Fun times

It was pajama party day at the boy's school.  Someone handed this suit to us, I have no idea who, so he wore it.  His teacher's aide was trying to get him to make a wookie noise, but he just looked at her in confusion.  We've never let him watch any of the movies yet, so it was news to him.

Roar was super dirty.  The boy decided it needed a bath.  Can you see the washcloth in his hand?

He had to come with me to book club.  Husband has been working long hours, it being Christmas time, so they couldn't have usual boys night.  For some reason, the boy thought wearing a small down blanket was preferable to wearing his coat, like a weirdo.  

One new thing he's been doing lately is "big kisses", which are kisses on each cheek and them sometimes on the nose, too.  

The boy and I went to our ward Christmas party.  Husband was working, sadly. So after a quick burrito and grapes, plus a couple knocked over cups of water, then running in the halls with a pack of children, we went to see Santa.  While we waited in line, he ran off with a couple other kids and didn't come back with those same children.  So, i went to find him.  He was curled up against the wall of the dark portion of the hallway, wailing.  When I picked him up, he told me tearfully "I couldn't find you!"  Good news, he wasn't scared of Santa at all this year.  Or, as he calls Santa, "HoHoHo"

A candid moment

The boy likes to sings nonsense sometimes as he plays.  You'll notice near the end of the video, he shouts '99', which is a family cry, modeled after the show Brooklyn 99.

The other day, the boy and I were at a Webelos meeting.  The leader offered us some brownies, and while the leader and the other scout discussed what was going on with the brownies, my boy repeatedly shouted "Let's do it!" over and over while pumping his fist.  My thoughts exactly. 

His mother's fashion sense

Pants from 2 years ago.

Shorts that don't cover his bummy and mismatched shoes.

Halloween 2019

It's been a snowy week, making this October the snowiest this town has seen in over 20 years.  School was closed two days this week, and we took the opportunity to go sledding.  In the last couple years, the boy has had a aversion to riding in the sled.  This year, though, he had the best time.

What I thought would be a 20 minute outing lasted more like 90 minutes.  Some friends from church joined us after we'd been there some time, and it gave the kid a second wind.

We went to church for the annual chili cook off and trunk-or-treat.  We dressed as our favorite characters from Zootopia.

Fall Festival 2019

My sister came to visit.  And as usual, I hardly took any pictures.  But we did go to the pumpkin patch/fall festival that we've got to the past few years.  This year the boy took a minor interest in the climbing wall.

The farm also has giant tubs of dried corn for kids to dig in.  Little kids, of course, think it's amazing, but there were even a few older (think tween/early teens) also hanging out there, sitting, gossiping, and occasionally burying their heads into the corn.  Tweens are weird.
Our boy was having a grand time flipping around, and jumping around.  Once in a while, he'd protest that corn was getting into his pants.  At the end of the day, he had quite a handful down there!

Food storage of a different sort

Andrew got these buckets from a customer a few months ago.  We had the idea that they might make good storage containers, food storage perhaps.  The boy thinks they're pretty neat drums, blocks, whatever.  The buckets are pretty big.  Big enough to fit half a boy, it turns out.

Chuckin Punkins

There's an event every fall in our town, out by the race track.  I've never gone, usually because I forget it's happening until the week after.  We remembered this year.

Teams create catapults, trebuchets, and sonic cannons, and compete by shooting pumpkins for distance.  There were also food trucks, booths selling stuff, and an area where artists were carving logs into statues.  Plus, like 4 bouncy castle attractions.  So we bought a bunch of tickets and let the kid go at them.  Fortunately, though the lines were long, the kids in the line were also into running, screaming, and growling as much as the boy is.

We also bought a cup of Hawaiian snow that the boy totally hogged.

Grape cheeks

After the sick bed

The boy has been enjoying going back to school.  So much so, that he got a fever that lasted on and off for 4 days.  I kept him at home, and as quiet as you can keep a newly turned 4 year old.  So after all the lazing around at home, I thought he could use some time at the park.

