Mama, can I show you something?

You have to wonder what will come next when your 3-(almost 4)-year-old begins a conversation with "Mama, can I show you something?"

I was extremely curious at lunch today when we sat down and Davis raised the question.

"Of course, sweetie, what is it?"

He led me to the time-out chair at the edge of the kitchen, very excited. Our time-out chair has a lid in the seat and a cute little storage place underneath that only occasionally gets used. But Davis let me know that he stored a little of his cereal from breakfast in there this morning.

Ummmm, why did you do this?

Because, as he enthusiastically showed me, he had carefully taken a letter "D" from his bowl of Alpha-bit cereal (another childhood flashback for me), wiped the milk off, and kept it in the time-out chair for later.

I have to say, I thought it was adorable. I'm guessing the "D" was for Davis?

What was going through his mind at this point? Was he preparing for some later time when he might have a crisis during a time-out and need a snack? Was he just thinking that was the hiding spot most convenient to the kitchen? What were his plans for this little "D"?

All I could do was laugh, which of course thrilled Davis. He kept showing me his treasure, over and over, but I think eventually decided it looked to good to save so he ate it.

I'm thinking I need to periodically check the chair from now on just to see what might be lurking underneath.

You never know what might pop up in strange places. Yesterday, the boys were in the yard closely examining one of the jack-o-lanterns we carved last week and commenting on how stinky it was. We have been trying to explain to Davis that after a while, the pumpkins start to rot and we'll need to throw them out. This concept had really upset him until yesterday when he saw how nasty they can get after a few days.

Because they seemed so taken by the smell, I decided to take a closer look myself. Unfortunately, on close examination I found that someone (Andrew?!?) had hidden some "puppy poo" in the jack-0-lantern at some point. Which means that some little hands had to find it in the yard, pick it up, carefully put it in the pumpkin, and close the lid. And at what point I do not know. I shudder to think about the timing of this and where those little hands went afterward. Mommy must be more diligent with the pooper scooper.

I think I'm going to start checking my shoes, too. We have a new book from the library that talks about hiding a lizard in mommy's shoe...I hope they don't get any ideas!