We’re finally starting potty training with Charles. We should have done it long ago but we’re lazy. Charles is fine with sitting on the potty but he doesn’t really connect it with any biological functions. I ask him to let me know before he has to go potty but he just asks “why?” so I don’t think he quite understands. It’s hard getting him to say whether he has poopy diapers. He also talks about “go poop” when he means “pee”.
Mom did have one success yesterday, when Charles managed to get some pee in to the potty for the first time. Mom’s comment was that it was a good start, but Charles would need some work on the “aim” concept. I suspect a “boys will be boys” comment won’t be appreciated.
Corwin may have some good ideas about saving, he’s still a bit casual with his money. The family went to Walmart yesterday for a big shopping run and Corwin insisted on taking his wallet with him so he could buy some toys.
We got through the first part of the store OK when Mom sent me off on deep recon to hunt down and capture some fierce … well, things. But it was the kind of things excessively virile guys like me end up having to do because of all the virility. Mom’s say “heck, he’s overly virile, let’s send him off into the wilderness. He’s more like to survive and succeed and frankly all the virility is kind of annoying so if he doesn’t make it back, que será”.
Anyway, as I was saying, I was off on an important mission when Corwin comes running up to help out. We walk for a little bit and then Corwin says “where’s my wallet?”. I look in the immediate area and back where’d we walked and no sign of it. I ask Corwin where he had it and he says, “well, I put it down…”. Where? Corwin doesn’t remember. He just put it down. Somewhere. And wandered off.
As we searched in hope but not expectation, we ran into Mom. It turns out that Mom saw Corwin put his wallet down in the produce section and picked it up. I kept the wallet in my vest for the rest of the trip. Corwin responded to my lecture on keeping track of his money with “Mom picked it up, so it’s ok”. Corwin lives in a very consistent world - if Mom picked it up this time then Mom will always pick it up. What else could happen?
Corwin had a sleepover with Jacob last night. The three of us (Dad, Corwin, Jacob) stayed up late watching DVDs [late, yeah, like 10:30 - They’re young and I’m old]. In the afternoon Jacob’s Dad came by to pick him up. Charles saw this and immediately grasped that if Jacob was leaving then there must be a car outside. Charles immediately ran to the door to look out and see this car. I explained that Jacob’s Dad was driving the family van today. Charles replied with “try?” to indicate that he wanted to ride in the van. I had to disappoint the little tyke, but I did make sure that he got to see it as it drove off so it wasn’t a total loss.
I think that Charles called me “Daddy” for the first time yesterday. He was calling “hep!” [help] when he decided to kick it up a notch for faster service and called “help da-ee!” [help Daddy].
Charles is also starting to say colors. He’s understood them for a long time but he hasn’t done very well on naming them. We used to think he knew what “blue” was as that was his first color word but I think that he talks about colors in two groups: “black” and not black. He seems to be able to correctly identify black (which is something that Corwin had a hard time with - for him, “black” and “brown” were equivalent for a long time). I worked with Charles on “red” and “white” with an airplane. He said the words in the appropriate places but I’m not sure how much he really understood.
Erica took the boys to Ants in Their Pants earlier this week. Yesterday I noticed a small plastic container with a bunch of tickets from there. I asked Mom about it and she said that Corwin was saving up. I queried Corwin and he told me that he wanted to save up one thousand tickets. As far as we can tell, there’s not particular prize that costs 1,000 tickets, it’s just a number Corwin picked. I told him that was a lot of tickets and he replied “Yes! That’s why I’m saving. I’ll save until I have one thousand tickets!”. The question is who’ll give out first, Corwin or Erica.
UPDATE (15 Aug 03): Corwin gave out first. He blew 50 tickets on an airplane because Dad has neglectfully failed to order some.
Corwin has shifted through various hues as his favorite color over the years. Lately he’s professed a preference for red, but he seems to actually like orange better. He wanted an orange ceiling in his room. He strongly prefers orange clothing as well. For instance, last weekend when we were heading off for a Mom family reunion, Corwin picked out orange shorts and an orange shirt. Mom made him change out for a green shirt with orange highlights, which made Corwin very sad (Mom is such a meany).
The big news around here is that Erica upgraded her car. She had been driving an old red car which had an interesting shimmy to it, but Erica leans more toward practical than whimsical so she’s been looking for a new vehicle. Erica was freed from durance vile on the Day of the Aunts which she used to locate her new set of wheels. On Tuesday, she had taken the boys to Ants in Their Pants and told them when they left that they had to get back in good time so that Erica could get her new car.
