The Swinger...

My son... the swinger. When I picked up Reilly from daycare yesterday, he was outside in a sandbox, under the slide with 4 other children. When the teachers told him I had arrived, he said good-bye to each one of them and handed his shovel off. On his way out of the sandbox, he went over and said good-bye to his little friend Madison. She reached for his hand and escorted him to the door in the gate. They said their good-byes. Once on the other side of the fence he walked back over to it and said good-bye to two other little girls peering out the fence at him. He walked to me getting ready to get in the truck and he heard "Reilly, come give me kisses!". Low and behold if it wasn't Madison looking for some more contact. She smiled, he blew her kisses and off we went.

Timeout but not forgotten

"NO" is the word these days and Reilly over uses his freedom to express his ability to use this term. I asked him several times to sit while he was eating and he snapped a succinct "no" back at me. After the third time I asked, "would you like a timeout" (he's only ever had one so I'm not sure he's completely aware) and he replied "yes". About 5 seconds later Reilly was sitting in his chairs facing the wall and crying. Poor guy. I took a photo of it, if you want to check it out. Notice the shadow on the wall - it showcases his pout nicely.

-MOTY I AM!

Oh Deer...

When I pulled into work this morning I noticed there was a truck with it's shell window open. I wondered if they had a dog in the back and wanted to give the pup some air OR if they accidentally left it open. So I deliberately walked around the back of the truck and peeked inside. I saw a set of camouflage and a backpack. In the backpack I saw some antlers sticking out - too big to be zipped shut. Gross....

Here or there

Day Care kids versus kids that stay at home with a parent... for the first time yesterday I decided that Reilly possessed many of the traits I associate with a day care child. Although he is typically well mannered and there are so many positive attributes of day care, there are definitely some negatives as well.

In our Shake Rattle and Roll class I believe he is the only child that goes to day care, all the rest stay at home. In class he shows his independence rather than his ability to follow along. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, BUT I take it personally when he's the only one in the class doing exactly what he wants versus learning what the rest of the class is learning. I would like to say that he knows it all already but that's far from the truth.

My only brush with sanity is that more than half of the class are 6 months older than him, and 6 months is a lot when you only have 30 to work with.

If he didn't talk about the class constantly, I would not return.

Building A Mystery

I went upstairs this morning to get Reilly clothes for the day. He stayed in the living room lining up his cars one by one by one and told the dog not to touch them. As I pulled his pants off the dryer I heard Sarah McLachlan in a way I had never heard her and in a way she would likely prefer she is never heard. Crackling... loud and yelling "Building A Mystery".

The way I figure it is Reilly was trying to turn on the Wiggles, nothing was happening so he pushed all the buttons and turned all the knobs.

I came downstairs to see him (I know I was smirking) and he said in a petrified voice with a scared look on his face - "I scared you" and he began to whimper. I turned down Sarah and showed him what the knob does. Although the damage was already done, I'm not sure he will ever want to listen to her again.

A day to remember

You think I'm talking about the polls??? Although a stunningly close election will remain in my memory for some time to come, (see Jen, I'm not a goldfish like you are), it's not what I will remember today for. I will remember today because when Shad told Reilly he was going to the potty, Reilly said he wanted to join him.

Picture this, the two of them sat there and pee'd on their potty's TOGETHER!!!

Following this feat, Reilly ran into see me so I could celebrate this great accomplishment with him. Oddly, Shad did not want to celebrate his - I am not sure why.

I appreciated them both nonetheless. Reilly pee'd on the potty on his own accord! party party party!!! :-)

4 more years - Reilly will be in first grade and Dubya will still be in office.

Ballots and Pet Rocks

Reilly went to school today with a pocket full of rocks. Since he comes home at least once a week telling Shad and I that he "hit CJ" or "pushed CJ". I'm hoping these rocks do not prove to be a weapon for him.

I am hoping that they are just something to fill his pockets since they are an accessory which he has recently discovered.

Be sure to vote!

Oh rotund one that I am......

The Ravenous Frog

We made a new discovery with our son dressed as a cute little fuzzy frog last night. He has motivation, he has spunk and he knows what he wants! While trick or treating with his cousin Brenna, who was a sweet little ballet dancing butterfly, he started to make the connections between candy, saying trick or treat, doorbells, putting on a cute smile for the neighbors, and what was in Brenna's bag could be his if he was creative and sly. So, he came home (I stayed home and handed out treats while the Dad's pulled around the creatures in the wagon), with a bag that was almost tearing given the weight which was imposed on it. Apparently, if you take pieces one by one from your cousin and dispose of her bag, no one knows what happened. Perhaps it all fell out. NOT! The boy is now obsessed with candy, he knows how to open Reese's peanut butter cups and he knows how to acquire from an innocent friends hand if the process from wrapper to hand to mouth is not quick enough. Oh my.

It was with resistance he went to bed without his bag of candy, and it was with resistance he had a waffle, banana and smoothie for breakfast - for what he requested was "CANDY". Wow, this is starting young.

NOTE: I have since hidden all this candy and brought a sampling for myself to work today. I recall that my parents had to "check" all our candy when we were young. I'm happy to take on that role.