Excitement at The Fireman's Parade

On June 30, we got to see the Mamaroneck Firemen's Parade. Alex loved it! I wasn't too sure how he'd react, but once he saw the first group - an impressive show of motorcycle police from all over the area - he was hooked! Firefighters and tower engines! Ambulances and tow trucks. Police cars and emergency aid vehicles. All the things he loves!

He was thrilled with the marching bands, particularly those that included pipers. The NYC representations showed some of the best bands, but his all time favorite was the pipe and drum corps of the New York State Court Officers. They were the last to march and Alex was thrilled to march alongside them down Mamaroneck Avenue to Boston Post Road.

I expected a short parade. It lasted more than 2 hours, showing representation of important civil servants from the whole Metro area, including even fire departments from New Jersey.

What a great day! (Topped off by pizza on Mamaroneck Avenue)

Wednesday, June 30

A Month of Magic and Milestones

I've written a lot about our magical adventures in the month of June. We had a Sesame adventure and visits to Playland. There were the early beach visits and a dino dig. There were prizes and yummy treats like ice cream and fudge. Fairs and tall ships. Train rides and school days.

But there were lots of milestones this month. Mostly, Alex has been seeing many a potty triumph. In just this one week he's

- Asked to wear underwear, which we bought on a trip to the mall on Monday (after a puppet show)
- Asked to use the potty.
- Changed his own underwear after sitting on the potty (backwards, but still on)
- Said he wants to say 'Buh-bye to daytime diapers' because 'they're for babies'
- Alerted us to accidents in his underwear
- Helped clean up after accidents
- Remembered and kept the steps to washing up afterwards.

He's grown in civility, saying 'Thank you', 'Please' and even 'Excuse Me' to interrupt a conversation. He's grown in memory relation, being now able to tell us parts of his day. He's grown in social skills, now being thrilled to make new friends, young and old. At meals, he requests a fork and a napkin to wipe his face and hands. He sometimes asks to try new foods. He understands the concept of days to come and days that have passed.

And he's quite the conversationalist these days, full of opinions and observations.

What an adventure being 3 is becoming!

Wednesday, June 30

It's a Mystery!

After school today, Alex and I made a day of it on Mamaroneck Avenue. He needs a bicycle helmet. I needed new sneakers. There were some other stores we could check out, plus the library. It seemed like it could be fun. Today's highlight, however, was our visit to Dino Dig USA. This is a children's party venue that allows walk-ins to go on a dinosaur digging adventure. They have a large desert diarama, set up with dinosaurs and bright lights and even balloons to set the atmosphere. Then, you get to dig into the sand to seek prizes.

Alex wasn't sure of what we were doing at first. After I showed him how to uncover the first two prizes, he started to get excited. He still needed some help getting the search started, but each time I hit something hard in the sand, I'd say something like 'Uh-oh! Something hard! I think I might need help!'

He started to get the squeals and giggles as time went on, thrilled each time I said 'I need help over here!'

During our search, Alex was asking 'Where are the prizes? Where do we dig? It's a mystery around here!'

He wound up with 14 prizes, plus a pith helmet that we got to decorate. What a fun way to spend some time on an afternoon.

I love mysteries after all.

Friday, June 25

A Glimpse into School

Alex started his first day of Day Camp today. It marks the first time that he has spent more than an hour away from both Dan and I. The camp will last six weeks and he'll be attending 3 days a week for 3 hour sessions each.

I can't really journal about it because all I know is what Alex would tell me happened there - which isn't much. I tried to get the stories, but it just wasn't coherent enough to follow. We went to the beach after school and then to dinner when we'd left the beach a bit early. Still couldn't get much out of him.

So, as we were leaving Mamaroneck Ave, I ducked into CVS to pick up a few things I needed. I spotted a small doll house in the toy section; a tiny 7 dollar plastic house and set. I picked it up and showed it to Alex because I know he loves to play with the houses in the library. Then I noticed that one of them was really a schoolhouse. Ooooh, an opportunity. I have an idea...

