Why is it...turned to chocolate fun.

Why is it that whenever Providence's cousin Hope it not around I hear comments like "I miss Hope." "Can Hope come over?" "I want to go to Hopes house." "I love Hope." Then when we do see her there's excitement at the initial meeting which quickly wears off into "I don't want Hope to touch that." "Don't hold Hope mom, I'm jealous." "Help, HELP!" as Hope comes near to anything Providence is working on or playing with. Providence adores Joy (her baby cousin), will gladly find and offer toys to her, will lovingly entertain her with songs sung just for her, dances, and funny faces, help with diaper changes, spit-up duty, and making sure she is comfortable. Joy loves it and showers Providence with smiles as soon as she sees her. Hope loves "Pots" (which is what Hope has christened Providence as) also and will follow her around trying to play with her while Providence is deftly trying to gather all her toys in as close as possible to keep anything from falling into Hope's hands. What age is it that changes wanting to share every toy and pleasure with to trying to keep every toy and pleasure from?


I got a brilliant idea from an unnamed source; that I thought I would use to keep Providence busy while I wrote my blog this morning. Pudding painting. It sounded innocent enough, if a little messy. But while it did keep the kid and kitten busy, it kept me more so. This is not something to do unsupervised. This picture just does not do it justice. Providence (who is now in the tub) enjoyed it though so it may be something we repeat if the kitten ("Wendy", last I checked) is not around and I am very much around. I now need to rebuild in the wake of this disaster, including but not limited to, the table, the chairs, the floor, the nightgown, the child, and yes even the cat who though you can't quite tell in the picture is covered in chocolate pudding also.