Cartoon Man

My graphic art obsessed child struck again.

Ru is deep in a stage of writing his own little graphic novel scenes. He's left them scattered all over the house, mostly composed from the giant book of Asterix and Obelix stickers I gave him a couple of months ago. So fun to find them sifting around the desk, the kitchen counter and the playroom tabletop.
They are even starting to appear taped to the walls in hidden corners. Today I promised to take him to Kinko's to laminate one for each person in the family to use as placemats. (His dream!)
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Interview With A 7 Yr Old Inventor

This is homeschool. Ru spent all of quiet time working privately on this project and then showed up at my side while I was working and said, "Hey, Mom. Look!"

Bird Study + Lego +Free Time + Seven Year Old Brain......

                                        =This!

 Sometimes my kids drive me crazy. Sometimes they amaze me.

Secretary In Training

I love me some little boy cuteness. Dee is"writing" on his own a lot lately and practicing holding pens behind his ear on the sly. Mommy doesn't say a word. I don't think he knows I saw.

A Floral Execution

Too much Alice In Wonderland? A did just read it to the boys. This afternoon it was "Off with their heads!" for a whole flock of my sweetest and most unsuspecting daffodils.

That entire left-hand side of the front walk got scalped.

The guilty party. At least he was sorry when caught.

And the consolation prize is fists full of sweet daffodils on the table.

A Scepter From The Marsh

I think this is a variation on King of the Mountain done with phragmites in spring instead of snow piles in winter.

Nothing quite as fulfilling as plucking yourself the world's tallest stalk of grass and marching around the yard with it. Love the big, fat grin on my middle boy's face from earlier today. Such great triumph over a "little thing."

 

Ru, Here and Now

 Time to stop for a minute and think about this oldest boy of mine. What is he made of at the moment? Snips and snails and puppy dog tails undoubtedly but there are always a few unique ingredients if I take the time to pause and notice. Here's the rundown:

Ru Loves:

• Dogs and calves. Dogs have always been his heart animal (and interestingly his Chinese birth year animal too) but lately he's been open mouthed and willingly slobbered on for any calf he sees in addition to all canines that happen by. I think the calf attraction comes from reading a lot of Farmer Boy and hearing so much about Almonzo's yearing to have a team of calves of his own to train. 
• Stories of all kinds. I have yet to outlast his attention span...EVER, while reading to him from books. He frequently and eagerly requests rote, oral storytelling too and never wants them to stop. He will sit with books for hours on end, flipping through them and imagining the plots and we have several multi-cd books on disc that he listens and listens and listens too....every naptime, every nighttime, and most mornings if we end up in the car. Mommy eventually had to plea bargain for afternoons to be Mommy audio material time when driving. Pretty cool problem. The boy has ink in his veins. I like it.
• Graphic novels. His particular passions involve the trio of Tin-Tin, Asterix and Obelix and Calvin and Hobbes although he'll dip into Star Wars, Zita the Space-girl or Garfield on a whim too. He heads right for the comic book shelf in the library and spends all his time there every week.
• Playing outdoors. He is out every single day, no matter what the weather. He does all kinds of stuff...messing around with sticks, digging, lying on the lawn watching the sky, climbing the apple tree...etc. He loves to be out and he has no trouble making up his own fun. Makes a mama proud. :)
• Avocados w/ lime juice and salt. He and I are the house avocado lovers. Anytime he sees me preparing the slice one open he plea bargains for half of it. I don't mind sharing though since it makes me so happy to have him share my love the divine "alligator pear." We sometimes snuggle up together and split one for a snack, half a lime for each of us and a few cranks of the sea salt grinder and then we eat them with matching demitasse spoons, right out of the shells. Mmmmm.....
• Video game arcades. A has been taking the boys out for a special one-on-one Daddy Outing in rotation and Ru almost always wants to go to the huge video arcade a few towns over. He calls it his "most secret, favoritist place" and claims to be withholding it's identity and location from the rest of the family, lest we all discover the deep happiness to be found there. He pronounces it "art cave" which makes me want to giggle every time.
• Lemonade. Whenever he's allowed a special drink for a treat at the store or a restaurant he always asks for lemonade. It used to always be orange juice but I think the tide may be turning. I foresee a sidewalk stand in our future one of these days.
• The t.v. show How It's Made. He's obsessed! I'd never heard of this show until we accidentally bumped into it on Netflix on a whim but boy do I hear about it now. I hear it is a cable show from The Science Channel, basically the premise is that they take you into factories or wherever an object originates from and show you the nuts and bolts of how it is created. We've seen: snowboards, guitars, pencils, Cheerios, paintballs, kayaks and lots more, and I don't think this trend is going to be over anytime too soon. We've still got several episodes left. Love to watch his curiosity and hear him re-telling all the details to A over the dinner table later that night.
• Scaring people. He has discovered the fabulous comic effect and power-tinged elements of the startle reflex. He's far too good at scaring his little brothers who are frankly a big jittery around him now and far too bad at scaring his father and I who always give him bland reactions. This interest hits the nexus of two of his favorite topics at the moment: joking and power. Interesting to watch him struggle to understand and agreeably execute the old "Boo!" trick.
• Opening the car doors. A has started letting Ru have the car keys to go open up the doors on mornings when we're all trying to rush out of the house together. He feels like a million bucks to have his daddy's big jangly key chain and the responsibility of herding his two younger brothers into their seats.

