10/25/2016

The Tobin Times #62

Filed under: — Aprille @ 12:12 pm

My dear Tobin,

It’s fall for sure now, and you are a leaf enthusiast.  You and your dad are out raking leaves right now in preparation for the suck truck, and yesterday you spent some time gathering leaves into a pile for jumping.  I’m not sure if you actually jumped in them, because I was gone when you did it, and they were still in a pile last I checked.  You love to collect pretty leaves as we walk to get Miles from school, and you were so happy when your favorite tree in our yard turned yellow again that you went up and hugged it.

While your general personality is still cheerful and high-energy, you’ve had a few bouts of difficult-to-understand moodiness lately.  Sometimes we’ll all laugh at something funny you said, not at your expense but just because you’re cute, and you’ll get really angry.  You say you don’t like it when people laugh at you.  I’m very sorry we hurt your feelings.  We need to help you understand the difference between appreciative laughter and malicious laughter.  You’re a smart, witty, fun kid who deserves to thrive, and we want to support you in that.

You’ve taken an interest in reading, and you can now get through Hop on Pop pretty well all by yourself.  You’re extremely proud of this new development, and Callum knows that Hop on Pop is your special book.  He brought it to me today, and I thought he wanted me to read it to him.  No, he just said Toto!” and went on his way.

You’re growing a lot, and even though playground and soccer season is coming to an end, you and Miles have broken out the Charles Atlas book and have been doing calisthenics in your room.  Your squats are really more like arm swings at this point, but it’s pretty cute to watch you guys jump around in your underpants.  You’re starting another round of swim lessons this week, so that will be good for your long-term development and short-term energy burning.

Our recent mini-vacation to St. Louis was a big hit.  You went crazy for the City Museum, which was pretty much invented with you in mind.  You scrambled through tunnels, climbed ladders, and made a new friend in the ball pit.  You also loved the fact that your bedroom in our rental townhouse had its own wall-mounted TV.  That’s something we don’t do at home (not that you’re suffering from a scarcity of screen time), so it seemed pretty exotic to watch cartoons while lying in bed.

At the St. Louis Zoo, you especially loved the lions.  We got to touch the skin from a real lion’s head.  The lion had died of natural causes at an old age evidenced by the grey in its mane.  You stood for a long time and watched the skinny male lion and the robust female lion.  We learned from the zoo employee that their size difference is due to the fact that the male is so devoted to the female that he gives her almost all the food.  That reminded me a little of you—I can always count on you to share with Callum, often without me even having to ask.  You’re lion-like in a lot of ways.  I’m no astrology proponent, but I believe you’re a Leo, and you certainly have a glorious golden mane.  You can roar pretty loudly, too.

You have a tender little heart.  Recently we went out to eat at a long-time family favorite restaurant, Mekong.  As soon as we got there, we could tell something was different–they had changed the decor significantly, and the menu was one photocopied page instead of the usual folding book of Vietnamese, Thai, and other southeast Asian choices.  We learned that it had changed ownership, and while you and Miles still got to order your favorite beef and snow peas (which you said was good), my old favorite Vietnamese chicken with sweet basil was no longer available.  You got sad and grumpy during dinner, and I couldn’t figure out why, until finally I coaxed it out of you:  you were worried about me because I couldn’t have my special dish anymore.  Poor little guy.  I assured you that I’d try to learn to make it at home.  It will be a fun project for us to try to figure it out together.

Your current favorites:  Pokémon Go, the Hulk, Lara Bars, pumpkin bars, everything Halloween, trips to Costco, helping your dad rake leaves (and jumping in the piles), and squishing yourself into the little-kid seat on the double stroller.

Keep smiling, my little cub.  I love you like a lion loves a T-bone steak.

Love,

Mommy

 

10/14/2016

The Callum Chronicle #21

Filed under: — Aprille @ 2:12 pm

Dear Callum,

The will has emerged.  You’re still a nice little guy overall, but you’ve discovered the strength of your body and are learning to use it to enact your brain’s desires.  We switched you to a forward-facing car seat earlier this week, because you’ve been falling asleep on our drives to Kinderfarm, which ruins your afternoon nap.  I figured you’d be less likely to fall asleep sitting up and facing forward, and so far it’s been working pretty well.  At least if I see you starting to doze off in the rearview mirror, I can grab your ankle and wiggle it around to wake you up.  You get excited when I tell you it’s time to get into your big-boy car seat.  You call it khaki and you love it.

