Conversations With a Three Year Old

Here's the discussion Dexter and I had in the basement yesterday afternoon.

Dexter (jumping on the trampoline):  When I have hair like Mama's I can have a baby in my belly.

Me:  Well, actually, only girls can have babies in their bellies.

Dexter (still jumping on the trampoline):  When I am a girl I can have a baby in my belly.

Me (mildly panicked because what if he decides when he's older that really he IS a girl, and wants a gender operation?  I don't want to be discouraging that at the tender age of three.  But, the chances he's going to remember this conversation in the future is slim, so go for it):  Well, kiddo, you're a boy.  And you're stuck being a boy.  So I don't think you get to have a baby in your belly.  Sorry, bud.

Dexter (still jumping):  I am stuck being a boy.

Me (desperately changing the subject):  Hey, look!  Buddy just went through the tunnel!

I'm gonna suck at the birds and the bees talk...

We might have just created a monster...

Dex is a TV hater.  Like, a turn on the TV and he freaks out to "turn it off, turn it off turn it OFF!" TV hater.  They watched a movie at school the other day and he freaked.  The teacher tried again the next day to see how he'd react, and he was better but still not pleased.  So John started Operation Make the Kid Tolerate TV this morning while I was gone.  With the very easy, not hard to digest, volume turned down low Toddler Tunes music channel on the TV.  Seems like it'd be ok, right?

Not so much.  John said he freaked.  So John convinced him to leave the room with him, but leave the TV on.  And then gradually it got better, so long as Dexter could snuggle in John's lap.  They watched TV for a few minutes, and then Dexter said he was done and the TV went off and life went on.

And then we came downstairs after nap time to get a snack, and I had the TV on again.  This was after we called Wylie Bird on the computer so that Dexter could show Aunt Maria's Wylie Bird his own (imaginary) Wylie Bird.  Dexter's Wylie Bird is red and not squacky.  Aunt Maria's Wylie Bird is green and squacky.  Dex said hi to Wylie Bird on the computer, showed him his duck, and told him about going to Zone and picking up a switch but we didn't need any switches because we have lots of switches at home so I found the reflectors and I paid for it and I took it outside and I put it in the truck and I brought it home and I put it in the grass next to my playground and we took the sticker off it so that it would reflect on both sides.  Seriously.  This entire story came out of his mouth.  Multiple times today.  And for those not down with the lingo, Zone is also known as Auto Zone.

Where was I?  Oh.  TV.  On during snack time.  And Dexter asked Daddy if he could please move over so that he could see the pictures on the TV.  And then after snack we watched TV and listened to music for a while.  And then when it was time for dinner and I told Dexter we needed to turn the TV off during dinner, THAT caused a freak-out.  Not the TV being on, but the turning OFF of the TV.  He said "we can watch TV again after dinner."

OK, little man.  We can.  But I'm not excited about this becoming a habit, because I think we might have just created a monster...

I told Nonna I'd try to post pictures of the azaleas at Winterthur tonight, but I'm not sure I'm going to do more than just this one.  I had a long night with the girls last night.  I am tired.  But the azaleas.  Were amazing.  And some day I will show you more pictures.

OMG, the Cuteness

This child.  Is so damn cute sometimes.  I mean, sometimes I want to wring his little neck (like at nap time today, when the pitter-patter of little feet woke me from my nap and I went upstairs to see a child, head on the bed, feet on the floor.  He promptly was tossed in his crib, because you don't get out of bed when your clock is blue.  And you CERTAINLY don't wake up Mama by doing so.  Oh no you don't).  But then sometimes, like this afternoon, he is fantastically cute and makes me giggle.

We got a very large pile of mulch delivered this morning while Dex was at school.  Which conveniently had a very large flat spot on the top.  Which was perfect for Dexter and Buddy romping.

Dexter decided that the dump truck had brought him a moon bounce, and he certainly needed to jump on it.

Hella cute.  Also cute when he continued to call the mulch pile "this beautiful moon bounce."  Yes.  Beautiful.  That's exactly how I'd describe it, too.

This afternoon Daddy came home early to spread mulch, but ended up mowing the lawn instead.  Dexter decided he wanted to help.

Above video show Dexter's excellent lawn mowing skills.  He might, actually, be better than me.

He got tired of driving the lawn mower pretty quickly, but when I asked him if he wanted to drive his Jeep in the yard while Daddy mowed, he was ALL OVER that.

OMG, how ridiculously cute is THAT?  Matching ear muffs and everything.

Click above for video.  This is the most he has ever, ever, ever driven his Jeep.  He wouldn't even push the gas pedal in it until about a month ago.  But today he jumped in, only crashed in to Fiona's fence twice, and he figured out that driving and steering thing in a hurry.

Click above for video.  Daddy helped Dex drive back up to the mulch pile.

