I can 't believe it ! Today is the last day of The Two Writing Teachers March SOLC of posting daily for the month of March ! Another March SOLC completed ! Yea ! That was fun ! I can hardly wait for next year ! This is post 495 for me on Mainely Write . I am on my way to 500 . This Saturday will be my 500th blog post ! 500 posts . Huh . Who knew that would happen ? On that day , I 'll be on letter E in the A to Z Challenge . Excellent ! started this back in December of 2010 , it was a whimmish thing . I didn 't really get serious until March of 2012 , when a teacher friend of mine , Wanda , mentioned the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge . I decided to give it a try for the month of March , and from there I continued to blog on most Tuesdays . Through that I discovered Poetry Friday , and added that to my " must do " list . Then Laura Salas Purdie had her 15 Words or Less prompt , that I 'm not sure how I ran across . There were then Flash Fiction challenges , A to Z Challenges in April , and Poetry Jam . . before I knew it , I was deep into blogging . book , " Island Cat " . I 've also begun a new blog " I , Noah Cat " , starring my new cat , Noah . Thank you Two Writing Teachers , for giving me the encouragement , the outlet , the audience to build and grow . Now , tomorrow , bright and early , we begin the A to Z Challenge for the whole month of April . A post a day will be happening here ( except on Sundays ) and in many other places in the Blogosphere . Check here to find some links to some other participants ' blogs : Blogging from A to Z Challenge , April 2014 . Oh , and don 't forget to check out the 2014 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem that is being written starting TOMORROW . The first line will be by Charles Waters . I 'm up for adding a line on April 3 ! Check the sidebar for dates and poets . Day 30 or 31 of SOLC ! We are almost at the end of March . Seems hard to believe . We still have plenty of snow here in Maine . It is supposed to rain today , so that may be the end of it . . . hopefully . But it always snows sometime in April - often when the daffodils are up . I 've seen snow in June , too ; but that is less likely to happen . It was his job to feed the dog . He would pick up the dog 's bowl , bring it to the closet where the food was stored to set it on the floor . Then he 'd unzip the bag of dogfood and scoop out food . This was a bit tricky , as he couldn 't get a full scoop , so I had to watch and see what fraction of a scoop it looked like , so I could tell how many were needed . It was usually 3 , sometimes 4 . After he 'd put about the right amount in the dog 's bowl , he 'd zip the bag , close the door and bring the bowl over to the dog 's eating area again . " Say it louder , " I 'd encourage . " Say " Eat ! " " I said , just a bit louder . Now the dog thinks I just gave the command , and I had to pull her back . Can you believe it ? It 's Day 28 of 31 at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge ! Today I 'm commenting . Sometime , somehow . I have commented but not as much as I 'd like to . Seems it 's been so busy lately . When I was babysitting , I found myself singing . I was singing a lot . And I remembered singing a lot when my own kids were small . Every night I would sing " I love you a bushel and a peck . . . " and " Edelweiss " after storytime , as they lay in bed . I sang " Edelweiss " for my grandson also , substituting his name for " homeland " at the end . And then there were the random songs . By random songs I mean , songs I made up on the spur of the moment - songs that don 't necessarily end up rhyming , and aren 't to any tune anyone would recognize - songs made up to go with whatever we were doing , or what I was thinking at the time . They could be songs about taking a bath , brushing teeth , putting on a shirt , walking , hopping . . . you name it , I 'll sing it ! I couldn 't sing one to you now if I wanted to . I tried . I tried singing one like it for my husband , but I couldn 't . I think it has to do with singing to a 2 year old . He liked everything I sang . He thought it was wonderful and swung those little hips and elbows , or marched , or changed his shirt ! You have to make up your own tune for this song . I have one in my head , and I 'd love to sing it for you , but it 's just not going to happen . Remember , it is not like " sung to the tune of " . . . anything anyone ever heard before . It 's a random group of notes , though I try to make it songlike and repetitive . If you don 't sing , do it . There is nothing like singing to your toddler . They love it . If you don 't have a toddler , sing to your older children . They will think you are crazy ( unless you sang when they were toddlers ) . Or sing when you are alone . Sing out . Sing loud . Sing anything . It feels good . And you don 't have to rhyme or know a song . because it 's fun to sing Now there 's a catchy song . See I 'd put my grandson 's name in instead of " my grandson " and he would love it . And this one happens to rhyme . But he would like this one as well , about things he 's doing : Today is day 28 of 31 in March . If you are looking only for my poem for Poetry Friday and Poetry Jam , it is at the bottom of the page . But I think you should read all of the post . Just my opinion . You can head to the bottom only if you want though . I 'll never know . Of course , no grandparent worth their salt ( and especially if that grandparent happens to be a retired teacher ) would go a day without reading a story to their young grandchild . And we read a few books each day , and one at