We got home and I opened it immediately for Alex. I told him what the pieces were and showed him that the figures were a teacher and a little girl. I asked him who the teacher figure was. He said 'Ms. Winter'. Success! That's the name of his new teacher! I asked who the little girl was and he said declaratively 'Miley'. Maybe some more success?

So, I sat at the computer, reading my news and listened to him play school. I was able to pick up the following from his play.

There was storytime, read by Ms. Winter.
He was apparently helping other students throw out their leftover scraps from art time and some teacher told him that he did a 'good job, Alex!'
They sang Ring Around the Rosie, with the change "We all sit down!"
He held Ms. Winter's hand for Ring Around the Rosie.

There was snacktime. ("OK, everyone sit down! It's snack time!")
Miley was playing firefighter with him.
He stopped playing firefighter to play trains. Miley joined.
He sat next to Miley at the table.
There was playground time. ("OK, everyone. This way to the playground!")

Eventually when I had enough info to ask questions, I also learned directly that he did Art, rode the car, wanted to ride the tricycles (he told me that he had to have a helmet so that he could), and played with the water table.

Yeah, role play! You come in handy when info is needed!

Thursday, June 24

The Alex Show

Today, I worked all day trying to get all of Alex's belongings back into his room as well as organizing his closet and toys into new items. This gave Alex an opportunity to see and play with things he hadn't seen in a while.

He asked if he could wear his tie; a velcro closure 'fake' necktie that he wore for Christmas. It's red, gold and black striped. I put it on him and asked him if he was Daddy now. At first he said that he was President Obama. Then he changed his mind 'I'm Jon!' he declared. 'I'm Jon Stewart!'

I asked him 'So you're going to make jokes about news coverage?' He said 'Yup!'. I asked him what jokes he's going to make. He repeated a joke from The Daily Show in which Jon mocked news commentator exaggerating of comparing the BP oil spill to Hurricane Katrina. He'd sung it to the tune of 'Maria' from West Side Story.

Alex sang to answer my question, 'Katrina! I just met Obama's Katrina...'

Move over Jon, we've got a replacement in the wings for your early retirement.

Monday, June 21

Happy Father's Day Dan!

Yesterday was a wonderful day. Though it was pretty hot, we made the best of a day outside. Last week, Alex had asked me if we could have another picnic soon. When I gave Alex the choice of a picnic for Father's Day, he was excited. Between the beach and Florence Park, Dan chose the park because he wanted to play kickety-kick ball with Alex.

We packed up Alex's ladybug kick ball, a beach blanket, paper plates and utensils. Then we bought a deli lunch at Food City. Off to Florence Park we went. Alex wasn't much for eating his picnic lunch, so he missed out on the yummy desert I'd brought (Swedish fish and a delicious cannoli type of pastry). But he was really into his kickball game with Daddy. Unfortunately for Daddy, Alex chose an area of the park with no shade in the hot blazing sun.
After a while, we heard the music of an ice cream truck. Daddy and I agreed that the ice cream truck is an exception to the "no treats" rule. One should always nab ice cream if you see an ice cream truck.

Since we had to wait for the truck to come around the block, we played in the playground for a while. Then we heard the ice cream truck's music: Music Box Dancer (Frank Mills' composition from c. 1980). We hurried Alex along to the ice cream truck and helped him make his very first selection. Then Dan held him up and he paid the ice cream man.

It was just a year ago that Alex was afraid of the ice cream truck. He'd run from the sound and hid behind a bush, frantically trying to push me into hiding too, else the ice cream truck would spot me. He eventually confessed to me that "I scared. I scared of ice cream truck."

I can safely report that fear has ended. Alex even likes to talk about how he conquered his fear.

On this day, the three of us were able to sit down on our blanket in the part of the park Alex and I call "Bunnytown" (for the bunnies we used to see there so often). Then Alex and Daddy played on the jungle gym some more. Mommy remembered she had to walk to CVS, so just about 6:00, we left the park.

