Monkey House

Buncha photos this time! You lucky people….

Hallowe’en was pretty exciting for the little guy this year. We hadn’t built it up for a super-long time, but he knew it was coming. We coached him in “Trick or Treating”, had been doing some crafts leading up to the day, and of course we had our annual pumpkin carve-off. We tried to get Cole in on the fun with the squishy gooey pumpkin guts, but he wasn’t into it. In the end, we let him paint a small pumpkin his Nana bought for him at the Farmer’s Market. Read the rest of this entry »

Eggs

The monkey selected a book for reading the other day, called “The Twelve Days of Summer”. As you may have guessed, it’s a transformation of “Twelve Days of Christmas,” and one we hadn’t read together very often. I think this was our second time reading it.

“On my first day of Summer, the sunshine brought to me a song sparrow nest for three,” I quasi-sang.

“Ehhhhhhhggs (eggs),” my son said.

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Two small things, both relating to reading:

1. The monkey is fascinated with letters and numbers lately (though, he doesn’t know the difference quite yet, so he refers to the latter as “letters” also). I don’t mind in the least that about seventeen-thousand times a day he asks, “what do THOSE letters say?” or “what does THIS one say?” Not even being sarcastic; I could answer those questions all day long because I know they signify an interest in written language. And that’s at least a SMALL indicator that he might end up a reader (hopefully among other interests and strengths!).

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Bedtime has been a bit exasperating lately. Here’s how a typical night plays out (our son is in his terrible twos, not so incidentally):

1. Struggle with him to get him to the toilet for his last pee before bed. (this involves him running from room to room and us trying not to “give in” and play his game, but usually failing and having to grab him and carry him like a sack of potatoes to the bathroom)
2. Struggle with him to get his nighttime underwear on. (if we’re using the change table, this involves him arching his back and trying to flip around. If we are doing it standing, this involves him kicking his feet viciously in an attempt to not have them threaded through his legholes)
3. Struggle to get him to keep his mouth open for toothbrushing. (this goes better some nights than others. threats and bribes—sure signs of bad parenting—abound)
4. Sweetly and co-operatively say goodnight to the things in his room, a la “Goodnight Moon”. He enjoys this part and almost never refuses it unless he’s dead tired and just wants his bed.

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I did a few things poorly as a dad today. The monkey didn’t have his afternoon nap, and yet wasn’t making it through the afternoon with any sort of grace and “withitness”. A few weekends ago he missed both Saturday and Sunday (by design) and didn’t seem to miss the naps all that much.

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