery. Today we were cutting it close with the time, so Jake went up to the platform and I parked and took the kids in to the bakery myself instead of having him run in and bring stuff back to the car. On the way out, as we were walking along the sidewalk, Alex commented about how "the water is all gone!"

It took me a minute to recall that the last time I'd walked along there with him it was raining, so I replied,"Yup, it is."

He engaged in some muttered dialogue with himself and then said to me, "It's gone home."

"What's gone home?"

"The water, Mom. It's gone home."

I thought this was cute, so I asked where it went home TO.

"Oh, to Mrs. Snowman's house. It goes home to her."

Now we were beyond cute and into adorable. I thought this showed the imagination I was worried he'd never have, and was rather tickled by the whole cute story about Mrs. Snowman and the water going home and his sweet little voice. Awwww.

So a little after we got home, and ate our cupcakes and muffins, Alex told me he wanted to write some numbers so could I write some down for him. please. I wrote some big numbers on a piece of paper for him to trace while I put Dunc down to nap, and when i came back he had drawn carefully around each number--they looked like bubble-numbers. I commented on it, and he said, "Oh, yeah. I made all the numbers homes. They are very happy in their homes. See?" Wow, this kid is just too cute. What stories! How on earth did my neglect produce this?

Then, when i was in the bathroom, I could hear Dunc starting to cry upstairs, Alex was calling me through the door insisting he needed something to eat (because a yogurt and a cupcake with four inches of frosting is not much, after all) and the annoying cat was mewling to get into the basement, so I figured I should take a more stimulating, imaginative road to get my adorable little storyteller to give me a few seconds and said, "Alex, you hear the cat?"

"Yes."

"What is she saying to you?" This should be cute and adorable, right? My imaginative little man will come up with something so cute.

Pause.

Then, in a clearly impatient, are-you-stupid voice he said, "She's saying 'Meow', Mom. 'Meow, meow, me-OW!' Because she's a CAT. Are you done yet?"

*sigh* Imagination comes andgoes as it pleases, I suppose. Back to reality...

Now, after sadly realizing that the adorable-imagination part of the day was over, to prove we were back to reality I was further treated to Alex popping in to the bathroom to check on me. "Whatcha doing, Mom?"

"I'm going to the bathroom and I'd like some PRIVACY, which is why I closed the door. You know what privacy is, right? It's when no one is looking at you, or it's...."

"Um, yeah, but...whatcha doing?"

Let's be more concise, then. "I'm using the potty Alex, and I need you to leave."

"Hmm. OK. Good job. But remember Mike in Monster's Inc? He was getting in the car and--"

More direct: "Alex?"

"What?"

"Leave."

"Oh, OK, FINE......"

Yes, THIS was certainly more like real life.