A Trip the the Grocery Store

One day in September, Jay and I made a much-needed trip to the grocery store. Jay wore his uniform--spiderman costume and cowboy boots. I made him leave his blankie cape behind since it was close to 100 degrees.

Harris Teeter provides mini carts for kids and he immediately grabbed one. As he zoomed down the aisle, I saw two young men laughing at him.

Of course his first stop was the display of free cookies; the second was the cheese samples. With a cookie in one hand, he grabbed a fistful of the toothpicked cheese cubes with the other. The toothpicks stuck out of his fist in every direction. He twisted his hand around trying to figure out how to get a cheese cube into his open mouth. His perplexed expression was priceless.

Then, I overheard one of the men exclaim to the other, "I love that kid!"

Deja Vu Halloween

No, this is not a photo from a previous Halloween. Cole decided to be an astronaut for the 3rd time, and Jay wanted to wear his Spiderman costume for the 2nd year in a row. Boys certainly make shopping easy!

We joined our neighbors again this year for trick-or-treating with a caravan of decorated golf carts and a whole gaggle of kids. After hitting all the hot spots, we returned for hot dogs, chili, and, of course, candy.

Since it was a school night, the party ended early. I felt sorry for all the teachers dealing with tired, crabby, sugared-up kids the next day (but also relieved those kids weren't at home).

Throughout the rest of the year, Jay wears his Spiderman costume so often that it has a hole in the knee and a broken zipper. While shopping the day after Halloween, we were thrilled to find a half-price Spiderman costume in the next size!! Even better, it closes in back with velcro instead of a zipper, which should lead to fewer Spidey accidents. Now we're set for the next few Halloweens.

To Our Future Guests

I'm afraid the queen-size bed we bought Jay so you would have a comfortable place to sleep is already fully occupied. You'll have to share it with all Jay's "aminals."

Jay's Addition to the Previous Post

We've had many funny conversations with the boys about how adults stop growing taller and then start to shrink when they get older.

This morning Jay said to me:  "When I am really old and start to get smaller, I want to be three."

Me:   "You want to be three years old?"

Jay:  "Yes, so I can be with Ms Cathy again."

He had looked at the pictures in the previous post about his old preschool and teacher, and, apparently, had been thinking about her. It would be worth a trip to Isle of Palms just to tell her this story.

The Graduate

Since Jay has started his last year of preschool, I better post about his "graduation" from the 3s program last spring. (Here is the link to the post about his first day of school.)

He had a wonderful year at the Isle of Palms Rec Center. All the kids loved the teacher, Ms Cathy, and she adored them right back. It was a big year in terms of accomplishments: he learned all his letters and some letter sounds; how to write his name (usually with the J backwards and spelled YAJ); count to 100 (one, two, skip a few, 99, 100!); actually count to 20; and lots of cute songs and poems (True blue/Me and you/Friends Forever/Through and through).

He also began to wear his favorite baby blanket as a cape and call himself "Super Jay." He wore his cape to school, soccer, and karate (on top of his uniform), and with his Spiderman costume from last Halloween. When Yingy and Grandpa Pat sent him cowboy boots from Arizona, the outfit was complete! We always got lots of smiles and comments whenever we went out. At the end of the year, the program held a graduation for the students. (The stage was set up for a performance of Charlotte's Web.) Here is Super Jay walking across the stage.
Super Jay performing a piece about summer with his class.
And Super Jay receiving his diploma. The director of the program even announced him as "Super Jay Mirman."

This year, he is in the 4s program at a different preschool. Although I loved the IOP program, it was too far to drive back and forth. Now his school is only 10 minutes away (yet we are still always running late).

But, his new school is another post for another day...

Our Cole-O-Lantern

The middle top tooth is also loose! Cole's big problem now is that he can't eat corn on the cob. Cutting it off the cob just isn't the same.

It seems like he just got those precious baby teeth! We'll have to carve another Cole-O Lantern this Halloween.

Birthday Karate Kids

February is always a busy month with Cole's birthday on the 22nd and Jay's on the 23rd. Each boy picks a restaurant for us to go to on his special day. Cole picked Moe's (a casual tex-mex place) and Jay chose "The Pirate Restaurant" (otherwise known as Queen Anne's Revenge--a very cool place decorated with all kinds of pirate loot, weapons, and pictures). Here they are standing at the window that looks into the kitchen at QAR.
This year we had a party at Carolina Karate, where the boys take classes. Karate has been a great experience for them. We started last October and their balance, coordination, and focus have improved dramatically since then. Everyone had a blast learning ninja jumps, ducks, punches, and kicks. Notice in the picture below that Orange the monkey and the Puppies even got to participate!

The best part was cutting the cake with a sword! Thank goodness they got a little help. I made the cakes in the shape of karate jackets.

It was a fun few days, although I can't believe Cole is 6 and Jay is 4.

There Are No Tea Parties at Our House

Christmas 2009

This Christmas we made our first gingerbread house. Unfortunately, Jayzilla broke the first one and we had to rebuild. (It was actually my fault--the house joints weren't quite dry and the frosting was across the table from him.) The replacement was delicious!

