Sally Says

Trick or Treating 2008

tired.  pictures now.  words tomorrow.

    

Party Time!

Tommy's Halloween story time party for his school friends was a great success.  As usual, I didn't actually take many pictures because I was too busy hostessing and story time ladying.  All the other moms took way more pictures than I did.  If anyone sends me any really fun ones, I'll share them with you.

I moved the coffee table out of the living room, and all the kids sat on the carpet for the story time.  I read The Bumpy Little Pumpkin first, and then we did the Five Little Pumpkins finger play.  It's always interesting to me how simple stuff like that is still really fun for big kids in group settings even though it's more Charlie's speed for one-on-one.

The second book we read was Shake Dem Halloween Bones.  This is probably my favorite Halloween book because I like the rhythm.  After that we just had to get up and dance to Shake, Shake, Shake Senora.  The four year olds don't recognize it from Beetlejuice, but it matches the "shake, shake, shake" chorus from the book perfectly.  We started out dancing like different Halloween creatures, but then I just let them go at it.  Some of them even danced as enthusiastically as Tommy.

After that we sat down again for the last book, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything.  It's a little bit scary, but not too scary, perfect for four year olds.  Tommy stood up next to me and showed them how to do all the actions that go along with the story...until he had to run off to pee midway through the book.

After that we had our costume contest.  Everyone arrived in costume, but a few had taken them off by this time.  That didn't matter though.  I had fancy ribbons for each of them and just made up categories on the spot for "the princess with the best polka dots" and "most original ghost," etc.  This is probably the last year I can get away with letting everybody win.

Then we did our craft, which was a Boo-in-the-Box.  This was a "trick" to go along with all the treats the'll be getting tomorrow.  They decorated small cardboard boxes and the moms accordion folded paper strips into a spring that they glued to the bottom of the box.  It pops up when you open the box.  At least that's what was supposed to happen.  I should have done the folding for them, as it was a bit confusing for the moms.  I guess origami experience isn't exactly a prerequisite for motherhood.

Tommy thinks this trick is the most hilarious thing ever and goes around giving his box to anyone who will play along and then laughs like crazy when we open it and pretend to be scared by the pop-up "boo!"

 

They all ran outside to play for a while while we cleaned up the craft and set out a snack.  It was super easy for me as the other mothers not only brought all the stuff for the snack - cookies, plates, juice, everything! - but they also set it all out for me.  The kids came inside just long enough to gobble a cookie and nibble at an apple slice, then went back outside to burn off some energy.

    

This is when the party really started to be fun for ME.  Charlie was happily standing on a chair at the couter eating banana bread and cookies (which other mothers set out for him) and I got a chance to have a cup of tea and chat.  I think everyone had a really good time, and I'm so glad I decided to do it.  Tommy's lucky to have such nice friends at his school and I really enjoy all of the mothers too.      

Charlie had fun too of course, although he was a bit disruptive during the stories.  He seemed to think that climbing up my back was the best way to listen.

Charlie Has a Friend

I've finally gotten my act together and started to look for friends for Charlie.  He's been perfectly content to just play with Tommy's friends and their siblings, but it's time to start making sure he has some friends of his own who are around his own age and similar in personality. 

We've started having play dates on Wednesday mornings with a little boy named Caleb, his mother Jodi and his baby brother Josh.  Caleb is about 4 months older than Charlie, but they seem to get along really well.  Tommy's at school during this time so it's fun to see Charlie come into his own a little bit.  We all seem to really enjoy each other, and plan to keep getting together.  Charlie and I are lucky to have such wonderful new friends.

 Could you stop taking pictures for a moment Mother?  I'm trying to talk to my friend and could use a little space.

 Bye Caleb!  See you next week!

It's a good thing we used washable markers to design our jack o' lanterns

Because while we were focused on carving pumpkins Charlie was very quietly coloring on the floors.

          

Tommy is Terrific

You know, I don't think I tell you often enough how terrific Tommy is.  That's a shame, because he really is a heart-meltingly lovely little boy.  Although I don't always rave about him here, I do tell HIM how great he is quite often.  Forgetting to verbally reward the good stuff is not one of my failings.  Consequently, he believes he's the smartest, nicest, most helpful and most loved little boy on the planet.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  

So here's a list of 10 things that I can usually count on from Tommy.

