January Updates

I've been slacking on posting pictures here this month, so here's a little (lot) bit to catch you up:

We had some pretty awesome sunsets in the beginning of the month, and some awesome weather

One of the favorite Christmas gifts in this house is actually one given to Buddy.  Dex loves us to quack the duck at him as he runs circles around the house.  He's a weird kid...

Nice weather a couple weeks ago meant we did a whole lot of this

A little video of the bike rider - click to view

The second-to-last day of Longwood Christmas was beautiful, 60 degrees and sunny.  So we went to check out the trains before they go away til fall.

One last big red tree picture

One last looking at fountains picture

Fountains!

One last gingerbread tree picture

It was a nice warm day, but obviously based on the ice waterfall behind James, it had been chilly before.

The boy is serious about his train watching

Somebody got to almost drop hold THOMAS!

Previously blogged about hair cut, cut too short.

Last weekend the boys went to the Choo Choo Barn to see their huge train display

John said it was impressive, although he wondered how they get to the middle of the huge train table to fix things there.

Apparently much time was spent watching trains go in to tunnels

Quite possibly John's favorite part of the entire day.  Video - click to view

John found it endearing and cute that Dex carried his little stool around as he hurried to the next tunnel

Cookie Monsters.  We made cookies Sunday afternoon.  Dex is delighted to help, so long as he can wear his headphones to drown out the noise of the beaters.  NOT PICTURED, Dexter's totally naked and flour-covered butt.  It was a butt-naked afternoon.

Tuesday was a balmy 48 degrees, so we bundled up in coat and mittens and headed out to ride bikes.

Pictured for the first time (and worn for the first time), the Carhart coat that Grandma and Grandpa got Dex, oh, 2 years ago.  It's finally time for the 4T coat.

Kid's got "cheese" down pat.  I suppose he gets lots of practice...

More cheese.

Rotten child, mere seconds before he got in trouble and had to walk home.  The rules are stay on the side, not in the middle, not in the grass.  So he does this, on the edge.  Then looks at me, and sees that I am looking right at him, toeing the line.  The rolls his bike on to the grass.  Sorry, kiddo.  Get off your bike.  It's a long walk home.

Butt Naked

We're kind of half-assedly potty training the small child.  It was unintentional, really.  I'm far too lazy for this whole "put the kid on the potty seven billion times a day" thing, and Dex has been sitting on the potty, reluctantly, for several months with no results.  I didn't want the potty to be something terrible, so I wasn't pushing the issue.

Til Dex had really bad diaper rash, after some diarrhea (oh, yeah - puking child on New Years eve, diarrhea for several days, more puking on Jan 2.  It was a doozey of a way to start the year).  And I had him running around naked for an afternoon to try to help his diaper rash.  And simply told him that pee goes in the potty and not on the floor.  And goddamn if the kid didn't stop what he was doing, look at me and say "I want to try peeing on the potty."  And then he DID.  Pee on the potty.  Hell yeah, kiddo.  Nice work.

I pushed my luck a little bit and went out to buy underwear the next day.  Dex was excited to wear it til he peed in his underwear, and the next day pooped in it.  I think after that he decided that underwear was far too much work.  So now if you ask him if he wants to wear a diaper or underwear, his choice is definitely diaper.  But if I make him run around butt naked, he will reliably stop what he is doing and go pee on the potty.  So we're making progress.

This morning Dex was naked and was playing with his cars on the coffee table.  It was prime pooping time, and he continued to say "I don't need to go poopy at ALL!"  Which, after two days of puking and similar statements coming out of his mouth about puke, we have come to realize means "Holy hell, get that kid over a toilet NOW."  So he was standing quietly, stopped his playing.  I thought surely I was doomed to clean poop off the floor.  I asked if he was pooping.  And his answer?

"I want to just make some ducks and not poop."

OK, kiddo.  I like that plan.  Ducks (the Norman term for fart) are fine.  Poopy on the floor?  Not so much.

Dex got a hair cut today.  Bangs are a little crooked, I know.  But behavior-wise this was BY FAR the best hair cut experience to date.  The promise of a lollipop after, if he didn't cry and whine, did wonders...

Dex requested football after dinner, which these days is hard to come by.  But we  happened to still have the Sugar Bowl on Tivo, so Dex watched that.  I was rooting for maroon.  Daddy was rooting for maroon.  Dex was rooting for RAMOON.  Go, Hokies, go!

Random Dreams

This morning Dexter got up babbling away about a "Sing Ring" that was on his wall last night.  It went back and forth.  It was on the wall above his crib.  It said "I want Buddy."  It went away when he woke up.  It was scary.  It woke him up in the middle of the night and he called out for Daddy.