Well, Wednesday morning rolls around and shortly after the milk run Erica shows up. Corwin tears off to open the door but instead of letting Erica in he keeps on going so he can check out the car. He’s impressed. The car is locked so Corwin didn’t get to explore the interior immediately. Erica did take the boys out for a road trip later and Corwin proclaimed that the car was “nice”. He also hid a “nak-nak” in the car which Erica didn’t know about. Corwin was very clear on that point. He expects to be able to retrieve it today but if you’re reading this, be sure not to mention it to Erica. It would ruin Corwin’s plans.
Yesterday morning we had a bit of a crisis. We had run out of milk the previous evening (which was a problem but not terrible as Charles had already had quite a bit of milk before the end). The issue was delayed a bit because Charles got up late. He immediately asked for milk and I had to tell him the bad news.
Charles: “Milk!?!”
Dad: “We’re all out of milk.”
Charles: “Why?”
Dad: “You drank it all.”
Charles: “Oh.”
Charles went off to lay down on the couch for a bit. I think he was in denial, because after resting up he came back with the request for milk once again (have ignored my offers for water or juice - that was so out of bounds that it didn’t even deserve a response). This time my explanation didn’t draw a “why?” but the standard Charles response to the frustration of his desires - he layed down and curled in to a fetal position. At this point it occurred to me that Erica would be showing up soon and leaving her with a permanently fetal Charles was probably not the best retention policy. Time for a milk run!
Charles perked up immediately when I announced that we were going to the store. We spent a few minutes getting everyone shod and then piled in to the car. Corwin wanted to bring his wallet but I didn’t let him go get it because we weren’t going to WalMart and I needed to do a quick trip in order to get back before Erica arrived and deciding that we were gone for the day, went off to party.
We made a quick run through the store. When we went to pick out a shopping cart, there was one that was made up as a car, with a couple of little seats in the front with a fake steering well and seatbelts. I thought Charles would like it but he insisted on a regular cart. As we passed the isle with the cars, Charles pointed over to the car display stand and said “car!”. I told him “No cars today - we need to just get milk”. Charles was actually OK with that (so he apparently values milk more than cars). As we continued on our way to the dairy section I picked up some dish washing fluid because we were running low. Corwin piped up with “I thought that we were only going to get milk!”. I rationalized that it was on the way and we needed it. I’m not sure how much of that Corwin believed. Clever children are not an unalloyed joy.
We got back to the house before Erica. Charles waited patiently as I hauled stuff in and then went immediately over to the sippy cups, pulled one out and said “milk!?!”.
While the Aunts were visiting, Mom took them and the boys out to the pond. For some reason the Aunts declined imersion, but the boys were happy to demonstrate the proper use of the water. You can see Charles playing with the frontloader in the sand. This time he’s working with the sand above the water line.
Corwin is in the background, playing out in the deeper water. He’s currently restricted to the area marked by the blue and white buoys. The pond is not quite over Corwin’s head that far out. Corwin frequently manages to “lose” toys out farther than the buoys so that he has to go retrieve them, which of course is a terrible burden that he’s willing to endure in order to get the toys back.
On the far shore you can see one of the benches along the path that goes around the pond. During the summer the water is a bit green but due to some recent rains it was much more blue for this outing.
The Aunts came down to see the new house and the boys on Monday. This is Grandma, Great-Aunt Evelyn, Grand-Aunt Sonja and Grand-Aunt Debbie. In honor of this I’ve updated the sidebar with images from the Aunties’ Pond Outing.
Last time I was at the pond with the boys Charles found a box of toys next to a bench there. He got out a little plastic frontloader which he used to move sand around out at the 6” depth of the pond. Charles had a lot of fun with this. When it was time to go home, Charles emerged from the pond, dripping and covered with sand. He picked up the frontloader, ran over to the box he got it out of and put it in. I was, needless to say, stunned. I thought, looking at the box and the dripping, sand encrusted Charles, “he’s such a neat boy”.
We went off to the county fair last night. Charles didn’t seem to be feeling paricularly well and hadn’t had a nap so he was a bit cranky. Corwin, in contrast, had been reluctant to go but became seriously energized once he’d been there a bit.