1.  He's genuinely concerned when other children are hurt of upset.  He notices on his own and immediately tries to comfort or help without being bothersome.

2.  I don't have to worry about him disappearing.  He remembers to stay where I can see him, especially in new or crowded places.

3.  He genuinely adores Charlie.  He doesn't feel threatened by Charlie or compete with Charlie for my attention.  He loves to play with Charlie and goes out of his way to make Charlie laugh.  I realize we are very lucky in this area.  (Of course, right at this moment Charlie is trying to get the fishing pole Tommy's playing with and Tommy's a bit exasperated and telling him to "play with something else" so it's not like we're perfect over here.)

4.  He almost always says yes.  He's a very positive little boy.  If Charlie asks to play with something Tommy has, he'll usually say yes.  If I ask to share his apple, he says yes.  If I ask if he wants to go somewhere or play with someone, he says yes.

5.  He pretty much always agrees to do what I ask him to do without whining or pitching a fit.  (Although I will admit that he still has a hard time not whining if I say no to something HE asks for.)  If I ask him to turn off the TV and come to dinner, he does it.  If I say it's time to leave a friend's house, he says goodbye and waits impatiently by the door while I chat for 5 more minutes.

6.  If he really isn't ready or doesn't want to do something that I ask, he's mature enough now to calmly negotiate.  I think that's great (much better than whining), so I'm usually pretty willing to compromise if he's asking for a reasonable adjustment.

7.  I'm still the most important person in his life.  I know this won't last forever, and I wouldn't want it to, but it's nice for now.

8.  He very open and honest and not sneaky.  Maybe it's his age, but I can still count on him to tell me what's bothering him or tell me if he accidentally does something wrong or ask our advice when one of his friends tries to lead him the wrong direction.

9.  He's very, very friendly.  I've mentioned this before, but still can't quite believe how friendly he is.  He'll play with any kid who wants to play with him.  He doesn't really know how to react to really shy kids, mainly because he doesn't understand them, but he'll keep smiling at them and asking them to play until the sheer force of his friendly advances wear down their defenses.  I'm sure he's absolutely terrifying to some of them.

10.  He can be quiet.  If I'd let him he'd sit and watch movies or look at his books all afternoon.  Now I know that's not a good thing for him to do all the time, but I appreciate that I can take advantage of that occasionally.  He doesn't need to be entertained non-stop.  

Boo!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Holiday season starts early when you have little kids.  It seems like the calendar is already filled from Halloween until Charlie's birthday at the end of February.  That's good though!  At least we won't be bored.

My energies are focused on Halloween right now.  Tommy's teacher randomly decided that the kids won't be allowed to wear their costumes to school this year.  (Grr. Arg.)  I'll refrain from ranting about it, but I will say that not letting them wear costumes because it's "too much work" and "too chaotic" just doesn't fly with me.  Putting out a little extra effort to create special events for preschoolers is part of the JOB.  I could go on about it, but I won't.

Anyway, it made me really mad.  Some people complained, but it didn't do any good.  I thought about sending Tommy to school in costumes every day next week except Halloween, but David wouldn't let me.  We'll wait a few more years to teach him about civil disobedience.  Instead, I've invited the whole class over to our house for a Halloween party the day before Halloween.  I'm not afraid of a little work and chaos!  When the system forbids the party, we throw our own party.

It's actually going to be quite fun, I think.  I learned from last year's Christmas party that a bit of structure will make things more enjoyable, so it's actually going to be a Halloween Story Time.  I'm always happy to practice my children's librarian skills.  We'll be doing the regular story time books, songs and activities thing plus a craft, a costume contest (eveyrone will get ribbons) and a snack.  Tommy's really excited about it.

So if I'm pretty much MIA this week, you'll know I'm party prepping.   

It's chilly today

 

Thanks for the nice blanket, Grandpa Wayne.

