s'more-gasbord.

We had our first warm weekend in a long time and got to take our munchkin outside to run off some of his pent up energy. Amen. The bitter cold and lack of outdoor time has made us all a bit stir crazy, so we spent Saturday afternoon out in the backyard picking up after the dogs (gross), getting some much needed Vitamin D (confession: I got burned), and trying something new (fire + sugar = win!).

I'm always surprised when we do something new with Nate and he already knows something about it. I need to get over this. He's three and a half and learning new things every day. I (bravely) took Nate to Target to get supplies and he told me that we needed fire (yes), chocolate (yes), and a tent (I'm not committing to sleeping outdoors, kiddo). After picking up the essentials, we went home and Chris taught him how to get the fire pit started. Meanwhile, I tried to class up s'more making. Just because we're outside doesn't mean that we can't use the white 'everyday' china!

The before picture -- there is NO after picture because the s'mores were devoured instantly after assembly...

I guess that an action shots will have to do. Nate spent most of his time trying to wrangle away the chocolate squares (we quickly had to hide these) or eating the marshmallows. 

I'm not sure what possessed us to buy the jumbo sized marshmallows but I'll admit that I had never made s'mores before and I was influenced by my kiddo, in whose eyes, bigger is better.  But yeah, they are like the size of a third of his face.

And speaking of bigger and better - why roast one marshmallow when you can roast two? Double fisting sugar and playing with fire, heaven help us...

three (and a half).

I've strayed away from the monthly updates that I did until Nate turned two and, even though I always found myself running behind posting them, I miss having the little milestones to look back on. I'm going to shoot for biannual updates, but we'll see how that goes. In the spirit of tradition, I'm a little over two weeks late to the party with this post.

At three and a half...

• Nate's imagination is working overtime! The pretend play, imaginary friends (or fellow superheroes), and intricate story lines make it so much fun to watch him play -- but not too closely because he's now valuing a sense of privacy! 
• The more intently Nate plays, the more he sings. All playtime has a soundtrack and I seem to get his own blend of pirate songs and Star Wars stuck in my head long after he's headed off to school or gone to bed for the night
• Nate is fully potty trained during the day and only rarely has an accident at night. Finally. Potty training was a struggle to start, but he caught on quickly. I'm happy to cut down on the pull-up buying because just recently Nate's decided that he hates them! Insomnia pays off though, because there's many a night that I've intercepted a half-asleep kiddo trying to find the bathroom in the dark
• Whoever coined the phrase "terrible twos & threes" was an idiot and clearly not a parent. I think that it should be "trying twos and terrible threes" - and dare I predict "flippant fours"? While my kiddo is discovering how to use his words to convey complete thoughts and feelings, he's not afraid of mincing his words and having some pretty spectacular tantrums. Luckily the tantrums are less frequent, but certainly memorable (and deafening)
• Speaking of using words, Nate's come out with a few phrases that were pretty cute/funny/where-in-the-world-did-you-pick-that-up-from: I promise I'll [...]; these can be a little tricky; I'm so tired and sick of you; may I have [insert item here] please? It's my faaaaaavorite [crosses arms over chest and does a quasi-piroette]
• This child loves his dogs. LOVES. Every day after school the dogs get huge hugs and Nate says "They miss me so much. Look - they love me!"
• Nate has started to learn the value of responsibility and earning his just rewards. His big helper duties around the house include putting his (non-breakable) dishes into the sink when he's done with his food, helping to feed the dogs, and cleaning up his toys every night before bed. While I'm sure he'll be an allowance one day, his pay comes in form of sticker currency which accrue to special treats, like a Starbucks cake-pop.  
• Keeping up with the trend set at an early age, I'm convinced that Nate does not sleep enough for his age (or heck, for mine). I rejoice if Nate is in bed before 10:00 p.m. and he's always up by 8:00 a.m. at the latest. Naps have tapered off quite a bit - school day naps are getting shorter and weekend naps are virtually non-existent. If I could only have a fraction of this kiddo's energy, I would be set! 

And to start a new tradition! Making a list of questions for Nate to answer and then to see how these change! :)

1. What is your favorite color? Blue
2. What is your favorite food? Goldfish crackers
3. What is your favorite t.v. show? Jake and the Never Land Pirates
4. Who is your best friend? Connor
5. What is your favorite animal? Giraffe
6. What is your favorite song? Happy Birthday
7. What is your favorite toy?Soldier Pirates & the Joker
8. What is your favorite movie? Jungle Book
9. What is your favorite stuffed animal to sleep with at night? Winnie the Pooh Bear
10. What do you want to do when you grow up? a cowboy and a barista

 Let's do this again in six-ish months ...

sn-oh my goodness.

