Thanks to some great friends
Kids experienced camping
Their first time ever
We’re former campers
Not brave enough to tent now
So we borrowed a trailer
Slept off the ground
But still got the idea
And had SO much fun
Their first campfires
Roasted marshmallows and pies
Sleeping in a bunk
Exploring nature
It doesn’t get much cooler
Creates memories
Now we’re all smelly
As is everything we own
The laundry begins.
It’s endless entertainment around this place.
Back story: Primo’s friend is heard crying from the living room, and then they both come running to the kitchen, where I’m preparing a snack as Bella sleeps in her room.
Me: What happened?
Primo: Bella bit Toby.
Me: Bella bit him?
Primo: Yes.
Me: While she was sleeping?
Primo: Yes?
Me: She bit him while she was sleeping with her door closed and you guys were in the living room?
Primo: Yah.
Me: Did you actually bite Toby?
Primo: No, I didn’t.
Me: Did you do it by accident?
Primo: Yes.
Me: Tell him that you’re sorry, and give him a hug.
They give each other a big hug, and Toby thanks him.
Me: Now please go have a little time out until you’re feeling better and can be a nice friend.
Primo: Okay.
A few minutes later, he comes out and tells me he’s feeling better, gives me a hug, and heads off to play. Within the next hour, Toby has bitten him and we start all over again. Oy vey.
It’s not just him that blames her, though. He can be in a different house and if she gets an owie, she’ll respond to “What happened?” with “WahWah!” (which is her name for him – she’s totally throwing him under the bus!)
“If we get boogers in our nose, we buy and go to heaven to see Grandpa Jack & Great Grandma C.”
“Is Great Grandma in the floor now?” (he asks as he’s carefully studying the kitchen linoleum.)
“It’s okay if I put this money in my mouth, because if I choke and die I’ll go see Grandpa Jack.”
Oy. Heaven help me.
It’s a little addicting, actually. Don’t be shocked if you see a little more of it. If I could have written more poetry that didn’t have to rhyme in school, I would have done much better in the poetry units.
So, it’s not haiku…but it IS poo. Yay!
This morning we went to a friend’s place for a playdate and, at one point, Primo and one of her kids were a little too quiet (and you know what I mean, parents) so my friend went to take a peek. She came out with a snicker and said “You might want to come take a look at this. It’s not really bad, but you need to have a peek!”
I turned the corner in to her spare room , in which she stores a variety of baby items left over from her twins that her newborn has yet to grow into, and there stood my boy, naked from the waist down, beside a Bumbo chair. Inside the Bumbo? A huge pile of shit.
Poor kid thought it was a potty.
Incidentally, he hasn’t used an actual potty in almost a year. He uses the toilet and wipes his own butt, so I have no idea what he was thinking. I burst out laughing and could see that he didn’t think it was very funny. I tried to fight the laughter, but it was pretty darn hard! He hopped up onto the toilet to finish and said “That’s not a potty?” I felt horrible for laughing at the situation and hope he doesn’t think I was laughing at him.
I think he’s over it, but it’s a story I’ll never forget.
I told you I’d be back with some pictures, but I’m afraid you may be sorely disappointed. I don’t think I have one decent one from the party day except for of the cake. The lighting was SO brutal in the gymnastics centre – the pictures were all either too dark, too yellow or unmanageably blurry. No matter who took them, they sucked. Here are a few, anyway. The top set are from home so are decent. The bottom ones are from the gym, and I did my best to correct them.
We, with some help from Auntie, bought him a trampoline for his birthday. It was, by far, our best purchase in a long time. Both kids love it, their friends love it, and they get a ton of exercise jumping on it all day. Not safely, mind you, since it started to snow as the net was going up and we now have a couple of feet of the white stuff (contrast that with the barefoot two weeks and the tan lines we had evidenced by the 2nd picture above, and welcome to spring time in Canada!) so we still have no safety net up. We’re hoping it melts this week and it can go up before the weekend.
His way awesome cake was made by my girlfriend. I could (would, should) never do that.
