Yaliddle Boy

Generally speaking, my kids eat really healthy foods. Lots of veggies & fruit, lean meats, low-fat cheese, yogurt, whole grains, all that stuff. They rarely even have juice (except for daycare/playgroup/Grandma's house) and Talia will often ask for a treat, nibble on it, then ask for a yogurt instead. We try not to make a big deal about food, but both kids are big eaters and so far they are good eaters, so we just try to give them food that has nutritional value. It's not a big deal, you don't have to feel sorry for them (Grampy) or bring them lots of junk food when you come to visit (Grammie); they do have treats sometimes and are not deprived in any way.

Now that that's all cleared up, the other background information you need to know so the upcoming story makes more sense is that we have a big entranceway in our house, aka "the porch." There is a heater in there, but we don't turn it on so that in the winter the porch is like a giant walk-in fridge. We keep drinks out there as well as bigger pantry items we don't have room for in our space-challenged kitchen.

The other day I picked up the kids from daycare and while I was getting Declan out of his giant snowsuit, boots, the whole bit (don't you just love -40 weather, by the way?) Talia was out in the porch getting herself undressed. It takes a little while, but Miss Independent gets the job done eventually, and it is a life skill she needs to master, so whatever. This day it was taking a really, really long time, though, so I went out to see what the hold up was, and I could hear her talking to someone:

"You silly yaliddle boy! What are you doing? You waiting for me? In da porch? You so silly, you yaliddle boy!"

I had no idea if we'd picked up an extra kid from daycare or what, but when I got to the porch, she was sitting on the floor, talking to a box of Rice Krispies. I'd picked up some Rice Krispies to make edible wooden blocks for Declan's birthday cake back before we all got the plague, didn't end up using them, and since they're not something we generally eat, they hadn't found their way into the cereal rotation. Talia apparently took an instant liking to the one in red (I believe he's "Pop?") and was having a great time chatting away with the yaliddle boy. She's now eaten almost the entire box, because I think it's so hilarious when she asks for "some of dat yaliddle boy."

Speaking of yaliddle boys, check this one out:

Part of me is sad that we hardly got any shots that look like the real Declan we see all the time (scrunched up nose, giant grin, mid-belly laugh) but part of me loves how these pictures scream "I'm tolerating being 1 - but it's no 11 months, let me tell you."