My Birthday

On my birthday, Papa Bear took the boys for the day and I showed up at the in-laws house for dinner. I got out of the car and M ran towards me yelling, "Happy Birthday, Mommy! Happy Birthday! When do we eat cake?"

For the next two hours at approximately five minute intervals, M continued to ask when it was time for cake. The cake was finally put on the coffee table, and unable to control himself, B took a swipe at the cake. This can be seen in the picture above. I guess it looked, uh, touchable. Everyone then sang, M very loudly, and then cake was was doled out. All the kids were happy, and the evening, thankfully came to an end with minimal damage.

My 29th birthday was great! No comments, please.

The Swimmer

M is officially a swimmer. He can make it across the width of the pool and even lift his head to breathe. Papa Bear and I are so proud of him, but most importantly, M is proud of himself. After coming home from the pool last Friday night, M climbed out of the car and proclaimed, "I am a good swimming." Yes you are, M:)

M having lessons at Sue's Swim School in Alamo.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Last week, while at a friend's house, B began to sing the ABC's. This was amazing to me for a couple of reasons; first, I didn't realize that he knew any of the alphabet...we had not been working on it. Second, M didn't start singing until he was several months older, so it was not something that I was even expecting from B for several months yet.

I looked at him, as his wobbly voice was singing the alphabet, skipping many letters, and asked him if he was singing his ABC's. Apparently, if you call out your twenty one month old boy, he ceases his singing immediately and shyly hides behind your legs. My friend tried to get B to sing again, but his impromptu solo was over for that day.

Tonight, while Papa Bear was changing B into his pajamas, B began to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". I have no idea what it sounded like because I didn't hear him, but once again B ceased his solo as soon as attention was called to his warbling. It's too early to tell, but maybe we have a little Pavarotti on our hands.

I Do It

It's a great thing when one's child tries to accomplish feats on his own. This show of independence displays his burgeoning sense of self and growing confidence. However, occasionally (frequently) a child's desire to be independent can cause activities to go veeeeeeeeeerrrrrry slowly, get extremely messy, or cause accidents of catastrophic proportions.

The first time (and thousands of times afterwards) a child wants to drink out of a regular cup, one should expect massive spillage and ensuing cleanup. The first time he feeds himself, one should expect most of the food to end up everywhere but actually inside the child's mouth. (We are probably responsible for half of the world's food waste at this point.) Whenever a child demands to walk somewhere on his own, one should expect to be really late for an appointment and give up all hope of making it to said appointment on time because the child will only take longer than anyone previously thought to be humanly possible. Finally, when a child is being removed from his car seat and screams, "I do it myself!" and you actually let him, one should expect said child to fall out of the car.

That is what happened today with B. He fell right out of the car and onto the hard, hot ground. At least he was smiling proudly when he stood up. I can only hope we'll be that lucky tomorrow when I'm sure the same scenario will replay itself.

While I applaud B's growing demands for independence, I have to wonder who is lacking more sense in these scenarios...the child who wants to try new things or the mother who allows him to and then pays for it afterwards in the form of cleanup, changing clothes or healing wounds.

Chocolate Mustache

Yesterday, a friend had us and some others over for a playgroup and surprised us with cupcakes for my upcoming 29th birthday. B really enjoys his chocolate.

He Can Swim, Kind Of

M's swim lessons are going great and he's so proud of himself. His new sense of pride is the best part of this whole experience. He fairly glows from happiness after showing off his new moves. Sometimes, I see him looking for me during lessons to make sure that I've seen him successfully jump into the pool or swim with "big arms".

M loves the one-on-one lessons with Wendy, and he especially loves the balloon that he receives at the end of each lesson. Okay, maybe the all important balloon, is THE motivating factor. Whatever the reason, M is gaining self-confidence and a sense of pride. It's awesome to watch!

Dreams

A month or so ago, M woke up and came running out of his room, hair flopping on top of his head, crying. When asked why he was crying, M responded, "The penguin was hitting me." It was difficult not to laugh, but somehow I managed.

About two weeks ago, on the way to driving M to school, he said, "Grandpa's sick, Mommy." I asked him what he was talking about and M replied, "Grandpa got sick everywhere and it was gross." As we hadn't seen Grandpa in over a month, and to my knowledge, he had not thrown up during our last trip down south, I was perplexed. Then I remembered the penguin dream and asked M if he had dreamed Grandpa was sick. M said yes and that it was really gross.

Apparently, M needs some new books that are less fanciful than what he's currently reading. Although I'm fairly certain no one has gotten sick in any of the stories we read...