Great moments in the O'Brien household - #476

30 April 2009

"Daddy, this peanut butter tastes different. It is not a good peanut butter."
-Cole dogging me out for buying the store brand peanut butter instead of Kraft.

"blagh"
-Cora spitting the peanut butter out of her mouth.

If only they knew how nice American peanut butter tastes in comparison to the good stuff here.

The kids start almost every day asking for a spoon full of peanut butter. It is one of those things that has sort of evolved into a ritual. It began with me letting Cole dip his finger in the jar as I was making toast and has now become a vital part of breakfast.

Mary and I were thinking back to this photo, taken when Cole was 1 1/2 years old.
Lesson learned: we will keep our cost saving gestures to generic cans of tuna, and shopping at the markets for vegetables. We will not skimp on condiments. Global economic crisis or not.

Oh Jif Creamy, how we miss you.

Toothpaste Bandit

Mary: please don't do that.
Cora: why?

I am at work all day and miss out on many of the fun little moments in our house that happen during the week. Mary is kind enough to send me text messages of the more significant events.

Cole is trying to swing from a piece of yarn attached to the doorknob like tarzan

"There's a tuba in my tummy" -Cole

word to the wise, don't wipe nose after cutting jalapeno.

"Why aren't I flat like a piece of grass?" -Cole

mental note: when listening to iPod, don't suddenly belt out song when daughter is sleeping.

I forgot to tell you Cora has a fascination with shoving things up her nose. Last week peas. Today stickers.

and today's gem: "Another tube of toothpaste bites the dust"

You can't roll toilet paper perfectly back on the roll after it has been pulled across the house and you can't get toothpaste back into the tube. And these are both stealthy types of mischief; you can't hear them happening until the child lets out maniacal giggles. Kids instinctively know these truths and derive disproportionate amounts of pleasure from these activities. How do we explain to her that toothpaste costs $170 per gallon? Is there a cost benefit to us of having 15 minutes of peace and quiet while she is in the bathroom strangling another tube? As far as fun goes, it is probably cheaper for us to send her skydiving.

I can't wait for the day when Cora discovers the wonders of shaving cream. As long as they don't start pasting images of Tigger or Dora the Explorer on men's shaving cream, I think I am relatively safe.

sweet and sour

Cole's fascination with claws has not yet reached alarming levels, but where he gets his inspiration is puzzling.

He is enamored with the movie/cartoon 'Madagascar'. I have not watched more than five minutes of the movie, but from what I have seen, the lion character is not what I would consider ferocious. At least not when compared with cartoon heavy hitters like Shere Khan (Jungle Book) or Mufasa (Lion King). No, Alex the lion--as voiced by Ben Stiller--is his totem.

So he asked me once again to make him claws and he was not to be placated by over sized claws that would bend when he scratched at stuff. He seemed to be satisfied by this design, even though he still was not able to use the claws to shred the walls and furniture.
This photo also lets me show off some nice pink pyjamas we scored from our friends Bindi and Tim. Cora is quite pleased with them.