Today

Adin was his usual chipper self today after sleeping most of yesterday. He had a fever of 102.1 yesterday, but today was just fine. He even said some new words. He's been saying "wa-wa" to ask for a glass of water or to ask me to run some water on his toothbrush. He also says "mine" when he shows me his toothbrush. He loves Erik's backpacks and spent a lot of time wearing Erik's blue Thomas one. Adin kept saying "backpack". He also imitated some new words when asked, but I don't remember what they were.

Erik told me today that he wants to be a teacher when he grows up. He must love preschool!

Sands through the hourglass

Yesterday in the car we were listening to a kids' CD and the song was about a kid who was jaded when he, "hit the big 1-0 [10 yrs], I feel so old. Candy just doesn't taste as good anymore." When the song was over, Erik said to me, "he's really going to feel old when he's 13."

Bert and Ernie

Lois took Erik to see a musical last night, "Bert and Ernie Goodnight". Erik had a great time and has told us a lot about what Bert and Ernie did. He wanted to act it out over and over. Joe told him he could do it at Michelle's. She set up a stage and an audience for him. Her report on the performance: Ernie was asked from the audience what his favorite food was and "cookies" was the answer. He also doesn't want to live on the moon. Adin wants to hug all the audience members.

Words words words

Adin is very impressive in his understanding of things we say to him. After ECFE class, Joe told him to blow a kiss. He blew one right at his teacher, Cindy. She melted, of course, and then Adin said, "Wow!

Our neighbor boy frequently asks me if Adin has any new words. He's always disappointed if I say no. Often when I pick up the boys from the neighbor's house, Gavin tells me something he heard Adin say, and a lot of the time, it's, well, a stretch. Like when Gavin heard Adin say "A, B, E, D". Although, I must admit that Adin's big thing today was to point to letters on my shirt and say, "A, B, B, B, B" and then laugh like a maniac.

Life is complicated.

I forget how we got on the subject, but Erik and I had a talk about the banking system today. He asked lots of questions and in the end he said, "this sounds really complicated." I agreed. He was quiet for a while and said, "I think you may have to explain this to me again when I'm older. Like maybe when I'm four or five or something like that."

Ride

The other day I took the boys to the local strip mall to play on the motorized car kiddie rides. For the first time, Erik requested that I put money in. I was torn, knowing how lame it is and that he would find it disappointing, but also feeling that it was only $.75 so I should do it. We found a ride that he and Adin could both sit in, although Adin was a little scared and I had to take him out. The look on Erik's face was priceless, sort of a "this is it?" But I was thinking, "Those three quarters could have bought me a can of caffeine at work tomorrow."

A.K.A. cavities

Erik used to spend vast quantities of time on the step stool in the bathroom, washing his hands and brushing his teeth. Those days are over. Now, when we tell him it's time to brush teeth or wash hands we often get a tantrum.

At the end of one very long day, the anti-tooth brushing tantrum was just spinning into a Category 5, when I decided not tonight. So I told Erik, "Fine. Don't brush your teeth."

And he wailed, "But the holes!" and sadly got out his toothbrush.

To infinity and beyond!

Erik loves playing with these blocks at our neighbors' house. Adin is his usual grinning self.

Last night Erik was playing with my mom, pretending to fly an airplane. She asked him where they were going and he said, "To the African Savannah".


He's been pretending to fly a plane a lot. He's always the pilot and makes announcements: the plane is about to take off, sit in your seat, put on your mask, sit in the jump seat, are you buckled in?

The Great Minnesota Get Together

Just got back from a morning at the State Fair. Erik was a lot of fun. We saw pigs, and cows but he loved the sheep. We petted a couple (and washed hands after, of course) and watched some of the sheep show. The horse barn was not open so we missed that, but we looked in a tack shop. I told him he could pick out a horse (they had those Schleiss ones) and he played with one for a while but he wanted a white cowboy hat! He wore it all morning! So cute!

Then we stopped and listened to some live bluegrass music. One of the musicians said the band had been there five years, and this year she was going on the ride where they shoot you way up in the air. Erik asked me if it was scary, I said yes, and he freaked out. He thought it meant right there at the concert. We kept walking and passed an arcade that had kiddie rides in front. We were there about 20 minutes. There was a fire truck, an elephant and an apple car with a worm driver.

At 11 there was a juggler he wanted to see, but right outside the stage was the library tent and Erik and I stayed there. He spun a wheel and answered some questions to win prizes (a book and a library card holder), he finger painted on a fan and sat and listened to several books. I kept asking if he wanted to go see the juggler, because I knew he'd been looking forward to it. By the time he was ready to go, the juggler was done and it was dancers. So we watched them for a few minutes and then he wanted to go back to the fire truck ride. On the way we passed the carousel and had a ride (in the sleigh, the horses are too scary). By the time that was done, Joe felt he had to start heading back so he could go to work.

Erik was very sad to leave the fire truck, and was not even soothed by some chocolate chip cookies. However, eventually he got over it and all in all had a great morning.

Adin was pretty tired and passive during the fair. He enjoyed the animals and the kiddie rides. I think he enjoyed the juggler. He napped quite a bit and ate a lot of Joe's food. Our only disappointment was that the man who was there a couple years ago cutting silhouettes was not there this year. We had really wanted one done of Adin to match the one of Erik at the same age. Oh well. I can take a picture and mail to the guy.