gingerbread house

tim's first gingerbread house (with mom's help)

I maked it.  I put candy on it.  And frosting.  Gumdrops.

feeding the seagulls

Tim had a great time feeding the seagulls his leftover french fries near Hout Bay.

beach boy

Cape Town is the place to go for a variety of beaches, and we made the best of them in the short amount of time that we had.  Before we left for Cape Town, Tim was a little weary of the beach because he had overheard us talking about the shark attack that happened in Fishhoek, near Cape Town.  As we drove to our first beach, Boulders, he announced that he would not take off his shirt or his boots and socks.  We didn't push it.  Some things just need to run their course.  He took two steps onto the sand and kicked off his boots and would have gone into the water with socks and clothes if I hadn't stopped him.

Boulders was the perfect place to start Tim on his beach adventures because he loves to climb rocks and play in water.  Two penguins joined us on the beach and he chased one about until we managed to calm him down.   After the initial interest, the penguins were forgotten for the joy of water and rock.

Marching through the water was much better than walking.

At Hout Bay, he checked out he wrecked boats and fed seagulls his french fries.

At St. James pool, he walked with Paul on the sea wall and watched the tide come in.

At Blouberg, he chased the waves until he was too tired to stand.  The wind was fierce and the kite surfers numerous.


Cape Town's beaches are perfect for kids who don't want to swim in the ocean. The water is too cold for swimming anyway.  I'm a bit spoiled.  The swimming pools in Colorado are heated and my first beach was in Hawaii where the water is magical.  Despite this, I think growing up with the beach is a very special thing and I'm so glad that he's had the chance to experience this and will get to do it again and again.

under the sea

Cape Town has a wonderful aquarium and Tim was delighted with it.  The sharks were the the show stopper, but he liked everything. 

This aquarium has a viewing area in the middle.  You get on your hands and knees and climb up to be surrounded by NEMO!

He's clearly enthralled.

Guys!  Here are the SHARKS!

traveling man

Tim handled the two long flights very well.  We were stuck in the middle section with no windows, but it didn't seem to matter to him at all.  He got a little annoyed when he had to wait to watch The Smurfs until we'd taken off.  He was oblivious to the sleeping people around us and laughed very loud several times in the quietest part of the night and because he was wearing headphones his "Are we on the ground?" questions were also very loud.  He told us that "this airplane was much better than Gramps's."  He didn't sleep very much; neither did we.

The tube was a big hit for the first twenty minutes of so.  Then the jet lag kicked in and at the same time the Piccadilly line was shut down for repairs and we had to walk to another station.  Getting back on the tube was a nightmare.  He screamed, turned bright red, shouted, kicked and just generally had a major meltdown.  It was a fairly full train and I couldn't help but think that the other passengers, aware of his American accent, were thinking that Americans are horrible parents.  I wanted to tell everyone around us that he'd just traveled all night from the US and was beyond exhausted. 

The fit continued when we got off the train and headed up the stairs to the street, but stopped immediately when he saw The Clock Tower.  He was duely impressed.  He then noticed the boats ont he Thames, which and dozens of doubled decker buses.  It was worth the journey.

We're four days into the vacation, and Tim is still suffering from jet lag.  His appetitie seemed to return today, but he still hasn't sorted out his sleeping patterns (so neither have we) and falls asleep wherever he happens to be when it hits.  Jenny and Neville's cat Bruce has become a good friend.

Tim and I went to a farm out east of Fort Collins with Addie, Emily and Matt today to sit in the pumpkin patch.  Tim loves Charlie Brown's Halloween DVD in which Linus waits for the Great Pumpkin on Halloween night in a pumpkin patch.  Fortunately, there were other things to do like a corn maze and jumping castle.  Otherwise, Tim would have been mightily disappointed.

addie in a bouncy fort

tim and addie in the corn maze with corn

tim, addie, matt and emily with the young pigs

the great pumpkin and a very funny face

strong boy

tricks on the jumping castle

dress-up

Tim and Addie have been playing dress-up for several months at her house because she has things with which to play dress-up, like princess dresses.  One day, Tim switched from wanting to be Cinderella, to wanting to be Aladdin, so I have started to collect some dress-up items.  Having Halloween around the corner has made that easier.  I found a used 'Woody' costume and he wore it every day for a week.  Mom bought him this brand new 'Buzz' costume (he got the wings for Christmas last year) to wear for trick-or-treating.  She gave it to him early when she heard that he'd started enjoying dress-up.

 posing with his hand on his laser button, just like the 'real' buzz, and looking fierce

I found an old crown that I used to use when my students read and acted out Beowulf and am working on putting together a Prince Charming for Tim when he's playing with Addie and wants to be something other than a princess.  I got to teach my 3 year old son how to hold up his skirts when going up and down stairs so that he wouldn't trip.

running man

zoom

zoom

sometimes he sits still

about to throw parachute buzz lightyear

sleep? no sank you

03:14.  That’s AM, mind you. 