night - night time . Sometimes I chose the book , and other times he chose it . This particular evening I chose this book . It is one I 've read in my first grade in the beginning of the year and then we 've done rewrites of the story . This book is Brown Bear , Brown Bear by Bill Martin . Many of you , teachers and parents , are nodding your heads . Ah , yes , what a wonderful bedtime story for a toddler . Grandson and I snuggled on the beanbag chair in his room after brushing teeth and putting on cozy pajamas . I began reading the book . To see if he 'd read it before , and knew some of the words , I read it slowly Brown Bear . . . Brown Bear . . . what do you see ? I see a . . . red . . . and I paused to see if he knew what would be on the next page . He didn 't seem to , so I quickly turned the page and said " bird ! . . . Looking at me ! Red bird . . . red bird . . . what do you see ? ( pause ) I see a yellow . . . ( turn the page fast ) duck ( excitedly ) looking at me ! I read the whole book that way and he loved it and wanted me to read it again . This night I did . I began to read it as I had the night before , pausing and turning pages quickly to reveal the animal that was next . But this time after the first page , he got up from our snuggle on the beanbag and walked away from me . He walked to the middle of his room and stood there looking at me . I was going to call him back to listen to the story , but decided to go ahead and read one more page and see if he did all by himself . Maybe he really wasn 't interested in this book after all . Oh , no ! That wasn 't it at all ! I got to pick a different book some nights , but those nights he slept with Brown Bear , Brown Bear and his wind - up flashlight . I told him he could read it in bed after lights out . And that flashlight was on before I could get the light shut off . When his parents returned I got his Brown Bear book . I decided I 'd better let his mom know what I 'd inadvertently created . I told her I was sorry that I 'd turned it into an active book , but that actually it was a continuation of the reading process . He was remembering what was on the pages , acting it out and getting excited about the book . I couldn 't turn it back into a cozy , sleepy story now ! As I began to read it to him , he immediately made his way off the couch , around the coffee table and into the middle of the living room so he would have enough room for his " reading " . And he didn 't disappoint me ! He did the whole thing , calling out animals before I turned the page , making animal noises and jumping up and down . When I " jungled " though , only one ball lit up . It was motion sensitive . The other stayed unlit . I shook it more , thinking it would light up . Nope . Squeeze ? No , not that . He didn 't have the words to explain it yet , but he knew what I had asked . He grinned at my surprised look . And THEN , oh , yes , then I REALLY put on a " jungling " act ! Day 26 . We 're on the last stretch for March SOLC . I wonder how many will make it to 31 days with a daily Slice of Life ? Then , on Tuesday , April 1 ( yipes ) , I will be participating in the A to Z Challenge for the month of April . And because it is Poetry month and that is what I have done for the past 2 years , that is what I will be doing again - a poem a day . My theme , you ask ? Well , I have an idea . I 'm just not sure how well it is going to fall into place . My husband has said that I should do this theme next year and actually over the summer take pictures to go with it , as I did for last year 's theme of Maine lobster boat names from A to Z . I was able to take pictures of almost all of them , and some were sent to me by boat owners or available online . I enjoyed writing poems for all the boats and searching out pictures for them . But I am too antsy to do this one regardless of not having pictures , I may still have to do it and just adapt it a bit for no images . Maybe I can send out an email for images . . . oh , I have another idea . Okay , you will just have to check back on April 1 to see what I finally decided to do . And now , back to today . Last night my grandson and I sat on the couch watching tv a bit before beds . He was snuggled up beside Mel . I was savoring the moment , knowing I 'd be leaving in the morning without seeing him . He never even heard the door open as his parents arrived home . My daughter peeked around the doorway and he glanced over there . I am on a train home after being in Pennsylvania for 2 weeks with my 2 ½ year old grandson . At 2 ½ , two weeks is forever . It 's a good percentage of your life so far . I figured it out ( I figured out where to get the answers anyway ! ) it 's 1 . 48 % of his life , and only . 06 % of mine . Do you see why time seems to go so quickly as we get older ? Each minute is just a smidgen of time for me relative to my age . For a kid waiting for a birthday , each minute is a good portion of their life thus far . Anyway , though I haven 't been able to be a big part of his life , these 2 weeks have been a wonderful opportunity . I treasured all the moments and have a lot to tide me over until April , when I get to come back . Of course , it will be an even smaller percentage of our lives then ; we 'll both be older . Day 24 of 31 in the TWT SOLC ! And if you don 't know what that means , click on the link ! Oh , my what a time we had with a little pull back car tonight after tower building time . First we built a Duplo tower , then we built a tractor trailer to drive around the tower . I got to drive the Duplo tractor trailer , and he had a little blue car I 'd bought him and