Toy Money

So I've told you how Nick now gets allowance (we call it 'toy money' since allowance doesn't mean much to him) each Saturday. $1 for every day he sleeps in his bed and stays tucked in. It's been working! Downside is, when we go to the toy store, he spends a good 1/2 hour looking at everything and asking "Can I buy this? Can I buy this?" I have to point out the dollar amount on everything. No hasty decisions being made by this little one. He had his heart set on a motorcycle Transformer this week, but we made it to Target to find their Transformer section cleaned out! Poor little guy. Offered to drive to another Target, but he wasn't going to let this toy department out of his grasp. He ended up with another Ben 10 toy - Brainstorm! And I don't have to transform it!

I was smarter this time and had him hand the cashier his toy and his money. Figure we're trying to teach him the value of money and that doesn't happen if I'm putting his toys in with all the other junk we buy at Target. He handed her $7 crumbled up dollars and was so confused when she gave him change back. I explained that 2 quarters and a penny could get him a tatoo at the candy machines. Walking outside, he was walking so tall and said "I'm so happy!"

Bragging

Nick and I were grocery shopping this weekend and he was all excited to pick out fruit snacks for the cook-out. We went up and down several aisles, but couldn't find them. Suddenly Nick yelled out "Mom, look what I found! You gotta come see this!" And there it was, the fruit snack section. With so many choices. He was beside himself with joy and could barely decide. After all that, he forgot to break out the fruit snacks during the cook-out. But apparenlty he and his friend Cooper were at school bragging this morning about what kind of fruit snacks they have at home.

Sunscreen tickles!

Now that the warm weather is here, school has slowly turned into "outside play school". While I was slathering him with sunscreen this morning, I told Nick that he was practically getting a massage out of it. This prompted a giggling fit. Just try putting sunscreen on a squirming, giggling four year old. Everywhere I touched him brought an eruption of laughter. Jeesh. Guess we'll find out tonight which spots I missed!

Continents

Nick has been learning his continents at school. He was so upset last week when a few of the older girls had finished continent projects to take home. He insisted that he'd done one too. I didn't know what to tell him other than "ask the teacher". So imagine my surprise and his pride when his project was ready to come home! Apparently they all had to cut out the continent shapes and then glue them in the right locations. He did such a rockin job! He told me his teacher had to help with with writing names on a few of the continents. But he wrote Europe, Asia and North America all by himself! He told me North America was very hard to spell. Rock on Nicholas!

Taco??

A few weeks ago we were walking down the street and Nick starting talking about “blah, blah, taco, blah, blah”. We asked him to repeat it couldn't figure out what word he was saying. Taco? Tiger? Until he finally described it as “You know, Owen and I wrestle and then I taco him”. Ahhhh-tackle! Nick enjoyed it so much that we had to replay this unintended game over and over on the rest of our walk. One woman walking in front of us didn’t realize we were playing and stopped to say “My guess is TOP”.

It happened again this weekend. I was asking Nick if he wanted to run errands with me and he said he wanted to go to the toy store before going to Erin’s. Who’s Erin? He just laughed. "Not Erin, run erins!" Ah yes, I see now! Silly mom.

Boy's Night

So every few weeks we host “Boys Night”. This is a little different from “Monday Night Football” in that it’s a group of 4 boys + Nick who rotate houses every other week for a 4 hour play marathon. The first time we hosted we had 6 boys total and were totally unprepared. We took them to the playground and each one ran in a different direction. Last night we only had 4 boys total and we were ready. Except that we fell into these natural/un-natural roles of good cop/bad cop. I was the crazy hormonal mom sternly saying “No jumping on the couch.”, “Next one to say “stupid” gets a time out.”, “Stop tattling on each other!” Chris was the cool dad with “Hey boys, did you say you wanted poop for dinner?” and “Here, try to catch me on this big field while I run around and wear you all out.”

Dinner was interesting. We made mac & cheese and they were all psyched for it. Until we sat down. HG would only eat watermelon. OR wanted hot dogs with his mac & cheese, but then wouldn’t eat his mac & cheese. HP only wanted bread. Nick wanted it all (really, bird eater wanted it all?!). After a few hours of play we got them all to settle down for a movie and popcorn. Chris couldn’t make enough popcorn to keep these guys satisfied.

9pm rolled around and the parents started arriving for pick up. I was so happy to go to bed. Chris was definitely the better parent. The good news: we get several weeks off before we host again.

Nesting

Nick and I are nesting. I’m ready to get started on the baby’s room and he’s apparently been telling folks at school that the crib is up. It’s not. So when I suggested we get to work the other night, he was only too happy to leave his fort and help. Chris was out with the boys and missed all the fun. The former owners of our house painted a cute mural on the walls of the nursery with trees, flowers, insects and a few bunnies. So our guest room has been a bit “outdoorsy” for some time. The guest room now moving to the tiny room in the basement. Sorry guests. It truly is a “bedroom” now, as the bed is about all that fits there.

