Operation Dino December

Maybe you've heard about the couple and their post about Dinovember. If you haven't, the couple told their kids that toy dinosaurs come to life at night in November.

Here's a link to what they do.

Well, honestly to me it's a creative take on Elf on the Shelf. And if you haven't heard of THAT...

Here's that link too.

For those of you too lazy to click the links, the elf tells Santa what the kid has been up to and every night finds a new place to sit. Basically, it comes to life at night and moves around.

We looked into the Elf on the Shelf, but I think they are kind of creepy. And I think the Dinovember ideas are really cool, but way more effort than I want to put into a little holiday magic.But then I had this conversation with Billy:

"You know in December dinosaurs come to life at night and get into trouble."

"Mommy," [serious face] "dinosaurs aren't real. They can't come to life because they are just toys. Duh."

He's three. When did he get this jaded?

Well, that was the start of Operation Dino December. This, of course, required a background story.

December is Christmastime. And every December all of the toys come to life at night, waiting for Santa's arrival. This happens because Santa is magical, and his magic spreads out to all toys when it's close to Christmas. They wait for his return, and in the morning they turn back into just toys in the same place where you left them. (Think Toy Story or Doc McStuffins). But the dinosaurs- they are the most ill-behaved of all of the toys. And you never know what they will get into.

 "Uh, huh. Mommy."

But look what happened last night...

 The dinos got into Billy's blocks and built a tower. And by the look on his face you would have thought it was Christmas morning. Maybe they really are magical.

A Thousand Bobs

I've been trying to foster a sense of imagination in Billy, but I haven't had much success so far. He's great at remembering small details and loves learning facts, but making up stuff seems such a foreign concept to him. "You can make up your own story...really?" Yes really.

It often sounds like he's got a great imagination. "The gates are going to close and lock you in and the guard will march in front and keep you from escaping!" Sounds imaginative. He's actually regurgitating some footage of the changing of the guard in front of Buckingham Palace.

And while it's great that he can recall all of these minute facts that he's picked up along the way, it's not fostering his true imagination. He's not making up stories.

So, at bedtime when it was too late to sit down to read (maybe because someone was procrastinating about putting his jammies on) I told him we would make up our own story.

"We can do that?"

Yes we can. First, we need a character. Who should our character be?

"A monster! Rawr!"

And what's the monster's name?

"Bob."

This is a Daddy thing. Daddy calls everything Bob. We'll let that one pass.

Soon I get him to describe Bob and talk about what Bob likes to do. "He's red and orange and blue. He likes to jump. He has teeny tiny eyes and a teeny tiny nose and really big feet. He has purple horns." Then he goes on to tell me that Bob eats trees and he lives in the trees where he is too afraid to climb down to the ground. He finishes up and I tell him the story is over and it's bedtime.

"But what about the other Bob?"

How many Bobs are there?

"A thousand!" He doesn't know what that means- just a big number to him.

And so it's begun. Now he wants to hear stories about the thousand Monster Bobs. Each one is named Bob. Some are girls, some boys. Some big, some small, some scary and some silly. So far I'm at 7 Bobs. I've got a long way to go...

First buttons

That's a picture of a car, not buttons.

True, true.

But I didn't think to take a picture of the buttons, so bear with me. Above you see Billy in a coat. He's actually been wearing that coat since his first birthday (can you believe it?) and it's one of his favorites. It has 3 buttons down the front.

And on Sunday, he buttoned every one of them. By himself.

First Chapter Book

Billy has decided that he would like to read a long book. It was kind of a foreign concept to him that books without pictures exist and that people would read them for fun.

The whole idea came from Harry Potter. Well, not from Harry himself or from his movies, but from the book sitting on the shelf. The cover has brightly colored pictures and embossing and it caught Billy's eye. He asked me to read it to him, but he soon learned that it was not what he expected and he asked me to stop.

A few weeks later (last week) we were at Grandma's and he saw some books on the shelf in my old room. He wanted to know what they were, so I told him. I have a collection of children's classics- Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island, etc. These are not the Disney versions, but the original stories by the original authors. He looked through the collection and picked one to read.