brought out with me . Then he picked up this tiny pull - back car , and we gave it a ride in the my tractor trailer . After a bit , he took the pull - back car back out of my truck . He pulled it back , and it came racing toward me on the coffee table , and right onto the floor by my feet . I looked very startled , which sent him into hysterical giggling ! He dove between the coffee table and the couch and retrieved the car and did it again . This time I caught it just as it went over the edge . Again hysterical giggles ensued . This was repeated a number of times accompanied each time by the most delighted and delightful squeals ( from him , not me ) of uncontrollable laughter . He put two hands on the edge of the table , but didn 't move them when the car missed where his hands were . The car went over the edge . It was still just as funny . We went back and forth taking turns . Sometimes pulling back the car wasn 't enough to get it to go the length of the table , I looked surprised or disappointed . Still funny . But then a strange thing began to happen . When the car came his way , and it went onto the floor , he screamed instead of laughed . He was getting angry . I think it dawned on him that he wasn 't catching it , and now he really wanted to . I changed the game then . I gave him a container to hold at the edge of the table . The car zoomed and plopped right in . He had caught it ! The day we went to WalMart , I bought sidewalk chalk . And today we went outside and drew with chalk again . I had made a line on the driveway to show him how far away from the road he needed to be , and some lines around cars in the driveway so he 'd know I didn 't want him to touch them . The lines became roads to him and he was trotting around on them . That gave me an idea to draw a line with cross lines on it to be a railroad track . . . in some places I started to draw the second rail , too , but my back was not enjoying drawing down past my ankles , and the chalk was getting pretty short , so I stopped before all of it was done . He didn 't mind that it wasn 't complete , nor that my back hurt . It all still looked like a train track to him , and I needed to get over the backache and get playing . There 's not much that could be cuter than a tiny human Thomas Train chugging on the tracks and giving loud tooooot , tooooots ! I plotted . I didn 't want to risk waking him , even though it didn 't wake him last week when I took a shower during his nap . I 've been here 9 days and that was my second shower . It 's a good thing I 'm mostly alone here with a two year old ! Anyway , this morning I woke before he did and waited to hear him start stirring . When I could hear him up and about ( he 'll play in his room sometimes for an hour before calling to get dressed and go downstairs to eat ) I went to his door and told him I was going to take a shower and then we 'd go downstairs . That was fine with him ! He played , and I got to get clean ! After I finished my shower , we had a lovely breakfast of a banana , an orange , some orange juice , and a peanut butter bagel . We tidied up , took the dog out and then headed off for WalMart in a nearby town . I got the route in Maps on the phone before we left , so I was really ready . I had plotted this out , too , for timing and ease of getting there . I 'm notorious for getting turned around , and having to turn around numerous times ( although not many people know that because if I 'm driving , I 'm the only one in the car - oh , great , now more people know . ) We shopped for some household things - got some coloring books and sidewalk chalk . And then we shopped for food . Grandson was a great help . We put our items on the conveyor belt . I gave him some to throw on , but I did the breakables and bruisables . I hid the coloring books and told the lady at the register I 'd like to avoid having him see them . She discretely rang them up , double bagged them and tied the bag closed . . . she told me she is Grandma to 8 . She knows what she is doing ! Now , going home I was pretty sure I could find my way back . Grandson had refused to use the toilet at WalMart . But what 2 year old would ? It is big , echoy , and the toilets flush automatically and very loudly . So we " raced " home . The " race " became a little slower as I got " kind of " lost . I merely took one turn to the right that should have been to the left , and it took a while for me to figure it out . I stopped at a closed restaurant next to a cornfield and checked my map . " Snack ? " came the plaintive voice in the back . At least I was stopped . At least I 'd just been to the grocery store . At least I 'd actually bought some crackers there ! I got out and went back to the trunk and dug out the crackers . It was lunch time . I was hungry , too . I gave myself some snack , too . Then I exited the restaurant parking lot in the way I 'd come . I found the road the house is on and promptly drove past it for a long ways . That 's what I did the first time I tried to get there on my own , too . The house is hidden by tall cedar trees . At least this time I had only driven past it once . The last time I 'd passed it 4 times . Yea ! My favorite day ! It 's Poetry Friday hosted by Julia Larios at The Drift Record ! Have you been to Ed DeCaria 's Think Kid , Think ? You MUST stop in and read . It IS Poetry Friday , doncha know ! There are some unbelievably wonderful poems out there ! I happen to have a poem in this first round of the tournament using the word " miscreant " . You know , I don 't believe I 've ever used that word before this past Tuesday . I had to look it up to find