"I'm the Birthday Boy"

Wow! My boy is four! And he reminds me of this fact everyday. He was so excited that friends and relatives were coming to his birthday party, and he was excited about presents and swim party!

We had a John Deere themed party on his actual birthday. My friend Jennifer even made the cake for us, and it was perfect. I rented the clubhouse in the neighborhood so we could hang out, eat cake and swim afterward. It ended up being a perfect day, so we were blessed.

He invited some friends from his new school plus several family friends. There were 7 kids total, two friends of mine from my old work, plus his granddaddy and Bernice, Aunt Kelly, Zachary, my mom and my sister. It was a fun day.

We had a pinata where every child got three hits to the pinata. We had to enlist cousin Zachary, he's 11, to break that sucker open. It was tough! But the candy fell and it was every man for himself.

G was itching to open his presents. He came up to me and said, "I'm the birthday boy, and I say we get to open presents now." Wow. :) But he was able to wait until we got home.

After everyone left, Aunt Kelly, Zachary and the three of us had sushi. Not very kid friendly, but he was pretty eager to try several things.

All in all, we had a fantastic day and we are looking forward to more. Next up, I'll post a little yearly recap I like to do for him.

Art

I wanted to post his art from last week. I am so proud. He has such an imagination and explained everything to me. Starting from the bottom right:

A picture of him
A picture of me (very small, so I must be a super model)
A submarine
A house
More houses (at the top in red)
An airplane
And his name (he is getting better at it every time he writes it)

And as for the little dots all over the middle of the page???
He said, "Those are snow bear tracks."

And you know my name is Simon, and I like to do drawrings...

I have a boy's boy, which will probably mean I will have a man's man. He has such an engineering geared mind. He's never been interested in coloring or even sitting still for that matter, unless he's taking something apart. I was soooo happy when my little boy's mind is starting to show interest in writing and drawing. He handed this to me the other night, and you would have thought he drew the Mona Lisa!

It was so cute how he described every piece to me, so I had to label it for prosperity. Of course the following night the interest was gone, and he was off taking something apart or putting it back together. :) I will take what I can get.

Music to Tame the Savage Beast

On Memorial Day, G and I invited our friends to see a concert with us at the Dallas Arboretum. The artist's name is Eddie Coker. He's apparently a popular performer all over the country but especially in the area. We braved the heat and found some shade under a nearby tree. The performer was really good. Lots of fun and very interactive with the kids. I should have known better to get the boys together. G and Graham had NO interest in listening to the concert. They would rather run in circles chasing each other in a nearby open area (in the sun.) They loved it though. Run free children!

After the concert, we were invited to their neighborhood pool to swim. Opening weekend equals mass chaos. It was fun though. We got home around bedtime. He was asleep in the car, of course. I took him inside, changed his clothes, and tucked him into bed. Ten minutes later, he was up. Oh no! Will he be up all night? He came downstairs and sat in my lap for a few minutes, got up and said, "Good night mommy. I'm going to bed." That was it. What a big boy.

Giving him some culture

At Montessori they have extra classes you can add in the afternoon like art, music, Spanish, gymnastics, etc. You can take as many as you want to pay for. We decided that one per semester is enough. We tried Gym-jitsu last semester, and this semester he is going to try music. The music teacher's credentials are impressive to say the least. She's been a composer for the children's TV show Barney, studied at the London Conservatory, and the list goes on and on. I think he'll have fun at the very least, plus you've seen his Elvis on the drum skills.

Then a lady in our neighborhood is offering a six week mommy and me art class, which is cheaper than the art class at school. I thought we could try it. It starts in a couple of weeks.

And today I signed him up for Spring Soccer. He really wants to play again. It remains to be seen if Coach Joe will volunteer again. I wrote him a nice email asking him to return. :) Soccer starts in March and runs through June with all the games on Saturday morning. That makes it easy on mommy.

He's all shook up, uh huh!

It's a busy day, but here's a post of my little king on the way to school this morning. What a little ham!! More later.

Brilliant

After daddy and I have been working with him off and on for several weeks, he finally got it! G finally knows my cell phone number! In Dallas we have to know the area code as well, which makes for a really long number to memorize, but he knows the entire thing, and on Saturday night he and I worked on our address and city. So in case he ever gets separated from us he knows his entire name, my name, my cell number and our address and city. Now will he tell someone this and remember this under pressure? We shall see... :) Sometimes we call him a silly name and he's started calling himself his silly name, I just hope he doesn't tell someone that. Well, enough of that. I just hope he never gets lost!!

A birthday letter to my G Monster

G,

Your birthday has come and gone and so has my little baby boy. "Where'd it go?" As you used to say. You have grown so big, and you are so smart.