This last part actually happened, at like 12:45 or something.  John, bless his heart, wakes up MUCH faster than I do and was in Dexter's room comforting him before I had any idea what was going on.  By the time I was awake Dex was rambling on about how he wanted it to be yellow night now, and I thought about getting out of bed to yell OMG, child, it's 12:45 in the morning and Mama has only been asleep for TWO HOURS and don't you DARE think this clock is going to turn yellow any time soon - go back to sleep!  But, alas, that would have required me getting out of bed, which seemed, really, like far more effort than it was worth.  So I let John deal with it.

But this Sing Ring thing.  He was talking about it again before nap time, wondering if the Sing Ring would come back, pointing to where it was on his wall.

I am assuming this was some random dream the kid had, and it kind of freaked him out, and he's nervous about going to sleep again and seeing this scary thing in his dream.  But how do you explain dreams to a toddler?  How do you explain that, likely, the Sing Ring isn't going to appear in his dreams ever again, or not for a while? And how do I know, really?  I'm sure some people have repeating dreams.  Maybe he'll dream about Sing Rings every night.  Who am I to say?

I hope that his Sing Ring fears ebb after a few nights of Sing Ring free dreams.  But if they don't?  What do I do?  Maybe we can get a bottle of "Sing Ring Go Away" spray...

Weird dreams were totally justified last night, as yesterday Dexter went through one last battery of tests for Early Intervention - he had to re-evaluated before his third birthday to see if he still qualified for services.  So yesterday was a long day for everyone, and may well have been the cause of the Sing Ring dreams.  Hopefully that stress is done and behind us now, as we found out yesterday that he will still qualify for services.  All testing done now, til he's five.  I think.

So what color should Sing Ring spray be, do you think?  Purple?  Pink?  Green?  Maybe just clear so it doesn't stain the wall...

We made one last visit to Longwood on Saturday to see the trains before they went away.  Still pretty inside!

Christmastime is Here

I'm a little late, I know.  But here's a Christmas video, with some actual video in there so you can see how many eight trillion trains we dealt with all day long.  Starts in the afternoon of Christmas Eve.

I really only expect the grandmas to watch all 7 minutes of video.  So...  enjoy, grandmas!

Traditions

It seems a little silly to speak of traditions here, in this little family that is not yet three years old.  But we seem to be making some at Christmas time.  Stealing, for instance, the gingerbread cookie tradition that has been with the Cowans for a long long time.  We continue it when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit.

Grandpa gives Dex a turn at rolling.  Traditionally, he is terrible at rolling.  He did not disappoint this year.  Dexter, I mean.  Not Grandpa.  Grandpa can roll him some cookie dough.

The actual cutting of the cookies.  Traditionally, Dexter only cares about the star cookies.  He did not disappoint this year.

Waiting with anticipation for Grandpa to free his (as yet uncooked) star cookies from the surrounding dough.  Traditionally, Dexter just shoves the raw cookies in to his mouth.

He did not disappoint this year.

When it comes to rolling dough, everyone's a critic.

This is basically how the whole cookie making adventure goes - always with Dexter's mouth filled with cookie.

Somehow the child became a teenager, in one split second.

Longwood at Christmas has been a sporadic tradition since before Dexter, but now that the small one has a say in things like trains and lights and Christmas trees with baubles, and fountain shows...  Well, let's just say we're certain to see the lights every year.  Maybe more than once.

Trains!  Goddamn TRAINS!  In the really really COLD!

Grandma and Grandpa are part of the Longwood tradition

Traditionally, Grandpa does not smile in pictures, and Dexter doesn't look at the camera.  Neither disappointed this year.

Traditionally, John's eyes are closed in pictures, and Dexter doesn't look at the camera.  John was a bit of a disappointment this year, but I am ok with it.  I like this cute little picture.

Traditionally, Longwood has water in the middle of this Christmas display.  They did not disappoint.  Dexter thoroughly enjoyed watching the fountains.

The gingerbread men are not traditional for Longwood, but they were a cool touch this year.

Traditionally, Dexter chases the water like a lunatic, giggling and paying no mind to any grown-up legs in his way, or to any other small children he may have to run over.  He did not disappoint.

Traditionally Dexter walks out of the Children's Garden the wettest child there, in serious need of a clothing change.  He did not disappoint.

Traditionally, Longwood's light displays are amazing and are much emulated in neighborhoods surrounding Longwood (including ours).  And as always, Longwood did not disappoint.

And a bit of a new tradition for us - gazing with wonderment at the eight billion miles of train tracks and the eleventy-billion different model trains romping around in the Brandywine River Museum.  Dexter was fascinated.  We spent far too many hours in there.

Traditionally (if you count last year as "tradition") Dexter loved watching the train crossing go up and down.  He did not disappoint.