out what it meant . A number of times now , Grandson has wanted to run and let off steam . He enjoys getting their small dog excited and running after him . And then , just as when we had our two kids and they would tease each other , it becomes too much excitement to handle . Some one gets hurt , scared or angry . And that happens with the dog , also . Running around with a little dog chasing you , jumping up and down when you stop , licking your face and hands and any bare tummy can get a kid pretty wound up . So there is a need for a controlled " run " - a controlled " fun " - as much for my own sanity , as his . Have you ever watched Monty Python 's Holy Grail ? If you have you have seen the knights pretending to ride horses and clapping coconut half shells together to make the hoof sounds . Sometimes he puts the two metal halves together , and I have a terrible time getting them apart again . So I have another plan . Yesterday he ate two individual servings of applesauce in plastic containers . I clapped them together , and they sound pretty good . I think I 'll try those today and see how he like his new horse . We can always go back to his M & M horse if he doesn 't like his new steed , Applesauce . It is the 20th day of 31 in the Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers where people are linking their stories about their daily life . There are so many great stories out there , so many wonderful people ! Go visit ! And while you are at it this afternoon and tomorrow , please visit TKT and vote on some great poems ! I just happen to have one there . . . and I 'll never know how you voted - so just enjoy and vote your heart ! If you go in the morning you can read Linda Baie 's first round poem there , too ! Before supper , Grandson wanted to see pictures I had taken of him . He knows I have pictures on my iPhone and on the iPad . I know that he can more comfortably ( or I can more comfortably allow him to ) handle the iPad , so that 's what we used . I set up the iPad in front of him . He sat down and basically took over flipping through pictures and playing short video clips I 'd taken of him when he was learning to walk . In the background he could see his mom and BeeTee ( grampie ) and hear my voice as he played the videos . He was able to flip through the pictures quickly , skipping any that didn 't interest him , pausing for the ones that had the telltale arrow , meaning it was a video . I watched him try to start a video with his finger but his hand was resting on the screen , too , so it wouldn 't start . I took his hand and tried to help him keep the rest of the knuckles off the screen so it would play . Pretty soon , when he came to a video he would use his left hand to hold his right hand , index finger extended to help him aim at the arrow ! So cute ! The iPad is so easy for him to use . He saw a drawing program and seemed to recognize it as he said , " Draw " and opened the program . He seemed to have no problem with using it . . . except for when his finger jabbed at adding features that would cost me money ! A few nights ago , while I was cooking supper , he was watching a cute animation with what appeared to be Russian dialogue . He didn 't mind . The cartoons were short , and at the end he had seen how I just clicked on another video picture on the side of the screen . It was so easy . When my back was turned to the sink for a moment , I heard another video starting . He hadn 't needed to ask me to play another one . He just took over at the helm . This is too natural . It shouldn 't be natural . Why is it ? Day 19 of 31 days of Slicing ! Go check in on other lives at the Two Writing Teachers where people are writing snippets of their days ! What a wonderful community of writers . If you are here and I have not commented on your site , I truly apologize . I have just barely enough time to write , post and remember to link ! But in the evenings I am trying to get to at least three bloggers to make comments . I have been writing about my time spent with my grandson this past week . I have one more week with him and am treasuring every moment . Though it makes it difficult to spend time writing , there are more important things to be done - things with deeper meaning and more far - reaching effects - things with my grandson . Last night , Grandson was needing something to make his day complete . He had watched a manipulated version of Curious George , the movie . Manipulated means , I , Nannie , had manipulated it so we wouldn 't have to start early and watch too much video for a two year old , and so that we wouldn 't have to have a meltdown when we got only part way through it and had to stop for bed . I merely looked for the number of minutes I wanted remaining until the end of the movie ( about 30 ) and played the video from there to the end . Unfortunately for me , I 'd slightly over - manipulated , I guess , and that didn 't feel like quite enough movie to him . He really wanted more . But that wasn 't going to happen . BeeTee ( Grampie - my husband ) is 450 miles away , in Maine . But nowadays that just isn 't a problem . I grabbed the iPad and started connecting as we went up the stairs to brush our teeth . He could hear the ring to connect , and when BeeTee 's face appeared , Grandson grinned . I propped the iPad up safely away from the running water and focused on that sweet toothy grin . We brushed and brushed , and all the while BeeTee could watch and talk to him . " Nannie , BeeTee . . . . " ( and , of course , his other set of grandparents and his aunts and uncles , too ) . BeeTee got to say good night . He was 450 miles