Morning Hilarity

In the mornings, if we do not have anywhere we need to go right away, I bring Alton downstairs for his breakfast in his pajamas. Every day he sits down at his high chair and consumes a banana and about one-and-a-half scrambled eggs with cheese before he is set loose with his sippy cup of water on our downstairs. Our second floor boasts an awesome playroom for Alton, with most of his toys, a small slide, a bookshelf full of books and comfy little armchair, and a child-size table and chairs for coloring and puzzles. This kid has it made! So naturally there are fewer toys downstairs, which means that Alton will often "fashion" toys for himself out of normal household objects. Sure, he's got the obligatory bottom drawer in the kitchen with some old plastic measuring cups and wooden spoons clustered inside next to dish towels and washcloths, but he will take it to the next level and create objects of fun out of some decidedly ordinary things. Laundry. A bucket. Miniature pumpkins I bought to decorate our dining table. Cookbooks. A camera tripod. Minerva.
So after he's eaten his Viking's breakfast, I sit down at the dining room table to my own bowl of Cheerios and watch him scurry to and fro like a little squirrel, making his acquisitions at various points throughout our downstairs and sequestering them in alternate locations. Often, he finds Minerva's dog bed a convenient drop-off point for some of the items that he procures, and it really doesn't matter whether or not she's on it at the time. Yesterday morning he was a flurry of activity. Having brought his Pooh Bear and Puppy stuffed animals down from the playroom when first we awakened, he also took advantage of having a few extra toys downstairs that were parked there after using them at a friend's house and spread his belongings eeeeeeverywhere. He went to my cookbook shelf to select his two favorite tomes, the holiday "Cookies" cookbook and "The Everything Bartender's Guide," naturally. Pooh Bear and Puppy were laid with these across Minerva's bed in a somewhat intimidating pose, while Alton completed his fearmongering by hunkering down against her with his toy chainsaw.

Here he pets her, saying "Nice, nice," and telling her that there are no hard feelings, her bed just happens to be the most comfortable place on the floor (despite the fact that we bought it recently from Costco and it's filled with cedar shavings, making it smell like a hamster cage).

Clock the look of misery that Minerva throws at me; only slightly distinguishable from her normal baleful glances of sorrow.

Alton became interested in another recent addition to his cadre of entertainment: an Animal Colors book that Matt and Di gave him. He demonstrates his limber spine as he does a backbend over the ottoman to read it.

"I am so comfortable."

Finally, he prizes a videocassette tape out of a drawer I had it in, where it was awaiting me to track down a place that converts old VHS home movies into DVDs. He spoons Minerva's bed in happiness while Pooh Bear contemplates a covert body slam.

"Oh, look. A car, right by my nose."

"BBbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrRRRRR." (More sorrow from Minerva.)

And finally, after unearthing every toy or small object in the downstairs, terrorizing the dog, riding his horse, and reading his books, Alton decides that it's time to make his block tower. Here he is standing proudly in front of it--he did the entire thing by himself!

Whew! After a morning like this, getting dressed and going out to do something is practically a let-down!