Eating: deer, cookies and stylish bibs

Plus side to having a bilingual child: you can be told in two different languages that he does not want to wear the red bib, he only wants to wear the blue bib. However, that doesn't change the fact that Ikea sells them as a two-pack with one of each, so sometimes, only the red bibs are available. Even if they clash with one's outfit.

I had a vivid vision of an older Jolly shouting "NOOOO! ARMANI!", just like his frantic woeful "NOOOO! BLUUUUE BIB!", except I bet that he'll have less banal tastes that that and it'll really be "NOOOOOO, MUMMY! THE PIERRE CARDIN!" or something. We are in so much trouble when he realizes that clothing can be bought in stores, in either case!

The other thing I want to chronicle is that Jolly is currently very into two things: grocery shopping (EINkaauuuuufen!) and eating, especially pretend-eating things that are not actually food.

The other day he cheerfully told me that he wanted to eat the deer in our yard. I tried to clarify whether he meant that the deer were eating, but no. The deer were fact not eating, they were staring warily at the tiny caveman who trotted after them alternately pointing to his mouth and shouting "ESSEN! DIE essen!" (EAT! Eat THOSE!) When I demurred saying that we couldn't eat the deer right now, he helpfully suggested that maybe we could go shopping for them. Okay, then! If you still want to eat the deer in another decade, Jolly, we can set about getting you kitted out with the proper hunting gear, because if there's any animal besides fish I would feel right about eating it's the deer... and we could definitely attend the frequently offered community deer-butchering workshops and find room in our chest freezer. No luck at the grocery store, though!

He's also fascinated by trucks and especially the mail trucks that sometimes bring packages. It's always exciting for him to check the mailbox or even better to get a package. That's true even if it's a package of support hose or something not at all interesting to him, but the other week we got a package brought to our door by a bona-fide MAIL MAN who drove up in a BIG TRUCK, who gave us the BOX and then we could OPEN the box and then the second inner BOX (MORE BOX!!!) then inside that there were COOKIES to EAT. All of the capitalized words are what Jolyon was excitedly repeating over and over with escalating excitement, up until the point when he was shoveling Lebkuchen (German Christmas gingerbread, in this case obtained on clearance) into his mouth. After that, it was just a litany of MMMMMMMM. He just about exploded with sheer joy - he was doing that adorable toddler hand and arm clench of total uncontrollable glee. Since then he's taken to asking people who show up if they might happen to want to give him a cookie. ("Cookie?" in this very hopeful tone of voice.)

Favorite toys of the moment include:
- the bucket from the laundry room
- the ring box that the diamond for Ephiny's engagement ring came in. There's an inner box (hinged wood) and an outer box (cardboard with a lid), and the outer box is almost but not quite square so it's a fun puzzle to get the lid on. This one was an especially big hit and therefore is probably the single most expensive toy our child will ever have, at least until the advent of the first car in another 15 years!
- the humidifier
- the kitchen pots, pans, rice cooker, coffee thermos, and blender, which are relocated to the far corner of the library.
- a box of bobby pins which can be taken out and put into the rice cooker or blender or bucket.

There are also some toys actually intended as toys that he also loves to play with (his toolbox especially!), but there definitely seems to be a marked preference for incorporating non-toy items like the grownups use. It's pretty entertaining.