The downside is that if you happen not to be in the mood to get into it, it’s a lot harder to force you in than it used to be.  Today you really wanted to stay and play at Kinderfarm.  As I tried to put you in the car, you grabbed onto the door and wouldn’t let go.  Then when I finally managed to get you in, you arched your back and tried to climb out of your seat.  You probably could have done that with your rear-facing seat too, but for some reason, this new configuration has brought out the physical side of your protests.

Photo by Gary Clarke

We hadn’t switched you to that seat yet during our recent trip to St. Louis, which is good because you had a good nap in the car on the 4.5-hour drive.  You had a fever our first night there, but that didn’t stop you from having fun.  You especially loved the ramps at the City Museum and the fish at the zoo.  You also had a great time bopping along to live music we stumbled upon at a Mexican restaurant near our rental property.  You love to laugh at your big brothers, and they love to entertain you (most of the time).

We’re almost done with Tobin’s soccer season, which will bum you out because you love the playground at the park adjacent to his practice field.  It’s hard for me, because I really want to watch Tobin play during his games, but you mostly just want to go on the slides.  You recognize the word soccer and immediately reply with “‘lide!” when you hear it.  I try to divide my time between watching Tobin while he plays and taking you to the slide when he’s sitting out.  It won’t be long before you’re out there kicking the ball around, though hopefully you’ll have a little more focus than you do now.

I got out the Max from Where the Wild Things Are that Miles wore when he was your age, and I hope you have fun wearing it this year.  So far you haven’t wanted to keep the hat on, but maybe when you get the whole suit with the fluffy tail, you’ll see the value of the entire ensemble.  You’re probably going to want to go out trick-or-treating with your big brothers, though for the time being I strictly limit your candy consumption, as much for choking-prevention as anything.  You do a good job with the occasional Dum-dum lolly (which you ask for by name), but I don’t want you to know about the existence of Snickers yet.  When Miles was your age, Halloween was the first time he had any candy.  We had to convince him to try Smarties by telling him they tasted like children’s Claritin.  You require no such persuasion, since you’ve been pilfering your brothers’ parade spoils for months now.

It’s definitely candy season, so we’ve been working on brushing your teeth more consistently too.  Your brothers’ dentist said it was okay to put regular fluoridated toothpaste on your toothbrush, even if you can’t effectively spit and rinse, as long as it was only a tiny dab.  You love that, since it means using the same toothpaste as Miles and Tobin.  The tough part is getting you to let go of the toothbrush when we’re done.  Most of the time I’m too distracted with other bedtime tasks to get it away from you before you dash off to your next activity, and the brush ends up in the bottom of the Lego bucket or something.  So hygienic, I’m sure.

Your current favorites:  pepperoni pizza, chicken, rice, grapes, your board books (especially The Very Hungry Caterpillar, due to the presence of ice cream, This Little Chick, and Cat the Cat, What’s Your Sound?), saying bye and/or night-night to everyone in the family before bed, baths, saying thank you to the bakery employees at Hy-Vee after your free cookie, trying out new words, and dumping out all the toys your dad and I try to put away.  I think this drives your dad especially nuts, since he likes to tidy things up in a very organized fashion, and you have very little respect for that position.

The house is in chaos most of the time.  That’s the way it goes.

The cooler days are coming, my little guy.  Your big brothers have been requesting hot chocolate, and while I can still satisfy you with marshmallows for now, I know it won’t be long before you notice that they have something you don’t and you’re dumping cocoa all over your tray.

Photo by Denny

Let’s keep sliding together.

Love,

Mommy

 

 

 

10/13/2016

Monthly Miles Memo #105

Filed under: — Aprille @ 1:57 pm

Dear Miles,

As we press on through fall, you’ve stayed busy and mostly happy.  You love your teacher (Miss Lampe), you seem to have some good friends (notably Esmé and Andrew), and you’re excited for Halloween coming up.  I’ve been working hard on your costume, Odd Todd from the show Odd Squad.  Only a small subset of the population is going to understand it, but you don’t seem to care a bit.  It is a great gift to not care what others think, and I hope you can maintain that attitude.

