My oldest son is a character. Not just in the way that he acts, he is three after all, but also in what says. He speaks clearly for a 3 year old, more so than most 5 year olds I've dealt with. I watch other kids his age stumble through the pidgin-english stage learning new words. My son? Full sentences when he REALLY wants something.

"Daddy I want a treat..."
"That's not very polite, Michael"
"Please, daddy..."
"Can I get it all together?"
"Daddy, I want a treat, please"

Now I know I'm not alone in this particular phase. There are probably a lot of 3 year olds who talk as well, but not in his immediate peer group. And that's why I'm a proud poppa...

But back to the subject at hand. My son is a character. New Year's Day he went hellbent on no naps. We tried. Mickey (Mouse) on the VCR upstairs in "mommy&daddy's room," a comfy pillow, pretty much everything that one can think of. No go. Well, we figured, at least he'll sleep well... we had NO idea.

My wife and I were too tired to clean up after Christmas, so the dining room table had the remnants of decorations and gifts piled on top. We decided that it wouldn't be too bad to take dinner in the living room. My son would have the coffee table, my wife, the recliner (with our youngest and his meal), and myself on the couch in front of the computer. Michael decided that chicken nuggets with "red sauce" (ketchup) were his preferred meal. I nuked 5 for him and poured a splash in a ramekin and set him up. About 20 minutes in the meal, after many gustatory comments from my son, it went eerily quiet. My wife quietly got my attention and pointed to a sight that made me just want to bust out laughing.
[see the picture, you just HAVE to!]



This was the sight that we beheld staring down at that little body lying on the carpet. It was literally up one minute, down the next. My wife just saw the fork, and that's what had her going. It wasn't until I snapped my third picture of future blackmail shots that I noticed the other hand. That is what really had us laughing. He fell asleep eating the nugget... Now I know it's not safe to fall asleep with a fork in your hand and we didn't leave it there any longer than it took to snap the pictures, but it was too classic. He did manage to sleep the rest of the night and didn't really remember falling asleep eating, but he did remember dinner, and I guess that is something...

This isn't the first instance of him falling asleep eating, he did so when he was much younger and skipping naps and all, but this is the first time he's gone from 100 to 0 in just a few short moments...

I guess I'm saying that kids will be kids, and you just never know what's going to happen. I'd love to say that his owner's manual warned us of this, but I guess it's still in the mail... 3 years later...

Just some tidbits o'ken...