Jay also had fun wrapping the presents. Cousin Leo was the lucky recipient of this one:

Wrapping was so much fun, he just couldn't stop! (In case you can't tell, the taped-up object is his pair of scissors.)

The boys couldn't wait to see what was in this big box. It was the Geotrax airplane, which is a nice addition to our Geoland. Cole still loves his Geotrax.

Transformers were also big this year. Unfortunately, it wasn't clear online that there are different levels of difficulty and I bought the most difficult. Even an engineering background didn't help with this one. Santa must have seen Jay wrapping presents. He knew exactly what the boys needed.

Cole was very happy with his new Gears kit.

Jay's Time Saving Idea

Jay had a brilliant idea for when you have a runny nose and are too busy to keep wiping it. I think he may be on to something!

Halloween 2009

Yes, it is a Halloween post in June. Since I've started selling Usborne children's books, I have even less free time. But I love to do it. I set up book fairs in preschools and elementary schools and get to talk about my favorite thing--books!! I decided to start because I wanted to get a discount for myself, but once I started selling, I realized I really like it. (My website is www.theUsborneAdvantage.com.)

This Halloween, the boys were Spiderman and Optimus Prime, otherwise known as "Octimus" Prime, which Cole insists is his name. The Spiderman costume had puffy chest muscles, and when Cole saw them, he said, "Spiderman has boobies!" I bet Spiderman's creators never imagined those words would be said!

This year, Yingy was visiting, which was great fun. We were lucky enough to score a ride on our neighbor's golf cart. A lot of people in the neighborhood have golf carts, and we made quite a procession. The boys lasted a lot longer without having to walk, and they were thrilled to be able to cover more of the neighborhood. Some people really get into the spirit and dress up and decorate their houses. It was fun to be able to visit all those houses, which would have been impossible on foot.

As soon as we got home, the boys began planning for next year!

Our Native Son

We have been a little concerned about Jay's speech. Sometimes we find it difficult to understand him and often have to translate for other people.

Rob found a program through the school system that evaluates kids for free. It seems to be designed for the diagnosis of learning disabilities, but they also do speech analysis, so Rob brought him in.

They found Jay thoroughly delightful and said his vocabulary is very advanced (apparently "suddenly" isn't a word typically used by four-year olds). They also determined that his intonation is at the proper stage for his age. However, one lady commented that he had a "little southern twang."

So now we wonder if that is why his Yankee parents don't always understand him!

That's My Boy!

I am so proud of Cole! He had an issue with a boy at the Pirate Park and handled it beautifully.

He and Jay were playing pirates with a boy they met there. At one point, they climbed up a tall structure with a long tube slide. Suddenly, Cole flew out the bottom of the slide on his belly and landed face first in the sand. Poor guy was gagging from all the sand in his nose and mouth and could barely see with sand in his eyes. While I was comforting him, the new friend came over and admitted he had pushed Cole down the slide. When I asked him why, he replied, "A zombie was coming." After mildly scolding the boy (his father was close by, but didn't seem like he was going to do much), we went to the car to get water and wipes.

After a while, Cole asked if we could go back to the park. I was surprised that he still wanted to play. As we walked back across the street, I heard him whispering under his breath. When we got there, he walked right up to the boy.

"Are you still gonna play?" the boy asked.

"Yes," Cole replied. "But I don't want you to push me down the slide unless I say it's ok."

The boy agreed and they continued to run around like crazy pirate boys.

It turns out the muttering I heard was Cole rehearsing what he was going to say to the boy. I'm so proud of the mature way he handled it. Times like this make all the hard work of parenting worthwhile.

(We left when the kid found a discarded plastic golf club and began swinging it at the boys.)

A Typical Night (Right Before Bedtime)

The Jig Is Up

Puppy #2 came out of the closet!

Apparently, he grew tired of hiding on the top shelf of the pantry and took a kamikaze dive onto the tile floor.

Cole, Jay, and Puppy #1 discovered his existence when they went downstairs before bed to retrieve Orange, Cole’s beloved monkey. They found Orange in the kitchen, and then, a few feet away spotted Puppy #2.

Laughing wildly, the boys raced upstairs to show Rob (I wasn’t home).

“There’re TWO puppies!” Jay exclaimed ecstatically.

Thinking quickly, Rob told them it was puppy’s brother visiting from Africa for a few days. Then, this morning, Rob told Jay that puppy #2 had to go back to Africa soon.

“No he doesn't,” Jay replied. “His parents are coming here.”

Now we need to keep track of two puppies. I may be online ordering more spares.

(For the back story, see here and here.)

Shark Teeth

In continuation of his amazing teething abilities (his first baby tooth arrived at four months old and he quickly had the full set by 11 months), Cole got his first two grown-up teeth so quickly they came in behind his bottom front baby teeth.

I rushed him to the dentist because I had never heard of such a thing. The dentist took a look and nonchalantly said, "Oh, he's got shark teeth."

Cole thought that was incredibly cool. I would too, except it means that orthodontia is definitely in our future.