Needless to say - Kole was impressed. He kept asking his Mommy to watch it over and over.
11 years ago
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Another Birthday Wish
Yeah, Daddy has some contacts here and there. Big thanks to the guys at GoodDay, the morning show on Fox 4 for squeezing us in on very short notice.
Needless to say - Kole was impressed. He kept asking his Mommy to watch it over and over.
Needless to say - Kole was impressed. He kept asking his Mommy to watch it over and over.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Three Years Old
Three years after blessing us with a miracle after a bloodshot-eyed all-nighter of a birth (born at 2:46am, after arriving at the hospital at 7:30am the previous morning), there he is putting his own clothes on, going potty with no prompting by his parents, and being able to clearly discuss his feat, and request his prizes for producing the particular leavings.
He walks in with sandals on his feet, which he has put on himself (velcro straps). But even when the shoes are on the wrong feet, one of us instinctively says "oops - you put them on the wrong feet, you need to switch them around", which is our version of thinking out loud just before going up to do the parental task ourselves; but he beats us to the punch and sits on the floor and starts taking the shoes off, swapping them and putting them back on the proper feet. It takes a few minutes to register - He knew exactly what we said and what we were talking about. This is hardly routine, or something we practice talking about. He just ... knew.
And that's where we're at as he turns three years old. Every day, seemingly, Did we teach him that? Where did he learn that? Did you see that - how he actually furled a brow and went "hmmmm" to think about what he wanted before he spoke? Too many examples to count and cite. As we watch his little sister take on solid foods and begin crawling, we can't help but look at Kole and wonder, wasn't it just a few weeks a go we were going through this with him?
Maybe that's the creepiest part. With Karissa around so young, we still have around so many of the things that Kole once used, reminding us of his younger days.
Speaking of Karissa, we're starting to learn some differences between one child and another. Where Karissa speaks and ooohs and aahhs when it's absolutely necessary, her big brother was a carnival of sounds and yells by the same age. By the way he's turned out, we think and hope that Karissa will turn out to be on the quiet side.
No matter where we go, some stranger remarks at how cute he is in a way that normally carries some level of amazement or raised voice that seems genuine and sincere, not just a courtesy conversational ice-breaker. Most complimented: his big, deep brown eyes, his thick and silky hair, and a shy smile that can melt the heart of an ax murderer. We don't need to hear from anyone else to believe it, but it's gratifying to hear.
His vocabulary is very developed and he is putting more and more complete thoughts and sentences together. He is becoming more independent, and that includes treating his Timeout corner like a cop treats a cozy counter stool in a doughnut shop. It's not quite punishment, but he does have a very good idea of what is good behavior and what is unacceptable behavior. He's normally very good, but sometimes he's a handful for Kathy in the middle of the day. That's unfortunate, and I hope it's just a Terrible Two phase he quickly shakes off.
He even knows our real names now, and will often identify pictures by pointing to us as Keith and Kathy. That's strange. He does that with a generous giggle each time.
He is helpful, and wants to help, and he is very polite. He says "thank you" without prompting and is getting better with "please". He plays well with other kids, but occasionally we've got reports from his school that he has hit a classmate, or maybe taken a swat that wasn't necessarily mean-spirited. He'll sometimes do the same with Karissa, play a little more rough than we'd like. He hasn't been exposed to violent movies or video games, or Marilyn Manson music, or Tea Party websites that use crosshairs as markers. We'd like to blame it on something, but can't seem to nail down to anything besides maybe mockery of kids roughhousing he sees on playgrounds. Maybe it's just good ole Alpha caveman DNA combined with Terrible Twos.
He loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and on occasion, has devoured two whole sandwiches in a sitting. His favorite is probably mac-n-cheese, as he can look like a 4th of July hot dog eating contestant when a bowl of it is set in front of him, barely coming up for a breath between bites. However, if he has a big blob of ketchup for dipping, he'll likely eat chicken fried muskrat or his own shoestrings. He likes his morning cereal and loves picking his favorite color of bowl - normally orange. We don't know if orange is officially his favorite color right now, or if he just loves saying the word ("oh-WEENJ"). He loves apple juice and playing outside no matter how hot it is. He loves climbing on things. If it's as tall as he is and he can get a good grip on it, he'll be on top of it in no time.
