The first class I went to , I was really nervous . I was expecting to walk into a class full of skinny little girls who were in run - four - marathons - in - a - row kind of shape . Happily , I walked into a class of a bunch of women ( and one man ) who were in all different shapes and age brackets . I fit right in . Some people would be surprised to learn that I haven 't made any friends at my classes , and I don 't really talk to anybody . Some of the women hang out after class and chat , but not me . I get in my car , roll down the windows , open the sun roof and head home with the wind blowing in my hair . It 's MY time , and I don 't want to share it with anybody . I really enjoy the classes . The music is loud . The dance steps are fun . I sweat so much that it looks like I just stepped out of the shower . And even though my outward appearance hasn 't changed that much , I can tell that my body is appreciating my efforts . I can tell that I 've built up my stamina . Walking up stairs , walking up hills . . . it 's all a little easier these days than it used to be . Tonight was my 16th class , so I 've had some time to learn a lot of moves . But until tonight , there were still some steps that I had to cheat on . The technical term is called step modification , but I 've always felt like I was cheating . The step modifications are for people who have physical limitations or who , like me , just aren 't in good enough shape to do them . Tonight started with Jeff having to work later than he had expected . So I had to pick up Biscuit . We got home , and I changed my clothes . Then one thing after another started happening . Next thing I knew , it was 6 : 47 , and I was leaving the house . I need to leave no later than 6 : 40 to make it to class , sign in , get the spot I like and get my head clear enough to enjoy myself . Leaving at 6 : 47 did not allow me to do those last two things . I threw my shoes on without even tying them and ran out the door . I caught every single stoplight on the way . It seemed like all the cars in front of me were out to see how slowly they could drive . I kept thinking all the way there , " I should just go back home . I don 't want to go if I 'm going to walk in late . Why am I doing this ? " I walked in and couldn 't find my punch card . It had somehow got shifted to the N 's instead of being in the M 's . Then the spot I like was taken . Then I realized all the spots were taken except for the two right in front of the teacher . I am no way brave enough to take one of those spots . I started moving , and I started feeling good . Next thing you know , we were halfway through the class . It seemed like pretty soon after that , we were doing the cool down . A few things Biscuit is saying these days : Excuses : Biscuit finds all kinds of reasons when you ask him why he 's crying or upset . A few of them are : " I need a nap . " " I 'm tired . " " I hurt something . " " Something hurts . " " My weg hurts . " " I hurt my arm . " " What 's your name ? " he asked her and smiled . She looked at him and got this HUGE smile . " My name is Samantha . What 's your name ? " " What 's your name ? " Biscuit asked the little girl . The little girl wasn 't talking , so the grandma told Biscuit the little girl 's name . Biscuit looked up at the grandma , then right back at the little girl . It was almost like he couldn 't figure out why the little girl wouldn 't talk to him . Firefighter quiz : Biscuit and I pass a fire station every morning on the way to day care . We have to try to find the firetrucks . If they 're sitting outside , it 's a HUGE deal . If we can 't see them , we say they 're still sleeping in the fire station . Or as Biscuit says it , they 're still " sweeping . " Everything Biscuit does these days is " big boy . " He sleeps in his big - boy bed . He eats with a big - boy fork and a big - boy spoon . Lately , when we 're done with Biscuit 's bath , he has been asking for a big - boy towel . The ones he has right now are the cute little hooded towels . Although he likes the ducks and frogs and baseballs and basketballs on them , he has decided that the hooded towels are not big - boy . I 've been meaning to see if somebody makes some child - themed big - boy towels , but when I 'm shopping , I never seem to remember . My problem was solved the other day when a friend of mine from work brought me something she knew Biscuit would love . She got him two big - boy towels - - one with trains and one with dinosaurs . Biscuit was quite excited when he saw them . He got to try out the train towel this evening when he had his bath . " It has TRAINS ! My towel has trains ! " Biscuit said . " My towel is tall , Mom . It 's a tall towel . " A friend of mine recently bought a cookbook of freezer - meal recipes . Each entry lists the ingredients for 6 servings . Out to the side of that is a table that lists the amounts for 3 , 6 and 9 times the recipe . Basically , you can easily make a whole lot of food if you have a desire to ! Biscuit woke up about 4 a . m . having a bad dream . He started yelling , " Mom ! MOM ! I need you , MOM ! " There are few things that will get me out of bed quicker . I don 't even remember going from the lying - down position to the standing position . I was just suddenly upright , grabbing for my glasses . I sat down on the floor by his bed and rubbed his hair and head with my left hand . I laid my head on my right arm . Next thing I know , I was waking up . I think I was only there for about 15 minutes , but my right arm was tingling from being asleep . Little man was sleeping soundly , so I made my way back downstairs . I sort of just fell over into bed and crashed . I didn 't wake up again until 9 : 20 . Neither of my boys was making any sounds of getting up , so I just closed my eyes and snuggled under the covers . It sounds like a simple pleasure , but it 's not one that I get a lot since having a baby . When I heard him moving around in his room , I headed up the stairs . He was sitting on his bed " reading " a book . " Come in , Mom . I read you a story , " Biscuit said . I took the safety gate down and went into his room . " Okay , Mom . You have to sit down and be quiet , and I read you a story . " I 'm guessing he 's heard that