You’re home sick from school today, suffering from one of the brief but intense fevers that have been ailing the short guys at our house over the last month.  All three of you guys had it a couple of weeks ago, and then Callum got it again during our first day and night on our mini-vacation.  We were confused by that—did he not actually have the same thing as you and Tobin during the first go-round?  It seems there’s another, similar bug, and it’s your turn for that one.  I know you don’t like missing school, and you especially don’t like missing your after-school 3D printing class, but you were definitely not feeling well today.

We desperately needed some supplies, including more children’s ibuprofen for your fever and aches, so you stayed home by yourself for the first time while the little guys and I ran to Hy-Vee.  You were all set up to text me if you had any problems, but everything was fine.  You said after we got back that you had forgotten we were gone.  I worried about you the whole time, of course, and checked my phone every three minutes.  It’s my job.

Though the weather may warm up again this weekend, we’ve had a dip into fall temperatures the last couple of days.  It’s time for the hooded sweatshirts and sleeping in something more substantial than a t-shirt and underpants.  You and Tobin had hot chocolate (with marshmallows AND whipped cream, because why not?) after our chilly walk home from school yesterday.  I’ll be sad when it gets too cold to walk, because we’ve enjoyed our walks home.  Often you stay at the school playground and get some play time in with your friend Hazel.  I’m happy with your new school schedule this year.  Last year, it was hard to have time to do any playing after school, but now that you’re done at 2:55, we can have some hangout time and still get home in time for you to practice piano and for me to get dinner going.

Despite Cal’s brief illness, we had a really good time on our trip to St. Louis.  We went to the City Museum, and it was one of the most interesting and unusual places I’ve ever been.  Every section was something completely different:  we started in simulated caves with rocks and ladders and tanks of fish.  Then we went to a more spacious area with ramps and half-pipes and swinging ropes, on which you and Tobin worked up quite a sweat.  Then you went down some slides (though you decided to skip the 10-story one, and I can’t say I blame you).  Then we went to the outside area, which had ball pits and real gutted airplanes to explore and miles of walkways.  I don’t think we saw everything, but we used up everyone’s energy, and I’m sure we’ll be back some day.

We did some other very fun things too, including the Science Museum and the zoo.  The first thing you wanted to see was the penguins, but they weren’t conveniently placed to see right away.  We went through and saw many different animals, including two rhinos who almost got into a fight, though they kept it verbal.  Finally, as we wound our way back to the exit, we came to the penguin cove.  You were so excited, and you loved seeing the many variety of penguins swimming and hopping around in their well-chilled habitat.  As you stood up against the glass watching them, one did a jump out of the water and landed with a big splash all over you.  You thought it was hilarious and a perfect way to end the day.

Our other favorite destination was Clementine’s Ice Cream, a cute little artisanal shop a short walk from our rented townhouse.  We went there twice, once on our own and once after having dinner with some friends.  You tried something new that I wasn’t sure you’d go for—coconut chocolate fudge vegan ice “cream.”  You liked it so much you got it both times. You also liked the fact that Lafayette Park, also very near our townhouse, had a lot of PokeStops.  I don’t know exactly what those are, but Pokémon Go occupies about 40% of your brain right now, and I guess PokeStops are good.

You’ve finally agreed to get a haircut, not because you believed your dad and me when we said your hair was getting ridiculous, but because it’s grown longer than Odd Todd’s and you want verisimilitude.  That’s my Miles.  You don’t care about anyone’s opinion, but you care about the truth.

By this time next month, we’ll have a president-elect.  I can only dearly hope that the nation continues its current trajectory of seeing Donald Trump for the bigoted, lying, cheating, sexual predator he is.  We talked a little bit about Trump’s recently surfaced comments bragging about sexually assaulting women.  I try to frequently reiterate in an age-appropriate way that you must never, ever touch someone who doesn’t want to be touched.  I don’t think Donald Trump’s parents ever told him that.  I don’t know if you care about my opinion, but since you care so much about the truth, I think you’ll believe me.

I love you, my dear Miles.  Keep your compass pointed truthward,

Love,

Mommy

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