Indoor fun at the cottage

Beck's first game of tennis with Grandma Joanie

Feeding the camel at the Fair

NYS Fair 2014

 Riding the "city bus" on the way to the Fair. You can see the trepidation in Beck's face.

Eating cotton candy, the big food hit of the day.

The boys found an antique "rat" car which shockingly did not have a DO NOT TOUCH sign on it. My boys touched the heck out of it, climbing in and out and opening and closing the doors and pulling all the levers.

Another great visit to the Solvay fire department-Fair outpost. We lucked out with a very friendly lady firefighter who the boys instantly liked and let pick them up and put them in the rig.

The boys were fascinated by the dairy birthing center. I couldn't get a great picture but there was a lot of intense eye contact between them and one particular cow in labor.

Their first midway ride.

The tractor area was kind of a bust. The machines were authentic and cool but way way too heavy for them to move around themselves. We had to push them around to get the pedals to move.

Enjoying funnel cake on the lawn with Grandpa Stu.

Eudora Farms petting zoo was the hit of the fair.

Cool train conductor hats we got from our train tour.

Dancing on the railroad tracks, after watching a railroad safety video which advocated NOT doing that.

Waiting for the tram ride, which never came.

Doctoring

In preparation for their three year pediatrician check up, the boys have amped up their schedule of doctoring us and each other. At their appointment, we learned that Theo's at the 17th percentile for height, and Beckett is at the 40th. Both are around the 50th percentile for BMI. No shots this visit, which I think was a little disappointing (in theory) for the boys.

Not sure what a blood pressure cuff can do in one's butt, but it's the thought that counts.

Also, not sure how a sprayer fits into their doctor schema, but it was a critical part of Theo's doctoring.

Photo roundup

Aunt Teddy reading with the boys last weekend




























Late summer ice cream run tonight at our local Gannons

Theo reading in the new, turned-around (finally) car seats

Debatable Parenting

Hard to believe this is the first post with that title. Yesterday we had a lovely visit with friend Stacey and her daughter Aria (2.5 years) and new baby Jude (3 weeks). Aria and the boys had just about the most successful play date you can ask for, in that no one was injured, the only crying/whining was the everyday crying/whining that would have occurred with or without the friend present, and the kids seemed to enjoy each other's company and played together rather than only parallel. So that was actually pretty stellar parenting, or rather, sitting around and talking about babies while the toddlers played amongst themselves.

The afternoon, however, entailed having the boys help with work around the house. Great, right? We went up to the attic to do some filing in the filing cabinet, and then I found a bunch of stuff that could be recycled, and some stuff that could be shredded. So I taught the boys how to shred! What's the worst that could happen, right? They did a great job and totally wrecked the pile of paper. So that turned out great, definitely better than it could have.

Then we went to Santaro park, one of the ones pretty close to our house, that has a great playground and a huge paved, fenced-in area where they can ride their bikes. Theo climbed up the rock climbing wall and was reaching for the top when a boy at the top came up to the railing and refused to let Theo by. Theo was whimpering and I told him to ask the boy to move. The boy grinned and said he wasn't going to move. Theo asked again. The boy again grinned and refused. Then I said "You're going to move away from that doorway or I'm going to climb up there and make you move, and you're not going to like it." He moved so Theo could get by, but then gave him another hard time when Theo tried to go down the slide. Luckily his mom came over and distracted him so Theo was able to get down and then left that structure.

Then the boys had several interactions with another little boy maybe 5 or 6 years old, who upon meeting them almost immediately pushed both of them in the chest and belly, and poked them in the eyes at their sunglasses. Both ran over to me near tears and I restrained myself from slapping this kid off the play structure and told the boys to look at him and tell him not to hurt them anymore, or to play somewhere else. They went back and said something to him and then played by themselves for a while. Then we were going to leave but the boys saw him again, this time biking in the paved area, and he invited them to come bike with him. Once we were back inside with their bikes, he ran into each of them once or twice, and generally was being a jerk. Meanwhile his mom was sitting nearby and kind of smiling at her son. The boys again came over to me near tears and said some variation of "he's being mean." Again, I restrained myself from picking this kid up by his throat and shoving him against the chain link fence. I told Theo and Beckett they could bike somewhere else, and told them they could tell him to leave them alone. They started biking away from him, and stayed away. The other (older) kids who had already been biking/scootering in the area were avoiding him too. Then the rotten kid came over to me and whined, "No one is playing with me. Someone has to play with me." I said, "No, no one has to play with you." He said "Someone has to be my friend." I said, "No, no one has to be your friend. If you're being mean to other kids, no one will want to play with you or be your friend." He paused for a moment, and said, "I'll be nice! I'll be nice!" So he raced after T&B and said, "I'll be nice!" They seemed to accept that, and biked around with him for a while. In all, it was one of the most stressful experiences I've had in recent memory. I was literally flexing my hands repeatedly, trying to remind myself why I was not going to go over there and slap this kid upside the head. I think it was the right thing to do to keep from intervening myself (except in the climbing situation, when I was afraid for Theo's safety because of how high up he was) and encouraging the boys to advocate for themselves. But man, I was definitely looking into the future of watching the boys struggle and doing my best to give them the tools to protect and defend themselves rather than rushing in to rescue them, and realizing how difficult that is going to be....

We had a great visit with Auntie Alexis Friday morning at the awesome Belle Sherman playground. Theo and Beckett are getting more and more adventurous climbing on all the awesome structures there!

 We also had a great time with Aunt Teddy and Uncle Tom, who visited at the lake over the weekend. They brought a very cool puzzle game that the boys loved.

 Uh-oh, Grandpa Stu is about to sit on Theo!

Blueberry picking at our favorite spot, Glenhaven Farms in Trumansburg.

By the end, the boys had lost interest in the picking (eating) of blueberries and had decided to start "fishing" for blueberries. Not very successfully, surprisingly.

Endless summer swimming

Of course, the summer will end at some point but until then we're enjoying every ray of sunshine. This summer has been so much more fun than previous summers with the boys, because there's so much more they enjoy doing outside than there used to be. Grandma Joanie and I have taken them to the Burnet Park pool, near our house, for swimming in a gorgeous public pool. We went last week and the boys jumped in over and over, then practiced pushing off the wall and gliding to me in the pool. They are getting braver and braver all the time! At the lake this weekend they again practiced jumping off the dock into our arms, and kayaked along with us. They also like to walk around in the shallow part of the lake (with their life jackets on), exploring on their own. This past Monday we went to Green Lakes in the afternoon after naps. Theo chased seagulls on the crowded beach for about 30 minutes while Beckett drove his bulldozer and loaded up his dump truck with sand. Both boys loved running into the water from the sand until they collapsed in the water and crawled along with their hands and knees. The pond west of us, Gillie Lake, has closed for the season, but Green Lakes is open until at least Labor Day and the Burnet Park pool is open for another week or two, so we'll keep on swimming as long as we can! And maybe we'll consider swim lessons this fall/winter in one of the city programs.

Theo's random thoughts

I can't believe I forgot to post about this.

Text message from Mindy
Wednesday, March 26, 9:17am

Theo's random thoughts... "Beckett is here a lot. And I don't want him to. I want him to go somewhere. Yeah."

Indoor tenting

Possibly inspired by a Daniel Tiger episode (PBS Kids), the boys have been getting renewed use out of a sunshade tent given to them by Auntie Alexis many moons ago.