Band Practice

Mommy needs to study, so she turned off the Lady Gaga she was playing from iTunes. A guitar strumming Alex objected.

'We can't play our instruments without the mus-gik.'

Oh, sorry. Mommy turned it back on, but at a lower volume than it had been before.

'No, not lower like that. We can't play with it lower.'

Level checks and everything from this kid already.

Wednesday, September 29

They Say it Goes Too Fast

We had to take an unexpected adventure this afternoon. Mommy was able to get permission from the Dean to transfer online classes from the hot mess of a section she's in to a heavy work-load but more fairly graded section with Professor Lindley.

After a morning's worth of phone calls obtaining the permissions she needed, Mommy had to travel to campus to complete the transfer with the Registrar's office. It was a really rainy day, but we had to get there, rain, umbrella stroller, soggy Alex and all.

After we got off the 40 bus, it really opened up. We got soaked on the short walk to the Administration building. We had to travel to the Tech building and then back to Administration to get everything done. What a mess we were.

While on the way there, I had joked to Alex that he was going to college now. He repeated it and told everyone at the bus stop that he was going to college. I didn't think he got what that meant, though. Then in the classroom buildings, I realized he DID get it. With his backpack on over his varsity baseball jacket and wearing a travel thermos, Alex strutted around the halls as if he belonged there. He dashed into a group of college students walking down the hallway to be among them, walking to class. What a sight he was!

He told everyone who would listen that he as in college and going to class. At the bookstore, he ran away from me to look at the adult sized collegiate T-shirts, choosing his preferred one and to go get HIS textbook for his class. At the cafeteria, he told everyone about his WALL-E book, as if it were a textbook.
After all, everyone around him was walking around with textbooks in their arms. He needed his books too!

Well, they say it goes really fast, don't they?

September 27, 2010

He. Was. Turned to Steel

Lately, Alex has been demanding his tricycle. He was promised a tricycle among other big prizes if he completed sections of Big Boy Boot Camp. He knows that not only had he completed the original sections, but he's also moved on to achievement in newly added sections.

Where IS his tricycle?

So, today, Alex, Mommy and Daddy headed out to White Plains to go get Alex's tricycle; a red Schwinn Roadster with 'the hair on it', as Alex calls handlebar fringes.

But no one had the trike in physical stock anymore! We went to Toys R Us and Sports Authority, even to the dreaded (and typically boycotted) Target and Walmart. No one! We had to promise Alex that we would order it online. He was disappointed until we got to the second reason for our trip: a Halloween costume.

Alex has said for months that he wants to be Iron Man for Halloween. I hadn't been able to find a good Iron Man costume in his size and I didn't do any better at Toys R Us. That was until Alex saw the Red Power Ranger costume. It was love immediately.

I guess family costumes would be out this year. I'm not going as a pink or yellow Power Ranger (the female ones). At Target, Dan and I turned on the pressure to get him into a costume the whole family could replicate. No dice, but we did find a better Iron Man costume. At least if Alex chooses to go with Iron Man, then Daddy and Mommy only have to go as Colonel Rhodes and Pepper Potts. Black pinstrip suit for Mommy. Air Force officer's uniform for Daddy.

Once home, Alex wanted to get into his costumes right away. He loved the Power Ranger one and he actually looked really good in it. Then he remembered the Iron Man costume. It was Iron Man all the way then. It seems he's not too sure which one he'll wear for Halloween trick or treating, but he's sure to have fun whichever one it is.

While we were home, Mommy made the mistake of looking up adult sized Power Ranger costumes and one of the first to return in the search was the Pink Power Ranger. Alex saw it and excitedly declared that Mommy would be the Pink Power Ranger for Halloween and that Daddy would be the blue one because, as Alex says, "they're the Red Power Ranger's friends".

Not at 72 dollars for pink and 95 dollars for red, my friend. I think we may go with T shirts or something.

Saturday, September 25

Matryoshka...what? I want to paint!

Alex wasn't sure what "matryoshka" were. He was pretty sure he didn't like that word. Too funny sounding. He just knew that Grandma got him some great presents from her trip to the Baltic Sea. He loved the 'Finland' T shirt she got him. He really loved the little English Constable magnet. Then, of course, there was the new locomotive she got him at the Seaport yesterday. He played with that one ALL day today - and even slept with it last night.

