Little boys and dogs....

It started with a phone call

Her: "Aunt Vel? Can you PLEASE take him for the night?"
Me: "Uh oh......... why?"
Her: "He was finger painting with poop and I want to kill him!"
Me: (smiling, trying not to laugh) "I would love to, but....no."
Her: "I'll call my dad and see if he will!"
Me" You can't do that. It would be a reward for him acting bad. YOU have to deal with him tonight. But... I will come get him in the morning and he can spend the night."

So I did what I promised. I went the next morning and picked the little hellion up. But not before we had a heart to heart talk about where you do and do not poop. And I have to say that for the most part, he was pretty good, until the next morning.

The morning started out nice... or so I thought. I went to the living room to find him curled up on the couch using the little dog blanket Molly lays on. "Jesse..... why aren't you in your bed?" And he just stares at me. *sigh* "Ok buddy... time to get up and go potty!" and again, he just stares at me. After a moment I get "I already went potty." I'm sure I had a bemused look on my face because the house is so little that I usually hear him when he gets up... and I heard nothing. "You did...?" Then I ask the important question.... "....Where?" "On your couch!"

So we spent the next 30 minutes or so cleaning the couch and throwing the kid in the shower. All of this before coffee. Now its time for breakfast and the 3 year old thinks that french toast sounds like a good idea~! So I let him help. I had him put away the eggs.... my mistake. It seems in the 10 steps from the countr to the fridge, he felt the overwhelming need to check in the container to see if the eggs were still in it. And dropped them on the floor. So we cleaned.

Breakfast is served! He gets his french toast cut up with a little syrup and a half cup of milk. I turn my back to get mine when I hear the splash and feel droplets hit my feet. Turning, I find his eyes HUGE and milk coating everything. And the plate of french toast? Upside down in the milk. I let out a sigh and throw him a towel. "Start wiping it up!" As I put his toast back on the plate and grab a towel to clean. The whole time he kept saying "I sorry..."

Breakfast over!! Is it nap time? Sadly no. But it's the next best time, watching cartoon time! And he decided that watching them ON me was the best place to be. Which was alright. My theory? If I'm holding him, I know he's not getting into trouble!

Then Aunt Vel decided that we should make cookies........... And I let him help mix the dough. he loved counting out everything we added and told me that this time, I should put away the eggs! Smart boy! I gave him a ball of cookie dough and the rolling pin. Listening to his laughter was the best sound ever. And I started to laugh when I realized he was covered head to toe in flour! So of course Idid what any loving aunt would do, I had to grab the camera....






This is when he looked at me and said "You are the best Vel ever!" (sometimes he forgets the "aunt" part)
Can someone explain how little boys just have a way of saying the right thing? (And yes, I just melted.)


Then the dog.......

We had a snow. A big snow. She's a little dog with fur. She went out to bark and frolic in the snow (which really is kind of funny watching her jump around) and look what happened:



But the best part? When she shook the snow all over the living room!!!



I laughed and grabbed the camera. Snow is only water, right? And it will dry....

The thing I remembered this weekend? Messes can be cleaned up, but laughter and memories will last forever....especially if you remember to grab the camera *winks*