away , but he was face to face for bedtime last night . First info on March Madness 2014 Tournament . Second ( below the picture ) the real slice if you don 't care about the tournament but you do really care about my babysitting antics . Here it is , the 18th day of March , the 18th post of the month of posts for SOLC hosted by Two Writing Teachers ! And not only that , but March Madness 2014 at Ed DeCaria 's Think Kid , Think began yesterday with the first round of poets ( or " authletes " ) getting their words to use in a poem . Today is the day the second round of poets ( including me ) get their word ! In 36 hours the poems must be written and submitted . Link to March Madness 2014 Event Calendar . I know a Slice isn 't supposed to be informational really , and this isn 't . . . really . The above service announcement is more like a " oh , my , what have I gotten myself into " moment / slice of my life . Pretzel and apple snack time yesterday was fun . He is such a good eater . He loves Bob 's Red Mill Oatmeal or Five Grain Cereal ( of course I put just a touch of real maple syrup and some blueberries on it ) , bagels with natural peanut butter , tomatoes ( he ate a whole huge tomato - less one slice I had ) , sweet potatoes , bananas , oranges , yogurt , natural and homemade applesauce , orange juice with pulp , milk , water , blueberries , salmon , tacos , hamburgers , string cheese , sharp cheddar , broccoli , corn , cucumbers . . . I could go on . I 've not seen much that he 's turned his nose up at . He 's fun to cook for ! While he was eating applesauce yesterday , I listened to him appreciating his food . With each bite , he looked in his bowl , and said " Mmmm ! Applesauce ! Yum , yum ! " with each bite . Sometimes he would say " Applesauce ! Yum . . . " then stop himself quickly to correct himself . " Mmmm ! . . . Applesauce ! . . . Yum , yum ! " Can 't forget the " Mmmm ! " Pretzel time turned into creating time as he bit into one and made a cross shape . " Airplane ! " And he zoomed it over the table . I tried to take a picture of it , but it was too small and he kept putting it up by the Apple on the iPhone instead of letting me center it on the camera . Then he found a spider in the next pretzel . " A spider ! A spider ! " he said as he walked it across the tabletop . After that he took a whole pretzel and rocked it on it 's bottom on the table and said " Croo ! " This was repeated over and over and I have no idea what he was saying in our language . I thought maybe it had something to do with " Clue " as in Blue 's Clue and the paw print . That didn 't seem to satisfy him though . So I 'm still at a loss as to what " croo " means in toddlerese . Fortunately , he happily gave up trying to make me understand and just ate it . I have to sign him in first , but his little hand in mine was tugging to go forward into the nursery . I was greeted by a woman at the computer who typed us in and printed up our nametags - one for me , one for the little guy and one for his backpack . He was ready for full steam play . He looked pretty sharp in his plaid buttoned shirt and tan corduroys . His hair was even tidy today . His hair is fine and blond , just like his mom 's was at that age . Oh , what a time of it we 'd have trying to get it brushed . Because it was so fine , it would mat in the back as she slept , which is exactly what happens to him . The good thing is that his hair is shorter - so it is easier to comb or brush . The bad thing is that his hair is shorter - so when he sleeps he wakes to hair sticking up at odd angles , and with lots of static . Today , knowing I wanted to not look like a grandma that doesn 't know what she 's doing , I needed to get his hair looking good . I knew from days before that merely brushing it wouldn 't do anything , and he would run out of patience for it very quickly . I also knew he liked orange juice . So at breakfast while he was drinking his juice , I wet a paper towel down with lukewarm water ( so he wouldn 't notice so much ) and wrung it out just enough so that it didn 't drip on him . Then I simply patted his hair down from top to bottom , getting his hair slightly wet . He never even noticed what I was doing . Then armed with more " knowings " , I started brushing my own hair . To a toddler learning to do everything the " big kids " do , a hairbrush is as enticing as a stick . When I was finished I asked him if he would like to use it . And of course he did . Admittedly , I did have to stop him just as he was reaching for the dog to brush her hair , but the job was done . Tamed hair on a two year old boy . Score ! At the end of church , I came up to the half - door of the nursery and was greeted by " Nannie ! " when he saw me . He raced to the door and had to be reminded that he needed to get his coat and backpack . His hair still looked great ! No one noticed but me . But I 'll bet they would have noticed if we hadn 't gotten it tamed . After church there was dinner , a bit of play , and a nap . His golden locks will again get a workout as he goes romping through his dreams ! Oh , well , for a couple of hours they were tamed , and I looked like I was in full control ! I 'm writing this on Saturday . I won 't have time on Sunday . That isn 't a day I write , though I will link to the post on Two Writing Teachers for the Slice of Life Challenge for Day 16 ! Now we ARE officially half way through the month . Yesterday , my grandson and I went outside . It was a beautiful day - about 65 degrees out . With light jackets on , we wandered the backyard . There are some old cars out there from a previous owner . They will