We did the kiddy rides first, which Corwin liked but Charles refused to go on. Then we got some food and hit the midway. Corwin put a serious dent in Dad’s cash reserves as he cruised the games (when did it become $2 for a single throw? I’m just getting old). Corwin was actually good at some of the games. On one, where you have to put the basket ball through a very narrow hoop, Corwin dropped in through first shot. Eventually Mom put a stop to the cash bleeding.
Mom kept trying to get Charles to do one of the rides. The first attempt was on a small kiddy train. Mom even pressured Corwin in to accompanying Charles on the train. But Charles wouldn’t go, even with big brother. As I picked him up I noticed that his diaper was soaked through. Unlike his previous attempts, this time his biological defenses worked. Later Mom tried putting him on a kiddy car ride with Big Brother. Charles started crying as soon as Mom left, but Mom just shouted comforting phrases from the side. When the ride started Charles initially calmed down but after one revolution he was crying again and they had to stop the ride to get him off.
The one thing that Charles did like was the bumper cars. Mom thinks that this was primarily because Mom had to go along with Charles on the ride. At first I took Corwin out on the bumper cars. Corwin wasn’t quite tall enough (it required 52" and Corwin is about 51") so I rode with him. The last time we did this a couple of years ago I had to do most of the driving while Corwin just played with the wheel. This time I just floored the gas while Corwin drove for real. He was pretty good, except that he didn’t quite get how to make the car go in reverse to get out of jams. Charles watched, fascinated, the whole time. The next round all four of us, Charles with Mom and Corwin with me, when out bumping around. Charles thought it was great fun even when his car took a big hit.
After all of this we had some funnel cake and cotton candy and went home. Corwin said that he like the fair and that the cotton candy was very good.
Driving back from a shopping trip, I was torturing Corwin by asking him questions about various things, to try to get him to figure stuff out by himself. I can’t remember what it was that time but Corwin came up with a good answer and I said “You figured it out! That’s good, Corwin”. Corwin replies in a tired voice “You should be the smart one sometimes”.
Jacob’s family came over for an evening over the weekend. Before dinner the boys spent some time watching TV, which turned out to be primarily Transformers. After the TV is forcibly turned off the children came in to dinner. Corwin, as is his wont, decides moments after he sits down that he needs to go to the bathroom. He announces it by saying “I’m transforming to potty mode!”.
Yesterday was Corwin’s last day of soccer for the summer. I went to watch so that I would see him at least once. He does pretty well for a 6 year old. The practice games are starting to look like actual soccer games rather than rugby with kicking. Corwin did some passing and scored a few goals. He’s got some issues with winning and losing, though. When the opposing team scored a goal Corwin told the goalie “You need to pay attentiont!”. He refused to wear the yellow overshirt to indicate teams because the last time he wore it he was on the losing team (and the coaches didn’t mix up the teams as they normally do when one side is getting shredded). There’s lot of advice for how parents shouldn’t get overly stressed about winning and losing in their children’s sporting activities but we’re the opposite. We ask Corwin about whether he had fun and he tells us about how his team is winning and how many goals he scored. It was kind of funny though when, in the middle of a practice game, the coach tried to say the score but hadn’t tracked it closely (it being just practice) but Corwin immediately piped up with “it’s three [makes hand sign of three fingers] to zero! [makes fist]”. Ah, our hyper competitive jock. Mom had to warn him in the afternoon that he wasn’t allowed to date cheerleaders because there are limits to the rebellious behaviour we will tolerate.
I like to do piggies on Charles’ toes but now that he’s old enough to talk to (although he doesn’t really talk back) I ask him if I can do piggies. Generally he refuses but occasionally he holds up his foot for a round. This evening he wasn’t up for it, so the conversation went like this.
Dad: “Charles, should Daddy do piggies?”
Charles: “No”
Dad: “Should I do piggies to Mommy?”
Charles: “No”
Dad: “Should I do piggies to big brother?”
Charles: “Yesssss”
I was typing up some stuff this morning when Corwin wandered over to look at my new laptop (corporate, this time). It has one of those touchpads for moving the cursor and Corwin was fascinated by it. He let fly with “my computer doesn’t have one of those” and “it would be so nice if I had a computer like yours”. This from the boy who, at age 5, had the best computer in the house, better than Dad. Now, at 6½, he’s decided he needs a laptop as well. Mom had the perfect respose, though - “it’s his money, he can save it up for a laptop”. That should hold him off for another decade or so.
