Shaping Up

Just a quick yet hilarious Will story. We were driving back from a party at our new Skipper's house last week. We were discussing Will's new class at school and I mentioned that I think he's one of the oldest in the class. He retorted that he can't be the oldest because there were a lot of kids who are bigger than him. Ah, yes, to a five year old bigger = older. If only that were true...I'd be very young compared to all my tall friends! So the discussion continued about how people "come in all shapes and sizes", etc. He was quiet a minute and then pipes up with, "Then why don't people have square heads or triangle heads?" Ahahahahaha! Keith and I both busted out laughing. It was great. I love the literal translation with kids. So innocent. And the best part...he was totally serious! Love that guy.

Achoo, he says

Archer, or shall I say Achoo, is at that wonderful age when funny things come out of his mouth constantly. He's been calling Will "Whoa" for a while now and just this week told me his name was "Achoo". As in sneeze. I love it. At least he is finally saying his name. He's actually talking non-stop now, learning people's names, his colors, numbers, etc. Last week as we were walking into school to pick up Will, we were passed by a puppy. Archer (or shall I say Achoo) says, "Mom, look at that "arf" (puppy), it's cute." I was blown away by the long sentence. Language is developing and it's fun to witness.

What else has Achoo been up to? Well last week he started going to the Learning Playhouse, which offers classes for 2 and 3 year olds. He goes Thursday mornings for a few (blissful) hours. It's not much, and he could use more socialization and time away from mom, but it's a start. He was very excited to go to his first day of "school" and packed his backpack with the essentials (diapers, wipes, etc). I was afraid he would have a hard time separating from me but his first day went great. He looked at me and said, "bye bye, Mom!" and turned away to play. Success! His second day is tomorrow; here's hoping it goes as smoothly!

Other Archerisms at the moment, he's obsessed with the show Mighty Machines. A friend handed down these old DVDs from the 90s that are pretty much just real shots of actual construction trucks, fire trucks, street sweepers, etc. The kid is obsessed. I hear "I want to watch Mi-means" about 10 times a day. The floor sleeping continues. The transition from crib to toddler bed has been ROUGH to say the least. The daily routine is read books, lay Archer in his bed and then run like hell to get to the door and close it before he gets there too. Then he stands in his room and cries and eventually ends up napping (sometimes all night) next to the door. Above he can be seen through the patio door, napping in the doorway. I'm not sure what to do about this; I keep hoping it will eventually work itself out. Or maybe I'll just move his bed right next to the door and make things easier on all of us!

Birthday, the sequel

Because one day of birthday goodies and presents isn't enough, we celebrated Will's 5th birthday a second time last weekend, but this time it was with all of his friends. And because a 5 year old can't choose just one theme, we had a Lego Star Wars bowling party. Phew! It makes my head spin just thinking about all that chaos! But it was a great party. Grandma Gigi was visiting and made the very creative and colorful Lego Star Wars Cake. Lucky for us Grandma's visits usually coincide with Will's birthday; my attempts at a birthday cake don't quite fit the bill! Will invited all of his buddies to his party (turned out only boys could make it, an added bonus for a 5 year old) and they rolled away for a few hours. Archer even got in on the bowling fun (check out those tiny bowling shoes) and would yell "go ball go!" every time it was his turn.

We had the party at the bowling alley on base and they took Will's picture and put it on the big screen during the games. I'm pretty sure no one broke any bowling records but they did have a good time; plus everyone went home with a blow-up light saber and some glow-in-the dark goo. Now that says boy birthday party! Oh and last week Will's teacher asked if they could celebrate his birthday in school since they only missed it by a few weeks. Um, okay. What's one more celebration?! Will is now officially 5 and we're done celebrating until next year. I hope.

Archer, on the other hand, is still 2. Of the terrible variety. The kid is so cute but a total tantrum throwing terror at times (like when we're trying to eat at In 'n Out...clearly he doesn't get the importance of such an occasion!) The transition to big boy bed hasn't gone as planned and usually results in an hour or so of wailing followed by sleep in some random corner of the bedroom (rarely in the actual bed). Oh Archer. He loves telling people that he's 2, while showing 1 or 3 fingers. Never two fingers. Hahaha. He also loves to tell Will no. But his "Will" sounds like "Whoa" so we get a lot of "No, Whoa!" I wonder where he gets that? However, if anyone tells Archer no or gives him a dirty look, he acts wounded and cries about his "ouchie". Apparently his feelings get hurt, literally, by discipline. His new thing is getting attention by becoming "stuck" on everything and anything. He'll get tired going down the stairs and will call out "I'm stuck!" until someone carries him the rest of the way. He also gets stuck while cleaning up toys, going to bed, during nap, during dinner, etc. The kid gets stuck more than anyone else I know. He's a manipulative little guy, that's for sure. But he's still so sweet (when he's not hitting and throwing things, that is). Pretty soon he too will be off to school so I'm trying to enjoy the time we have together. I've also learned to stuff cotton balls in my ears and deflect Legos that are aimed for my head. Survival skills of moms.