Baked beans and a glass of water...

= one happy toddler.

He decided not to eat the salmon fishcakey nugget things we made for tea. But he had a lot of the accompanying baked beans. Then he put his hand in the bowl and squidged them through his fingers. Then he poured them into his glass of water. As tends to happen with toddler pouring, quite a lot went on the table. He put his hand in the glass and gave them a good mix. Then he poured the mix back into his bowl. As tends to happen with toddler pouring, quite a lot went on the table. And down his front. And into his lap. He poured it back and to, back and to. Most of the water was soon on the table. Fewer and fewer beans went from bowl to glass and back again.

I like to stay and keep him company while he finishes his tea. As he messes about a lot more than me, I tend to finish earlier than him. That's on the occasions when he doesn't decide almost as soon as we sit down that he doesn't really feel like sitting down to eat right now. Anyway, while it was nice to sit quietly for a few minutes, I couldn't stop thinking of the dishes that needed washing and all the packing that needed to be done before we go away tomorrow.

Eventually, he held up his hands and made the noises that mean, please mummy would you wipe off this awful mess; I just don't know where it came from. Then he had a yoghurt. Which he decided to eat with his fingers. I was very glad the plastic cloth was on the table because we had done some painting this morning.