Between that and the talking picture frame Daddy got as a gift (along with his new short pants that he wore to the picnic), I think this may have been Dan's best Father's Day yet.

Alex and I will have to work really hard to come up with ideas for next year.

Monday, June 21

Playland, With a Twist

I'd found a morning activity at the Rye Library that I thought Alex might like. It's called Wiggle and Giggle Time and it's just for silly songs, puppet shows and dancing. Sure enough, I was right, he loved it! But what good is getting to Rye for a 9:30 AM starting, 30 minute program without making it a day at PLAYLAND!?

So, that's where we went next. We're that much closer to the Volkswagen Beetle now - only 76 tickets left to go. This time around, we enjoyed a show of a juggler/stunt man; got a new cool graffiti T shirt, took a walk to the wildlife sanctuary on Manursing Island and took a nice walk on the Boardwalk. We even visited the fishing pier. He was loving the walk on the boardwalk. It allowed him to hear the music played at the adult rides on the other side of the park. He heard a fave: 'Bad Romance' by Lady Gaga and wanted to know all about the ride that was playing it. Later, he danced to the music piped onto the boardwalk (some Rob Thomas song), but he wanted to know when they'd play more 'Bad Romance'.

We found Alex's new favorite ride - the Submarine! He squealed with excitement on it after he was a little bit scared when it looped around. Nope, he loves it now! Now, if we could only make some progress on 'The Olde Mill', which Alex calls 'The Grinches'. It's a dark boat ride with animatronic gnomes that pop out at you in the dark. This time around, he asked if we could watch the Grinches. (I let him watch rides he's afraid of to get more familiar with them.)

For a little guy so afraid of the Grinches, he sure didn't want to stop watching that ride.

He surprised me by wanting to remain at the Wildlife Sanctuary's Nature Center instead of returning to Playland. I guess we'll have to make that a trip as well.  Maybe when the pool or beach are open. It was a pretty hot walk.

Friday, June 18

The 10,000th Photo

In October 2008, we purchased a new camera while in Pennsylvania for a Sesame Place visit. We mistakenly thought we'd lost our old one.

Yesterday, June 17, 2010, only about 20 months after buying the camera, I took its 10,000th photo. It's one of Alex examining the totem pole in the Life Garden at the local school.

That's not counting the fact that on our 'old'/first digital camera, we've taken 8,078 photos since Alex was born, but had taken only 574 photos on it before Alex was born.

Subtracting an estimate of photos not related to Alex or of Alex, this means we've taken in excess 17,000 photos of Alex in his lifetime.

He's 1,177 days old today.

Thursday, June 17

Nugget is Sick Again

I have much to update from the past week or so. But right now, Alex is taking Nugget's temperature. He's sure he's sick because he's not running around.

PS. Nugget is a Zhu Zhu Pet. I'm sure he just needs new batteries.

Thursday, June 17

School Orientation

Alex will be starting a Day Camp next week on the 24th. He'll attend for two mornings a week for six weeks. He's been showing so much interest in going to school and he's been asking to go to 'Meeting House School' so often that we thought it would be a good idea to give him the chance to make new friends. He loves playing with other children. He loves group activities, or at least going to them. I hope this will be fun for him.

I know that six hours a week of free time will be fun for Mama.

So, we attended the required orientation for parents on the morning of the 15th. After the meeting and a stop at Dunkin Donuts, Dan went to work and Alex and I went to Harbor Island Park. More fun for Alex!

It turned into a big morning of boat watching and anchor climbing and walking around town, but he loved it.

Tuesday, June 15

Elmoland Day is here!

(June 11-14: A Visit to Sesame Place)

For weeks, we've been alerting Alex to an approaching visit to 'Elmoland' as he calls it. (Everyone else calls it 'Sesame Place'.) Located in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a commutable suburb of Philly, it's reachable by public transportation. We're all for that!

