Two for the price of one

Since I was a little bit light on the blog last week and next week is the annual Thankful List I figured I would cover two topics this week.
First up:

Yesterday
The Mud Puddle is at that age where he understands the concept of time but not exactly details of it. Everything that happened in the past he labels as ‘yesterday’ and everything that is going to happen in the future is ‘tomorrow’. It is an easy rule to follow once you understand it but when you are unfamiliar it can seem a bit odd.

We were having a conversation with a friend of the family when the Mud Puddle burst out with “I went on a plane to South Carolina yesterday.” Oh really? As I recall your one trip to SC was over two years ago. The friend gave me a ‘what is he talking about look?” and I just shrugged my shoulders.

There are some things that I KNOW he knows are not ‘tomorrow’ but he stills has the urge to ask if they are. As I have mentioned previously "show and tell" is on Fridays but like the sun rising in the east, you can count on the Mud Puddle starting to ask about it on Monday: “When is Show and Tell?” “Friday” “And when is Friday?”
I have this conversation every day Monday through Thursday twice a day. Good times for me.
I don’t try and push too hard for him to get his timing right. I figure it will just upset him or confuse him and really at this point as long as he understands the past is the past and the future is the future who cares if he thinks Christmas was yesterday or Halloween is tomorrow – as long as he doesn’t want to wear a costume every day, I think we are in good shape.

And your bonus post:
Save the Drama for your Mama
The Mud Puddle has begun to experiment with the concept that being sick equals extra attention. He has started to tell me that his belly, head, neck, foot (you get the idea) hurts and he needs something for his pain. His great cure-all? Why chocolate of course! I am not sure where it is written in the New England Journal of Medicine that chocolate can cure a belly ache, but the Mud Puddle is ready to be the case study if they need a test subject.

The belly aching (as it were) usually starts after his dinner. The Mud Puddle is nothing if not a good eater. He is very good about eating all kinds of foods and never balks at having vegetables or other ‘healthy’ foods, and for that, I count myself lucky. Lately he has polished off his dinner in short order and then sat moaning about how bad his belly hurts. When I ask what will fix it (my usual suggestions include a lie down, some water, or the pink medicine) he will moan “chocolate”, writhing and holding his belly as he said it. You would think his appendix had just ruptured the way he goes on about it (and I am just paranoid enough that I check for fever and belly tenderness on the right side if the moaning goes on for five minutes – yeah, I am a total sucker).

His other recent malaise is a cough – sometimes genuine but for the most part a put on. He will hack and choke (only occasionally covering his mouth) and I will ask if he is okay and if there is anything that will help. Do you know what cures the sore throat of a crafty four year old? Chocolate. I don’t fall for that one EVER. I will give him some juice or water (at night he whines for medicine, which I will occasionally give him if the cough sounds genuine).
What is so amusing to me about all of this is that he is a pretty healthy kid. Aside from the standard baby ear infections and the round of daycare illnesses that everyone seems to get (it is funny to see the infectious disease notices go up at school – “Strep Throat two cases in the Toddler room” – the toddlers get most of the illnesses). We try to do right by him and keep him healthy – vitamins, healthy foods, plenty of rest, removal of tonsils, flu shots, etc. So for him to come up with the fake sicko routine is amusing to me.
I also have considered doing my own chocolate for belly ache routine to see how far that gets me.