 Ru Hates:

• Soup. Once in a fit of sobbing angst he told me that I was terribly mean because I always pick on him by doing horrible things like always making soup for dinner. Poor A (a real soup lover) had a good laugh over that one, I haven't actually quit making soup all together but knowing that it will be completely boycotted by the younger set has taken my output down a bit. Ru won't touch the stuff beyond the obligatory mouthful which goes down with much shuddering, no matter the ingredients. 
• Tension in movies. He calls it "scary movies" but the term misleads most people...we're not talking bad guys with guns and masks...he just means scenes of any tension or danger or stress or worry or fear. He can't handle it. It's fine in books, but these kinds of feelings in movies are too potent for him. I thought this was just a little kid thing until Dee grew past him in his tolerance level. We'll frequently notice now that Ru will leave the room in a dead panic and refuse the rest of a movie Dee is happily watching with no issues whatsoever. It's just the way this boy is wired. Tension gets to him.
• Going to sleep. Still not a fan of naps or actually bedding down at night. He likes to keep himself awake as long as possible...and in the morning he's nigh unto impossible to rouse. Groggy to the core. Silly little mouse. Once he's down he sleeps hard and long and doesn't rouse at all but man, he sure does fight it.
• Girls. We've reached the legendary stage when girls are icky. Although, to be fair...when coaxed a bit he will admit that he's not so much repulsed by them as interested and hurt when they giggle and run away or tease him. He really means he can't figure girls out. He insists that if the baby is a girl there will be hell to pay. Yesterday at lunch I floated the idea that maybe a sister would be good, "She could tell girls to be nice to you and help you understand them. And even if no other girls would be your friend, she would, right?" He seemed pretty into that idea. Again, Dee is so different here. 
• Waiting for things. He really hates postponements and having people put him off or make him wait. Patience is not his strong suite. He is a bit prone to pestering, even after he's been told yes if the desired outcome doesn't happen fast enough. Trying to work on teaching him a bit about respect and patience and delayed gratification. Big lessons.
• Taking his vitamins. He has all chewable, candy tasting vitamins and he says he likes the flavors, but every single morning I have to watch him to be sure he actually eats what I hand out instead of palming them into his pants or dropping them on the floor or shuttling them to the kitchen on his dirty plate. Still not sure what that's all about.

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The Nib Review

 Time for a little expose on my smallest son. He's almost sixteen months old, and still a cheery-hearted boy who is often a balm for my over-scheduled soul. When life is falling apart at the seams I frequently feel like he is the bright spot and I love his relational little self to pieces.