This last picture cracks me up.  Daddy was mowing the front yard, and Dex isn't allowed to drive up there, so he was tooling around in the back.  See those three horses way in the background?  They were totally watching Dex drive around, ears all pricked, trying to figure out what the hell he was doing.  Too cute.

John is out moving mulch.  In the dark.  I'm gonna not help.  Cool?  I'm pulling out the pregnancy card on this one.

We gotta go every week so we can laugh until we cry...

Easter weekend Dexter went to the park for a demo day for Soccer Shots, which is a soccer program for 3 - 6 year old kids.  I didn't go because I was running a 5K that morning, but John took him and said he had a good time.  So we figured we'd sign him up and see how it goes.

This is pretty much how it went.  The small child is not the most coordinated thing on earth, and his listening skills need some help, but damn if he didn't run around like a maniac, chasing girls all over the place, with a huge smile on his face the whole time.  John and I were rolling on the ground laughing at our child way over there in la-la land, because he's just too damn cute, and how can you take soccer seriously when there's 5 girls and a boy romping around in seven billion different directions yelling the entire time?

So far so good.  Dex is dribbling.  All the girls are dribbling.  All's well.

He's actually supposed to be doing this, and I was amazed that he actually listened and did it.

Ummmmm.  Not supposed to be doing this.  But a net makes a pretty cool fort.

Preparing to cut down a tree with his saw

TIIIIIMBERRRRRRRR!!!

Other children - kind of mildly paying attention.  My child?  Putting the ice cream on his ice cream cone.

And a couple videos for you.  The first one cracks me up for Dexter's complete inability to sit on a ball...

Ahhhh, Soccer Shots.  Four more weeks of funny.  And then what will we laugh at?

So THIS is happening today...

Wish us luck!

Hands Down, the Best Scalloped Potatoes EVER

I'm not a big fan of scalloped potatoes.  I find them bland and boring and generally not worth eating.  But John loves them, and he loves them with ham in them, and we had some leftover ham from Easter dinner (hooray, Wegman's spiral sliced ham!  SO YUMMY).  So I scoured the internet (read, googled "scalloped potato recipe and opened the first one that had more than a four star rating) and found THIS SPECTACULAR RECIPE that you must try.  Really.  Seriously.  You must try it.  Best scalloped potatoes I've ever eaten.  I added ham, and used just a little more than 4 cups of milk, to make the sauce nice and thick.  I cooked mine for about 70 minutes and I could have cooked them for longer - the potatoes were still a tiny bit crisp.  Oh, and I added some parm cheese to the top the last ten minutes or so.  Delish.

Spastic is upstairs getting ready for bed, and they way things are going I have a feeling he's going to bed with no books.  Again.  His listening skills diminish significantly after 6PM.  As does Daddy's patience for shenanigans.

This baby in the belly.  Seriously.  If I had any recollection of feeling this shitty the first pregnancy, this baby would not be happening.  Because this sucks.  The nausea is getting slightly better - now I only feel like crap from about 4PM on, instead of all day.  But it's not better enough.

Had an AMA screening (DUDE, you're old screening) on Tuesday - ultrasound looked great and bloodwork all came back fine, so we should have a healthy baby here, we hope.  John was talking to Dex about coming to the next ultrasound, where we can find out if he's going to have a brother or a sister.  He told John, "We can tell the doctor I want a sister."  Sorry, kiddo.  Doesn't work that way.  Besides.  A SISTER??  Really??

I have links HERE and HERE to pictures of Longwood on Monday (we went with our play group friends) and of Easter egg hunts last week.  I have pictures from Winterthur, where we went on Sunday, but I haven't edited them yet and that's not going to happen tonight because I have stuff I need to do for Foxcatcher.  So, this is all you get!

This One's For You

Hi there, three people besides the grandmas who take the time to read my ramblings and look at all my eight gazillion pretty photos.  This post is for you.  I figure you deserve to hear the news before a boring email or Facebook post goes out.

Dexter's gonna be a big brother.  I'm not sure he's really as excited as he looks in this picture.  Although I am also not sure he really understands what this whole concept of being a big brother really means.

Baby Norman #2 has been cooking for about 12 and a half weeks and is due to make an appearance on October 5th.  Yes, this was on purpose.

The Norman household has been an enormous mess for the past month and a half because I am a terrible house keeper, and even MORE of a terrible house keeper when I feel like I am going to be sick all the time.  Plus I need a nap during nap time.  So things like laundry and general cleaning have kind of fallen by the wayside.  I am sllloooowwwwly feeling better.  Ever so slowly.  My low carb diet has gone by the wayside, though, as I just try to find foods that my stomach can deal with.  If it's Ritz crackers, so be it.

Next week I have to go in for an AMA screening.  Which is basically a thorough exam for people who are old and having babies.  Because I am old.  Old, old, old.

That's all I got tonight.  Pregnant.  Feeling mildly better.  Need a nap.