Of course I remember the day you were born and how your cry was so "different" and sounded like you were struggling that it scared the nurses. You have been that way ever since - in a good way though. You constantly ask questions and are so curious about our world. You are so full of life and energy with your big smile and intense imagination. Unfortunately you understand death and loss, but you are so strong. You channel your papaw in your actions and choices and sometimes it takes my breath away - the boots, the toothpick. I don't even know if you realize what you are doing, he must be with you in spirit. It's so nice to see. Let's just hope his stubbornness isn't in there! :)

You are already concerned about sick animals, people and "narc" on the litterbugs on the highway. I see your concern for the world around us. You catch mommy when she's not looking, moving too fast and let me know when I forget something. You like order and like your bed made just right when you are in it, but if you drop something or make a mess you make sure to tell me that "it's okay." You are learning how to work me and wrap me around your finger. Sometimes it doesn't work, but of course there are times that it is just too cute to pass up.

You started a new school this year and are adapting well. I am so proud of you. You are mommy's little buddy, and I am excited about the fun times and things we will learn in the year to come!

Love,
Mommy

G is 3!

So after all of the parties, presents, and soccer games my little boy is finally three years old. We had a quiet night with my sister (meme), another couple and their nineteen month old (E). It was a nice evening. I cooked a fancy dinner and what three year old dinner couldn't be complete without sangria! G had a great day and was pooped. Patches the cat has taken to love G and sleeps with him most nights. They are quite a pair. So sweet!

Celebration of Life

At G's Montessori, they would like at least one parent to come for their birthday and bring a snack or lunch (totally optional) and also bring a poster or scrapbook with 4 pictures per year showing the seasons of each year of their life. So for G, I would need 12 photos. Of course having a graphic design background, he couldn't have an ordinary poster, so I have attached his. After we had his Celebration, the teachers said it was perfect and they asked if we could leave his to show the other parents as an example. :)

The Celebration was cute. We talked about his life over the past three years in conjunction with the months of the year and how the earth travels around the sun with the class. He loved having mommy in class with him. Meme got to come with us too so that was special. Then we passed out fruit and blueberry muffins. It was a nice day.

G's early birthday!

We had an early birthday party with the family at Incredible Pizza. It has everything. Pizza, salad, dessert, games, go-karts, mini-golf, bowling, and LOTS of people. It was fun though.

G had a BLAST! He got to see all of his immediate family including Mamaw, Meme, Granddaddy, Bernice, Uncle Brian, Aunt Kelly, and Zachary. He ate his requested strawberry cupcakes with vanilla icing that Meme made for him (after a mommy cooking fiasco that I can post later). We had tractor hats and poppers as you can see from the pics. G now understands what this birthday thing is all about. He received the most thoughtful presents including:

A scooter from mamaw
John Deere tractor with wagon from meme
Soccer Goal from granddaddy and Bernice
Books and puzzles from AK, UB and Zachary
Space Shuttle kit from Mommy and Daddy

His school will have a Celebration of Life for G on Friday. I am taking a requested "healthy" snack and bringing photos of G - four per year per season of his life. I'll do a poster or something graphically delicious, of course! Meme will get to come down for the weekend and come with me that day. That will be a treat. She'll get to see his school and hopefully take pics.

We are having a small celebration at our house on Saturday on his actual birthday. We are inviting our friend's, the M's, they will come over with their son, E. He's 18 mo. They are bringing a John Deere cake. It will be a surprise to G, and he will LOVE it!

Big boy school!

Do you think the teacher is ready for this? LOL! Today I dropped my big boy off for preschool. He told me last night that he was scared, which is understandable. I was nervous for him. I told him that it was okay to be scared. He would have so much fun and that before he knew it, I would be there to pick him up. The big change is that I will make him breakfast and lunch everyday. He is excited about that. We talk about what he wants me to pack for him in his lunch. Today he got peanut butter and jelly, of course! On our drive to school we talked about his teacher Miss Carol and all of the animals in his classroom, and all of his new friends, about how he'd get to go outside and play and then eat his sandwich. Then he'd get to use his hew John Deere tractor nap mat, play some more and then I'd pick him up. When I dropped him off, he walked right in, and never cried even though some of the other kids were crying. The kids were all sitting in the middle of the room on a mat. There were probably 30 or so. Miss Carol took us to his cubbie. We stacked his backpack and his nap mat in there, but when it came time to leave his lunch box, he said, "No, I want to hang on to it." Funny! He thought someone might eat his sandwich. Leave it to our kid to be obsessive with his food! I'll post an update when I pick him up tonight. I am positive he'll do great and am excited about all of the things he'll learn!