more than once at day care . I looked over and saw that he was flipping through a book about the Nativity . He pointed to Joseph and said , " That 's Dad . " Then he pointed to Mary and said , " That 's you , Mom . " Then he pointed to Baby Jesus and said , " That 's Baby Griffin . " Biscuit doesn 't like me to hold his hand coming down the stairs anymore . He wants to hold onto the spindles in the stair rails as he comes down the steps . It 's a slow process , but it 's all about independence these days . He had breakfast then headed straight to the living room to play . And here 's a good point to say that my living room used to look nice . Jeff and I took our time picking out stuff we wanted . Okay , actually , I took MY time picking out stuff I wanted to go in there . But now , there are three little kid - sized chairs - one bean bag chair and two rocking chairs . There 's a bouncy horse that Biscuit has named Pinto . The bottom shelf of the coffee table is lined with six stacks of kid books . There 's a giant blue bucket full of toys . And of course it 's overflowing . There 's a small yellow table with two blue chairs , where Biscuit sometimes eats , but uses for coloring and drawing the rest of the time . I know that soon enough , I 'll get this space back , and most days it doesn 't bother me at all . But every once in a while , I miss my nice grown - up space . Anyway , Biscuit has his alphabet cards scattered across the coffee table in the living room . " Dad , what wetter do you want ? " Jeff asked for a D . " Okay , Dad , " Biscuit said . " D is coming RIGHT up . It make the d - d - d sound . " Biscuit shuffled through his letters and took a D card to Jeff . " Oh . Wittle R . That make the r - r - r sound , " Biscuit said . " Wittle R is coming RIGHT up . " Then he handed me a card with a little R on it . In addition to practicing our alphabet , it 's been a musical morning . Biscuit has gone back and forth between banging on his snare drum and playing his " rock n roll guitar . " It 's an electronic guitar with a bunch of buttons that play recorded guitar riffs . It 's pretty obnoxious . Jeff found a secret volume button , so it 's less obnoxious now than it used to be . He was insistent . He kept saying over and over that we needed to go buy him some more race cars . He was convinced we were really going to the store . " No . I 'll wait right here ' til you come back . Then we can go to the store and get me more race cars , " Biscuit said . Just to humor him a bit , I went and got the mail . Then I carried all my stuff in the house . I came back out , and said , " Okay , let 's go in the house . " I dropped him off at day care this morning , and that child skipped down the hall . He didn 't walk . He didn 't shuffle . He skipped ! He also said " good morning " to every teacher as we made our way down the hall . I needed to stay a little later at work , so Jeff went to pick up Biscuit . Biscuit seemed really excited about the game until he got back to the work parking lot , where he told a friend of ours that he didn 't want to go to the baseball game . I told him that Jeff and I were going , but he said he wanted to go home with our friend and play with his little boy . All I had to do was mention that we needed to put on his Grasshoppers T - shirt and baseball hat , and Biscuit changed his mind . We got to the game and grabbed a spot to sit . Since Jeff often writes about the games , he needs to be somewhere he can move around pretty quickly . And with Biscuit , it 's pretty frustrating to be tied to a seat , especially if you get stuck in the middle of a row . So we grab one of the tables up on the concourse . We can see everything that 's going on down on the field . We 're near food and bathrooms . And Biscuit has a little more room to move around . When we first grabbed our table , the sun hadn 't quite made its way behind the stadium . It was hot . The temperature was in the high 80s , and I swear , the humidity was something like 1 , 000 percent . I helped Biscuit stand up and take his hat off for the national anthem . Then the crazy people set off fireworks right when the guy sang " and the rockets red glare , the bomb bursting in air . " Biscuit jumped about a foot , and his poor little heart was pounding . I felt so bad for him . I don 't think I 've ever seen him that startled and shaken up . Once we sat down , Biscuit wouldn 't take his hands down from his ears . I kept trying to convince him that there wouldn 't be anymore fireworks unless someone hit a home run . He wasn 't buying it . Finally , I whipped out the apple juice and Goldfish , and Biscuit seemed to settle down some . Not even 5 minutes later , Biscuit said , " I 'm done with the baseball game , Mom . I want to go home . " We haven 't been to a game since early July , and Jeff was really looking forward to being there tonight . I was determined to talk Biscuit into staying . He asked if he could lay his head on my shoulder . That surprised me because he usually wants to walk around and people watch . He didn 't talk or eat or anything until about half an hour later , when he suddenly came to life . Jeff and I were talking later , and the only thing we could figure was that the heat was sucking the energy out of him . That and he was still traumatized by the fireworks . By the fourth inning , Biscuit wanted to take a walk with Jeff . They usually walk all the way around the field at some point during the game . By the time they got back , it was the sixth inning , and Biscuit was raring to go . The announcers play all kinds of little snippets of songs , clips from movies and sound bytes from the Internet to get the crowd involved . There 's one where they say , " Every - body clap your hands , " then you clap to a rhythm . I started clapping along , but Biscuit came over and grabbed my hands . " No , Mom , " Biscuit said . " The man said , ' Every boy clap your hands . Not girls . Girls can 't clap . Just boys . " Biscuit high - fived the mascot . He walked about five steps away from me to throw a cup in the trash and got a high - five from a teenage boy for doing a good job . He said hello to the police - man ( he says it like it 's two separate words ) . And he talked to a lady in the bathroom