Risk-taker!

My boys are exceptionally good eaters. Fruits, veggies, nuts, tofu, grains, beans...they're a commercial for healthy living. Jack is starting to get a wee bit pickier (picking the spinach shreds off of the tofu) but tonight he crammed down the veggie chili and I'm sure he'll come back around to the good side.

Nate is no trouble at all. None. He dislikes avocado (which he calls wacka-moley) and olives. And sometimes egg yolks, though he can do serious damage to a plate of deviled eggs (like Mama, like son). He did eat avocado in some sushi once, and liked it, but has been adament in his dislike ever since. Picks it out of sushi, refuses to have anything to do with it. It's such a healthy, fabulous food that it kills me that he hates it, but such is life.

I've written in the past about my worry about Nate; that he doesn't like to take real risks, that he plays life a little too safe for my tastes. I try really hard to embrace who my childrean ARE, not who I want them to be, and I think I'm pretty successful for the most part. But we all have dreams for our kids, and being an accountant or lawyer is not my dream for my boys. I'll obviously support them whatever they love, but...

So tonight I'm laying out dinner: bowls of brown rice and veggie chili, with bowls of shredded lettuce, vegan cheese, and guacamole for toppings. While I was organizing everything, Nate asked me if he could take a "teeny bite" of the "wacka-moley." I froze in my tracks where he couldn't see me, and squeaked out "Um, of course!" I hear the spoon, and I hear him say "yick" and then I hear him yell "I'm a risk taker!" My heart. There was praising. There was talking about "This is what life is all about, trying new things, being a risk-taker." There was Mama-smooching. There was Natey-squirming. There were shy, prideful smiles.

At dinner, he asked me to put half a spoon of guacamole on his chili, and we mixed it all up. He ate it all. Then he took a spoon and asked if he could eat out of the bowl of guacamole. Um, HELL yes. So he did, and told Daddy "I'm a wacka-moley risk taker."

Nate, tonight you made me so happy. You're on your way.

Storytelling

I am one of the least creative people on earth. Give me a blank canvas and the best paints in the world and I will draw you a wobbly rainbow, pretty much every single time. I have no creative impulsive, no spirit begging to be let out. But even so, it is remarkably easy to make up a bedtime story that will make Nate happy.

Formula:

Starring role of a boy named Nate + adventure involving dinosaurs, Bakugans, or (newly) Bayblades + beating bullies = Nate wins!

Tonight's story was Nate and a group of 3 of his friends (Sophia, Leo, and Calio (Ca-leo? No idea. Friend from school). Each of them has a bayblade with special powers; Nate's has Unicorn Power (spikes pop out all over the sides), Sophia's has Golden Sunrise power (fire around the edge), Leo's has Laughter Power (shoots out a force field), and Calio's has...I can't remember. Something wicked awesome though.

So the bullies won't let them play at the playground and they BATTLE and Nate's team wins and everyone is awesome. This is the first story that actually caused Nate to break into applause. Proud moment.

Then Nate decides to tell ME a Bayblade story. He thinks for a minute and warns me that it's going to be reallys similar to my story, which is, of course, cool with me. He asks me who my 3 friends should be; we agree on Dave, Beth, and Emily.

And he begins, and he had me from hello. My Bayblade SHOOTS babies out. Awesome. He asks me what Beth does, and I mention that she just had twins so he says that her Bayblade has TWIN POWER that shoots TWO babies out and they have milk in their mouths and I suggest it's sour milk and he likes that and that's Beth's Bayblade power. He asks about Dave, and I remind him that he's a vegan and suggest TOFU POWER and Nate runs with it and he has SPICY tofu power and we WON'T GIVE THE BAD GUYS ANY WATER! Evil. Emily is really nice but her Bayblade says really mean words like "You're stupid! You're an idiot!" and it makes the other Bayblades infected with bad words and then it kills them.

Best story ever.

This sums it up

It happens over and over, just the same way, and I think it totally sums up the difference in personality between my two boys:

We almost always shop at Trader Joes, where they often give each kid a strip of stickers when they leave. The second the strip hits Jack's hands, he immediately starts peeling them off and putting them all over himself. (Please note in the picture that Jack is still sitting in the cart; we haven't even gotten to the car yet.)

Nate takes his strip, admires it, and then keeps it. Forever. He never uses a single one. Weeks later I find the strip and surruptitiously toss it in the trash (he never notices). It's a little sad, honestly, I wish he'd just use them and have fun with them. But then I think of my childhood sticker-books, collections of stickers all untouched and perfect and NOT peeled off, safely stored forever, and I understand his wanting to keep them fresh and perfect. Still a little sad though. (Please note in the picture that we're home, sitting outisde our house in the car.)



I wouldn't change either of them. They're totally perfect just the way they are. Mostly. :-)

Sex on the Brain

It finally happened, just when I had given up wondering when it would happen.

