On the side wall where cars pass by, however, there are two small movie posters that show the current movie fare, and as our car passed by today, Kieran called from the back, “Mommy! That place must be a movie theatre! I know it from the signs!” This is a child who has been to one movie in his life, a year ago, and yet he still remembers the posters displayed all over the theatre. He saw two similar posters this morning on an otherwise bland building and managed to conclude that the place is where people go to see movies.

I really need to remember to ask Kieran the next time I’ve lost my keys or have that feeling I’m forgetting something at the grocery store.

And in other developing news, Liam was very excited to have finished two bracelets for a friend in the knitting block of his handwork class. (All children at Waldorf schools learn to knit in first grade. Not only is it fun and relaxing, but it builds fine motor skills for later work with pencils, pens, and paint brushes.) Today, though, he made the mistake of speaking about handwork class to a 2nd grade child. I’m not sure what Liam heard from his older schoolmate, but all I know is he climbed in the car at pickup time today saying, “Mom? Mommy? I am so in trouble in 2nd grade because they have to learn to purl in that class and they say it’s REALLY HARD! And I thought knitting was hard! I think I should stay in 1st grade forever….”

He was, however, a bit more relaxed when I told him that since he knows how to cast on, cast off, and knit, once he learns the purl stitch he’ll be set to tackle any knitting project he dares to pursue. Last I heard of this, he was imagining knitting a functional robot. I guess I should have put some explanation on the phrase “any project you wish to pursue.”

Three weeks ago we started potty training with Kieran. The first couple of days we weren’t sure he was going to take to it at all, but once he had a couple of successful visits to the bathroom, the lightbulb went off in his head illuminating for him the idea that using the bathroom is ever so much easier than waiting for Daddy or Mommy to change his diaper. And it’s been smooth sailing ever since. We had him in diapers at night initally, but he’s been so dry in the morning that we’re switching to training pants for now, and I don’t think he’s going to need those for much longer.

We are so proud of him, and so happy to have our diaper bag toting days behind us! And Kieran is loving his new freedom. The only downside is that now he wants to visit the bathroom any time we go to a new place just to check it out, silly guy. Sometimes when children reach a new milestone it’s a bittersweet moment, but not this time. This one has everyone here doing the Happy Dance!

In other news, today was an extra fun day for the boys and me. Despite getting a late start out of the house, we managed to make it down to South Jersey to visit Suzanne, Sean, and Allie of Mimilou fame. We hit some road construction going down and back but actually even that worked out well since spotting graders and excavators kept the boys busy and minimized the number of times the famous, “Mommy, are we there yet?” question was asked.

It’s been a couple of years since we’ve seen our friends – Kieran was still crawling then, and it was lovely to see them all again. The kids picked up where they left off last time, and even in the heat, the boys enjoyed a walk to the park and playing spies on the climbing equipment with Sean and Allie. Allie was also very sweet to Kieran by taking on the role of his little Mommy and carefully shepherding him up a ladder, and then pushing him on the swings. Wjile the kids were playing, Suzanne and I got to catch up, which was wonderful. All the way home the boys kept asking when we could go back and play some more. Thanks for the fun playdate, guys! We definitely need to get together soon, perhaps to do some apple picking.

So that’s the latest news hot off the Menagerie House presses. It’s a good to be ending the summer with fun and friends, and we’re planning to make the most of our remaining weeks of summer break.

He often pretends to be doing household work when he is playing. I’ll hear him mumbling to himself about folding clothes, or reminding himself not to spill the “water” when he is “washing” toy dishes in a sink set up in a tub on the piano bench. It is very sweet to hear his little soprano voice describing how to load a dishwasher-”the gwasses go on the second shelf-see? Shelf one, shelf two! And the pwates go on the bottom-see them standing on their sides? They never do that on the dining table! And now we add the soap-not too much! It rinses out in the water and we need to keep the Earth healthy!”-and so on.

The other afternoon Kieran helped me throw in an unexpected load of towels for the washer. I thought I was watching him closely, but I guess I missed something, or else he came back later to finish the job. Anyway, not too long after we started the machine I heard an awful thumping coming from the washer. Wondering if we would be shopping for a new machine in the near future, I entered the laundry room and opened the lid:

After I rescued Rocket from the water and dried him off, I asked Kieran why he had put the flyer in there in the first place. “Well, Mommy, actually, Rocket transformed himself into a submarine just so he could learn to do the laundry even better than I do!”

