How to Lose a Paci

It's gone. Bye-bye. Buried 4 feet under. Literally. At least, that's what we think...

This is the last known visual of Alden's beloved paci. Shortly after the photo was taken, Alden proceeded to throw many things into a big mudhole that daddy dug to help improve water drainage in our backyard (click here for our renovation blog). Daddy retrieved a cup, fished around to make sure nothing else was in there, but not too thoroughly, and dumped a wheelbarrow full of gravel into it. We'll soon cover it with soil and grass, and no one will ever see the evidence. We've convinced Alden it's his fault. Oh, the beauty of it!

Actually, I've been trying to decide whether or not we replace the thing. Pros: It's a nice plug (to our shame, we very rudely have said, "Where's your plug?") when he is a big fuss. It's a nice teethy toy. It's very satisfying to Aldi when he wants to go to sleep. All of this adds up to sanity for mommy and perhaps anyone else who happens to be around. Cons: He talks a lot less when it's in his mouth. If he does talk, it's with his paci between his teeth, a feat he manages quite well. If we lose it, there's trouble. I told Wally tonight, I'm leaning against replacing it. I mean, we've won half the battle by convincing Alden that it is not going to magically reappear. So, if we buy a new one, then we will be in trouble when we really are ready to get rid of it since our only reasoning then could be, "Well, you're a big boy now. Mommy and Daddy don't want you to have a paci" (my original plan was to say goodbye to it after he gotten his last teeth). So after only 3 good months of use, it's adios to the paci.

I guess we'll just have to have more tickle time to get rid of fussy spells.

With all of the digging and mud comes a lot of clothes changing especially since Alden hardly ever keeps his boots on. If we give him sneakers, he just gets those muddy and wet too. It's hard to know what to do. I end up changing him around 3x/day. I got so tired of it one gloomy day, I decided just to spend it indoors. No changing, right? Well, Alden decided to sit on the toilet fully clothed without the toddler seat, and plunk, right into the toilet bowl. Soaked. Not once, but twice, the second time being under daddy's watchful eye. So, he ended up with 3 sets of clothes that day after all.

Sometimes Rhianwen assists with his wardrobe. Here she has given him the garb of a "priest". She is the "Israelite". I always find it interesting how they use their dress-up clothes.

Here he is a fire-man. The helmet could be beefed up.

Alden is good at "losing" other things too. Like his lunch. He thought he had tucked it all nicely under his cup out of sight. He did this in order to obtain a chip from daddy. Tricky tricky. What will he think of next?

Reading Tuesday by David Wiesner, one favorite picture book that we finally own. I just love story-time!

We are still doing our Bible verses. This week's is 1 Pet 3:9 "Do not return evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing." I've been reading to Rhianwen an old Fairytale book of mine that was from my Aunt Sue and Uncle Ray. It's a little gem of a book. Not too scary but not too watered down and beautiful illustrations. I noticed how the story of Beauty and the Beast, as told by this book, embodies this verse, so I'll probably incorporate that somehow into her craft.

An umbrella experiment. Can you tell I'm trying to get ideas for our next nursing home visit? Pray for that if you think of it. One month away. Of course, they prefer to open the pipe-cleaner and slide it onto their arms to use as shields. I'm always amazed at how you really don't need expensive toys to have fun and especially not to be creative. It makes me happy.