The day I’ve been dreading for a while has finally arrived …
I took the boys out for a quick shopping trip today in Mom’s sporty car (as opposed to Dad’s practical minivan). As I got in to my seat after strapping in the boys, I felt Charles squirming behind me. There was not enough leg room for him between his seat and Dad’s seat because he’s grown too much. I knew that someday, I would not be able to put the seat back all the way as I like it, but it’s still a sign that Charles, despite our refusal to feed him anything except milk, is getting bigger. I suspect Erica has been feeding him solids while she’s home with them unsupervised. Time for web cameras? If I don’t do something I expect that Charles will just continue to get bigger until I can’t even fit in the car.
Charles needed a bath this morning. In addition, Erica shows up early on Fridays due to a meeting a work that Mom and I both have to attend. So I was putting Charles in the bath when Erica arrived. I didn’t hear her come in because Charles was really not up for a bath. I had to forcibly strip him and then guard the door on the bathtub to prevent his escape. Charles then tried peeing in to the bath, but Dad was willing to drain the tub and start over rather than allow an escape. So Charles tried it again. Dad emptied and refilled again. His offenses repulsed and his bladder empty, Charles accepted his fate.
After I had washed Charles and got him settled down, he checked downstairs to see if Erica was about and there she was! I decided it was time to go but thought I’d finish up with Charles. I told Erica this and Erica asked “All that was just getting him in the tub?”
I popped up to check on Charles, who was now sitting in the tub without trying to escape. So I popped back down to get packed. Then back up to check on Charles (I like to let him soak at least a little while to get him extra sparkly clean). I asked Charles if he wanted out and he said “no”. I confirmed this by asking him “Do you want to play in the tub?” to which I got a hearty “Yeees!”. So I left him for Erica to wash his hair. Apparently that went ok as Erica will be coming back next week.
Yesterday morning was not one of the better mornings. When Erica arrived, I tried to hand off Charles but he refused, which is very unusual for him. I had to carry him around while I prepared to head off to work. Eventually I had to just hand him to Erica, crying, and head out the door. Erica says that he calmed down after a bit.
This morning, Erica arrives and sits with Charles on the sofa. Charles thinks this is fine. As I’m gathering up, trying to remember if there was something else I was supposed to bring in (there was), Charles looks up at me, waves his little hand and says “bye!”. He couldn’t even wait for me to head for the door! So of course I immediately head out (forgetting the thing I was trying to remember). I pause on the threshold to see if Charles will wave one last time, but he’s clearly already put me out of mind and doesn’t even notice.
At least Charles actually says “bye”. Corwin spends the morning asking “how long till Erica gets here?” and expressing disbelief when I tell him that it’s going to be 130 minutes. “It can’t be that long!”. Ah, Corwin my boy, sometimes it really is that long.
A few days ago when we were in the basement, Charles insisted that I get out one of Mom’s old Lego™ sets. I put it on a table and put Charles on a chair to play with it. This bought me a few minutes peace but then Charles made me get up to help him, let me go back to my seat and then call me over again. I suppose he would have been ok with my just hovering, await his needs.
Charles ended up latching on to a picture of, of all things, a truck. Who would have suspected that? Dad tried to build a truck for Charles but Charles would initially be happy with Dad’s effort until he looked at the picture again and saw that it wasn’t the same. Then he’d cry. Eventually Dad managed to build something close enough to the picture for Charles to be happy.
Charles ended up liking the Lego truck a lot. He kept it with him most of the rest of the day. Erica said that he’d carried it with him on a trip to the store. He was running it around on the sofa when I got home. It was not all fun and games, however. A dark cloud was brewing — although it looked like a truck it was in fact built out of Legos. This made it not the very best vehicle for Charle’s hauling service. Charles ended up very frustrated and unhappy at rocks that wouldn’t stay in the truck and dead plants that wouldn’t stay either. What a cruel world it is for a little boy!
For Christmas Charles got a Tonka™ truck and a front loader. He didn’t really take to them, because they were nearly as big as he is. Lately he’s changed his mind and has started using the trucks. Out of the front door is a sort of landscaped area with a sidewalk to the drive way and a little fence around it. One part is done with what Mom calls “rock mulch”. Charles hauls bits of this around in the truck. However, he doesn’t haul a lot of it. He tends to pick a few rocks and haul them from place to place. Charles will put the rocks in the truck (either very carefully or by just tossing), drive them to a new location, dump them out and repeat. He’s careful to get the same rocks every time. It would be rude to just leave them behind.