We should hope so. At the toy vehicle kiosk in the Seaport, directly in front of the escalators - and therefore impossible to avoid when with youngin's - Alex had such a hard time making up his mind, that he demanded two vehicles. Mommy made him a deal. Use public potty and get both. Don't and get only one. He opted for only one - after he'd had the taxi for about 15 minutes. He returned it for the Amtrak locomotive. But I digress...

The Matryoshka. Yes. They came with paints. Watercolors, to be precise. Alex demanded today 'I want to paint the dolls!' So...we painted.

He painted the little dolls just a little. He really wanted to just play with the brushes and water.

Maybe we'll finish them in a month or so. Who knows?

Friday, September 17

To Our Favorite Immigrant

Alex recorded a special message to Daddy while sitting on the Immigrant Memorial in Battery Park.

Awwww.

September 16, 2010

The Ambrose: Docked at Third and Bird

This morning, Alex and I traveled to the South Street Seaport to meet Grandma McCann. We had planned a tour of Little Airplane studios (producers of The Wonder Pets). We got there a little early, so we all enjoyed a breakfast snack of cart food! Mommy had a shish kabob and Alex had his first big, salty pretzel!

The studio tour didn't really hold Alex's attention very much. The Supervising Producer holding the tour, Tone, offered to refund our tickets. After Alex fell in love with Samuel Lovebird from the up-and-coming (to the US) 'Third and Bird', we were able to take a talking Samuel in exchange for our refund. Thank you Little Airplane!

This meant it was time for Alex's favorit-est part ever - a tour of the Ambrose!!! Alex was psyched to get onto the old 1908 light ship again. He wanted to tell Grandma McCann allll about the engine room. Unfortunately, the stairs to the lower deck were a little too steep for Grandma, but Alex insisted on seeing it. He also wanted to steer the ship for a while.
 
We had to do some coaxing to get Alex onto the Peking, so that Grandma could see that too. We stopped in the on-board aquarium where Alex saw a real life horseshoe crab! Mommy pet it, but Alex passed. We even spotted the W.O. Decker from the high deck of the Peking. Alex can't wait to take his sail on that ship!

 Mommy thought that Alex might like a boat ride right now and that Grandma might want to take an easier ride home. I suggested that we all walk down to the Staten Island ferry to see if it could work for Grandma. Alex was a little intimidated by what he called "the really big boat". On the way to Staten Island, he wanted to stay safely on the inside and sit on a bench away from the windows.

Once we arrived on Staten Island and discovered that Grandma could take a single bus home, we grabbed another snack. Alex enjoyed a donut and orange juice, but it was a vanilla icing donut, so it wasn't that great. After surverying the docks and waterfront, he did want to go to the "Staten Island Beach" though. We had to explain that it was quite a far way from us.

We said "Goodbye" to Grandma and took our ferry back to Manhattan. This time, Alex led me out to the outdoor landing! Right there, on the main deck and everything. True to his girl-loving self, he was charming to a beautiful German tourist who was just as enthralled with him. Maybe 20 years from now, she might be in the market for younger men.

We couldn't get to the subway without visiting Battery Park, of course. We had to look for Spiderman! He wasn't there, but Zelda, the wild turkey was. Then Alex said that he needed to take a break, and sat down on the Immigrant Memorial to take one. Mommy talked to Alex about immigrants for a bit and we taped a greeting for Daddy - our favorite immigrant.

 
We arrived at Grand Cental Terminal just around dinner time. Alex didn't want to go home. I talked him into a deal. Use the public potty and we can stay for dinner. So...he did! He used the potty at Grand Central and he was treated to a yummy dinner of a giant chocolate chip cookie and chocolate milk at Junior's.

You'd think that Alex was exhausted by this time. Nope. He chatted to me all the way through our Metro North ride. We even met up with Daddy on our way back from the Harrison train station. He chatted to Daddy all the way home!

Then he was pretty eager to get to bed that evening, all snuggly with Samuel Lovebird.

Beach Buddies

What a surprise! Gail called at 8 AM and cancelled on me! (She was babysitting.) Debbie D. and Debbie G. dropped by not knowing when we were supposed to start the study. I'd had to tell them that when Gail cancelled, I'd already told Alex the good news - we could go to Island Beach again. It was due to be a beautiful day. They understood and I prepped us to go.

I tried to get us there a tad earlier today. We would have to stop at Town Hall to get a day pass. I was able to get us there on the 2 PM boat, arriving on the island at 2:15. There was a surprise waiting for Alex on the island too. The food vendor and his wife had to be on hand to pack everything up for the season. They had brought their 5 year old son, William with them. Alex had a playmate for the whole day! Alex took to William like a fly to honey.