But instead of a nice hour at the park, the boy wanted to explore.  There's a culvert that runs next to the park which is a super fun place to explore.  It runs down under a major road and onto the other side where a large strip mall sits.

You see that that strip of grass at the top?  We eventually climbed up there to the strip mall and had to cross back over to the park.  He wanted to do the whole thing over again, but realized he was too tired and wanted to be carried back to the car.

Deep undercover deep asleep

Pre-school: a sequel

We went to the building the day before to help jog his memory.  It must have worked, because when we walked into his trailer this afternoon, he knew just what to do.  He was the first one to wash his hands, and the first to sit at the craft table.  He barely noticed when I walked out the door.  And then his speech therapist said he'd had a great day.

We didn't work a lot on academic stuff over the summer, though we did some.  But I did make sure we spent as much time as I could manage with other kids.  He enjoys other kids, but needs practice interacting, especially because of his delay.  I think all the work paid off.

A birthday whirlwind

A lot happens the month of August.  The boy and husband have birthdays within a week of each other, and the boy goes back to school.  Our baby is no longer a baby, but a 4 year old.  Yikes!

Hiding out on top of the flour bags at the Costco.

With his cookie from the Mexican bakery he got on his actual birthday.

Husband wanted some ice cream, and since it was a birthday whirlwind, we got some.  The boy wanted some "blue".

Robot themed cake for the birthday party with friends.

In the shirt I made him.  I thought it turned out really well.

We had the kids paint on large boxes to look like robots.  Husband I thought it was an amazing idea.  After all, the boy had fun painting the one we made together in the spring and still enjoys playing with it.  But the kids painting took about 5 minutes and mostly around the neck of the boxes, so you can't see in the picture.  But from what the parents said the day after, the boxes were a big hit.

Our big boy, returning books to the library, all by himself.

A walk in the woods

I needed to get out of town.  There was a conference going on downtown, lead by a particularly contentious group of people.  While we live a good distance away, I could feel the bad vibes all the way in the suburbs.  So, we went for a hike.  A little wilderness was very refreshing.

And the boy got new goggles.

And a new suit of armor.

And two new Bumblebees.  One for his birthday, one he got for Christmas, and the big one he earned by going potty.  He had a blank picture of Bumblebee and got to fill in a small section every time he produced something.  It look longer than I had thought it should, but we still made it!

Would you rather hike or dance? Both!

Boy's first sparkler.

We had a few people over for a cookout and we set off some fireworks.

And over the weekend, I decided to take the boys on a hike.  I like my nature in small discreet packages, and an hour or so in a easy-ish hike sounded fun.  The boy was having fun, sure, but stopping for a dance break was even funner.

Sleeping and eating

So last week, the boy and I went to boy scout day camp.  While I spent time with the pre-teen boys, the boy got to play at the mini camp.  It was too hot and too bright, and i hated almost every minute of it.  This little video is from the last day.  I'd promised him ice cream, and i needed a diet cola.  He was falling asleep in the drive through, but he was just awake enough to demand his treat.

The first day of camp, I helped out with the archery station.  All day in the direct sun was murderous.

And then just for fun: look at those long legs!

Another gold medal sport

The boy and I took lunch to Daddy, then played at the park for a while.  After artlessly into an iron bar and bloodying my nose, we found a sand volleyball court.  He's already a star long jumper.

The summer begins

The boy and his "boppycop", plus the one he stole from me.

Helping clean up some popcorn. He refused to help anything by hand, but was more than willing once the vacuum came out.

He got a scooter for Christmas, and hasn't been super into it.  Then last week, a trio of brothers came over for the afternoon with their scooters. He suddenly didn't mind practicing.

Success!!

Last day of pre-school

School is over and of course, it snowed because Denver is weird.

