The doggie that almost got away

Last week, A and I went to the beach before swim class. He played in the sand. I've added his "I'm going to be a model" beach shot here so you can appreciate the kind of cuteness we're dealing with.

This was also the day of his flu shot, so he had these two little rubber-and-wire toy doggies that he was playing with in the sand. He'd bury them and tell me he was going to find some treasure, then dig them up and show me his treasure again.

Of course, he's three, so at some point he lost interest in his doggies and wandered off to make castles and dig other holes and have a good time.

This is the point where a seagull came over and took one of his doggies. Not a minute after the seagull took off, A realized what had happened and took off running after the bird.

"Hey, bird! You took my doggie! Shoo, bird! Give me back my doggie!"

The seagull took flight, touched down by the water, discovered that the toy was not actually a French fry, and left it by the water. So A got his doggie back from the bird and we were all happy. He spent the rest of his time at the beach making sure the birds didn't get too close to us by running after them. "Shoo, birdies. You don't eat my doggies."

Unstructured time and baby kisses

Yesterday we headed to the House of Mouse. It was jam-packed with people, crazy full. The Halloween celebration draws a lot of people; there was apparently some kind of charity walk/event where people got free tickets.

One of the things we like to do at the House of Mouse is get Mickey-shaped ice cream bars and sit in the Carnation Plaza Gardens and eat them. There's a bandstand there with a small stage; there are shows in the evening but during the day it's an out-of-the-way, quiet place to sit and rest. Once he's finished his ice cream, A can jump down and run around for a bit on the stage and burn off some energy while C and I talk.

Yesterday, A was running around the stage while C and I were finishing our ice cream when a little girl came up to him. She was probably a little older than him, but he grabbed her hands and wanted to dance and run around with her. They danced, they chased each other, they spun in circles, they hid behind the piano and the podiums from each other, and they giggled madly. A likes playing with older kids, and if I ever thought he was shy, he's certainly not now.

Eventually, the little girl had to go; her family was waiting.

"Little boy!" she called. "Little boy!" When A didn't respond, she ran up to him and said, "I have to go, goodbye," hugged him, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and ran off.

A came back over to us and pointed. "That little girl kissed me on my cheek." He had a huge smile.