Theo at Six: And a Cheetah Party

To usher in being six years old, Theodore decided to wake up at 5:00 with me and is currently working on his 249 piece Lego set he received yesterday for his birthday.  Neither of us could get back to sleep, so we may as well get some work done.  Being an early riser is a trait Theo and I share.  We have a lot of weekend mornings together while Eli and daddy sleep in.  Unfortunately, Theo also seems to be taking after me in the temper department (without the redhead excuse), in his running abilities (or lack of), and in his dedication to his "shows".  But, at least he's also taking after me in his quick math abilities, which should be helpful since he still professes the want to be a builder when he grows up (hence the two hundred and forty nine piece Lego set he needs almost no assistance with).  It made my heart sing a little when he got his first report card and his highest "grade" is in mathematics.

 And here are some fun numbers while we're talking math.  Theodore is twice as old as Eli, and twelve times as old as Thomas.  He is 1/3 of the way to college (!!).  He's now been with me more than 1/5 of my life.  Since he is in a mixed age class of 5 to 7 year olds, he isn't the largest always but is a sturdy 48 inches and 60+lbs.  He is still in size 1 shoes, so at least his feet took a break from growing.  He isn't the most athletic kid (like his parents), so he dreams of having the speed of a cheetah, (65 mph).

Theo is officially a big boy now.  All the softness to his chubby baby face is gone, as is the softness to his personality. I can describe it best by saying he has sharp edges now.  It's not so much that he is headstrong as much as it is that he is always in his own little world. And being told to alter his world (turn off a favorite show, asked to slow down, and being told he can't do things) causes immediate little fits of anger.  And add a little brother who has his own ideas and contributions while they are playing and there is a lot of bickering between the the two.  I say that it is easier to have the 6 month old and 3 year old both, than to have Theodore.  It's like the temperature of the house raises several degrees every time when he comes home from school and my blood pressure increases.  He is just a bit of a fireball to have around.

But when it's just him (and electronics aren't around), he's still a pretty great kid.  He seems to be navigating school well, and doesn't consider himself one of the "bad kids".  Most days he says are "pretty good".  Packing or buying lunch is a pretty important part of his day.  He gets very excited to pick out new library books, and likes art as well.  He would rather learn science and nature info all day, rather than learning to read and write (though he is excited for first grade, when they only have to use one finger space when writing instead of two), so most of his favorite shows and Kindle apps help with this.  He was recently assigned to study an animal and make a diorama for school, so he's been researching the cheetah.  We ended up designing his birthday party around cheetahs, giving him a cheetah cake and visiting the zoo for the day with both his grandmas, Aunt Nae Nae and grandpa.  Luckily, they were out, and he even got to watch a cheetah gnaw on a carcass as the zoo has began feeding the lions and cheetahs carcasses.  Watching the lionesses really go after theirs was pretty neat.  And Theodore was kind not to mention that that napkins and plates I found were actually leopard spots, and not cheetah.  The things I've had to learn since having all boys...

*Sorry so late... took a while to get the photos on here.*

Teeth Update:  2 gone (Feb. 17)

Advent Calendar for a Pre-Schooler: Week 2 and Week 1 Update

It's starting to get close!  The rainy weather around here is kind of putting a damper on our activities, but I guess it's better than deep, deep snow.  Here's what we're up to this week:

Week 2

Update on Week 1
ZooLights:  Despite the intermittent rain after a 70 degree day, we actually had a great time at the National Zoo's ZooLights.  We went during members free days, and got to use coupons and free parking worth about $44 plus a discount at the gift shop.  It's half the reason we pay for a yearly membership that allows free parking every visit.  We did get to ride the train this year, but despite Theo being past the 36 inch height requirement, we did not try the zoo tubing since it was so wet.  Elijah of course requested "more" of the carousel, and was requesting the "choo choo" all the way up the hill as we walked to the visitor center to see the indoor display of trains.  Our little builder, Theo, enjoyed evaluating all the gingerbread panda homes that were on display.  A tip for others visiting would just be to bring your own thermos of hot coffee and treats if you want them.  We paid $4.50 for ONE sugar cookie!  (Here's a link to when we went last year for more info on the event.)