Nick and I got upstairs and got the mattress off pretty easily. Until I stepped on his hand. Nothing a Transformer band-aid couldn’t help (had to be a Decepticon – bad guy). Even though there was no blood. Then we wrestled it out into the hallway where Nick’s wrist got stuck between the mattress and door frame. A tiny bit of blood and bruising with this one. This is where it started to dawn on me that a pregnant woman and 4 year old shouldn’t be attempting to move mattresses by themselves. But Nick insisted we continue. So with a bandaged wrist we managed to slide the mattress down the stairs. With a big thud and crunch. Sigh. Slight dent in the wall and the mattress was stuck at the landing. We finally got down the second flight with some wall scrapping. We’ve been meaning to paint those walls anyway. This is where I finally said “enough”. Nick insisted we could get it down the basement stairs. I insisted we had to stop and wait for Dad’s help. We then took turns deciding what Chris’s face would look like when he came home and saw the mattress propped up against the wall. We both guessed a look of surprise. Apparently it was a look of eyes rolling.

We were able to talk Chris into helping us move everything to the basement last night. Got the mattress down the basement stairs by folding it in half. Who knew?! (Mom and Dad – tell us if you can tell the next time you sleep on it). Then we set the bed up in the new guest room. Nick was super helpful and would have gladly stayed up all night putting the crib together. Told him that would have to wait for another night. Especially since we can’t remember where we put the crib hardware. Sigh. “So this is nesting, eh?” said the happy father.

Big Head

We went to brunch with an old grad school friend last weekend. We were having a nice time and Nick was being his usual prince self (which is the act he has at school and in public, but which falls away the moment he's alone with me and Chris). When all of a sudden he pointed to the table behind me and said "Look at that big head!". Chris wrestled his pointing finger down and tried to occupy him with something else. I didn't want to turn around and see what was going on, so I trusted Chris. Once we all got outside the cafe, Becky said "My god, did you see the size of that head?!" Chris described it as a sack of potatoes. How to explain to a little one that you can't make fun of big heads in hearing distance, but it's totally fine to do so when you get outside and out of earshot?

Pretty Girls

So yesterday, the boys and I spent several hours shopping. Seems they needed a little help with my Mother's Day gift. Jewelry! They finally got my hints!!! But things weren't going well. Between being ignored or followed around too closely, the salespeople were impossible. We made one last stop, but couldn't find parking. So I ran in the store while Nick and Chris waiting outside. Then I switched with Chris so he could go inside and check out what I'd seen. As soon as I got settled into the car, Nick said "Let's play 'Look at the Pretty Girls'". ??? Huh??? "How do you play that?" I asked. "You look at the pretty girls. There's a pretty girl. There's a pretty girl". So we played his game. Turns out he likes old, young, blonde, brunnette. I asked him if this is what he and Daddy played while I was in the store. Yep. Boys.

Cupcakes

Nick was begging for cupcakes the other day, so I made 24. Yes they were straight out of a box, but that's still kinda big for me and my cooking skills. Anyway, he got his first cupcake and licked all the frosting off. Then asked for another. Turns out he just likes the frosting. So Chris took 23 cupcakes to work today. Next time I'll just hand Nick the container of frosting. Jeesh.

Dark Knight

So I've told you about the threesome at school: Batman, Spider Man and Dark Knight. Yes, I realize the Dark Knight and Batman are the same thing, but 4 year olds see one as blue and one as black. One as good and one as bad. The other day Nick told me that I couldn't call Cooper Spider Man anymore. I have to call him Peter Parker. Nick thinks his name is Alfred, but I think the guys just couldn't remember Batman's name. So be prepared to call Nick Bruce Wayne from now on. Wouldn't want to blow their cover!

Big Brother

Nick has been super baby focused these days. He told me he had a dream about me and the baby the other night. The baby was "out" as he says and he was happy. He's been talking to her a lot. Makes me answer as if I'm talking for her.

N: "Hi baby! It's big brother Nick!"
H: "Hi Nick! What are you doing right now?"
N: "I'm brushing my teeth."
H: "Oh wow! How many teeth do you have?"
N: "Mom, how many teeth do I have?" "I have 20 teeth."
H: "Oh, how many teeth will I have when I'm born?"
N: "Mom, how many teeth will she have?" "You'll have about 4 teeth when you're one years old. Four - that's how old I am!"
N: "Your sippy cups are in my drawer - want to see them?"
H: "Do you use the potty? Will I use the potty?"
N: "Yes. But you'll wear diapers."

Cute.

Surprise!

I'm not sure where boys learn this - think it might come naturally. Nick announced from the bathroom the other day "I'm leaving a surprise for someone" (in a sing-song voice). I think we might be very lucky that our next one is a girl.