get towed away soon , but right now they are a fascinating play area for a 2 ½ year old boy . His body just naturally turned to direct his feet that way . " Come over here and see all these sticks , " I enticed him . Sticks are the next best thing to cars when you are a young boy . His head turned and his feet followed . And so for about a half an hour we happily gathered up sticks . He especially enjoyed getting the big , big sticks . Then in the middle of it all , I heard , " Uh - oh . Potty . Help . " And he was headed towards the house . We got in there in time , and he was delighted with himself . I was impressed - he knew he had to go ; he was doing something fun and stopped ; he had a ways to go to get to the house ; then more to do when he got there - up the steps , in the door , to the bathroom , get the stool in place to step up , get the potty seat on the toilet seat and finally go potty . Phew . I had been tempted to just picked him up and carry him to get to the house more quickly , but decided against it . Didn 't want that to be a habit he acquired while I was on duty ! We went back outside then , to pick up some more sticks . He paused when he saw the rail fence at the edge of the lawn . He went over to it . I was watching and warned him not to go on the other side . But he didn 't . He stopped at the fence and called over it , " Cows ! Come here cows ! Where are the cows ? " " There are no cows at this house , " I told him . Their old house was on a farm with fences and cows . This is their new house . We returned to piling sticks for a little while longer . Then we went inside for lunch and a bath before nap . Picking up sticks can make you hungry , get you dirty and wear you out ! It 's day 15 of 31 slices ! Yippee , Skippy ! It 's the half way point , kind of ! Head on over to Two Writing Teacher to read more slices today ! I like being called Nannie . My mom was Nannie to my kids , and my father 's mother was Nannie to me . There is something so sweet hearing it for the first times , knowing your grandchild recognizes you and has a name for you . " Don 't stand on the couch . Remember what Mommy said . " He continued to walk on the couch . All was really going pretty smoothly - just the usual reminders of not to touch , and directions in the morning . Shortly after lunch it was nap time and I took some time to write my blog post . There was about an hour left to relax and pick up a few toys before nap time was over . So , it was no surprise that after his snack he took off out the doorway and around the corner to the living room where he had a stash of toys and books . I cleaned up his snack spot and was about to follow him , when I heard his frantic call , " Nannie , Nannie , Nannie ! " " What ? What 's the matter ? " I called as I speed - walked to the living room . It didn 't sound like an injury call , but still a strange tone . As I came into the living room , there he was sitting on the couch . What could be the matter ? He hadn 't fallen . He was just sitting there in a blanket in the middle of the couch . But then I noticed . He wasn 't really sitting . One leg had gone down between the two pieces of the sectional couch . He was stuck . He had obviously been walking on the couch again , and had suddenly been trapped as his foot slipped between the cushions . I tried just pulling him up , but he truly was stuck . I pulled one section away and freed his leg , and we had a short reminder of the " no walking on the couch " rule . I 'm babysitting for my grandson over the next two weeks . Yea ! ( I think . ) So far it is " Yea " . As long as I can go to bed on time and take some rests while he is napping , then I should be fine . It 's a busy day with a 2 ½ year old - especially when it 's been about 30 years since my last one was 2 ½ ! I think I 'll have plenty to slice about for a while ! And below is my contribution to Poetry Friday hosted by Kara at Rogue Anthropologist . Can 't believe I got it done ! Now to link before he wakes up . Can I make a poem out of this for Poetry Friday ? Maybe . I 'm going to try . while he 's sleeping . After that . . . no more writing until bedtime at 7 : 30 ! That was more than I thought I 'd get done . I 'm getting to be more like him already . Hope I don 't get worn out in these two weeks ! My slice today is at nap time . Posting is going to be tricky for a bit . Trying to find the right time and place will be interesting . It will be especially difficult to do March Madness 2014 Tournament that 's starting soon . Go there to see her picture prompt . It is an American Girl doll in a carrier that has a cutout heart for her face to either be seen or so that she can see . . . maybe both . Here 's what I came up with for the time being . I will try to make the rounds to comment later today . Yesterday was too wild . It 's going to be wild for a while . I need time and a place . About once a month a friend and I meet for tea and a cookie . Two weeks ago when we arrived for tea , my usual giant homemade gingersnap cookie had just sold out . I asked her to run after the person that had bought the last one and get it back , but she wouldn 't do it . She did , however , for me . I think I will have to do that ! I substituted a homemade shortbread Tyrannosaurus Rex cut out cookie for my usual . It was cute , and very sweet ! But I think , really I may just try calling to make a gingerbread cookie reservation next time . Two weeks ago , my daughter drove up for a mini reunion with some high school friends . I knew I would soon be going to her house to take care of my grandson for a couple weeks , so I very cleverly