Lending a Helping Hand

Dexter is a very helpful boy, and I am trying to encourage the whole idea of being helpful.  1)  Because the last time I tried to get him to put his shirt on by himself and congratulated him on being helpful, he freaked out and insisted that he WAS NOT helpful, no way, no how, no no never never uh, uh, uh.  and 2)  Because I am really hoping that I can enlist some help from the boy when his baby sister arrives in October.  Isn't that why you have kids?  So they can do stuff for you?

Anyway, Dexter was super helpful over our July 4th long weekend.  And when he's helpful he's ridiculously cute.  He loves doing what Daddy is doing.

When Daddy brought the car home from the beach on Monday it was covered in salt.  Or sand.  Or dust.  Or something.  Regardless, it needed a bath.

Fortunately for us, car washing is an exciting endeavor for a three-year-old

As seen in previous posts, using the hose is also pretty fun.

Sure, he gets a little distracted, and sure, maybe he gets Daddy wet sometimes (a lot), but as long as you're not in a hurry to get your car washed, hire Dexter.  He's your man.

On Wednesday morning Daddy worked on the truck, trying to figure out what the horrendous noise was when it was running.  The first two replacement parts didn't fix the terrible noise, so this fix required getting down and dirty under the truck.  Dexter's favorite thing.

I got Dex a box to lie on (he pretended it was a scooter, just like Daddy's), and his work light and his screwdriver from his tool bench.  He wanted a light because Daddy was using his head lamp.

Added a sexy set of swim goggles to keep the copious amounts of rust under the truck from falling in to delicate eyeballs.  And also because Daddy was wearing safety glasses.

Working hard.  This was entertainment for a good hour.

Taking a break to watch Daddy for a while.

Daddy also took Dex to Auto Zone to get a new part.  Dex will tell you all about how our old belt tensioner was very rattly, so he had to go to Auto Zone to get a new one that could go around and around and around and around without rattling.  He will also take full credit for fixing it.

Nothing to do with being helpful.  But Dex and I went to the Hands on House in Lancaster last week on a nice, relatively un-humid and not too hot morning.  Dex was psyched that the outside playground was open this time.  Last time we went to was raining and the playground was closed.  So we played outside for a good hour before wandering inside to see what was going on in there.

Walking on the bridge

Upping the ante - walking on the bridge WITH A BALL

Jumping on stones

Upping the ante again - jumping on stones WITH A BALL

I took pictures, but not very exciting ones, of the same thing happening down the slide.  Slide down alone.  Slide down WITH A BALL.  Thank heavens for the ball...

A couple cute things the small one has been saying.

Today he was putting on his socks, which were inside out.  He tried to turn them the right way but couldn't.  "Mama, can you help me un-inside-out them, please?"

A typical thing Dex says after eating.  "Mama, do you have a baby in your belly?"  Affirmative from me.  "Mama, did you eat the baby?"  I've explained to him that the baby is in my uterus, which is different from my stomach where food goes.  He says "I have a baby in my uterus."  I explain that boys don't have a uterus, only girls do.  But he insists, "I have a baby in my uterus, like Mama."  OK.  Glad you're excited about it.  He starts behavior services in the next couple weeks and one of their tasks is to help prepare Dex for the arrival of his baby sister.  Hopefully they will help us make a pretty smooth transition in October.

American Pickers Part 2

Thought berry picking season was over?  Oh, no no no.  After we enjoyed our raspberries and strawberries, we still had some blueberries to pick, and some black raspberries to devour.  I love our little picking place - nice big bushes, nicely maintained rows, little playground to play on if we have time (we often don't).

Cute blueberry picker

Dexter's bucket.  He ended up with about 5 berries in his bucket, and about 78 billion berries in his belly.

Dex is an excellent berry picker.  We picked for almost an hour and he picked the whole time.  And ate the whole time.  He was fascinated with the bird netting over our row of blueberries, and has an incredible knack for finding all the hugest berries on the bushes.

Look at how big THAT blueberry is!

We went black raspberry picking on a Saturday morning and brought Daddy with us.  Daddy hasn't picked berries of any sort since he was a kid, and apparently berry picking in Massena is a much more challenging endeavor, as John asked if he needed to wear pants so he could wade in to the middle of the berry patch.  Ummmmm.  No.  We go where there's nice rows and we can avoid the thorns for the most part.

Dexter showed Daddy how to pick berries, and Daddy got the hang of things pretty quickly.

You gotta be careful picking with the small one - he's a berry stealer.

Dexter also showed Daddy the fine art of eating what you pick.  Daddy is a quick study.

But Daddy did manage to get a few in his basket, as well.

Daddy blamed his lack of berries (compared to my basket) on the little shadow he had, blocking his way at every step.  Yeah, yeah.  Excuses, excuses.

I mean, c'mon, how hard can it be to pick raspberries when Dexter is sitting on your leg?

Everyone had fun, and we went home with two baskets of black raspberries.  It's amazing, when you bring Daddy along you come home with almost twice as many berries as when you go by yourself.

