He's an Eater not a Shopper

Most mornings, Kaj wakes up hungry. The trouble is, he can't focus on what he's hungry for. He will see all his favorite foods and scream them out. "Chocolate! Cookies! Fruit leather! Strawberries! Applesauce!" He whips himself into such a food tizzy that if you offer him something sensible, like a bagel, he will scream and cry and try to yank the strawberries out of the fridge, at which point the plastic lid will flip off, sending ten strawberries down the back of the crisper, never to be seen again. Did I mention that all this happens before I have a chance to make coffee? Now my method is to say no to everything he asks for and make him a bagel the way I know he likes it and WAIT for the madness to stop. It does, eventually, and the day has officially begun.

His adorable babysitter, Joana, came today. She goes to Carnegie Mellon and studies painting. She is very fun and talented and I think the two of them are sort of in love. As soon as she walks in they start chasing each other around the house. I feel like I'm this dorky old lady when I try to shout directions over the giggling (which she doesn't really need) like don't give him c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e or c-o-o-k-i-e-s until after lunch.

While she was there, I went to the mall to go to the West Elm store. This mall is in suburban Virginia, and it is huge! I do love a good mall, especially at first, because the possibilities are endless: "wow, a Janie and Jack store!" "MMMmmmm Cinnabon" . After a while of just browsing, I got tired. There's too much, you know? I did manage to get some nice chocolate brown linen sheers for our bedroom, and enjoy a strawberry smoothie. The West Elm store is really nice, and their prices are so cheap. My nice husband has offered to paint the bedroom for my birthday! I'm so excited, because we have been living with the same anemic pepto-bismol pink walls for about a year and a half. I like pink, but this pink is really bad.

While I was at the mall, I saw a million moms pushing strollers. I missed my kid! Of course, the moment you push Kaj through the door of Nordstrom he screams like someone is torturing him with a hot poker. He's not a shopper, my little sweetie. He's an eater.