Flying Solo

John's off to the beach for a couple days, leaving Dex and I here solo. It's not terribly different than a regular day, but man am I looking at my watch when 5:30 rolls around, just waiting for John to come home so I can do something that doesn't involve saying "Oh, Percy is driving on a bumpy road now, eh? Cool. What road? Good Hope Road? How fun is that!" So, yeah - we will miss Daddy for a couple days. And, damn it, I am actually going to have to GET OUT OF BED at 6:30. Boooooo.

I keep looking at my to-do list for tonight, and mentally thinking "Nah, I can totally do that tomorrow." Without John here to make me feel guilty about sitting on my ass, I shall do just that tonight, thankyouverymuch. Although I am pleased with myself, as "blog posting" is on my to-do list for tonight and, look at me! I am posting! Check that bad boy right off the list.

Holy crap we've had a busy busy week. We had a BBQ here on Saturday with some of the Movie Night girls and their families, which was tons of fun. But, as John put it, "We'd totally do this more often if it was, like, one quarter of the effort." Hey, at least the house got clean. Briefly. It got totally destroyed that night with paper plates and kids toys scattered all over the universe, and I suppose I should put "Finally empty out the damn coolers from the party" on my to-do list for tonight. But. Nah. I don't see it happening.

Dex and his future wife, Avery

Four kids. 18 TRILLION toys. That's how we roll.

There's something very good-old-fashioned-American about this, you know?

Sunday I spent all day talking. All day. Talking. Over a microphone. Because I am a kick-ass horse show announcer and they NEED me at my old job, just for that one day a year. I love it - horse show announcing is a grand old time. And I get to chat with my old friends for a day.

Monday Dex and I went to Baltimore for a memorial service for a co-worker from my old job. My biggest fear, which thankfully did not happen, was that the small child would tell the entire church about his car driving on the bumpy road, or that he'd start reading "Hippos Go Berserk" out loud to a perhaps not very sympathetic audience. So we chatted before arrival about churches, and how we do "blue light" in church, which means no talking and no whispering. But that we could do a special blue light, where he could eat a snack and read books and play with cars and puzzles, so long as he didn't talk. And damn if that didn't work. He happily pushed cars around while laying in the aisle of the church, late-comers stepping over him to reach an empty seat on the other side of the room. He wanted me to read him a book, and tossed it aside when I whispered that I couldn't talk, either. He was certainly not QUIET, as wooden car tires rattling over a wooden puzzle makes a fair amount of noise. As does a Magnadoodle pen. Which I totally threw in to the Church Bag last minute in the car. "Ah-ha! A perfect toy that will be totally quiet!" Except that scribbling, and tapping, and banging of the pen on the screen is not exactly quiet in a room where you can hear a pin drop. Anyway, the child was a gem. Didn't say a word. Halfway through he climbed in to my lap, curled up, and sucked his fingers for half an hour. I dropped many tears on him. It was a Quaker service and man, these people have it right. No preacher. No God. No nothing. Just a room full of people who knew Lucy. When someone was struck with the urge, they stood up and read something or said something about Lucy. And then they sat back down. And another person stood and did the same. We laughed. We cried. It went on for an hour. It was awesome. I told John that's what I want for a service when I kick it. Except I want it outside. And I want it to be followed with a pig roast and a keg of beer. Loved it. Oh, and Dex - I am sorry that everyone at the service thinks you are the kid who said "uh-oh" halfway through. I totally know it was the little girl one aisle over. But nobody else knows that. You're getting blamed. Sorry about that, kiddo. You were, by the way, tremendously cute and dapper that day.

Tuesday dawned grey and rainy - a perfect day to go pick blueberries. We went to a new place we'd never been to, and I was so very impressed. Tall bushes, tons of berries, easy picking. We left with 9 pounds in about an hour. And somehow Dexter picked and ate berries THE ENTIRE TIME, eating easily 27 pounds of berries. I'm not sure where he put them, and I am not sure how he was not ill. I am also very glad they don't weigh children before and after picking.

