Prince and the Pea

It seems we go about a week, and then some eventful story presents itself. Today, there are a couple of stories. The weather is beautiful here, so this afternoon we went outside with the loose intention of accomplishing some yard work. Josiah is really testing the boundaries of Stop and No. So far I think he has had 4 timeouts. By timeout #3 I could see him contemplating the consequences but still electing to be disobedient. He acts like the world has collapsed during the timeouts though. My intention is to get him to recognize the word "timeout" as this might lead to me just being able to threaten it. So far, I am committed to being consistent and really wishing that he wouldn't try to run out of the backyard every 5 minutes.

I got him some new shoes at a consignment sale this weekend. They are strap-on sandals. I thought he might like to take off his Crocs (which he now thoroughly enjoys wearing) and socks and let his little toes breathe, not to mention the security of the shoe might provide for more adventurous exploration. I put the shoes on and he proceeded to behave like he did when I first gave him the Crocs. He cried and cried despite my attempts to distract him. I finally took them off and put his Crocs back on, but I left the socks off. I stood him up and he cried just the same. I had to put his socks back on too, to satisfy him. He was then happy once again. It seems we have breeded a creature of habit. I will, once again, spend some time getting him to warm up to the new shoes. I suppose he won't have the same shoe fetish his father does? Later, we were inside and he stood in one place screaming at me. By the way he was paralyzed it looked as if he was standing on something. I picked him up to see if he had stepped on something sharp. What I found was a Teddy Graham. Seriously? At dinner he started fussing and reaching for his foot again. He had stepped on some crumbs in the chair and they were stuck on the bottom of his foot. Can anyone say Prince and the Pea? Mr. Sensitive Feet is going to have to adjust before summertime arrives!

While playing outside he walked up the porch steps and turned around to come down. He slipped and fell face first into the second step. I watched it in slow motion. Unfortunately the steps are solid rock. I would imagine it hurt pretty bad. Now he has a goose egg on his head with some scratches to highlight it, as seen below. Also pictured: After coming inside he elected to sit by the door and watch Daddy on the ladder outside, cleaning out gutters. It was so cute.