Hey, guys.  I want to watch a movie. 

Silence

Mommy!

Silence

Mom!  I want to watch a movie.

Tim, shhhhh.  What’s wrong.

Nosing ('th' is either pronounced like an 's' in snake or a d, depending on where it falls in the word and what vowel follows it).  I want to watch a movie.

It’s the middle of the night, Tim.  You’re not watching a movie.  Go back to sleep. 

I don’t want to go back to sleep.  I want my music.

Okay.

Dis Old Man, please.

the mouse pad

Timothy has discovered how to use the mouse pad. We put it on youtube for him so that he could watch the trailer of the new Smurf movie. Gee Gee was going to take him to that, but that's another story. He spent far too much time surfing the videos and we learned a good lesson about monitoring computer time for kids.

casting like a pro - almost

We're so proud of Tim's newly developed casting skills.



I'm not tired; I'M sleepy.

an interesting place to rest

He didn't actually fall asleep, but he did have a longish rest.

lissa and mommy

As Paul was putting Tim to bed the other night:

I love you.

I love you too, and so does Mom and so does Luke and so does Gee Gee and so does Gramps and so does Gran and so does Grand-da.

And Lissa.

Yes, and so does Lissa.



One morning last week:

Can we go to Addie and Emily's house and play now?

No, Addie is at school this morning and Emily is at work.

No, no. Mommy's don't work.

fishing

We spent the night at the cabin and after an afternoon of fishing, finally had some luck when the sun started to set and the wind died (duh). Tim helped me reel in a fish, feeling it pull on the line. Then he helped Gramps feed the fish. He didn't want to come home, which is new. He's so much more independent up there than he has been in the past. It's going to be a great summer of cabin visits with him this year and in years to come. If only he'd sleep...


helping mom reel in the fly


casting his toy rod




back home and helping dad braai


tasting the marinade for dad's hallelujah ribs

a room for someone

I finally decided on a theme for Luke's room - outer space - thanks to a gift from the Viners. They bought wall decals of the planets, stars, an astronaut and a space ship. This was a birthday gift for both boys and I split them up between their rooms. They are wonderful, engaging decorations, and can be moved around easily from wall to wood to window as Tim discovered.


wall decals from the viners. the sun is about 14 inches wide

Tim's room had a transportation theme with airplane pictures on the walls and bedding with trucks, cars, trains and planes. After a little Internet searching, I found more decals plus some switch plates for the light switch and handles for the closet doors in both outer space and transportation themes.


the switch plate has the planets of our solar system on it

Tim loved the new truck, plane, car and train decals and was happy to let Luke have the new outer space stuff. Tim's fan chain pulls are airplanes and he got jets for the closet doors. Paul bought a teddy bear astronaut in Orlando for Luke's fan pull.


teddy bear astronaut

I found space shuttle door handles for his closet. All I lacked was bedding for Luke.


space shuttle door handles

When the outer space bedding arrived and I put it on Luke's bed, Tim fell in love. He started by saying it was wonderful and that it was Luke's and quickly changed to it was wonderful and it was Tim's with a question. I didn't care, so I switched all the room decorations. Tim loved, loved, loved his room for two days, but after two restless nights, he asked for cars and trucks back. The new bedding is part cotton part poly and his old stuff is all cotton. Apparently, he prefers the feel to the look. I switched the sheets and duvet and he returned to quiet slumber. I also put a few car decals on his walls. I guess I'll eventually switch it all over. I just dread putting Orion on Luke's ceiling. Oh, my acing neck.


orion glow-in-the-dark stars. the big and little dipper are also on the ceiling and the southern cross is on the south wall

easter

the first egg


our kit came with little cardboard colored stands for display



Tim took to egg dying like a pro this year, managing to dunk and remove the eggs with little mess and no damage. He even handled the flimsy tool that comes with kit. We dyed 12, but I think he would have colored 1200.


counting eggs


When Daddy gets home tonight we’re going to dye some eggs like we did in the video that you’ve been watching.
Will we make a NEW DDD (DVD)?

Yes, we will.

I want a blue egg and pink and yellow and white.

And purple?

Um, yes I think they do have purple eggs.

I want blue and purple and green and white.

