All by himself! (For the most part.)

The "S" was accidental, and the "N" required help, but otherwise, this was all P-man!

Not bad for a Monday

Courtesy of a lovely case of pink eye, our weekend got extended into what will be a total of 4 days. Ahh the glory of working part-time. I'm confident my colleagues are not too pleased with this situation, but I already pushed the limits by sending him to school on Friday with the early stages of pink eye, and I'm quite sure Preston's teachers would not let me get away with it again. 

After we completed the mutually painful and traumatic 2-hour process of instilling antibiotic ointment into a 3-year-old's eyes, we headed for the park to expend some energy. 

I'm not sure if I just haven't noticed it before, but I'm pretty sure this painted track is a new addition to Santoro Park. I think it was just an old tennis court green-top before. It makes for an awesome bike path, and since the park is essentially closed down at this time of year, I can bring the dog without anyone around to notice. Preston and Bailey had an equally excellent time. It was the second time in a week she got to accompany us to the park.

Last week:

She pretty much thinks she owns the place now.

Also, (for the record,) in the past 24 hours, Preston has used the words "recognize" and "proboscis" in a sentence.

That is all.

Halloween 2014

Here's my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!!

There are so many great things about Halloween with a 3 & 3/4 year old. 

1. They don't object when you duct tape brown socks around their knees in a lame attempt to replicate the bottom half of the Ninja Turtle costume, that apparently this store-bought version was too cheap to include. 

2. It is the first time you get to go semi-legit trick-or-treating.

3. All the neighbors recognize you and your child, and think he's adorable, and give him extra helpings of candy.

4. Your 3 & 3/4 year old doesn't quite know what it's all about, so you can pretend like he only gets to have 1 or 2 pieces of candy when you get home, and then the rest just seemingly disappears, without explanation.

5. With said candy out of sight, one day later your 3 & 3/4 year old has completely forgotten about its existence. 

6. Because your child is only 3 & 3/4, you can reasonably argue that candy has no role in his diet, and subsequently claim it all for yourself. Thanks neighbors!

Other Fun Facts about the TMNT's:

Preston's only knowledge of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is completely hearsay. From what I gather, 2 boys at school have hyped them up so much, and engage in so much pretend-Turtle play, that Preston is now familiar with all the main characters, and thinks they're all awesome. Most of our days at home are spent pretending WE are Ninja Turtles. He will tell me that I'm Mikey, or Donny, or Leo, and that we're going to go fight the bad guys. Usually we use pretend weapons (and by weapons, I mean invisible objects that I have refrained from identifying as anything associated with violence), but now, thanks to this costume, we actually have real swords, which has stepped up our Ninja Turtle game to another level. Thanks, Halloween!

Throwback tuesday

I recently discovered a treasure trove of videos and pictures on Gigi's ipad, that, to my knowledge, have never been downloaded before. So here is a sampling of said videos, with approximate dates:

circa winter 2011

Easter-ish 2013

2nd Birthday!! 

Raspberry picking selfies

We had an awesome time picking raspberries at Navarino's farm yesterday. Their raspberry rows are atleast a quarter-mile long, and Preston had a blast running up and down them, playing "catch me if you can," and the like. The paths were perfectly manicured with lush grass, and we spent a good deal of time sitting, crawling, playing, and rolling around on the ground. It was quite wonderful. The sun was out, but it was breezy and cool, and we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Doesn't get much better. I even managed to capture some real smiles with my iphone, although he kept telling me to "put that thing away." 

Favorite things about 3

One of the best things about Preston at 3 is the off-the-cuff dialogue. Tonight at dinner:

Pman: Mom, can I tell you something?

Me: Sure, bud.

Pman: When you were a baby, you grew, and grew, and grew, until you were my mommy. But first you were a girl. 

I love it! He has been going through a phase where he regularly comments about being a baby, and growing in my belly, and pointing out that now he is a big boy. He loves to look at my pregnancy photos and his birth photos. He ALWAYS points out that he cried when he was born.

"I grew, and grew, and grew, and then I popped out of your belly. And then I cried. Why was I crying?"

