Field Trip

Today Alex's preschool class had a field trip. They went to the dentist. Alex is very frightened of the dentist.

When I dropped him off at preschool, his teacher said, "Kathryn, I have enough parents to drive, you don't need to come."Alex interrupted, "Mommy, you can come if you want to though."

I agreed to attend the field trip.

Alex told the hygentist all about his belt, "You have to be a big kid to wear a belt."

He was first to ride the dental chair up and down.

He let her spray the air on his hand and touch the suction to the tip of his finger.

I didn't quite know why he needed me there.

Alex discovered there was nothing to fear. No one looked at his teeth or poked at his mouth and as we left, he said, "Wow Mommy, that was sure a fun fee-ild trip. I can't wait to tell Daddy all about it."

Andy also enjoyed the field trip -- he spent the whole time trying to knock off the dental utensils and charged down the hall way looking for an escape hatch upon snatching a dental mirror.

"Ddy"

When Mark comes home, Andy fast walks (arms up in touchdown pose) to Mark calling out, "Ddy" as he covers the ground. Its adorable.

Nigh-Nigh

We sing the nigh-nigh song at bedtime -- Alex's & Andy's. Soon both will be hitting the hay at the same time. Soon. Andy goes to bed at about 10:30, Alex at 9:00.

FYI, (Carolyn and my parents know the words and the tune) the song is below.

"It's nigh-nigh time,
It's nigh-nigh time,
It's nigh-nigh time for __________" (fill in appropriate name)

This song also works for bathy time and nappy time and on the rare occasion dinner time.

So at nigh-nigh time, Andy has taken to waving good-bye to his loved ones -- five little fingers, opening and closing together in harmony with doe eyes pleading to first his father and then his mother.

Last night, he broke my heart, waving to me as he cried to be held. Moments after closing his door though he was silent (and sleeping I hope).

A boy and his scooter 

A bottle of Coca-Cola and a prankster trying to get his big brother with the hat. 

From our early Christmas with the Averys -- a Christmas kiss from Andy to a rather reluctant Alex. 

First birthday cake & candle -- ice cream! Um, Um, good. 

Mickey Mouse theme! 

Andy's birthday present. 

Andy's new fire truck 

Alex's new bike 

Christmas bath -- too lazy to fill the tub! 

Christmas morning 2005 -- I don't know why the picture is sideways! 

Yesterday, my heart skipped a beat. Alex is taking care of his class frog, named Butterfly all weekend. Thank God, its not a real frog. Just a stuffed animal. I'm sure it would have died overnight.

Alex takes his caregiving duties quite seriously, the poor frog isn't alone for a minute.

So, yesterday, while dragging Butterfly around, Alex pronounced, "I'm going on a date."

I paused, gulped, "With who?"

"You, Mommy. You silly. I'm taking you on a date."

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) Yes, I was delighted to hear the news.

Today, we had our date -- our lunch date.

Alex chose a lively Irish place not far from home, "Old McDonalds."

He ditched me upon ordering to play in the playplace. He reappeared when the food was ready and proceed to educate me on the important dating rules.

1. You have to be very, extra nice to you date.

2. Your date has to be very, extra nice to you.

3. That's about it.

After lunch, I offered to take him to Cold Stone for ice cream. He was very agreeable. Though, he was concerned about the amount of ice cream he'd received. He was given "way too much ice cream."

I suggested he save some for later.

"Wow, Mommy you're really smart. Is that why you're a mommy?"

Yes, it was a splendid date.

Chess

Alex (as some of you know) is an avid game player. He likes all games -- Sorry, SkipBo Jr, Uno, Candyland, Monopoly Jr, Connect Four, Tiddly Winks, Bino, etc. You name it, he'll play it.

So, this afternoon, during "Alex & Mommy Time," it was no surprise to hear he wanted to play a game. Unfortunately, he chose my least favorite game in all the world -- CHESS!

He remembered my saying that I didn't like it but threw some of my words at me, "Mommy, maybe if you try it again, you'll like it."

Forced to play, I mentally prepared myself for a boring hour. Please remember (no matter what you read below) the following: I am smarter than the average bear; I am a genius; I am not a stupid idiot.

