whenever caroline wants to get our attention, she exclaims, "guys!" and then dissolves into giggles when we respond. she'll also put a "purse" (grocery bag, bucket, pretty much anything with a handle) over her shoulder and wave politely, saying, "bye, guys!" as she pretends to leave.
i think her teachers must address the class as "guys" so she mimics their words and behaviors.
a pancake monster. when i picked the kids up last night, Q declared that he once again wanted to go to the pancake store. i told him we couldn't go to the pancake store again. he sulked for a bit and then said, "ok we go to target. and harkadonalds*." then he stared me down, with the most menacing stare he could muster and said, "you got it, mommy?"
*"harkadonalds" has replaced "chickenfries" as his name for mcdonald's. (mark mcdonald is one of his favorite monster truck drivers, but Q pronounces his name "hark adonald" and i guess since the golden arches is named so similarly, it too became "harkadonalds."
this week's question at the gym was a slam dunk. we knew the chance for total embarrassment was slim:
question: what's on your shirt?
quentin: monster truck! (duh)
he cracked me up on friday after i picked them up at school. he started insisting that we go to "the pancake store" (IHOP) for dinner. jeremy had picked the kids up on tuesday and taken them there while i was working late. he told me he wanted a pancake with cream (whipped cream) and strawberries, yellow food (scrambled eggs), and hotdogs (sausage links.) i told him we'd have to talk to daddy about it since we had yet to discuss dinner plans, so Q said, "well,call him."
on saturday, we also went to "the caterpillar store" (michael's, where i once bought him a toy caterpillar) and "the choo choo train store" (wegman's, the grocery store, has a model train that choo choos around in the rafters by the dairy products.)
this week's question at the gym: what is your favorite book?
Q's answer: NASCAR drive
nope. not a book. to be fair, i know exactly which book he's talking about. it's a hotwheels book he got from the book fair at school a few months ago. Not actually about NASCAR, just cars racing. he loves the heck out of that book. and at least he didn't answer "spongebob", "dora", or "mario kart" like some of the other kids. in fact, only one answered something even close to an actual, recognizable book title when they answered, "caterpillar."
i had been dreading this past saturday for over a month. it was the first saturday since the kids started back at the gym that jeremy had to work. since Q's class is kids-only, his isn't a problem as pickle can chill in the lobby with me. but caroline's class is still parent-participation, leaving no one to watch Q. we haven't found (or really even looked for) a go-to baby-sitter (just not ready to trust people i don't already know with these little monsters.) so i was sad for pickle because i thought she would have to miss her class and then be further tortured by having to watch Q at his a little while later.
the lobby at the gym is only separated from the actual gym part by a low counter and other parents leave their (much older than Q) other children in the lobby, amused with coloring books or video games. i began to wonder if Q could entertain himself for a whole hour. i figured it was worth a shot – worst case scenario he sucked at it and we would bail. the other option was no class at all, so it seemed worth it. on friday i started telling Q about a deal i would make with him… if he was a good boy in the lobby during caroline's class, i would get him a new bug at target (we hit up the bullseye every week between their classes since we have 1.5 hours to kill, it's right next door, and we can do grocery and other essentials shopping there.) we kept talking about it all night and started right back with it when he got up. i prepped a bag of goodies to amuse him during her class. he selected a few of his favorite monster trucks and a couple of other toys, and i added some snacks and a juice box. i also gave him my phone since he is quite adept at turning it on, opening youtube, and locating monster truck videos.
i watched him like a hawk throughout the whole class to make sure he didn't bolt through the door. at the beginning of class, i was sitting in the circle with pickle doing the warm-up "exercises" and i looked over and Q was doing them along with the class. i probably spent more of the hour watching him than i did watching caroline. he was quite content to line up his trucks along the counter and stage his imaginary monster jam races, just like he does on the couch at home. he ate 3 packs of fruit snacks in the first 20 minutes. but he was good. so good. like so good that 4 other mothers commented to me how good he was, one of them even saying her own 3-year old would never be capable of such good behavior.
bug well earned.
This week's question at gym class was, "what is your favorite animal?"
Q's answer: penguins and pandas
still have no earthy idea why he selected those but we've asked him several times since and his answer has not changed.