whose grandsons are all grown . Kimmy made a nice spaghetti dinner for us last night , then she had to run out to a class . Just as I dished up plates for Biscuit and me , he decided he didn 't want spaghetti for dinner . Normally , we wouldn 't give in to that , but from what Kimmy told me , he 's had a rough couple of days . I asked him what he wanted , and he said , " I want peanut butter and jelly sandwich . " That 's an easy fix , so I gave him the sandwich and some peaches . He was pretty excited about the sandwich , but he was just thrilled with the surprise of the peaches . I sent an email to my girlfriends and told them that I had screwed up the dates and wouldn 't get to go . One of my friends volunteered her husband to babysit Biscuit . To her face , I said , " Okay , let me think about it . " But in my head , I thought , " There is no way I 'm going to leave my split - personality 2 - year - old with this man , not knowing what mood Biscuit would be in or how he would act without me there . This unsuspecting guy doesn 't have kids of his own yet , and I didn 't want my son affecting that decision ! " Before they arrived , I was folding laundry on my bed , and I turned on the TV so Biscuit could watch cartoons in there with me . The show he watched was about a duck , turtle and guinea pig who go around the world saving other animals . The animal in trouble that afternoon was a baby kangaroo , which they later learned is called a " joey . " My friend and her husband arrived , and Biscuit saw the pizza box and got excited . I told him to say thank you for the pizza . He looked at my friend 's husband and said , " Thank you for the pizza , Joey . " That wasn 't the only time , either . He called him " Joey " three or four more times . But the point was that they got reacquainted , and I felt better about leaving them together on Sunday . The plan for the outing was to leave my house at 1 p . m . to go meet my girlfriends for lunch , then head to the theater for the movie . My plan at home was to have Biscuit down for his nap by 12 : 45 , then when the babysitter arrived , Biscuit would be already be asleep . He usually naps for at least a couple of hours on the weekend , so there wouldn 't be a whole lot for the babysitter to do until about 3 o ' clock . Biscuit just would not go to sleep . I had him all tucked into my bed . I put a long pillow beside him ( so he wouldn 't roll off the bed ) , we had counted the covers ( sheet = 1 , blanket = 2 , comforter = 3 ) , I had given him a kiss , and he was ready to go . Except that he wouldn 't close his eyes . We went upstairs , went through the whole routine again , and he was all tucked in and ready for naptime . And then my friends arrived . He heard their voices as they came in the house and jumped out of bed . It was a couple of minutes before 1 p . m . , and I was flustered . I didn 't know whether to call the whole thing off or just leave or skip lunch and join them for the movie . Finally , I said , " Biscuit , do you want to watch TV in my bed ? " He said yes in a very excited way and headed downstairs . I tucked him into my bed . . . again . . . and turned on the TV . Then I walked back into the living room and told the babysitter just to leave him in there by himself . " He will either go to sleep or get bored and come looking for you , " I told him . Lunch was great . The movie was great . And I arrived home to the babysitter and Biscuit playing in the living room . There appeared to be no blood shed , and the fact that the babysitter hadn 't run screaming from the house was a good sign . By the time Biscuit finally went to sleep , he crashed hard and slept way longer than he usually does . That meant that instead of waking up at 3 p . m . and having lunch , he woke up at 5 : 15 and had lunch at 5 : 30 . So to recap , Biscuit went to sleep at least an hour and a half later than his usual nap time , and he slept longer than he usually does . Dinner at 7 ? Um , no . Usual bed time ? Um , no . Jeff got home from the golf tournament that evening , and I got distracted catching up with him and didn 't realize until 10 o ' clock . . . " Oh , shoot ! Biscuit hasn 't had a bath . " Jeff was off the next day , so he said he would give him a bath that next morning . I dreaded having to rush to get everything done the next morning , but at that point , it was just too late for bath time , so we put Biscuit to bed . Biscuit was in a glorious mood the next morning . And I say that with all of the sarcasm available . He was whiny . He was grumpy . He was just in an all - around bad state of mind . I felt bad for him because he was just completely out of sorts . I told Jeff to get Biscuit undressed , and he could just jump in the shower with me , but Biscuit was having none of that . " I need a bath , Mom . I don 't want a shower . I need a bath . Not a shower . A bath , " Biscuit whined . I was in no mood to put up a fight , so I gave in to the bath . I told him that he couldn 't play with any of his bath toys because he were in a hurry . Luckily , he didn 't fight me on that . It took a second for him to realize that I had hurt him , but the wailing that came next just ripped my heart out . I felt so bad . Biscuit was crying . I was crying . Biscuit was bleeding . I was trying to soothe him . After I realized that he wasn 't going to bleed to death , I quickly finished washing the rest of him . I put medicine on it and apologized to him at least 50 times . He was so sweet . He kept saying , " That 's okay , Mom . It was an accident . " And the fact that he said it was okay somehow made me feel even worse . By the time Biscuit came home from day care yesterday evening , things were pretty much back to normal . He put on his red cowboy hat and ran around the house saying , " Howdy , pardner . I 'm cowboy Biscuit . This is my horse , Pinto . " I 'm glad I had an afternoon out . And I really appreciate Joey for babysitting . But it 'll have to be a pretty special movie to get me out of the house like that again . . . for at least a little while . Gratitude : Biscuit is pretty good with his manners . He says excuse me , please and thank you , often without prompting . But lately , " thank you " has become " thanks . " It sounds very grown - up . Plus , he holds the " s " just a little longer than he should , sort of like , " Thanksss . " Alphabet : Biscuit has some alphabet cards that have letters on one side and animals or objects that start with that letter on the back side . They were strewn all over the living room floor yesterday , and I told him we needed to pick them up . " You help me , Mom ? " he asked . I told him I would and figured I might as well help him practice his letters at the same time . " Can you give me an ' M ' card ? " I asked him . And he did . " Can you give me an ' S ' card ? " And he did . The last card was on the object side instead of the letter side . And as a side note , what kind of alphabet book has a question mark and a quail for Q , an insect ( a grasshopper ) for I and a vampire for V ? ! ? Also , there 's a unicorn on the U page , but it has a horn AND wings . Shouldn 't a winged horse be under P for Pegasus ? I guess that 's what you get when you frequent the dollar store for kid books . Well , Biscuit will often put that into practice in real life . He was playing at his train table the other day and said , " When you see a train and a loader , yell ' TRAIN and LOADER ! ' " ( or train and woader , as he says it ) He looked all around his table pretending not to see the train and loader that were right in front of him . Then all of a sudden , he yelled , " TRAIN AND WOADER ! ! ! " What did he say ? ! ? : Biscuit likes taking the teacher role , where he holds up a crayon and asks , " Okay , Mom , what color is this ? " or " What letter says m - m - m ? " The other night , he was quizzing a friend at a restaurant . When he got to R , I said , " Can you tell her some words that start with R ? " My friend and I exchange looks and she said , " Dude , that 's crazy ! " To which I replied with wide eyes , " I KNOW ! And he says stuff like that ALL the time ! " It amazes me how much they learn at this age . Sometimes it seems like he 's a tape recorder , and someone has hit rewind and play , and he just spouts out all this stuff he 's learned . I hope his brain stays that open for a long , long time . Jeff is covering a golf tournament , and I 've just had an exhausting week . When I picked Biscuit up from day care this evening , I realized I had a hankering for breakfast food for dinner . Biscuit and I went to a diner near our house , I ordered our food , then we colored on the paper placemat they brought him . I should 've known something was up when Biscuit didn 't want pancakes . He always wants pancakes when we go to diners . He had a car in each hand ( as usual ) , and he asked me to draw a picture of one of his cars . As most of his favorite things are , this car is red . So I drew a red outline . It 's a character car , so he wanted me to add eyes and a mouth . Done . " NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ! ! ! ! ! ! ! That NOT a firetruck ! It 's NOT a firetruck , Mom ! It not have fire ! Take it off ! TAKE IT OFF ! ! ! " Biscuit said as he started frantically rubbing the paper , trying to get the orange flame off the side of the car . It went downhill from there . Anger : " We 'll be right back , " I said to the waitress as I toted Biscuit out the door into the little courtyard right outside . A handful of people in the restaurant stared as I hauled him out . I guess they wanted to see what I was going to do . " Biscuit , stop crying right NOW ! There is nothing wrong with you . We are going to sit here until you stop crying . There is no reason for you to be pitching a fit . " Bargaining : " Biscuit , do you want your chicken nuggets and fries ? Do you want more of your chocolate milk ? You can 't get more fries and milk unless we go back inside , and we 're not going back inside until you 're done crying . " Depression : " Ugh ! , " I thought to myself . " This sucks . I just want to go home . Why did I bother trying to go out ? I hate this golf tournament ! Why can 't Jeff be here ? " Acceptance : " I 've ordered food . I can 't just leave , " I thought . " There 's nothing I can do to make him stop . I 'll go back in , and if he keeps going , I 'll get our food to - go and just leave . " We got back inside to our corner booth . I was really glad I had chosen the booth in the corner . The man in the booth behind me turned around , and I 'll tell you , my first thought was , " DO NOT SAY A WORD ! " But the man said , " Did I hear you call him Griffin ? " I said yes , and he said , " That 's our grandson 's name . " Then he started talking to Biscuit . Turns out , their grandson , Griffin , will be 3 years old next month . Biscuit will be 3 in November . Under better circumstances , that would 've been cause for an in - depth conversation . But tonight , something else was on the front - burner . " You need a nap ? " the man said . " Well , you have to eat your supper before you can have a nap . Can you stop crying so you and Mama can eat your supper ? " The man 's wife leaned around and said , " Don 't worry , honey . I 've been there and done that . It will get better . I promise . " I didn 't know whether to cry or hug her or sigh with relief . She said , " I wanted to buy him one of those cookies over there , but you never know whether to do something like that or not . " By that point , I had given him a slice of my toast with jelly on it , and he seemed okay for a few minutes . But how nice was that lady for even having the thought to buy a cookie for some random kid she 's never seen before ? I 've always had a fear of Biscuit making a scene in a restaurant , and tonight was the reason why . I get flustered , I start sweating , my face turns red and I 'm just a general mess . I wish I didn 't care so much about what other people think , but people who don 't have kids and people who don 't remember what 2 - year - olds are like can send some awful and judging looks your way during a meltdown moment . I feel like standing up and yelling , " He doesn 't have a on / off switch . He is his own person with his own personality , his own will and his own ideas about how things should be . " Biscuit never calmed down . I asked our server for a box for Biscuit 's food , then shoveled in as much of mine as I could . I spent $ 8 on two entrees that weren 't remotely