Summertime Fun

Here is handsome, decked out in his full soccer gear. About once a week he does this and then demands that his picture be taken.

And really ... who doesn't like a good demand once in a while? Me! Me! Sign me up for demands! Especially from small children!

This weekend was a blast ... Mama had book club on Friday night and since Dad was in class, John stayed with the neighbors, whoe let him eat inordinate amounts of Chick-Fil-A nuggets and Sweet Tarts. Our neighbor, Bradley, said that he likes to do that when they watch other people's children: get 'em all jacked up on sugar and then send 'em home. Thanks y'all.

Above: John & Annie

On Saturday morning, I took John and our other neighbor, Max, to a Discovery Science Center, where despite the physics center, construction site, farmer's market (complete with conveyor belt), water table, fire truck, marshland, and tree house, we were most fascinated with the slide. The two-story, curvy, tunnel slide, which is now even slicker thanks to a little hashbrown grease.

On the way there, I stopped at McD's and got Max a hashbrown and John a chocolate milk. Luckily, John slammed the milk, but Max took his time with the hash brown and still had it in his hand when they discovered the slide. I wasn't sure whether to watch from the top or the bottom, so I opted for the sedentary choice and stayed downstairs. This option was enhanced by the fact that my friend Judy and her son, Sami, were right there flooding the crops at the water table.

First down the slide came one of my child's brown crocs. Then he kersplatted out of the tunnel. Next, a hash brown wrapper and a tiny piece of fried crumb rolled out, followed by Max's crocs, a little girl's headband, the remainder of the in-tact hashbrown, and finally Max himself. Then, they proceeded to do it a million more times (minus all of the aforementioned paraphrenalia). During this time I sat on a bench by the bottom of the slide, sipping my coffee and thinking wonderful thoughts about how all of that stair climbing was sure to guarantee me a 2-3 hour nap. Don't you just love those moments of parenting when you're sitting there watching your kid run himself ragged? That's what it's all about right there, folks.

In other news, we had him remove the stakes that surrounded the grass-growing area where the Potential Preschool Drowning Zone once was. Give the kid a croquet mallet and let him go to town. This kid is a workaholic. If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he'll say: A Worker Guy.

And finally, a note on language development: Though we still have problems with past tense (everything in the past happened either "last night" or "yesterday"), we mostly have our irregular verbs memorized and appropriate time signal phrases for the perfect tenses (since, ago, etc.).

Anywho ... For the past few weeks, his regular music teacher has been on vacation and he has had a sub. Since music class is a highlight of the week, I am always asking about what they learned, did they discuss rhythm or pitch or minor keys? And for the past few weeks all he has said was, "Ms. Roni wasn't there." So I've been asking about the name of the substitute and he's been saying that he doesn't know. This morning as we were preparing for school, I said, "Oooh ... today is music class day! I wonder if Ms. Roni will be back or if the other lady will be there ... what's her name?"

He replied, with annoyance, "You asked me that the other day, and I told you I don't remember!"

Touche! And side note: "the other day" indicates some unclear time in the past -- not "yesterday" or "last night," but "the other day"!!!!

Then, today, when I picked him up at school, the first thing he said was, "It's Ms. Allison."

I was like, "WHO? What? Who?"

"The music teacher, mom."

Oh. Yes, right.

We are already preparing a sign-up sheet for close family and friends to take a month at a time with him during his adolescence. I don't think I'll be able to survive it otherwise.

Onward, Upward, and Sideways ...