Part Two: When Babies Attack

So Iain refused to nap. I should have known.

By 2pm, after 3 failed attempts, I was done with staying home. Even though it was pouring, and even though we'd have enough rain to flood Mt. Kilamanjaro, we needed to go OUT.

So I started cooking up errands. We needed gas. And maybe something for me to make for dinner. And we had stuff to go to Goodwill. And Boris needed new blankets.

Oh, and one other thing. Notice anything different about the picture above? Different from this morning? Here's another look, a little closer:

Why, yes. Now that you mention it, he does look a little different, doesn't he? A little less, as Callie's Dad would say, "like a hippie."

Errand #1 was dropping into the kid haircutting place and either making an appointment or just getting it done. Amazingly, on a rainy Saturday after a depressing week of rain, rain, rain...what was I talking about? Oh, right: they were pretty much empty.

They popped Iain into a pretend airplane, turned on a DVD of the Teletubbies, and handed him an orange balloon with a grape lollipop on its end. Genius. He sucked on that lolly, watched some weird stuff go on with the tubbies, and tolerated the clippers and scissors. Of course, he drooled enough grape drool to make it look like he'd wet his pants (with grape juice), but that's a price I'm willing to pay.

And it took 5 minutes. No lie. 5. Amazing.

So with his excellent new 'do, we headed out for more errands. Next stop: Goodwill. We dropped the stuff to give away, then headed inside to look for bedding for The Big Dog. And sure enough, Goodwill had what I needed. Extremely ugly, extremely inexpensive blankets for $2.50 each.

They had something else, too. Did I mention the laundry? Oh, yeah. I folded Iain's laundry this morning in my search for some way to dull the pain of NOT NAPPING. Iain promptly pulled the Elmo pajamas off the pile and started walking around with them, putting part of the bottoms in his mouth. It was weird.

So I was already pretty much convinced that he needed an Elmo toy. Something to satisfy the Elmo need (one sign of his total devotion is that at random moments he breaks into song: "La la la" the rest is, of course, "Elmo's song!" but he can't say that yet.)

And what should be sitting atop the bedding rack? NO, really:

And it's not just an Elmo toy. It's a Tickle Me Elmo (you will recall the insanity surrounding this item 3 or 4 years ago at Christmas). Iain is unmoved by the giggling, but he instantly reached for that thing and clutched it to his bosom. Since it's in excellent condition, I figured: sure.

How much? $0.50. But I think they guy forgot to ring it up (despite my carefully pointing it out and him telling me the price), because I bought 4 blankets at $2.50 each and paid $10.60. Now, I'm no mathematician, but I think the numbers don't quite add up on that.

Psst! Elmo is watching...