Since his party was on the weekend, we celebrated his “real birthday” by making some healthy-ish banana-flax-hemp-chocolate chip muffins and a nice chocolate buttercream icing for them. Notice the red plate? It’s a tradition we’ve started in our house, borrowed from my parents, where we celebrate any special occasion or accomplishment by feeding the person on the red plate. It’s slightly aggravating that they’re only 30 bucks if you click that link, and I paid $60 locally. I hate it when that happens. Anyhoo, we love the idea and hope it becomes something really special for the kids to have their names added to the bottom of the plate regularly. I was looking at my parents’ plate over Easter and it was cool to look back at some of the occasions on which it was used. My personal favourite was “Jack’s first Christmas with his new teeth!” Bahahahahaha!
Primo ran and jumped and ran and ran and ran and stumbled his way through the foam pit for a full hour without slowing down. It was freaking awesome, but the pictures, as you can see, were not. We all had a great time. Above you see a picture of the Big Guy stuck waist deep in the foam pit, and to the left a picture of Primo trying to pull him out by the thumb. Later on, he started to just look at him and say “You can get yourself out!”
“The Grandmas,” as Primo calls them, drove up for the day and I have not one picture of my mom. I’ve got a few of my mother in law, but it’s like my mom wasn’t even there! Not only are they crappy, but they’re missing entire important people. And not even one smiling picture of him with his cake. Brutal. Next year, please remind me to bring video.
I love birthday parties.
The first two years, I could handle having them all in my house.
The thing is, three year old boys are getting big, and they’re rowdy, goofy, loud, and crazy. And since our gang of girls all had babies around the same time, they all come with a little sibling and a parent. Which, for his 5-8 closest friends to join us, makes for 30 people in my not-big house.
(At what age do we start drop off parties? I’m excited and also a little scared.)
Solution?
Rent a gymnastics club!
Even better, rent one where the little siblings aren’t allowed to come. (Except Bella, of course.)
Today we had the party for Primo’s 3rd birthday at a local gymnastics club – 1 hour of free play gymnastics and one hour in the party room – and it was worth every penny. Actually, it may have cost less than the elaborate table of appies I make when I have the parties here.
Pictures to come…when I have the energy to upload some later this week.
It’s all about the wang all the time around here.
Bella, pointing to Primo’s wang: Dat? Dat?
Mommy: That’s his penis.
Bella, pointing to her lack of penis: Dat? Dat? You don’t have one because you’re a girl.
Primo: Daddy has a BIIIIIIIIIIG one!
Bella: Big? Big?
Mommy: That’s because he’s a big man. Yours will grow as your body grows. That’s why you have to eat healthy food and play a lot…so that you will grow big and strong.
Primo: I’m going to be a big man up at the ceiling and I’ll have a really big penis just like Daddy. Maybe when I’m seven. Then I’ll be a daddy too.
Mommy: Maybe, buddy. Maybe.
Bahahahahaha!
April 21, 2009
Dear Primo,
How is it possible that you’re three years old? As of 8:08 this morning, a bonafide preschooler. A truly big boy. I sound like a broken record when I say it seems like just yesterday you were born though it seems like we can’t remember life before you, and yet it’s so true.
I can’t believe how things can change in just three months. While glancing through my last letter to you, I see that just a short while ago you were recognizing 10-15 sight words. Now, you know over 50 and are sounding out consonant-vowel-consonant words without a problem. You have all five sets of BOB books, (highly recommended, yo) and can read the first set independently, and the second and third sets with a little help. We’ve hidden the last two sets for now, but they’re sure to be coming out this summer or fall.
You have a memory like nothing I’ve ever seen in a little guy, and mention things that happened last summer all the time. You never forget something we tell you and bring up interesting notes and often the most inopportune times. You know your address, Grandma Betty’s address, your phone number, Grandma Betty’s phone number, your friend Alex’s address, the house numbers for most of your friends’ houses, to call 911 if there’s an emergency and so much more. Daddy and I often comment that you never forget anything. I could tell you so many stories of things I thought you weren’t listening to but mention a week or two later with acute detail.