If you look closely, you’ll see that Rocket does indeed have his periscope up. At any rate, I just love helpers who take their jobs seriously enough to want to share the joy!

The big event was this afternoon, and we had a good time. During the last couple of weeks Kieran has had us a bit confused by saying he only wants Daddy, Mommy, Liam, and Casey at his birthday party. When I would suggest that we invite friends of his, he would refuse any company at all. So finally we asked him if instead of a party he would like to have a play-date with ice cream and cake. That solution was happily accepted, and so we  had our “play-date”today.

We spent the morning running errands, and by the time we got home, our birthday boy needed lunch and a nap. After lunch he napped for a bit,but soon he was up and ready for his birthday playdate!

A quick game of tackle proved quite effective in waking the sleepyheads, and they went on to play with their guests.

We had a beautiful day and pretty soon we had eight children on top of the dome, enjoying the sunshine.

The dome was a present from Gran-Gran for Liam’s birthday. Kevin put it together on a mild January weekend, but now that Spring is here it is getting a lot of use. Thank you, Gran-Gran!)

Then we came on inside to open presents – additions to his GeoTrax Town!

Liam was right there making sure that everyone knows that the GeoTrax town is a joint ownership venture between him and Kieran.

Kiri also got a bunch of his favorite paints and crayons, and my friend Lisa knit him the sweetest doggie puppet you could imagine. The doggie has been named “Squiggles”,and he lives in a shoebox doghouse made for Kiri by Lisa’s children, Isaac, and Violet.

It was a fun day….

…but all that present-opening was just too tiring for certain big dogs.

You’ll be relieved to know, I’m sure, that the mention of the phrase “Birthday Cake and Ice Cream!” somehow enabled Casey to make it to his feet again.

Kiri was SO EXCITED by his cake – “Look,Mommy! Daddy! A Fire Truck With a fire dog driver! Wowoee-kazowee!”

It was a chocolate-chip cake with vanilla butter cream frosting, and several lucky children discovered that the fire engines tires were made from chocolate doughnuts!

(No, my cake making skills have not improved that drastically – it was done by a local bakery known for fun birthday cakes.)

It was a happy day for one sweet little boy:)

Happy Birthday, Kieran, and always remember that Daddy and Mommy love you from the Earth to the stars and back again!

And thank you to my readers for sharing this big day with our family!

Me: “Kiri, how old are you now?”

Kiri: “I is two but after my birthday party I will be 6!”

Liam: “No, silly, today is your birthday and you are 3!”

Kiri: “But I want to be 6 and go to kindergarten like Liam!”

Liam: “Kiri, 3 is way fun and you don’t want to miss it. You’ll get to go to nursery school – that’s like Kindergarten but only three days a week and without all the work. Trust me on this!”

Kiri: “Why?”

Liam: “Because I taught you how to write a letter to Santa that got you everything on your list. I know stuff!”

**********

As promised, 3 is treating Kieran quite well, although his party is not until Saturday, and I’m clinging to the notion that he’s still 2 until his party….I’m such a doting Mommy!

It’s a lousy picture, I know, but I got it on the fly with my cell phone. Kieran had been asleep before dinner, and he was cranky and angry all through dinner because we woke him up to eat (and also to keep him from sleeping through the evening and getting up for the day at 4:00 AM). He really was a sight with his crazy messed-up curly bedhead, spaghetti sauce stained shirt, and a face tear-stained from a reprimand delivered for throwing food at the dinner table. We all ate quickly while keeping an eye out for flying tortellinis.

Any experienced parent knows those kinds of dinners – the ones where the best thing to do is end the meal as quickly as possible, preferably before someone gets injured by a flying fork. And tonight I really thought that we were going down the road to the Witching Hour in Chaos City.

Thankfully, I was wrong. And in fact, tonight turned out to be a night where it was just plain fun to be the mother of two small boys.  The fun was started by a surprise find during my weekly grocery shopping trip.