It's hilarious. To me, anyway. He also loves to wrap his stuffed animals in his blanket and carry them around and call them his babies. 

Gender is another topic of interest. He frequently points out that I'm a girl, and he's a boy. And that he's going to grow up and grow a beard like his daddy. I pulled out a purple surfer-themed tank top for him to wear the other week, and as he pulled it over his head, he paused, and looked down at it, squinted his eyes, raised one eye brow, and said, "Why is this a girl's shirt?" I had to explain that boys can wear purple, too. The other week I pointed out a guy on a motorcycle, only to have them drive by and realize it was a female. I corrected myself, and said, "Actually bud, it's a girl driving that motorcycle." He promptly disputed that fact, and informed me that only boys can drive motorcycles. Me: ......Wellllllll, bud, actually girls can drive motorcycles, too. 

Pman: Nope. Girls don't drive motorcycles. Girls wake up in the morning, and go to work, and drive their cars.

Ha! I quickly realized that pretty much everytime I point out a motorcycle, I say something to the effect of, "Look, bud! There's a guy on a motorcyle!" 

Gender bias: Mommy's fault. 

Here's the Pman enjoying carrots from our garden:

August 5th

Today we enjoyed several hours of play outside. This morning, Preston had a good time using a watershooter to spray just about everything in and around our yard, and anything else within a 20 foot radius. This was followed by trying to spray letters on the sidewalk, then painting the sidewalk, then leaving wet footprint tracks on the sidewalk. It was apparently so exhausting that he actually had to ask me to bring him inside so he could go to bed. I think that has only ever happened once before.  Then this evening he ventured back out, this time with his sidewalk chalk. I was very impressed with his drawings, because this is the first time they have ever taken any kind of form, other than scribbles or maybe some circles. The second picture looks like a scene out of CSI, but really he had just asked  me to draw his silhouette a few times. The drawings in the third picture he did completely on his own, and I forget what exactly they were supposed to be. They started out as fireflies, then minions, but then at the end I know he mentioned something else. I was quite impressed though! 

forgive the lovely grass-less spot in the center of my lawn; I am still debating whether to plant another tree or just do grass. And home improvement projects are very slow to progress when you are a single mother! 

A lost post. From May.

A 2 week synopsis:

Another Toddler Tango class: Initially I thought Preston kept ending up with this pair of glasses by chance. I mean, music class is only once a month. But this is now the third time in a row he's ended up with this pair, so I guess it is quite intentional, and he is quite fond of this look. I turned the phone towards him so he could do pseudo-selfies. 

Needless to say, Preston had another delightful time at Toddler Tango. It's totally up his alley, with all the singing and dancing.

Last weekend was Big Rig Day, and once again, we attended with Wesley. This year, the boys each had their own agenda, so we kept parting ways and then regrouping, only to part ways again. The boys did enjoy the cow train together though. We also ran into just about every boy in their pre-school class. I guess Big Rig Day isn't considered much of a girls event.

If you can compare faces close up, you will see that Wesley is practically jumping out of his seat with excitement, and Preston is all business here. 

Wesley still waving to the crowd. Preston still all business.

Investigating the back of an ambulance.

From L-->R: Preston, cameo by classmate Leo, and Wes.

And here is a cameo by Asher, another pre-k buddy.

Our only, and clearly failed attempt, at getting a moms + boys shot. 

Preston stood in line for a solid 40 minutes to get this creation. He did do some windsprints around the field house, but stayed in the general vicinity, and despite frequent attempts by me to abandon our post, was insistent on staying the course. 

Theo and Beck's 3rd birthday party!! This is the first time I've ever caught all 3 smiling in the same shot!! 

Hat Day at the library. Only I forgot to bring a hat. Luckily the librarian anticipated this and had a selection available for other children with forgetful parents. Preston scored the Cat in the Hat hat. 

1st day of the year up at the cottage, sans grandparents. Not a whole lot to do without Oompa and Gigi around, but Mommy sure enjoyed the change of scenery and general tranquility of being near the water.