enjoyed . I drove around for a while after we left the restaurant . I cranked up the radio and kept checking the rearview mirror until the little man was asleep . When he was so upset at the restaurant , he kept saying , " I need a nap , Mom . I cry ' cause I 'm tired . " He 's heard us say that , and I guess he figured that 's what was wrong . I hope our weekend it better than tonight was . Jeff will be covering a golf tournament from early morning to late evening , so it 'll just be me and Biscuit . Fingers crossed . I am always proud of Biscuit - - who he is , what he 's accomplished in his short life , pretty much everything about him . But there are some times that I 'm even prouder than usual . This morning was one of those times . We didn 't get much sleep in our house last night . Biscuit was having bad dreams , added onto the fact that he has a handful of itchy mosquito bites that he had scratched bloody in his sleep . He was restless and whiny and just downright pitiful . Eventually , we brought him down to our bed , and Jeff moved to the couch for the rest of the night . This morning , Biscuit was unusually clingy . He even asked me to carry him from the car into day care - - something that almost never happens . Even after I carried him in , he still wasn 't too sure about letting go of me . I put him down , and we stood just inside the classroom door until he could get a feel for what was going on . Biscuit 's teacher was holding up signs with alphabet letters on them . She was asking the kids what the letters were and what sounds they make . Biscuit saw this and whispered to me , " Mom , I want to go say wetters . " " Okay , let 's go , " I said to him . Then I grabbed his hand and led him over to the big rug where they have their circle time . Biscuit sat down , and I headed for the door . I usually drop him off and head out as soon as I can , but for some reason , I stuck around for a few minutes this morning . The teacher said she was glad Biscuit was there because he knows his letters and he could help out the other kids . I smiled , thinking she was just being nice . But then , she held up a card with a " W " on it . I stood there and watched as this happened five more times . I was amazed . People tell us all the time that he 's smart , but I guess it 's different when you see it in action . A friend of mine recently wrote a newspaper story about her autistic son and a program that pairs special needs kids with horses for therapy . It sounds like the program is really helping her son . And that 's a good thing . But it 's hard knowing that even though her son is a bright kid , she has to watch him struggle to learn some things . His brain just doesn 't take in information the way other people 's brains do . Every kid is different . Every kid is special in his or her own way . I hope we can encourage Biscuit to become all that he can be while instilling in him a sense of gratitude for just how fortunate we are . The minister friend 's favorite colors are pink and orange , so we planned the party theme around those colors . I was skimming a crafty - type blog one afternoon and came across this entry from a girl who was planning a wedding on a budget . She took dinner - sized and cocktail - sized paper napkins and made flowers for her wedding . It might sound like a third - grade art class project , but they were actually really pretty . She included the instructions , so I followed the process and was pretty pleased with the outcome . I think I made about 20 flowers - - pink with orange centers . I placed each finished flower in a vase on the coffee table , and every time I added a new one , Biscuit said , " Oooo ! Another flower . I have to smell it . " He would drop whatever he was playing with and run over to the coffee table , sniff the flower and say , " Nice flower , Mom . It smells good , " then he would run back to whatever he was playing with . I did a lot of cooking and baking the day before the event , and Jeff was working a double shift that day , so Biscuit didn 't get a whole lot of attention . But he seemed to take it in stride . Then the day of the event came , and we basically asked him to be on his best behavior for . . . oh , maybe 10 hours . And I mean that seriously . We left our house at 1 p . m . Sunday afternoon and got back home at 11 : 20 p . m . that night . There was one meltdown during the whole day . I would say that 's pretty good behavior on the little man 's part ! Ever since he turned 2 , Biscuit loves birthdays . He went to a birthday party in July and will still occasionally sing " Happy Birthday " to the little girl . So when he saw me baking and decorating a cake , then found out we were throwing a party , he immediately decided that it was a birthday party for the new minister . She thought it was great and didn 't bother correcting him when he sang " Happy Birthday " to her at least four times . Biscuit sat with Jeff during the service . I was moving around the church taking pictures . The church has a really nice " chapel " at the back of the sanctuary for kids and parents . It 's a sound - proof room with big windows overlooking the sanctuary where parents can take antsy or unruly kids during the service . It also has a sound system , so the parents can still hear what 's going on . Biscuit sat through a good part of the service , but Jeff took him to the chapel as a pre - emptive strike before the actual ordination part of the ceremony took place . Right before they left , I was on the opposite side of the church , and I heard Biscuit heave this huge sigh . Well , it probably didn 't seem huge to anybody else , but it was enough to make me jerk the camera away from my face and look to see what was going on . It 's funny how you can immediately recognize something as simple as a sigh when it comes from your own child . All in all , it was a nice , if tiring , day . The service was well done and my friend is officially a reverend . And as Jeff would say , " Refreshments were served , and a good time was had by all . " The shirt Biscuit wore yesterday had an airplane on it . So I picked him up and zoomed him around the room , all the while making airplane noises and telling him to hold out his arms . As we neared my bed , I