Alex loved the Amtrak ride to Trenton and he surprised us by talking about Trenton. Then, from Trenton, we board a SEPTA bus to Langhorne, which I told Alex was 'The Double Dutch Bus'. (A 1981 silly song by R&B producer/songwriter Frankie Smith. It's about missing a SEPTA [Philly and 'burbs] bus, so he has to take an alternate.) I played it for Alex while we were on the bus and he asked for it a few times.
Double Dutch Bus

Unlike the last time we were at "Elmoland", Alex understood everything that was going on. He was excited to be in the hotel. He was thrilled to be going to Elmoland right away. He was overwhelmed at seeing Elmoland. Then there was the walking around he wanted to do right away. There was a lot of coaxing onto rides needed. Mostly, he would have preferred to play in the playground areas. I knew he was excited, though, because he had no appetite - not even for ice cream.

There was the ride on Big Bird's Rambling River, which he started by himself, but finished in Dan's lap on his tube. There was the fun splashing at Ernie's Waterworks and the absolute terror of getting wet by the big bucket at the Count's Splash Castle. There was the thrill of getting to the parade. The starstruck looks on his face when he'd see a costumed character, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. There was his love of Elmo's World Live, seeing Mr. Noodle for REAL! (Kinda. This time around Mr. Noodle's Nephew Mr. Noodle was really a teen/college aged girl.)

And then, of course, there was the love of being in the magical Mr. Hooper's Emporium; a colorful place loaded with toys and clothing and bags - all Sesame related. He got three cars out of the deal; a police car, a firetruck and a school bus.

By our last evening there, he was up to scratching out itineraries. "I have to take a nap & rest & then we can go to the pool." (Meaning the hotel pool.) Sure enough, he slept very well that evening after the pool and on the Amtrak ride home from Trenton.

Yeah, we wiped him out in those four days.

One photo doesn't really do the trip justice. Visit this slideshow on Photobucket for more:

Sesame Place 2010

Monday, June 14

A New Experience

I've taken Alex to the beach in town dozens of times in his life. Today marked the very first time I'd ever seen him truly understand where we were and why we were there. He was thrilled to play in the sand and 'build a sand castle' as he would later say he did. He would ask to go to the water. He'd ask to explore the rest of the beach.

For the first 2 years since he could walk, he would only want to stay in the sprayground (while its water was off) and stare at drains.

He even got a little into the hermit and horseshoe crabs we found today. Wow!

Tuesday, June 8

Soundside Scenes

These are some of the conversation highlights from our visit to the beach today:

Me: 'Sweetie, can you look at Mommy?' (for a photo)
Alex: 'No, I have to dig.' [In the sand with his shovel and bucket.]

Alex: 'Look! I made little boy tracks!' (after trudging through the sand)

Alex: [After lying down in the tent] 'I'm suntanning'
Me: 'No, you're in the shade [of the tent]. You're not suntanning.
Alex: 'No! I'm suntanning!'

For some reason, a NY Waterway ferry pulled into the harbor. Alex asked if we could ride it. I explained that we could not. It isn't even supposed to be here. I told him that it looked like it was going into the marina. Alex called out to the ferry, 'Stop! Come back, ferry, come back! We want to get on!'

Me: [Remarking to myself about low tide] 'What a bummer.'
Alex asked what a 'bummer' was. Before I could explain, he said 'I'm a beach bum.' and jutted his thumb at himself.

Tuesday, June 8

Positive Reinforcement

After having cleaned up a situation for Alex, he told me 'Thanks Mama. You're a great helper.'

I feel so motivated now.

Monday, June 7

Progress - I Think

While I was washing dishes this morning, Alex sat on his potty. It appeared to me that he had no diaper on. I asked him if he had taken his diaper off. He stood up for me to see that he had and ran into his room to show me that he had put it in the diaper pail. It was a slightly wet diaper.