Check out my berry! Oh! We might be in some local weekly newspaper next week. I'll have to go pick the damn thing up. On Tuesday. Like I'll have time.

Verbal commentary about blueberry picking from the little man. Click on picture for video above.

I'm tellin you, man - it was a bounty of berries at this place. Awesome.

It totally poured on us. We didn't mind.

Someone didn't appreciate my rendition of "Singing in the Rain"

We were gonna pick black raspberries, too, but we drove a tractor instead

Muddy child = naked ride home.

Wednesday was bright and sunny and an AWESOME day for our first trip to the ocean. We went with a friend to Stone Harbor, NJ. A cute little town and a great beach for kids - waves break pretty far out, it's shallow for a long way, it's not too crowded, and it's a nice wide beach. Plus the parking was excellent. Dexter loved the beach aspect of it all - huge sand box. Packed sand and deep sand. Birds who steal sandwiches directly from your hands. All very fun. And he romped right down to the ocean and was cool for about 20 seconds before he ran away in terror and spent the next 20 minutes crying while sitting on my lap at the edge of the ocean because "NOOOOOO. Go over THERE! ALL DONE!" So, yeah. That part didn't go so well. But we had fun, and Dexter swore that his favorite part of the beach was the water. He's totally lying. But he said he wanted to go back. We shall. Some time.

See the expressions on the boys' faces? Pretty much tells the whole story. Kevin's all like "YAY! Ocean!" And Dexter's all "Kiss my ass, people. Who decided THIS was a good idea?"

He did enjoy pushing his dump truck down the beach forever.

And maybe we can just pretend, with these "I am all cute and smiley" pictures, that all was perfect at the beach.

See? Perfect. 100 feet from the water.

We took home two sandy tired kids.

Today we had Miss Lisa in the morning, and then we took Buddy to the playground to make him remember how to ride in the car, in the back seat. Buddy was a huge hit at the playground, and Dexter had fun doing all kinds of things he was not able to do the last time I took him to that playground. Walk over the rope bridge? No problem. Walk on the balance beam 10 feet in the air? Piece of cake. Hang on the monkey bars? Look, Mama! I am a monkey! Such a big little man. He got to watch some Clifford while I was cooking dinner. Something about that show spooked him several months ago, and he wouldn't watch it for a while. Today he would only watch it while halfway hiding behind the book shelf. But hey - at least he allowed it to stay on. Baby steps. I am hoping this means I get to listen to something in addition to Thomas the Train DVDs on our upcoming trip to NY. Please, lord, let me listen to something other than Thomas the Train DVDs...

That Clifford. He's TERRIFYING, man...

Look, Ma! No Hands!

Quick swimming update. I've been working on Dexter's confidence while jumping in to the pool. He's awesome while holding two hands, ok when holding one hand, and I had not yet been able to get him to jump in without holding hands at all. Til today!

We started swimming in the "ki-kee" pool this morning because the big pool wasn't open yet. I convinced him to jump off the little ledge (kind of like a bench in the pool) to the bottom of the (not even 2 feet deep) pool. He thought that was fun. And he did that with no hands. So when we moved over to the big pool to do 1-2-3 JUMP I started right off with no hands. He was a little bit hesitant, but after about three jumps he was allllllll over it.

So now Mr. Fish has a new skill. Soon he shall be jumping on my head, I am sure.

Old picture, our pool. I can't take pictures of him at the Y, as I am in the pool with him. One of these days Daddy will come with us, and maybe I can take pictures then.

PS, Grandpa, here's the horse swing. It looks a little hooptie, but it works and Dex likes it.

Thomas

Dex and I went to see Thomas this morning. It was hot. There were about 7 billion too many people there. I peed in the woods, hoping nobody would see me.