(and no, it wasn't "letter P" week at school, nor were they learning about animals. nor were they learning about black and white. last week they were learning about money and shopping.)
the iPhone is a wonderful tool for entertaining the kiddos, especially when we're on the verge of a unstoppable public breakdown (in target, at the grocery store. etc.) as such, I am always on the hunt for new free kid-focused apps. i downloaded this gem – talking gina the giraffe – last week. basically you say something to gina and she repeats it back to you (aka records a snippet of you talking and plays it back), but in a funny, distorted voice.
both kids love it. pickle just giggles whenever the giraffe "talks" regardless of what she's saying. but quentin is full-on obsessed. he keeps asking to see the giraffe. he likes to "talk" to her but i don't think he quite gets that she just spits back what he says (and therefore is not actually as obsessed with trucks as he is.) i think he thinks he is involved on some sort of bizarre-world video conference call with a cartoon giraffe, because he will run and grab a truck and say, "look giraffe! gravedigger!" which is the same thing he does when he is on the phone with an actual human being.
no, not quentin. caroline peed on the potty twice on saturday!
she woke up in the morning pretty dry so i decided to sit her on the can. a few seconds later, she was letting it fly. and then before bath time that evening, jeremy had her sit on the potty and she did it again. we won't be cancelling her diaper subscription any time soon, but still exciting progress!
it has not been a good week for Q at daycare. on tuesday, i got a call from his teacher because he was "being rambunctious and kept taking his shoes off." and today i got another one because he bit his teacher when she tried to redirect him because he was not listening. today's phone call was weird too – as soon as I said hello, his teacher just said hi, and then put Q on the phone to tell me what was going on. he told me, "i eat miss diana." then she got back on the phone and clarified the whole story.
i don't know what the issue is. maybe he needs to burn off more energy, because both incidents this week have stemmed from him wanting to run around and being instructed it is not time for running. nothing else is really going on to cause him to lash out, if anything, our life is becoming more stable after a crazy year. it's obnoxious too because his teacher says she doesn't know what causing it, but the way she says it it's like she insinuating that i know what is causing it and just don't want to tell her.
sigh.
about a month ago we started taking the kids back to classes at "my gym" – the same chain of gyms we went to in
quentin already moved up to the next level – the first parent-less level. we obviously stay right there in the lobby like 10 feet away from him, but he participates in the entire class by himself. the first week he was a little confused (as were we, because we didn't even realize he had moved up!) but he has done super awesome with it (thank you daycare.) at the beginning of class, the teachers ask the kids their names and then a fun question each week. here are the past few weeks in review:
week 1
question: what's your favorite snack?
quentin: (mommy and daddy cringing in the lobby awaiting his answer) strawberries
phew. he didn't say donuts or an entire bag of sour gummy worms. or a donut topped with an entire bag of sour gummy worms.
week 2
question: what is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
quentin: cupcake.
um. ok. but then when the girl next to him said "strawberry" he changed his answer to "strawberry."
week 3
question: what is your favorite restaurant?
quentin: strawberries
at least he's consistent?
week 4
question: what is your favorite day of the week?
quentin: saturday
aren't you glad he didn't say strawberry? i am!
and since i was taking pictures of caroline, Q had to get in on the action
these new jammies from aunt becky arrived just in time for pajama day at school. now every time i ask him what he wants to wear to school, he says "monster jammies!"
back in january, we left pickle with the norcross clan and brought Q to trenton, nj for monster jam. we splurged the $5 extra for pit party passes so we got to get on the track before the show and see all the trucks and drivers. Q was in heaven.
to make it even more perfect, he got to play with his toy trucks on an actual monster jam course. notice that there were several little boys doing so. even more fortunate was that this section of the course coincided with the line to have your picture taken with gravedigger and its driver. we waited while he played. perfect.
i think Q was overwhelmed because he got shy all of a sudden.
but atleast he smiled with daddy!
we are familiar with taz the monster truck. but not with this paint job. and Q has not stopped talking about "red taz" since.
eradicator. never heard of him.
full boar. he may have this one in his potty toy box. not sure.
we know backdraft. though it is known only as "firetruck" in our house.
shockwave
waiting for the show to start with his new donkey kong truck.
the cotton candy was green and purple and came with this awesome gravedigger hat
Awwww.
caroline has started speaking simple sentences. some recent examples include:
she's also forming more complex, but verb-less thoughts like, "wuhwine tissue nose." (i.e. caroline needs a tissue for her nose.)
and she loves talking about her friends at school: ninnie (annie), ry-ry (riley), ty-ty (
