Three!

Weston turned three yesterday and he is oh-so-proud of that fact. He has been waiting to be three for some time now because he has been promised that when he's three, he can go to preschool and take gymnastics classes. I daresay he's going to hold us to those promises!

He is the most lovey kid, frequently telling me, "Mama, you are the best mama in the world," or "You are my favorite girl, Mama." Of course, he yells, "You are a very bad mama," with equal frequency, so it might just be that he's a child of the moment and he feels everything intensely. He gives pretty terrific--albeit slobbery--hugs and kisses and when he's feeling happy, which is most of the time, he's a lot of fun to be around. When he's feeling unhappy, he says everything with a whine attached to it and insists on having everything Just So and sometimes, he tries to bite your face off. That part is less fun.

He likes to do everything that his big brother does and is getting to the point where he can have discussions with Luke about whether a certain picture depicts a lemon shark or a nurse shark. (Luke says things like, "It's a lemon shark because it has x, y, and z characteristics." Weston says things like, "It's a nurse shark because one day, I saw a nurse shark in the ocean and it was on a wave and it chomped the people on the wave and then, it went home and it was a mama shark and the baby sharks were there and hey, Luke, Luke, Luke, do you remember, hey, Luke, do you remember when we went to the zoo?" And really, you can't refute that. How can you?)

He is currently convinced that all loud sounds are dinosaurs roaring and while he loves dinosaurs in concept, the potential reality of them is more than he can bear. His favorite colors are pink and green and sometimes orange and his current interests are mermaids, construction trucks, ponies (especially of the My Little Pony variety,) the aforementioned dinosaurs, and ferocious animals. He always asks for a taste of whatever we're drinking and his usual comment upon receiving that taste is, "Mmm, it tastes like strawberry jam!" (I do not think the child has ever tasted strawberry jam.)

He still tends to glare at people who dare try to engage him in public and balks at the idea of other kids being at places like camp and the park and his birthday party, but he is starting to play with those other kids after a few minutes instead of continuing to glare at them for two solid hours. We went to the park this morning and there were a bunch of kids building a river and after about 15 minutes of playing with them, he very proudly came over to me and announced that, "I played with that other boy who is taller than my size and who isn't Luke!" Actually, I think the "taller than his size" might be the key point here, since he still considers smaller kids babies--a fact that does not bode well for preschool, since he's pretty big and tall for his age.

He certainly makes our lives richer and more entertaining and although three isn't my favorite age, I'm pretty excited to see how he develops over the course of this year. No matter what, this kid knows how to keep life interesting!

Birds of a Feather and One Large Cat

Here are some pictures of our trip to the DC Zoo.

This picture could be titled, "Luke's Favorites at Age 5." Cheetah? Check. Eagle on his shirt? Hard to see in the picture, but check. If only there was a T-Rex peeking out from one of those trees, it would be his dream come true.

And this picture would simply be called, "Weston." I told him to do something he didn't want to do, so he just hid his face behind the Eagle and pretended not to hear me. Because of course he did.

And as long as we're naming pictures, this one would be called, "Elusive: The Search For A Group Picture." There I am, grinning away for the camera and one kid is making a Calvin face and the other is licking the eagle's head. The eagle is not amused.

This peacock was not the slightest bit bothered by our loud, rowdy selves. Weston wanted to bring it home with us. He almost tackled the next set of people who went to go look at it because, "That's our peacock! They need to get their own peacock because that peacock is OURS!" Luckily, I have become quite proficient at catching that child midair as he heads off to attack some unsuspecting stranger over some imagined slight. (Why is Luke making the weirdest faces in this set of pictures?)

 

This is the Greater Rhea. I wanted to bring it home. It was way back in its shelter when Weston bumped his head on a railing near the fence and it came all the way out in the hot sun to check on him when he started wailing. He was every bit as suspicious of the Greater Rhea as he had been of the large fish in the aquarium, so he refused to look at the camera while that bird was anywhere near him.

 

Luke and I thought this was the funniest sign ever. The aggressive crane is actually back there, but hard to see. It ran around with its wings outstretched and it really did look pretty aggressive. For about an hour after seeing this crane, Luke pretended that he was an aggressive crane and Weston and my step-father were things that aggressive cranes ate.  

Left Out

Today was Luke's first dentist visit. He wasn't thrilled about it beforehand, but when we got to the exam room and he realized that he'd get to sit in a fancy chair and watch cartoons the whole time, he got on board with the plan. The biggest hurdle the dental hygienists faced was getting him to keep his mouth open because he was so hypnotized by the tv that he forgot there were people with their fingers in his mouth.

Weston was hugely jealous of the whole deal. The chair, the TV, the goody bag at the end, all of it. So much so that halfway into the visit, he decided that he needed to get his teeth cleaned, too.

Weston to hygienist: Hey. Hey! I need you brush my teeth in that chair. I can watch that movie, too.
Hygienist: Aww, he's so cute.
Weston: No, I am not cute. My teeth are really dirty and they're reddish-brownish. There are orange pieces stuck in there and I need to brush them. And I want a bouncy ball for my present in my bag, ok?

Leave it to my kid to throw a fit at the dentist's office...because he was denied a tooth cleaning.

