Popcorn Hog

Alex did great at Family Dinner tonight. He even ate baked chicken! (BBQ sauce helped.) So Daddy suggested a little reward of a popcorn movie. Daddy heated up some popcorn and Mommy put on Alex's request of 'Harold and the Purple Crayon' for the movie. ('One Crayon Band') We all sat down in front of the TV to watch and enjoy our popcorn.

When we still had plenty left, but not a full bowl, Alex declared 'Don't finish it, Mommy! Don't finish it!'

Ok, OK! Have the rest of the popcorn you little hog! (He did too.)

Sunday, May 30

To Infinity...and Beyond!

Alex had an adventure with Daddy yesterday in which they took a trip to the Rye library for craft time. While playing with some of the puzzles in the children's room, Alex told Dan 'I like the space shuttle!'. Then he picked up the piece and 'flew' it around, informing Dan, 'I'm gonna be a pilot'. He didn't do that when he had the regular plane piece.

Sunday, May 30

Let Summer Begin!

The mall trip was in preparation of our Summer Kick Off day. I had seen a cool day coming up in the weather report and figured that would be an awesome day to take Alex to Playland. If timed right (which I didn't), the trip there is fairly short and we had a Fun Card left over from our trip 2 years ago.

The last time we took Alex to Playland, we had no clue what we were doing. He was far too young to understand any of it; far too young to ride any rides by himself or appreciate any prizes. Heck, he was far too young to appreciate the magic environment that surrounded him. I skipped Playland last year for this reason and we still had some 41 dollars' worth of ride tickets left on our Fun card.

What Alex lacked in appreciation when he was 1 year old in June of 2008, he MORE than made up for in excitement and appreciation now that he's 3 years old. He rode his first solo amusement ride yesterday on the Kiddy Whip in Kiddyland. It was a thrilling experience!

That day, Friday, was a magical day for him. He 'got' it. He understood the concept of an 'amusement park' - a phrase he got down cold before we even got there. He got the idea of the music playing on the boardwalk and the rides. He even got the idea of collecting tickets through arcade games, keeping his eye on a Volkswagen Beetle car that takes 350 pts. (We'd won a little over 70 on five dollars' worth of games. Mommy had a learning curve on maxing out tickets.)

He got the idea of souvenirs and "good" vs. "bad" rides. The grown up Ferris wheel was a "good" ride. (The Ferris wheel! Can you imagine??) The dark, tunnel based Olde Mill with its troll creatures was a "bad" ride, on which he was soon asking for the "new way out".

He was all about the hot dogs and ice cream. He was all about his prizes. He even really won a small rubber duck and bouncy duck through a rubber duck fishing game in Kiddyland. (Mommy and the operators helped a lot with the other games and prizes.)

Given that Playland is fewer than 3 miles away from us, I think it's time for season passes. Yay, Summer!

Saturday, May 29

Fashionista

Mommy took Alex to the mall today. It was high time that Mommy got some new summer clothing, since she practically has none that fits her. After a pleasant stroll to the bus stop, which involved many stops along the way, we hopped on the 60 headed to White Plains to shop at the Galleria.

Our first stop there was Macy's, where Alex was just thrilled to be riding the 'moving stairs' as he first called them. Squealing with glee he was!

I expected Alex to get bored with clothing shopping, so I tried to move as quickly as possible. I was on the hunt for shorts, casual capris and long summer tanks or tees. I grabbed two pair of jean shorts to get a good idea of my current size and Alex was quite patient with that. After establishing my size in Levis, I grabbed a few more shorts and pants. For matching purposes, had grabbed a long tunic top to try on with them. This top was a bold psychadelic floral, mostly in seashore/marine colors. I liked it, actually. It was just beyond my price tolerance, so I hadn't expected to buy it.

Now back in the changing room, Alex started to pay attention to what I was doing. First he told me that my underwear wasn't my underwear. 'Oh?' I said, 'Why isn't this Mommy's underwear?' 'It's red', Alex said, 'Your underwear is white.' That got a chuckle from some woman in a neighboring booth.
Then after I put on the floral tank, Alex told me that the shirt wasn't mine either. I said "No, I haven't bought it yet." "No, no!" he said, "Don't buy it!" I asked why not.

"That's for girls." he said. "Well Mommy is a girl, isn't she?" I asked. "No. Mommy is a woman." Alex declared. "That shirt is for girls."  I then asked him if he meant it was for little girls. "No", he said decisively, with all the certainty of a designer or professional dresser. "Big girls wear that shirt."