You have had your own laptop, an older HP, for a couple of months now, and it’s saved mine. You love to play educational games like Didi & Ditto and Starfall.com (you play about an hour a week, split into two half-hour sessions) and we also use it for you to watch your DVD’s and a little bit of Treehouse tv via the Slingbox. (Get one.) Most of the time, if you’re watching anything, it’s “Meet the Sight Words” (or shapes, letters, colours, numbers…) and you can’t seem to get enough of them. Thanks to your addiction to those DVD’s, your sister, at 15 months, now knows about 10 letters, 3-4 shapes, 5-6 colours and even a few words – so thanks for teaching her!
You’re 100% potty trained and are trying to help train your friends that I babysit. You’re a very compassionate friend and love to cheer them on when they’re trying and encourage them when they have an accident. We still put training pants or a pull up, your choice, on you at bedtime but the only time you ever have an accident is if we don’t get to you in time in the morning. We have a baby gate up at the door of your room (an un-climbable one, thanks to your many escapes) because you can open every child lock ever invented, including the ones on our front doors so we have to do that to keep you safe. You have been sleeping with your door ajar for a month or so now, and though it took a few days to get you used to it, it’s now working swimmingly. Since you haven’t napped in a year, you’re so tired by bedtime that you usually just pass right out as long as we leave the bathroom light on and your door ajar. You’re almost sleeping through the night now (ha ha!) and only wake once a week or so. Usually it’s either to pee or a bad dream wakes you and you go right back to sleep when one of us crawls into bed with you.
Your bedtime routine is pretty awesome right now. You either bath at about 4:30 before Daddy gets home or at 6:15. At about 6:45 we brush your teeth, and have one last pee before donning the training pants. We read one book together or you read it to us, and then you turn the light out while we turn on your night light (a big blue star on the wall from Ikea.) We sing you 2-3 songs and then we move on to your prayers, which you say with us and the same one we’ve said since you were born with the addition 6 months ago of the “Thank you’s.” Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. The angels watch me through the night, until I wake in the morning light.” “Thank you, God, for….” God bless Mommy and Daddy, Primo and Bella, Chloe and Thai and Mavi, my grandmas and my grandpas, my aunties and my uncles, my cousins and my friends, and all of God’s creatures in the whole wide world. Amen.” It’s not over at Amen, though. We each get a bear hug and a smooch, we each take a turn telling you we love you sososososososososososososososososoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much and then we alternate telling you what we love you more than. I always start with “I love you right up to the moon and back!” and then we do everything from “I love you higher than the highest airplane flying above the clouds” to “I love you stinkier than the stinkiest fart” depending on the mood of the room. It’s pretty fun. Daddy and I do about 5-10 each before we get one more hug and “I love you” and leave you to fall asleep. Bella used to do it with us but now she goes to best a few minutes before you so she and I have our own routine for the time being. It’s long, but it’s fun and a great way to end the day.
You are incredibly well mannered and well spoken. It’s not unusual to hear “Mommy, can I please have an apple?” or “Excuse me, but I can’t see the book.” It’s also not uncommon for you to scream at the top of your lungs just for fun, though, and I could do without that. It’s evident that, despite your crazy level of intelligence, you’re a perfectly normal and perfectly happy little boy.
You love your family more than chocolate (and that’s saying something), and you’re not afraid to tell us a bazillion times a day. We all love it and can’t get enough. You kiss and hug your sister several times a day, and thought you’re certainly a normal brother and are often rough, you won’t let anyone hurt her and are incredibly disturbed when she cries or if her needs are not being met immediately. You’ll scream at me in the kitchen, “BELLA WANTS HER MIIIIIIIILK!!!!” while I’m pouring it if she’s getting upset. When you say your “thank you Gods” during your prayers at night, you always thank God for her, and have even said “Thank you God for Bella because she’s my best friend.” Cue mama’s heart melting. You both immediately look for each other as soon as you wake up (and you’ll open her door to wake her up if you’re up first, much to my chagrin). She wakes up asking for “Wah Wah” and runs straight to you as soon as she can. Speaking of affection, you often stop what you’re doing to come to me and say “I’m just going to kiss you, Mommy” and plant one on me wherever you can reach. It’s one of the many highlights of my days with you. You love and idolize your Daddy (and rightfully so) and he lives for his time with you and Bella. He tries to come home and join us for lunch a few days a week, and it’s so nice that he gets to spend that little bit of extra time with you while we’re at home together.