Sometimes you really ought to say no to a free haircut

 

We were walking past a very empty hole-in-the-wall barber shop today when a very, very, very old Italian barber who spoke very little English offered Charlie a free haircut.  Because he was "cutie little boy need free haircut."  I probably should have said no, especially when I saw that his one comb was sitting in the sink and that he didn't seem to own any scissors.  But it was free!  Fire up the clippers! 

Muffin Tin Meals, Halloween Style

In honor of our pumpkin patch outing yesterday, I made a snacky sort of dinner for the boys in my halloween muffin tins.  Muffin Tin Lunches is supposed to be a great way to get toddlers and preschoolers to actually EAT for a change. 

 

I put orange foods - oranges, goldfish crackers and cheese - in the jack o' lanternsand white foods - cauliflower, frosted mini-wheats and marshmallows - in the ghosts.  Interestingly, Tommy preferred the white foods and Charlie preferred the orange foods.

Since I don't really have a problem getting them to eat, I thought I'd try it for a meal when the boys wouldn't be really hungry.  We didn't get home from the pumpkin patch until 2 pm yesterday, so they had McDonald's happy meals for an extremely late lunch at about 2:30.  I figured they wouldn't be very hungry at our regular 5:30 dinner time, so I thought the muffin tin thing would be fun.

Charlie proved me right and just ate a few cubes of cheese (he'll never say "no" to cheese) and a few bites of oranges.  Tommy ate his whole tin, then polished off Charlie's tin, then asked me to refill his tin with more cauliflower and frosted mini-wheats.  Actually, he asked for all the white foods, but I wouldn't give him any more marshmallows.

Yeah, we don't really need to come up with creative ways to make food appealing over here.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

I make us go every year.  Luckily, Tommy and Charlie are both still really into it.  I'm going to be so sad when they decide they're too old.  Taking pictures of them in the pumpkin patch is one of my favorite things about fall.  Sadly, I didn't get to take many pictures this year because we didn't go out to the actual patch until the end of our visit.  They were pretty tired from playing by then, and weren't really interested in searching far and wide for the best pumpkins.  So I had to set my camera aside and go on the hunt myself.  Yes, David could have done it, but he can't be trusted not to just pick the first decent looking pumpkin he stumbles across.  Picking pumpkins is an art, I tell you, and nobody in my family takes it as seriously as I do.

I probably have 78 different versions of this "Serious Tommy in the Car" photo, yet I always have to take just one more.  It's like an addiction.

Charlie picked a particularly unflattering hat to wear on this outing, but the New Mexico sun is not to be trifled with.  Thus, he will look like this in most of these pictures.

Everybody smiles at the start of this sort of outing.  They're not tired yet.

 Making the boys sit for photos like this is the reason we have to go to the pumpkin patch every year.  Tommy wasn't willing to smile because sitting on the hay bales was slowing down his highly anticipated foray into the corn maze.  He was really anxious to get moving.

 But first?  A little bouncing.

My only artsy-fartsy shot.  You can see the moon in the sky if you click to embiggen.  Some year I'm going to take my camera to the pumpkin patch by MYSELF and walk as slowly as I want and take as many pictures as I want.  Although without my favorite living subjects, it just wouldn't be the same.

Tommy finally got to go into the corn maze.  It only took us about 30 minutes to make our way through the small one (with a map.)  

   

Yay!  We finally made it out to the actual pumpkins!

 But the boys were too tired to look for pumpkins, so they played in the dirt instead.  Luckily pumpkin searcher Mommy was on the job. 

Not Shy

Tommy had his first acting class today. The boy certainly isn't shy and is so enthusiastic and optimistic when introduced to new things.  He introduced himself to each new kid as they arrived and tried to make the shy ones feel more at ease and was full of questions.  It's no wonder everyone always learns his name first. 

Technically, it's a musical theater class, and the musical part might be a bit of a struggle for him.  He LOVED the acting/improv games though.  Whenever they started working on proper singing techniques, he tended to wander off or spin in circles or break into spontaneous jiggle dancing.  It was rather amusing, especially since he was the only boy in the class.  There were all these little girls singing sweetly and my great gallumphing boy spinning in spastic circles off to the side, decidedly not singing. 

