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!