A couple of years ago, Travis would bury his face in my neck if the grocery store clerk spoke to him. Or he’d roll his eyes back in his head and “check out” when someone made eye contact and said hello. When people approach him now, he’ll often pull a similar stunt — hiding behind my legs or turning his head away. Now he giggles and peeks and turns the whole thing into a joke, but he’ll still often reject the overture. But if HE’S the one to initiate contact, on his terms, the person targeted by his advances is likely to get more than he or she bargained for. Read the rest of this entry »
“So this is Hallie.” That’s the way Ms. Felton, Hallie’s first grade teacher, greeted her at the Meet the Teacher event this evening. Several of Hallie’s best buddies are in her class. Most of them got to the “open house” session earlier than we did, as we were waiting for Mark to join us. Apparently they were all asking, “Is Hallie here yet?” “Where’s Hallie?” So Hallie had a reputation before she even put in an appearance. Read the rest of this entry »
The kids and I had a very fun visit to Marbles yesterday. We met several friends there and enjoyed a much greater variety of activities than usual. One pleasant discovery was the outdoor water chute. It’s a long, waist-high (to me) stone chute with water flowing from one end down to a “water fall” at the other. Read the rest of this entry »
For some weeks now, Travis has enjoyed using the phrase “speaking of . . .” as a way to insert himself in a conversation. He starts out in a very commanding manner, and I think, “What a mature guy he’s become!” Read the rest of this entry »
I can’t let the night go by without telling about our beach trip, so here goes.
We arrived Wednesday afternoon, leaving home right after my meeting was done. It rained on us from Raleigh to Carolina Beach, so rather than checking in immediately we drove further south in an effort to visit the aquarium. Big mistake! More than half of the vacationers in the area were at the aquarium. We drove around jam-packed parking lots before throwing in the towel and heading back to our condo.
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Before our vacation, we had a few sessions of “family movie night.” Only instead of watching a special show or video, we watched family movies. The kids LOVED this, and I’m sure we’ll do more of it. It was really fun to watch Travis see Hallie as a baby. And of course they each ate up any footage of themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
Another Travis-ism is “the bobbies,” also dating back for months if not a year. Travis (and a classmate that he can’t remember) came up with this one:
“What do we want? Da bobbies, da bobbies, da bobbies!!”
We’ve long since forgotten (or cared about) what the bobbies are all about. Or why we want them, for that matter. But the saying lives on. Its just too quirky to go away.
While Kelly’s posting about funny things the kids say, one of them has needing to be blogged about for a long time. Months ago, when Travis was playing with his cousin Davis, the two of them came up with a bizarre saying that none of us (including Travis) know what it really means. As I understand it, Davis (with Travis) started it all.
Here’s how it goes: you first shout “Conn victory!” and then repeatedly (gently) smack your head with your hand, saying “ow ow ow ow ow!” while you do it.
Hallie and Travis will be playing in the other room and we’ll hear one say “Conn victory! Ow ow ow ow ow,” followed by peals of laughter.
No, we don’t know what it means, but that’s not the point, is it?
Hallie’s got another loose tooth that looked like it would come out days ago. But it’s still hanging on. It’s just like her last one — the permanent tooth is coming in so far behind it that the front part of the root isn’t deteriorating.
Hallie can’t leave it alone. She’s playing with it constantly. In several candid shots from our vacation she’s caught with her fingers in her mouth. She keeps toying with letting me or someone else pull it. Grandma was pretty close to trying on Sunday, but Hallie got nervous and decided to wait.
I think we went several days after I declared her last one ready to drop. I still have my doubts about whether this tooth will be going to first grade with Hallie, but it just might make it there and then some.
In recent weeks, we’ve had a shift in our bedtime routine. The kids have always had the same bedtime, regardless of their age difference. Since Travis quit napping, and maybe even before, he’s needed less sleep than Hallie. So there’s no question of the “older kid stays up later dynamic.” And one bedtime is certainly easier on the parents. Read the rest of this entry »