You’re in a “What happens if…” stage right now and ask me many times and hour “What happens if…” You’re SO in inquisitive, particularly when I say no. “What happens if I go on the grass barefoot and you haven’t picked up the poop?” “What happens if I go in the pantry and get some chocolate bunnies and the fruit plate is almost ready?” The nice thing is that you actually want to know and you listen to the answers I give you with great attention. You don’t just throw the random and annoying “Why” around. You are always thinking when you ask a question.
We still use a bit of 1-2-3 Magic with you, though more often than not I’d rather just take the time to talk to you. When I say “That’s 1″ you usually say “1, but not 2 and 3!” and then stop whatever it is you were doing. Your main behavioural issues are biting (almost always poor Toby, and it’s only a few times a month when you’re overtired but it seems like more when it happens), and the regular little boy things. You actually are a very well behaved kid so I have to remember to keep my expectations reasonable. It’s sometimes difficult with such a smart child to remember that you’re only two. Well, three now.
You have had relatively few temper tantrums in your three years, which is a bonus, and when you do you’re very easy to distract 99% of the time. You’ve been having them more often in the last few weeks, though, so we may be in for a treat with the big ‘three.’ They almost always happen when you’ve woken up in the night previously and we can tell you’re way overtired.
That hardly sums up what you’re all about right now – you’re too amazing for words – but I hope it gives you something to look back on and a glimpse into what you were like at three. At the very least, you should never doubt how much you are loved, cherished, hugged, kissed, read to and read with, respected and valued as the completely awesome little person that you are.
I love you right up to the moon and back! (…and stinkier than the stinkiest fart.)
Love, Mommy
xoxo
Primo’s top drawer is full of some of the cutest little baby Gap underoos I’ve ever seen. There are spiders, frogs, dogs, ocean creatures and a variety of other animals.
Yesterday when we were putting his underwear back on after a bathroom break, he noticed the ocean creatures on them.
“Look Mommy, there are whales on my bum.”
[and the wheels begin turning...]
He sings: “The whales on my bum go round and round, round and round, round and round!”
Bahahahaha!
Stolen from Beth, with permission…
1. What is something mommy always says to you?
I love you SOOOO much!
2. What makes mommy happy?
The letter A, and when I type a letter and make an ‘R’ on my computer.
3. What makes mommy sad?
Going to the hospital.
4. How does your mommy make you laugh?
Rubbing. Pull my sunglasses off.
5. What did your mommy like to do when she was a child?
You were putting stickers on papers.
6. How old is your mommy?
What number are you? One? Bella’s one. I don’t know. Twenty I think.
7. How tall is your mommy?
Like this. (With hand at his shoulder height.)
8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV?
The hockey game.
9. What does your mommy do when you’re not around?
Play. Probably with animals on my bed.
10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Parp. (The current default gibberish word.)
11. What is your mommy really good at?
Playing toys and vacuum and thanking God in my bedroom.
12. What is your mommy not very good at?
I don’t know.
13. What does your mommy do for her job?
She’s a tiger. (It doesn’t pay very well.)
14. What is your mommy ’s favorite food?
Salad. (Um, no.)
15. What makes you proud of your mommy?
When you do lines. (As in, draw straight lines on paper.)
16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
I don’t know. (He has no idea what a cartoon is.)
17. What do you and your mommy do together?
Play with play food.
18. How are you and your mommy the same?
We eat. And I like salad.
19. How are you and your mommy different?
I’m a boy and you’re a girl.
20. How do you know your mommy loves you?
You say “You are a GREAT listener!”
21. What does your mommy like most about your daddy?
I don’t know. Paper.
22. Where is your mommy ’s favorite place to go?
Save-On or something. (That’s where we get groceries. Oh, the minds of children.)
January 21, 2009
Dear Primo,
You’re 33 months old – just three months shy of three years.
