Everett has started to take a great interest in forts. For some time now he has gone outside to sit in a nook in the tree next to the garage. That was the original “fort”. Since then we have moved on to forts that require more construction and less imaginative power to see, although we note that forts of any kind seem to encourage lots of imagination as in one of the books he currently likes called King Jack and the Dragon. Anyway, we recently built a fort from scrap lumber in the backyard, and have been building forts in the house made of Straws and Connectors (a Christmas gift), as well as pillows and blankets:

He wants to sleep inside his pillow forts, which causes some consternation for his parents who want to make sure he can still breath. So we told him that if he wants to be in a fort while sleeping it has to be the igloo tent, and when he asked for an explanation (apparently our parental desires don’t carry much weight without reasoning that is deemed acceptable to a three year old) we told him that we are worried that he won’t be able to breath. Now the pillow forts are called “no breathing hole” forts. He tells us that he wants a fort to protect his babies (ducky, lamb and baby nightgown) and so that no one can see him while he is sleeping. Of course, he knows that he has a lot a freedom during the night. When he is doing something he isn’t supposed to do during the day he will say to us “Look the other way for a long time.” But at night he can rearrange his room and we may not find out for quite a while, so all we can do is limit the amount of fort construction materials in his room and keep trying to teach him good sense.

We’re not sure if forts are a factor, but recently it has become somewhat difficult to get Everett to sleep. The fact that it is also difficult to get him to eat  suggests that something else is going on. We think he is avoiding these activities because they reduce the time available for talking, which is something he expends considerable energy on. A few nights ago Everett got up at 4:30am and didn’t go back to sleep (and neither did anyone else). He took a normal length nap and went to bed late that night, so apparently those hours of sleep are lost forever. With regard to eating, we have been encouraging him to try a variety of foods including black eyed peas on New Year’s Day:

and have explained to him the need to eat to get big and strong. He likes this idea and will show us his muscles

but any parent knows it is quite difficult to get a child to eat if they don’t want to. Fortunately the cut on his forehead is healing, so that’s a good sign, and his pediatrician isn’t concerned about his weight or size. Therefore his diet is currently in a category titled “Things that parents fret over but seemingly no one else is worried about”. Conversations we have had with friends and neighbors suggest that this list can get rather lengthy.