Alex set up the board in two licks of a cat's tail and told me to move. I tried to remember back (about 15 years, I'm not kidding when I say I hate chess) to the last time I played.

I made my move.

Alex made his move.

On his third move, he proclaimed, "Checkmate" and that was the end of game one.

Game two began with my realizing I was playing against a formidible foe. I was more careful, the game dragged on. Alex focusing entirely on capturing my king and forgetting entirely to protect his. Finally, after all I had left were a castle, three pawns, and a bishop, the kid won.

I am not playing chess again.

Walking tall

Andy has discovered walking!

The right foot rises to near his thigh but the kid gets around. He can (on his own) manage to cross rooms end to end. He can even walk baby fast!

At the bank, he wanted to play chase and 'took off,' quickening his pace and giggling. I swooped him up in three steps but he thought he was getting around quite well.

Yes & No

Andy is a very smart little person. He understands nearly every spoken word and communicates eloquently.

Examples:

1. "Andy, are you thirsty?" Crying, reaching at the refridgerator on his knees with one arm outstretched, and shaking his head, "No."

2. I make up a sippy cup of milk. More crying, reaching toward the sippy cup and more head shaking, "No."

3. "Here's a sippy cup. Do you want the milk?" More head shaking, "No," as he grabs the cup from my hands and drinks with vigorous zeal.

Obvious, he understands everything!

Belly

Alex's best friend, Hannah and her sister, Hailey came over for a play date. Along with their very pregnant mother, Tina (due with a boy, Brayden, in less than 3 weeks) and her nephew, Mason, a couple months older than Andy.

So we had a fairly full house. The babies as usual found each other extremely amusing. Alex questioned Tina mildly about her baby and finally, asked the burning question placed conveniently on his Kellogg's Nascar race car. "Got milk?"

First he asked me, "Mommy, Got milk?"

"No."

"Yes, you do in your breast, breast milk, silly."

"No, I don't nurse any more, so I don't have any milk."

"Ok. (Pause) Tina, got milk in your breast?"

"No, but I will after the baby is born."

"Well, I think you do now, they look bigger."

I step in red faced and horribly embrassed, "Alex, its not polite to talk about people's breasts, their size, what may come out of them, or any other questions you have about them. They are private. We can talk about it later."

"But..."

"No buts."

"Its just..."

"That's the same as a but, go play."

Sign, long and over drawn, "Ok."

After they left, "Mommy do you have a baby in your belly?"

Don't you just love 'um.

Hot dogs

My boys are hot dog crazy right now.

Andy likes his cut up into bite sized pieces with no sauce or bread.

Alex likes his cut up, on white or wheat bread, and always with ketchup. Lately, he's been experimenting, toasted and butter bread with hotdog and ketchup. Um, Um, good.

and we're walking...

Imagine a tour guide, "And we're walking, and we're walking, etc."

Now, imagine a mini-man standing just 2 feet tall, balance not quite there, attempting to casual saunter through a room or two of people.

Picture Andy wearing his hooded Superman sweat suit and red socks. He took a stroll through our library, holding on to one of my hands of course.

He walked all the way through the children's section to the check out counter, stopping twice in fits of giggles. He was immeasurably proud of his achievement -- as were Alex and I. Alex immediately wanted Andy to try it holding his hand. I vetoed that idea.

Andy's other recent achievements include:

...climbing on top of the coffee table and standing up.

...fitting himself between the futon mattress and arm rail (extremely dangerous and gets him in trouble each time).

...with brute force pushing open Alex's bedroom door (only when not closed properly).

...sliding off of the master bed and onto the floor.

...can say "Ma, Momma, Mom" with alarming clarity.

...has the smarts to manipulate his mother with such words.

Momma's littlest helper

I, as usual, have laundry to do. Today, while Alex was at preschool, Andy was following my every move. Everywhere I went, he went.

So upon enter the laundry room, he placed himself square infront of the open dryer. There he took out mini-socks and would put them in my arms. After emptying the dryer, it was time to put the stuff in the washer into the dryer.

This was absolutely the most fun Andy has experienced in his handful months here on earth. He took each item from my hand and 'tossed' it into the dryer. Sort of a baby toss, a deliberate placement that resulted in many items finding there way onto the floor -- much to his amusement.