Today, the day of his birthday itself, Kathy was at a garage sale with Kelley and her friend Donna, selling off the remnants of Kole and Karissa's infant-hood. We even sold the Papasan and swing. It's weird, letting all that stuff go - but
there's a certain symmetry to it happening as we celebrate Kole's third birthday as he pees and poops in the potty. Now sometimes not even in the training potty, but up on a stool whizzing away in the main throne. But, a milestone torch is being passed, we do not have newborns in this house and will never again, short of a freak miracle.
We went to Costco today to get his birthday cake. With Kathy away, I took Kole and Karissa and threw them in a cart. Along the way a worker there, an elderly black woman, asked who's birthday it is. I said it was Kole's. She then broke into the 'Happy Birthday To You' song. Kole was almost embarrassed but obviously enjoyed the attention. However, sitting two inches to his left was his little sister - who saw this scraggly old woman (with a hair net, no less, as she was one of those people serving samples) suddenly 4 feet from her, and Karissa immediately furled her bottom lip and began a howling cry. The worker never broke verse from the song. But when she was finished I consoled my little girl and she quickly cooled off.
Later, Paw Paw and Grams (my dad and step mom) plus Grandma (Kathy's mom), Uncle Duane (Kathy's bro) and Aunt Dawnell (Kathy's sister) came over with gifts and had cake. Kole saw me light the candles and immediately ran up and tried to blow them out. We all blurted out
something for him to stop, and he quickly gave a pouting look like he was in trouble. But, we calmed him down, sang Happy Birthday properly, and he finally was able to blow out the candles (with some assist by Mom) and have cake.
He can be a handful. He is 100% boy, in all its inelegance. His sheer energy and inability to either understand direction or obey direction can upset his mother to a point where it then upsets his father. Maybe that's why they're called Terrible Twos. But, the language barriers are falling. Communication is becoming a two-way street with fewer obstructions and pot holes. He will become more independent. The books and magazines say he is finding and challenging his boundaries and authority. This is all very routine and predictable behavior. We hope that's all it is.
But, at the end of the day, when I lay him down to sleep, I can stare at his eyes and see a very kind, innocent, loving soul. Even when they're shut and playing dreams for his slumbering mind, I still sit and stare in wonder that is my flesh and blood recreated.
If anything many periods of the first three years went by too fast. We couldn't wait till he could start sleeping through the night; then it just seemed like we had good reason to want to speed up to the next milestone - crawling, cutting teeth, walking, saying "I love you" without prompting or in volley to your initial "I love you". Now I just wish the next three years would crawl by slower than his first elbow-tugging attempts at crawling itself.
He walks in with sandals on his feet, which he has put on himself (velcro straps). But even when the shoes are on the wrong feet, one of us instinctively says "oops - you put them on the wrong feet, you need to switch them around", which is our version of thinking out loud just before going up to do the parental task ourselves; but he beats us to the punch and sits on the floor and starts taking the shoes off, swapping them and putting them back on the proper feet. It takes a few minutes to register - He knew exactly what we said and what we were talking about. This is hardly routine, or something we practice talking about. He just ... knew.
And that's where we're at as he turns three years old. Every day, seemingly, Did we teach him that? Where did he learn that? Did you see that - how he actually furled a brow and went "hmmmm" to think about what he wanted before he spoke? Too many examples to count and cite. As we watch his little sister take on solid foods and begin crawling, we can't help but look at Kole and wonder, wasn't it just a few weeks a go we were going through this with him?
Maybe that's the creepiest part. With Karissa around so young, we still have around so many of the things that Kole once used, reminding us of his younger days.
Speaking of Karissa, we're starting to learn some differences between one child and another. Where Karissa speaks and ooohs and aahhs when it's absolutely necessary, her big brother was a carnival of sounds and yells by the same age. By the way he's turned out, we think and hope that Karissa will turn out to be on the quiet side.
No matter where we go, some stranger remarks at how cute he is in a way that normally carries some level of amazement or raised voice that seems genuine and sincere, not just a courtesy conversational ice-breaker. Most complimented: his big, deep brown eyes, his thick and silky hair, and a shy smile that can melt the heart of an ax murderer. We don't need to hear from anyone else to believe it, but it's gratifying to hear.
