The bluebonnets on the hill near our house were slim this year. I can't be sure but I think it's because they mowed late, and cut off some of the blooms as they were growing. I drove by a week or so after my birthday and they were mowing. I just feel like that was too late.
These were last Wednesday, I think. The kids were not happy. They were both working on getting over being sick. I brought the bubble machine and sweet tarts. But it was so bright and sunny in the afternoon that smiles were hard to come by. I know better than to take afternoon pictures. But I had been inside since Friday. Long past stir crazy. And daddy was out of town.
Youngest there is really coming into his own. I remember why I loved this age so much, they just start becoming their own person and showing so much personality. He is very similar to how his brother was at the same age, but like a super charged version, because he has his big brother to show him how things are done.
Everything roars. Everything. We have these torpedo bath / pool toys. The torpedos roar at each other as they are crashed into each other. I like when he roars because he bends his knees and sticks his face into whatever it is he's roaring at and digs deep for the biggest roar he can muster.
He's still not a great napper. At this same age G would routinely do 2/3 hours plus. D is 60 to 90min, 2 hours on a good day. Mostly it's 90 min. I do not complain. He's tired by bedtime and sleeps well at night. He sleeps till about 7 if he's healthy, if he's not he's up at 6. I do not understand why this is, but it is.
He's experimenting with temper. Has been really for the last few months. He's dramatic and when he's mad there's no distracting him. I've started the whole,
you can be mad and scream in time out, but I will not listen to it, approach. It's fifty percent effective. He laughs at me when I tell him no, and I'm not sure how to handle. I just keep on keeping on. Consistency, right? That's all I got at this point.
He's a good eater but he's getting picky. Less likely to try new things and obsessed with peanut butter, just like his brother. I have to be careful about him developing the bad habits we've fallen into but there's only so much I can do. At the end of the day it's just a good thing everyone has eaten and is alive.
Oh the birthday fun. I wasn't going to have a party. I wanted to just take him somewhere fun during the week and invite some of his buddies. If we did a trampoline park I'd just pay the entry fee for everyone and call it a day. No invites, no gifts. But then the guest list became a problem. He wanted to have his school friends come (he's old enough to have such opinions). And I wanted him to be able to hang out with buddies his age.
And I couldn't just invite his best buddies from school. I needed to include everyone. Well then I'd be paying a lot of entry fees. And then there was his daddy, who would want to be included. And the siblings of all his friends, whom I refuse to exclude. Then it's cheaper to buy a bulk party package.
So the party was born. And it went quite well. It was just a bit more than I wanted to spend, and just a bit more than I would have spent had it been at my house. But it had one major thing going for it.
It wasn't at my house.
Oh the joy of not having to clean or prepare the serving dishes or cook or plan an activity for 10-15 active four year olds. It was magical.
And the kids had so much fun. The trampoline park is great because the jump parts are largely enclosed and there's benches for the parents to just watch the fun. The younger kids (D) require more attention obviously (and he had a run in with a 10yo that ruined his day) but for the most part it was easy enough. And like I said, the kids had a blast. I don't think they stopped jumping until they had to to eat cake. They all inhaled their pizza (even G ate some bites!) then inhaled their cake and then went back to jumping.
Naps were had by all.
It was so fun to see G playing with his school friends. They were all so nice and are such great kids. I love his school and his class this year. It's a wonderful group. I exchanged numbers with the parents and hope to see them this summer for more fun.
G got great gifts and when asked I said board games. Oh my gosh he got great games. We've played with two today (a chutes and ladders type game and a bingo game). He loves games. Loves them. So exciting to have them and to be able to watch his interests expand.
Comments