I actually had to go stand by him during the singing parts to get him to focus enough to even try.  (Tommy seemed shocked when my singing was complemented by the instructor, and seemed to try harder after that.)  He was actually really good when he tried to sing, and was certainly the best kid there at quickly memorizing the words of the song they were teaching them.  It was a song from Seussical the Musical, and was quite difficult, so I was impressed by how quickly he learned the words.  Now learning the actual notes and rhythm is another story, but we all have to start somewhere.

Even though he was quickly bored by the singing parts, he was overwhelmingly positive about the class as a whole.  He kept sadly telling me that it had been way too short.  He focused really intently whenever they were acting something out, so I think he'll get a lot out of the class even if his interest is a bit lopsided.

    

Still here

Just letting you know that we're all still here.  No one is sick, although the two teeth that Charlie got last week seem to be bothering him a bit at night.  Nothing's wrong at all.  I just haven't felt like writing this week.  It may have something to do with the fact that we've been really busy with play dates and stuff, or maybe it's not having David here for dinner and bedtime all week.  Eh, who knows?  I'll be back next week.  I promise.  We're planning our annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch this Sunday so I expect I'll have some photos to share.  I love pumpkin photos.

Perfect Chilly Morning

It's a chilly rainy morning, and it's just about perfect.

Tommy, David and Charlie are all romping around in cozy sweat pants and long-sleeved shirts.  We don't have anywhere to go this morning, so it's nice to do nothing useful while it rains.  I'm working on my third cup of tea.  (Sadly, this cup is decaf as I drank way too much coffee with Grandma Sylvia last week.)

We've made some peace with the satellite project this time around.  It helps that David hasn't had to give up his weekends yet.  That day will come, probably just as the holiday season starts, but for now it's just really long days five days a week.  He worked nights last week, but the boys got to enjoy his company in the late afternoons and evenings.  He has the noon to 10 pm swing shift this week.  That's why he's able to fritter away the morning snuggling under the covers in a pile 'o boys, playing Wii with Tommy and hide-and-seek with Charlie and eating freshly scrambled eggs with salsa instead of cold cereal.

Of course, the trade off is that he won't be home until close to 11 pm, and we have to do dinner and bedtime without him.  At least Charlie's super easy to put to bed this time.  Thank you sleep training!  This makes the evenings without David much less stressful for me.

No Writing Mojo Today

So let's just throw some photos out there and call it good.

(OK.  Fine.  I know you're dying to find out how Charlie's 2nd day of school went.  It was good.  See?  I do keep you informed.)

Tommy and Grandma made soup.  It was delicious, and is all gone now.

 "No!  Charlie!  I said no!  Don't push the bat over the wall.  No mean stop.  As in don't do it.  Just put the bat down on the grass.  No!  You're not listening to me are you?"

 Charlie and Grandma did some drawing.  I'm not sure how I managed to mess the lighting up so badly on this photo.

 Yummy apple.  Nom, nom, nom.

Warms the Cockles of My Heart

What is a cockle anyway?

Grandparents Day

Yesterday was Grandparents' Day at Tommy's preschool.  Grandma Sylvia was here to join him.  There was a little brunch for the grandparents, and then Tommy and Sylvia spent a bit of time together at school. 

I'm always so happy to see Tommy and Sylvia together.  They have a really unique relationship.  They really bonded when Sylvia stayed with Tommy while David and I were in the hospital for Charlie's birth.  Whenever they're together they quickly settle into a comfortable coexistence that doesn't really need any of the rest of us. 

I think Tommy knows that he's a real person to her, not just a kid or an ideal representation of a grandchild.  I actually think that's the best gift you can give a child.  Treat a child like a person and they'll love you forever.

After school, they went to Tommy's favorite all-you-can-eat Italian buffet.  They probably spent an hour eating and talking.  Tommy devoured two big helpings of everything.  After lunch they took a walk and browsed the bookstore.  Sylvia said Tommy pretty much talked non-stop.  It's nice that he has an adult he can really talk to, don't you think?