William was a sweet and kind boy who didn't mind playing with a boy 2 years younger than himself. Alex was very Big Boy about sharing his toys (despite one brief incident over the big green Dig-Dig). They played on the playground together. They dug in the sand and moved trucks and rocks and shells around. Alex had a blast!

Alex took so soundly to William that when they walked back to the tent from the playground, Alex asked William to hold his hand. Being a big Kindergartener now, William refused. Alex was heartbroken. "William! You have to hold my hand!" he howled. I had to talk Alex into laying off, especially when he made William even more nervous by talking about how William would come home with us.

I told Alex that William had his own family to go home with. I asked William if he would be returning on the ferry with everyone else or if his dad had his own boat. William said that they'd be coming back on the ferry with everything they had to take from the stand. His uncle would be at the dock to help them with it all.

Alex took this as his cue to manipulate the outcome of events. He ran up to the picnic area by himself in which I had to dash after him, asking William to stay with the toys. Alex ran to the food stand and was trying to get the older William's attention. He wanted a buttered roll. I told Alex I had one from earlier, but he wanted another one. Well, OK. It's only a buck fifty anyway. Alex did eat his roll back at the tent.

After the 5:30 ferry set out for Greenwich, I told the boys to keep playing with the trucks and toys, but I was going to be folding up the tent. I started my long, methodical beach packing when Alex dashed up to the picnic area again. This time, I had everything scattered everywhere. I asked William if he could go after Alex. When he caught up with him, he called down to me. Alex wanted a buttered roll.

I threw things together on the beach and came up to where they were standing. I told Alex I still had a buttered roll for him. He wanted another. I finally got it. Alex must have thought that if he could stop the older William from leaving the stand, then 5 y.o. William wouldn't have to leave on the ferry - and neither would we. Oh boy.

So, yeah, Alex didn't want to leave. I had to carry him off the playground when it was time to head to the 6:30 ferry. He refused to put on his shoes - thinking that would stop us. Sorry, kiddo, nothing will. We can't get stuck on the island.

Now I know that it's all worth the effort to get there more often next year. Good-bye Island Beach and good-bye summer in Greenwich. We will definitely be seeing you next year.

Wednesday, September 15

Perfection

Coming home from Island Beach:

Island Beach - Finally!

Summer escaped me this year. Big Boy Boot Camp took up all of August. I was sick for half of July. That meant that I hadn't made it out to Greenwich to buy day passes for Island Beach or Great Captain's Island. Last week, I had to make it a priority for our family trip. I bought an extra day pass - just in case. I'm so glad I did.

Last week, I promised Alex that we would use our last day pass to go to Island Beach. He loved his trip to  Great Captain's Island so much that he was eager to go when I reminded him that another island with  beaches and a playground existed. Island Beach closes on the 15th. The weather report predicted rain for that day, so today was the day. We had to make tracks!

Alex was all for it. He started to pull out everything under the sun. 'We need the tent', he told me. I wasn't going to bring it, but he insisted. Then he pulled out so many toys, they wouldn't fit in his beach backpack. I had to bring the Sassy tote. I drew the line at the umbrella. He said he needed it to protect his head from the sun. I reminded him that's what hats are for. 

'OHHHHHHHH!' he laughed! 'I'm so siiiiilllyyyy!'

I dragged a little in the morning. I got my daily morning chores in and then we made tracks. We spent a wonderful afternoon there. Once there, I wondered why I'd delayed it all summer.

Alex was able to have his potty treats on the ferry boat over to the island. This year, since Alex could walk to the train station and dock, we were able to sit on the top deck and really enjoy the ride. Far away from the engine, the ride is much quieter. Alex was able to see more and was really loving it.

We'd brought a picnic lunch, but I purchased a lunch for us at the snack shack anyway. Alex was thrilled to have our cheeseburger and onion rings in the indoor seating area. "No bugs!" he told me. I think he also didn't like the idea of seagulls begging from him - and boy do those birds on Island Beach beg. 

There was play on the playground. There was looking for seashells. There was exploration and lemonade. There was running from the cool surf and squeals. There was even chasing of those begging seagulls.