Everytime an item landed on the floor he burst into hysterics. Each time, he would bend down, pick it up and drop it back on the floor to continue the giggle fest.

After many repeat performances Andy lost interest and picked up two or three items at a time, put them in the dryer and got down on all fours. The next thing I knew, wet wash cloth in hand (perhaps a sovineur of the merriment) he was headed out.

I retrieved the wash cloth and upset Andy. He then followed me back into the laundry room, took the wash cloth out of the dryer, and placed it on the other side. Andy looked at me and smiled, requested to be held and watched me work wonders by turning the machine on.

Sick kids

Andy is finally completely recovered from his ailment -- flu like virus.

Alex now has the same ailment -- fever, nasuated, etc. Poor kid! Hopefully, Alex will feel better tomorrow -- it took Andy nearly a week!

Spy secrets

Alex received quite a lot of spy gear/equipment for his birthday and Christmas. A good thing -- the kid loves spies, especially kid spies (Cody Banks 1 & 2, Spy Kids 1, 2, &3, and even Catch that Kid).

So one day not long ago, I noticed Alex. How could I not?

He was wearing his spy night vision goggles, his spy tool belt, talking into his voice distorter, and flipping with great florish through my most recent Victoria's Secret catalog. Yes, Alex was flipping through a catalog devoted to the sale of sexy women's lingerie, an assortment of half naked, provocatively posed supermodels.

Why would he be doing this? No, he's not quite that curious a five year old.

The word secret. Alex can read some words like secret. Hence the Victoria's Secret catalog was not a mailing for me to order items to look ridiculous in, but in reality, a manual. A manual of spy secrets. A very important for authorized eyes only secret collection of instructions for proper spy technique.

The dilema: How to dispose of secret spy manual without upsetting Agent Alex Devlin, a member of the impressive C.A.I. not to be confused with the C.I.A.

Its still here. I'm planning on throwing it in the outside garbage while he's at preschool on Monday.

Alex's prechool activity

Today was WHITE (as in the color of snow, ice cream, milk, paper, etc.) day. The kiddies were supposed to wear the color of the day -- we forgot! Luckily, his jean's had white threading.

For their art project, they used white paint to paint their polar bears and blue paint to paint the water. Alex thought the blue was more fun as he couldn't tell the difference between the paint & the paper. Earlier, he had told me the white paint was imaginary. I think he meant he couldn't see it on the paper as there's white paint on him, I'm now sure it wasn't imaginary.

Andy's a wee bit sick

Andy had a stomach flu virus on Monday. The effects had seemed to mosty disappear yesterday. Today alas, he is not a well baby. The poor kid just wants to be held and needs diaper changes with a frequency not even a newborn requires. My hands a raw from all the hand washing.

Cutey 

Alex's band-aid covers his bump! 

ouch

When Mark arrived home from work today. I asked Alex to share with us the story of the yellow mitten -- preschool homework to be done with whole family.

I read and Alex acted out the story out with his yellow mitten and creatures. Then it was Mark's turn to read and Alex would again act out the story. As Alex turned to take the creatures out of the mitten. I noticed a bump (a goose egg) and hair stuck to the blooded bump on his head.

"Alex what happened to your head?!"

"Nothing." Fear passed across his eyes.

"How'd you get that bump and that blood on your head?"

"I don't have any bump or blood. Nothing happened."

Mark tries, "Alex, you won't be in trouble just tell us what happened."

"I was swinging my soccer metal thing (his medal from soccer last year) around and it hit me in the head. And then I touched my head and there was blood so I got my washcloth and wiped it off."

I was so relived I nearly giggled. "When did you do this?"

"This morning." In Alex's mind, 'morning' is any time the sun is out -- no idea when it happened. Probably when he was watching "Hot Wheels World Race" and I was holding Andy to get him to take a nap.

Mark and Alex cleaned it and put Neosporin on it and I photgraphed it.

New Year

Mark, Alex, and I rang in the new year with a kiss each, a glass of champagne (sip for Alex), and watch the timeless ball dropping event at Times Square.

Alex was afraid it would be a huge ball that would (literally) drop onto the people below. He felt better after watching it and explained, "The ball is attached to a crane with 2 cables that lower it slowly."