Yes, that’s a good idea.

role playing

On our hike today at Coyote Ridge

Tim has started role playing full time now. Peter Pan is the story of choice this week. Today, I was Wendy, Paul was Michael, Luke was John, and Tim was, of course Peter Pan. Even though he assigns roles, he adopts a character at whim. He repeats dialog from the movie, his favorite is to give me a handful of willow seeds and say "Mother, buried treasure."

He also recites long parts from books that we are currently reading. Green Egs and Ham and Are you My Mother? are frequently requested. Yesterday:

You are not a kitten.
You are not a hen.
You are not a dog.
You are not a cow.
You are not a plane.
You are not a boat.
You are not a Snort.
You are a bird,
And you are my mother.

Pretty good.

At the grocery store today he was holding my grocery list.

What spells T, Zero, M? Pointing to a word on the list.

Oh, that's actually an O Tim not a zero. They look the same. It spells Tom which is short for tomato.

We need tomatoes Mommy. We were next to them and the avocados and he picked up a tomato.

number sense

At the stoplight/robots the other day:

Look Mama, there's a school bus!

Yes, I see it Tim. And here comes another one.

Now there's two school buses, Mama.

That's right Tim.

Look Mama! Another school bus. Three school buses!

stink

As we were driving up into the foothills for a picnic today, I told Tim to look out for animals.

What animals.

Oh, maybe deer or rabbits...

Or dinosaurs?

No, we won't see any dinosaurs. They are extinct. That means that they don't exist anymore.

Stinct?

That's right.

Stinky dinosaurs. That's bad. I don't like stinky things.

(After swallowing my laughter.) The word is EXtinct, not stink. It's totally different.

Oh.

Good.

reading by himself

Timothy spends more time 'reading' his books alone these days. He still likes to have them read to him, but after the third or fourth go, when I have to deal with Luke or I just can't take another round of Green Eggs and Ham, he'll sit alone with the book and look at the pictures and sometimes tell himself stories. I love it.

This morning's conversation:

I'm going to make breakfast for you and me now.

Ok. May the force be with you.

houston, we have a problem

Just back from Tim's first Dancin' Dumplin' class. It was an absolute failure. There were a lot of things working against him today. The classroom windows have all been covered with paper so that the kids are isolated from their parents, who aren't allowed in the room with them. The teacher does no transition time before class: she unlocks her door, lets the kids inside and shuts the parents out in a matter of seconds. She didn't even introduce herself. The other students were all a year older and had taken at least one class with this teacher in this classroom before. It was just a little too much for him. When she brought him out, less than three minutes after shutting the door in my face, she told me about some holes that were cut in the paper on the windows around the corner where Tim could watch until he was ready to join them. He watched, but every time I asked if he wanted to join them, he started to cry. I'm disappointed but ready to jump back on that horse and try again, only it'll be a different horse this time.

We already planned to put him in an additional class called Amazing Athletes. It teaches the basics of 9 different sports: basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, football, lacrosse, hockey, tennis, and golf. Just like Dancin' Dumplins, the parents are not included in the class, so that's a hurdle and a concern. However, the classes are broken into two age groups: 2.5-3 and 3.5-5. That will work to Tim's benefit, making him amongst the oldest instead of the youngest. Classes don't start until May, so he'll be a little older and maybe a little braver. And there will probably be some boys in the class, not just girls in tutus. Fingers crossed that we don't have a replay of today. We have some time before we need to register, so that's good too. And, I can raise enough money with my blog to pay for it. As Great Aunt Cath says: "Ca Ching."

The catalog of classes put out by the city's Parks and Recreation Department is impressive. Proceeds from the Colorado Lottery help fund our Parks and Rec Department. The offerings vary from dance lessons to sign language classes for ages 6 months old to senior citizens. The Farm that Tim did with Gran and Grand-da last summer is part of the Department. I hope Tim will be able to take advantage of this resource.

When our morning of dancing and tumbling dissolved into tears, we came home and had great fun playing trains with Legos. Sometimes the simple things are the best.

move over woody, obi-wan is back in town

I want my Star Wars shirt! I want my Star Wars shirt!

I think it's in the hamper.

Will you get it for me Mommy?

Okay. (It's not THAT dirty; it's 18:00; and I can wash it in the morning.) Here you go (giving him the t-shirt that Johannes picked out for him and that he wears to bed almost every night because it's too big to wear during the day.)

No, not that Star Wars shirt. The black one.

You don't have a black one.

Yes I do; the black one that Melissa gave me.

Oh you want the Jedi cloak.

Yes, yes, yes!


wielding his lightsaber


getting instructions from master yoda