Talents

"Wook, Mom. I got two binkies!" This reminds me of a picture of my brother Brian at about the same age with two bottles in his mouth. James is quite talented. We're very proud.

Flashing

The past couple of weeks have been difficult, potty training weeks and I needed to take a break from posting. I really just didn't have it in me to think about it. Sometimes you just need to forget about things that have happened. Especially things that involve poop.

Anyway, James has had at least one shower everyday this week. (Some things can't be cleaned up with wipes alone.) He likes to shower and is getting pretty good at turning the water off when he's done and getting dried off. (Gramma Lisa made him an awesome hooded towel out of a Hawaiian beach towel.) So, he wraps up in his towel and heads down the hall. But on the way to his room, he's always sure to stop and find the girls, at which point he says, "Hey greels . . ." then opens his towel and totally flashes them. They always scream and he always laughs. It's so predictable. I thought it was just a boys vs. girls kind of thing, but he even flashed Torsten and Simon yesterday and they obliged him with a scream, too. James laughed like he always does. So, I guess it's more of a James vs. world kind of thing.

Wii Dazort

I'm going to preface this by saying that Mike and I are either the coolest parents ever or the stupidest. Maybe the two go hand in hand. We bought wii sports resort this week. We were at Costco and the kids hadn't even noticed it. Mike pointed it out to me and I told him to put it in the cart. Just like that. I didn't even consider the repercussions of such a purchase.

Anyway, we only thought James was wii obsessed before. He's taken his obsession to a whole other level now. The first night after we got wii sports resort, James woke up several times during the night, mumbling things like, "It's my turn now. I wanna play wii. I'n gonna win." Then, the moment he woke up in the morning, he said, "Mom, I play wii dazort." Me: "Do you want some breakfast? Are you hungry?" James: "NO! I just nee a play wii dazort." Spoken like a true addict. Needless to say, we've put in some hours on the wii this week. James even peed on the floor because he was too busy playing to use the bathroom.

In an effort to give the wii a rest for awhile, we went on a day trip to Seattle on Thursday. First stop was the aquarium (our membership expires at the end of the month) and then we planned to go to EMP to see the Jim Henson exhibit (admission to EMP is free every first Thursday of the month from 5-8pm). During the interim, we walked to Westlake to eat and catch the monorail to Seattle Center. It was only 4:30pm when we got to Seattle Center, and being the coolest mom that I am, I let the kids go on the scary carny rides that are perpetually parked at Seattle Center. I was feeling like they were severly overpriced, but then James let out a belly laugh so funny on the airplane ride that it was worth every penny. So, then we were off to EMP right at 5pm. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who had that bright idea, though. There were about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 people in line to see the Jim Henson exhibit. Lucky for us we were toward the front of the line and only had to wait about 15 minutes. So, we went, we saw, and we left. The best part of the day was seeing Jim Henson's original pencil sketches (on lined notebook paper) of Bert & Ernie and Big Bird. The ironic part of the day was that our "free" day cost us $90 by the time we paid for parking, ferry, lunch, monorail, rides, etc. The worst part of the day was me carrying James all over Seattle. "I'n big, Mom! I don't nee a stroller." Why did I believe him? Then the whole walk back to the ferry, James kept asking, "Where's da Muppets? Where's da Muppets? I can't see dem." Me: "They're at EMP. We're going on the ferry to go home." James: "We're going home a play wii dazort? WOO!"

The rest of the weekend was one big blur of wii resort. This afternoon, I was playing sword fighting with him, which is fencing on a platform in a large body of water, and James said, "I'n gonna get you wet sucka!" Then tonight, on the way home from Gramma and Grampa's house, James had wii on the brain. "I wike a play wii dazort, Mom." Me: "It's late and it's time to go to bed when we get home." James: "I don't wike a go to bed. I wike wii dazort. I don't wike scary in my room. My ta-to head is scary under my cwose." I guess he made a scary face on his potato head and hid it under a pile of clothes in his room. I think he was just trying to come up with any excuse he could to play more wii resort. Do they have 12 step programs for 3-year-old boy wii addicts? "Hi, my name is James, and I'm a wii-aholic."

Pocket-bowl for Breakfast

I'm drawing a blank on any stand alone stories for this week. There was really just a string of mildly amusing moments all week.

It been really hot this week and James has been eating popsicles for breakfast. Seriously, he gets up, walks down the hall and while still groggy eyed, says, "I nee a pocket-bowl." So, then he sits on the deck in his jammies and starts the day with a popsicle. I think he might be on to something.

While wii bowling with James: "I'n beating you, Mom." And, "I got a pro ball. You don't got a pro ball." And, "Not wike dat, Mom," after I didn't pick up the spare. "Do it wike dis," then James threw a strike. A turkey no less. Yes, we all know that James is an infinitely better wii bowler than I am. And, yes, I repeatedly get my butt kicked by a 3-year-old. And, yes, he likes to rub it in. But, just remember James, I'm the one who's tall enough to reach the wii to turn it on.

