Weather and, unrelatedly, smartasses

For anyone who isn't living in NC this time of year, I am so, so sorry. This is absolutely the best part of the year in my opinion. The weather starts to warm up in the afternoon, just enough to negate the need for any sort of coat or jacket, and I can walk through my backyard with no shoes on without the fear of freezing toes (although I still do have a healthy fear of dog-doo toes). The daffodils are starting to come up and EVERYONE is outside. You see your neighbors again and the dogs come out of hibernation and are no longer glued to the hearth. And also NAKED BABIES.

This Spring Jack is building a garden in our backyard with the aid of a very able and sweet Aunt. They started this weekend by selecting a spot in the sun to start the beds, buying some untreated lumber and manure, and also spent some time ruminating on what the best things to grow would be. They settled on radishes, basil, green beans, sunflowers and baby peas. Actually, Jack insisted on the baby peas, over and over. This seemed odd to me as he only mildly likes peas, but after I heard him chanting this under his breath it made more sense: "Baby peas, baby peas, baby peas and baby poops!"

This is an opportune moment to segue to another story about why I am a bad parent...namely because I laugh at stuff like this instead of chastising. Well, when I say "bad" I mean bad the way that a precocious 4-year old is "bad." Because they do things they shouldn't. But usually those things are funny, and worth getting in trouble for in the end, right?

Jack has accumulated quite a language repertoire by age 4, and certainly has many favorite words and phrases that he uses as often as possible. One of these is "let's not take any chances" and also, "ONE THING AT A TIME PLEASE!" Now, I don't know how many of you regularly verbally wrangle a 4-year old, but let me tell you, it takes a lot of brainpower. He has become an expert on turning something that you say to him into a convincing argument for him to get what he wants. As much as it can draw out our conversations, I really love it. He is just so clever and annoying--I could not have asked for more!