Crisis Averted...and Messy Fingers

Hannah Bear had a soccer game this morning in the rain.  Since the weather was less-than-stellar, Daddy and Jack decided to stay home where it was warm and dry.  Hannah and I bundled up and went to soccer.  I was glad that the girls got to play today since they were rained out last weekend.  Hannah did extremely well - she scored three goals and played tough the whole time.  I was a proud assistant coach!

After soccer, we ran a couple of errands together before heading home for lunch.  On the way home, Hannah announced, "Mama, can I tell you something?  I think it's a lie."

"What's a lie, Baby Girl?"

"I don't believe that Santa, with his belly like a bowl full of jelly, can really fit down the chimney.  The pipe is just too small."

I decided to wait this one out...while I bided my time, Hannah continued.

"I think he just comes right in the front door...belly like a bowl full of jelly...that rhymes!" she shouted through her girly giggles.

I took a deep breath, thanked my lucky stars that I'd kept my mouth shut, and agreed with my sweet girl of five.

*****

Later this evening, we decided to order Chinese food since neither Brad nor I wanted to make dinner.  Jack is not really a fan of Chinese food, and hasn't really found something on the menu that he loves, so we keep trying new things.  We decided to order him some barbecue spare ribs since he loves Grandma's ribs so much, and believe it or not, aside from the grumbling about getting the meat off of the bone, he really liked them.

It occurred to both me and Brad that it's the messiest we've ever seen Jack get during dinner.  I started to tell him about when he was a toddler, he hated to be messy so much that he would opt of art projects in the toddler room at school.  I said something about how impressed I was that he was eating and not worrying about his messy face.

"Oh, I'm very aware, and it's bothering me very badly."

We had a good laugh about that, and then I told the story of how Miss Tab had suggested that I get a bag of uncooked rice, put it into a big bowl, and then have Jack watch as I put his little cars and dinosaur toys inside the rice.  She was hoping that he'd get over his sensory issues while digging for his toys.  That, of course, is not at all what happened.  Eighteen month old Jack watched with big, blue eyes as I buried his tiny toys in rice, and then he ever-so-calmly walked away to play with something else.  He was not about to stick those tiny fingers in a bowl of rice when there were plenty of other toys to play with.  In hindsight, maybe I should have buried Skinny Bear?