Bobcats and dozers and doggies, oh my!

I have just a short post today to say that it looks like Biscuit is finally getting his fourth bottom front tooth. He's been really sore and having a hard morning, so to help him feel better, we went to see some of his favorite-ist things in all the world today--big machines!! We went to a nearby heavy equipment rental shop where all the big boy toys were just parked in a giant lot. The little guy got to touch the cool tractor tires and play in the dumpers and scoops and crawl around in trailers. He even saw a raised crane and bucket truck (maybe when you're older, son, you can drive 'em!) He was a little disappointed that the huge wheels he saw wouldn't roll (as you can see in the pic above). But the standing water in one of the scoops made up for it ;)
Then, for good measure, we walked next door to the pet resort kennel and requested a tour of the facility so that we'll know what services they provide for vacationing families in case we ever get a puppy :) They were happy to oblige and of course Biscuit got to see lots of very big, very small, very excited and very LOUD dogs! It was quite a setup they had; some of the more elitist pooches were boarding in grass-roof cabanas, sleeping in toddler beds and watching satellite TV (24-hour Animal Planet of course!) Anyway at the end of the tour they thanked us for coming and gave us a great freebie we hadn't counted on - a brand new chew toy for that "someday" puppy! Biscuit put it to good use on the way home, and if nothing else helped him feel better all morning, that chewie worked wonders on his sore tooth, and it sure made his day!

Stone Soup! (and other fun folk-n-fairy-tale-inspired toddler activities)

Because of Biscuit's newly discovered love of rocks (which he tries to steal from around the neighbor's mailbox), this morning's adventures took us to our local water garden center. I was hoping they had a few river rocks I could buy for Biscuit to play with, but it ended up being so much more fun than I figured it'd be. The sweet lady at the store let us fill up Biscuit's backpack full of rocks from her giant display fountain bed for $1 - she actually offered them to us free but we insisted!)

For Biscuit, it was like stepping into another world! He saw fountains, ponds, ferns, fish, tadpoles and other great water displays everywhere. So many places to explore and new things to touch! Here are some of the storybook examples of "enchantment" we discovered there!

Biscuit at the Fountain of Youth!?
(I didn't even drink from it but I sure felt like a kid again!)





















Looking for the troll under the bridge (from The Three Billygoats Gruff)...uh-oh, I guess he found him! Run, Biscuit, run! ;)


Was that The Frog Prince on that lily pad?

Hmmm, I wonder if any of these koi know The Golden Fish?

Of course all Biscuit's discoveries went right along with his latest library book, Made By God. It's fun to enjoy imaginary stories but even more amazing to know there's a real Creator who gave us this world full of wonders!

When we got home I boiled the rocks in hopes of killing some of the algae or other goopies that might be lurking on them, since Biscuit insists on taste-testing each one of them (thus the Stone Soup!) Then we put them all into a little clear box just his size. He loved taking them in and out of the box, clapping them together, rolling them to Curious George and trying to shove them into his shape sorter. I'm sure he'll come up with some other creative uses for them in the days ahead. After that he had to change clothes; he was soaked from playing in the lily pads! :)

Bargain-Basement Sandbox (Literally!)

Since the rain cooled things off last night, the big activity of the day was going to be a stroll around the neighborhood to check out the interesting curbside junk that had been set out for the bulk trash pickup truck (on a busy bulk day this makes for an interesting no-cost toddler activity). We did find a few assorted piles of castaway goods but were somewhat disappointed that there wasn't more to see (we walked a long way too and only found about three or four homes who had stuff to toss). At first glance nothing was too exciting so we went home to move onto other adventures. But later, as I was looking at the pics we took, I noticed this little gem of an old bookshelf in one of the toss piles...and having just used a similar item for a toybox, it hit me that the same thing could be made into a great sandbox! I've been looking for a week around my house for something to use for one but everything was too small or impractical. I kicked myself for letting this one get away...surely the trash truck had already come by that time (it was 2 pm!). But just in case (and I don't advocate this practice generally), Little Biscuit and I drove over to the house to see if the bookshelf was still there. Sure 'nuf, it was! So we hauled it away and set up downstairs in Biscuit's basement playroom. I already had a bag of sand that cost me $3.39 at Home Depot. I put down an old bath mat beside the box to catch any big spills but since the floor is linoleum and we have a shop-vac I'm not too worried about the mess factor. I also made Biscuit a little seat on the edge the box out of a bean-bag cube ottoman I already had from Target. Here was his reaction upon meeting sand for the first time!!


A little tentative at first...(some tears, even!)




























Hey, this might not be so bad!

Bring it on!!!

The Case of the Missing Cup: Episode 2

Status: Case Closed!













The perpetrator was apprehended shortly after the search resumed this morning!

The runaway cup was found wedged between the DVD player and the back of the inside of the entertainment center.











Sadly, my own hired eye has been implicated in the crime. He was brought in for questioning but pled the fifth.

I'm not accusing him before the trial but...just look that face.

The Case of the Missing Cup

Agent Biscuit, Spykid...
Well blog time today was cut short by Biscuit waking up from his nap after only 30 minutes. The rest of the day we spent looking for his sippy cup which has vanished off the face of the planet. I searched everywhere including down the stairs where he usually tosses most objects for entertainment; Double-O Biscuit was my personal PI to help track it down. We managed to find a few items of interest over the course of the search, including:

*my checkbook (didn't even realize this was missing until I found it under the couch)
* Big Biscuit's hacky sack
*a dirty spoon under the recliner (of course the investigator I hired to help me track down the cup wanted to stick said spoon in his mouth despite its not having seen the dishwasher in eons)
*an SD card for the camera
*Little Biscuit's toy cell phone

Unfortunately the fugitive cup remains at large and is considered armed and extremely dangerous. Anyone getting near it is in danger of being knocked down by the putrid smell of spoiled milk (you'd think this foul odor would give it away but this guy is clearly using some sort of cloaking device).

Here's a sketchy mugshot (but just to clarify, it's a cup, not a mug). It was last seen in the living room and is described as a green Nuby no-spill gripper); have you seen it? Please report any sightings before 7 am when I will have to close this case (and get a new cup).

Teddy averts tantrum ;)

no apples, mommy!
Well lately Biscuit's been particularly finicky about his mealtimes (okay, he flat out refuses his food most days, especially if it is being delivered on a spoon). Usually if I can get him to sample the first bite he's good to go...but that first bite can be a bear to get him to eat. Well this week one of the strategies that actually does work somewhat effectively (at least for now) had a pretty cute resolution, so I'll share it here (and I'm sure this one isn't original). I started feeding one of Biscuit's teddy bears his apples on a spoon and Biscuit got a little curious: he musta been thinking, hmmm, if Bear doesn't mind the spoon, maybe it's not so bad...so Biscuit ate too, and eagerly too! He just wanted me to take turns feeding bear and Biscuit throughout the meal. After it was over I caught him feeding Bear puff snacks during playtime - he's starting to really like sharing his food too ;) The other day I was working on something and suddenly had a sippy cup shoved into my mouth outta nowhere! :D

Plaid Palace, Quilt Castle, Fortress of Fun...

Since Biscuit loves tunnels so much, we had a little playtime in our own kitchen citadel. We used chairs with backs facing each other and space in between covered with a blanket as the roof and walls. Chair cushions became the "drawbridge," megablocks served as water in the moat, and we made sure to have a sea critter we called Nessie guarding the stronghold just for fun. Biscuit made many appearances as the returning king :)