Lex opened an ice cream shop yesterday, under the dining room table. He has about five flavors (they change daily) and recently started offering fruit salad as well. It’s all very delicious, and you only have to pay when you remind him to charge you. Before my WW meeting yesterday, at 8am, I had two ice cream cones. Delicious! Eve’s baby prefers double chocolate :)
Eve buying ice cream
Lex's ice cream shop - he likes the shop but doesn't like the camera :)
Lex won an argument (discussion, really) with me the other day. He is very smart. He has show and tell tomorrow at school and we’ve been talking for weeks about what to bring. He wants to bring his breakdown train and I want him to bring something other than a toy. He always brings toys and the teacher originally asked us to try and get them to vary it. He does vary each time (truck, train, etc.) but it’s usually still a toy. So without being pushy I’ve been trying to suggest things for him to bring that might be interesting to the class. I suggested his new microscope and he reminded me that that too is a toy. After a suggestion or two the other day I said, “Lex please don’t bring a toy again. Let’s try to think of something more interesting.” He said, “But my trains are interesting to me.” What can I say to that? So he’ll be bringing his breakdown train to school tomorrow and I’m sure he will do a great job telling the other kids about it. On their show and tell day they also get to do lots of other things, like check the weather, count the kids, lead the line, etc. They feel pretty special on those days. I LOVE that he gets excited for school.
Lex has requested to have two friends over for playdates during vacation. The first came over this morning and the next will be next week. He was so excited to see his friend and show her all of his toys. Her mom dropped her off and left, a first in our playdate world. She was chatty with Lex, but very quiet with the rest of us. It was cute. I had to nudge Lex a few times and remind him to play with his friend, but overall he was a great host.
Coloring together. The decided to share a chair, even though I arranged the chairs such that they both could reach the crayons.
Several days ago Lex decided to write a letter to Santa while waiting for his dinner. It was cute and I was excited. I made the mistake of having his dinner ready before the letter was done though and he hasn’t had any interest in finishing it. I held off posting this because I was hoping he’d finish the letter, but no luck. Oh well. He doesn’t seem that interested in mailing it either, so I’ll keep it and post it here for all the “Santas” out there reading the blog :)
Dear Santa...
| Dear Santa I want |
|
| • Trains | • Trains T(racks) |
| • Sled | |
| • Ball | |
| • Cars | |
| • Roads | |
We’ve worked so hard at helping Lex grow out of his shy, quiet (in public) shell and into a strong, confident little boy. I’m very proud of us, though also a bit saddened at times. School and daycare drop-offs now involve little more than a fleeting “good bye mom” before he’s off playing with his friends. Some days I even have to ask for a hug! Gone are the tears, the long, drawn out goodbyes, the powerful bear hugs, all replaced with a quick kiss and a sweet smile before he’s off on his own. I’m very proud of him and proud of the boy he’s become. I’m also proud that Alan and I have handled him so well, through the tears and tantrums, to help him discover his confident self and help him begin his formal education with ease. That said, some days I miss my tiny baby boy :) Lucky for me he is still full of hugs and cuddles at home. I dread the day he becomes too cool to hug mom!
Not sure if it’s clear from the video alone (or my silly title) but this is a train (monorail, to be specific) made out of Legos. Lex was very excited. It has two base cars (chassis?) and then you can build them to look like anything you want.
Lex went back to school today after being out sick for most of last week. He probably could have gone back Friday, but I decided to keep him home and let him fully recover before going back. He’s mostly recovered now, still has a runny nose, though that will probably last all winter :(
Over the weekend he made a K’Nex car (he makes LOTS of them!) and told me that the wheels of this particular car could kill any bad guys that got too close to it. I was a little surprised by this since he’s never made a killing machine before. I asked him if he knew what “kill” meant and he said no. He also said he got the idea for the car from a book we borrowed from the library (bad mommy for not better vetting the library books!) The book talks about robbers who steal from carriages. They carry a pepper sprayer to stop the horses, an ax to break the carriage wheels, and a blunderbuss to frighten the passengers. The book doesn’t talk about killing, but apparently he deduced that. As much as I hate that he’s thinking about such things I know it’s bound to happen sometime and I tried to take the opportunity to talk about killing and death. Yuck. Then he changed the car to have wheels that “capture bad guys and bring them to the police.” :) He’s still such a baby! Or not.
Tonight he made a K’Nex gun! Eeek!! It was a “fire sprayer gun” and he started shooting it at Eve. Needless to say I put a halt to that!! We had another conversation about death and killing and I told him that he can make guns, but he may not point them at people. Ever. Ever. He argued that it’s just a K’Nex toy really and I held my ground. I told him that he can make guns and not point them at people, or he can choose to not make guns. He threw his toy at me. We had a rough night. Sigh. I think back to school took it out of him! Fortunately bedtime was smooth and quick. Maybe he’ll wake up a little boy again and not be interested in guns for another million years! Or not.
Lex has had an artistic burst lately and now spends lots of time sitting at the table drawing pictures. Usually his pictures are just lots of color on a page, but occasionally he actually make something, like a porcupine.
A porcupine with a blue head, black tail, and lots of legs.
He also knows where we keep the tape and proudly hangs up each drawing when he’s finished with it. Our walls are covered with Lex art :)
Our own personal art gallery
Lex eagerly awaits the go-ahead to eat the cupcakes.
Lex is so sweet. Here are a few things that make me smile.
At bedtime tonight I was laying with him and he started rubbing my eyebrows, back and forth. Weird. I asked what he was doing and he said, “Rubbing your eyebrows. Mom, they are so soft!”
After crossing off a few days on his calendar, Lex walked into the kitchen and said, “Mom, I’m sorry my writing is so wobbly.” So cute. Alan says that is from a Winnie the Pooh book. Lex has told me several times that his writing is too wobbly. I keep telling him to just keep practicing.
Also at bedtime tonight I was laying with him and after a few minutes he asked if I wanted to get under the covers. I said no thank you. Several minutes, and much coughing (we both have serious coughs lately!), Lex said “Mom, you really should get under the covers to keep your chest warm.” I tell him regularly to zip up his sweatshirt to keep his chest warm to help his cough get better. So cute to hear him echoing back, and being so concerned.
I love him!!