Today was a beautiful day.  We were going to do a bunch of stuff in the yard.  I was going to finally finish planting the last of the seedlings.   Husband and the boy built a set of stairs to make getting up the third level where the vegetable garden is to make hauling water (and hopefully vegetables) that much easier.

And then after lunch, hail came and just about destroyed all that I'd been working on since February.

I ran outside to cover as much as I could with pots, boxes, and scrap items from around the yard.  Once again, being a bit lazy comes in handy.  The hail got as big as a nickel or maybe larger.  It hurts when it hits.

Here's a pic of husband's back.  You can see all the red welts on his back.  I made him lay on the floor so the lighting would be better.  All of those hail stones chopped the leaves off any uncovered plants and smashed up any covered with a blanket.  

The school year is winding down.

As a treat, the preschool arranged a field trip to the zoo.  They have each kid a little book with pictures of animals, with the idea that the children would put a sticker on each animal they'd seen.  Outside the tiger exhibit (the tiger was being shy) there is a little platform for kids to play on.  The boy found another little boy that was as into growling, punching, and rablerousing as much as he is.

At the penguin tank.  Of all the animals we saw, I think the sea lion was his favorite.  We stood to watch it swim back and forth taking breathes for several minutes.

Andrew has scrounged several of these wooden boxes from a customer with the idea of turning them into benches or raised garden beds.  Of course, the boy thought they were a perfect spot to cozy into, being part cat.

And then in the suspenders our friend gave the boy a couple years ago.  He's finally big enough to fit in them.  He looked so cute, but would only wear them long enough to take pictures.

Happy mother's day

The boy lost one of his favorite toys.  Andrew and I had looked for a week, under things, over things, calling every store and library we'd been to (that was mostly me) and we still couldn't find it.  As a last weird resort, I decided we should look down the heat grate.  The grate comes off easily and the boy has taken it off several times.  I thought vacuuming down there would somehow get a large plastic toy out.  It didn't work, but the boy had fun anyway.

It was a cold rainy day.  Hopefully the the last of the season.  Beef stew sounded good.  The boy thought it sounded fun to play with. 

Now the fun stuff is out of the way, I've been thinking about something someone said a couple weeks ago, about mothers.  It wasn't complementary.

You know, my pregnancy was tumultuous.  I didn't know I could get pregnant, and so it was a surprise when it happened.  And then, between the statistics of miscarriages in the first trimester, and my geriatric age, and then his development issues, I spent about 6 months out of the 8 I was pregnant thinking I wouldn't be much longer.  And then the day he was born, it was because if he hadn't been, there "wouldn't be a baby to take home."  I had about an appointment every other week, and an ultra sound at almost all of them.  

Thankfully I had good insurance, access to good healthcare, a reasonable employer, general good health, and a consenting supportive marriage.  A lot of things many women don't.  Even so, it was difficult.  

And after all that, it still could have ended sadly.  Like if that last appointment had been 2 hours later, or if I'd missed it for some reason.

And it isn't a big leap for some people to make, from an unsuccessful pregnancy to "conspiring to murder a baby."  It's a heartless statement from a heartless man. 

Fun 2 ways

Fun on the Best Buy shelves.

Fun in the reeds by the creek in the park.

Easter 2019

The boy posing with his two current favorite cars in front of the macarons I made for dessert.  The large green ones were filled with watermelon buttercream, and the small pink ones are filled with buttercream I flavored with peach juice I boiled down to a syrup.  

On Sunday morning, we did a one kid egg hunt.  He had a blast.

See the new green Crocs?  A gift from Andrew's brother and sister-in-law.  He instantly loved them.

We mixed together chicken eggs and plastic eggs and some toys that would have gone into the basket.

It was a very sunny bright morning.

Look at all the lovely flowers that have come up with all the moisture we've gotten lately.

Look at my potato plants!!!  By far the biggest thing I've grown this year so far, though not even close to the first thing I planted.