When they got home, Tommy spent most of the afternoon playing with Sylvia and this cool wooden pizza making kit.  It was actually Charlie's present, and Charlie does enjoy it, but Tommy LOVES it.  Sylvia and I sneaked in all sorts of lessons while he was playing too.  We made a menu with a chart showing all the permutations of the three possible toppings.  We talked about 1/3 and 2/3.  He pretended to be a chef and was excited to wear the apron my mom brought him from Seattle. 

It was a great day.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Photos 2008

Tuesday!  Tuesday is the day to go, especially after a rainy weekend.  It was gorgous.  There were lots of balloons going up, but there were only about 10% of the usual crowds.  David's mom is here with us this year.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture of her or all of us together.

First, the boys...

     

Second, the balloons...

   

Third, a progression entitled, Darth Vader among the balloons...

  

 

B+?

Well Charlie got an A for his first day of school, and I sadly got a C, so I guess our combined grade was maybe a B+.  Not that anyone was actually grading our performance.  Oh drat.  My hang ups are showing.

Anyway, Charlie seemed OK at 9 am when I took him into his classroom, but I was a mess.  It was WAY harder than I thought it would be for me to leave him.  He didn't act worried or upset or anything, probably because he really had no idea what was happening.  If he'd cried, I probably would have scooped him up, carried him to the car and taken him home without a backward glance. 

As it was, he was being astoundingly calm about the whole thing, which of course meant that I had to start saying "keep it together, keep it together" over and over to myself.  I certainly didn't want to suggest to him that anything was out of the ordinary or scary or worrisome.  Maintaining this mental mantra took all of my energies, so I was quite rude to Tommy's teacher when I signed Tommy into his class.

I gave Charlie a quick kiss and he watched me walk away with a bewildered look on his face.  He was already strapped into their multi-kid wagon thingy that they use to take the toddlers outside first thing. I was afraid he'd see my car pulling away as they were immediately heading outside, so I was really hustling and completely ignoring every friendly hello aimed at my direction.

Then I proceeded to sob for an hour, at which point I decided that I wasn't really enjoying all this supposed "me" time.  I went back to school to "rescue" him at 10.  He was playing happily when I opened the door, but still pretty happy to see me.  His teacher said that he was fine the first 15 minutes but then started to really process my absence.  He cried a bit on and off for about 30 minutes after that, but never got over-the-top hysterical or anything.  Good job Charlie! 

His teacher and I had discussed my early return as an option for easing him into school.  I hadn't absolutely planned on doing it, but after an hour of misery I pounced on the opportunity to STOP CRYING.  It was probably good for him to know before too much time had passed that I would indeed be returning.  Instead of taking him home, I ended up staying there with him for the last 2 hours of school.  I wanted him to experience the whole day, and he seemed to really enjoy the painting and the music and the snack and the hand washing.  He really liked the hand washing. 

So that's that.  I suspect that he'll be more overtly upset when I leave him next week, but only because he'll know what's happening.  He'll probably calm down pretty quickly though.  I might still go in early to spend the last part of the class with him, but I'll make myself wait longer unless someone calls to tell me that he's struggling. 

First Day

Does this look like a little boy who's ready for his first day of nursery school? 

 

I'm so conflicted.  It's only three hours once a week, but still!  I didn't leave Tommy alone without me or David or a grandparent until he was THREE.  Tommy was so ready he ran off without a backward glance.  Charlie's going to have to get used to the idea.  I know he's going to cry when he realizes I'm not going to stay with him while he plays.  I just hope he calms down after 5-10 minutes and then forgets all about missing me and has fun.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

If he doesn't like it after a reasonable transition period, then we're not doing it.  Part of me really, really feels like 19 months is way too early, but people do it all the time, and he might enjoy it.  That's what I'm hoping anyway.  When I told him this morning that HE was going to get to play at school today he ran to put his shoes on even though it was only 5:15 AM.  That's a good sign right?  Plus, he quite calmly told me "goo bye" yesterday with no tears when I went out to breakfast, so maybe it won't be so bad.