I love these bowls.

I spent an entire spring season of public auctions looking & bidding.

My uncle once bid me up. 

(He didn’t know it — he’s usually a nice boy.)

My daughter is also fascinated by my vintage kitchen items.  She pulls my nesting bowls out of the lazy susan nearly every day.  She unstacks them, talks to each bowl, and then restacks them.  This wouldn’t be a *real* problem except that she tosses them and they make the worst clinking sound — that sound in which you’re nearly certain that you’re going to spend the next hour cleaning up glass.  BUT, so far so good…  they are survivors. 

The more I tell her “no touch”, the more intriguing they become.  Instead of telling her no, I’ve turned it into a teachable moment.  She picks out the “little” & “blue” one and we gently stack it inside the “red” bowl.  Then we put it in the “green” bowl.  Then I pray for no fits of anger as I place them three feet above her head on the counter top.  There are many things placed there for this same reason.

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We have tried to make art on many occasions, but we’re having trouble following the “we only color on paper” rule.  If you don’t keep a careful inventory on the crayons in your house, you might end up with yellow marking on your dryer, purple on your hardwood floors, and a rainbow on your window sil. 

As I was making dinner last night, ‘Cakes was eating blueberries in her highchair.  When I turned around to stir the rice, she took that as her opportunity for escape.  Thirteen seconds later, she was laying on the dinner table, scribbling with her daddy’s pencil all over his Spring Practice sheet AND the table. 

This “teachable moment” is much more for us as parents — don’t buy an antique highchair if it doesn’t have a buckle and never leave pencils on the table if your child is part spider monkey. 

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Babycakes is talking all the time and we’re constantly labeling everything we see.  On the way to Wal-Mart the other day, we talked about the “trees” and “flowers” outside our car window.  As we were collecting our things to walk into the store, she started with a series of “what’s that?” 

“Whass ‘at?”

“That’s a lady putting her groceries in the car.”

“Whass ‘at?”

“That’s a boy pushing a cart back to the store.”

“Whass (pause) ‘at?”

“That’s an early 80′s Monte Carlo mounted on a 4 x 4 frame with a rear spoiler.” 

The lesson that day — shop at Target. 

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Hope you have a spectacular Tuesday & that no one colors on your walls.