packed my suitcase for her to take back with her . That way I wouldn 't have to travel with it on the train . First off , my shoulder won 't allow me to put anything in the overhead on the train , and secondly , the commuter train that I have to take locally out of Philadelphia really doesn 't have room for luggage . They are just planning on having you go to and from work . . . commuter style , of course . For two weeks now , I 've been uncleverly wondering to myself where in the world all my clothes went ? I 've emptied drawers . I 've double and triple checked the laundry to see if I 've left a dryer or a washer load in a machine . I 've sorted and resorted dirty clothes seeking a necessary item . It eventually dawned on me what I 'd done . Everything was now in Pennsylvania waiting for me to get there . No wonder I was experiencing a clothing shortage . I 'm okay now . I just have to do laundry more frequently and with smaller loads - and remind myself of why this is happening , so I 'll stop looking for things . If I can 't find something , it must be in Pennsylvania . For that trip home , all my clothing will ride home with us in the car . I 'm sure there will be tears of joy when my Pennsylvania " travelers " are reunited with the Maine " stay at homes " . Reunions are great things . I 'm thinking I may have to steal a few articles of underwear this trip , though , and tuck them into my purse . They may get an earlier reunion , I need more than I left for myself . Saturday morning , our new cat ( not sure when he will become just plain old " our cat " ) , Noah decided he wanted to play as soon as we woke up . He doesn 't usually get right into play mode first thing in the morning . There are pats to be done , leg to be rubbed , meows and words to be exchanged and bowls to be filled , etc . But this morning , as soon as I opened the bedroom door , he marched straight into the room and headed around the door to the corner where I keep his toy bird - mouse on a springy coily plastic thingy on a pole . I 'm sure there is a shorter name - like cat toy - but then you wouldn 't know why it is so much fun for him . Anyway he went right over to it and wanted it " in play " now ! So even before getting dressed I got the toy out and started letting him run around after it . He was in a good leaping mood . So I bounced it up in the air , and he leaped and and caught it in his claws , landing with it in his mouth , or shoving it in his mouth soon after landing . He rolled around on the floor with it and let go of it so I 'd know to do it again quickly . When my husband came out , I handed him the stick and said I wanted to get dressed and start the coffee . So he took over for a bit . I could hear Noah 's heavy thuds as he leaped and landed . My husband was telling me what a great jumper Noah was , when suddenly his voice changed tone , a bit more excited , intense , with a tinge of amusement , as he called me to the living room . " Hey , come see this ! " When I got into the room , he was pointing at the floor with the cat toy pole . I looked down . There were brown clumps of cardboard that the cat had clawed and bitten off his catnip " recliner " . Okay . I know . I have to vacuum them . I 'll get to that later today . He has made quite a mess . But that is normal . Cat hair and corrugated cardboard , I can see that . I looked more closely . It had little feet . It had a tail . It had a long snout , and I couldn 't see it 's eyes . It was a baby ( it was quite small anyway ) mole ! Dead . My husband picked it up with a paper towel and we looked at it close - up . Unlike a mouse , its eyes were just tiny low dots . Its snout was definitely too long for a mouse . The body was still limp , not stiffened yet . It had evidently recently been a cat toy . There were no teeth marks , so I 'm assuming Noah just played with it to death . And upon the early demise of the mole , Noah was still in play mode . I assume that is why he was so insistent on getting his toy out . I 'm sure he was a very fine young mole who died well before his time . But you just can 't come strolling into our house any more . Our cat doesn 't just watch little critters and ask if he can keep it , like our old cat did . Ha ! Why there we go . . . I guess the transition to " our cat " just took place ! More refrigerator poetry . I posted the second poem I created on the edge of the door of our refrigerator . I don 't know why . I guess it was because I could see all the words from which to choose more easily , as they are on the side of the refrigerator . I still have the first poem up on the front of the freezer door , and I just didn 't move this one to the front yet . No reason . Maybe I 'll go move it . Or not . No matter how many words you get in these sets , you always want more . They must have sugar in them . Like candy , words are addictive - you can never get enough . Ok , though you shouldn 't indulge in wanton wordiness with a Haiku , you can however play with its format as much as you like ! So I 'm trying Haiku Deck here with the same words . Fun ! Created with Haiku Deck , the free presentation app As I was bopping through the Slices for Thursday , someone had posted about their mean rooster that would attack them as a child . Someone else had mentioned a rooster that would come running after their mother when she was out hanging clothes on the line . We had a renegade rooster , too , who would come tearing after us . Now he didn 't always do it , but when I think about it , it was probably when we had the dog in the yard with us , that he would let us pass . I remember one day hearing my