He picked Peter Pan.

I was not surprised or shocked that he picked Peter. After all, he wanted to be Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates for Halloween and he continues to obsess over all things pirate.

So last week we began reading Peter Pan, one chapter at a time. Not every night, but more like every other night.

Here is Billy reading chapter 3 (well, looking at it for the photo op):

Home With Apple

Apple is the class mascot.

Two weeks ago I wrote about Billy being the Star Student for his class that week.

Here is that post.

Well, Star Student actually goes on for 2 weeks. Not only did we have to do everything in the above post for the start of Star Student period, but I also had to provide the Star Student Snack and we had to take Apple home for the weekend.

TANGENT~

Billy wanted jello to be his Star Student Snack. Red jello. Do you know how much red dye is in one packet of jello? Did you know you can dye your entire kitchen bright red just by spilling one already mixed but not yet congealed packet all over you kitchen. Yes, I do actually know you only need one packet to create a massacre scene in your kitchen.

END TANGENT ~

 Well, we took Apple home for the weekend and Billy had to drag this large stuff dog around with him and then keep a journal of it. The weather didn't cooperate or we would have also gone for a hike or out to a farm. And being silly, we totally forgot to drag the stuffed dog along to a birthday party on Sunday. Oh well. Here are some pictures of Billy's adventures with Apple:

gardening

bears!

learning bird calls

in a wigwam

climbing on logs

going for a Sunday drive

First Cup of Tea

This actually happened last week, but I've been so busy I haven't been able to blog.

Billy got a cold and had a sore throat. He's never had hot tea before because 1.) he doesn't like hot drinks (like hot chocolate) 2.) he doesn't like cold tea 3.) caffeine.

Well, I happened to have some caffeine free tea on hand and seeing as the only decent cure for a sore throat is a cup of hot tea with honey and lemon, that's just what he got. It was an orange spice tea. I didn't make it particularly hot, but warm enough to help his throat. He got it in an actual tea cup with the saucer (even though I usually drink my tea in a mug).

So what did he think? He liked it. Mostly because of the honey.

A few days later he asked for another cup of tea and was excited to drink it. With honey, of course.

November 6, 2013 ~ No Shoes, No Coat? You're Still Going to School

This morning Billy woke up early and decided to use his time wisely by poking me in the ear. I opted to send him off to the living room to watch cartoons and let me sleep at least until my alarm went off.

Bad idea.

He wouldn't leave the cartoons to get ready for school when it was time. I turned off the boob tube, but that only brought out the hellion, loving little demon that he is.

He threw himself on the sofa, tucked his feet under himself and simply refused to put on shoes. "I'm not wearing shoes. I'm not going to school. I'm staying home and watching cartoons. Just leave me here!"

I threatened to take him to school without shoes.

He decided to test me.

I attempted to wrap him in his coat, which he protested. Again, he was testing me.

He thought he was calling my bluff, but little did he know that I was serious. I picked him up and carried him out to the car, without shoes, without a coat. Don't worry! I put those items in his school bag. Wouldn't want him to be the ragamuffin at school.

He cried about being shoeless, but refused to let me put them on his feet. So, I buckled him in and off we went to school.

About half way there he realized he was cold. Perhaps, that would be because mornings in November are quite chilly. It was, in fact, fairly mild this morning, but chilly enough that his little t-shirt wasn't enough. I had a blanket for him but he didn't want i. He cried for me to take him home so I could put his coat on. No way, kiddo. I know that ploy and we're not going home.

By the time we got to school he acquiesced about the shoes, grumbling the whole time and insisting that I carry him. Well, at least I got him into shoes.

That's right, kiddo. You don't want to wear your shoes or coat? You're still going to school. You'll just go to school barefoot and cold.

November 5, 2013 ~ Star Student

This week Billy is the Star Student in his class. This is a thing they do in his preschool. He has to provide a "gift" to each of his classmates. (Really? Because we all need 18 little toys throughout the school year plus the added expense.) The also have to answer questions, color signs and print out photos.

