My apologies
again Followers… Mommy B and I haven’t been great on keeping up with our
blogging responsibilities in the last few weeks (ok, months). But you know how
it goes – it’s summer time and lots of things are going on which means less time
for jotting it all down. However, we must not let time get away from us… as
I’ve always said. So here’s what’s been going on lately:
Mommy B is still
working hard on her Master's degree. I honestly don’t know how she does it. The
seemingly endless papers and online responses week after week… it’s enough to
make my head spin and I’m not even taking the classes. There have been some
rough patches with it, especially when we have travel plans or something else
going on that forces her to get all her schoolwork done ahead of time. But
she’s a trooper (as she always has been when it comes to school) and has made
it work. And I keep reminding her that a year from now when it’s all said and
done she’ll be really glad she stuck it out. If there was a “best” time to do
it, now would be that time. Because before we know it, the kids will be in
school and who-knows-what type of after-school activities… which means even less time for her to go back to school.
Now that I’ve
completed the final wedding circuit and obtained my PMP certification, I’m
ready to gear things up at work. I have a mid-year review with our Vice
President next week (which will nearly coincide with my one-year anniversary)
that I’m particularly looking forward to. I’m going to let him know that I’m ready
for some bigger responsibilities and that I’m ready for whatever new projects
he has up his sleeve. The more initiatives I can get my hand in (and have my
name stamped on), the better. We’ll see where that conversation goes, so stay
tuned Followers.
Alli is learning
more and more every day. I know children her age have a better memory than most
adults anyway, but I swear to Mommy B that she has a photographic memory some
days. Alli will recall something random that she saw one time (for a minute)
months later when she sees that object or place again. I learned all about
associative learning in my Psych classes back in college, and Alli is just
reinforcing those lessons on a daily basis. Now, if she could just remember to
not steal whatever toy Aiden is playing with…
Another thing
I’ve been amazed with lately is her understanding of spatial relationships. For
example, she knows when something is on top
of something else or when something is behind
a larger object. For example, I asked her the other day after dinner where her
Pooh Bear was, and she replied, “He’s over there on the table.” I know she’s
almost three, but she not only recalled where she left said Pooh but also
properly described his spatial relationship to where we were sitting at that
moment. Or if we ask her to take an object and put it somewhere, she knows
exactly where to go, how to get there, and how to place that object where we
told her to put it. What really impresses me is that she not only understands
where things are in relation to her, but she has the vocabulary to verbalize
them to us as well. Gotta love that school they go to!
She’s been on a
Lion King bender lately, which means this DVD gets played over and over in
Mommy B’s car anytime she’s in it. Luckily my car doesn’t have a DVD player in
it, so they’re not completely spoiled every time we leave the house. It’s a
good thing too, because Mommy B’s car had to go into the shop this week to have
some work done. It was only for a day, but I don’t mess around when it comes to
my children’s safety. If there is something that risks putting them in danger –
like bad brakes or balding tires – it gets done right away. The funny part was
when Alli got into my mom’s car to head home she didn’t waste any time pointing
out the obvious. “Tatsy’s car doesn’t have Lion King.” You’re right, Alli, it
doesn’t. But it does have a huge sunroof!
She’s memorized
all the songs from that movie, and naturally we’ve had to do the same because
she wants to sing them every night before she falls asleep. Really? I have to
memorize the Lion King version of Elton John’s “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?”
No wonder I can’t remember where my keys are sometimes. She’s taken things a
step further in the last couple of weeks, though. She’s started to memorize
other random parts of the movie and spurting them out to us at random times.
For example, she was sitting at the dinner table the other night with her
brother while Mommy B and I prepped and cleaned the kitchen. All of a sudden she
looked over at Aiden and in a raised voice said, “You can’t change the past,
Aiden!” Very philosophical, she is.
Aiden just stared back at her while he shoved more food into his mouth.
And that brings
me to my little man, Bubby. Aiden is catching up to big sis in more ways than
one. He went in for his 15-month checkup a couple weeks ago and got weighed, as
did Alli just for fun. She’ll always be about 18 months older than him, but she
only outweighs him by about 6.5 pounds at the moment. We’ve said it countless
times, but the boy loves to eat. He’s pretty good at making a mess while he’s
at it (typical boy), but the overwhelming majority makes it into his mouth and
into his belly. And even though he’s our little hip-hugger he loves running
around the living room with his big sister. He can’t quite keep up with her sometimes
(she’s getting pretty darn fast these days), but he tries hard and it’s cute as
can be watching him watch her.
And I know we’ve
said it before as well, but the boy absolutely LOVES being outside. It doesn’t really matter what he’s doing as
long as it is not within the confines of any structure. He loves riding around
in the Cozy Truck or pushing his mower that Grandma C got him, wandering over
to the neighbor’s yard or just pushing the broom around the sidewalk. It
doesn’t matter how tired he is or how crappy he feels – the guy just wants to
be outdoors. I’m crossing my fingers that he keeps this trend up as he gets
older. I was always an outdoor kid growing up but I know boys are more inclined
to hit up the video games these days. I’m not saying video games are evil, I
just know how much I learned being out and about playing instead of glued to a
TV screen. That being said, he may not have much choice on some of these South
Carolina sweltering summer days.
His vocabulary
is starting to pick up a bit too. You can tell he knows what he wants, but he
doesn’t quite have all the words down yet. He’s also really starting to learn
(and remember) where certain things are, as evidenced when we say “OK guys,
time to go upstairs and take a bath!” he’ll dart towards the baby gate and
start pulling on it. As we were walking into school the other morning I noticed
he wasn’t following me right away. I turned around and saw him pointing up into
the sky as he said “Moooon!” Good job buddy, you found the moon in the sky
during daytime and pointed it out to
me. Where were ya on that one Alli?? Just kidding…
We’re trying to
get them both used to riding around on my parent’s boat as well. I mean, you
can’t live in a coastal city and not
have a boat around, right? With just like everything else, you gotta get ‘em
started early. This past weekend we decided to go tubing – which I haven’t done
since I was in middle school. And by tubing I mean my parents bought a giant
inflatable contraption called Big Mable, which basically looks like a big
lounge chair with straps to hold on to. Seriously, the only thing it’s missing
is a cup holder. We took both kids for a spin on it to get started, taking it
easy so as not to scare them too much on their first time. After a while Mommy
B took Aiden down below into the air conditioning to take a nap. Which he did –
for 2 hours while the rest of us
partied. Alli had a blast riding it up and down the river off my parent’s dock.
In fact, she had so much fun that she actually fell asleep on it during a
straight stretch. Who falls asleep while tubing?? My kids, apparently.
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