Facebook Archive - August 2014

Aug 3 - Why yes, I took our son to the beach at 7:30pm so he could dig holes. It was that or a dart gun at bed time. Gotta work those 'yayas' out.

Aug 4 - I would post a photo of my trip to the beach with a 4 year old and 19 month old but I was too scared to use the phone after getting it wet retrieving the baby from under water. 

Amazingly, the phone still works and no one drowned. I call it a success. 

Ian kept asking if we could play super heroes like yesterday but I told him I was  busy keeping his cousin alive. Baby Harrison was intent on chasing down any bubbles he created or could find in the water, much like that one fish in the dentist office in Finding Nemo. I think his voice may be hoarse tomorrow from screaming 'BUBBLES!' for an hour.

Aug 10 - Me: 'Ok, stink, we just need to get milk so this should be fast.'
Ian: 'Can't I just stay in the car and play Temple Run while you go inside?'
Me: 'As much as we would both love that, someone will complain and we'll get in trouble.'
Ian: 'They'll see you inside and say, 'Hey she looks like a mom but where's her kid?' and then you'll get in trouble?'
Me: 'Yes, something like that.'

Aug 10 - Ian has three weeks of camp at the Jewish Community Center before going back to preschool at Kempsville Presbyterian Church. Back to wearing shoes all day, packing peanut-free kosher lunches, and sticker sheets for his performance. 
I don't know about him, but I miss Free Range Kids already.

Aug 11 - On our way to skating lessons, Ian asks: 'So, what are your thoughts about dinner?'
Me: 'I don't know. What are *your* thoughts about dinner?'
Ian: 'I was thinking ... We could get sushi after dinner. That could be tasty.'
Hard to deny that.

Aug 11 - One downside of JCC's camp is there is no nap time. That means after 8+ hours of non-stop activities, including swimming, Ian was falling asleep on his feet at 5pm. That also means he's now going to sleep before dark. 

It sucks because we hardly get to see him while he's awake. Then again, after the day we've all had I may just go to bed with him.

Aug 12 - Ian: 'Now that baby that was with my friend Ryan won't ever smile again.'
Me: 'Why not?'
Ian: 'Because you made me leave the pool and I'm not there with my goggles on and that baby loves me and my goggles!'

Someone might be interested in a follow up play date with Dustin Stokes and Kira Stokes.

Aug 16 - We set our first butterfly free. Ian named her Olivia.

Aug 16 - Rich helped Ian make a character on World of Warcraft. He can't read but that doesn't slow him down. He just sends messages to other players that say, 'thgjfkthfjdjtjffhf.'

Aug 19 - Ian from the back seat: 'Mommy, I'm not tired. I'm just resting my eyes. Just so you know.'

Aug 21 - Talked with Ian tonight about how not everyone is super smart, not even adults. I told him that it can be frustrating as a super smart kid to deal with not very smart adults but it's good practice. 

We also talked about how being frustrated at a situation is different than being frustrated at a person. And I  agreed that no one should have to lie in the dark alone unless they want to. 

Being four is tough. Also, you're welcome future Ian spouse.

Aug 24 - Ian (at volume 11 from the bathroom stall next to me): 'Some kids, they have outside wieners but I have an inside wiener and I told the other kids that my mom and dad left my wiener alone but they just keep asking why and I've told them 100 times but they just keep asking. And one kid said that some grown ups play with their wieners but another kid said NO THEY DON'T!'

Aug 24 - Ian was able to christen his new play house with Nicholas and the girls today. Hooray Craigslist and super hooray to George Powell and Perry Powell for going above and beyond to transport and re-assemble it!

Aug 25 - Ian kept asking if his butt was red and lamenting he couldn't see it. So I took an iPhone pic of his butt to show him. As soon as he examined it to his satisfaction he said, 'Mommy, don't take your phone to work tomorrow because I don't want you showing the whole world my butt.'

For the record, I deleted the picture.

Facebook Archive - July 2014

July 6 - We've reached the point where singing Bird on the Wire causes a lot of questions. 
'What does fashioned mean?'
'What does it mean to be free? Can't the bird just fly away? I guess there could be chewing gum under his foot and he's stuck.'

Still dodged the 'baby stillborn' lyric for now.

July 8 - We're having post swimming sushi again.

Ian: 'How do you say miso soup in English?'
Me: 'Well, I'm not sure what miso means ...'
Ian: 'Maybe it means fantabulous.'

July 8 - Bad: Ian refused to go to his swim lesson out of fear. Good: Ian spent and hour and a half at the pool doing all the things he wound have done in his lesson but with me and on his own terms, including diving underwater for rings. 

July 10 - Me, singing Bird on the Wire: '... like a knight from some old fashioned book ...'
Ian: 'Why would anybody to read old books? Wouldn't it just be broken and falling apart? ... And what's a drunkina?'