The first thing most people notice about you is that you speak like you are 4 or 5. There are very few words that you don’t say perfectly and I cherish every time I hear you say them because you’re growing so fast that soon you’ll be speaking like a man, I’m sure. With a deep voice and everything. You like to sing Amen and Hallelujah like a southern Baptist but you say “HA-la-lay-AH” with the cutest little smirk on your face! You say “hopistal” occasionally but even that is only about 5% of the time now. After you brush your teeth, you ask for a “dipsie cup,” and I think that’s about it. Oh, and once in a while we go to the “univer-see-it” for activities but usually it’s the university.
You are starting to show an interest in reading and not only spell words verbally but are starting to recognize them on paper. Things like “the,” “off,” “on,” etc, and you have known Mommy, Mom, Daddy, Dad, and your name & your sister’s name what seems like forever.
Your gymnastics class finished just before Christmas and you can hardly wait until you get to go again. You loved everything about it – especially Coach Scott. I was able to get you to eat some of my broccoli & cheese soup by calling it “Coach Scott soup.”
Instead of gymnastics this semester, you started taking Kindermusik on Saturdays. You really enjoy it. You’re the oldest in your class and it’s very evident, but I guess that’s better than being the youngest. It was very expensive ($220 for the session) and I’m not sure it’s worth it since we basically do the same thing for free at Rhyme Time but you do enjoy it so that’s okay.
You had a wonderful Christmas at Grandma Betty’s house. Your favourite gift was and continues to be the guitar that she bought you, and also the bristle blocks that you got from Auntie Cindy & Uncle John’s family. You got so much that I could never list it here…you are very loved.
One of your newest hobbies addictions playing on my laptop on www.starfall.com. You can turn it on and do everything yourself except log in, and can use the touch pad better than many adults I know. Daddy will be building you your own laptop within the next couple of weeks so that you stop hogging mine all the time. You also got a kids digital camera for Christmas and love to take pictures just like Mommy does. It kind of sucks, though, so I think I’ll give you one of my old ones in a few months so you can get some decent pictures without having to stand still for 2 minutes.
You bit your friend Toby a couple of times at Bella’s 1st birthday party and a couple of times the next week, too. It’s tough sharing your space with your friends every day, but let’s not make a habit of trying to eat them. With Mommy babysitting in order to stay home with you and your sister, you’re going to have to learn to be around more people on a more regular basis. Even over the last week, though, you’ve really started to say “I don’t like that – please stop.” and haven’t bitten or hit anyone at all. It’s great to see, and you learn so fast via positive reinforcement that I think the biting may have ended as quickly as it began. I hope, anyway.
You’ve been fully potty trained for a long time. When you have to pee at night you wake up hysterical and take a long time to get back to sleep with one of us in with you. We still put you in a pull up at night even though you’ve only peed twice in about 6 months. We figure if it makes you more comfortable, we might as well, and we have a case to use up anyway. They last along time at 1/day.
Your sleeping patterns are still hit and miss. You’ll have a great week of sleeping all night in your bed and then a horrible few days of waking up screaming and needing one of us for an hour or two in order to get back to sleep. We have no idea what wakes you since you have all your teeth now, but you have mentioned having to pee and also hurting behind your knees. Growing pains? Whatever it is, I hate getting up but love cuddling you in the dark so whatever it is you need you will, of course, get. The tough thing is that Daddy’s a crappy sleeper too and when I have to be with Bella because she’s still breastfeeding, Daddy goes in with you and is very tired for work in the morning. All in a day’s work, I say!
You, my dear, are learning to READ! You are such an intelligent little person…if I tell you something once, you never forget. You know about 10-15 words by sight now, and also know your phone number, Grandma Betty’s phone number, our address, Grandma Betty’s address, your birthday, how to call 911, and so much more. You are always asking questions and really want to know the answers. You ask me to write things down for you so you can see how they’re spelled and/or what they look like, and you study them until you know them by heart. It’s hard to believe you are only two years old sometimes.
Three more months and we’ll have a three year old in the house. That’s hard to believe! As always, it seems like we’ve known you forever and can’t imagine life without you nor remember what it was like before you, and yet it seems like just last week I was nursing you in our chair and holding you all day long.
I love you more than life itself, Babe, and I am in awe of the wonderful person that you are. Watching you grow and learning with you is one of the great highlights of my entire life.
I love you right up to the moon…and back!
Mommy
xoxo