I asked him if he had taken it off because he had peed in his diaper and knew he had to use the potty (after-the-fact, but, oh well). He said that it was the case.

He got THREE M&Ms for that big step.

Monday, June 7

Meet the Neighbors

There's a species of bird around here that I can't identify. It's mainly gray, black and white - with a broad white stripe on its wing. Its body and head are like those of a sparrow, but it has a long square tail. It's a surprisingly bold bird. Assertive like a bluejay, but not as cowardly. Not quite the beggar the doves can be.

In any event, one of them nested in a large bush on our neighbor's property. Every day for the past 2-3 weeks, I've seen the adult (presumably the father) sitting on the wires outside my window. He's chased squirrels off the wire and from the branches of the tree near this bush. I've seen him come back and forth to the bush with food.

Alex and I called him 'Proud Papa'. He was quite the star of our Spring. We'd see him in front of our walk, on our patio roof, on our patio rails and pretty much everywhere near our home.

Yesterday, I saw 2 smaller versions of Proud Papa flying to the wires with him. I believe they'll soon be leaving their nest. Now, I call Alex to see Proud Papa or his babies anytime I see them.

Alex shrieks with excitement if he can see them. He's anxious to see the babies. For me, it's a little bittersweet to see them. When I do, I recall that for birds, independent maturity marks the very last time that most parents see their children.

Nah, I don't care for that bit. I prefer the way the tigers do it. (Non-aggressive, adult daughters will often stay with or around a mother until she dies.)

PS. from 6/9/10 Proud Papa and his clan are Northern Mockingbirds. Thanks Karris' Mom from Music class!
Northern Mockingbird

Monday, June 7

Harbor Fest

The Village held its annual Harbor Fest on June 6, so we headed down to Mamaroneck Avenue to see the sights. They had historical displays as well as a ton of food samplings. Great music and information booths.

Alex's (and our) favorite part was a tour of a tall ship called 'The Yankee'. It's a tour boat available for rental and it allowed visitors aboard as it was docked in our harbor.

At first Alex wasn't too sure about going down below deck. The Yankee was a small ship that had close quarters. When it came time to leave, however, Alex didn't want to.

Ohhh, Alex, don't you know by now that Mommy and Daddy mostly pick FUN things for you to see and do? We can tell you that you won't want to leave it.

Alex still asks about the 'Yankee boat' often. I can't wait to get him down to the Seaport so he can see the historic tall ships!

Sunday, June 6

The Discriminating Shopper

I've noticed that Alex is showing a lack of patience with recurring events, such as his classes. (I wonder why? ). I wished to find a way to teach him that while it's best to use your free time to have as many different experiences as possible, he also had to understand that there were also routine events. Someday he would go to school every weekday and he had to get used to that. I decided to work out his calendar with stickers so he could see routine events cropping up every week. I dashed into Trotta's to buy a large book of various stickers.

Trotta's has mini-shopping carts that are child sized. I thought Alex would have fun pushing the cart around while we got the things we needed. He had other ideas. He wasn't interested in the sticker book or the beach shoes I was getting there too. He went straight for the toy aisle loaded with cars and action figures.

'We're buying these today, Mama.' he informed me as he loaded up the shopping cart with cars and power rangers.

Sorry Alex. Those are going back on the shelves.

Sunday, June 6

The Wrong Nature Center

June opened up with a hot day. We'd gotten a slow start and Alex was anxious to continue his non-stop outdoor life. I wasn't in much of a mood to travel far, so I thought it might be a good day to visit the Marshlands Conservancy. The land contains forested acres with paths that lead down to the shore which is lined with saltwater marshlands. The last time we were there, Alex was far too young to hike with me and the paths weren't stroller friendly. I wasn't too sure how far we'd get this time.

I started out with a picnic in Florence Park, telling Alex that we were going to a different nature center that day. After we got to the entrance of Marshlands, we started our long walk down their driveway. Alex informed me that this was the 'wrong' nature center. No matter how often I told him that it was just a 'different' one, he insisted that it was the 'wrong' one. Apparently only the forested, inland Rye Nature Center will do now.

