Daily Luke

Soccer Star

Lucas just wrapped up his fall session of soccer, and loved every minute of it.

This was the first season that he’d wear the shin guards and cleats — and not only wear them, but wear them proudly.  Notice above how he stops his socks about half way down his shin – that’s to show off the super cool shin guards underneath.

Interestingly, he’s gotten to be quite good.  He knows how to control the ball, use his body to block others from snagging his ball and is pretty quick in running down the field towards the goal.

His teachers have been stopping me at daycare pick up to say that they played soccer during the day and “did you know that Lucas is really, really good at this?” And, he went to a party at the YMCA this past weekend where they played soccer and the referee named him MVP and asked everyone to clap for him.  He had no idea what MVP meant, but was quite pleased with the clapping.

Ben of the Day

Ben is finally starting to like his balance bike. He calls it “my new bike” since he received it for his birthday — even though he refused to even sit on it for the three months after he got it!

He still doesn’t totally understand the “put your butt on the seat” aspect of the bike, preferring instead to plant his tush on the green bar.  But he is thrilled to ride his bike when the bigger kids are pulling theirs out.  Thus far, he’s traveled about ten feet on it before shouting “all done my new bike” and hopping off and demanding to be carried.

Some Videos

Some of my favorite videos lately:

First, I could watch this one endlessly, forever and ever, amen.

Then, a recent favorite from a trip to Sesame Place.  During the Halloween celebration, they feature a DJ dance party with Bert and Ernie in one of the drained pools.  Lucas was really feeling the beat.

Here’s Ben playing one evening — as always, all playing in our house looks closely like the “before” footage of an accident waiting to happen.  Note the excellent counting skills.  He’s actually quite a good counter, but while playing creatively he prefers to re-order the numbers.

A Disney Scavenger Hunt

We are heading back to Disney in a few weeks, and finally shared the big news with the kids via a scavenger hunt through our house.  I made up (or borrowed) a bunch of little rhymes, and at each stop they found a new shirt that they can wear on our trip.

We kicked it off by ringing the doorbell, and letting them run to the door.  I told them that I saw a sprinkling of pixie dust fly by as I was walking to the door.  When they opened it, the first clue was taped to the door.

It went like this:
CLUE ONE: Here’s the first of many clues.
It’s a scavenger hunt and you can’t lose.
Start by looking where you snooze.
ANSWER: Ben’s crib
CLUE TWO: Lovey here, lovey there.
Lovey’s hiding the next clue by your underwear.

CLUE THREE: There’s something special at the end.
Keep your eyes peeled around every bend.
Head out the door and down the hall.
Your next clue is where we could make a call.
ANSWER: Dad’s bedside table
CLUE FOUR: Now go downstairs, the both of you.
Your next clue is heading in a shoe.

CLUE FOUR: The next sneaky clue might make you think.
It’s sitting in the bathroom sink!

CLUE FIVE: You are getting near. The ends not far.
Go outside and look in the car.
ANSWER: Inside the trunk of Mommy’s car
CLUE SIX: A suitcase means a trip is soon!
So look inside where you’d find a spoon.
ANSWER: The silverware drawer
CLUE SEVEN: Quick, back upstairs.
It’s almost time. I do declare.
One more clue, it’ll be there for you.
Check where we keep the shampoo.
ANSWER: The shower in Mom and Dad’s bathroom

CLUE EIGHT: Goofy says Garwsh. Pluto says woof.
Mickey says hot dog! We will say poof.
In two weeks time, we will head out.
Open this box and find out what it’s all about.

The kids were elated, and even better, appreciative.  Lucas immediately said, “Did you do all this mommy?  Thank you so much.”

 

Halloween Mirth: Part 3

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Halloween Mirth: Part 2

Without fail, the Halloween parade at school is, by far, my favorite event.  The kids stumble out of the school into a parking lot of gaping parents.  The little ones look utterly confused – half begin crying and the other half stand frozen unsure of what to do.  The older kids stream out much quicker – most waving like they are on a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

The whole thing falls apart about half way around the parade route as kids spot their parents and refuse to return to their march.  Teachers end up with one or two wailing kids under their arms, and parents try to shoo their little one back into the crowd.

It’s always a good show.

Halloween Mirth: Part One

Carving pumpkins with toddlers — eight hours of begging and insisting that they are just dying to carve pumpkins quickly transforms into ten minutes of assisting while Mommy labors for more than an hour of pumpkin carving.  Or, in Ben’s case, twelve seconds of helping because “ewww, dis yucky.  Is wet.  Yucky.  All done.”

Losing.

This week, I’ve been losing.

Losing my mind. Losing my cool. Losing my patience.  Generally, losing at life and at being a good person.

I’ve been tired, frustrated and bent out of shape.  I’ve been unreasonable.  If we’ve talked this week, I’ve probably yelled at you, or at least snapped. I’m sure I yawned mid-conversation. If we’ve texted, I’m quite sure mine were riddled with typos, because this was a week where every iota of my energy, thoughts, and efforts where shuttled somewhere other than maintaining any sense of decorum.

I can’t even bring myself to type the reason why, because it’s all I’ve thought about for four days.  I’ll link it for those curious, and then I’ll say a prayer that it is only every curiosity for you and never reality. I’ll also happily, loudly and gratefully say that it was insanely minor… and over. OVER.  Over, never to come back again to my house because otherwise I will burn it to the ground. And, that it only impacted one of us. NOT ME.  Someone who’s name rhymes with “pa-doucas” and goes to pre-school.

Oh and also, my tire exploded last night when I left the office.  And I got to sit on the side of the road for nearly three hours waiting for roadside assistance, because of course I did.

But guess what, this week is OVER.  And tomorrow is Saturday and I’ve decided that my personal pity party expires at 5pm today.

So see ya on the flip side, where I’ll surely be a much nicer person.

 

Daddy’s Birthday

37 looks awfully good on the big guy, and we were happy to celebrate him tonight.

The boys agonized over his birthday presents at our annual jaunt to the dollar store.  They both had two dollars to spend and many things were picked up and discarded in the long process of narrowing in on exactly the right gift.

Lucas ended up with a pack of four blue glow necklaces.  This was an easy pick for him – he grabbed it straight away and never wavered.  After all, blue is Daddy’s favorite color.  Lucas is four.  There are four people in our immediate family.  It was perfection.  His second present took a bit more time.  He flirted with the idea of a pumpkin statue, carried a plastic ball and bat around for quite some time, debated over bags of candy, but ended up with a batman keychain.

Ben also nabbed his first present quickly – an oversized pen with Mickey and friends on it.  I’m fairly sure he thought it was some kind of weapon – either a gun or a sword – as he kept pointing it at fellow shoppers and making “bang bang” sounds.  None the less, his second present also proved illusive.  For quite some time, it seemed he had settled on a tiny haunted mansion decoration, then it was a Jake and the Neverland Pirates tamborine, and finally a plush doll (much to Lucas’ horror)… but he finally decided on a holiday snow globe with an owl inside.

My favorite part of their presents, however, was the cards.  They both worked for almost forty five minutes to create their masterpieces.  And I’m not sure anything says “you are aging well, Daddy” quite like this portrait.

Happy birthday, my dearest.  We adore you.