Game ON!

I just walked into the kitchen and found Max holding something in his hand. He jumped a bit when he saw me and then started quickly signing "thank you" and saying it ("Aah oo! Aah oo!") repeatedly to me.

Obviously, he was into something that he KNEW might be a problem...

Turns out he had an entire chocolate frosted donut in his hand. (And on his hand. And on his face. And in his mouth.)

I actually had to admire his quick-witted thinking to turn on the charm and thank me in advance, and told him he could have it IF HE SAT DOWN AT THE TABLE TO EAT IT. (Sitting at the table for an entire meal or snack remains a challenge for him.)

Well, darned if he didn't do exactly that.

He sat. On his stool. Straight and still. Quiet & focused. No banging, no kicking, no grabbing or spilling. No claiming he's done and running off.

My husband walked in and stared at him for a bit, then looked at me questioningly.

"I know," I said, "I know."

OK, Mister. You just raised the bar. A LOT!!

Game on! It's eatin' time.

(See how I slipped in an entire fruit plate along with some healthy tangerine slices?? Didn't work.)

The Prince and The Tooth: A Modern Tale

Remember the classic tale about The Princess and the Pea? Well, we've been living through a slightly different version of it these past few weeks...

The Princess and the Pea Tooth
by Hans Christian Andersen & Jujyfruit
Illustrated by Edmund Dulac & Jujyfruit

There was once a prince, and he wanted a princess, but then she must be a real Princess. He travelled right around the world to find one, but there was always something wrong. There were plenty of princesses, but whether they were real princesses he had great difficulty in discovering; there was always something which was not quite right about them. So at last he had come home again, and he was very sad because he wanted a real princess his tooth hurt so badly.

One evening there was a terrible storm; it thundered and lightninged and the rain poured down in torrents; indeed it was a fearful night.

In the middle of the storm somebody knocked at the town gate, and the old King himself sent to open it.

It was a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible state from the rain and the storm. The water streamed out of her hair and her clothes; it ran in at the top of her shoes and out at the heel, but she said that she was a real princess.

'Well we shall soon see if that is true,' thought the old Queen, but she said nothing. She went into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off and laid a pea on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea, and then twenty feather beds on top of the mattresses. This was where the princess was to sleep that night. In the morning they asked her how she slept.

'Oh terribly bad!' said the princess. 'I have hardly closed my eyes the whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. I seemed to be lying upon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. It is terrible!'

They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea tooth through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate skin.

So the prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real princess, and the pea tooth was put into the Museum, where it may still be seen if no one has stolen it.

Now this is a true story.

THE END
(source)

The Museum Display

The Movie Version

Wordless Wednesday: Guess Who Got a Haircut?