Here’s to wishing everyone a happy 4th of July). Stay safe, but have some fun. And here’s a quick musical interlude on how they decided who should write the Declaration of Independence. I’m pretty sure this is historically accurate, although I would have expected Jefferson to be more of a baritone.
NOTE: There are a couple of PG-13 curse words in the song, if you have a young one in the room with you.
Two quick notes in the same day. After the earlier incident during naptime, we got to the pool around dinner time. We were in the pool for a bit, then ate dinner (PBJ sandwiches and chips) during adult swim time. (There were no adults swimming; just a break for the lifeguard.)
The big change is actually in Daniel. I think Daniel had been watching Will jump in the pool, and when I asked Daniel if he wanted to jump in, he nodded his head and said yes. So, to the side of the pool we go, and in he jumps (with me holding on). A little kicking and pretend swimming, then it’s out of the pool. And he wants to jump again. And again. And sometimes when I’m not quite ready, or when he’s not quite close to the edge. I guide him in each time, but he clearly enjoys it. He’s got this big grin. He won’t attempt it when I’m not near him, but a couple of times, he started to jump before I had both hands under his armpits.
Hopefully, we can remember the camera to take some quick video of it next time.
As for Will and his swimming, he’s doing more and more of it independently, without being coaxed. And he enjoys jumping in the deep end (where I catch him) and then swimming back to the side. That’s really helping his confidence, because he cannot just put his feet down to rest.
We wish we had thought to take a picture, but we (me in particular) were too mad to think of it at the time. Another adventure of the twins during their naptime. They emptied three drawers from the dresser and found something they shouldn’t have — a double-ended Sharpie pen.
We went in when the whining got too bad, and discovered a hurricane had hit. Pants were off. They had written all over each others’ legs, as well as some face and other body parts, plus on their sheets and one of the bed railings. As far as we could see, after picking up, there was nothing on the carpet, the stuffed animals, and just traces on a couple of blankets.
I’m still too mad about this one, even though I should be laughing at it.
We got hit with another shock today. We cooked up a pizza for dinner tonight — one of those 18” pizzas you can get from a club warehouse. Everybody got their slices — 1 each for the twins, 2 each for us older ones. The pie had been cut into 12 slices total.
Daniel plowed through his first one, then snagged Kellie’s partially eaten second slice. (He pretty much helped himself to it.) After Will had walked away from his second slice (he had just eaten the crust so far), Daniel went over and took that and finished it off. So now he’s had almost one-quarter of an extra large pizza.
But Daniel wasn’t done. I had gotten Sean a second one, which he had barely started. While Sean was away from his place, Daniel went and grabbed that one and finished it off. We figure Daniel ate the equivalent of about 3-1/2 slices for dinner tonight. That’s just a stunning gustatory accomplishment for a 2-year old.
I’m not sure I want to let that happen again. But he was rather sneaky in grabbing each of the last 2 slices, before we even knew it had happened. We’re not looking forward to the resulting diaper, though.
Is this the weekend of shocks for us? I just got back from getting Will new shoes, as he had recently outgrown his SIZE 3(!) sneakers. Wait a minute — he’s not even 7 yet. And he’s outgrown a size 3?
Even more shocking is what he’s wearing now — size 4.5! sigh I’m pretty certain my feet were not that big at this age.
Do I need to get a basketball hoop now and start training him? If so, I hope he doesn’t have my basketball-playing genes.
Just a quick blurb from this morning. We heard the twins rattling around at their bedroom door after waking up. This is not surprising, as they will sometimes play with the monitor hanging on their bedroom door. So Kellie gets up to start to get them ready, when she discovers — the boys are roaming in the hall. And Sean states the obvious: “Daniel open door.”
I guess Daniel has developed enough hand strength to open his bedroom door now. That means we’ll have to lock the gate outside their room to keep them from getting loose before we get to them.
Yes, yet another indicator that they’re growing up.
During breakfast this morning, we were suddenly confronted with this. (See the picture to the right.)