Bargaining

Luke's idea of a good deal...
Luke: When I have $5, I want to go back to Learning Express to get more dinosaurs.
Me: Ok, but don't forget, you have to replace that fan of Weston's that you broke first.
Luke: Oh, yeah. How about I can get a dollar when I fold my clothes and a quarter when I fold Weston's clothes?
Me: Sure.

{Aside: He already gets a dollar for each load of his laundry that he folds and puts away. The only amendment was his offer to fold Weston's for the low, low rate of a quarter per load.}


Weston's idea of a good deal...
Weston: I want to fold clothes, too.
Me: Ok. Here's a washcloth.
Weston: *Folds and puts away washcloth.* Where are my cents?
Me: Your cents? You folded one washcloth!
Weston: Yes. One washcloth is two dimes.

Meandering

I cleaned out the kids' closet today. Switched their dressers around to make room for Luke's new school uniform, which he'll be wearing in just two weeks, when he begins Kindergarten.

As I was cleaning out some of the bins in there, I came across relics from the past five years. Baby carriers, diapers that were outgrown before they were ever used, bibs still stained orange from sweet potatoes. I put away some of Luke's clothes from the past two years--clothes that Weston hasn't grown into quite yet--and pictured Luke as he looked in them, wished I could turn the clock back, just for a minute.

And yet, there's this: a couple of days ago, when I needed to run an errand, Luke suggested that I could leave him and Weston with OtherBoy's mother, I pointed out that she's currently quite busy looking after OtherBoy and his new baby brother. Luke considered this, and then asked, "Mama, when Weston was a baby, was it that much work for you, too? Or was it even harder because I was just two when Weston was a baby?"

I blinked and he's gone from being the baby whose sleepy weight I can still remember bearing in those carriers to an insightful, empathetic child. When did this happen?

Touristing

 We went to visit my mom and step-dad near DC for a week and for the first time, I was able to do things in the city with both kids by myself. They're old enough to sit still and follow directions and be somewhat reasonable. It hit me at some point during that trip that I no longer have a baby or even a toddler--I have a preschooler and a soon-to-be kindergartner. And it was a grand realization! Oh, the freedom of not-babies.

On the train on the way to the city. We managed the transit trains by ourselves during rush hour and no one got lost, no one ran onto the train tracks, and perhaps most importantly, no one peed in their pants. (One of them did, however, spend some time yelling that I was a, "Bad Mama!" because I made him go to the bathroom. Because clearly.)

  

 There was a very treacherous splash pad near the Grands' home, so of course, we went. They had a great time until they both slipped on the wet tile and bumped their heads. (All's well that ends well and we ended with Irish food and ice cream, which is pretty much the definition of ending well.)

 

 

The aforementioned ice cream...

  

We went to this park with interesting, amazing climbing structures and my kids spent their time running down a hill and picking wild flowers. No big. But then, as we were leaving, they discovered these balls and had to climb every single one they saw. 

 

 

The one place they asked to go before we even left home was the aquarium in Baltimore, so we did. Luke loved every minute of it, but Weston wasn't altogether convinced that they fish would stay inside the tanks. He was pretty sure that the scarier ones might swim right out and eat him. Every time a big fish swam toward him, he yelled, "It's going to chomp me, it's going to chomp me!" He was less than thrilled at being asked to sit beside a big fish for a picture, as you can see:

Luke was much more willing:

I don't remember for sure, but I think this tank probably had a sting ray in it. Nothing else would have put that look of joy on Luke's face.

 

Bug Camp

Oh, my, it's been a long time since I've been here! I've been taking and saving pictures to post, but haven't made it over here to actually post them. Perhaps I'll get to work on that...

...But in the meantime, let me tell you about our week. Both kids are in summer camp this week. It's Weston's first experience with this kind of group experience and I was unsure how he'd handle the separation. Turns out, he couldn't care less. The very first morning, when I went to drop them off, they both went off to play and barely turned back to say good-bye to me. Since then, every afternoon, when I've gone to pick them up, Weston has gotten increasingly irate about having to leave. On Monday, he told me it wasn't a long enough time. On Tuesday, he told me to leave and come back on Saturday. On Wednesday, I had to carry him out kicking and screaming. Today, he tried to bite me and succeeded in head-butting me as I was carrying him out (kicking and screaming once again.) I do believe the child will enjoy preschool in September.

Since they've both been away, I've had four glorious hours by myself each day. On Monday, I did every single thing on my list of Things To Do For The Week. And then, I looked at the clock and it was 10:38. I forgot how easy it is to make phone calls and fill out paperwork when you don't have to stop every 7 seconds to escort someone to the bathroom or fill a water cup or find a snack or break up a fight or comfort a crying child. On Tuesday, I took a nap with the dog. Not even gonna lie. On Wednesday, I had brunch with a friend, went to the DMV (where I was told to come back when their computers were working,) and spent some time at the library. Today, I went to a La Leche League meeting, which is an odd place to be when you don't have a nursing baby anymore, but an even odder place to be when you don't have any children with you at all. (I got over it. I sat. I listened. I talked. I didn't have to break up fights. Good times!) Tomorrow, I'm going to stop at Starbucks and then enjoy a relaxing morning at the DMV. Funny how your idea of relaxation changes over time, isn't it?

Stay tuned for pictures from the past few weeks!