Sandwich tantrums, chicken chasing, and general diabolical behavior.

He's practically a monkey these days.

So the other day Jim runs up to me, brandishing one of his books and pointing furiously at a large picture in the middle of it - a sandwich, rather sizable, bulging with various meats and cheeses. He looks at me and starts signing FOOD all serious-like. So I ask him:

"Do you want cheese?" NO! He gestures wildly at the picture.
"We don't have a sandwich. Do you want a banana?" NO NO NO, stabs at picture with his index finger.
"How about some grapes?" NOOOOOOOOO!
"Jim, we don't have a sandwich. No sandwich." Overcome by grief and despair, he hurls himself to the ground, completely despondent that he can't have his sandwich.

His sandwich-deprivation-tantrum lasted a good four or five minutes. Poor kid. I guess he gets full marks on picture recognition, though.


He's also not really into having his picture taken.

Speaking of food and communication, Jim has a couple new signs AND words (real spoken words, sort of!). He can do banana (rubbing his index fingers together, saying "buh-daaaah") quite well. He can do cheese, too, but it took me a little longer to recognize. It's supposed to look like this, but he just rubs his hands together, and he can't quite say the whole word so he just goes "zzzzzzzz" instead. So if Jim ever comes walking toward you rubbing his palms malevolently and hissing, don't be scared. He just wants cheese.


This is what happened last time he saw me get the camera out.

And in another brilliant seque, let me tell you more about Jim and cheese. Thursday afternoon we were hanging out outside (which is awesome, by the way - I read a book in the shade while he grubs in the dirt and chases chickens) when Jim comes up to me rubbing his hands and hissing, as described above. Naturally, I go inside and bring him a cheese stick. He's delighted to see it, of course, and proceeds to bring it to his mouth when, all of a sudden, out of nowhere Beatrice the chicken darts in, snatches it from his hand, and takes off across the yard. Jim is momentarily stunned, but recovers quickly enough to give chasing, laughing hysterically the whole time. Apparently he has never encountered anything quite as hilarious as a chicken taking his cheese.

It was pretty epic, actually, in the most literal possible sense of the word. The chase ranged from the shed to the garden, from the chicken coop to the garden hose. They went back and forth - Jim would tackle the chicken and snatch the cheese long enough to get a bite, then the chicken would reclaim it and gulp down a couple shreds before Jim could catch up to her and take it back. I know, I know, sitting in the shade watching your child compete for second-hand chicken cheese isn't exactly Mother-of-the-Year material, but seriously, would you have stopped it? It was just too good. I wish I'd had a video camera with me.