Despite all that, we really had a good time. We rode the regular train. We saw Thomas plenty of times. We got off the train and had a picnic, and then played with our toy Thomas while we waited for the train to return. We had ice cream. I suspect that Dexter will be talking about Thomas for a few days. That, and about lightening and thunder (a HUGE storm woke us all up at 2:30 this morning. It was distressing to the small one).

I'll post more pictures later. I gotta run - just burnt my kale chips. Damn it!

Yay, Daddy!

Happy Father's Day!

Last night I prepped Dexter - tomorrow is Father's Day, so we're going to say "Yay, Daddy! I love you, Daddy!" when you see him. We practiced a bit. We got in a highly prompted dry run early this morning while still in Dexter's bedroom. And then after breakfast I told Dexter "Today is Father's Day! What do we say to Daddy?" And he promptly answered "Happy Birthday Daddy! You go eat cake."

Man, I love that child.

We straightened out a few details during a post-breakfast diaper change, so now he knows that Father's Day means we say "Yay, Daddy!" and Mother's Day means we say "Yay, Mama!" and he also knows that Daddy and Grandpa are awesome because they put a ceiling fan in his room, and also that Miss Lisa comes on Saturdays, and that on Sundays we go to a baseball game, and that lots of tall towers together are called a city, and that the yellow building is the mue-see-sum. His facts are a bit skewed, but aren't most facts skewed these days, to reflect the truth we want to see?

We had a busy weekend - went to a BBQ for a MOMS club member who has cancer, John went to a birthday party, Dexter opened our pool and swam in it for the first time this summer, and we did, indeed, go to a baseball game on Sunday, for Father's Day.

Happy Birthday, Daddy! Where's my cake?

Ask Dexter what his favorite part of the picnic was, and he will consider carefully, then shout out "DRUMS!" Lord help us all if this boy wants to be a drummer...

First day in our little back yard pool. The meat thermometer says it's a good 79 degrees or so. Dex loved it - I had to drag him out after an hour when his teeth were chattering so hard he couldn't talk any more.

Saturday morning fire truck pushing

Oh, and dump trucks, too... :-)

Baseball game. Yeah, these seats suck...

John wore the awesome Father's Day gift Dexter made for him. Those are Dexter's hand prints, and the back says "Hands down, Coolest Dad ever"

Dexter is checking out his belly, trying to convince us that all the ice cream is out of his belly so surely he can go jump in the moon bounce now. Like RIGHT NOW.

It was handy having the dug-out there for all our assorted crap. And Dexter's feet.

YAY, Daddy!

FINALLY, that damned ice cream left Dexter's belly so he could go jump

Checking out the view from the nose bleed seats. Awesome view of the really tall light tower.

Leaving the ball game, hot but happy. Can see the front of John's cool shirt here - smaller version of the hand prints, and it says "Father's Day 2011"

Apparently we tired him out. So ridiculously thankful that he sleeps in the car again!

The boys cooled off in the pool. Dexter did a lot of jumping. Cracks me up - he just jumps a million times, singing "GUMP! GUMP! GUMP!" J sounds = not his forte.

I dunno why he chooses to swim with Daddy instead of me. Daddy? MEAN!

Let's compare, shall we?

In response to this post, where I wondered if I was as awesome as Dex when I was a kid, my mom brought down my baby book. Like, an actual, written in baby book. With details of my life, and stuff. It's kind of cool, really. Dex shall just have to hope the internets still exist when he is older, because this here blog is all the kid has for a baby book. Sorry, kiddo.

So according to my book, the president when I was born was Gerald Ford. Dexter? Obama had just been inaugurated a couple weeks before.

Me: Born at 3:04 AM. Man, sucks to be you, Mom! Dexter: Born at 7:53 PM. Much more reasonable. Hooray for induction!

Me: Born on a very hot day, with off and on rain. Dexter: There was snow on the ground when we went in to the hospital, but I think it had all melted by the time we got home.

Me: 8 lbs, 11 oz and 20.5 inches long. Dexter: 8 lbs, 4 oz and 22 inches long.

