Oh, he is going to love seeing Elmo!

FAMOUS last words of a first-time mother. A few months ago we bought tickets to bring Jack to see Sesame Street Live - Elmo's Green Thumb, and we even sprung for the "Sunny Seats" - front row seats and a meet & greet with Elmo and Tully. I, eh, I mean he was so excited! So we headed off to the show, getting there early for our photo opp with some of Jack's favorite fictional folks. We talked it up pretty well - telling him all about getting to meet Elmo. We waited in queue, and within 30 seconds of Elmo and Tully walking in, Jack clung to me for dear life, not to let go until the oversized stuffed toys were gone. We seem to have missed one small detail when explaining that Jack would get to meet his idols... his idols were not hip-high four year olds like they seem on the television. They are six or seven feet tall monsters! Jack bravely held tight to me while we stood behind the ginormous beasts. We got a couple of pictures, as quickly as possible, and as we walked/ran away from them, Jack said to me, fear in his eyes, "Mommy, are dey gonna eat me?" No, they're not going to eat you little man.. maybe Mommy & Daddy should have thought this through a bit more before exposing you to such things.

Let me give you a hand, and you'll give me a leg...

Hey, great news! Today at school they told me that they'd like to move Jack to the next Toddler room straight away rather than wait until after his second birthday next month. I mean, it is great news, but I want to make sure we're not pushing him too hard and that he's having the chance to grow and learn, after all, he's only going to be two once. So I challenged the school Director a bit to make sure we're doing the right thing for him... She hesitated, but assured me that we were. I decided to ask about the hesitation. I wish I hadn't. 

You see, it turns out that there's a little boy, Jonathan, who is transitioning from the infant room to Jack's current toddler room. Jonathan has a prosthetic leg that is, well, ill-fitting. Certain activities make the leg fall off, and Jack has figured this out. Jack has also figured out that this little boy has a toy that no one else has, and that he wants.. So. Jack has figured out, at not quite two, that when Jonathan walks up the ladder/stairs to the slide, his leg falls off. Jack knows that the school rules are that you're only allowed to play with toys that other children are not playing with, so he convinces Jonathan to come up the ladder with him to go down the slide. Jonathan's leg then falls off, Jack goes down the slide, races around, and grabs the leg - finder's keepers! This leaves the poor little boy with only one leg, trying to chase around after my incredibly fast little two-legged boy, and if Jonathan gets close too Jack, Jack uses the leg to push him away, much like a lion-tamer uses a chair. I mean, he's not exactly beating the child with his own leg, but if there are a couple of wacks here and there Jack doesn't seem phased by that. The leg is his and he intends for it to stay that way - by whatever means necessary. 

So yeah, we'll be moving Jack to the next toddler room straight away... and we'll start saving for defense against any hate crime charges he may receive later in life.