I went shopping this morning and discovered that our usually plain Jane grocery store had pulled out all the stops for Valentine’s Day. Flowers lined many aisles, and fresh chocolate-dipped strawberries and blueberries were available in the produce department. I bought a small platter of fresh blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, and then asked the produce clerk to add some of the chocolate-dipped berries. Anticipating happy smiles at a happy family dinner, I made my way home with the chocolates safely tucked up front with me instead of leaving it in the back where a falling milk carton could crush it.

Then, as is often the case with daydreams, real life intruded, this time in the form of Mr. Cranky, age 2.5 years. Our usually sunny and hug-crazy Kieran woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. He was cranky and touchy for much of the day, and to make matters worse, he decided that he would refuse most offers of food. By late afternoon he was tired, and a stop for a quick nursing session ended up as a nap.

By dessert time, Kiri was clearly a tired, tired, tired boy, and he barely managed a smile when we brought out the chocolate. He ate some of the fresh berries, and was about to start throwing food again when Liam handed him a chocolate dipped blueberry. He popped it into his mouth. His face lit up at the first bite, and the tears stopped. It soon became obvious that the usual sweet and huggy Kieran was back amongst us. After eating some more berries and a bit more chocolate his recovery was complete. He hugged his dog, and then turned to hug me. After that, he disappeared upstairs in search of more huggable people.

And now my children have learned a Big Important Life Lesson – sometimes a bit of chocolate and some hugs can dry more tears than can a box of tissues.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Everyone!

]]> http://menageriehouse.com/2010/02/15/happy-valentines-day-2/feed/ 2 liesl 0214101803a http://menageriehouse.com/2009/12/13/sex-ed-the-toddler-curriculum/ http://menageriehouse.com/2009/12/13/sex-ed-the-toddler-curriculum/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:41:31 +0000 lieslf http://menageriehouse.com/?p=715 ]]> One of my favorite things about being a parent is the times when I can listen to my children talk out a problem. I guess it’s the teacher in me that loves to hear exactly how a child fits a newly learned item into his understanding of the world, or just that I love puzzles of all kinds myself, but when I can hear my children talking as they try to figure out the answer to a question, I find the whole conversation to be quite intriguing. And many times, it’s also quite funny.

I read somewhere that children start to identify as a particular sex sometime between two and three years of age. That sounds about right to me because during the last couple of weeks I have overheard conversations or been directly quizzed about the differences between boys and girls. To wit:

I was in the bathroom enjoying a rare moment of daytime solitude when suddenly my daydreaming was interrupted by the invasion of a small indignant boy…

Kieran: “Why, Mommy? Why you lock me out of da bathwoom? You my best fwiend in da whole wide world!”

Me: “I didn’t lock you out, kiddo. You opened the door and ran in.”

Kieran: “Oh.”

He stared at me for a moment with a concerned look on his face.

Kiri: “Mommy!”

Me: “Yes?”

Kiri: “You poop?”

I shook my head.

Kiri: “You pee?”

I nodded my head.

Kieran: “Mommy, stand up! People stand up when dey pee!”

I laughed.

Me: “Only boys stand up to pee, Kiri. Girls have to sit down.”

Kiri: “Oh, no, Mommy, this is easy-peasy. You jus’ stand up and point your P@^#% into the potty!”

Me: “Girls don’t have p@^#%es, kiddo. We can’t stand up to pee.”

Kieran’s eyes got big.

Kieran: “Weally, Mommy?”

Me: “Yes, really. It’s true.”

Kieran: “But Casey has a p@^#%. And he be a dog! So you have one, too, Mommy?”

Me: “Well, yes, he does. He’s a boy dog. I’m a girl.”

Kieran (with big eyes, whispering): “Girl dogs no p@^#%es, either?”

Me: “That’s right. Only boy dogs have them.”

Kieran looked quite shocked for a moment, and then turned to leave.

Kieran: “No time to talk now, Mommy. Me got to go. Bye!”

Me: “Where are you going in such a hurry!”

Kieran: “Me have to tell Liam about boys and girls and p@^#%es. He’s in Kindergarten and he NEEDS to know this!”

And as quickly as he arrived, he was gone.

********

We were putting shoes on to go out on a playdate at my friend L’s house. L has three children-E, a 3.5 year old girl, A, a two old boy, and S, a 14 year old ninth-grader..

Kieran: “Tell me, Mommy, what was da baby’s name?”