It was an amazing walk along the marshlands. We got a tad muddy walking on the straw grass at the waterline. The better path led down to a sandy beach where a ton of waterfowl were nesting with their young. I was surprised to see how calm the geese were when we approached them and their goslings. Alex was more into playing in the wet, muddy sand while I gathered some more seashell treasures for our collection.

The weather turned unpredictable. Soon enough the thunder and dark clouds that came up turned to rain while we were walking back along the path. I told Alex "Oh well. I guess we're gonna get wet." Reminded of a Nick, Jr. music video, he started to sing Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds".

"Don't worry, about a thing. Every little thing is gonna be all right."

Then he hugged my leg. I suppose he was reenacting the scene that shows a mama bat shielding her baby bat from the rain with her wing.

We got muddy and sandy and totally wet before we got home, but we had a great day at the "wrong" nature center.

Sunday, June 6

The Power of the Beetle

Since Alex had such a terrific time at Playland last week, I decided that we'd be better off if we bought season tickets this year. For 65 dollars, a Westchester resident can get a card that gets them free park admission and unlimited rides for the whole summer. Since many of the rides Alex likes require that I ride with him, it made the most sense that I got one for each of us. Yeah! Now we can get our money's worth!

Once again, Alex had other ideas. Once we got into the park, I actually had to convince him into Kiddyland towards his favorite rides. He wanted to head straight for the arcade at the rear of the park so that we could win more tickets towards his goal prize: a metal toy Volkswagen Beetle that costs 350 tickets. (We had about 70 up until then.) Even winning the battle to get him onto rides did not dissuade him for long. He wanted us to play the arcade games - none of which he can play by himself - so we can win more tickets. My first 5 dollars' worth of games were not enough. With each little payout of tickets, he'd grab them and run to the counter to ask for the Beetle. When I would make the mistake of telling him things like 'No, Alex, we need about 250 more tickets for that", he'd just ask to play more games.

Uh, kid? Games aren't a part of the "unlimited" portion of these 130 dollar season tickets, OK?

I was successful in getting him towards the lake to check out the birds. That's were we witnessed a "Geese Parade" as Alex called it. I was also successful in getting him onto a few more rides. But he still insisted on going back to the arcade to try again.  I spent another 5 dollars, the change for which was given to me in a cup to hold the quarters. He begged me over to the Skee-Ball games - a low ticket payout game - and asked to play them. He can't even get the ball to the no-point gutter, so I have to do it for him. He's none too happy about that. He wants to win the Beetle himself.

So, as I was finishing up a round of balls from one game of Skee-Ball, Alex dipped his fingers into the cup of quarters and walked to another Skee-Ball alley. He successfully inserted the quarter into the game's slot himself and a whole new slew of balls came down. I would have let him just try to roll the balls by himself if he could, but all they would do is just come right back down the alley and thud on the floor. I had to do my game quickly - and get a low score - so I could move onto the next one. No sooner do I get to the new one does Alex do it again. He grabbed a quarter from the cup and started ANOTHER game.
Ohhhh, the luring power of the Beetle. It's even winning over the "'Dult Ferris Wheel" [Adult]. That's his favorit-est ride EVER!

Friday, June 4

Wiggle Dance

A few nights ago, I heard Alex giggling and squealing while he was in the bath with Daddy. 'It wiggles!', he screamed, 'Look! It wiggles!'

They finished their bath and a naked Alex came running out of the bathroom, to his room and back out yelling the same thing, 'It wiggles!'. He ran up to me, naked as the day he was born, and stomped his feet in order to move his pelvis. 'It wiggles, Mama!'

'What wiggles, Baby?'

'My penis! Look at my Wiggle Dance!'

Then he ran around wiggling for at least another five minutes.

Wednesday, June 2