Nib Likes:

• Giving kisses. (so lovely, this stage!)
• Mornings. He's a glowing, chattering, cheery boy in the mornings...all mornings...starting at least by 7:30 AM but often 5 AM.
• Sweet corn. He got my Williams family corn obsession gene and will easily polish off a whole ear alone, two if he's allowed. 
• Dried fruit. He loves cranberries, cherries, blueberries, prunes, dates and anything else you let him try.
• Music. He's a dancer and a singer this one and he loves a good round of plunking notes out on the piano. Any repetitive noise can be danced to and sung along with if you're enough of a music lover: car alarms, nervous toe taps, squeaky hinges and the noise from a bowl of eggs being beaten with a fork.
• Nursing. He's still cutting the very last of his teeth so I'm being an indulgent and comforting mommy but the end of milk is in sight. I am feeling like I need to stop soon. Trying to enjoy every last bit before the end.
• Story books. He brings stories to A and I, often particular favorites (a board book picture dictionary or The Little Train are some of his loves)
• Sword fighting with his brothers. (all sticks become swords!)
• Babies. Babies need kisses and Nib is happy to oblige, along with kind pats on the head.
• Greeting people. He waves wildly and yells "HI! HI!" to passing strangers on the other side of the street when he's behind our closed living room window. Love the ardor he has about this new skill.
• The phrase "Uh oh!" Such an exciting thing to say, use it as often as possible.
• Plucking treats off the fruit table. Such delight! Take as many bites as you like and then chuck it....unless Mommy catches you!
• Helping empty the dishwasher. This is his particular chore. He loves to hand me silverware so I can put it away and also enjoys pushing "Start" when it has all been re-loaded.
• Eating. He is hungry far more often than three times a day right now. I feel like he wants to eat constantly. Handily his appetite is pretty broad and he self-feeds pretty neatly.

Nib Dislikes:

•  Cherry tomatoes. He loves the way they look and almost always wants to try one but they always come right back out with lots of spitting and a repulsed face. More Sungolds for me. :)
• Sharing. Nobody smaller than him? You can tell. He's sweet but a bit assuming as far as being the center of attention goes. Kid needs a few younger babies in his life.
• Being left out. He's really learned to be part of the pack and it drives him crazy to have his big brothers do things he can't...and it is four shades of terrible when they go away and he can't come. 
• Being in his car seat. The car seat shrieking stage was a little late in coming for this kid but it has definitely made it's appearance now. He is tolerant on short jaunts but on long car rides he has begun to assert his own, piercing will. 
• Being told no. He wants to be picked up when he orders it, to be read to on demand and to be given any snack he hauls out of the pantry. Limits are not cool. The next thing he plans to do is be two years old.
• Having his hair washed. He doesn't put up the wild fuss that his big brother Dee does but he doesn't like this part of bath time very well and complains about it until I finish and leave him to paddle in peace.
• Being carried or stuck in the cart at the grocery store. I still make him refrain because it is just too much for me to handle but he sure would love to be free to run down all the aisles in joyous, unrestricted glee. 
• The end of ice cream. Okay, maybe I'm stretching with this one, it might properly belong on the "Likes" list but he does put up a pouty-lipped royal fuss when his much enjoyed ramekin of ice cream is scratched-out-all-the-corners-empty and not one more drop can be coaxed out.
• Wearing socks or shoes in the car. Think you'll be efficient and appropriate and make sure I'm full dressed when I am buckled into the car before we head to the library. Ha! Think again, Mommy. No dice. Those suckers get shucked as fast as you can turn the engine over.
• Latched or locked doors. Nothing drives him batty faster than trying to open a door and finding it fast. He hates that!

And that's about the size of it. At the moment he's still a very mellow little person who is just starting to show us what thrills and frustrates him. I can't wait to see more of him unfold. He is a lovely little man and I am curious about what else the world will show him about himself, nothing left to do but wait some more and see!

Fresh Cut Grass

There is nothing like that first grass cutting of the year. Tonic, I tell you, tonic.