Let me rephrase that... "I" have to buy toys for his class, write out his answers after forcing him to somehow answer 20 questions, bribe him to color the signs and then print and cut out photos for him. Thanks, Teach!

First up, the "gift". Now, he came home from school last week with a pencil. But the week before he came home with a Hot Wheel. I prattled off a list of cheap items- pencils, temp tattoos, stickers... Nope. He wanted to get his friends Hot Wheels.

The only problem with this was when I came home from the store with 4 packs of Hot Wheels he suddenly didn't want to give them over to his friends. He wanted to keep them all. Can you blame him?

Then there's the questionaire. What's your favorite movie, what are your hobbies, where do you like to travel, what do you want to be when you grow up? Those are some big questions for a 3 year old. The answers? Beauty and the Beast, camping and watching movies, Rushmore, and a butterfly. There were actually twenty questions, but you get the idea.

And he had to "write" the answer on a piece of paper and then decorate it. Really? He can't write. And the decorating? Who's really going to do that?

Bring on the pictures. This isn't like the old days of flipping through booklets of photos. Nope. Everything is digital these days. And because it's digital I have a LOT of photos. 3000 from 2013 alone. That's a lot of sifting. I opted instead to open Facebook and scroll through my big album, which has only 200 photos instead of 3000.

Here are some of his selections of photos he wanted to share with his friends:

He also included two photos of him with Santa, but I don't have them here. And I realize that he didn't include photos with some of his favorite people, but he was digging through a facebook album looking at random photos. He did not want to include any pictures of the beach, Disneyworld or his guitar. Go figure.

SMN Thanksgiving Project - Please Help

So, I follow a couple of other blogs. Maybe you've heard of this one particular blog: Scary Mommy.

Well, she has a charity. Her charity provides Thanksgiving meals to families that otherwise can't afford to feed their families. Can you imagine not being able to feed your kids? Can you imagine being hungry on Thanksgiving?

If you've got a few spare dollars in your pocket, there are currently 240 families waitlisted for help.

Hunger is a real problem, and it's not just a problem for far away African children. There are children starving right here in our own backyards. Please help.

~

When I was in Ireland, I had the opportunity to walk through the western countryside. It's a bucolic setting. But between those rolling green hills are dilapidated houses, petrified potato ridges, and marks of where the Great Potato Famine decimated the Irish population. I stood in a house, roof gone, overgrown with weeds, where a whole family starved to death together. I stood by a lake where an entire village drowned in a flood, too weak from hunger to escape the rising waters in a storm.

Hunger in America isn't like that. There are no monuments to the fallen from hunger. There aren't gaunt eyes of round-bellied children for a camera op. No, it's families struggling, too proud to tell their friends and families and coworkers, but desperate enough to ask for help so they don't have to watch their kids go hungry.

November 4, 2013 ~ Fall Weekend

For fun Grandma and I took Billy out to a farm to go apple picking. Sigh, no apple picking. So, Billy got to pick those apples right out of the barrel in the farm stand. You do what you've got to do. It worked out. He had fun.

They had a petting zoo and he didn't want to leave. He made friends with a goat and a donkey (yes, they were following him around). But, eventually we did have to go get lunch. He cried, he begged to stay with his new friends. I enticed him away with ice cream.

We ran into family at the restaurant and had a lovely lunch and then got some more veggies and pies after lunch. Billy picked a "pickle". (Ok, it was still a cucumber, but he was calling it a pickle). I bought him the pickle and then he saw the honey sticks and flipped a lid over wanting to trade the pickle (that he had already licked) for the honey sticks. Despite the tantrum, he ended up falling asleep cuddling the cucumber in the car.

On Sunday, the first really cold day, he refused to get out of his pajamas. We stayed inside, ate apples and watched football. It was a lovely fall day to be cuddly warm inside.

Halloween 2013

Toddler Rules for Halloween:

1.  You will wear the costume I bought you. I don't care if you loved it last week and hate it this week. You'll love it and you'll wear it.