James got the hose again at Gramma's house today. But he was all about equal opportunity this time and sprayed himself along with Simon. Then, they came in the house and James announced in a Ta Da sort of way, "We're wet!" He was so proud.

There was a fair amount of skinny dipping again this week. The boy has no shame. I brought out his swim trunks and told him to put them on and he said, "Oooh. My swim trunks? I wear my swim trunks a swimmin'?" A novel concept, I know.

Also, everything was all about Aunt Jen this week. Everytime he saw their car, "It's Jen!" Everytime he thought about Jen, "Mom, Jen's gonna pick me up?" Me: "No, not right now." James: "YES, she is!! Jen's gonna pick me up." Then one time I said, "You love Jen, don't you?" and James looked down with his shy smile and nodded a few times. He's a sucker for that Aunt Jen. Even after she had to put him on time out several times for the repeat offense of sand throwing at the beach (see jroblogs@blogspot.com). The third time he got a time out, he just said, "Oh, man," and went and sat down. At least the boy knows when he's beat. Jen's definitely a pack leader. And she totally rocks for taking the girls and James to the beach with them on Monday. Not just anyone volunteers to take James off my hands for an entire afternnoon. And when I say, not just anyone, I mean not anyone. Thanks Jen.

Skinny Dipping

James's bff, Gabe, came over this afternoon and they promptly ran out to the back yard. When I went to check on them, I found that they had filled up the wading pool with the hose and stripped off all their clothes. James, pointing to himself with both hands, exclaimed, "Mom, I go swimmin' wike dis!"

Boys.

Whaling Days Parade

Just as Analise and I were on our way out the door this morning, James insisted he join us in the Whaling Days parade. (This is the third year that we have been in it with our Montessori group.) He came last year, but in the stroller. This year he said he could walk. So, we rushed out. We parked in the Target parking lot and started to make our way through all the other parade entries. James really liked these cars. He's a Pixar nut.























I was busy taking pictures while Analise was busy NOT holding James' hand and he bit it on the sidewalk. (Okay, so in all fairness, she did hold his hand for a brief moment. At least there's photographic evidence of it.) Lucky for us, there were EMT's on bikes and we scored some free band-aids. ('Cause I am not a prepared mother and I never have band -aids in my purse.)






















We were in line (in the HOT sun) waiting for about 45 minutes and by the time the parade actually started, James was melting. "I nee a drink, Mom." (Remember how I'm not prepared? Yeah, I didn't have any water.) James, pointing at Arby's: "Right dare, Mom. Dare's drink right dare, Mom." (Nevermind that we were on the parade route by then.) Me: "I know it's hot. We just have to finish the parade, it's not very long, and then we'll get a drink." Yeah, the parade really isn't that long, but the walk back IS and up a hill. Well, we finally made it back to the Target parking lot and went inside to get Icees. We usually get a small icee and a popcorn to share when we go to Target. Oh, no. Not today. We got three LARGE icees, hold the popcorn. James, when he saw the size of the cup: "You get me a big one, Mom? Oh, ho! It's a bigger, BIGGER one! I nee blueberry, Mom!" I know you do, James. How else does one procure a blue tongue?

Oh man! It's empty.

We went grocery shopping yesterday:
James: "Mom, I wan gummy bay-ers."
Me: "Um, not this time. You have to be good to get a treat and you just hit Genevieve."
James: "Oh man!"
. . . later
James: "I nee mini charms." (That's James for Lucky Charms)
Me: "We're getting Kix and Cheerios."
James: "Oh man!"

Just now (it's 9:20pm), James brought me a box of penne pasta. "I wike dis kine Mom. I wan hab some."
Me: "It's time for bed. We can have it tomorrow for dinner."
James: "Oh man!"

"Oh man" is a very useful phrase for a 3-year-old boy.

Also, James has been potty training this week. I've been trying to send him to the bathroom about ever half hour. I try to use my most excited voice, like it's a really fun thing to do.
Me: "James! (These are excited and eager exclamation points!) Go potty! Hurry!"
He's usually in the middle of playing legos, or lincoln logs, or cars, or digging in the dirt, or watching tv, or playing wii, or any number of things that are actually more exciting than going to the bathroom.
James: "Oh man!"

About 9 times out of 10, James produces some pee when I make him sit on the toilet. But when you go every half hour, you're bound to run out of pee sometime. When that happens, he says, "It's empty."

He hasn't gone #2 on the toilet yet. Baby steps. I thought he was close to going the other day, though, so I had to entertain him while he sat and waited ever so patiently on the toilet seat. We made a short movie of him demonstrating how to do "shaka". (Papa Dean taught him "shaka" a few weeks ago. He's been practicing.) James also insisted on taking off his shirt for the movie. Apparently, he's a bit of an exhibitionist. Don't worry, though, no little boy parts were exposed in the making of this movie.