Mummy!

Every other sentence at home seems to begin with "Mummy!" lately. I've been thinking that one day it would be pretty amusing to carry a notepad around with me and document every utterance that followed. They range from the sublime to the ridiculous, that's for sure. Today's sublime definitely was William saying, unsolicited, "Mummy, I yuv you." I don't know that he's said it before without some sort of prompt. Melted me!

The ridiculous? I'm putting away the breakfast things this morning when Josiah runs into the half bathroom to piddle. William, who had been working at his art easel, trots in after him.

"Mummy!" comes the sharp call. "William just drew chalk on me!!"

There's a pause, and I have my mouth open to dole out some sort of standard reproving comment (e.g., "William, don't draw on your brother"), but Josiah goes on, still yelling. "He drew it ON MY BUNS!"

I stifle my laughter and prep myself to break up the surely-impending fight, but before I get to the bathroom Josiah keeps going. "Well," he says, reflective now rather than incensed—ever my logical, peace-making child—"well, good thing it's a pretty close match to my skin. Okay, William. It's okay. We're not supposed to draw on people, but it's okay. It matches my buns." They emerge as friends from the bathroom without need of mediation...although I note that the two-year-old is definitely smirking with the chalk in his pudgy hand.

I was so amused that I wrote everything down on the spot!

(By the way, today was so nutty-stressful-busy-crazy that taking pictures was the last thing on my mind. Sorry for the photoless post, Jesse. Testing kids, being with my students, fretting over William's horrible separation anxiety, running out of milk, cooking-cleaning-playing-diapering-working, plus dealing with a disastrous hot water heater situation....ahhhhhh!)