Dear Connor - 3 Years, 10 Months

Dear Connor,
We took our last beach trip of the Summer a few weeks ago and you had a blast. You were almost fearless in the surf this time and kept demanding to remove your floaties so that you could swim on your own. You want to do what the other kids are doing and if they aren't swimming with floaties on, by God neither are you. Several times we fought over this. Mommy always won.

You throughly enjoyed chasing the seagulls this time and weren't at all weirded out by them following you around the beach after you had donated handful after handful of organic gingersnap bears to them. Only the best for the gulls at our beaches.

We visited the NC Aquarium while we were there and several times you touched a stingray as it swam around in the tank and when we visited the touch tank at the other end of the room, the "Touch Tank Teacher" came over and gave you and your brother a private lesson about horseshoe crabs and conch shells. You were very interested in the jelly fish tank but bored by most of the other fishes swimming benignly in their tanks. The sharks were fascinating, but even more exciting because in front of the tank was a large area in which to run and benches that you were able to climb on.

By the end of the beach trip, the day we were supposed to leave actually, you were laying under your bed, crying because I wouldn't bring your other flip flop in from the car. You had had enough. That might even be something that's quite reasonable if it was way past your bedtime, but it was 10 o'clock in the morning. We ended up leaving a few hours earlier than we thought we might.

On the trip home, you determined that you really liked David Gray and wanted to hear several of the songs on the album again and again. Just for future reference that album is called, Life in Slow Motion and the songs that you love are tracks, 6 From Here You Can Almost See The Sea, 7 Ain't No Love and 8 Hospital Food. It just so happens that those are the best songs on the album in fact. Quite honestly for the beginning of your life, I thought maybe you didn't get the music gene, but now realize that it was just a bit delayed.

Now that I've reburned a copy of Pearl Jam's 10, to listen to in the car (after wearing out 2 CDs since it's release in the 90's) you've developed a liking for it and I have to confess that when I ask if you want to listen to music in the car and you demand Pearl Jam I couldn't be prouder. I'm sorry I lost faith. I should have remembered that I was the same Mommy that took you to the Dr. when you were a year and a half old because I was concerned that you weren't speaking on schedule, only to hear you with a five year old vocabulary at three years old and I hope you never stop talking to me.
I love you,
Mommy

Watermelon

Carolina Anole

I love macro photography. It gives the viewer a chance to see things that the naked eye may not usually recognize. I'm not sure that this qualifies as macro photography and I wish that the focus was a little bit sharper, but this little guy lives on the front porch at the beach house.

Donkey Tail

Picture of the Day

Better Than Ducktape

Picture of the Day

Penis Envy

When I announced that I was going to go up to the beach, a five and half hour drive with the boys... leaving Jorma at home for his own mini vacation from us all, I questioned my own sanity. I mean, what woman in her right mind would drive that far- alone with an almost 4 and almost 2 year old. Was I mad?
I guess mad isn't the word, but more desperate. I was desperate to give the boys a little more of the Summer to run and swim and play before the start of pre-school. I was equally desperate to have a little peace of mind myself. The trips to the beach are never easy, in fact it's pretty much the same amount (if not more) work than it is when we are home, but the boys are busy the entire time which means they aren't fighting with each other... or me. I like that.
The trip up could have gone either way. It could have been a five and a half hour slice of hell, or it could have been just fine and guess what? It was just fine. The boys snacked the first hour, slept for the next two and watched a movie for the two after that. They were perfect. No fighting, no yelling and even no whining.
We only stopped once and it was about 20 minutes from the beach house. The only reason that we stopped then was because I desperately needed a cuppa coffee to push me through for the rest of the evening. We pulled through a coffeeNdonut shop where I got the largest iced coffee imaginable and then pulled over so that I could give the boys the sippy cups, toys and blankets that they had tossed on the floor during the drive. Once I got them situated and put another movie in, I buckled myself back into the car, threw it into reverse and heard Connor say, "Mommy, I need to go to the bathroom".
Now Connor likes to see a bathroom, any bathroom. If we are in a new store the first thing he wants to do is go to the bathroom. He's likes playing in the different soaps and trying to work the different faucets... and the paper towel dispensers that are motion activated, well, to him those are a 1.5 foot piece of Disney. My point is that often it's difficult to tell if he really NEEDS to go, or merely wants to go investigate the soap dispenser. And we are only 20 minutes away from our destination.
"Can you hold it", I ask. It's not that I mind taking him in, but taking him AND little brother in... but, since Tristan is getting a little to large to be held it's sometimes, challenging.
"No", he says, "I can't"
"Are you sure?", I ask hopefully.
"I'm just going to hop out and pee in the parking lot" he says matter of factly. (As if he can get out of his seatbelt by himself)
"ok", I say, "we'll go in". But as I'm turning off the car and dreading the extra 30 minutes that I've just added to the trip, I spy a juice bottle on the floorboard of the car. A light bulb goes off.
"Do you think you can pee in the juice bottle?", I ask him. He nods.
I unscrew the cap and reach around, unhooking his seat belt. In a flash his pants are down and he's peeing into the bottle, like he's a professional truck driver. It's a victory. No going inside of the coffee shop. No unbuckling little brother or fighting about why we can't have another donut on the way out of the coffee shop. I feel free.
Do you know what this means? It means that we've just simplified the road trip. We can travel! Cross country! To the Grand Canyon! Without having to stop every hour to pee!
How awesome is that? Cal-a-forn-ia here we come!

Ride 'em Cowboy

This is a little photo series that shows how well our children treat guests at our house... (and maybe displays just a little of how they feel about Larry too)

Dear Tristan - 23 Months

Dear Sugar Bear,
In one month you'll be two years old and while I'm starting to see the wish for independence that comes with that age, I'm not seeing as much of the attitude that most other children develop. We kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Some sort of indication of the hell that we would be suffering as we guide you through your second year of life. Not to say that you aren't an active child, but having true curtain climbers, we do active well in this house, it's the sheer defiance that I was dreading. Because everyone knows that I'd love to say, "Because I SAID SO!" an additional 50 times a day.



I'm planning another beach trip for us before the summer is out because I want you and your brother to have one last week of doing nothing but, eating, sleeping, running and swimming. Because you both nap well during the day and sleep well at night, it seems like when we are there, everyone is happy, healthy and relaxed. Now if we can just get over that fear of being in the water. I'm all about you having a healthy respect for the water, but worse than that is the sudden fear you developed of any shower at the beach house. I'm not sure if this is because the water irritates your skin or because you were traumatized once when you and your brother were showering together (at the beach house) and he tackled you, taking you both down. No one was hurt but it scared everyone, including me who had a firm grip on your arm the entire time.


In the Fall you'll begin preschool. I think it's going to be a fantastic experience for you to get to play with other children without your brother around. You have the same teacher that Connor had his first year of school and we couldn't be happier. She's everything a preschool teacher should be, complete with bluebirds and fairies, singing around her aura. I'm not nearly as apprehensive about you starting school as I was when your brother started. Just because, I know you are going to love it that much. As soon as you stop crying at the door for me to come back... but Mommy comes back, always.
I love you,
Mommy