We rarely get 'real' snow. When it snows here, an inch (or even a few flurries) can shut down schools and kids try to play in snow that usually amounts to about a dusting. The last big storm that we had was about five years ago and we finally got a much overdue storm. We got a solid twelve inches! I would have taken the obligatory ruler in the snow photo, but who has a ruler anymore?! I also couldn't seem to find one of our three-plus tape measures but here's proof...

Unfortunately, my kiddo has not really discovered a love for playing in the snow yet. I firmly believe that it still takes longer to get him dressed to go out than the time that he actually stays in the snow. That being said, we thought that a ride on his new sled from Christmas may turn him around.

Nate kept telling me that he was going to go "surfing" - another indication this kiddo hasn't seen real snow in his lifetime, eh? This was before his first (and only) sled ride that day. Our house is on top of a hill which makes mowing the grass a real workout, but also makes a great sledding spot.

"I'm going to surf" he said.
"I'll catch you -- and it's sledding" I said.

Well, he slid and in my efforts to take photos after Chris shot him down the hill, I totally missed catching him and he ended up in the middle of our street (no worries - no traffic!).

See how happy he is while in motion?

Once he got to the bottom and realized that snow got on his sled and his boots, a toddler meltdown ensued. I guess this kiddo takes after me a bit ... just a little particular :)

After that, our sled-shy kiddo decided that while he didn't want snow on his boots, sled, or coat, that snow is absolutely delicious. I honestly think that he ate his weight in snow. I cannot get this kid to eat real food to save my life, but snow gets devoured. Pica?  He's also eaten sand before (repeatedly), so nothing would surprise me.

We may give going out in the snow another go (because it hasn't all melted yet!), but we'll see. When running errands this morning, he wanted me to carry him over a puddle so as to not get his shoes wet, so we'll see ...

perspective.

I wish that I could remember how my mind worked at the age of three. In the case of my son, there are times where I think that he is so intuitive and on point ... other times I wonder what in the world is going through his little head.

Over the weekend, we were watching Disney's The Lion King and we got to the part where Simba's dad is killed in a stampede. A heartbroken little Simba crawls under his dad's paw to get in one last cuddle.  While my eyes tear up, I hear Nate start giggling and he says "this part is my favorite". My first thought: is this how a child displays sociopathic tendencies?! Naturally, I paused the movie to ask why, to which Nate responded that he loved that Simba was so sweet and gave his dad a hug. Of course, this kiddo does not really understand what death is. After all, you see Mufasa a few more times in the clouds, so why would he associate this scene with loss at his age?

One of Nate's favorite books is Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?, which we read religiously. I'll admit that we have three different copies and the end is different in each. One version has a recap of all of the animals where the children say that there are all of the animals and the teacher looking at them. After about a million readings, Nate came out with "all of those animals are gonna eat the teach-ah!"

 

One thing that I'm waiting to catch up with me, is that Nate recently found out that one of his preschool teachers is pregnant. After hearing that she has a baby in her tummy, he then went on to declare that all of his teachers had babies in their tummies...and despite my best efforts I cannot seem to sway him otherwise. I can't wait to have that awkward conversation! 

Another day, another interesting story! 

secrets about motherhood, vol. 2.

Remember the last round of secrets? I have more 'wisdom' to impart! I'm not sure if parents just get too tired to share this with their friends who haven't had kids yet, if we don't share to keep the human race going, or if we just become so used to the day-to-day that a second thought isn't given to passing it on.

Bodily Fluids 101...
Your life will revolve around bodily fluids, but mostly you will fixate on poop. Is the color okay? Consistency? Is your kid pooping too much or not enough? If you think that this may taper off once your little one is potty trained, you are dead wrong. Your attention will turn to things such as teaching kiddo how to wipe without using an entire roll of toilet paper in a single sitting or covering your house in absolutely disgusting hand prints.

