Mothers'/Fathers' Day

Daycare did a combo gift for Mothers' & Fathers' Day this year.  And once again, they knocked it out of the park.

Benjamin Buttons Style

I decided Alex is in charge of walking the dog every day during summer break.  So this morning, I sent him on his way after a couple bottle rocket launches (seriously, TinkerCrate is AMAZING) and a quick argument about the fact that he operates on a baseline assumption that I am always wrong.  Annnnywho, I still get a little bajiggidity about him walking around the neighborhood by himself.  He is just such a friendly kid, I feel like his desire to talk to people might make him an easy target.  So, before he left for the walk, I went over the whole "Don't talk to strangers" thing.

He just got back and I asked how the walk went:

-Perfect!  Aiden didn't poop at all!!  And?  Mom?  Is it ok to say "Nice day for a walk!" to a stranger?
-Yes, that's fine.
-Oh good!  Because there was this other guy walking his dog, and I said that to him.
-Yep, buddy, that is perfect.

And now I'm sitting here cracking up picturing this 8 year old saying "Nice day for a walk!" to a random adult.

No Surprise Here

It might be shocking to see Alex's last day of school picture and see a smile WITH TEETH SHOWING.  But be ye not afraid.  I made him smile that way.  This is the first picture:

Nope.

The other night, Sam was up in his crib doing his typical routine of coming up with any and every reason to not sleep.

(Tangent:  Yes, he is 3 and still in a crib.  He loves it and still has yet to try to climb out.  Why in the name of Zeus would I change that?  He is CONTAINED.  And happy about it.  He's stayin' in there as long as possible.  It might cramp his style a bit in college, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.)

So he sat in his crib talking to his stuffed animals, listing off the different things he had eaten that day, and randomly singing.  And then through the monitor we heard, "Daddy?  Can you come turn on the light and see what's on my finger?"

Ummmmm.....what?

Fun fact:  neither of us went in.  We figured there was nothing in there that could harm him, so we'd have a fun discovery in the morning.  And not shockingly, there was nothing on his finger come morning.  And he didn't seem hungry.  Coincedence?

Schooooool's Our for Summer!

Today is Alex's last day of 2nd grade.  Let's see how he's changed....

First Day:

Last Day:

Bigger feet, a couple inches taller, shaggy hair.  Yep, that's the end of the school year.

Nudist

Neither of my kids like to wear clothing.  If they had their way, they would be naked at all times. Which is fine when we are home, and lends itself to awesome photo ops:

(I know it looks like he's posing, but I just happened to catch him right before he was pointing to show me where he was going to run.)

(I still haven't found that pair of underwear.)

This hatred of clothes mixed with Sam's need to over-explain everything, has morphed into a funny little habit.  He now tells me what he wants to wear to do different activities.  But rarely is he willing to wear clothes or a complete outfit.  So I end up with a 3 year old telling me he wants to wear his pajama pants and his belly to school.  Or a completely naked 3 year old telling me he wants to "wear this" in his bath.  

Comforting

Sam likes to pretend he's a baby and pretend cry and have me pretend comfort him by holding him, patting his back, and saying, "It's ok baby.  It's ok."  I have no idea where this little game of pretend came from, but I will do anything in my power to stop him from making the horrendous fake cry sound he makes while playing it.

This has spawned a new thing.  Any time he pushes me to the point I lose my temper and scold him or yell at him, he immediately drops to the floor in the fetal position and cries.  It's still a fake cry, but not the "I'm pretending to be a baby" cry.  It's still ridiculous.  But that is not the most ridiculous part.

After he "cries" for about 13 seconds, he gets up, comes over to me, pats my leg and sometimes gives my leg a kiss, while saying, "It's ok mama baby.  It's ok."

Gee...thanks kid.