Linus and Friends

Linus wrote his name for the first time! When he handed it to me after school I was blown away. He acted like he'd always known how to write his name. He wrote it on an envelope that had a letter for Barrett, but I've stashed it away to keep.

Matthew and I went to Linus' first parent-teacher conference last week. Heidi says he has good fine and gross motor skills, migrates around to do all of the activities in the classroom, and has a great vocabulary. Her one suggestion of how he could improve? She said she would like it if Linus would share his ideas more. She had asked the kids what they were thankful for and called on Linus. He said, "I didn't have my hand raised." I had to laugh when she told us this. (He did have fun making this apple turkey.)

Heidi gave us a handout ahead of time to fill out and it included some questions for Linus. His favorite thing about school was playing on the rocket ship. The thing he said he didn't like was the time Hunter said he couldn't get onto the rocket ship. What he wanted to do at school that they hadn't done was play with Playmobil. He also wanted Heidi to know that he likes making puppets and loves his whole house.

Barrett came over to play last week and the two of them spent nearly the whole time pretending to be kitties or lions. They were adorable snuggling together on the couch. Linus became upset when Barrett said she was dead because a lion ate her. He came to me to be comforted and I reminded him it was just a game. Another time they had a bit of unrest was when Barrett told Linus she didn't want him to be the same animal she was being. He told her, "When you're being something, I'm so excited to be what you're being." His sensitivity makes him very sweet, but I find myself having to help him navigate through his hurt feelings.

Turkey Day

Matthew and Linus making cranberry sauce



Lots of love for everyone (Erin, Grace, Linus, Lisa)



Rich captured this adorable shot of Linus on the couch with Ziggy


We celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends from the neighborhood. Katie and Ziggy hosted at their house and we were joined by Erin, Brad, and Grace, as well as Lisa and Rich. The meal was delicious. Before dinner I enjoyed the goat cheese with blueberries in it. I need to find out where I can buy it. Linus went at the cheese board like he'd been doing it forever; wielding the cheese knives and everything. Everyone took turns entertaining the kids, who kept being incredibly cute. The next day Linus was still raving about Thanksgiving.

Linus and Grace

Our little Grace just turned one and has started walking! When Linus rode up to her house for her birthday party, she came walking over to meet him and check out his trike. Later on, she fell on the cement porch steps and got a big, ugly bump on her forehead, which reminded me of Linus' big bump at his first birthday party. (He fell into a steel dinosaur sculpture the day before his party.) Linus was proud of his gifts for her. He gave her a monkey book and fabric flower bracelet with a smiley face on it. She came over to our house the other morning while Erin went to the dentist. She had breakfast with us and neither she nor Linus focused very well on eating. They were more interested in playing.

Linus showed her his worm bin. We signed him up for weekly preschool programs at the Botanic Gardens and this week the topic was worms. He got to tear up paper for the worms' bedding, and put in compost and leaves. Right now the red wigglers are residing in his room. That is convenient for feeding them scraps from the kitchen, but I suspect we'll be moving them to the downstairs in the interest of creating space in his room.

Linus' latest thing is to start by asking me "why" and then following that up with, "How do you know?" Aaaaaaah! Sometimes it drives me batty.

Silly Boy

Linus is all about silliness these days. I've noticed this with the other three-year-olds we know. What is even more enjoyable from my perspective is the proud, excited look they get on their faces as they demonstrate the silliness. In the picture Linus is showing off the big marshmallow he has in his mouth. We got 18 inches of snow last week and after playing in it the morning of the second day, we came in for hot chocolate. The only marshmallows we had were the big ones left over from camping. (Culinary note: they don't get all melty like the miniature ones do.)

Linus is always saying very silly things or very smart things and I obviously can't write everything down. Here are a few:

One day at the end of summer, in a tired and whiney voice, he said, "I want caterpillars. They're my favorite bug. Can I have caterpillars today?" I told him I had no control over what bugs came along with our produce from the CSA.

He asked me, "Are you happy?" I said, "Yes, I'm just tired." He said, "You aren't smiling so I think you aren't happy."

He was pretending he was a howler monkey and came into the kitchen to tell me, "Howler monkeys scare kids sometimes. I think because they want privacy and not hear the loud sounds. And they howl when they feel shy."

Before we planted our bulbs, I showed Linus pictures of the flowers in the catalog. I explained to him that crocuses are very special to me because not only are they pretty, but they remind me of bringing him home from the hospital after he was born. He said, "Awww. Thank you for telling me that."

We were playing out in the yard and Linus wanted to ride his trike to the park. I said no, because he always gets too tired to ride it back and I don't like carrying it home. He insisted he could ride it both ways and I said no, I don't think so. He came back at me with, "I'm sad you don't trust me." In all honesty, I wanted to laugh really hard at this, but instead said, "The reason I don't trust you on this is based on past experience. Let's just walk there." So we did.

He has been pretty good about his Halloween candy. He usually accepts our limits regarding how much he can eat in a sitting. This year I have really noticed more parents taking the candy away in exchange for a toy, or letting the kid keep a few pieces and then throwing the rest out. I want Linus to have a healthy diet and a healthy relationship with food, but I don't think his Halloween candy will ruin him. I turned out just fine and I ate all of my Halloween candy as a kid (except for those icky Almond Joys). We let him have three pieces for dessert. Just like last year, he has been generous with us and shares some out of the packs that have multiple pieces. He was very happy when he opened the little box of Milk Duds and found three of them in it. He handed me one and said, "There were three of these. Good for our whole family." It made me smile.

Halloween

At the end of last Halloween, Linus told me he wanted to be a turtle the next time. He never once changed his mind. About a month ago he said he wanted to be a sea turtle. I was going to sew him a costume, but then he asked for a hard shell. I chose to create it out of paper mache. He helped me tear up newspapers into strips and he stirred the paste, but he didn't like the messy part of dipping the strips into the paste. Sometimes he played nearby while I put on another layer and other times I worked on it while he was taking a bath or playing with Matthew.

As we got closer to painting it I asked him what color he wanted the turtle to be. I could tell that he was envisioning it as he gestured and described: "A white sea turtle. With a white shell and a pink front." So that is what I created for him. As he marched up the street to go trick-or-treating, I thought the costume suited him perfectly. He was a great sea turtle.

When we carved pumpkins, Linus only wanted his to have eyes. After Matthew carved those into it, Linus put pulp on the top of it to be stringy hair. He didn't want to have a candle in his. This is the first time that he had his own vision for his jack o'lantern.