Outsmarted

One conversation Charlie and I tend to have multiple times each day revolves around him getting "boogies" (tears and snot) when he cries. He doesn't like having "boogies", so I try and remind him that if he didn't cry so much, he wouldn't have the "boogie" problem. But yesterday, I was outsmarted. The source of the "boogies" came full-circle, right back to me.
Charlie, crying and whining loudly: "I got boogies, mommy!"
Me, matter-of-factly: "Well, that's because you're crying."
Charlie, equally matter-of-factly: "Well, dat's because you won't give me what I want."
Yikes, time to come up with some new strategies.

Cousin Blake came over for a playdate a few days ago. Charlie showed Blake all the places to get into trouble around here.
They started off with some coloring and "orange crackers".
Here is my OCD son lining his crackers up in a perfect little row (where does he come up with this stuff??? ...okay, don't answer that)

Throwing balls into the kitchen, apparently trying to break something - amazingly, nothing was broken.

Playing in the tent

We put the tent out on the back porch and threw a bunch of pillows in there - that was a big hit

Dinner in the tent - chicken nuggets and ketchup.
(Lesson learned - don't throw pillows into a tent that contains ketchup)

Playing "haircut" - a favorite lately