PJ Donation:  As I've mentioned, I LOVE Scholastic book orders, and this year our pre-school partnered with them to collect pajamas and books for needy kids with their annual Great Bedtime Story Pajama Drive.  We donate new pajamas and Scholastic matches it with a book.  It is a good program, and Theo struggles with the idea of giving things away (he worries that then we won't have those things to use), so I'm trying to involve him in this in different ways.  He collected food at a local grocery store with our church before Thanksgiving, and he's starting to get the idea that we can be generous and still have what we need.

Tiny Tots Concert:  Brian took the morning off to take Theodore to his field trip to the annual concert put on for pre-schoolers.  Theodore is still talking about the Superman song, and seeing Elsa sing.  (Here's a link to when we went last year for more info on the event.)

Angel Tree Shopping:  Our church is donating gifts to local foster kids as part of an angel tree project.  We picked a two year old boy who wanted anything train related.  I figured we are kind of experts on that, and hope our little guy loves his gift. 

Reindeer Run and Winterfest:  See link for the Reindeer Run & Romp

Puppet Show:  We all went to the library for another puppet show, featuring classical toys on strings.  The boys always crack up at these performances (though I'd rather be reading a book :).

Week 1 Calendar Link

Another Day at the Zoo

Here we are congratulating the panda daddy on his baby's birth.

 Theodore is in that stage where he asks questions about everything, so taking him to the zoo is a bit of a different experience now.  But his statements are just as interesting as his questions.  The things he comes up with are just so amusing to me.  I never know what his little brain is thinking.  My three favorite conversation snippets from yesterday:

Mama:  See the big orange fish in the koy pond?
3-year-old:  Yes, can we eat them next week?

Mama (reading from sign):  The big bad wolf (gray wolf) eats moose, deer, beavers and rabbits.
3-year-old:  And bacon.  Pigs are bacon.

3-year-old:  What is he doing? (When they let the elephant out into the walk area.)
Mama:  The elephant is going for a walk for exercise.  Like we walk the dog.
3-year-old:  Elephantses don't need leashes.

Walking on the elephant's footsteps.  All of them.

We also seemed to be very lucky today because without really trying we stumbled across four different zoo-keeper talks/demonstrations today.  They were each really interesting, and I hope to plan a whole trip around catching as many of them as we can sometime.  This time we saw:  Sloth Bear Talk (10:30), Elephant Training (11:00), Seal Feeding (11:15), and Meet a Naked Mole Rat (2:00).

And I even got a chance to play with my new (and already broken and repaired) camera today.

Always a successful day when we leave with one asleep, and one who soon followed.

Visit from the Alaskans

My older sister and our nephew flew down from Alaska in February. We haven't seen them in over a year, so it was awesome getting to spend some time with them!

She started her trip at her father's house a couple hours from here in Maryland. Brian and I headed down there and spend a very relaxing weekend with them, enjoying playing the WII with the 2-year old (he beat us in bowling), exploring the outdoors with the 2-year old, having a cookout, and shopping. It was a beautiful weekend, and was more like early fall than late winter.

Then, the next weekend, our grandparents, mom, and the rest of our siblings came to Delaware and we got to enjoy a carriage ride around old Philadelphia, taking the nephew to his very first zoo (The Smithsonian), showing both my younger sisters and Matthew D.C. for the very first time, and enjoying time together.

This was the first time we were all together since my wedding over 2 1/2 years ago.

At the Smithsonian Zoo.

Aydan loved playing "The Baseball", and always required anyone playing to put on a Diamondbacks helmet.

Uncle Brian was his favorite. Again.


Grandma got us these awesome sweatshirts.

Aydan's Second Favorite Game.... Locking Brian in the room, and then throwing the ball at Brian and making him fall. He got to the point where he didn't allow us to catch the ball, we had to let it hit us. He is going to be shocked in dodge ball once people dock out of the way, or don't automatically fall over.