Magic Dust

E had to work this weekend so P and I accompanied him to the city each day in an attempt to get some time with Papa. We could chat on the subway and then meet for lunch. It was a great solution to a sorry situation (P's started missing E quite a bit lately) and we found lots of fun in the kids section at the Strand (a fantastic used book store by E's office).

After being out all weekend it was hermit time (and laundry time!) for us. We followed our usual Monday rhythm of play and homemaking. Today consisted of P building a space ship out of our furniture, Baby Brother played the evil stepmother to Baby Behu's Cinderella, Bat Mac acted as an evil vulture chasing after BB, Beek Mok starred as an evil Medusa that monster-napped Baby Brother and P was generally the hero with sword. That's his solution for everything lately. Medusa won't give up BB and P tells her "hey, I have a sword." Oh, well, Baby Behu also played the part of policeman with P happily putting characters in jail with a "you need to be Nice!" When I mentioned jail might not be the best place to study niceness he said we'd show them how and then released them to his house for studies. :)

As the clean laundry piled up and my voice tired of Medusa and vulture talk, we took a break to make bread. Then P realized he hadn't played with flour in a Long Time! He was desperate to remedy this oversight despite the recent vacuum job. We chatted about our comfort levels and agreed on an approach. Out came the flour and quiet finally overtook our house. After checking in a couple of times and realizing that he Really was trying to keep the flour on the table I retired to the other room to fold clothes. He called me back in a bit later and I noticed a Lot of flour Off of the table. But not in the usual, whoops, that slipped off the table sort of way. I told him it looked like he was experimenting, what was the angle? He loaded a spoon with flour and let it fly. Wry grin and a long whisper. He was quite obviously working on something rather than just feeling ornery, but I wasn't sure how long I wanted this experiment to last. After a few more flings I could make out his mumblings. "Bibbity bobbity boo!" Ahhh! You're working on magical dust, eh? He was excited that I understood. He gets strangely embarrassed about copying something he's seen, almost concerned that he isn't doing it just right, leaving us guessing as a test that his act is identifiable, recognizable, just right. I suggested we Bobbity Boo in the woods lest we share our home with meal moths and he was so thrilled he slid his coat and boots right on.

BB played the part of Cinderella and P was the fairy godmother. He tried flicking the flour with a stick (aka wand) but was disappointed with the results. We returned to the house for more flour and a spoon and that produced the desired dust back in the woods. We also romped in the leaves and "walked the plank" on fallen trees. Then P discovered the joy that is mudballs. He pummeled BB with them and then turned them on me. The earlier experimental energy had morphed into all out nappless craziness and we headed home for a head to toe bath (a P rarity). Poor little Baby Brother. He'd stayed clean from His last bathing for a whole 3 days :)

P, on the other had, was bathing for the second time today. Seemingly still feeling the ornery vibe, he was using his squeezable frog to shoot water up and out of the bath. Fortunately for both of us, I had the mop out anyway from all of the flour :) So he repeated his little test over and over until he proclaimed :" When the water goes up, it comes back down!" "Uh, uhuh" I replied, feeling slightly grouchy holding my mop. "Can you make sure it comes back down Inside the tub please?" "No, mama, look!" he urged. "I shoot it up and it comes back down! I make it go up, but it Comes Back Down!" Then it hit me. He was having his Newton moment. It wasn't orneriness at all - it was discovery. In our clean little cubicle lives the one can often feel like the other for the cleaner, but for the mess-maker its all just living and learning.