Me: “His name is A.”

Kieran (smiling): ” Oh, yes! And da other one?”

Me: “Her name is E!”

Kieran: “Right! She be just like me!….But….no…she be girl…so she no p@^#%, right, Mommy?”

Me: “Right. She has no p@^#%, and she’s two years older than you.”

Kieran: “Oh, no, Mommy, me baby! So me like A?”

Me: “Well, yes, A is a boy and he’s a bit younger than you.”

Kieran: “And da other mommy? Her name?”

Me: “Her name is S, but she’s not a mommy. She’s a really big kid.”

Kieran stared at the wall for a minute, trying to reconcile everything he’d just heard,

Kieran: “No way! She too big for kid. She be another mommy! Where be her baby?”

Me: “Well, sweetie, she has no baby. She’s a big kid, too young to have a baby.”

Kieran: “You joke me? You not funny!”

He resumed staring at the wall, blinking in concentration.

Liam: “Mommy, I think Kieran is just confused.”

Kieran whipped around to yell at his big brother, who had unwittingly just taken him over the edge of sanity…

Kieran (crying): “No, Mommy! Me not confused! Me Kieran! Not confused! Me baby, me boy, me Kieran! ME!”

Liam: “It’s hard to be two, isn’t it, Kieran?

I remember this stage from when Liam went through it. It’s better this time because not only do I have have living proof that Kiri will eventually figure these big questions out for himself, but Kiri has an amazing big brother right there beside him to help.

Anyway, in the meantime, a conversation from the ride to school this morning:

Liam: “Hey, Mom and Kiri, I have a really fun pretend idea!”

Me: “What’s a ‘pretend idea’?”

Liam: “Oh, you know, like when you imagine something you could do if you could do anything you imagine? There’s a word for it…ffffaaa…ffffaaa..”

Me (after repeating that first sentence several times for my own interpretative benefit): “Hm, you mean ‘fantasy’?”

Liam: “Yes, that’s the word! I have a really fun and cool pretend fantasy idea! Do you want to hear it?”

Kieran: “Fantsy, fantsy, pantsy, fantsy-pantsy….”

Liam: “Mommy? Do you want to hear it? Kieran, stop it!!”

Kieran: :”Fantsy-pantsy, underpants…..under..fantsy…”

Liam:”Mommy? Make him stop! He’s totally ruining my pretend fantasy idea!”

Me: “Kieran, please stop talk…”

Kieran (with great 2-year-old pride): “Fantsy-pantsy underpantsy, fantsy-pantsy underpantsy!”

Liam: “Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!”

Me: “Boys! Freeze! One at a time-Liam, what’s your idea?”

Liam: “What if everything you touched except what you want to keep turned into chocolate?”

Me: “Ooohhh, sounds good, could I turn my steering wheel into chocolate?”

Liam : “Yes, but only after you drop me off at school. I want to play with my friends this morning.”

Kieran: “No!”

Liam: “No, what?”

Kieran: “No chocolate! Only lollipops! Me say lollipops!

Liam: “No! Chocolate only! No lollipops. It’s my pretend fantasy idea and I say chocolate!”

Kieran: “Waahhhh! Mommy! Liam say no lollipops in his fantsy-underpantsy!”

Me: “Well, how about you both have your own ideas?”

Liam: “Well, whatever, Mommy. I just want to turn most of the world into chocolate.”

Me: “I think that sounds delicious, sweetie.”

Kieran: “Turn the whole Earth…lollipops!

Liam: “Well, guys, the Earth is pretty big….how about we turn part of it into chocolate, part of it into lollipops, and the rest can be a nice place for all the people and animals to live together and eat treats?”

Kiri: “Mmmmmmm, treats!”

Me: “Mmmmmm, treats!”

Liam: “Mmmmmmm, treats!”

If only real-world conflicts could be solved so easily!

With a splash and a shriek and a very confused look on his face, Liam emerged from his Mommy’s tummy, all cute, and shiny, and wet, and angry at having fallen out of his nice cozy dark watery world into this place the rest of us call “The Real World.”

