new adventures for Spiderman

I think Ro could offer Marvel some new ideas on Spiderman. They're overlooking the more banal sort of things Spiderman could do. He's got this plastic Spiderman glider thingy that he enjoys playing with even though he has no clue who Spiderman is -- beyond a general superhero figure. Ro's Spiderman makes sure the hungry fish get fed. He also protects the little fish from the bad fish and goes on an arduous quest in search of a lost duckling, who he then returns to it's mother. He also helps a few ducklings having difficulty with swimming and finally gets stuck in a pipe. I can always visualize these stories as comic book frames and they give me a few snickers. I'm surpised they haven't tapped into Spiderman for the younger set. They already make a bloated version of Spiderman for toddlers/preschoolers but no stories for their level.

over the mountains and far away

Ro is currently captivated by the phrase "over the mountains and far away". He draws pictures of it which take up the entire length of our driveway. The drawings basically consist of snow capped mountain after snow capped mountain with something different on each one, such as a bird, a snowman or a castle. He constantly demands to know what else can be found on top of mountains. If we drive down any sort of a hilly road, he immediately perks up and says we're driving "over the mountains and far away" and gets quite cheerful about the trip. He flat out refuses to draw "over the mountains and far away" on paper. I don't know what I'm going to do when it snows and he can't draw on the driveway anymore. I need to find a giant newsprint pad. Currently, both kids are fixated on coloring flattened cardboard boxes, especially Simone.

candles

Ever since my birthday, Sim really wants to blow out candles. We have these little books that feature a single number such as 2 and then every page in the book shows two objects, including a birthday cake with two candles. We have 10 of these books and Sim goes through them all and blows out the candles in each book.

My mom's birthday was this past weekend and both kids were thrilled to see a cake with candles. I bought sparkling trick candles in the hopes of giving the kids more blowing fun. Ro was a little taken aback when they didn't go out. A spark pops and then they relight. They're kinda cool.

flower power

In my minimal amounts of spare time, I've been trying to garden a bit. Ro has been getting in on the action as well. My feeble looking perennials don't impress him and he feels the need to add a bit more glamor to the garden. So --- he's been pulling flowers of the cosmos and then replanting them. It actually looks really nice --- temporarily. The flowers are dead the next morning. He feels so good about helping that I don't have the heart to tell him that you can't replant picked flowers. He was pretty sad when he saw how dead looking yesterday's flowers were, so he planted another dozen or so today. Then he crawled around in the dirt to get down to flower level to tell me what they were doing. The white flower was giving the pink flower a hug. This flower was following this other flower, etc. It was really sweet.

bees and teeth

I didn't think bee creatures were too active in October until Ro was stung by a yellowjacket two years ago around Halloween. Being outside has been making me nervous lately because Sim is fascinated with bees and I keep telling her to leave them alone. Before, they flew around pretty quickly and she couldn't really get one, but now that its cold, they're quite sluggish and very catchable even for a little tiker (16 months) like her. She likes to point at them and say Bee! and then she buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs. Yesterday, I turned around and Sim was standing there with a big bumble bee in her hand. I know bumblebees aren't especially agressive but they can still sting. I popped it out of her hand right quick. Today, she did the same thing again and also got off with no stings. lucky girl maybe she'll be a bee charmer.

We went to the doctor today for a checkup. Sim's teeth are coming in but they're not following the standard order. Some of her molars are several months early, while she's still missing one of her bottom front four, which should have been in months ago. The doctor said it may be a cyst preventing the tooth from forming or coming in. She may not get it at all ---- BUT it's TOO SOON to tell so I shouldn't worry. I wasn't the slightest bit worried about her teeth until he said that but now I am. thanks doctor. Hopefully, she'll be lucky in teeth too.

In the dog house

We got Ro a new loft bed recently, which he loves. However, it now takes him about an hour to fall asleep because the bed is just TOO MUCH FUN. Lately, he's been pretending to be a dog when he goes to bed. When I go back to check on him later, I find him asleep in his pillowcase, which just looks so odd. His pillow is still in the pillowcase too. He somehow works himself into the pillowcase feet down and curls up into a ball -- and falls asleep with just his head poking out of the case.

Ro also thinks you can build anything out of boxes. So, this morning he gets up and says, "Let's make a dog house!" I say, "What should we use to build a dog house?" Ro says, "Let's make it out of boxes!" After an hour or so of playing in the box dog house. Ro says, "Let's make a dog! Let's make a dog out of boxes!" I managed to avoid building a cardboard box dog today but I have a feeling I'd better come up with something tonight because I'm sure to hear about it again.

knight in shining armor -- and other heros

Ro likes to be a pirate fighting off crocodiles or a knight fighting off dragons. Today, when he came home from school, he decided to be a knight in shining armor and that Simone needed to be one too. I like it when he tries to include Simone. It was so cute listening to him coax Simone to wield a stick like a sword and to climb up our front steps to be in the castle. I was the fire breathing dragon for awhile but eventually I got to be a knight too. I always wonder what our neighbors think when they look outside and see my kids chasing me with sticks. Also, Ro doesn't really get the armor thing. He frequently calls me Shining Armor or Mommy Armor if I'm a knight too.

Ro stopped Simone from walking into the street the other day and guided her back toward the house. After he handed her off to me, he said, "I'm a hero." and then wandered off to do something else. How he said it is what was really funny. It was a "ho hum I'm a hero yet again" sort of voice.

Ro really likes to be a helper or a hero. At the play ground, he runs around but he keeps an eye on all the babies at the same time. If he thinks a baby is in trouble, he dashes over to save it. Typically, the mother/father get there first but Ro has helped push kids up climbing tunnels and picked up babies who've tripped and fallen and helped babies walk over a bumpy bridge, etc. He's really picked up on the good citizen aspects of being a superhero, which is sweet.

I love you biggest

I put Ro to bed last night but then heard him crying half an hour later, so I went to see what was wrong. He was sitting up in bed and crying and crying about how much he missed grandma. He also told me that grandma missed him and she was sitting as home crying and crying too. Sooo - I called grandma on the phone for her to say goodnight to Roen, which mollified him but only a little bit. I'm taking him over there today after school to spend the night. He's seen grandma weekly but he's had to share her with Simone. He's used to spending the night there once a week before school started and I guess he's just having withdrawl. After I told him the grandma plan, I gave him a hug goodnight and he said. "oh mommy I love you biggest."

34 candles

34candles, originally uploaded by skweerell.

I'm 34 today. Daddy let me sleep in and he got up with the kids and made me pancakes for breakfast. Later, Zedebia & Co came over and she brought cupcakes and we ate pizza on the driveway since it was unseasonably warm outside. Daddy put 34 tiny candles in the cupcake, which I thought it was funny as they formed one big flame. It was one of the best birthdays I've ever had because it was very mellow. I'm all about mellow these days.