 

Dee At The Moment

 Oh, little Dee! Time for a little zoomed in focus on who this little person is turning out to be. I am trying to figure out how to handle all his little quirks and mannerisms. He's easily upset, only moderately communicative, and really hard to talk down once worked up, but also sweet-hearted, observant and very full of spirit. I find him both uniquely charming and particularly draining. I am so glad he's not a baby anymore as he is a lot more fun as a little boy.

As an infant he was a bundle of nerves, and pretty impressively colicky. I remember walking and walking the floor with him in my arms and wondering if the night would ever end. He's my asthma child, my surgery baby (see this post about his ptosis surgery), my wee engineer, my collector, and my thinker. I love working with him, having quiet moments alone together and watching all his little interests flicker and glitter as he tries on new ideas and expresses his likes and dislikes. Have a look yourself!

Dee Dislikes:

• The strings in fresh mango
• Spicy things....except for salsa...he likes salsa
• Pebbles in his shoes
• Buckling his seat belt
• Rumpled tags in the back of his shirt
• Getting things stuck in his teeth
• Ru, making faces
• Eating with a fork
• Tomato sauce on his pasta
• Open containers...he has to put lids on bottles, fasten hinges, lock locks and close boxes.
• Sunshine in his eyes
• Sleeping
• Red peppers
• Strong wind
• Having his hair cut or washed
  

Dee Likes:

• Painting (he could paint by the hour...especially if alone)
• Wiping things down with a sponge
• Watering plants (with his own little watering can)
• Baby ducks
• Soft eggs yolks
• The color yellow (everything should be yellow)
• Spiderman and Batman
• Motorcycles
• All seafood....smoked salmon, shrimp cocktail, steamed lobster....you name it!
• Cutting things with scissors
• Being outdoors alone
• Listening to birds "talk"
• Muffins
• Pancakes
• Steak
• Milk

A Boy List

It's been a while since there was a good list posting, eh? Time for a nice enumeration I say! Today, (inspired by the photo below of sweet Dee absorbed in the giant maze of a ball sculpture at the local Children's Museum...so just his thing!) I am sharing a list of reasons why it's great to have sons; of course lots of these things aren't exclusive to having boys but really, I wouldn't know any better anyway, right? I only have boys!

29 Reasons Why It Is Great To Parent Boys!

1. I am learning more about knighthood, construction equipment and Super Heroes than I have ever known in my whole life.
2. Someday, I ever have a daughter, an inquiring niece or a little female mentoree who is frustrated with males and asks me for advice, I will have all the inside tips!
3. I finally have a compelling reason to see Star Wars.
4. I get to dabble in a whole range of fashion I've never experimented with: bow ties and suspenders and boy underwear!
5. Seeing stories like The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe or Little House In The Big Woods through the male lens is pretty different and highlights fun bits I never noticed with my own viewpoint.
6. I am having conversations with A about what his childhood was like that I don't think I'd ever have thought of if we hadn't any little boys.
7. The impetus to re-assess sports and fitness.
8. I get lots more practice at hair cutting.
9. I get to learn bravery first hand.
10. Learning to throw a spiral and catch a baseball might actually happen in my lifetime.
11. My bras, earrings and high heeled shoes will always be curious fascinations; bizarre, rare objects that are puzzling and yet intriguing.
12. Hearing my little ones say to me passionately, "When I grow up, I'm going to marry you Mommy!"
13. Cooking in a few years is going to get really fun. I love to cook and I can't wait for the "bottomless pit stage" when I will be able to saute, bake and fry wildly and watch it all disappear with relish!
14. I get to inform a set of fresh young males on the ways of women and what we are all about. Cool and scary, all at once.
15. Hearing my son say bravely to his daddy "Don't worry! I'll take care of Mommy!" as he goes out the door.
16. Lots of pairs of strong arms around to help with all my future heavy lifting projects. *rubs hands with glee*
17. Being sure that nobody will raid my stash of pads or tampons on the sly and leave me low.
18. Lowered wedding costs in the future!
19. Not stressing about the overwhelmingly suffocating Disney Princess obsession.
20. The chance to raise some good-hearted, male feminists.
21. An inside look at male puberty. (come on...you know all you ladies were always curious!)
22. Experiencing The Boy Scouts!
23. Not dealing with that sissy-type-squeamish-girl-thing.
24. Watching even the baby, join the sword-fighting obsession in our family
25. Planning birthday parties and Halloween costumes for themes I never would have dipped into: dinosaurs, motorcycles and cowboys.
26. I will finally get the Windsor knot in my head. 
27. Lots of dance partners for years for square dances!
28. Better odds for many good map readers, logic puzzlers and mathematicians in the house.
29. Studying with my husband the puzzle of: what it means to be a man and what is important about masculinity.