The Poker Face
You'll need to master your emotions and how they play across your countenance. Fact: kids will do some crazy, completely irrational things that they absolutely believe in doing. Sometimes you may need to close yourself in a bathroom or closet or behind a shower curtain so that you can smile and laugh in semi-privacy. I laughed once while he was playing with an ice pack and now he wraps them around his face and chases people around our house to smush his face on them. Frostbite in this house is a definite possibility.

Just this evening, Nate wanted his privacy when using the bathroom and a bit later I walked in to find him pumping antibacterial gel down his butt crack in lieu of wiping (and we've made it back to our first secret). I wanted to die laughing but instead I had to remind him about all the good work that TP and wipes can do for him.

Do Not Disturb
"Me" time becomes a thing of the past or contorts itself so that it's nearly unrecognizable. My "me" time tonight consisted of folding laundry while watching a show that wasn't a cartoon while Nate alternated between playing in his room and pretending to 'fly' down the stairs. Other days it's hiding in the bathroom to drink a protein shake (the kid loves anything chocolate flavored) or blissfully enjoying a fifteen minute trip to Target by myself.

When Words Can't Do Justice...
Photos are not impossible, but a direct challenge. The number of photos that I take and delete is completely ridiculous - I thank my lucky stars that I live in the days of digital! Murphy's Law of Photographing Your Kid: they will be the most photogenic, still, and cute when your camera is out of reach. The second that you even think about getting out the camera, a tornado erupts and they scurry out of the room, leaving a trail of food, toys, and sometimes clothing behind them.

Persistence can be key though. I hide my camera so that it's within arms' length -- it still took me almost a week to get a picture of this...

Sleep is Precious
I think it's safe to say that babies and well, offspring in general, can be equated to a lack of sleep. Parents try to prepare themselves and are given good but seemingly impractical advice of "sleep when the baby sleeps" (do it! your laundry list of to dos and the laundry can wait). The flip side of this equation is that you will go to crazy lengths to get and keep your kid asleep. Surely you've heard about infants being chauffeured around town for hours just to get them to sleep?

The older that Nate's gotten, the harder it is to get him to sleep. At school, he's on a strict routine with peer pressure reinforcement. At home, it's one of my biggest challenges. I'm to the point where I have given up on naps on the weekends. Occasionally I get duped though - I mean, the best game plan when this happens is ... ?

That's right, you may find yourself trapped in your car for a bit. I've learned to embrace this though. As long as I don't have someone waiting on me, I am more than content to grab a coffee (hello, Starbucks drive-thru!), some lunch, and have a moment to myself ... even if it means loitering for a bit :)

CC

In the off chance that the television is on AND it's not a cartoon AND it's something that you, the adult, would like to watch, closed captioning is a godsend. Between my two dogs and a child who loves both the sound of his own voice and the cacophony of toys as they fall down the stairs, it gets loud in my house. LOUD. Only a crazy person would add to the decibel level in this house, so CC helps me to have a glimmer of understanding of whatever show I'm getting away with watching.

More 'revelations' to come ...

nathan-isms, vol. 4.

Because what's a new month in a new year without some of the off the wall and downright sassy things that come out of my kid's mouth?! A boy through and through...

After finding a catalog from Toys R Us, still lurking around the house from Christmas...
Nathan: Ooh, Mommy! I want these. [batting eyelashes and twirling] They're my faaaaavorite!
Me: Those are fifty dollars! You'll have to talk to your father about that.
Nate: [walking over to Chris] Look at these superheroes, my father!

(keep in mind that all words ending in -er are actually pronounced by Nate as -ah, so "fath-ah")

After saying something not very nice at all to me...
Me: Nathan, what did you just say?!
Nathan: Shut up.
Chris: Nathan, we do NOT say that to anyone because it's very mean and rude. Who did you hear say shut up?
Nathan: You
Me: [stifling laughter] Nate, who did Daddy say "shut up" to?
Nathan: He said it to you, Mommy.

Shedding light on how the mind of a little boy works...
Nathan: Mommy, I have a mystery! Follow me! [walks upstairs and into the bathroom]
Me: Okay, so what is it?
Nathan: The mystery is....I have poop in my BUTT!
Me: So, you need to use the restroom?
Nathan: No, I just wanted to tell you [runs away]

A bathroom self-pep talk...
Nathan: It's going to be okay. I going to be better .... what's happening to my body?!?!

Talking with the world's most patient pediatric dental hygienist...
Nathan: [climbing into the chair] I've got itchies in my BUTT!!

Yup, gotta love this kid ...