2. You cannot eat the candy in the bowl to pass out to trick-or-treaters (until after Halloween). If you want candy, you have to go trick-or-treating.

3. You will not be carried. If your feet are tired, it's time to go home.

4. Your pumpkin will not be carried. If it's too heavy (aka full of candy loot) then it's time to go home.

5. You cannot eat spaghetti in your costume.

6. Bedtime is still bedtime, regardless of how much candy you've eaten.

Halloween has been a week long event, but really it started the night before with pumpkin carving. Billy got very excited about the prospect of getting to draw a face on a pumpkin and then cut it out. Just to be sure, I didn't cut open his pumpkin first, but he was gung ho and ready to chop up his pumpkin too. Above, he's using his toy knife to help me carve.

He had a special visitor on Halloween for trick-or-treating. PeePop!

PeePop walked around the neighborhood with us. Billy went dressed as Jake, from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. This guy:

He picked it, hated it, refused to wear it, came home from school with it on and refused to take it off. It's a love/hate relationship. The wig that came with it didn't fit and he got freaked out by the shoe covers, so let's just go with "pirate".

At first he was timid about walking up to random houses and knocking. But halfway through the evening I was told (by him) to wait at the end of the walk with the other parents. Yep, I was sent to the parent corner. He could do it himself.

I did offer to carry his pumpkin up the hill, but he was not interested- his loot, he wasn't letting go. (Okay, PeePop was allowed to carry it for a little while, but not me).

Did he have fun?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

When I was little I wanted to be a ballerina or a scuba diver. What does Billy want to be when he grows up, you ask?

A butterfly.

Yes, that is his actual answer. So, there you have it folks.

October 23, 2013 ~ I am a People

For most of his life I have referred to Billy with the pet name "Billy Goat." I mean, not all of the time, but when I feel like using a pet name, that's my go-to.

Back in September we had the opportunity to go to the State Fair, where Billy got to get up close and personal with some billy goats. He was not a fan. And a few weeks ago we went to a farm that had goats, still not a fan.

So, this morning when I said, "Hey there, Billy Goat!" he was thoroughly offended.

"Mommy, I'm not a goat."

I tried to reason with him. I tried to explain what a term of endearment was (besides an award-winning movie). I tried to explain that pet names were special.

"No, Mommy. I am a people. I am not a goat. I am not an animal. Don't call me an animal."

Okay. Never mind the semantics that humans actually are animals- I got what he was saying. And for the first time, he was truly offended. His voice was calm, his tone serious and his expression said it all, "I am a people."

Time to find a new pet name...

Our Big Camping Adventure

My blog has been eerily silent, but that's because I'm too busy between work and life to catch up. Nevertheless, I will try to post at least twice a week.

We had a very big camping trip planned for last weekend. It was supposed to take place in Shenandoah National Park. Now, if you don't live under a rock, you realize that the government shutdown means that the park is closed. And so are the campgrounds. In fact, so is the road through the area.

While an inconvenience, this was by far nothing like what others are suffering from with the shutdown- being unpaid and out of work. But that's another story.

Luckily, we were able to scramble and book another campground. It's one I have been to before, so I knew it would work for our group. It wasn't going to be the same trip, but at least we had a place to camp. The big hitch was that we had a group of hikers planning to hike the Appalachian Trail, which of course wasn't possible with the shutdown. Not that you can't still hike it, but the website with the info on it is shut down, as are many of the trail heads (because they are on park land).

The first night the hikers (Daddy included) hiked up to the ridge and spent the night under the stars. Billy and I stayed with another friend back at base camp. The campground was practically deserted that day (it wasn't the weekend). We had a lovely dinner made by ye olde Applebees- you didn't think we were going to cook over the fire with only two adults and a Billy, did you? We scrounged enough wood for a fire that night post dinner and had a very nice night in camp.

There were, of course, the animals. At first I thought the sound I was hearing was dogs. Nope. Not dogs. A bobcat- made more than one. Also, bats overhead. Yes, those too. Lots of them. We had a bobcat come through camp in the middle of the night as well- I could hear it calling from just a little bit away from my tent.

