summer 2013

what didn't we do this summer?  well...we didn't go to visit mimi and papa.  that was a tough decision but otherwise we had a blast this summer!

ok. so we went to lake arrowhead again with family friends.  i drove to culver city to take the la metro train with friends to downtown la.  we went to kidspace childrens museum.

we put uncle kelly on the 5 minute list.  we had a blast with mary, kelly, molly and emma visiting.  we went all over la with them and even celebrated mary's birthday at the observatory. we toured jpl and saw a replica of the mars rover, curiosity.

we ate ice cream.  lots of ice cream.  we vacationed in palm springs.  who cares about 118 degrees when there's a pool?  we went to many, many parks.  he was naked.

he wrote apology notes to classmates.  he wrestled with cousin eli.  we took emily, marc, eli and aimee all around la and sent them off to san francisco in a convertible.  we went to descanso gardens and played in the pond with wesley.  we gave piggy back rides and climbed trees.

we hung out with friends we don't see very often.  we got wet.  we "rode" in a fourth of july parade.  we were silly, silly, silly.

we did more wrestling.  we got wet, wet, wet.  we rode bumper cars.  we did cannonballs.  we made fun on mimi. he felt around for a freckle on wesley. he watched wild kratts with wesley.

it was a great summer.  cashel's summer break meant being with me on tuesdays and thursdays.  we got into a great groove and he stopped napping at school.  score!

we're happy to be back in school but can't wait for summer 2014!

the sweet spot

i've been thinking lately that jason and i are in the sweet spot with cashel.  he's still little, but as we are approaching his fifth birthday i am very aware that he's really not little anymore.  he's completely aware that his stuffed animals don't really talk and that if i pretend to take a bite out of him that he does not, in fact, really taste like chocolate.  i really miss being able to trick him.  i can't just put my hands over my face to hide during hide and seek.  he doesn't really care to play hide and seek anymore - a day i thought would never come.  as tired of that game as i got i knew that i needed to enjoy it because it wouldn't last forever.  here we are.  sigh.

i do take joy in other things now though.  he's more independent.  he still wants me to carry him sometimes, which i do, sometimes, because i know for certain that i won't be able to do it this time next year. however, he walks most of the time now.  he's ventured a bit more into independent play with his toys.  i sometimes find him in his own world with his transformers or some other random smash up of toys - using funny voices for each.  he's grown so much i can't stand it!

so we're in the sweet spot.  the spot where he still wants to cuddle with me and touch my freckle, but he'll often play by himself which relieves me with less guilt to clean the kitchen.  once he turns five i officially have a school aged kid (although he won't start kindergarten for another year).  i won't have a baby or a toddler but a school aged kid.  the journey this far has been amazing.  they say not to blink and they're right.  damn it.  but at the same time i'm super excited to see him play soccer this fall and learn to read on his own and to continue to work on his comedy which just gets richer and richer with each passing day.

so for now we'll enjoy the sweet spot.  i'll enjoy making him laugh by making faces, set up blocks just for him to knock down, race him to his room at school, get him to eat by saying "did you see that bird over there" while i have food on my fork for him to eat and pretend not to, set up vinegar and baking soda and colored water and old spices so he can do "science," trick him into watering my flowers by letting him play with the water hose, have him jump to me in the pool, read books and books and books, watch him write his "s's" and "j's" backwards, explain how santa gets into houses without chimney's, convince him that there is no coca-cola in california, have him strip down to his underwear the moment he walks in the door, have him call out "mama!" in the middle of the night for me to come cuddle with him, attempt to answer all of his questions about life and death and "why god made it that some trashcans have a lid and others don't", listening to him call out every ford, toyota and honda he sees on the road, listening to him call me robin and his dad jason, watch him and jason wrestle in their underwear, hear him explain all he knows about the hulk and spiderman and batman and thor and dr. doom and the rest of the avengers, helping him negotiate four year old politics by telling him that sharing is caring, having ask me if my students get yellow notes when they get in trouble or to tell them, if they're talking, to zip it lock it put it in their pocket, hear him explain that kaitlyn is his girlfriend even though she's at another school and the leighton is also his girlfriend and she just got back from vegas and that max is his boyfriend, watching him play zombie in a bouncy house.

sigh :-)

dear mama

perhaps i'm feeling a bit sentimental right now.  that's very likely.

jason has more than supported my proclamation of "i gotta get outta here and take a break!"

 i'm by myself in la quinta, california.  california?  really?

sometimes i have to pinch myself.  am i really a girl from north carolina who has moved from north carolina to new jersey to california?

yep.  that's me.

i think i've always been a bit restless that way.  always needing to be in the "center of it all".  whatever that means...so here's to raleigh, new york and los angeles....

