One, two, tree, sixteen, BOON!

I hate to brag. (Bragging will now commence.) My precious daughter has the fine motor ability to stack 16 wooden blocks. She starts out like most children. One block, now another, here's a third. She starts to feel like something special happens around block 7. She gets a little smile and says, "Uh oh, ooohh!" She selects another block and carefully places number 8. If she is on the floor or working at the table, the stack of blocks becomes to high to place the next block with her short, little arm.

She is not deterred. She stands up or stands on the chair and keeps on building. Each block builds suspense. She starts to say, "Uh oh, boon." Boon is her word for BOOM! She is trying to say, "Will my super special tower of blocks fall this time?" I say, "Mary, wow! You have so many blocks!" I count them and she counts with me. She says, "One, two, tree, seven, seven, nine, six!" Eventually the tower falls and she puts her hands in the air and says, "BOON!" Then she looks like this:

Garrett's occupational therapist says that Mary should be able to stack 6-8 blocks at her age. Like I said, I hate to brag, but I simply can't help myself.

Arrrr!! The Treasure She's Mine!

I know what you're thinking: Oh, my God, there is actually a new post! Perhaps you thought I had abandoned you forever. No, actually, I have been thinking about Those of You Who Read My Blog quite a bit. I feel a little guilty for neglecting you.

Following my Potter obsession and Post Potter Depression, I was busy entertaining summer guests and visiting my beloved Martinez and it's highly regarded inhabitants. I guess I was just busy. People had babies. I wanted to cook for them. People had problems. I wanted to talk to them. I got tired and wanted to watch mindless television instead of writing. Even if I was in the mood to write and had the time, I would have preferred to be writing fiction and pop psychology. I didn't write that either, but it was nice to think about.

But today something happened that I need to share with those of you who follow the goings on of Mr. Mo and Miss Moo. Today Garrett filled his bean jar. Allow me to explain.

For the past month we have rewarded all of Garrett's good deeds with a dried Garbanzo bean. He was having a little trouble listening to his mommy. So, I told him, "Garrett, every time you do something good, or listen to mommy, or act like a big boy, you will get a bean. When the bean jar is all filled up, then you can have a surprise!"

Garrett said, "OH! Okay! Maybe I can go to that toy store and get a guy." He was referring to his Pappo figurines, which depict various warriors, pirates and fierce creatures.

I said, "Sure, you can pick out a new guy." A week later we went to Walmart (I feel it is necessary to say here that I NEVER go to Walmart as I am against their impact of the American economy. However, I live in a small(ish) town and sometimes you have to do what you have to do to find a particular item. In this case I was looking for a Safety First bed rail for Mary).

At Walmart, Garrett spotted the many Halloween costumes on display. If ever there was a child who was meant for a costume, it is Garrett. Holy moly, he wears them all year long. He still wears his dragon costume from last year. While we were in the forbidden Walmart, Garrett spied a pirate costume that he Must Take Home! He was devastated when we did not take it home. It was all I heard about for hours and hours.

Finally, I said, "Garrett, if you fill your bean jar, you may have the costume." He was delighted that a solution had presented itself.

He said, "Okay mommy, I get my beans and we go get that costume and bring it home."

"Yes, that's the general idea, " I said.

Over the next few days and then weeks every time Garrett got a bean, he reminded me that he would get the pirate costume and bring it home. I started to worry that the pirate costume would no longer be available when the bean jar was filled. I spent my free mornings looking for the blessed costume. It was not to be found. It turns out that Garrett saw a pirate costume for an adult man, not a young boy!

Alas, pirate costumes started to appear. We are in the year of the third installment of Pirates of the Carribean, after all. There is no shortage of $30 Jack Sparrow costumes.

Truly, these costumes suck. They come without the boots. They don't include a sword. Hats are purchased separately. What kind of pirate would just buy a vest, a flouncy shirt, and some pants? Terrible.

While I searched for a reasonably priced, adequately suited pirate costume, the bean jar started to fill. Fliers advertising the sale of costumes arrived in the mail. Garrett started to request additional costumes. He poured over the fliers and said, "OH MOMMY!!! Look at this Spiderman one! I need a Spiderman costume too! Mommy! When I fill that bean jar, I need TWO costumes: Pirate and Spiderman. Okay?"

Oh dear.

In a matter of days, Garrett added yet another costume to his grand reward. I don't know how to tell you about this costume. He saw it on an episode of Scooby Doo. Some dude is wearing a gown-like robe with a scary rubbery mask, designed to frighten away those meddling kids. The monster raises his arms above his head, wags his tongue and says, "Bluh-blugh, blubbety blugh blugh blugh!!!!" Then he chases Scooby and Shaggy until he is unmasked by the clever Thelma, Fred, and Daffney. You can image my confusion when Garrett announced, "Mommy, when I fill that bean jar, I will get THREE costumes: that Spiderman costume, that pirate costume, and that Blugh-blugh-blughbetty-blugh-blugh costume," while waving his arms in the air so that I would be sure which costume he meant.

Oh dear again.

It takes a lot longer to fill a bean jar than you might think. Just try to fill one every time you think you are worthy. After 30+ days of listening to mommy, going to bed without milk, sharing with Mary, saying please and thank you, finishing every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, doing well at Speech Therapy, being a good boy at school, and generally being a 4 year old superstar, Garrett filled his bean jar!

Today I invited Garrett to wear his pirate costume (see below for where I found said costume). Today he wore it with pride. He let Mary wear the hat. He stared at himself in every available reflective surface of our house. To my utter astonishment, he did not ask for the Spiderman costume (which I have hidden away because I am a total pushover mommy), or the blughbity-blugh-blugh costume, which does not exist. Today he is simply Pirate Garrett, Master of the Sea, Earner of Beans.


P.S. I found the Pirate Costume at The Children's place. It still cost 30 bucks, but it is nice enough to last us all year.

P.S.S. I'll post a picture of Garrett in his costume tomorrow. Did you think you'd get a post and a picture all in one day?