The next morning more friends arrived. We had three family groups and some others. Three kids as well- Billy, another boy, and a toddling baby girl.

The weather was perfect. It was unseasonably warm during the days and same at night, so no winter chill ever set it. The last time I was in this camp ground. I woke up to ice on the ground- same weekend, just a different year. We were able to go swimming in the mountain lake and not freeze- an odd thing for October.

We had lots of fun with friends hanging out in camp, eating camp food and exploring this private wilderness. Here are some pictures from our adventure:

The BIG Three

That's right folks. Can't call him two- that's through. Well past one- that's done. Now he's three-yippee!

He started his birthday weekend with a trip to Urban Pirates. That's a tourist attraction in the harbor designed for kids. It's a "pirate ship" although it has a motor, and the go out into the harbor. A bad pirate in a run-about chases them and they get to squirt him with water cannons. They also get to dress up, sing pirate songs and say Aargh! a lot.

I bought tickets for Billy and Cub to go with their dads and have the full pirate experience. Billy liked it, but I'm pretty sure he liked his party more.

The next day we had Billy's friends and some immediate family over for a party and cake. Billy and his friends got to dress like pirates.

Captain Dogbeard had been sailing his ship, the Jolly Minnow, in our back yard the night before when it was shipwrecked. He needed a few willing pirates to join his crew and help him recover his treasure that had been scattered all through the yard. The pirates had to hunt down doubloons and big jewels. They also found Dogbeard's treasure box filled with sugary loot.

This is the Jolly Minnow. She's listing a little to port...

The pirates also got to pin the flag on the treasure map and generally run amuck.

The pirates feasted on cake and goodies (the cheese curls were a big hit as were the veggie straws).

Then the friends had to leave, but Cub and the twins stuck around for a pizza dinner and some serious meltdowns. (We had some pooped pirated on our hands).

And that was Billy's big pirate weekend.

Happy Birthday lil man!

September 20, 2013 ~ What Makes the World Go 'Round?

Yeah, I'm out of order. Don't mind me. (This post is after the post for the 21st.)

Billy earned his first dollar. This is his allowance. He has one chore he has to do twice daily- feed the dog. I, however, take pity on the dog and often feed him again (when Billy shorthands him) or feed him in lieu of Billy so that Buddy gets fed on time.

But anyway, Billy was successful enough this week so he earned a whole dollar. (Don't go spending it all in one place, kid).

Daddy handed it over, "Here's your buck!"

Billy fondled it for awhile.

Go put your cash somewhere safe, okay? Daddy said. "Cash? Daddy, it's a dollar. Doll-ar."

Daddy laughed and then launched himself into a list of other words that mean money. "Buck, cash, bread, dough, moolah..." the list went on.

Billy was a little confused, but went with it. He was too busy admiring his dollar.

Then Daddy decided to move on to phrases about money.

"Hey, Billy. What makes the world go 'round?"

Without looking up and without skipping a beat Billy replied, "the sun."

Daddy laughed and scratched his head. "Well, you're exactly right!" It wasn't what he was looking for, but it was the right answer.

And that would be Billy schooling Daddy.

September 21, 2013 ~ You Should Get Married

Billy, Grandma and I were shopping in a cake store. We were looking for birthday stuff, but most of the shop was wedding cake stuff. Billy was asking about all of the wedding things. Then he moved on to weddings.

Mommy, you should get married.

I already am married. Who do you think I'm married to?

I dunno. Who?

Daddy.

Daddy? Why? (and not the sweet why, but a more loaded "...why?!?"

So I could have you.

[Looks confused]


Later, I told this story to Daddy. He thought it was terribly funny.

Daddy: Hey, Billy... who should Mommy marry?

Billy: Miss A.

Me (aside to Daddy): Well, that's legal in this state now.

Me: Billy, who should Daddy marry?

Billy: Mommy, of course!