but by no means was it ever an excuse to get away from you and daddy.  that was never a thought.  it was simply me needing to spread by wings in the way i knew how.  once i figured out the kernersville wasn't the center of the universe (a HUGE shock to me by the way) i needed to see it all.

so here i sit.  last night i was cuddling with my best boy cashel.  we cuddle as much as possible.  it's both of our favorite form of entertainment.  i can't imagine life without my cuddles with cashel.  then i got to thinking.  i've heard some mothers say that their child isn't much of a cuddler.  how sad.  i cannot...cannot.....cannot imagine that.  it breaks my heart.  cashel would rather cuddle with me than drink chocolate milk....and that's a super hard thing to top!

mama.  my point is this.  when we are together - which is not nearly enough these days,  i want to cuddle with you.  as much as i would prefer to be the cuddler than the cuddlie, i will do it for you.  i know how special it is to be able to cuddle with your little one.

and cashel has reminded me how special it is to cuddle with mommy and i want to do that with you.

till this summer.....

a smattering of thoughts

i've looked back at posts and realized that i've really slacked off.

life.

its been really great lately. so much so it's gotten in the way of blogging.  i suppose there are worse problems to have.

where to start?

ok. i never blogged about his birthday.  back in november we had cashel's birthday party at griffith park.  this is the invitation:

then we had thanksgiving, christmas, new years, blah blah blah

you can see all of these awesome pictures on my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/84024656@N02/sets

right now it's march.  last week's weather was awesome - mid to upper 70's!  this week we're back in the 60's.  booooooooo

we're so spoiled here in so cal!

let me think....some highlights (and lowlights) off the top of my head:

-the schedule between halloween and new year's just about killed me last year. we were way too busy.
-how do people with more than one kid do it?
-cashel was in a soccer/baseball class with an amazing coach - coach akeim with "little boy joseph" and celia
-cashel resumed gymnastics where he can jump jump jump
-cashel started a theater class at theater 360.  he is playing the big billy goat of "the three billy goat's gruff"
-we play hide and go seek every.single.day.as.many.times.as.we.can.fit.it
-we also play a lot of freeze dance
-his go-to birthday present for friends is napkins and a can of green beans
-cashel has little interest in actually skiing but really wants to throw snow balls at jason as he snowboards
-he is spiderman much of the time
-he'll approach me and say - "ok mom. i have to say something......tag you're it!" and he dashes off
-he says "i like pirates much more than many things"
-"dad, you're reading to me tonight?  that's not cool"

and my favorite....when we were in raleigh we were on the ncsu campus and saw the bell tower and he said, "dad! is that the tower that mom was in when you saved her from the dragon?" and our response? "yep"

martin luther vampire

cashel brought his picture home the other day.

jason was watching cashel brush his teeth as i walked into the room with my tongue sticking through the hole in MLK's mouth (because i though that's what the kids had been doing...silly me) and i said, "who's this bud?"
and he said: "martin luther king vampire"

hmmmm.....

that's not exactly the response we expected.

do we want our boy to know who MLK is?  of course! and he'e learning that from us and at school.  the next day i asked him what MLK did and he said, "he helped people be who they are," which is, i think, a great answer for a 4 year old.

his uncle brian was over the next night. his gay uncle, i should say.

that's important because, well, he's gay and we love him and totally support his rights.  we told him and showed him the picture, which he got a kick out of.

well....

about a minute later jason and i both figured out to ask cashel, "were you the only one who made martin luther king a vampire?" to which he responded, "well, courtney scratched out one of his eyes and he was a pirate!"

...there you go folks. hopefully no one is offended by four year old thoughts....

wit

you are strong-minded and intelligent. you are actively creative and dynamic. your quick wit is apparent from the get-go. your intelligence doesn't come from pure academics--you work from your gut instincts, which more often than not steer you on the right course. your enthusiasm is strong, but you can also be quick to tire of one particular thing. although you are independent and rather willful, you won't disregard others' wisdom. because you have many talents and interests, you can easily stray from your path. your biggest challenge in life is to stay focused.

this is the horoscope for someone born on november 10....cashel's birthday.

he has the "quick wit" part down.

exhibit a: (last night at dinner - just he and i)

me: cashel, don't you love spaghetti?

cashel: (getting out of his chair) you know what i love mommy?

me: what cashel?

cashel: (walks over with a sly smile and gives me a hug then sits back down)

me: oh, that was so sweet!  i love that!

cashel:  mommy? do you know what i love?

me: what cashel?

cashel: (walks over with a sly smile and gives me a hug then sits back down)

me:  wow.  that's really sweet.

cashel:  mommy? do you know what's sweet?

me: what cashel? (i know what's coming)

cashel: (yet another hug and a sly smile)

he knows this is gold.

later that night when wrestling with daddy he stops wrestling and, without saying a word, gives his dad a big hug, then resumes wrestling.

love that kid.