Jonathan

This morning I was struggling to put on my bra, and Jonathan walked up behind me in the bathroom. He said, "I can help you with that, Mama." I was not really paying attention, and I muttered, Oh, really? And he says, "Yeah, I've been practicing and learning." Then I'm like, Really? To which he replied, "Yeah, that bra you keep in the car, I've been practicing to do those snaps."
First of all, I am not sure I want my son to be adept at bras at any age, but really, really, not at 4. What is he, in training to be a lady's man?
And the other thing, I was not aware I even had a bra in the car! Sure enough, I looked in the backseat, and I did. People have probably been peering in my car at stoplights, watching this little boy in his booster seat fastening and unfastening a bra. They probably think he does not have any toys and has to amuse himself otherwise.

Jonathan has been doing great at school. He has this big red tub in his room, and every weekend he looks forward to what will be in it on Monday. They change the contents out every week. Anna has one in her room also. I kept talking to them about it, hyping it up, oh, I wonder what's going to be in your big red bucket this week? Jonathan looked at me with a cool stare the other night, and said, It's called a sensory tub, Mama.
Oh, okay. Clearly, that big red bucket full of uncooked rice or buttons or sand, it's a sensory tub.

So, last night at dinner, Jonathan was playing with his food, digging down deep and rifling through his pile of couscous with his hands. I was like, Child, have you lost your mind?! (This is one of those things I find myself saying, and I hate myself when I say it, but it keeps falling out of my mouth.)
He told me, This is my sensory tub, Mama. (Always the clever one!)
Um, yeah, that's not gonna fly, Buddy! (This is something that I say that is straight out of my own Mom's mouth.)
That's part of why the kids go to school. School provides them with messy sensory experiences, such as sandboxes and fingerpaints, lots of playtime out in the hot sunshine (I REALLY DO NOT LIKE TO BE OUTDOORS), opportunities to play noisy, headache-inducing instruments, and be amongst hordes of loud, screechy children.
There's a whole lot of annoying contained in the walls of that preschool, and I am SUPER grateful for that.
But, no, we are not going to excuse being up to your elbows in your dinner, Jonathan, just because you are trying to pass it off as a sensory learning experience.