Put butter on it

Anticipation is a hard emotion to capture. The boys waited with bated breath for Grams to squeeze out the first Christmas tree-shaped peanut-butter cookie of the season. They waited and waited and waited.

When Grams finally announced that the cookie press was broken, did they turn to me to fix the thing? No, of course not.

'Opa!'

Opa took one look at the stuck lid and said the same thing he says when one of the kids scrape a knee or the car battery dies.

'Put butter on it.'

Other than cracking me up, butter did little to help. The metal tracks on the lid were completely bent, but this didn't prevent Grams from grabbing the cookie press and giving it one last buttery try.

Anticipation is often followed by disappointment. Luckily, our kids are used to this and can quickly adapt. Kinda. David took one look at the lumpy clumps being flung onto the cookie sheet and decided that the only way he was getting cookie into his cookie-hole was to start shoveling in spoonfuls of dough.

In the end, it didn't matter. A cookie by any other name is still shoved in the oven. And this was only the first batch. For the encore, Grams busted out plastic wrap and gave her best banderillero impersonation. Toro, toro!

It puzzled Tommy but at least Angie remained indifferent. Whatever, Matador - just tell me where to cut.

As we waited for the cookies to burn, we noticed that Tommy had removed his slippers. This, by itself, is not so unusual. We all know the boy hates socks, slippers and anything that prevents his dogs from barking.

What was a little troubling was that, upon being told that he needed to put the slippers back on, her Majesty's Royal Thomas threw himself to the floor and launched the most incredibly ear-piercing temper tantrum that I have ever laughed at.

After screeching in my ear for 43 minutes, Opa walked over and tickled his foot. I shit you not, the boy switched from full-throttle wailing to giggling like a mad man in two seconds flat. By that point, trust me - I was the mad man, but I was far from giggling.

I'd like to say that this was a one-time event, but Tom has apparently gotten the memo that explains how terrible two-year olds are supposed to misbehave. His 'episodes' actually started three days ago and let me just say that he is obviously a loud descendant of 'Old Faithful'.

After Tom's outbreak, we decided to check on the cookies. I'm not saying anything, but David checked out the first batch and let's just say that his look of youthful skeptism is, well... interesting.

'Hmmmm...maybe we should put butter on them.'

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Ladder Talk:
1) What was the best part of your day?
Peter: That I played catch with you.
David: When I open my Advent calendar.
Tom: I want auto.

2) What was the worst part of your day?
Peter: That I forgot what to do when you told me.
David: That I can't open another Advent calendar.
Tom: I was baseball.

3) What would you like to do tomorrow?
Peter: Eat cookies!
David: To go and play with Mama hide and seek and catch.
Tom: There hide.