jesus saves

I've been trying to explain prayer to Ro. He understands grace and bedtime prayers but not praying at random. He was excited about riding the bus but has grown progressively more agitated about it. I picked him up from school once and now he realizes that he could get to school in mommy's car and frequently requests me to take him or pick him up now. Anyhow, I told him if he was afraid that he could talk to me about why he was afraid and I would see what I could do to make it better. I also told him he could pray while he was on the bus, which got us into talking about Jesus.

Ro: "Can Jesus fly?"
Me: "Yes, probably but I don't think he needs too."
Ro: "Wow! Jesus can save me and fly me back to mommy's house!"
Me: "Nooooo! Pray for courage and to be brave on the bus!"
(It turned out Ro needed something to read on the bus and that's solved the problem mostly.)

Then, last night, I told Ro we were going to the dentist this morning, which prompted Ro into an hour long weep fest.
Me: We're going to the dentist tomorrow."
Ro: Auuuuuuugh! NO! I don't want to go to the dentist!
Ro: Jesus save me from the dentist?
Me: "No, Jesus would want you to go to the dentist because it's important to take care of your body - including your teeth. He would want you to be a good boy while you're there."
Ro: (copious tears)

He was so thrilled when he got up this morning and it was raining. He thought we wouldn't have to go to the dentist anymore. So, he was quite sad to find out that dentist visits didn't get rained out. He did the exact same thing about his doctor appointment and then got there and was positively angelic. The same thing happened at the dentist. His teeth looked great and he was super good. When we were leaving, I asked it he was was still scared of the dentist. He said, "I'm not scared of the dentist. I love the dentist!", which made everyone in the office laugh.

medicate me

Sim really likes medicine - even Ambesol. She'd eat a whole tube of Ambesol if I let her. Ro always hated any and all medication and getting him to take cough syrup or anything was a nightmare - but a nightmare that I expected. Kids typically hate medicines but he's mostly gotten over it now. Completely the opposite for little Sim. I can just say, " Sim! Medicine!" and she'll come toddling in to get a spoonful/dropper full/squirt of Tylenol, Motrin or any sort of cough medicine quite happily. She'll squeal if I give Ro medicine without dosing her as well. I actually find this pretty disturbing especially the fact that she'd eat a tube of Ambesol or Orajel. yuck! What kind of kid enjoys numbing their entire mouth and tongue. She acts like I'm about to give her dessert.

Crib Time Romp

cribtime, originally uploaded by skweerell.

Neither of my children are wild for stuffed animals. We have a lot but I keep them in a large box in the closet and pull them out every once in awhile if they might be relevant to something Roen is doing.

Lately, Ro has been wanting to get in the crib with Sim to play zoo or boat or spaceship or just pretend to be a baby. Sim enjoys his company and I encourage it because it can be difficult finding things a one year old and a four year old can do together. Recently, I remembered something that I used to do for Roen, which was fill his crib with stuffed animals for him to romp in. I've dumped all the animals in for both kids a few times now and they have so much fun playing together. I snapped this picture of the two of them a few days ago.

weaning and tea

I'm in the final stages of weaning Sim. Today was her first day of no nursing. It went ok. The last two days were a bit tough as she seemed to have another burst of teething induced psychoses which makes her want to nurse 20 times a day and bang her head into things like the car, the driveway, me, the floor, the couch, etc. She was constantly pounding on my chest in hopes of some more nursing time but I gave her Tylenol instead and stuck doggedly to my one nursing session a day.

Today, she was much better and I managed to distract her from her single morning feed. Now, I just don't sit down for the next week and try to keep her occupied and we'll be finished. I don't think I could've done it without tea though. I've introduced her to herbal teas with lots of milk and honey and she seems to like them. I let her help me make the tea in the morning. If I say, "Sim, do you want tea?" She'll toddle over to the tea drawer and rummage around for a tea bag and then bring it to me and drop it in a cup. It's really cute.

rock climbing son of a gun

Climbing walls seem to be pretty commonplace now. They're at museums, playgrounds, festivals, stores, etc. Although Ro can climb them, he wasn't exactly drawn to them. I don't think he could see the point because there wasn't really anywhere to climb to. Then, a few months ago, Grumple and Daddy took Ro to Rock Ventures and got him in a harness and let him have a more realistic climbing experience. They showed him that you can climb for the sake of climbing. Grumple (grandpa) is big into rock climbing. Anyhow, that experience peaked Ro's interest in climbing walls. At the playground this week, it all seemed to come together for him and he was doing these real rock climbing moves like using his arms to support himself while he calmly felt around for new spots for his feet. If he didn't have a good foothold he'd do a little hop and switch which foot was on the hold and keep moving. Daddy and I were both stunned. He's always been a natural climber but these moves were suddenly a lot more sophisticated. I think it's so cool that he's figured out these moves himself.

Our new friend, Brummmmmmmmmmmmm

We've been casting around a bit to find a new toy/theme for Ro to love. Buzz and Thomas come and go but I think they're mainly on the wane. We've tried fire engines, pirates, garbage trucks, and a number of other things but nothing really struck Ro. He likes it, especially pirates but he really likes vehicles with a personality. Surprisingly, we stumbled on an RC Brum at a Radioshack on Sunday. Ro was smitten. Fortunately, Brum was only $5, on sale from $35. Ro has played with it nearly non-stop. He really loves RC cars but Brum is also a crime fighting superhero, which makes him even better.

Yesterday, one of Daddy's coworkers taped Brum on the Discovery kids channel for us. It was one of the weirdest most ridiculous shows I've seen -- and so British. Ro laughed until he was nearly sick. Ro is a natural vaudevillian. He loves slapstick silliness, so combine that with a strange little car who sneaks out of an antique auto musuem every morning to fight crime in the big town and you have a winner from Ro's point of view.