Nate knows that the girls have an egg, and the boys have a seed, and never once has he thought to be curious about how those jive cats get together in the first place. I was expecting it at 3, and at 4, and had finally quit expecting it when I was blindsided driving to a Chinese banquet a few Fridays ago.

I'm making a thing out of it, but in truth the question was uttered quite simply, and telling him was far less of a thing than I had expected it would be. He already knew that boys have a penis, and girls a vagina (which I've explained as an inside-out penis, a tunnel kinda-like), so I just explained the obvious points and that was that. I think I remember saying something about "rubbing against" and the seed coming out but it is kind of a blur.

He was totally non-plussed. He thought about it for a while, and then asked "So you did that?" and I said "yup!" and he said "With Daddy?" and I said "yup!" and we kept on driving. He thought again for a while, and then asked what was clearly most confusing him: "How do you know when to do it?" After resisiting saying "Oh you'll know" I explained that when you were older, mostly grown-up, and had a girlfriend or a wife or a boyfriend or a husband, you'd talk about it and decide you were both ready to do it. That it felt good and was fun, and a thing that people loved did together - sometimes to have a baby and sometimes not. He was still worried about knowing when to do it, I have this picture that he's worried he's going to be at school and all of a sudden it'll just be happening to him and how weird would that be? So I put it in a bit of context by saying that it would be around when he started driving that he'd start to think about doing it, that he didn't need to think about it until then, and that seemed to reassure him.

All in all, it went swimmingly. He hasn't asked about it since or brought it up in strange company or told his friends all about it, so that's lovely. A lovely boy, my Natey.

Bits and pieces

Little sayings I want to remember:

When I take Jack to the bathroom (he's 95% trained now) I usually ask him if he wants to stand up like Daddy (it's too cute!), and he usually emphatically tells me "No, I want to stand down!"



Jack is full of sweetness and light and always tries to find nice things to say to me. If I tell him "You are such a sweet boy" he responds with "You're such a sweet Mama!" If I tell him "I love you so much" he says "I love you so much too!" And as he gets older he's starting to initiate these love-fests, telling me "You are so cute!" and his biggest compliment: "You are so huuuge Mama!" Thanks buddy.

Yesterday, driving home from picking the boys up at G&Gs, Stewart and I were mock-fighting in the front, making Nate laugh. And out of nowhere Jack pipes up: "Both of you...settle down!" We had to have him repeat it over and over just to make sure that's what he really said. It was, and it was fabulous.

I may have blogged this already, but months and months ago Nate and I were having a little verbal spar (fun, not fighting) and he blurts out "The more you talk, the more you're wrong!" Touche.



Jack still says that blowing on things to cool them down is "blowing it up." So the other night, at dinner, he says "I'm gonna blow it up, Mama, because it's hot." Jack works "Mama" or "Mommy" into almost every sentence and I love love love it. "Thank you, Mama" and "you're welcome Mommy!" and "I love you too Mama!" and it's so amazing. He's so amazing. He's like some cliche baby with all of the hugs and kisses and sweet words and squeaky little voice and shaking his booty to the music.

At his 3-year checkup he pediatrician asked if Jack was showing empathy and I wasn't really sure. I am now, the kid is full of it. Driving Stella home from school the other day, she was telling him how she hurt her toe at school. Jack breaks out with "You hurt your toe, Stella?! That's so...HURT!" It is so hurt, babe.

I am in love with both of these boys. Can't get over them.

A new family member!

No, not another baby, no matter how hard we try. Hopefully that will be news for another day.



But we did add a girl to the family finally, a guinea-pig girl (or as Jack calls them, a "piggy bank"). Her name was Whitetail, but has been re-named Squeaky. Oddly enough she rarely squeaks, but we're going with it.

We adopted her from a family whose daughter goes to school with Nate, so she came with all the gear we could need. She's already six, so I'm not sure how long we'll have her, but I'm so glad we did it.



I'm very anti-pet, and didn't really need another hassle in my life. But the care she takes is totally reasonably and pretty minimal, the kids adore her but aren't obsessed with her, and it's been a very easy transition. Every day, each boy gets to hold her and give her a plate of spinach and strawberry tops, then she runs around in her little "run". Then back in the cage for the night!



As fas as I can tell, she has absolutely no personality whatsoever, but despite it we're all glad she's here.

Uh oh

2 Small tidbits:

Anytime we're watching TV, or a movie (and there's been FAR too much of that around here recently), and the music gets dark / slow / ominous Jack says:

"Something bad's gonna happen!" And sometimes adds "A monster is coming!"

Sometimes I haven't even noticed the change in tone, but Jack senses it immediately, enough to verbilize it. Very intuitive.



And when my boy needs to leave his food to go to the potty, he says some variation on this:

"I have to go pee pee. Don't touch my banana!" This morning he said "I have to go pee pee. Nobody don't touch my cereal!"

He's definitely a Wagner.