said , " Get ready . We 're coming in for a landing . " My plan was to skid him across my bed until his head touched the pillows . " No , Mom , " Biscuit said to me with a stern look on his face . " The tires are not down . The plane can 't land at the airport . The tires are not down . " Biscuit actually says " pwane " and " wand " instead of " plane " and " land . " But more importantly , how does my son know about landing gear ? Did he see it in a book or on TV ? Does he secretly visit the airport that 's only about 10 minutes from our house and hang out with pilots ? Biscuit is also picking up a good many words in Spanish . His day care teacher has taught him numbers , emotions , body parts and other words . Most recently , he 's learned the direction words for up and down ( or " arriba " and " abajo " - pronounced ah - ree - bah and ah - bah - hoe ) . Last night , he held his cup up and said , " Mom , my cup is arriba . " Then he lowered his cup and said , " Now , it 's abajo . " He knows the words , and he understands what they mean . There were four crayons on the table , and I asked Biscuit if he could count them . Usually , he would point to the crayons and count to 10 , no matter how many crayons there actually were . But the other night , he pointed to a crayon and said , " One . " Then he pointed to another crayon and said , " Two . " He kept going until he counted all four crayons . " Four crayons , Mom . Red , bwue , green and orange . Rojo , azul , verde and naranja . " We always count the front door steps as we leave in the morning . But that 's routine - - take a step , say the next number . Now , he could stand at the bottom of the steps and just point and count them . " No , Mom . That 's pink . It 's pink , Mom . Rosado . That 's pink , " Biscuit said , quite sure of himself . ( Rosado is Spanish for pink . ) As I reached into my pocketbook , I realized that I said " pencil . " I didn 't have a pencil . I had a pen . Only now do I realize how silly it was for me to be tip - toeing around Biscuit , just hoping and praying he didn 't have a meltdown . But I had sort of a lousy day at work , and quite frankly , I just didn 't think I could handle a big screaming fit . Story time : When Biscuit tells us a story , he puts his palms together and holds out his hands . Then he opens his hands out like a book and starts to tell us his story . The other night , he got to a point and stopped talking . So I asked him , " Is that the end ? " " No , Mom . I still reading . " Then he finished " reading " us his story . Straight from TV : Jeff and Biscuit were walking up the sidewalk to come in the house . Biscuit had a cute little march going on , and he was saying , " It 's fun to go inside . It 's fun to go inside . It 's fun to go inside , and this is how we do it . " That is a direct quote from one of the cartoon shows he likes . Who says kids don 't learn from TV ? The eyes have it : Biscuit expresses himself in such literal terms sometimes . He walked into the bathroom with me the other night . I was just grabbing the hand towel , so I didn 't even turn on the light . " It 's dark in here , Mom . My eyes can 't see . " Of course , it probably doesn 't hurt tha t last week 's theme at day care was the five senses . Scamming Dad : Jeff took Biscuit for a haircut yesterday evening . Biscuit asked where they were going . " We 're going to get you a haircut , " Jeff said . " It 's time for a haircut . " Play time : Biscuit 's play time is getting more imaginative . He had some little animal figures last night along with a couple of farmers . They were having some grand conversations . Then something happened to one of his horses . He picked it up and walked over to Jeff . " Excuse me . Excuse me , doctor . We need your help . " Animal kingdom : Biscuit 's question for us used to be " what is your favorite animal , " but now , he 's getting more specific . He asked me just the other day , " Mom , what 's your favorite kind of dog ? " He doesn 't know Labradors or poodles yet , but he does understand big and small and loud and soft and colors . So my answer now can 't just be " a dog . " It has to be " a big brown dog " or " a small white dog . " He does know more about dinosaurs . He says his favorite is a Dromaeosaurus because it 's fast like a horse . But he also knows T - Rex , triceratops and pterodactyl . I love to hear him say the different kinds of dinosaurs . I know he thinks I 'm crazy , but I ask him all the time what his favorite dinosaur is , just to hear him say their names . But he 's getting more specific with other animals , too . I handed him a little plastic frog the other night and said , " Check this out , Biscuit . It 's a bull frog . " He looked at the frog and said , " No , Mom . That a tree frog . " Ham Biscuit : Biscuit loves to be on my bed . It 's a king - size bed that 's pretty high off the floor . The only way he can get on it is to use a step I have on my side . ( The only way I can get on it is to use the step , too ! ) When he 's on the bed , I walk into the room growling , telling him I 'm coming to get him . Then he crawls from one side of the bed to the other to get away from me . This evening , we were playing our little game , and I caught him . I pretended to gnaw on his leg and said , " Mmmm . I like ham bone . Gimme some more of that ham bone . " " NOOOO ! My weg is not ham bone . Here , Mom . Here , " Biscuit said as he reached into his pocket . " I have some ham bone for you in my pocket . Not on my weg . " Jeff said , " You can 't play with your poo . You can play with your friends , but you can 't play with your poo . And you CERTAINLY can 't play with your friends ' poo . " I realize as I type this that there are moms who would see one of Biscuit 's tantrums and say , " Oh yeah ? That 's NOTHING . " I have to admit that we 've been very , very lucky as far as behavior issues go . But sometimes , we get a glimpse of the proverbial 2 - year - old , and it just stops us in our tracks . Biscuit has been in a whiny stage lately . Everything hurts . Everything is wrong . Nothing is the way he wants it . Jeff and I can 't do anything right . " My boo - boo hurts . " ( A boo - boo that is 98 % healed already . ) " I can 't do it , Mom . I can 