Ro's painted a garage (a box) for Brum and Brum sleeps by his bed every night. Buzz and Tigger are probably wondering what happened. Brum also eats most meals with us now. Ro also wants to be Brum for Halloween, which now puts responsibility for costuming Ro squarely in Daddy's plate. Mommy can't build giant models of antique cars but Daddy can probably sort something out that will satisfy Ro.

First day of school

Ro got on the bus yesterday and went off to school, a preschool for four year olds with speech delay. I was all teary as the bus pulled out of the driveway but Ro was very happy -- bordering on jubilant. We met him at school an hour later to meet his teacher, etc. A few kids were really crying but Ro seemed quite comfortable there. When we were leaving, he started fussing about wanting to ride the bus home rather than ride home with us. We said fine and he got on board. As the bus was pulling away, we realized it was going to our house and he was the only one on it, which wasn't a big deal except the whole family was at school and no one was at home. So, we made haste in order to beat the bus back to our house. Fortunately, the bus was held up by a long freight train and we made it home. When Ro arrived, he was in tears. He said he was afraid of the train and it's horn scared him and hurt his ears. I was really surprised because Ro loves trains. The bus was right next to the track when the train came by though and I guess it just startled him. I don't think he liked being alone on the bus either. All in all it was a good first day except for the trip home. I was glad he didn't have any qualms about getting on the bus today. The bus driver plays children's music on the bus and she brought a box of little cars for the kids to play with, so Ro looked happy as a clam as the bus pulled away.

juicy juice hugs

Ro loves "big hugs". But, now he wants to be hugged until we "squeeze the juice out" of him. I think he got this idea from me explaining how the juice is squeezed out of oranges, apples, grapes, etc. It's funny to hear it applied to hugging.

Ro has also started asking me to sleep with him at night. He says he wants to "sleep in a hug", which is his cute way of saying he wants to be cuddled.

getting ready for school

Ro's been wearing his new backpack a lot. He's still excited about school, which is a mere three days away now. His bus driver came by the house Friday to meet Ro and let him try out the bus. He was simultaneously thrilled and disappointed - excited to be getting on the bus and sad that it wasn't going anywhere. This is a common emotional state for Ro that kind of drives me nuts. I feel like he should be happy but he's not. He's sad or as he said, "I'm very upset." Then, he mopes around the house because he didn't get to go to school - even though he was thrilled about seeing the bus. sigh. I've noticed a lot of small children react similarly but it puzzles me.

We bought Ro's school clothes on Friday too. Ro actually enjoyed clothes shopping. He didn't care about the clothes but he loved the mannequins and the fact they were all headless. Daddy and Ro dashed about the store looking for the missing heads -- because they must be somewhere. I could hear him laughing all over the store as they searched for the stash of heads.

Ro has so much fun playing lately that he never wants to stop. The idea of having to stop worries him greatly, so he checks on the status of the sun throughout the day. When he sees it's seriously going down, he'll ask for "more sun." He's been doing this almost every evening even when he's so tired that he's yawning and every activity seems to cause tears. He's also started doing it with choices as well. I'll say, "Ro, you have two choices. You can have either nuggets or a grill cheese." He says, "No!!!! I want threeeeeee!" Then, he holds up three fingers meaning he wants another choice besides the two I gave him. He's getting cagey now that he's four.

equitable distribution of marshmallows

Sim seems to have a very strong sense of fairness. When she thinks she's been gypped, she'll let you know it -- loudly! Ro was a good boy and tried a new food so I give him positive reinforcement if he happens to try a new food on his plate. So, he got a treat from our treasure chest, which contains a variety of candy and toys. He chose a strawberry marshmallow candy. Sim came in just in time to see Roen picking out his candy and I quickly whisked the treasure chest away. She let out a piercing shriek and proceeded into full tantrum windup. Up until this point, I've just used the treasure chest just for Ro and I didn't want him to see me dole out candy for no reason. So, I quickly offered her tasty snacks - like chocolate chips, a chocolate candy bar, cookies, etc. She would have none of it and wouldn't stop screaming until I got her a marshmallow candy too. sheeeeeeez. I could just imagine her thinking I ate my dinner therefore I get a marshmallow thingy too. She wants to be treated just like Ro which is hard since she's one and he's four. It's just not possible sometimes. I didn't really expect her to demand equal treatment until she was at least two.

The funny thing is I think she likes chocolate better than marshmallow thingys but she wants them just because Ro thinks they're the best thing ever.

the carnival and the big pretzel

We had some friends over for dinner tonight, so we went grocery shopping this morning for fougasse (fancy bread) and salad fixings.Then, I spent the day being militant about containing the kids and their fount of messiness. It was a challange because Ro was in carnival mode. The "carnival" he built yesterday took up four rooms and a hallway and had tents, clowns and toys and jugglers, etc. He could tell me what each book, toy, pillow or blanket was representing. To the untrained eye, it was simply a disastrous mess of household items and toys. He was very sad that it was all gone this morning and wanted to build a "small carnival" so I let him create a small one for an hour or so. While we were picking up the "carnival", Ro told me that when he grew up he would be big and strong and he would eat a giant pretzel and mommy would be so proud of him. I was a bit baffled by the conversation and said I was already proud of him and he gave me a big hug and scampered off. Moments later, I hear rustling plastic wrap so I walk into the dining room and Ro had unwrapped the fougasse and was poised to rip it in half!!! I gasped in horror when I realized that's what the "giant pretzel" was and that I'd unwittingly told him to go eat the fancy dinner bread for the guests. Fortunately, I stopped in the nick of time. I couldn't stop laughing about the fougasse as a giant pretzel though. ah ha h aha. Miscommunication is funny sometimes.