Disappointment, in the Form of Cultured Coconut and Dance Rooms

We went to Trader Joe's after dropping Luke off at school yesterday. Trader Joe's is always on my need-to-go-to list because it's the only place around here that has the coconut milk "yogurt" that Weston eats (will this child ever outgrow his dairy intolerance?!) but I put it off as long as possible because it's pretty far from home. As such, when we do finally get a chance to go there, I spend an obscene amount of time looking at everything. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot...

Weston: We at store now?
Me: Yes, we are.
Weston: What we do at store?
Me: We're going to buy some chicken and some Lara bars and some yogurt.
Weston: Weston yogurt?
Me: Yes.
Weston: YUUUUMMM! I eat Weston yogurt at store?
Me: No, we have to buy it and take it home first.
Weston: Whhhyyyyy?
Me: They don't like for us to eat things before we buy them.
Weston: Awwww.

Five minutes later, as we were browsing the aisles...
Weston: Me eat Weston yogurt now?
Me: Have we paid for it yet?
Weston: No.
Me: Then no.
Weston: Awwwwww.

Five minutes later, still browsing the aisles...
Weston: Mama! Buy Weston yogurt now! Me eat it in the car.
Me: I don't think so.
Weston: Whhyyyy?
Me: Because you need a spoon to eat yogurt.
Weston: A spoon?
Me: Yes. And where are the spoons?
Weston: In our house.
Me: So we'll be eating the yogurt once we get to our house.
Weston: Awwwwww.

When we went to pick Luke up later (after our yogurt snack, of course)...
Weston, peeking into the dance room at preschool: Mama, what this is?
Me: That's the dance room. It's where the big boys and girls dance.
Weston, starting to bounce up and down: Me dance?
Me: No, it's just for the children who go to school here. Would you like to dance at home?
Weston: No. Dance at school.
Me: Next year, you can dance at school.
Weston: Whhhyyy?
Me: Because you have to be three years old to come to school here.
Weston: I three years old?
Me: No, you're two.
Weston: Awwwwww.

Back to School

On Monday, Luke's preschool had a transition day, which meant that he had a slightly shortened day and I got to go with him while Weston got some solo time with McMoose. Last year, Luke started school in the middle of the year, so we didn't get to see all the beginning of the year stuff that happened. This year, I'm getting to experience it and I admit that I was skeptical about the logistics of transition day at first. I was worried that the children with stay-at-home parents would get to come and the ones with working parents would not--but as it turned out, all the kids in Luke's class came and it was a lovely, sweet way to re-introduce the kids to preschool. Plus, have you tried asking a four-year-old what went on at school? At least at our house, those conversations go something like this:

Me: How was your day?

Luke: Good.

Me: Did you do anything fun?

Luke: Yes.

Me: ...Would you like to tell me about it?

Luke: I went to school.

Me: ...Yes, I realize. What did you do there?

Luke: I'm not going to tell you.

Me: Right. Any new friends?

Luke: Yes. 

Me: Who? 

Luke: Kids at my school.

Me: Do they happen to have names?

Luke: I think so. 

Me: Do you know any of these names?

Luke: Well...I just know my own name because it's Luke.

Here are some pictures from today (his first full day of school...because I forgot to take them on Monday.)

 

 

Whobody?

Weston's current favorite word is "whobody." For example...

Weston: Whobody bamming with a hammer?
Me: I think it's our neighbor.

Weston: Whobody drinked Weston's water?
Me: You did.
Weston: No me did it. You did it.

Weston: Whobody riding his bike?
Me: I have no idea who that is.
Weston: That a people riding his bike on road. See people?
Me: Yes, I do see the person.
Weston: Noooo! It not a person! It a people!

I know that someday in the not-too-distant future, he'll learn to say, "who," and it will be a sad day when he does. Until then, I am fully encouraging and enjoying the use of "whobody."

Busy

Weston: Hey, Yuke-bear.
Luke: I'm busy.
Weston: Hey, Yuke-bear!
Luke: No, I'm busy.
Weston: HEY, YUKE-BEAR!
Luke: I am busy.
Weston: Heyyo, Busy!

Paint

At what point, I wonder, does painting no longer turn into a whole-body experience?

Addicted

This week, Luke and I have been reading Little House in the Big Woods and I'm at least as interested in the story as he is. We sneak in a chapter in the morning, maybe another before quiet time, and a couple more before bed and each time we get to the end of a chapter, we have a conversation that goes something like this:

Me: So that's the end of that chapter.
Luke: Yup. It sure is.
Me: Yup.
Luke: So...
Me: So...
Luke: Well...
Me: Yeah...
Luke: Maybe we should...
Me: Read another chapter?
Luke: Yes! I love that idea!
Me: Ok, me too! Let's do it.

We end up feeling quite like co-conspirators and instead of our usual 5 or 10 minutes of reading together, we end up reading for an hour. We are living up this last week of summer break.

Week-long Marathon

At the beginning of this summer, Luke sat down and made a bucket list of things that he wanted to do this summer. While I didn't write down my list, I did have one and it was pretty easy to remember because it went something like this:

(1) Potty train Weston
(2) Do the things on Luke's list.

So early on, we half-heartedly talked about the potty and tried to get into the habit of getting Weston to use it, but in case you didn't know, there's just so much fun to be had during the summer! And the idea of staying home for several consecutive days and really working on these skills with him was...not appealing. So after a two or three days of very casual attempts, I said, "Oh, I'll do it in a month." And a month later, there was camp and there were beach trips and I said, "Oh, I'll do it closer to his birthday." Then, his birthday came and went and all of a sudden, I found myself very close to running out of "summer." (Why must it be during the summer, you might ask. After all, isn't the benefit of being a stay-at-home mom that you don't have to structure these things around someone else's schedule? Well, yes. But also, no. Because in about 10 days, our entire lives will revolve around preschool. I don't even understand it.)

So I decided that this was the week. I cleared 90% of the things off our schedule so we could do this thing. And this? This week that just passed? Has been maybe the longest week of my life. It didn't help that both kids have had upset stomachs this week. (Upset stomachs. During potty training week, for crying out loud. Talk about trial by fire!) Didn't help that Weston has taken to waking up at the very crack of dawn since moving into Luke's room. Really, really didn't help that I couldn't run out and get some tea at Starbucks anytime I wanted because--potty training! But we seem to have made it through to the other side (knock on wood, cross my fingers, whatever.) The idea of being done with daytime diapers is thrilling.