That's OK, Alex. It was 46 dollars and I didn't feel like spending that. I went out to look for more shirts. Alex took to pointing out all of the nearby shirts that weren't for me - which was most of them. I picked up a blue and white gauze shirt on sale and asked him if I could wear that one. He looked it up and down and said "Yes. That's Mommy's shirt." All others I looked at got the thumbs down. I asked him what shirts I CAN wear. He tapped my stomach, indicating the shirt I was already wearing. (Long sleeve, brown, jersey knit. No thanks for the summer, kiddo.)

Eventually, I suspected that Alex was vetoing all of the shirts because he wanted to ride the escalator again. I got him to be patient through my bathing suit and cover up shopping. (He was rewarded for that amazing patience with some chocolate covered pretzels and a new "punk car" later on.)

However, after the punk car, a diaper change, some toy browsing, lunch and a cool taxi shaped stroller rental, I set off for H&M now for a bunch of less expensive shirts. I really expected him to be out of patience now and want to be pushed in the cool taxi some more.

Instead, he had more opinions. H&M had a lot of striped light shirts around. I looked a few over. Alex had said something about "That's a man! That's a man!" and I hadn't really been paying attention. Finally he said more loudly, "That's a man shirt, Mommy! Put it back! Put it back!"
I thought maybe it was impatience, but he didn't say it for all of the shirts or for any of the shorts I looked at. I took a striped tee to try on; this one with pale PINK stripes. Indeed, Alex objected in the dressing room.

"That's a MAN shirt Mommy! Take it off!"

He begrudgingly approved of some floral long tanks when I showed him that they weren't AS loud as the other florals he'd nixed. A budding fashionista? Or maybe he just doesn't care to see Mommy in new styles. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Thursday, May 27

This garden has a shady spot...

A walk past F.E. Bellows school would not be complete without a visit to our special place. The year Alex was born, the school opened up its 'Life Garden', complete with a tree stump story corner, vegetable and herb garden, rain flow brook and recycled material totem pole.

Alex loves the place; especially the kid-sized bridge over a stylized drain-flow for rain water. We call it our 'Special place'. If Alex had his way, we would have spent all day there. As it was, our visit cost us a second bus missed.

Yeah, but it has a bridge!

Thursday, May 27

Never fear, Drains! Alex is here!

Before getting to the mall, we took our time strolling to the bus stop on Mamaroneck Avenue and Halstead. We strolled through the park, looking at the trees and plants, talking about things we'd learned in nature class. As always, Alex had to check out every drain and drain cover in the park, stopping to dump blades of grass or a leaf or two in them.

Once out of Florence Park, Alex asked me about the drain that had a lot of mud in it, and why it got that way and what do they do anyway? I explained what I could when Alex said 'I speak for the drains, Mama.'

You know, like Dr. Seuss' Lorax speaks for the trees. Drains have no tongues either.

He clarified himself within a half a block; it seems he WORKS for the drains. That's why he has to drop leaves and grass in them.

Thursday, May 27

Boldly Going Where He Has Not Gone Before

Alex has been making some large steps in conquering his fears lately. I saw lots of evidence of this at the Weinberg Nature Center's Eco-Fair last Sunday. Normally, Alex is afraid to ride ponies like he had at the Rye Methodist Nursery School Carnival. Yet, at the Stamford Nature Center last Monday, upon seeing a Shetland pony, he informed me that he 'needed' to ride that pony. I was thrilled to find out about the Eco-Fair and the presence of pony rides there.

At first, he told Dan that he wouldn't ride it. It took only a little coaxing. After he was on the pony, he was thrilled to be there and wanted to go again. We promised him that he'd ride the ponies again before we left.

Then, there was an exhibit of birds of prey, including even a flight show. I expected Alex to freak out about the flight show. The bird involved was a red-tailed hawk and Alex normally gets nervous if much smaller birds fly too close to him. This time, Alex was delighted to see the hawk speed through a line of people and dive bomb. He even wanted to be near the bird as it flew.

He's still not over his queasiness around reptiles and amphibians though. During the animal show, he was more than happy to walk right away from the snakes, frogs, lizards and turtles. He eventually checked out a red footed tortoise. (He would also surprised me a few days later by petting a corn snake in Nature Class.)

It seems my cautious little guy is getting bolder in his world.
 

Wednesday, May 26