When it was time to go, Alex was none-too-happy about it. While on the ferry back, he asked when we could go back. I hated the idea of telling him that it wouldn't be until next year. I have an appointment with Gail tomorrow at 2. I'm now seriously considering calling her in the morning to ask if she'd make it Friday instead. That is, if the weather is supposed to be good.

Alex had too good a time to let this last chance go by.

Tuesday, September 14

You Don't Mess Around...

Alex is quickly becoming King of the Potty. Today, I talked him into 'trying' to do poopies in the potty. He calmly said, 'OK, I'll try'. Try, he did - and succeeded. Then...he did it AGAIN that night!

It was too late to give him treats for the second time, but we made sure he got a prize.

Woot! There's a new king in town.

Monday, September 13

A Beachy-Keen Day

Buzz Lightyear costume and all, Alex headed out with us to the local beach for some fun in the day. Alex and Daddy did a summer scavenger hunt from NickJr.com, checking off the things they saw; a summer hat, a sail, a pail, a sandcastle, etc. Daddy helped Alex climb a tree and they even built their own sand castle.

We saw a seagull capture a sea star too! Too bad Mommy couldn't find another sea star along the beach. We'd found one on that beach in the beginning of summer.

We stopped for dinner at Jolly Joe's (The Barnacle) where Daddy and Alex filled out a summer journal. We only have ten days left of the season! Better get those observations down fast!

Saturday, September 11

The September Issue

Alex is currently rockin' a Buzz Lightyear costume with sandals. The sandals, fortunately, are also Buzz Lightyear. This was donned for a late-summer beach treasure hunt.

In the meantime, Daddy has been trying to get ready for their adventure. This includes fixing his hairpiece and removing any previous adhesive from his forehead. When Dan has to do this, he has to use alcohol on his skin and flip the hairpiece up to allow his skin to thoroughly dry.

Dan still had his hair like this when he was putting on Alex's sandals.

'Fix your hair.', Alex told Daddy. Daddy assured him that he would before they went out, but Alex cross-spoke. 'You have to put my other sandal on!' Daddy continued rectifying that situation and Alex added

'Everyone will laugh at me.'

The close timing of the statements made it seem like Alex said that everyone would laugh at him over Dan's unfixed hairpiece.

He meant, of course, being seen with only one Buzz Lightyear sandal with his spaceman costume.

Saturday, September 11

Mama, I Need a Challenge!

Alex has been backsliding on potty training lately. The other day, he received a prize from his Abuela. It was Ron Hover, the heliciopter from 'Cars' and Alex just loves him. Still, he's been neglecting his potty training. He's been skipping using it in the morning, arguing to stay in his overnight diaper. He's even gone back to accidents. I was feeling rather glum over this and had a really bad reaction towards him on Tuesday.

I decided to regroup and review. What was it that Alex had accomplished in Big Boy Boot Camp, now in its second month? Well, frankly, a lot. He sleeps in the Big Boy bed all the time now. He naps more times than not. He rarely wakes in the middle of the night any longer. The bottle is a distant memory. He uses the potty for pee and even wants to stand while using it. He doesn't gripe and run away when I ask him to clean up now. Instead, I've even found toys put away in the wrong places - indicating that he's cleaning up some toys when I'm not looking.

Dressing himself isn't going well. It's proving too difficult for him to do still. At least, it's too hard to dress himself from head to toe.

I realized that Alex may be getting bored with the categories he aced within two weeks and is getting discouraged by what's left, especially using public toilets and pooping in the potty.

On Monday, he had insisted on carrying his own plate to the table for a meal. On Tuesday, when I'd really been angry over a poop accident, it occurred to me to give him some more challenges. I called him to the kitchen gate while I was cooking dinner and gave him dishes to set out on the table. Piece-by-piece, he carefully set the whole table with very little direction. He positively beamed with pride. I told him that he did such a good job, that it could be his own chore from now on.

I decided to try some NickJr.com lesson plans. I downloaded a letter recognition game and a rhyming storybook. He had to work through them, but he got both activities. This was it, I'm thinking. He needs challenges!

I started a new category, telling him that the Bottle category is done. It is now Alphabet Skills. I showed him that NickJr.com had a certificate that he could win for completing all of the alphabet activity packs they have. For 3 days in a row now, he's been thrilled to get these lessons. He's getting the phonetics of each letter and learning the lower cases of them. He's totally acing rhyming. Today, I gave him a math lesson. He had to match a series of items with the numeral that represented their number. He got all five.