His vocabulary is very developed and he is putting more and more complete thoughts and sentences together. He is becoming more independent, and that includes treating his Timeout corner like a cop treats a cozy counter stool in a doughnut shop. It's not quite punishment, but he does have a very good idea of what is good behavior and what is unacceptable behavior. He's normally very good, but sometimes he's a handful for Kathy in the middle of the day. That's unfortunate, and I hope it's just a Terrible Two phase he quickly shakes off.
He even knows our real names now, and will often identify pictures by pointing to us as Keith and Kathy. That's strange. He does that with a generous giggle each time.
He is helpful, and wants to help, and he is very polite. He says "thank you" without prompting and is getting better with "please". He plays well with other kids, but occasionally we've got reports from his school that he has hit a classmate, or maybe taken a swat that wasn't necessarily mean-spirited. He'll sometimes do the same with Karissa, play a little more rough than we'd like. He hasn't been exposed to violent movies or video games, or Marilyn Manson music, or Tea Party websites that use crosshairs as markers. We'd like to blame it on something, but can't seem to nail down to anything besides maybe mockery of kids roughhousing he sees on playgrounds. Maybe it's just good ole Alpha caveman DNA combined with Terrible Twos.
He loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and on occasion, has devoured two whole sandwiches in a sitting. His favorite is probably mac-n-cheese, as he can look like a 4th of July hot dog eating contestant when a bowl of it is set in front of him, barely coming up for a breath between bites. However, if he has a big blob of ketchup for dipping, he'll likely eat chicken fried muskrat or his own shoestrings. He likes his morning cereal and loves picking his favorite color of bowl - normally orange. We don't know if orange is officially his favorite color right now, or if he just loves saying the word ("oh-WEENJ"). He loves apple juice and playing outside no matter how hot it is. He loves climbing on things. If it's as tall as he is and he can get a good grip on it, he'll be on top of it in no time.
Today, the day of his birthday itself, Kathy was at a garage sale with Kelley and her friend Donna, selling off the remnants of Kole and Karissa's infant-hood. We even sold the Papasan and swing. It's weird, letting all that stuff go - but
there's a certain symmetry to it happening as we celebrate Kole's third birthday as he pees and poops in the potty. Now sometimes not even in the training potty, but up on a stool whizzing away in the main throne. But, a milestone torch is being passed, we do not have newborns in this house and will never again, short of a freak miracle.We went to Costco today to get his birthday cake. With Kathy away, I took Kole and Karissa and threw them in a cart. Along the way a worker there, an elderly black woman, asked who's birthday it is. I said it was Kole's. She then broke into the 'Happy Birthday To You' song. Kole was almost embarrassed but obviously enjoyed the attention. However, sitting two inches to his left was his little sister - who saw this scraggly old woman (with a hair net, no less, as she was one of those people serving samples) suddenly 4 feet from her, and Karissa immediately furled her bottom lip and began a howling cry. The worker never broke verse from the song. But when she was finished I consoled my little girl and she quickly cooled off.
Later, Paw Paw and Grams (my dad and step mom) plus Grandma (Kathy's mom), Uncle Duane (Kathy's bro) and Aunt Dawnell (Kathy's sister) came over with gifts and had cake. Kole saw me light the candles and immediately ran up and tried to blow them out. We all blurted out
something for him to stop, and he quickly gave a pouting look like he was in trouble. But, we calmed him down, sang Happy Birthday properly, and he finally was able to blow out the candles (with some assist by Mom) and have cake.He can be a handful. He is 100% boy, in all its inelegance. His sheer energy and inability to either understand direction or obey direction can upset his mother to a point where it then upsets his father. Maybe that's why they're called Terrible Twos. But, the language barriers are falling. Communication is becoming a two-way street with fewer obstructions and pot holes. He will become more independent. The books and magazines say he is finding and challenging his boundaries and authority. This is all very routine and predictable behavior. We hope that's all it is.
But, at the end of the day, when I lay him down to sleep, I can stare at his eyes and see a very kind, innocent, loving soul. Even when they're shut and playing dreams for his slumbering mind, I still sit and stare in wonder that is my flesh and blood recreated.
If anything many periods of the first three years went by too fast. We couldn't wait till he could start sleeping through the night; then it just seemed like we had good reason to want to speed up to the next milestone - crawling, cutting teeth, walking, saying "I love you" without prompting or in volley to your initial "I love you". Now I just wish the next three years would crawl by slower than his first elbow-tugging attempts at crawling itself.
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