It sure looks like Sean’s missing a tooth, doesn’t it? That was Kellie’s initial reaction. But it’s just a a bit too early for him to be losing a tooth.
On closer inspection, it was clear that it was just a piece of blackberry stuck between his front teeth. Still, it does give the nice impression of a missing tooth, doesn’t it? The quote about is what Kellie said to me at one point. But she hadn’t told me who it was, and she immediately told me what was really going on.
Daniel got in on providing the goofy looks, too, using his binoculars. It almost looks like robot eyes in the middle of his face. They’re really having fun using them, especially because they can be used from the front (to make images bigger) or the back (to make images smaller). These were their show-and-tell items for today, which is why they were at the table this morning.
Oh, wait, that’s not what we celebrated today? Well, I guess that explains why only I got the presents and cake today.
So, yes, Happy Father’s Day out there to all of you fathers (I don’t know any fathers-to-be at moment, but if you’re reading and are one, the wish goes to you, too).
The weekend was nice and somewhat relaxing. Yesterday was a bit draining — going to Busch Gardens on a day with the heat index over 100 isn’t always the best idea. But Will wanted to “take me” to Busch Gardens on Father’s Day, but I convinced him in advance that it would be best if we did it the day before. And we paid for it with the heat and humidity.
Will had a great time (I’ll post pictures and video shortly), and we did many of the same rides as before, this time without trepidation. I almost got him to ride the log flume, but he was scared of getting blasted in the face with water during the final plunge. Instead, he found a few more kid-oriented rides in the Italy section, including one where you “fly” a glider on your stomach (like a hang-glider). Six hours in that heat was enough — and either the heat kept the crowds away, or the economy still isn’t opening up for these types of discretionary expenditures. This weekend (when school is done) was less crowded (by a decent amount) compared with the visit we made last month (before school let out). You can draw your own conclusions.
And while I grant that Will really wasn’t being clever in “taking” me to Busch Gardens yesterday — we had already agreed we’d probably go in June, and his original offer back in May was to go on Father’s Day, as he really thought it would be a treat (which in many ways it was) — he did have his moment of being clever. He gave me some Hershey’s chocolate bars for my Father’s Day gift, and of course, he was angling for me to share some with him. So he definitely had an ulterior motive when he chose that gift. But it still was a nice, thoughtful gift.
Thanks again to everyone for the wonderful weekend.
OK, I’ll be getting a lot more of those in the future, but Will deserves a hearty kudos — he made it through first grade. The last day of class was on Friday, so Kellie picked him up early and took him out bowling. It’s amazing some of the things he’s learned or taken an interest in this year. His artwork is much more advanced, and he’s really staring to pick up some of the PE skills. Another year older, another year smarter, and another year stronger.
Hard to believe he’s already through first grade. Of course, if you look at how tall he is, you’d think he’s much older. My gauge for watching him grow is seeing how much more of his bed he stretches out in at night. I go in each night after he falls asleep to say goodnight again, and there are times when it is just obvious that he is getting just a little bit bigger.
Will’s big gift for graduating was getting Mario Kart for the Wii. This is really the first Wii game that has started to engage him and get him coming back for more. He still struggles with it (steering more with the arms side to side, instead of turning the wheel), but the difference from Friday night to just this afternoon was pretty good. Still lots of crashing (thank goodness he has 9+ years to learn to drive), but he’s not getting as frustrated any more, and I think it will get easier for him.
Of course, Daddy is also enjoying Mario Kart. It really is a fun game. But enough about me.
We have a full summer of activities, so keep checking back and we’ll try to keep filling you in. And congratulations on finishing first grade, Will. It just means your backpack gets a little heavier next year.
This is one that was shared with me online, from the Science Friday show on NPR. Their website has video demonstrations of different experiments. In this segment, part of their Science Fair Projects for the Recession, they show how to shatter glass with your voice.
Have a great weekend. And good luck if you want to try this yourself.
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