Such fun stuff! Feels good to get a good list out there again. 

Scribble Shirts

Today, I had a little help in the form of a fabulous mother's-helper from church who brought her freckled brightness to our home and played endless games with two bouncing little boys so that I could multiply my hours and get astounding amounts done. There is fresh clean laundry...there are matched socks...there is even warm banana bread...and there were even naps for all three of my sons!

Muh!!!! Is she cute or what?

Heavens!

With all this fabulous bounty of energy and productivity I thought it was a good time to squeeze a little sewing project into our lives. Its been about forever and a day since I had a needle in cloth and I miss it. In our new house, I'm hoping to set up the sunroom to be a delicious Carlie Oasis where I can lay out patterns and cut them, water ridiculous amounts of plants, set up my easel and pose subjects for blog photography. Plan to come visit and check it out sometime...but yeah, I digress.

Anyhow! I decided to launch into a sewing project I'd been toying with a formulating slowly in my mind for a while and suddenly, once I'd decided I was sewing something, the idea gelled completely and somewhat instantly and there I was with a plan!

See, Dee has too few t-shirts for wearing in this hot weather (like four? which all end up in the hamper far, far too quickly) and he has too many of these plain white undershirts...

...enter semi-obvious "Plan"....make some of these undershirts into legitimate shirts via decoration of some variety.

I pulled out one of my fabric scrap bags and let Dee choose his favorite (bright red, what else!), cut it into squares and handed him an ink pen. He drew the scribbles of his choice and then for fun I did one and lent the pen to Ru to do a square of his own to decorate a plain tee that he had in his bottom drawer. Why leave anyone out?!?

Then, I took their pen marks and embroidered on top of them (thus to make them show up and make them more decoratively permanent. For Ru's more representational art I included a little title (Balloons with a Seatbelt, for those who wonder!) and also embroidered the date (an oversight I mean to correct on Dee's) and then I zig-zag appliqued them to the shirts!

Voila! Instant t-shirts, instant sewing project and instant artistic coolness in our ultra-productive day!  

Yay sewing!!! 

Ru-minating

Since we covered his little brother yesterday, (and it has been requested) it only seems logical to follow with Ru's latest deep loves so that we cover the subject thoroughly and make sure we've got everyone all analyzed and duly recorded for posterity.

Ru Likes:

• Water...the boy can drink it by the gallon...at every meal, and every snack and pretty frequently between eating sessions. He always asks me if I have the water bottle when we're getting in the car, even a ten minute jaunt down to church isn't safe from "the question."
• Books of endless variety. He has an insatiable appetite for "story" and spends hours every day thumbing through books cross-legged on the floor by the bookcase. I am a very happy mommy.
• Sweets. He's our sweet tooth...just like his daddy. Chocolate? YES! Cake? YES! Pie? YES! Ice-cream? Oh YES! He is after all the same little boy who learned the word "doughnut" before he supposed to even be talking according to the official time lines.
• Skateboarding. I honestly wasn't sure if his little affection for the sport would last beyond the novel purchase of his board but I needn't have worried. He skateboards every single day. It rivals reading. And frankly, for a four-year-old, he's pretty darn good!
• Hot Dogs. Did I mention that he's not terribly health conscious?
• Parks. He loves parks for one of the same reasons I drag my heels about getting up the gumption to go to them. All the other little kids. He loves all the play equipment too and the change to be outside and the novelty of going somewhere different but, when it comes right down to it...its all about socializing. He loves people.
• Showers. One of the only things that will get him out of the pool or out of bed in the morning with any sort of cheery speed is the promise of his own shower.
• (speaking of which...) Swimming! A bought him a mask and flippers for his birthday and at the tail end of last summer he learned how to go underwater smoothly and that was it...he was off. He swims until his lips are purple and he's rattling like a set of castanets every time we swim.
• "Babysitting" He loves it when I let him "watch" the baby while I cook dinner or rotate the laundry or answer the door. Nothing like a little responsibility to make your chest swell.
• Cooking. He loves to cook, bake, cut things up, or even just stand there and stir something I do the rest. Get that boy in an apron and he is very happy which makes his Mama happy too!
• Dogs. He still loves dogs just as much as he did when he was a tiny tot. This boy is destined to have his own romping, sweet-hearted little mutt to play with someday. House first, kids second...dog third. Its on the list.
• This song. I have no idea why but, he's wildly, madly attached to it. I'm not sure where in the world he heard it first or how he got the affection all cemented in his little brain but, somehow it happened. It goes on all of our mixed cd's now and he has memorized Ray Charles little vocal tricks and habits.
• Ben P_______. Speaking of illogical love.... Ben is one of A's coworkers and Ru overheard his name being mentioned in end-of-the-day discussion at the dinner table and decided he thought Ben (of whom he knew nothing and whom he had never met) was wonderful. His name became a chant around the house that Ru worked into any number of playtime pretends and then when A decided to invite Ben and his wife over for dinner the obsession reached a fever pitch. Meeting the man in the flesh did nothing to cool Ru's ardor (thankfully Ben is a charming, funny, kid-loving kind of chap) and he still asks A almost daily about if Ben saw such-and-such or knows about such-and-such or "Could you tell Ben....." 

Its A Boy!!!!

This morning, just as the sun rose our third son was born! We have three strapping boys at our house now! Woohoo!!! I'm gonna be a boy expert before this is all over.

Reid Solomon Armstrong was born at 5:02AM May 20th

He weighs 8lbs and 14oz....bigger than Dee (7lbs 14oz) and smaller than Ru (9lbs 8oz) so he fits soundly right in the mix.
He was 21 inches long and had a 13.5 inch head circumference.

 He was born with pretty much no head molding, big round pink head right from the get-go, and a dusting of dark brown hair. He is wonderfully alert although quite snuggly and easy-going, no serious screaming sessions yet. He has a deep little baritone sneeze which makes all of us giggle and long elegant toes and feet that he clearly got from his daddy and not from me. *grin* I can't get over how very robust and strong and healthy he is....he has wonderful skin tone, a few rolls on his chubby little arms, an extra chin and excellent muscular strength. He has big juicy red lips which he likes to suck on and pucker and the sweetest little round chin that looks like someone glued a little pink ping pong ball to his lower lip. Such a sweet boy. I'm so proud of making such a top rate little person!

His name Reid is a family name on both sides of our families. On A's side we're remembering and honoring Baby's paternal great-grandfather whose first name was Reid...a stalwart and honorable Northern Michigan salt-the-earth working man who ran a little gas station in a small town and was the kind of hard-working and resourceful ancestor we all admire fondly. On my side, Reid is a maternal family surname...another hard-working clan from Northern Michigan. So, he's a well connected little guy for sure with lots of great legacy to live up to.

His middle name, Solomon, is a nod to the wisest man who ever lived, a euphonious handle that A and I both love aesthetically and it means "peace" which is wonderful label to give your child to carry through life.

Anyhow, life is peachy. There is opera music and birdsong floating through the house, the sun is beaming onto my bed where I'm typing with little Reid bundled up next to my thigh making little grunting noises and I can smell dinner cooking mixed with the aroma of the next door neighbor's grill and the freshly cut lawn. A, Ru and Papa (my parents are here!) are out at the store picking out a miniature birthday cake to celebrate Reid's zeroeth with per our little family tradition. I am feeling pretty fabulous and extremely loved and spoiled. There are some moments in life when it feels achingly like it could not easily get better.