We were watching “JoJo’s Circus”, a new Playhouse Disney show, about a week ago. JoJo is a clown who lives in Circus Town and the show is about her escapades and life lessons. She offered to help her father, Mr. Tickle, get a new squirting flower so he would be all ready to go to work. When he thanked her he said, “You’re so sweet, I could pour you on my pancakes.” Later Johann gave me a hug and a kiss and told me I was the best Mommy in the world. I thanked him and repeated Mr. Tickle’s sentiment, which made Johann beam and giggle.
So last night, while Eric and Johann were playing on the bed after bathtime, Johann thought Eric was about to fall off and moved to hold onto Eric. He said, “I stopped you, Daddy. I don’t want you to fall off the bed, that would hurt.” Eric thanked him and said that was very sweet. Johann perked up and said, “I know! I’m so sweet, you could pour me on your pancakes!” We burst into laughter just thinking about it.
Wednesday we went out to a garden center for pine roping to decorate the banister and the main beam across the living area in the apartment. I got my cute little red poinsettia. There was a nice display of African violets, which I pointed out to Johann. I wanted to show them to him, since he’d never seen that kind of flower before and he always has fun looking at all the different types of plants whenever we go to a garden center. I told him how I used to have some plants like that. He asked me if I wanted one. I said it would be nice, but not today because I was already getting the poinsettia. Maybe we could come back another time to get it. I guess he saw how I would have liked one, but since it wasn’t on the list, I was going to pass on it. He looked at me and thought hard. Then said very definitively, “No, Mommy. You should have one now. I want to buy you one. It’s your Christmas present from me.” Johann chose the sweetest purple and white mini African violet and handed it to me. It now has a prominent place on the plant shelf. Right after I put the violet there, Johann started to pull on the buds, wondering what they were. I instructed him to leave them on the stem and explained they would open up to be just like the other flowers on the plant, but we would have to wait and watch for them to open. I told him it would take time. He took my hand and said, “OK, Mommy. Let’s sit here and watch until they open.”
Edited 01/01/2004 to add link to JoJo’s Circus website @ Disney.com