Last Sunday Grandma took us all out for pancakes before she headed back home. Charles had been in a bit of a grumpy mood which didn’t get much better at the restaurant. He was inconsolable until I got my coffee. When Charles saw me pour sugar in he realized what he had been missing in his life - a container of sprinkly stuff.
Charles latched on to the sugar container and wouldn’t let go. He didn’t try to pour with it but he insisted on keeping at least in touch with it for most of the rest of breakfast. He just sat on my lap, looking determined, one hand clutched protectively around the sugar dispenser. This meant somewhat less sweetened coffee for Dad but such are the sacrifices of parenthood.
Corwin was playing with the dominos over the weekend. He used them primarily as building materials rather than for an actual game of dominos.
Corwin’s primary efforts were focused on creating buildings that he could smash afterwards. Rather than just random smashing Corwin built in a lever using one of the dominos so that he needed only to press in the right spot and the entire building would collapse. I guess he’s seen too many movies where there was a self destruct button so he built it in to his building.
After constructing this and showing it to Dad, Corwin announced that he had built a toy. He had to do it because his parents never buy him any toys and he has no fun toys at all. But Corwin is able to struggle through and improvise toys from common … uh, toys that are just laying around the house.
Corwin was a bit of a pain this morning so Dad turned off the TV.
Charles: “Hep!” [help]
Dad: “With what?”
Charles: [points at rack of audio/visual electronics] “Why?”
Dad: “Because we’ve had enough TV for the morning, Why?”
Charles: “’cause”
Dad: “Is that the answer? “’cause”?”
Charles: “Yes. ‘cause. … Why? … ‘cause?” [giggling]
Dad: “You can just ask your self now, eh?”
Charles has over the last few months become something of a neat freak. It’s not the useful kind that involves putting things back where they belong, unless those things are foreign objects adhering to some part of Charle’s person (or are near enough to Charles that they might adhere to his person). On the other hand, this is a child who will sometimes break down and cry when told that he’s made poopy and his diaper needs to be changed. Apparently he has not yet grasped that poop is made out of food.
At first it was insisting that any milk spilled from breakfast, or from a drink he mishandled. Later he started insisting on washing his hands after eating because there were food bits on them. Sometimes he wouldn’t wait till the end but insist on a napkin or washing during the meal. And heaven help you if Charles spills some of his food on himself. Last evening Mom served zaru soba for dinner. Charles of course over turned his bowl on himself and much panic ensued, with Mom grimly attempting to remove slimy noodles from a wriggling in distress boy. I couldn’t help but think that a strong aversion to wearing food is not really the best phobia a 2½ year old boy could have.
Dad had already had his turn at the park that afternoon. Charles spent some time playing in the sand pit, which he mostly enjoyed but eventually he noticed that he was getting sand on his hands!. Well. Charles was not going to put up with that. Dad tried just brushing the sand off his hands but Charles would then hold them up and inspect them and see that there’s no way to actually remove all of the sand from skin without artifical aids. So off Charles and Dad trudged to the bathroom so that Charles could wash his hands. Then back to the sand pit (what were you expecting?). We made four or five trips (I lost count), Charles spending about 30 seconds or so in the pit and then heading off for the bathroom. Dad gave out first and announced that it was time to go home. Charles was ok with that, seeing as he had clean hands and sitting in the stroller meant no further contamination until we arrived home.
Charles, Corwin and I went to the park today. While Corwin played hide and seek with some other children, Charles decided to use Dad as part of some performance art. While Dad sat on a becnh Charles arranged wood chips in an artistic fashion. First he piled up a bunch on the bench next to Dad and then he started piling them up in Dad’s hand. Some of those fell on Dad’s leg but Charles carefully cleaned them off. Eventually he achieved the effect he wanted.
Dad: “Have you achieved the artistic effect you were looking for?”
Charles: “Yeees. Ge ah toe bah-sss. Eh ah geh.”
Dad: “What are you trying to represent here?”
Charles: “Ah eh et bosh goo” [Charles makes a furrowed brow with excited hand motions, pinching finger and thumb together on one and pointing off in to the distance with the other]
Dad: “Does that pile represent you and the other here Corwin?”
Charles: “Yeees. Ip ah eh dah tee.” [Charles stops and stands arms akimbo in front of Dad, expecting a response]
Dad: “It’s very nice” [Charles is happy]
On Friday the family headed out to the shopping district to pick up some new speakers for the TV. We’d left the nice speakers behind in the hold house because they were matched for the room and the new house doesn’t have a specialized media room so nice speakers would just be a constant worry.