Me: Sits without support, 5.75 months. Dexter: Yeah, probably about that.

Me: Hold own bottle at 6.75 months (Dad worked hard on this skill). Dexter: No real need for this skill, although you did try desperately to hold your nightly bottle with Daddy, or at least hold Daddy's finger the whole time.

Me: Takes first steps alone at 9.5 months (dear lord). Dexter: If you squinted and pretended you could maybe say you were doing this around your first birthday. Not well, though.

Me: Walks alone readily at 11.5 months. Dexter: According to Facebook, this was some time around March 15, 2010. What's that make it? 13.5 months? Thank heavens for Facebook.

Me: Take off my own shoes at 23 months. Dexter: Hmmmm. You're supposed to be able to do this? I'm not sure this is a skill I want to teach, as I foresee lost shoes all over the planet.

Me: Put on own boots at 2.5 years. Dexter: Hey, we actually have been practicing this! With Crocs! You suck at it!

Me: Puts on own socks at 2.75 years. Dexter: Seriously? Not even close.

Me: Picks up and puts away toys at 2.25 years. Dexter: I've got no hard stats on this one, but I can guarantee you're kicking my ass on this skill. Keep it up!

Me: Potty trained at 2 years. Dexter: We're trying desperately to get you to just tell us when you have poop in your pants. That is all. Potty training is so far from my mind right now. It seems like... a lot of work.

Me: Shows imagination at age 3. Dexter: Dude, I need to videotape the elaborate set-up we have going in the sandbox these days. This is Starbucks. This is the pizza place. This is McDonalds. This is the window. This is Miss Eliza. This is the deep end and this is the shallow end. I can't keep track of everything that is going on.

Me: Counts to 20 at age 2.5. Dexter: How old are you this week? 2 years, 4.5 months? This one you've finally got nailed. You even remember that pesky old number 16 now.

Me: Says alphabet and recognizes letters at 2.5 years. Dexter: You've known all your letters for a couple months now. Maybe 2 years and a couple months for that one. But saying the alphabet? Not really been high on our priority list.

Me: Cries and is stubborn about minding at 2 years and 3 months. Dexter: Dude, you haven't been in time out for like, hours... Seriously, though. You're pretty damn good.

Me: First sentences at 18 months, first questions at 2 years. Dexter: OK, it's not really fair to compare here since you didn't really talk until a month before your second birthday. You have started asking "What is that?" in the past couple weeks. You don't really understand how a question TONE works. But the word part is there.

Me: Lisp when saying "S", difficulty saying "R" words. Dexter: Yeah. Ditto. Isn't that EVERY kid? You've figured out how to combine your letters, finally, so you can now say "twee" instead of "eee" or "tee." And you say "gween" instead of "geen" now. It's impressive. Your biggest speech accomplishment over the past 2 weeks? You can FINALLY say "stwaight." This was a source of contention for a while. Dude, don't push you to say something. You just refuse to speak.

Me: Like to play school and house at 2.75 years. Dexter: You really like pretending to pour ketchup on stuff. And salt. And you enjoy driving your cars over big bumps on the way to Starbucks. And you LOVE playing "red light, green light" or "stop, go" depending on if you are holding a stop sign or a stop light.

Me: Liked to recite "Diddle Diddle Dumplin" at 2.75 years. Dexter: Every damn time your shoes falls off we hear "One shoe off and one shoe on, diddle diddle dumplin my son DADDY!" You're just a chip off the old block, aren't you?

Me: Apparently I liked puzzles and coloring books around this age. Dexter: You play with your clock puzzle every single day. You like floor puzzles that Miss Lisa brings on Thursdays, but if you can't put the piece together the first try you get fairly well pissed off and try to walk away, or just say "Mama do it." Patience, my boy. You need to learn some patience.