UPDATE: I picked him up tonight, and his teacher was busy with the after-school care. The director said no news was good news. He didn't take a nap, but he did eat his lunch. (of course!) He did tell me that he didn't eat his carrots, I was hoping I could sneak those in and he'd eat them by the power of peer pressure. The director said that would actually work as the year went on! :) G did say that he had a time out for screaming. The director looked confused and said she hadn't heard anything. I'll try to find out more. Let's hope we don't get kicked out the first week. Just kidding... I'm sure there are more stories to be told. Next Monday night is Parent's Night. We'll meet all of the other parents and learn what we are doing wrong, etc. It will be fun. I'm sure they'll want us to volunteer for lots of projects. You know how much extra time I have right now, so I'll just have to be careful as to how much I take on, but I do want to be involved.

Budding Photographer?

G wanted to take a pic of mommy. I had to help him push the button because the camera is wider than his little hands, but he aimed it. I thought he did a good job! Maybe he will take after his Aunt Megan and Aunt Kelly.



Here are a few random pics of G in his boots (of course!) and his cute frog overalls putting puzzles together. He didn't feel like getting his picture taken that day. He kept running away. Oh well!

That night we saw Kung Fu Panda again at the dollar movies and had ice cream. That was our little treat while daddy was out of town during the weekend.

"We're Going to the Forest!"

Griffin grabbed my hand last night and drug me into the bedroom. "Momma we're going to the forest. I've got my hat, my gwubs [gloves] and my coat."

Wow. What an imagination. I turned on the light to the bedroom and he put a stop to that.

"No, momma." "I'm going to the forest, there's monkeys and alligators. Let's go look at them." So we crawled to the edge of the bed and looked under the bed and talked about everything that we could see. We could also see cats (our pet cat, Jazzi.) He also had to give me my hat, gloves and coat so I could come to the jungle. Then he had to go potty, so he pretended to unbutton his coat and take off his hat so he could go, then he had to pretend to put it all back on when he was done. This exploring stuff is hard work.

I thought it was so hilariously cute that I had to call mom so he could tell her. He told her all about it. We were cracking up. What a cutie.

Cool is my middle name

When we are driving to work/school in the morning, the sun burns G's retinas. He has asked for sunglasses like mommy. Smart kid. Of course, mommy won't stand for Sponge Bob or Spiderman sunglasses, so G picked out these cool Top Gun shades. These were taken with my camera phone...

I also had to include the most adorable pic taken on the same day that I use as my phone screensaver. It makes my heart melt every time I see it.

It worked!

Do you think he's excited??

G is now a proud owner of a John Deere tractor bicycle. He is thrilled! We rode it around the neighborhood and taught him how to use the brakes. He did fall a couple of times, but he was ok. It's just part of it unfortunately. Brad kept saying, "Take a picture of him falling" for prosperity, but I just wanted to make sure he was ok. :)


Wow! What a big boy!

The bribe

So I know that NO ONE wants to hear all of the graphic details about how my child can use the potty, but we had a milestone yesterday. G left for school in his big boy underwear for the first time yesterday. I packed a backpack for him with lots of extra clothes. When I picked him up, he was wearing the same clothes. No accidents!! Hurray!!

To celebrate, I took him to McD's and played on the playground. We had a really good time.

Let's cross our fingers that today will be as successful.

I do have to admit that there is a bribe involved. We promised months ago after he rode a neighbor's 12" bike with training wheels, that we would get him a John Deere tractor bicycle when he became potty-trained. Plus, it will be good exercise for him instead of being on his riding tractor every night. We've talked it up so much, I was afraid the bribe was going to lose it's power. I even printed out pictures of it and taped them all over the house. He told me yesterday that he was getting closer to getting one. I said we'd go one week and see how he does. I guess I need to get ready to order it! (and knee pads and elbow pads...) :)

Big Boy!

So many things to discuss since my last post! G is now in a big boy bed. He has bunk beds, which reminds me that I need to take pics of him and his new accomplishment. He loves them and likes to sleep on the bottom bunk for the time being. He'll wake up on the weekends, grab a book and read.

He's putting together such big thoughts and phrases everyday. He told me last night, "I saw a crocodile at the aquarium." Which is true as we went this past Friday.

He's already a backseat driver. As we were rounding the corner he shouts out "Mommy! Watch out for that truck! Be careful!" He tells me that the road is very "dangerous." "Catch up to that tractor. I want to see it."

Speaking of driving, I swear my son will be driving a car proficiently by the time he's 4. As you can see above, G has a second tractor that was given to us by kind friends whose children outgrew it. Thanks Jim and Kim! He rides both of his tractors on a daily basis. He even puts his lawnmower in the back and carries it around the neighborhood. I see a job in his future.

He loves all animals and wants to help them. He thinks all animals have mommies and that they miss their mommies and want to go see them. He loves everything from big crocodiles to little tiny ants. What a sweetie!

I've included some photos to catch you up.


And you think he keeps me busy???


Easter morning. He loved hunting the eggs, but eating the candy was the best thing ever!


Easter egg hunting at Grandaddy's house.


With the crocodile at the aquarium this past weekend.


Cheese-burger!