Here are a few scenes from a typical morning at home with Riley. I pick him up about 7:45 am. No groceries, Target or Lowes trip today. Although he has breakfast at home he usually wants more foid while I eat. Today he requests "abby and Peter's cereal" which is a granola.
We head upstairs to make the bed and gather laundry. He jumps up and peeks through railing when I try to get a picture of him resting on a step"being a kitty like Ozzy"
We make the bed then he requests scissors "i need to practice my cutting,LaLa. I manage to put away some laundry while he snips 2 magazine pages into little bits. He hides them under the covers. He chats the whole time telling me "you need to be very careful with scissors. They are very sharp. I am just cutting my paper. Not cutting the fabric." Lots of tiny paper bits for John to find at bedtime!!!
He finds a pair of my glasses to wear while he helps me tidy. Pretends to plug in vacuum ( pokes plug through holes in a laundry basket) and vacuums madly for several minutes.
Hr drops laundry down the chute and climbs up on the little rim to peer down inside. He eagerly dashes downstairs and squeals excitedly when I open the chute door in the laundry room. Only laundry today. Sometimes I open the door and find blocks, stuffed animals, books. , shoes. If it fits he shoves it down. We put the towels in the dryer and load bed sheets into the washer. He tells me, "you are a good helper today, LaLa. Thank you."
It is only 9:30 but he is starving and demands a snack. He pulls the cherry wood tea box out and spends some time considering his choices, holding tea bags out and asking, "what does this one say." He deliberates for some time holding one in each hand. Earl Gray or Golden Chai? Chai is chosen and he eats some dried cherries and blueberries with his Chai.
We fill a blue bucket with warm water and wool wash and Riley helps to wash my red poncho and his red sweater.
We head outside. I do some weeding and dig up the iris bulbs. Apparently they need to be pulled apart and replanted every 3-5 years? It is a beautiful day. Sunny and low 70's. i manage to sit for a few minutes and try to figure out how to get photos on my phone to post to my blog. By the time I think I have the problem solved it is 11:30 and time to start lunch.
Riley watches a few minutes of Caillou, then demands lunch. He snitches apples from Johns salad then eats a yogurt and pretzel sticks and drinks more tea with lots of milk! He protests nap so i set the kitchen timer for 7 minutes. He plays in the dining room for about 3 minutes while I load the dishwasher. He yells, "Lala, i'm tired! Lets go up for nap." Clean clothes and Three short stories later and he is snuggled in with lots if buddies.
Ozzy is snoozing on the back of the couch and I am settled in my chair with my knitting, audio book and tea!!
Today I convinced him to choose a muffin instead of a donut. Orange cranberry. It takes me longer to clean up the crumbs than it does for him to eat it! 
He plays while I start to put away groceries. He usually loves to help but not today. "LaLa, I have to work. Bye,". He grabs his dirter ( empty paper towel cardboard tube) and toots around the house returner on his fire truck.
In the photo it is just above the center under the big pine tree. He gets fairly close -- maybe 5 feet-- before it jumps away.
We collect wet rags and the dustbuster to clean out the car. He is reluctant to let me use "his vacuum" then bucks himself into the front seat and says "let's go on a vacation, right now." For a fleeting second I am tempted to grab my keys and wallet and start driving. Beach? Vermont? Squam workshop in New Hampshire!!! Florida to see Grammy? Reality returns and we finish the car cleaning and move into kitchen to make lunch.