I'd compare heights and weights, but that would mean I'd have to go upstairs, and that's just far away. From memory, I think you were 37 inches and like 33 pounds at your 2 year visit. You are kicking my ass, at a meager 35.5 inches and 29.5 pounds at the same time. Keep growing, little man. Girls like tall boys.

PS - mixed in here, randomly, are photos from Zoo Day at the Tato Chip Factory. Thanks, Herrs, for being right down the road! "Amimals" were fine for about 25 minutes, and then basketball hoops took over from there. Even those got boring and gave way to the playground and lunch.

BUZZZZZZZ Part 2

Since the two human boys in the house were already sporting buzz cuts, we figured we may as well let Buddy in on the action and get him a summer 'do, too. Plus, the hair shedding on the kitchen floor was reaching epic proportions. Hopefully the new shorter hair will keep the shedding down a bit.

BUZZZZZZZ

Dex took Buddy to the groomer with me. He decided that Buddy should get "red, and orange, and yellow, and brown" during his hair cut. I was confused for a minute, and then it hit me. Ahh, yes! Buddy should have some M&M's during his hair cut! Dex also decided that Buddy would have to use a hair drier during his hair cut. It always amazes me the things that stick in this childs' head. Apparently the hair drier at the barber shop was more traumatic that I thought.

Earlier this week I was cleaning out a few boxes Mom sent me, of awards from high school. Most I had forgotten I even won. I took pictures of all of them so I can prove to Dexter later that, yes, your Mama actually used to be smart. And then I put a few down in the basement (the salutatorian statue, and a couple basketball awards from sectionals and IAC championships), and made a pile on the picnic table with the rest. Dex played with them for the afternoon (they make awesome slides). And then they went in the trash. Sentimental? Yes. Necessary? No.

The Woody Herman Jazz Award (which I have no recollection of receiving - why would I get this? I sucked at jazz. I didn't start playing saxophone till junior year, because Mr. Phelps made me.) made a good edge of the pool. The fire truck was jumping in.

Percy got to drive through the towers.

We've been swimming twice this week at the Y, in the outdoor pool. Once was on a ridiculously hot day, and half the world was at the pool. 75% of that half of the world was sitting in a chair, or chatting with another mom, paying zero attention to their child diving all over the world, throwing crap at other children, and generally being obnoxious. Other peoples children make me crazy... But Dex enjoyed the pool at lot, and talked for the next two days about the outside pool, and how it has two waterfalls and a really long hill. We went back Friday afternoon, and had a really nice time jumping in to the big pool at least 7,214 times. We played in the little pool for a while, too (Dex calls it the ki-kee pool, instead of the kiddie pool), but I think the big pool might be where it's at for the rest of the summer. And we saw Miss Eliza at the pool on Friday, lifeguarding. That kind of blew Dexter's mind - I'm sure he thought that he was going to have to swim with Miss Eliza. He had a bit of a worried look on his face, but once I reassured him that he could swim with Mama he just spent the rest of the time looking for Miss Eliza and commenting on her every move. At least you always know what's happening inside this child's mind. He always tells you.

I don't have any pictures of Dex swimming, so you'll have to survive on pics of Baby swimming in the water table. Here she is, doing 1-2-3 JUMP.

And here she is being drowned by a small child. Or, doing 1-2-3 UNDER.

Today John and Dexter shoveled some dirt, trying to level out the ground where our little swimming pool will go. And then I tossed the boys out the door to go to an air show, while I stayed home and trimmed hedges and vacuumed and made dinner. It was a nice day for everyone, I think. The boys said they had fun, and Dexter won an inflatable airplane, and he told me all about seeing lots of airplanes on the ground and way up in the sky. And he survived with no nap, was mildly hysterical at bed time, and then promptly passed out cold. Tired pup.

Climbing Buddy Mountain while it's brown. New! Fun!

Someone else was "helping" today, too.

Earlier this week John and Dexter explored the laws of physics by pushing the baby stroller up the slide...

And watching how fast it can go down.

PS - Grandma, thanks for the puzzle!