On the way we stopped at a Chili’s restaurant because Corwin insisted on having a grilled cheese sandwich. Mom was ravenous so we ordered a set of chips and salsa to stop her from eating her young before dinner arrived.
Charles likes dipping so he was very excited by the arrival of the chips. After dipping a couple of chips, however, Charles decided that in addition to dipping things, he also liked sprinkling things as well. He grabbed the salt shaker and attempted to enhance the salsa but was intercepted by Mom. Charles was a bit put out but he rallied and got hold of the pepper shaker. Since Mom had moved the salsa bowl out of his reach, Charles decided to pepper his chips. He put the chips on the table and vigorously peppered them. Then he ate them. The pepper apparently didn’t agree with him and he made these horrible faces and little choking sounds. Mom offered him water but he didn’t want any. Charles then proceeded to pepper additional chips because the attraction of sprinkling outweighed his distaste for the results. Eventually, though, the main course arrived. Charles ate a few of the french fries but left most of the food untouched. Maybe it didn’t have enough pepper?
This afternoon Grandma was in town. They all went over to the pond while I finished up some stuff and I joined them later. Corwin had to be dragged over. He wanted to stay and play on the computer, and when he couldn’t do that he wanted to watch TV. When it was announced that there’d no TV either he switched to wanting to play in the basement. Normally there’s no convincing Corwin to play down there but on a lazy summer afternoon he was desparate for a haven from the cruel outdoors. But Mom pervailed and off they went.
By the time I got there Charles had already been in and out of the water and was just siitting in the stroller with sodden shorts and a maximally wet diaper. He had a toy airplane, though, so it was OK. Corwin was still in the pond, splashing about. It was a beautiful day, about 80° and a bright blue sky with just a few puffy clouds drifting by.
After a while another group of kids arrived, a gang of girls and a dad heading out for a swim. I made Corwin say hi to Amelia and Zena but he didn’t really interact much with them and shortly after they arrived Corwin announced that he was ready to go. Charles didn’t care because the stroller would work at home as well as it did next to the pond. I tried to get Corwin to pick up his various accoutrements but he told me “I don’t feel up for carrying things today”. I took pity on him since Mom had forced him out of his nice, safe house and in to the wilds and carried his goggles back for him.
I’ve been having some on-line problems this morning and as I was typing the previous entry, I said “oh man!” in a pained voice. Charles immediately looked over and said “what’s wrong?” in a concerned voice (well, as concerned as a baby pitched voice can be).
We had some severe thunderstorms here last week. Mom got to huddle in the basement with the boys while waiting for the tornado watches to expire. Charles was completely unconcerned, even by the loud thunder, while Corwin insisted on sitting right next to Mom the entire time.
On a later day that same week, however, Dad and Charles were down in the basement playing. Charles was having fun until he heard Corwin running around upstairs. The pounding noise frightened him and he ran over to sit next to Dad. Dad explained that it was just Big Brother running about, to which Charles replied “Oh!”. Then he went off to play until the next time Corwin started running.
Charles is, however, concerned by thunder when he’s outside. We were watching the rain come in one afternoon this week and Charles thought the whole “water from the sky” thing was pretty cool. He explained that it would “water the tree!”. But when he heard some thunder he got a very concerned look on his face and headed back for the door to go inside. Apparently thunder can’t come inside so Charles is safe there.
The weather this afternoon was nice today, so Erica and the boys took off to Hessel park. Corwin enjoyed playing in the water area of the playground (a place with fountains for the kiddies), while Charles dumped shovelfuls of sand onto Erica’s shoes. Eventually, Charles joined big brother, although his joy seemed to be derived mostly from driving his bulldozer on one of the fountains that looked like a Seal.
At 3pm, the water turns off for a few hours, so the boys were forced to climb on the play structures. Charles took to going down the slide, saying “wheeeeeeeee” throughout each descent and also pretending to drive with a steering wheel attached to one of the walls. Corwin ran around and was “crrrrazzzzzzzaaaaay” for a while, kicking up large amounts of woodchips. After his crazy antics, Corwin decided to try his hand at being an entrepreneur.
In the middle of the playstructure are 3 walls, one of which is a half wall that looks almost like a counter. Corwin stepped inside and began to take orders.
Corwin : Hello, may I take your order?
