Let’s just say I’m completely mortified. I wonder what he was referring to as spots…
1) Acne?
2)my giant pores?
3)blackheads? (ew. I hope not)
4)mysterious rash?
5)The polka dots I painted on my face? (nope…I don’t recall ever painting any spots on my face.)
5) other?
Seriously, kids have no filter. Until they get one, we have to bear the brunt of their harsh comments.
Apr 22
EARTH DAY!!!
The preschool has been celebrating “Earth Day” all week. Big T came home singing this song:
”Na na na na na” (I don’t remember the words)
“it’s what we wanna do”
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”
And he sings it at the randomest times. Like when he’s eating dinner, or reading a bedtime story. At least something is sinking in.
I have been trying to reinforce what he is learning at pre-school, and I found that recycling is the easiest concept to grasp/practice with a 4 year old. To that end, we have been discussing what kinds of things can be recycled, and where we put the recycling. As usual, he is super enthusiastic about it. We will tackle reduce and reuse too…eventually.
Apr 16
Big T wanted to bring his Lightning McQueen cars to school, and I said “No, thank you” and then he said “but, it’s for show-and-tell” and I said “still, the answer is no”
Turns out they don’t do show-and-tell in his class. I asked his teacher. They did do it at his previous pre-school…the one he attended A YEAR AGO…but not this one.
I am sad my kid tried to lie just to get his way. Glad I called his bluff, but sad he lied.
We are gonna have to have a conversation tonite 
Sometimes, Big T just likes to be contrary.
Ok, a lot of the time. Just wants to be ornery, and do the opposite of what I say. I’m working hard to nip that one in the bud.
This week, Mr. T has been out of sorts because he had a laser refractory (eye) surgery procedure called LASEK. Not LASIK…LASEK. There is a fine line between the two…LASEK apparently carries less risk, but is much more painful, with a longer recovery time. He’s feeling much better, and his sight has improved. Perhaps no more glasses for him. Forever.
Anyway, I digress…
My point is, Mr T couldn’t even really see to help a lot with taking care of the kids. Maybe Big T was trying to take advantage of the situation. Among his many shenanigans, he decided to start talking with a lisp. I kid you not. A LISP. Why??? Saying things like
“I want thome cheerioth”
and
“I like Thomath and Perthy and Jameth”
and
“Ith thith my thweater?”
How annoying is that? Especially since I know he knows how to say thothe those words. So that? It’s contagious.
So I laid down the law. I said to him
“I’m not going to respond to you unless you pronounce your words the right way”
and he counters with
“I’m going to say them the LEFT way”
Really? The LEFT WAY? Really?
(But we had a good laugh about it later. He cracks me up!)
Mar 30
This morning, Big T was having breakfast in the kitchen downstairs, and Little T was sleeping in his crib upstairs.
We heard Little T waking up and making sounds in his crib (yeah, did I mention we live in a small house?)…
Anyhoo…
Big T says “Mommy, the baby is awake. Maybe you should go wipe his nose”
This is an indication of how many colds/runny noses/allergies we have had to deal with this year. It is not as fun as you might imagine. Little T in particular hates having his nose wiped. We have to wrestle. And we buy the really really soft tissues. The kind with lotion in it. Still, we have to pin him down in order to wipe his nose. For some reason, he does not really appreciate the fact that we get the lotiony tissues just for him.
Hopefully, this is the worst of it. At least they never got seriously sick.
And Little T’s nose did not need wiping today!!!!
Mar 23
Big T does this new thing. Everytime Mr T is leaving the house for whatever reason, he’ll ask to go with him (’cause you know, they’re BFFs). If told that he cannot go to work/the bank/the gym with Daddy, he’ll reluctantly let him go. And then 5 seconds later will RUN to the door saying “I forgot to tell him something!!!” Then he’ll fling open the door and shout something like
“have fun working out, Daddy“ OR
“I love you so much, Daddy“ OR
“have a good time, Daddy“
But yesterday, it was different. He shouted
“go have adventures!”
And Mr T went off to have adventures (actually, he went back to work…)
And the the kids and I hung out all evening. We listened to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” at least 10 times on my ipod (it was at least 9 times too many for me), and then we tried to get Little T to walk some more (we are up to like 10 steps!!!), and then we ate brown rice jollof rice. Before I knew it, it was my favorite time of the day- BEDTIME!
Is it bad that I look forward to their bedtime (even more than I look forward to mine?)
Mar 22
I didn’t even know where to begin on this one.
One of the aunties sent Big T a talking Birthday card. When you open it, the card says something like
“pirate’s booty!!!!…everyone wants some of your booty, but your booty is only for you…”
Perhaps the Auntie did not fully realize that my 4 year old would listen to the card over and over and over again. And ask questions about pirates and booty. Or maybe she did. And sent it anyway.
Anyway, If I would have answered Big T’s question, here’s the definition of “pirate’s booty” I would have given:
“The stuff that a pirate steals from other ships and keeps for himself” (then I would have immediately followed that with a reminder/disclaimer: “stealing is bad. A Very Very naught thing to do, and you must never do it”)
Logically, the next question would have been: “what’s a pirate?”
And I would have said: “A pirate is an outlaw that sails the high seas, taking over other ships”
And Big T would have asked: “what’s an outlaw?” or maybe he would have said “what’s the high seas?”
Since I anticipated the possibility of this line of questioning, I distracted him with jelly beans, and never did answer the very first question. But if he asks again…
Today, my big boy turned 4!!!! Time flies. Just yesterday, I was being cut open …etc, etc…you get it…
I think he had a most awesome day! A day full of cupcakes and ice-cream and candy and toys and happy birthday songs and phone calls from everybody. Just a MOST AWESOME DAY!
Now he really gets the whole birthday thing. The whole day he was well aware of the fact that he was the star of the show. And he was just.so.excited.
He shared cupcakes with his friends at pre-school. They were store-bought cupcakes. No way I’m making 2 dozen cupcakes on a Tuesday night. Jus’ sayin’
He liked the frosting much more than he did the cake. Check out the blue frosting beard…
You may also notice that he’s wearing a Thomas Shirt in this pic. For more on Thomas, see this post. Also, I want to mention that in no way did Little T try to usurp Big T’s special day. Little T was just as sweet and gracious as can be. Fine, he does not “get” the whole birthday thing yet, but whatever… see this post on Little T’s birthday, and how Big T tried to stage a hostile take-over.
It was a good day and I am SO glad.