All Thumbs ...

She is only 3 years old, but my youngest daughter Willa is quite often very happy to help with dinner preparation, be it wiping the table or putting chopped vegetables into a bowl. The other night she wanted to carry the plates to the table. She took two plastic plates from the kitchen counter, one in each hand, but was holding them awkwardly with her fingers scrunched together.

I gently took the plates from her. "Why don't you hold them with your thumbs on top, so you don't drop the plates or spill any food on the floor."

This time she took one plate in both hands, holding it properly with her thumbs on top, but then looked lost. She looked at the plate in her hands, then at the second plate in mine.

"I don't have anymore tums."

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Trading Up ...

We found a cat trapped in the shed behind our house on the weekend. He was very cold, hungry and dirty. While we're waiting for a family to claim him, he is making himself quite at home, preferring to sleep under the plant lights during the day and on one of the kids' beds during the night.

I had been putting off the "when will we get another cat" question so now that one is here, if just temporarily, the kids are all claiming ownership. Milo, who is 4 1/2 years old and was the first to hear the cat's cries from the cold, feels he should be the one to name him. Our youngest, Willa, now 3, is just desperate to have him sit on her lap, and our oldest daughter, Neva, 7, thinks it should be her cat because she takes care of him the most. She quickly dropped her stake in this claim, however, when I reminded her that "taking care" of the cat also meant cleaning the litter box.

Her naiveté reminded me of when she was about 3 or 4 years old and she got her first fish. It hadn't been in the tank an hour when she asked, "Daddy, when my fish dies, can I get a cat?"

And I was reminded again of that naiveté yesterday when I went to pick her up for lunch at school. I was holding another mother's toddler when Neva walked out looking puzzled.

"Mommy," she asked, "what are you doing?"

"Oh," I responded matter-of-factly, "I traded the cat for Adam."

"Really?!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Toad in a Hole

Our oldest daughter Neva was recently at a friend's house for breakfast and was introduced to "Toad in a Hole". If you're unmiliar with this (as I was), you cut a circle out of the centre of a piece of buttered bread, and fry it in a pan with an egg in the hole. I'm not sure why it's not called "chicken in a hole", but that's beside the point.

We have been eating alot of "Toad in a Hole" (or as I like to call it, Amphibious Toast) since that day and everyone seems to enjoy it but 4 1/2-year-old Milo. The first time he had it, he happily ate the toast and the white of the egg. When I sent him back to eat the yolk, he popped the whole thing in his mouth, as is his style. The texture and sheer volume proved too much and he wanted to spit it out. We told him he had to eat it (he has always eaten the yolks in the past) and he sat for almost 30 minutes with it in his mouth before I relented and let him spit it out. Needless to say, it was an unpleasant experience for him.

The other day I was making TiaH for Neva and asked Milo if he wanted one.

"No, just the hole," he said. "I don't want the toad."

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

It's Time to Sink or Swim ...

All three of our children take swimming lessons. Neva is 7 and can swim from A to B, but she could be a stronger swimmer. Both 4 1/2-year-old Milo and his 3-year-old sister Willa are, despite their age difference, almost at the same level of ability: they can float and are both enthusiastically and desperately trying to swim on their own.

I was getting the two little ones ready to go to their lessons the other night when Milo told me he didn't want to go.

"What's the matter, Milo?" I asked, surprised by his comment. "I thought you liked swimming lessons."

"I do. But the problem is, I sink!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com