This month, I want to celebrate the Fountain of Youth!
Oh, youthfulness... it is pretty great. These guys seem to never run out of energy!
Charlie and I, on the other hand... We're into our mid-thirties now, and are noticing that maybe, just maybe, we're starting to get older. I wake up in the mornings with all kinds of aches in my joints and Charlie broke a tooth on a fruit gummy snack the other day. True story. We don't like to admit it, because it doesn't seem possible, but we're not as spry as we used to be. I think we may have found that elusive Fountain this month though in the form of nostalgia while playing with our children.
To say Bruce is enamored with Playmobil pirates is an understatement. But to say Charlie and I aren't just as obsessed with them is a downright lie.
These little guys bring me back to life in Germany. Eight years old. They were (and still are) expensive, and eBay didn't exist back then, so I didn't have many - but these were like treasure to me. And boy-Charlie loved them, too. Needless to say, Bruce doesn't have to twist our arms for us to get down on the floor to play pirates with him. And after he goes to bed each night, when we're "picking up" - you can bet that there's a little diorama building going on in this household...
Earlier this month, we found ourselves at Toy R Us to make a birthday "wish list" after Abby woke up from a less-than-ideal-lengthed nap. They were running a special, so I bought each kid a "mystery" Playmobil figure. Bruce's turned out to be a football player, and while I was clearly bummed, he had no issue turning him into a pirate as soon as we got home. Great attitude, that kid has.
The next day, Bruce begged to go back and get another mystery bag figure, but he didn't have enough money. Can you believe that boy helped with two loads of laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, cleared the breakfast table dishes, cleaned both toilets, picked up the entire living room so I could vacuum, fed all the animals, and washed the back door window in less than thirty minutes? Motivated. Without a doubt, we paid that boy. This time he got a wizard - and let me tell you, we have had so much fun with that wizard.
I spent a few evenings staying up entirely too late making a wizard cottage, and all of us take turns making potions for magic tricks. A few favorites spells include making pirates disappear, or turning items into chocolate chips.
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| adding in the secret ingredients |
Abby continues to love her babies, but has become more sophisticated in her care for them - and it's been so much fun to play with her! She likes to put them to bed in various cradles or baskets, then shout, "Wake!" moments later. Then she gets the baby (or monkey-baby), wraps it in a makeshift blanket, and pats its back while walking around the living room. She thinks it's great fun when you make the baby "cry" and tell her what you think the baby needs. She'll fix food for the babies, including putting some in the toy-kitchen microwave, pushing the buttons, removing the food saying, "hot, hot" - she even blows on it to cool it off. She'll bathe the babies, read to them, and sometimes hand them off for you to snuggle. She'll get your attention and say, "Shh shh" when she wants you to sing a lullaby, but it never fails that just as the baby starts to drift off, she'll yell, "Wake!" and it all starts over again. Love that girl, and love interacting with her in these moments!
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| okay... so we collapse on the couch long before bedtime... |
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| good thing our kiddos love couch time snuggles too |
We may not have actually found the Fountain of Youth, but here are some tips I've gleaned from our in-house experts - they might just hold the key secret of how to stay young:
1) Let someone else cook all of your meals.
2) Whenever possible, let someone else take care of all the cleaning and house maintenance.
3) Never settle for "no" the first time
4) Never turn down sugar
5) Always test the laws of nature
6) Question the monetary value of everything
7) Let all of your needs and opinions be known emphatically
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| When deciding which way to turn on our neighborhood walks... Every single time... |
8) Don't hide your fears
9) Befriend every living creature that crosses your path
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| Bruce and the baby ducklings! |
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| just join in the line! |
10) Go to bed early, and wake up early.
11) Take a hot bath every night
12) Eat your boogers. Seriously... this may be the key...
13) Play in your skivvies as much as possible.
And while being a "responsible" adult limits some of this list, I think there really is some wisdom in there for maintaining youthful vigor.
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| I guess even their energy eventually runs out... |
Other Highlights and Kidbits for the month:
We celebrated the 4th of July, complete with fireworks! Charlie had some work to do for the Perkins library renovation project, so the kids and I spent some time with Charlie's mom while he took measurements and sweated through his clothes. We stopped by a fireworks stand, loaded up a basket with sparkling and crackling goodies, and tried to convince the kids it would be "fun." They mostly watched from inside the house through the glass door. Oh well, maybe next year. Charlie had fun lighting them off at least.
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| lunch at the Mexican restaurant - no pics of the fireworks - too much drama! |
Since being stung by a wasp, Bruce has been too scared to play outside for most of the month. That, coupled with the heat and the mosquitos, has made it pretty easy to spend a lot of our time indoors this month. He still prefers to dress like a pirate most days, and keeps his Playmobil pirate fleet and crew strewn about the living room, engaged in various adventures. It's so cute to hear him talk between the pirates, and I love the sea chanteys he sings all day long.
One quirk about Bruce this month, is that he went through about a week-long phase where he just shook his head when answering yes or no, instead of giving the verbal answer. But then, he would always follow with saying, "I did my 'yes' sign." or, "I did my 'no' sign." A different week, he started making exaggerated "mm-hmm"s and "uhn-uh"s for yes and no... But this week, we seem to be back to normal. Silly boy. A new expression he's been using is, "Speaking of..." but his comparisons don't always make sense. My favorite was at dinner the other night he said, "Speaking of twist ties, I need to pee!" I love how he tries to insert all kinds of expressions into his conversations, even if he's still learning how they work.
Abby is trying her best to convince me to let her become a nudist. I wouldn't have too much of a problem with this, except for the fact that she has absolutely no bladder control. And if she had a super power, I think it would be the frequency she is capable of urinating. The girl is unreal. Inside, the rule is now she has to have at least a diaper on, but as soon as she steps through the back door, she immediately starts peeling off all of her clothes. I've even found her pant-less and diaper-less in her crib in the middle of the night on more than one occasion...
One sweet thing that Abby has been doing this month, is whenever Bruce is crying - whether it's because he's hurt, or having a meltdown because life isn't how he expects it to be, or because he's sitting in time out - she'll start bringing him "presents" to help make him feel better. It's so surprising how she knows just what items will make him happy. In these moments, she's even willing to part with her most special, precious things. I love her concern for him.
This month has flown by, and it's hard to even recount much of how we spent most of our time. There weren't any huge milestones conquered that I can think of, no grand adventures - but the humdrum that is our daily life has been pretty sweet.
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| going on a leg ride while Charlie is attempting to leave for work |
Here are a few pictures of some mini-adventures we had this month:
We went to Cow Appreciation Night at Chic-fil-a and got a free dinner for dressing like cows!
We went to the library Summer Reading Superhero Celebration Dinner!
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| I went as "WowMom", Bruce was a pirate (they can be heroes, too - right?), and Abby refused to dress up as anything |
We went to Chuck E. Cheeses for the first time! I know it'll change as they get older, but for now, we had an afternoon of fun for less than ten bucks!
It was hot, but we spent an afternoon at the duck pond!
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| the only way to feed the ducks and geese without them closing in to attack you! |
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| "Look mama! There are letters carved on this rock!" |
And we've spent several afternoons at the splash pad!
We can feel summer is coming to a close, but we're excited about the adventures waiting for us next month - especially Pre-School!
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| Look at this big boy! Who still doesn't know if he's a lefty or a righty! |