I think we need to work on this concept a little. ;)

Is That Where Butterflies Come From?

When I get busy my blog suffers, and I have been as busy as ever. Let's face it, I'm so far behind we won't bother really with catching up.

Here is a conversation from last week:

Billy needed to use the potty. Normally, he requests privacy, but on this day he wanted me to sit with him. It was a long sit. He wanted to talk about bugs vs. bugs. And by that I mean germs vs bugs.

Are germs bugs like grasshoppers and flies?

No. We call them bugs, but really they are germs, not bugs like the ones outside.

Are they germy bugs?

Sure.

Are they like catepillars?

No. they are so tiny you can't even see them.

Do they go in my mouth?

Yes.

They go down into my belly?

Yes.

They come out my butt?

Sure.

Then do they turn into butterflies?

Um, no. Tiny. VERY tiny. Look at my hand. It's covered in germs. (I hope not). Can you see any? You need a microscope to see them.

The thing you sing into?

No. That's a microphone.

Oh. Can I see them?

With a microscope.

And they're inside me?

Yes. There's good germs and bad germs. The good germs are like little workers. They help you. They help make the food you eat into energy. They are what make your poop smell. And they fight the bad germs. Bad germs are like a cold or flu. They go in our mouths and make us sick. That's why we wash our hands- they get on our hands and then into our mouths.

[Looks confused]

Remember two weeks ago when you had an ear infection? A bad germ got in your ear and made you sick.

And the good germs gave me a check up?

Um... the good germs tried to chase it away. But they needed some help, so you had to take medicine.

So the good germs gave me a check up and said I needed medicine to make the bad germ go away? That's why I drank up all of my medicine and it was yummy. (Let's not dicuss the daily medicine-taking battle from that).

Sure.

Ok.

September 11, 2013 ~ The Scary One

I should probably write some sentimental piece about the anniversary of this day, but I'm not. Please read last year's if you would like some sentiment.

Last year's post

After dinner with PeePop, Billy and I were watching Little Einsteins. Grandma had given me a flyer for a local Halloween shop. I was looking through it, trying to find any decent costumes that Billy might like so I could show them to him. He wanted to look too, and was surprisingly distracted from one of his favorite shows.

Immediately, he pointed at Ironman and said he wanted to be that. I asked, "do you know who that is?" No, he didn't. But Ironman is cool looking.

He wasn't impressed with the small assortment of little kid costumes. Mickey? No thanks. Monster? Is is pink? No. Jake and the Neverland Pirates? Nah.

Okay. He doesn't really know "characters" so looking at poor costume representations of cartoons he doesn't know, turns out to be not so helpful.

Then I turned the page. Scary adult costumes. It was the undead page. (You laugh, but they really had a whole spread of undead/zombie costumes.)

"Mommy, this one is scary." He pointed to a particularly lifelike zombie costume. Yes, it was very cool and very scary.

I went to turn the page, "Let's look at something not so scary."

"No, I want to look at it. I like scary."

Oy.

You'd think he'd have nightmares or something. But he didn't. He just really liked the zombie costume.

September 10, 2013 ~ The Scariest Sound in the World

There I was, sleeping soundly in my bed in the middle of the night, all cuddled up under a blanket and comfortable.

Suddenly... the loudest bang came from the other room followed by a blood curdling scream.

I didn't have to chase Daddy into the other room. I knew what it was. I waited as the screaming continued. Billy had fallen out of bed and hit the wood floor while sound asleep.

Daddy got him to settle down and go back to bed- shockingly. I thought he wouldn't want to go back into his own bed, but he did.

I got up every now and again to rouse him and make sure he was okay. Which, he was.

In the morning he had a big ole bonk on his forehead, not colored yet, but definitely a bump. We tested his memory and his ability to name things, concerned about a concussion. It's hard to tell when a two year old is loopy versus just being a silly two year old. But, his eyes were dilating just fine and his recall was perfect, so we figured he was fine.

And he is. He's got a bruise that I hope will vanish before his birthday, and it's sore. But he's fine otherwise.