Erica : Hmmm … I’d like a hamburger and a small sprite, please.
Corwin: [hands Erica a “cup”] The soda machine is over there [points to metal pipes] and your hamburger will be ready in a minute. [steps away from counter]
Erica : Excuse me, this doesn’t look like Sprite.
Corwin : That’s the Dr. Pepper! I told you, the Sprite is that one. [points]
[Corwin returns, hands Erica her “hamburger”]
Corwin : Here you are. That’ll be [pushes buttons on the “cash register”] nine hundred and ninety nine dollars.
Erica : $999!?!?!? What kind of place is this?!?
Corwin : Aaaaah! The cash register is messed up again!
Corwin then proceeded to fix the “register” with a woodchip, saying under his breath how he couldn’t believe that it broke again; he had just fixed it yesterday. After a few minutes of tweaking the machine, he gave Erica the correct total — $2.75. The transaction completed, Corwin closed the establishment and re-opened as an ice cream stand.
We went swimming today. Charles spent most of the time jumping in to the water. He started at the shallow pool (which varies from 8” to 18” deep). Sometimes he’d jump by himself but other times he insisted that Dad hold his hand as he jumped. My biggest concern was that he might fall backwards and bang his head on the edge of the pool but he managed all of his jumps without a concussion.
Next he moved on to the intermediate pool and spent some time jumping off the edge of that. Eventually (of course right after Corwin went over) Charles moved up to the main pool. I managed to give Charles a bit of a work out in addition to my own by making him walk up the stairs and around for each jump rather than lifting him up to the edge. It also gave me a few moments to recuperate between jumps.
Charles didn’t spend the entire time jumping. We chased big brother down the length of the big pool one until Corwin went off to jump off the diving board. We also hit the snack bar because Mom had only fed Corwin once for lunch. Corwin managed to get pizza sauce all over himself (on his face, arms and chest). We popped back in the pool for a bit afterwards but a thunderstorm rolled in so we headed home, just a jump ahead of the storm.
I thought that one of the advantages of being in the new house would be that we would have room for computers for both boys at the same time. We actually had the computers but we didnt’ have room to set up monitors and keyboard. However, my carefully laid plans have come to naught. What happens is that Charles want to play on the computer that Corwin is using. So eventually Corwin leaves and Charles starts playing on that computer. When Corwin comes back he goes over to the other computer. Charles then wants to play on that computer. So they over time switch back and forth bewteen the two computers. Dad doesn’t have his game system set up yet or the boys would probably be rotating through that one as well.
We went off to see the fireworks on the evening of the fourth. Last year we parked at work at walked over, which is a bit of a hike. As we drove over this time Corwin requested that we not park so far away. I was surprised that he remembered but Mom wasn’t up for a hike anyway so we parked in a nearby lot. We thought that it would be packed but it was surprisingly sparse.
We got there about an hour before the fireworks started. Corwin ran around for bit and then he and I went off to fling some glow ropes around. Charles decided that he had to come along as well because Big Brother was having fun. Charles tried to steal all of the glow ropes which was a bit of a problem but luckily Dad had brought lots of glow ropes.
Both boys sat quietly and watched the fireworks when those started. When Corwin was young he didn’t like the fireworks much becaue of the noise. Charles, on the other hand, while being scared by other people was unconcerned about explosions until the finale when he clutched Dad a little tighter. Both boys fell asleep on the way home even though it was only a 10 minute drive after we got out of the parking lot.
We had mixed feelings about going out to see the parade today (most of them having to do with it being 93° and humid). But we decided to go because we thought Charles would enjoy seeing the big machinery go by. However, he wasn’t feeling well this morning so we were planning on staying home. Then Corwin announced that he wanted to go to the parade and Charles perked up, so off we went.
Charles conked out on the way over in the stroller, so he missed about the first third of it. Eventually he woke up, grumpy, and required Mom to hold him the rest of the time. Corwin enjoyed the parade for a while but then he got hungry and bored. I told him that was for the best, as it would be build character and what better day to do that and become a better citizen than the Fourth of July? Sadly, such words of wisdom are wasted on the young people of today.
Corwin was watching some TV after the parade when an advertisement for “rocket balloons” came on. After watching it and deciding “I’ve gotta get me some of that”, he pestered Mom about buying him some. Mom was reluctant but Corwin was insidious. He claimed that, if Mom purchased this toy for him, he would “go outside in the fresh air and get away from the TV”. That’s thinking!
