Comic Relief

Will is always good for a big belly laugh and a smile, ear-to-ear. Ever the performer he is always on the lookout for a chance to show off and ham it up. In the grocery store he has taken to calling my name loud - pushing it so hard that his face turns red and he shakes with the effort. This is no tantrum because as I turn in alarm to see what the problem could be, he sits there in the front seat of the cart with a big, cheesy grin. Meals with any person in addition to myself or Daddy is another chance to shine. He makes goofy noises or practices all his big words, perhaps lobs some food on the floor and then throws his head back and laughs with an (almost) evil Mwa-hah-hah! Last week at Daddy's coworker's BBQ he exercised this move, living up to his "My name is Trouble" shirt. Monday morning brought a recap of the evening and our host mused that Will is a hoot and a little devil.

He is doing better about sitting with us through church without too much ruckus. I confess that I have resorted to raisins as a quiet snack to keep him entertained through the sermon. Our thoughts on keeping him in the service at such a young age is fodder for another blog post. Last Sunday at the end of the service, we took a special offering for the youth group mission trip. I thought it would be good to let him put our contribution into the plate as it passed. I learned a valuable lesson. First I struggled to get him to let go of the apparently fascinating green paper. Then as I wrenched his little fingers open, he let rip with "Monnnneeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Much in the same manner that he yells  "Mommyyyyyyyyyyy!" in the grocery store. As he yelled this, and I wrenched his hands off the money I intended to give, he grabbed another handful of even larger bills from the plate and continued to yell: "Moneeeeeeeeyyyyy!" As I'm sure you can imagine, people aroud us began to chuckle and Sean and I were helpless to keep ourselves serious enough to make him stop. He realized he had an audience and he was playing it up! I did eventually pry the billls from his grip and pass the plate along, and got him to quiet down long enough to catch my breath and tell him no. We got lots of comments later regarding our education of him and his priorities.

Sean recently learned a valuable lesson regarding mischevious curious little boys and vegetables. I was working so Daddy and Will were on their own for supper. Will happily gobbled the lasagna, but refused the string beans. Both boys refused to back down and Daddy was determined that Will would sit in that chair until the beans were gone. He left Will with one bean and got up to clear his plate to the kitchen. He came back and the bean was gone. Thinking it a small victory he offered Will another bean. Will shook his head and responded with: "Bean in da nose". Some vigorous nose blowing produced one little bean fragment and 5 minutes later when Will repeated his phrase, more nose-blowing produced another bean fragment from the other nostril.

Valuable lessone learned. Many laughs enjoyed.