Don't try to outsmart a toddler...

Joseph goes to bed, both for naptime and night time with a bunch of stuffed animals. It started pretty innocently with one shortly after Christmas time, but by now there is a whole menagerie. There is duck, woefwoef, Eee (eeyore), bear, and Niiihhiii (a horse). Sometimes Grandma Bunny also goes along. It is quite an armful and a challenge to hold on to them all and still have some freedom to grab Joseph in case of an attempt to escape or a slip on the stairs.
Yesterday, I thought I had an extremely smart idea. When I picked him up out of bed in the morning, I only took three animals with me. He is in such a good mood in the morning he barely noticed, and I felt triumph rise within me.
It was a nice day, with two gifts for Joseph, an heirloom rosary that belonged to me when I was a child and a set of easter ducks.



After the impulse of the christmas ducks that we bought him and that were such a hit in the pictures, the easter ducks seemed like a logical follow up. He immediately loved them. He played with them for a while, was enthousiast whenever they were brought out again and repeatedly called for 'duh' 'duh'.
The problem came when it was naptime. I stood there, rather proud, with the three animals and Joseph seemed very inclined to just nicely go to bed when he changed direction and went to pick up two of the rubber duckies to give them to mommy. After I had taken them, he went back for the other two. Then once more for the last two. All of them needed to go with him to bed. And those ducks are not as easy to clamp under an arm as a stuffed animal. He looked utterly adorable throwing them in the crib one by one, and so triumphant as now he has a whole NEW herd ready to take with him upstairs.