He asks for these lessons now. Sometimes, he's too tired or not into it at that particular moment, but he still goes back to them.  He's had a poop accident since, but no more pee accidents.

Sorry Alex, I had no idea you needed more challenges!

September 9, 2010

The Big Breakthrough

So, something happened in Alex's brain. It was clear.

Sometimes, we play NickJr.com interactive games. I don't do it too much because it's a source of frustration for him. I have to operate the mouse for him because the abstraction of the cursor 'moving' in correspondence to the mouse's movements was just too hard for him. And he didn't get 'clicking' either. I would have to play the games for him, which wasn't much fun. He's been practicing with a Sesame Street game that has him move the mouse without clicking. We hadn't played in a while though.

Last night, we did Spin Art on NickJr.com. I taught him how to click on the colors and controls, but I still had to move the mouse for him. Dan did the same later that night during a game.

Tonight, I told Alex that he could watch videos on NickJr.com while I cooked dinner. We've done this before, because he would otherwise need me there to play the games. He insisted on playing games. I brought him to the game home page and let him move the mouse around. He wound up starting up a service we don't have. I had to reset it for him. I choose a game that might entertain him 'enough' for a few minutes.

Instead, he played it through. I had to check by coming out of the kitchen. I thought I'd heard indications that he was winning and restarting new games. I DID hear that. That's what he was doing - intentionally and deliberately.

He had focused on the task until he got it right. He finally called for my help when he opened up a game whose KEY movements he didn't understand. He needed to use the arrow keys to move the character and the Space bar to make it jump. When I came to help him, I realized that he'd figured out the jumping part all by himself. I told him that he had to come to dinner with the promise that I would play with him afterwards. Dan came home during dinner.

Dan played with him instead while I set up the scavenger hunt math game I'd printed out eariler. Alex opened up a game that involved creating his own robot to play with. Dan only explained the functions to him. ALEX was the one who built the robot. We printed out a picture of the robot and Alex was so excited that he ran to hang it on his easel. He did that without any help also.

Then he rocked the numeral and shape scavenger hunt. He loved it so much that he wanted to play again. I told him that I would play it with him tomorrow. After objections, he built another robot on the computer game.


I talked Dan into giving Alex a bath even though it was past the time he should have been in the bath. I felt that he really needed a warm bath to calm him down. This was far too much mental activity going all at once for him to be able to sleep easily.

Once in bed, he told Dan. "I'm the robot maker. I'm the President of robot making."

He should be proud of himself like that. I can't believe the number of brand new skills that all burst though in ONE day.

September 9, 2010

Fireworks

To have said that introducing challenges to Alex turned out to be the key was an understatement. Today was a day of breakthroughs I could not have imagined. Something burst open in his mind and he's been chewing up knowledge like so many Swedish Fish.

I only started the NickJr.com Alphabet packs on Tuesday. I'd printed out only some learning games for him on Monday. This had been inspired by their 'Get Ready for Kindergarten' promotion. They provided an online test and based on your answers, they suggested learning games and activity packs for your child.

Alex is two years away from Kindergarten. I wasn't really trying to get him ready for it. I took it to see if any of the suggested packs looked like they would be fun. 'Fun' turned out to be an understatement.

We worked through only three days of activities and Alex's mind just burst open, it seems. He wanted more and more activities. Today, we did four different lessons. One was quite difficult - an emotional/social readiness game intended for 4 year olds. It was a series of cards, showing a character named Rintoo with different facial expressions. The backs of the cards explain scenarios that would prompt the emotions connected to the expression shown on the front. Alex had a really hard time distinguishing 'sad' from 'mad'. He didn't understand 'relaxed' at all. Frankly, he's not supposed to at this point.

He tried hardest with this game, asking the most questions of all. He wanted to play it again and again. Hours later when the subject cartoon came on Nick Jr, Alex recalled what he'd learned from the game and started to apply it to the story.


"Rintoo is mad." he told me, "He's mad because he lost the race." That was one of the scenarios on the cards that he hadn't gotten right before. This was amazing.

During the lessons, he also selected math lessons, which we'd never tried before. He loves a particular math-based cartoon named "Team Umi Zoomi" He wanted "math" because that's what Team Umi Zoomi does. Here again, he ate up his own mistakes and worked hard to correct them. Asking to try again. He worked on a numbers-to-numerals game and a pattern recognition game. He did the latter one twice, asking for crayons so that we could do it "right". (He had to color figures in to match the patterns). In a shape and numeral scavenger hunt, he was thrilled to participate, squealing all the way through the game and asking to play it again.