What Dexter did during Camp Grandma

Dexter had some busy busy days at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  He played a lot.  He ate a lot.  He slept a lot.  He napped hard.  He still (much to Grandma's chagrin) got up at 6:30 every morning.  He went in to wake Grandpa up every morning at 7AM, and very helpfully shoved his glasses on his face.  Sometimes even right-side up.  He slept in a pretty big big boy bed and didn't fall out once.  He chased the kitty around the house and gave Maggie lots of hugs.  I do believe he had a grand old time, as each day when we talked to him and asked him if he was ready to come home or if he wanted to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house, he chose the latter.  Grandma and Grandpa are apparently way more fun than us.  And also tired.  Very, very tired.

Sunday at Aunt Jeanne's house at the zoo (with us, still), and then taking Maggie for a walk to the playground, and then dinner at the local restaurant with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Dom.

Monday Dexter took over the garage.  Grandpa parked the cars outside and Dexter rode his new cool tractor around and around and around and around and around the garage.  He filled it up with gas.  He checked the air in the tires.  He filled his trailer with anything and everything he could find in Grandpa's garage.

And there was also some sandbox playing.  The tractor with the flag is his "parade tractor."  Smart kid.

There was lots and lots of train playing to be done.  Grandpa is an excellent conductor.

Tuesday Dexter had fun at the ScienceCenter in Ithaca City

He liked playing the drums, and seeing the moons, and playing with the train

And he also enjoyed making bubbles, and playing with the ducks inside and outside.  Grandma made the ducks swim down the waterfall, which he thought was pretty cool.

On Wednesday Dexter went to play with some cousins in Canandaigua.  He was enamored with the older ladies.  This is Stella, who I think is a year older than he is.

He also saw Great-Grandma, and ate lunch with Aunt Maria.  And, you know, played with cute girls.  Again.  Some more.

He was particularly in love with this particular older cousin, and spent plenty of time hugging her and telling her she was cute.  Ah, this boy.  He is going to be trouble later.  I can't remember this cousin's name - she and her sister are identical twins and I can't tell them apart.

Apparently Dexter really liked riding the 2-wheeled scooter at the cousins' house.  So, yeah.  Guess what we own now?  Also guess who has to back her car out of the garage now, so someone can ride his bike around inside it?

Dexter managed to squeeze in some pool time on Thursday before he had to come home.  It was actually kind of chilly when he was there, so pool time was a little bit limited.

He did plenty of spinning while treading water (or maybe just barely touching on his tippy toes).  Click for video

He also learned this particular skill, for which his teacher Miss Molly would be so proud.  She's been trying to get him to do this for 8 weeks now...  Click for video

A little tractor riding.  Somewhere this child has picked up a wicked Syracuse accent.  I don't know where it came from.  Click for video

Checking the air in the tires.  Click for video

And, finally, some two-wheeled scooter riding.  Click for video.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for playing with Dexter for the week.  He had lots of fun!

What I did during Camp Grandma

Dexter went to Grandma and Grandpa's house last week for 5 days or so.  By himself.  And oh, man, do I ever love Camp Grandma.  I slept til 8AM every day.  When I sleep til 8AM, I have no need for a mid-afternoon nap.  I watched SportCenter.  While eating breakfast.  On the couch.  Buddy and I went for a walk and I didn't have to push a stroller.  I ran errands without having to look at my clock the whole time, seeing when I had to pick a child up from school.  I ate lunch, in a restaurant, by myself, and READ A BOOK.  It was fabulous.

But mostly I spent some time organizing the basement, which was a huge pile of crap that had essentially been thrown down there two years ago when we moved here, and left to become a bigger and bigger pile of crap.  I went through things.  I threw things away.  I filled the recycle bin and John took an extra trip to an off-site recycle place.  I sorted baby clothes.  I filled up the shelves that John built.  I built and filled up two sets of plastic shelves.  John built a set of heavy-duty metal shelves and filled it up with all his stuff.  It is SOOOO much better down there than it was.  Still a work in progress.  We still need more shelves.  I still need to donate some things.  I have 6 boxes of boy clothes that I need to tag, put on hangers, and take to the consignment sale.  After the baby is born and I have physical proof that she really is a girl.  I have a pile of stuff that I still need to decide what to do with.  Horse stuff.  Backpacking stuff.  Camera stuff.  Who wants to buy a nice SLR film camera and lens??

Here's the progress made:

Enormous pile o'crap.  The stuff in the foreground is mostly kid stuff.

Pile of kitchen-related crap

Pile of John's crap, with horse stuff in the back, and more kid stuff.  Too much kid stuff.

Empty home-made shelves waiting to be filled up

Baby clothes sorting - in to keep, sell, donate.  I have a surprising amount of clothing in the 0 - 12 month age range that will work for the baby girl.  Either A) Dexter wore a lot of gender neutral clothing as a baby or B) I just don't give a damn if this baby wears blue.  I mean, seriously.  She can wear blue PJ's.  I'm pretty sure it won't kill her.

Almost full (they are now quite full) shelves

Kitchen crap on a shelf

John's crap

I haven't taken a picture of the entire basement because, honestly, it's embarrassing how much crap we STILL have, sitting out or sitting in boxes in the middle of the floor.  It's way way better than it was.  And John is promising to build more shelves (especially after he was searching for some toy Dex wanted the other day and opened the closet in the blue room and was almost buried by the cascade of toys that fell out.  Yeah.  I kind need to empty that closet out for the baby.  And stuff).  So when it's done, done, really done I'll take a picture.  Right now just trust me.  You can drive a plasma car down there for a pretty long ways without running in to a box.