Friday Morning, Starring Baby Triceratops

Julian traipsed out of his room at 6:42am on the dot this morning looking for his Mommy. Once he found her, already in the kitchen (OK, I'll be honest, this never happens... long story why I was there), she scooped him up and he promptly announced:

"Mommy, you be the Mommy Triceratops and I'll be the Baby Triceratops and Ian will be the Brother Triceratops."

Got it. Julian is very big into the Mommy/Papa/Brother/Baby roll playing. Just about everything in our house has played the roll, but usually dinosaurs get starring parts. If you break character, watch out.

"Juli, please finish your waffle."

Julian squirms in anguish at the table. "NOOOOO, Mommy, say 'Baby Triceratops please finish your waffle!'"

"OK, sorry, blah blah blah Baby Triceratops."

A few minutes later, I lapse again.

"Julian, c'mon, we need to get dressed."

More anguish, accompanied by some wake-the-dead stomping on our floor/the neighbor's ceiling. "NOOO, Mommy, I'm BABY TRI-CER-A-TOPS!!"

"OK, right. Baby Triceratops, can you go wake up Brother Triceratops?"

"Sure, Mommy Triceratops."

Then my husband comes into the kitchen to eat and spies a few left bites of waffle on Julian's plate. He follows Julian into the bedroom with a fork of waffle, where Julian is busy clocking his brother square between the eyes with a Transformer to help rouse him.

Suddenly, Julian comes running to find me, Papa trailing him still with a bite of waffle hanging from the fork. "No! I'm not hungry! Mommy, Papa Triceratops is bothering me!!"

Then, inspiration hits me, and I haven't even had my coffee yet. "Hey, Baby Triceratops, if you don't eat all your waffle you can't go scare all the other dinosaurs."

This works. He darts to the table and wolfs down the rest of what's on his plate and then asks for more.

We play the game all the way to school until I deposit Baby Triceratops in his classroom. It's one of those days when I feel totally in control, which is a major high for me (again, unfortunately).

I'm sure disaster is waiting around the corner, but for now I'm set. Sun is shining, kids are back in school and my husband and I are meeting friends for a big kid dinner (with adult drinks) in Manhattan tonight. Life is good. Happy Valentine's Day to all my Followers. I love you!