The Games We Play...

Nick has a new thing where he doesn't just ask you to play one game, but you have to come up with five short games that you play one after another. (It's the list in his head again). One of the games we came up with is Astronaut Obstacle Course. You put on the astronaut helmet, zig zag between the orange cones, spin on the frisbee, zig zag again and then back to base. It's much safer than Skateboard Alley (which almost knocked me out last week).

Alleys

It’s been a while since we had a good pee story... I took a day off last week, so I had the morning to hang with Nick and walk him to school. It’s about a 2 mile walk, so it’s nice not to drive if you have the time. Well, about three blocks from school he starts squirming like there’s no tomorrow and tells me he has to pee. Sigh. Where are we going to go? I try running, but we’re still not getting there fast enough. The bumps on the stroller are making it worse. So I find an alley, thinking he can pee there. But alleys here are really just people’s garages. And I’d be pissed if some kid were peeing behind my garage. Luckily I spotted a water bottle under the stroller. A few minutes later, all was well. But the entire time he was peeing, I was sure a cop or neighbor was going to come out and see a very suspicious site.

Batmobile

Our first Halloween party of the season was last weekend. Will the costume make it to Halloween? Hyped up on sugar and being around other kids, Nick was a total disaster by bedtime. Photo below gives a whole new meaning to Batmobile!

Donuts

So you’ve heard of Nick’s love for McDonuts. Well, the other night we were out kinda late and the only thing that would get him to hurry up and walk to the car (other choice was me carrying him several blocks) was to entice him with a donut from the shop we pass on the way to the car. Well, they were closed, but he knows there is one near our house. So I actually went through the drive thru of a Dunkin Donuts at 9pm. It’s not fun going through the drive through because I have no idea what the donuts are called. Three chocolate cake donuts brought me three cake donuts with chocolate frosting. Nick really wanted a vanilla one (what is that?! Vanilla icing? He wanted a strawberry for Chris and a chocolate for me.) When we pulled away from the window I handed the bag back to him. Of course they were all the same. I blamed it on the girl at DD – “Oh, did she mess up our order and give us three chocolate ones? Grrrr. Will you be okay eating one of those?” Of course he was. Oh well, those are good too…Anyway, here’s a typical “Nick-eaten” donut. Yes, it’s a donut with the icing gone. Like a mouse got to it.

Track Suit

Shannon bought Nick an adidas track suit before he was even born. She bought a size 4 and saved it for a few years before finally giving it to us. It’s hung in his closet ever since. Well, it finally fits! He’s been wearing the jacket to school lately, with a hoody under it. Looks like a hoodlum. So Saturday morning, I was heading out for a little exercise and Nick wanted to come with (but was still in his pjs). So Chris put the entire track suit over Nick’s pjs. Red track suit with navy piping. So we’re strollering along, with me jogging every few minutes (interval training – fun!) when Nick decided he wanted to run too. “I have on my running suit!” he said. When I reminded him that he had his crocs on, he explained that they were “running crocs”. Who can argue with that? So out of the stroller he hops and there we are, mom and kid jogging along. Nick with a hoody and track suit on. I can honestly say the looks we got weren’t “awww-how cute. They’re running together” but more like “omg – gangsta in training”. I promise to post some photos soon.

Real World

So you remember the Ben 10 Omnitrix watch we were bribing Nick with? Well, he finally got it. And was so excited until he realized that he wouldn’t really turn into a monster alien like Ben 10. Thought he was over it, but four days later we’re in the car and he comes up with “Mom, why didn’t I turn into a monster like Ben 10?”. Heart break. I had to explain the difference between real world and tv world. He seemed to get it when I said “Scooby Doo talks in tv world, but dogs don’t talk in real world”, but I still felt so sorry for him. He really thought he was going to turn into a monster.

Kitchen Roles

I hate to cook. I wouldn’t mind if I were good at it, but whenever I try, nothing turns out like it should. Luckily Chris is really good at cooking and enjoys it. Apparently Nick has the same love as Chris, because when we popped into Pottery Barn Kids over the weekend, he hit the boy toys first and then ran to the kitchen set on the girl side (yes, PBK does segregate the genders). After examining all the doors & knobs to see what was what, Nick assigned us roles. He wanted to be the daddy and me the mommy. So I said “Daddy, what do you want for dinner?” and he shot back “No, you’re the mommy!” to which I replied with “Ohhh, Daddy, what are you MAKING for dinner?”. He nodded and then started his dinner.

Daredevil

Seems Nick has become something of a Daredevil. He figured out how to climb onto the counters a few weeks back by scooting his little stool up to the counter and then using the handles on the drawers as stairs. Then last night he was standing on the one countertop (which is at least 3 feet off the ground) and jumped down. He was wearing his Batman cape, so maybe thought he could fly? His Grammy was with him and couldn’t believe he jumped! She thought there might be a hole in the floor. But all was well – with Nick and the floor. What a nut.

To-Do List

So anyone who knows me well knows that I have a constant to-do list. Actually, I have about 3-5 floating around at all times. It’s good because it clears my head of all the things I need to remember. It’s bad because who needs a to-do list reminding them to do laundry and get their winter sweaters out of storage? Anyway, turns out I’ve passed this curse to Nick. Saturday he told me “three things Mom – 1) I want to play Batman 2) I want you to swing me around 3) I want a snack. Three years old and he already has a to-do list. Sigh…