The most outstanding was yet to come, explained in the next entry.

This was an astounding day for us. Really, astounding. Along with his break through on lessons and his learning hunger, he obeyed Quiet Time with a reasonable grace I've never seen in him.

"OK Mom," he acquiesced to me, "I'll go now. I won't sleep late today." (He often delays his nap so long that he winds up not getting enough of a nap and lasting to past 4 PM.)

He used the potty religiously. He ate all of his meals and asked for reasonable things as snacks instead of sweets.


Wow. I couldn't believe it.

September 9, 2010

Ahoy Mateys!

This morning we all took a chance that we could get seats on the Greenwich Cruise to Nowhere. Today was its last day for the season. It was best that we got to the dock at 10 AM to buy the tickets, so we decided to make it a morning out on Great Captain's Island as well. (Alex had seen me uploading some stories from last year to the new blog. When he saw the footage from the island, he really wanted to go again.)

I got up early and packed a picnic lunch for the three of us and we made easy travel to Greenwich. When we arrived at the dock, the ticket agent informed us that we would not be able to purchase the cruise tickets until 10 AM, but that was also when the boat for the island was bound to leave. There would not be another for an hour. On any other day, I would have waited the hour, but the ferries to the island sail around the tide flow. That day, there would be ferries until noon and not start again until after 4 PM. Irritatingly, we were stuck with a choice between the island and the cruise because the cruise was certain to be sold out before we returned on the 12:30 ferry. But I digress. Between the two, exploring 'Pirate's Island' (as we called it last year) was most certainly the better choice. Besides, we can ride the ferry to Governor's Island for free on weekends up to mid-October. I'll make sure to get on that deal.

Alex was thrilled to be boarding the boat and sitting all by himself (kinda) on the benches. Last year, he had to ride in his stroller. He was also thrilled to be able to walk around the island with no puppy leash like he'd had to use last year. We knew by now that he would not run off into the water or down a dangerous path by himself. He could truly be an explorer on the island.

We started at the main beach, where Alex and Daddy dug in the sand. Then I reminded Alex of "Crab Beach", where he and I so commonly find crab shells. Then I led Alex and Daddy further down the island. Alex told Daddy "We're going to the lighthouse!" I hadn't said that to him. He remembered the lighthouse and its path all on his own.

It was quite a walk there, around the pond for wildlife, past the rookeries and shelters. Once there, Alex wasn't all that thrilled because he was hungry. He wanted our picnic lunch. We had to walk back to the halfway point at Crab Beach to sit down at a table.

After our lunch, we explored more of the shore and shells. Alex and I collected a whole bunch of shells and rocks. Alex even tossed a hermit crab shell (nautilis looking) into the water. Mommy braved getting her sneakers soaked to get it back.


By this time, our little explorer was sleepy. 
 
 

We didn't bother asking about the cruise to nowhere at that point. We just found our way home. A really cool adventure and still home in time for Quiet Time.

Now, that's a Great Captain's Island adventure.

Labor Day the Proper Way

Dan and I hadn't made plans for this Labor Day. Dan knew that he had a lot of work-work to do at home. I knew that I had a pretty busy week ahead coming up. I'd taken Alex to Playland on Friday, the very same day that Dan had to have an emergency root canal. He wasn't feeling so great on Saturday, to say the least.

I'd bought tickets to Great Captain's Island from Greenwich Town Hall, as well, fully expecting to go by myself with Alex. I thought that we might want to try to get to the Cruise to Nowhere on Sunday or maybe combine the two, but it depended a lot on how Dan would feel by Sunday. I knew I had plans with my mom coming up too. So, Saturday was supposed to be a mellow day. Alex had other plans.

I let Dan sleep in really late that day. About an hour after he was up and about, Dan took Alex to the store. Predictably, Alex demanded to stay outside, which they did for a few hours. Then Alex asked if we could have a picnic. When I asked for more detail, Alex said 'Like we did in the park, that day.' (Father's Day)

So, I grabbed a blanket and Dan ran back to the supermarket for some quick picnic foods. I poured some lemonade in plastic cups and set out the plastic cutlery with plates. A picnic was born on our front lawn.

I thought that Alex might enjoy a nature walk, so I grabbed his buckets and we all set off to collect colorful leaves. That turned into a day in the park and a day of late summer sights.