't do it . YOU do it , Mom . I can 't do it . " ( Most of the time it 's something that he most certainly can do . ) " Mine 's broken . Fix it , Mom . It 's broken . " ( This includes any manner of toys that have come apart , a shoe that somehow isn 't right , a blanket that isn 't spread out the way he wants it , etc . ) " Noooooooo . That 's not great . That 's not perfect for me " or " Not THAT way , THIS way . " ( Any time anything isn 't exactly the way he wants it , i . e . a sippy cup that one of us moves , not having what he wants to eat , not going down the right aisle at the store , not having on a shirt or pants that he likes . ) I realize from reading about different stages of childhood that this is the time Biscuit is trying to gain some independence . He knows how he wants things , but he doesn 't have the power , knowledge , strength or freedom to make them happen that way . And once he figures out that he can 't , for whatever reason , do what he wants to do , he either melts down or goes back to being helpless and wanting me to do everything for him . It must be truly frustrating for him . And I can assure you that as frustrating as it is for him , you could probably double that for my stress level ! We joined a group of friends Sunday for lunch at a restaurant . My food was really good , but I had to shovel it down , and I didn 't really have time to enjoy it for tending to Biscuit . When he was wee tiny , restaurants were hard for me because I had to eat my dinner , placate the baby , deal with baby food jars and spoons and bibs , and still try to have conversation with whomever was across the table . Then there was this glorious period where Biscuit was self - sufficient . He was excited about getting to sit in a high chair and eat by himself . He was excited about trying new foods . He was excited about all the goings - on in the restaurant . Now , it seems like we 've reverted . He 's in a picky stage of eating , so no matter what we order for him , he 's not satisfied . And he 's so mobile that he has no desire to sit in a high chair for the amount of time it takes us to get through a salad , a meal and some conversation . And the comings and goings of the restaurant don 't seem to hold his attention anymore ( and neither do the crayons and paper they usually give him , either ) . So he sits there and whines . And pushes his food away . And says over and over and over and over and over again , " I 'm done . I want to go home . I 'm done . I don 't want to eat . I 'm done . I don 't wike this . I 'm done . " And that 's what happened Sunday . I heard maybe two sentences of the conversation . And the group included people I haven 't seen much of lately , so I really wasn 't too happy . At first , my food tasted really good . We hadn 't been to that restaurant in a while . But I got to a point where I was so distracted by Biscuit , I just started shoveling it in , hoping we could leave soon . Mornings have also become more complicated . Biscuit wakes up and says , " The sun comes up , and I wake up to the morning , " and you think , " Great ! He 's in a good mood . " And before you can even process that thought , the mood has shifted , and he doesn 't want milk , and he doesn 't want his teeth brushed , and he doesn 't want THOSE pants and THAT shirt , and he wants to go in Dad 's GREEN car , not Mom 's RED car . And it 's all in this whiny , whiny , whiny little voice that makes you want to run screaming from the house . We were trying to leave the house yesterday morning , and Biscuit came up to me in the kitchen . " My race car is broken , Mom . He is not ready to race . He can 't go . He has to be fixed , Mom . " He handed me the car , and I messed with it for a minute or so . One side of the car 's bumper is broken , so I shoved it back into the little hole and said , " Okay , it 's fixed , but you can 't pull on the bumper , okay ? " I handed it back to him , and he immediately reached up and pulled on the bumper . The bumper came loose again , and Biscuit just wailed . " It 's not fixed , Mom . It 's not fixed . " These instances of whiny - ness haven 't been big , huge tantrums . Nothing has been thrown . Nobody has been hit . No damage has been done . But my baby has shed a river of tears . And I 'm betting the dogs in the neighborhood would really like for Biscuit to quit the whining that is probably high - pitched enough to hurt their ears . Biscuit said he 'd like to have a brown race car . So we looked through all the cars they had , and there was not one single brown car in the lot . So I said to him , " I didn 't see any brown cars , did you ? " He said no . So I said , " Oh well . I guess we 'll have to look for a brown car another day . " Every time we 've had a conversation similar to this one , he says something like , " That 's okay . We 'll try again . " Today , he said , " If there 's no brown one , I want that one . " He pointed to a $ 30 character car . He was holding a miniature version of that exact car in his hand . And I was dumb enough to bring this to his attention . " WaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH ! ! ! I want a big one . This one is too small . I need that big one . I need it , Mom . I don 't want this wittle one . Here , Mom . Here . I don 't want this wittle one . I need the big one . " I only had a few more things to get , but I had a sinus / allergy headache , thanks to the lovely ragweed that is blooming around here , and that , combined with Biscuit 's . . . epidode . . . caused me to quickly make my list even shorter . I knew I couldn 't take much more of the whining and crying . I don 't enjoy hearing that kind of fuss in a store , and I 'm guessing the people around us in the store don 't either . Biscuit and I made our way to the cash register . And dang if they didn 't have a third version of those same character cars hanging on the rack right by the cash register . And he saw them . And he wanted them . And he cried for them . And he said , while crying the most pitiful cry , " Pease , Mom ? Pease can I have them ? " Everything in me wanted to hand him those cars . He was heart - broken and sad and tired from the whole event , and there was this little voice inside me thinking , " Just hand him