Monkey See, Monkey Do

The Monkey has become fascinated with any and all utensils, tools, or gadgets that we adults use. The remote, our cell phones, the regular phone... he refuses to be pacified with any dead units or cheap plastic facsimiles thereof even if they play ringtones or announce numbers/letters pressed in an annoyingly chipper voice. And he can tell which one we're actually using at the moment, too.

On the positive side, he's a demon with the broom and lawn rake. And per his father (who was working on the deck one day), "pounds a pretty good nail, too". Oy. So now all I need to do is teach him to push 9-1-1 , recite our address and the phrase "Daddy's fallen and he can't get up".

He brings me my towels after my shower. He brushes his teeth. Tries to brush his hair, and mimics me when I put mousse in mine. He is absolutely obsessed with drinking out of a cup/glass - either direct from the lip or sucking through a straw; and using forks/spoons. It's such a fine line between "yay! you're using a spoon!" and "You already ate your breakfast. Leave mine alone!." But he's so happy pushing around little orts of food while muttering "dis dis dis" to himself....

Sometimes it's scary what he picks up on. I've already had to tell Curt to quit groping me in front of the child... I worry we'll be in a check-out line someday and he'll reach up and tweak Mommy's nipple. Yeah, try explaining *that* to Child Protective Services!

As it is we won't be getting to meet my adorable nephew next month. Something about some super secret security detail blah blah blah.... Fucking terrorists. Maybe in September. IF he doesn't have to respond to any hurricanes. At this rate he won't get to meet HIS nephew until he graduates from college. Instead this month we're focusing on getting Curt's pottery studio up and running. We've got the kilns and wheel hooked up and ready to go. Plenty of elbow room cleared out in the garage/shed. I forced him to go buy clay & supplies yesterday, so now there's really nothing to stop him except a demanding toddler. We've already got a few people very interested in taking classes... this might happen yet!