brother , who was probably 8 at the time , yelling wildly from the porch for my mother . She came running from somewhere in the house . My brother was kind of accident prone , or catastrophe prone , so when she heard him yell or scream , she knew she had to move fast ! So she did . And there he was on the porch holding with outstretched arm our rooster ! He had him around the neck , and was yelling for help ! The rooster had been chasing our little sister , following her right up onto the porch . He had rescued her from her attacker , but had no clue how to now get out of this predicament . He couldn 't just let go or he 'd be the victim now ! Mom rescued him from the clutches of that rooster ( though to the rooster behavior novices it would look as if the rooster was in his clutches ! ) . Then , just when I 'd thought " hey , that would be a good story to tell sometime " - which I just did - I remembered it was Laurie Purdie Salas ' 15 Words or Less Thursday ( go here to see the picture ) . I went to her page and saw a picture of a giant rooster outside by a snowbank . It looked as if the picture had been taken from inside a building . It looked about as imposing as our rooster did to me when I was a kid . It looked like it was waiting outside for us . It was our nightmare rooster from a long ago childhood . It also reminded me of one other thing . Maybe you 've seen it , too . On TV . Saturday Night Live . Remember the shark knocking on the door ? Yesterday I had a wonderful visit with my daughter and 2 ½ year old grandson via Google chat . It was fun to be able to watch him have lunch and play with his little truck . It was fun to hear him say " Hi , Nannie ! " and see him smile . I even held the computer so that he could see our new cat play with a cat toy and hear the cat meow . . . and then hear him meow back ! So I am combining my March Slice of Life at Two Writing Teachers with Poetry Jam today . The Poetry Jam challenge is to write a poem with " Bottle " in it or somehow incorporate the idea of a bottle in your poem . This is what I came up with : The part in red , I added this morning , per Andrew 's thought that it needed something at the end . I totally agree ! It was bugging me , but I decided to post it feeling unfinished . I was up by 4 : 30 this morning to look at it again , having auto published at midnight . Oh , and changed " magnum " to " shaker " . Magnum kept putting me in mind of Tom Selleck . So he 's gone ! Now I can go back to bed for a bit ! Aaah ! I am a bit nervous about it , because , not only will I be posting and helping here , I will be visiting my grandson some this month AND composing a poem under duress - maybe more than one if I 'm lucky enough to move on to the next round . I guess I will relive , at least for a few days , what it is like again to have a day job , have a toddler and try to write ! It 's hard enough when I 'm all by myself and just LOOKING at work I should be doing . Whether I lose or win a little bit , it is always an honor to be in there writing with the wonderful poets included in this list . I know there are some of you Slicers who are in the March Madness 2014 poetry tournament this year , too . Are we slicing off more than we can chew ? Hosted by Ed DeCaria at Think Kid , Think , it is a fast paced , word assignment driven , kid friendly and geared toward , poetry writing frenzy . If you have never been there or done that , it is a thing to be there for ! ( Calendar of events here . ) Classes are welcome to sign up to read the poems being created and submit a classroom vote on favorites . If you haven 't signed up a classroom , you should do that ! It doesn 't take tons of time out of the day and it gives your kids exposure not only to poetry , but to some pretty interesting vocabulary ! ( Sign up page here . ) Individuals may vote also from their home computers . But once you have voted on the day 's offering of poems , that computer is finished until the next round ! No doubling up on votes ! That means each spouse would have to vote on their own individual computers . The poets have a word assigned to them and they have 36 hours to craft a poem using that word . The poems are then put up for all to read and vote on for a day . Votes are tallied and a winner of each match is declared . Winners are paired , and the next words are assigned for a new face - off . Today I received a neat comment on an old post . Someone had done a search on " Walter Reed , Woolwich " , and my blog post " Walter Reed 's Gulf Station " , came up . I 'd had another comment on it prior to this one from someone who had lived across the road from this man and his Gulf station . I had asked the commenter if they were perhaps a daughter of Carla , who was a good friend of mine who lived down the road from me . I had heard from someone that she got married and lived in the house across from Walter and across from where I had lived as a child , just down the road from her old house . This person was not Carla 's daughter , though . She gave me more information and her sister emailed me later , too , with a picture . Unfortunately , I 've lost contact with Carla and her family . We spent summers playing out in the fields behind our houses and in the great big barn she had at her house . We rode imaginary horses and played school . I got stung by a bee on top of my head in the old dairy barn ! It was her house I was riding my bike home from when the bats seemed to be ( really were ! ) chasing me ( The Feeling of Bats ) . I am so thrilled with this contact from the past ! What a neat thing this blogging is ! You never know where it will lead !