After the incident with Charles, Erica deemed it ok for Corwin to go out as far as the ropes (since she was halfway in the pond watching Charles, rather than on the shore). Corwin had a great time with this, but wanted to go farther than the rope allowed. Despite his insistance, the mean Erica wouldn’t allow it, so Corwin resigned to playing where he could touch the bottom.
Later, an elderly man came down to the pond to swim some laps around the pond. Corwin chatted with him briefly, asking why the man was there and what his paddles were on his hands for (according to the man “they’re for propulsion”). Eventually the man was able to take advantage of a lull in conversation and set out on his way — past the buoy rope. Corwin took note and immediately brought the man’s disobedience to Erica’s attention. She explained that the man was a grown up and a good swimmer, so he was allowed to go past the ropes. This satisfied Corwin, who then went on to ask when HE was allowed to go past the rope.
Erica: Maybe you can go past the rope when you’re a older, and have taken swimming lessons longer.
Corwin: How about … when I’m 6 and a half?!? My birthday is May two two.
Erica: It will be November when you’re 6 and a half. Do you go swimming in November?
Corwin: [resigned voice] Ok … I’ll wait until I’m 7.
This afternoon, Erica suggested that she and the boys go to the pond. Corwin felt that this was an okay idea, and so the trio went, with Charles in the stroller and Corwin barefooted (he really wanted to go). Every 10 or 15 feet along the way, Corwin checked with Erica to make sure she knew where the pond was. Apparently her assurance was not persuasive enough for the boy, however, their arrival at the pond proved Erica’s directional skills were not a lost cause.
The boys enjoyed the pond, especially walking around it on a little path. Once on the beachy area, both began to play with some toys that had been left by a neighbor for all to share. Corwin and Erica built a sand castle, while Charles helped out by throwing sand into the lake with a shovel, laughing maniacally with each execution. Soon the sand lost its charm, and Corwin began wading in the water (after all, he had no shoes). Charles of course followed suit, ignoring the fact that he was still shod in tennies. Erica’s attemps to pry the footwear off were futile. Corwin decided to venture still further into the pond, intrigued by the buoy rope that designated where the “deep end” started (he hadn’t changed from his swimming trunks after lessons). Charles followed big brother, and started to make Erica nervous. By the time Corwin was up to his mid-waist, Erica decided that no one needed to go any deeper, which was ok for Corwin. The boys continued to play in the water — Corwin splashed and jumped up and down; Charles watered the pond with a watering can, which amused him greatly.
No afternoon would be complete without everyone getting wet at the pond, though, which must’ve been what Corwin had in mind as he took off running the width of the shallow end. Charles thought that was a fantastic idea, too, so he ran after Corwin, watering the lake along the way. The floor of the pond isn’t the flattest of surfaces, though, and Charles had a hard time running in water, holding a watering can full of water, and laughing along the way. Suddenly, Erica saw Charles go under, followed by a struggle to get up (because he was holding his watering can). Erica ran out to the lake and scooped up Charles and the watering can, carrying both to the sandy area. Both boy and can were fine. Soon enough Charles had grabbed Erica’s wrist and started taking her and the watering can back out to the pond. He became somewhat distraught when Erica make him wait, but after she explained that she needed to take off her tennis shoes and take her keys out of her soggy jean pants pocket first, he calmed.
This evening I was setting up my e-mail sounds and was exploring some of the sounds I’ve collected over the years. Corwin was sitting next to me driving, but he was willing to listen a bit. First I played some old Corwin clips of him saying some phrases. He didn’t recognize it at first but then he thought it was kind of funny and later embarassing. Then I found Smells Like Nirvana by ‘Wierd’ Al Yankovich. Corwin said “I really like that music. It’s very good. Can I hear it again?”. That’s my boy!
I had a talk with Corwin over the weekend during one of the interminable trips between the houses to move stuff. As loyal readers recall, Corwin cried when we first showed him the new house because it wasn’t the house he wanted. Since we were in the final throes of moving and Corwin seemed to be coping well with the move, I asked Corwin if he liked the new house or old house. He agreed that he actively liked the new house better. I asked if it was because of the big room in the basement for the boys but Corwin said that it was because of the neighborhood. He liked that and the pond and the park. I thought that was kind of strange since he had not shown much enthusiasm for those things earlier. He also hasn’t met any other children in the neighborhood, but if he likes it who am I to argue?