How is it that a day of no plans so often turn into Alex Days?

Saturday, September 4

Bye-Bye Playland!

Playland will be open only for this week, Labor Day weekend and next weekend. After that, it reopens on October weekend evenings for 'Scared on the Sound', but the only entertainment for Alex's age group occurs on Halloween afternoon. The weather report expected rain on the weekend of the 10th and 11th. Labor Day weekend was due to be a crowded one.

In other words, this was the close of our summer at Playland. If we wanted to get the last of our prizes, we had to go on the last available weekday - Friday, the 3rd. BUT...

Greenwich's islands and cruise to nowhere also close soon. I hadn't yet gotten to Greenwich Town Hall to buy tickets for Great Captain's Island or Island Beach. We never got to the cruise either. Big Boy Boot Camp has kept us tied to the house pretty tightly. No room for adventures. If we were to get to Great Captain's Island at all this summer, I had to get to Town Hall that Friday. So, we did both. I set out early on Friday morning with Alex to Greenwich Town Hall. We stopped for lunch in Greenwich and then set out for Playland. Unfortunately, this meant that by the time we set out for Playland, Alex was ready for a nap.

Maybe it was time for a mellow Summer Wrap-Up. We saw both shows, 'Wonder' and 'High Voltage'. Alex loves both of them and even said 'Bye Jason!' to the star juggler/illusionist of 'High Voltage'. We strolled around the arcades, perusing the prizes we could get. We won more tickets to round off our wins. Alex wished to buy a souvenir ship like Mommy has. We both wished to have the last of Playland summer treats while we could.

Alex tried cotton candy for the first time ever. He didn't eat any, but he sure did love having it. He did eat the popcorn, though. He loved that part. We walked along the sea walk and the boardwalk. We danced to the show music and to the Kiddyland DJ. We played the duck game for the last time.

It was a great way to close the summer season.

"Bye Playland!" Alex called as we left. "See you soon!"

And we will, for Halloween. Thanks for a summer I won't soon forget, Playland.

Friday, September 3

A Vinyasa Habit is Born

I've been trying to work in some yoga sessions on alternative mornings. My goal for September is to get back my flexibility and strength to be able to make it a habit again. So, on alternative mornings, I've been playing yoga videos on Mag Rack, a free On Demand service from our cable company.

Alex loved the first one I did. I didn't. It was too advanced for my out-of-shape self. I found a more beginner level Vinyasa energy flow routine that lasts about 10 minutes. I held up well while doing the poses, considering that it's been three years since I could do this regularly.

While I was in Downward Facing Dog position and stretching my leg behind me, my body turned and I was able to see Alex right besides me, also in Downward Facing Dog position and looking up at the screen to see what to do next. I had heard him repeating the moves as the instructor stated them. I didn't know that he was trying to do them too.

I squealed with excitement and wished that someone else had been there to capture us both in pose on camera. I stopped and grabbed the camera, but Alex went shy and left the pose. I went back to my routine and Alex got up and stood besides me. He was still repeating the instructor's directions and helping me pose. He tapped my lower back while he said 'Keep your back straight'.

Why, thanks, my little yogi!

The video runs into a Sun Salutation routine right after a short break. I left it on and told Alex I would be taking a shower. Instead, I snuck behind him and turned on the video function on the camera. I was able to get some still shots too.

He says he likes yoga. Wow!

Alex in Downward Facing Dog

September 3, 2010

Introducing, The Splatter

Alex surprised me by asking to paint today. His art portolio caught his attention while I was rearranging our craft shelves. It has a photo of him painting on the front. He also spotted his primary paints that Aunt Ellen bought for him a couple of years ago.

'I want to paint like that!' Alex declared, 'I need a smock'.

I'd made Alex a new smock recently. On a stained white T-shirt of my own, I'd painted the words 'Let's Paint' in fabric paints. He loved it, but it's way too big for him still. I backed it up with another. Then I spread out our canvas drop paper and got out his Special Book. He was inspired by the paintings that were already on the canvases. He tried out paint moves and color mixing on those first and then would repeat it on the paper in his special book.

While he was painting, he discovered that he could drag his finger across the little brush. It wound up splattering paint all over him. I asked him to hold the brush down when he did it, because I noticed something. His experimentation had created a really cool splatter effect on his painting. He noticed it too and immediately went to experimenting further.

It came out really, really cool.

Wednesday, September 1