the cars , and this will all be over . Biscuit will be happy . And quiet . And you can have a peaceful evening . " And then that stupid other voice ( that I hate so much sometimes ) said , " If you give in to this , he 'll do this every time he wants something . " So I called his name , made him look me in the eye , and I said , " When Mama says no , that 's it . Don 't ask again . " If someone had held a gun to my head , I couldn 't have told you the total of my bill at the store . I saw her scan my coupons , then I swiped my debit card , grabbed the bags and thew them in the buggy . I hauled us and our stuff out the door as quickly as I could . The whole way out to the car , that child was still asking for those cars . At that point , I had said everything I could say , so I just didn 't say anything . " Pease , Mom ? Pease ? I don 't want to go home . I need to get the cars in the store . " " No . You 're not in trouble , " I said to him . " But you have to learn that when Mama says no , I mean no . " I felt like telling him that I needed to calm down in the car , too . But instead , I said , " Let 's go home , have some dinner , then read some books . How does that sound ? " Sometimes recounting times like these will produce a kernel of wisdom or a life lesson . And I guess it sort of did . . . I have to stick to my guns , no means no , etc . But I really just hope that I 'm doing the right thing and that we 'll all get through this rough patch mostly unscathed . Being slightly superstitious , I think I 'll go ahead and cross my fingers , throw some salt over my shoulder and avoid any ladders , just in case . Recent conversations with Biscuit : Biscuit : Dad , say , " What you doing , Biscuit ? " Jeff : What are you doing Biscuit ? Biscuit : Um , I pay with race cars . Biscuit : You pay bean bags with me , Dad ? Jeff : Bean bags ? Biscuit : Yeah . Papa and Josh pay bean bags . Jeff : Oh ! He 's talking about corn hole . He saw Josh and your Dad play at the mountains . Biscuit : Is this MY house , Mama ? Me : It 's all of our house - - yours and mine and Dad 's . Biscuit : We all share our house ? Me : Yes . We all share our house . Biscuit : That 's good . Me : Good morning , Biscuit ( as I was waking him up ) . Biscuit : Good morning . The sun came up , and I wake up to the morning . He says this every single morning . When I get to day care to pick up Biscuit , I like to stand and watch him play for a few minutes . As soon as he sees me , he yells . Biscuit : Mommy ! Mommy ! You came back to me ! Me : Of COURSE I came back to you . I ALWAYS come back to you . He got the line " You came back to me " from a book we read him about a llama whose mama has to leave him at day care while she goes to work . I guess he figured out that he was in the same situation as the llama , so he says " you came back to me " every single day when we pick him up . His teachers thought it was pretty funny the first time they heard it . Biscuit ran into the living room just now and yelled " I LOVE music " and started to dance . Jeff : That 's some good dancing , boy . Biscuit : These are my dance moves . This is called The Racecar Dance . Biscuit : Hey , Mom . What 's your problem ? State your problem , Mom . Me : Uh . . . what ? Biscuit : State your problem , Mom . Me : I don 't have a problem . Biscuit : Okay . Biscuit : Mom , I gonna hide behind Dad 's chair . You come find me . Me : You 're not supposed to tell me where you 're going to hide . Biscuit : Okay . But I gonna be behind Dad 's chair . Come find me . Biscuit : Whats we have for dinner , Mom ? Me : ( insert food that 's not pizza ) Biscuit : That 's not great for me . Me : What do you WANT for dinner ? Biscuit : Um , let 's see . . . PIZZA ! Me : We can 't have pizza every night . Biscuit : That is not perfect . Back in June , a friend of mine told me that Spider - Man would be making an appearance at a local comic book store . She told me something about a variant cover . . . and the issue . . . and the cover . . . and . . . okay , I had no idea what she was talking about . All I knew was that my son would get to meet Spider - Man . The deal was that every so often , comic book stores create their own covers for new comic books ( called variant covers ) . The inside of the book is exactly the same as all the others , but the cover is unique to that store . The photo shoot Biscuit and I went to was for a local comic book store 's variant cover . Remember this ? http : / / bringingupbiscuit . blogspot . com / 2011 / 06 / meeting - spider - man . htmlBefore I could take photos of Biscuit with Spider - Man , a store employee took several group photos of all the kids who showed up that night . And one of those group photos showed up on the variant cover for Spider - Man # 666 . I went to the store yesterday to buy a copy , but of course the store was close . That dang store is open from 9 a . m . to 7 p . m . every day of the week EXCEPT Tuesday . And Tuesday was the only day I could go . Turns out , I didn 't need to worry about it . The friend who told me about the photo shoot said she would pick up a copy for me . But before she could do that , another friend at work brought me a copy . He 's a huge comic book fan , and I had mentioned to him that Biscuit was on the cover . This guy already had a copy for himself , just because he likes Spider - Man , but he went back to that store yesterday ( obviously sometime before 6 p . m . ) and bought a copy for me . So here 's the Acme Comics variant cover for Spider - Man # 666 , along with a closeup of my Biscuit baby . Can you see his little head in the front row ? Remember a while back when I complained about not being able to find costumes or dress - up pieces for boys ? The store I go to must have received an ESP signal from me , because when I was in there the other day , they had pirate garb and fire chief helmets . Biscuit is crazy for all things fire - man . That 's how he says it , " Mom , I 'm a fire - man , " like it 's two separate words . So even though there wasn 't an occasion , I bought him a fire - man hat . I 'm a 40 - something first - time mom . Age and education did nothing to prepare me for motherhood . It 's the most wonderful and scariest thing that has ever happened to me .