July 14 - My child got melatonin at 8pm and we went to lie in the dark at 8:30pm. It is now 10pm and he's asking me how Terro ant traps work. I told him they're clear liquid and it seems like food for them but is poison and then he asked how that's different from Daddy's clear bags that say LR on them (lactated ringer IV fluids). 

I am equal parts impressed and exhausted. 

Now he just asked me if for Christmas we can make Christmas cookies. 

Someone make an OFF switch for my kid's brain!

July 15 - 11:29pm marks the first snore of our son actually being asleep, for those playing along at home. He's a machine. A hypothetical question positing into the darkness machine.

July 16 - Home by 9:30pm, in bed at 10pm. One story out of my mouth ('Hank the dog who was great at hide and seek'). One song ('Trouble'). Rolled around a bit with his eyes closed. Sound asleep by 10:25pm. 
This I can work with.

July 17 - 7-7:30 bath (because wow he was like Pig Pen only with sticky food too), which he exited, drained, toweled off and dressed in his clothes for tomorrow all on his own. 

7:30-8 co-chilling in the futon bed we've moved downstairs, alternating between Hooked on Phonics app and flight simulator on the iPad. 

8-8:30 12.5mg of GAMA and 2.5mg melatonin then watching ninja turtles while I checked Daddy's drains and filled the fridge with TPN and IV ringer deliveries. 

8:30-9 two stories (one about Gerald the Goldfish and the other about Max the Red Super Shark) and two songs ('Trouble' and 'Strike the Bell' which is no longer in the lullaby repertoire because the word poop deck causes fits of giggles). 

I thought he was almost asleep and then he said he was hungry. So 9-9:08 was cereal in bed, which he inhaled. 

9:08-9:12 lying in the dark together. 9:12-9:18 as requested, I rubbed his back until he fell asleep. I'll lie here with him to help him stay chill and so I can sniff his head lovingly while he snores. 

That's our bed time routine.

July 30 - After a lot of furniture moving, the entire Stryker clan is back in one (giant) bed. A queen bed with a twin bed butted up to it as a 'sidecar' is pretty much wall to wall mattress, but we're luxuriating in it. The kitties are at least.

July 31 - I was just inhaling a popsicle in the kitchen when Ian walked in to see what I was doing. When I confessed I was eating a treat, he was all, 'Why don't you come and sit with me while you eat it. I don't care if you spill it on me because I can just change pants.'

He's going to make an awesome husband one day

Facebook Archive - June 2014

June 2 - Ian just requested Sarah Bareilles' 'Brave' and is now passionately singing along with it in the car. Thanks, Spotify app, for filling the pop music needs for my four year old.

June 2 - Tales from Camp Free Range Kids:
I washed my hands and when I turned the water off I heard the tail end of a conversation that went like this:

Ian: 'Because God said so.'
Feens: 'Is God your daddy?' 

He's not among the Presbyterians anymore! I told Jenna to feel free to ignore his proselytizing.

June 5 - That's our kid in the Green Lantern undies with a bucket on his head. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday.

June 14 - Ian: 'Travis is my daddy's best friend. I love him more than waffles!'

June 18 - There are times my son subsists on chicken nuggets and air. And then there are days like today when he requested sushi for dinner so he could have seaweed salad, miso soup, edamame, and a super super roll with eel, tuna and avocado. And apple juice to wash it down.

June 18 - The four year old knows my pin to unlock my phone, how to get to Instagram and studiously framed this pic before taking it. He says he needs his own phone for taking pictures (versus playing games). #proudphotomama

June 19 - After playing in Jenna's pool all afternoon and filling our pool on the back deck, Ian asked for a bath tonight. I told him he was probably clean already and he said, 'Don't you want your son to be happy?!'
So he was in the tub ... happy ... and I told him I had to go downstairs for something. I was in the kitchen and heard the water in the pipes. I yelled upstairs, 'You have enough water!' and the pipes went immediately silent. When I came back upstairs he looked at me like I was a sorceress!

June 20 - Earlier this week I went to pick up Ian and the girls were SUPER stoked about watching the Lego Movie. There was a lot of excited child talk about the movie and Ian said something about 'the black guy with the funny voice.'
Me: 'Who? Morgan Freeman?' 
Ian: 'No, the one with two faces!'
Oh *that* black guy. The yellow lego with the black cop uniform. Silly me.

June 20 - Ian is now asking for 'mama milk', claiming he can smell it.  I assured him it's all gone and he insisted, 'Can't you just try? You don't know if you never try.'
I blame Jenna and Feens. The plus side is he will make a great salesman or inspiration speaker one day.

June 20 - Ian now has his own iPhone. I wouldn't have predicted that we would get our four-year-old a smart phone, but I would buy him a helicopter if I thought it would make the next two weeks easier on him and us.

June 26 - I assumed Ian would spend most of his time on his New Phone playing games but his favorite thing besides calling me is the weather app, discussing when it may rain next. He's ready for his $0.25 coffee at McDonald's with all the other old men.