Liam wasn’t angry for long though, because the friendly OB standing by Mommy’s feet caught him with warm strong hands, wrapped him up in a soft warm blanket, helped him expel some particularly bothersome strands of mucus and gunk, and then handed Liam to his Mommy, who promptly nursed him for the first time ever. Judging from the look on his face as the first squirts of warm colostrum slid down his throat, all of a sudden being ejected quite quickly from the only watery world he’d ever known did not seem to be such a bad thing after all.

All that took place on Thanksgiving Day 2003, and so for Liam’s proud parents, Thanksgiving took on a whole new richness since this wonderful little boy had come to live with them on Thanksgiving Day.

In Liam’s first  years, we would celebrate Thanksgiving in NJ with GiGi, sometimes Uncle Bob, and Gran-Gran and Pop-Pop. It was  fun-a typical American Thanksgiving complete with lots of food, hugs, football, chatting and sometimes even a long walk in the evening after the kitchen had been cleaned up.That was a lot of fun, and I will always treasure those memories.

But the times, they do change, and things happen and so sometimes even long-standing traditions have to change along with everything else. Almost three years ago, Gran-Gran and Pop-Pop moved to Texas. Since then, we who stayed behind in the Garden State slowly started doing some things on our own to build a new set of holiday traditions, but were largely unsuccessful, mostly because it’s hard to have a traditional feast with only Mommy, Daddy, and one, and then two, little boys.

This year, however we are doing things differently. Our plan was to have a nice Thanksgiving Dinner here at home, and then a long walk on the canal with friends. Then, over the weekend, we would head for the Poconos, where there is a lodge-style hotel complete with an indoor water park. We would drive up in the morning, play in the water all afternoon, and perhaps for a bit after dinner. Then we would go to our room for some reading or a movie. The next day we would splash away the morning, have a good lunch, and return home in time for bedtime and Liam’s birthday celebration at school on Monday.

Well. well, so the first part didn’t quite go as planned, but we are rallying and continuing on with the  first year of of our new tradition. You see, I woke up Thanksgiving morning with a migraine headache. I haven’t had one in a couple of years. thankfully, but I was completely unprepared for this one to strike. By noon yesterday, Kevin and the boys were driving me to the ER. The helpful people there were able to get me some relief quite quickly, which was welcome, but because of all the H1N1 caution, the boys were not allowed to stay in the ER with me. So Kevin had to take them home. It was not the day I had envisioned where I would be cooking goodies for my family and playing with them. On the other hand, though, I did get some much-needed rest as I spent 4 hours waiting for the radiologist in Australia (certain services are outsourced on holidays, apparently) to read my perfectly normal CT scan. Kevin and the boys bounced back and forth between home and the hospital, and at one point one of the nurses came back to tell me that there were two cute boys sitting on the floor out front amusing the receptionist with knock-knock jokes and eating M&M’s. So apparently the boys had a decent time themselves. Poor Kevin, who had to manage these active little ones, was a bit the worse for wear as the hospital didn’t manage to release me for 6 hours.

However, I am proud to tell you that I was fine yesterday, fully functional, and was able to put together smaller version of Thanksgiving dinner. We did indeed take our walk on the canal and spied many treasures such as rocks, colored leaves, sea gulls, and a heron or two..We were accompanied by Liam’s friend K and her parents. K’s Mom and Dad and I first met singing in a local choir. K was born about a year after Liam, and has grown up with him. They are fast friends, and it was to our great surprise and honor that K was placed in Liam’s Kindergarten class this past September She is now one of Liam’s favorite Kindergarten classmates. We all went out to lunch, and then returned home.

While eating our delayed Thanksgiving dinner last evening, we announced our travel plans to the boys, who were very much in favor of the trip, as you might imagine. They had a bit of trouble getting to sleep last time as they are quite excited about our trip coming up in under two hours now.

I’m on my way to pack now, but I think that our trip today will be nothing less than wonderful. So with that, I bid you all good day and a happy weekend. The lodge does have wi-fi so if I have time I may post a few pictures and tell some funny stories.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my readers!

Liam: ” Kieran, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day!”

Kieran: “YAY! MOMMY, LIAM SAY SANTA CLAUS COMING!!!!

Liam: “Oh, brother! Kieran, Thanksgiving day is for giving thanks for the good things we have around us.”

Kieran: “Oh, I See. I thankee Casey……….”

And with that he was off to hug his favorite dog:

Happy Thanksgiving from The Menagerie House To You!