A Parent's Pride

Sometimes in the course of parenting I find that I make decisions that, in retrospect, look questionable.  For example, letting my son, at the age of 3, play the video game Plants vs. Zombies.  On the plus side, he is now, at the age of 4, capable of a pretty serviceable zombie impression.  You may have to be familiar with the Plants vs. Zombies particular brand of zombies to fully appreciate this performance.  Either way,  I submit, for your review:

 

 

 

I am both proud and mortified.

Karate Kid

 

Declan attended a martial arts birthday party for his friend Gavin. Declan was really really reluctant to participate.  He kept protesting that "fighting was bad" and he didn't want to be a fighter.  It took me a long time to cajole him into getting in there and mixing it up, but once he did, he loved it.

very pleased with himself...

Four point Five

It was Declan's half birthday yesterday so I thought I would ask him some questions about where he is at right now- something I've been meaning to do since he turned four, which gives you an idea of where I'm at with my to-do list.  I made a little video, but feel I need to editorialize a little bit as there were a few answers that should have an asterisk beside them.  He had macaroni and cheese at a restaurant last week, and he listed that as his favourite food, but really it is probably peanut butter sandwiches.  He lists "Not Yet, Rose" as his favourite book, but that was just one that we had read at bedtime last night.  Really his favourite books are all Mo Willems offerings, the Knufflebunny series, and Elephant and Piggie especially.  He named his stuffie dog "Willems" after Mo Willems.  He lists a new favourite movie, which is probably not true, I would say that it is now "Ponyo" finally displacing the longstanding favourite, "Lady and the Tramp".

The way he jumps around in the video is pretty darn accurate.  His patience for more sedentary activities like drawing and colouring is increasing though.   I submit for your consideration, a sample of his work: 


Actual Phoebe

Declan's Rendition of Phoebe

Not bad, eh?  He has just started to write a couple of weeks ago.  To date, this is his magnum opus: 



Declan is doing more and more for himself- including to my dismay, picking out his own clothes.

  Gumboots are big for Fall of 2012.  He also made his first meal for himself today:   ants on a log.

This fall we are kind of in hiatus for extracurricular activities, but we are still in gymnastics.  Declan is eager to start up swimming and soccer again in the spring.    So that's the snapshot of this moment in time. I will try and ask him the same questions in 6 months and see how much things have changed. 

Circus!

 Just resolving to catch up on my summer blogging, starting with Declan's end of the school year program. The three-year-old class put on a circus and it was just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen. There was a tightrope walker, an acrobat, a strongman, a daredevil, a lion tamer, a trained seal, a bear-on-a-bicycle and a posse of clowns. And of course the magician. Declan's teachers told me that they cast him as the magician because his developmental progress over the past two years suggests that he has some tricks up his sleeve! On the video, you can hear me quietly crying through the whole thing. I just thought it was so darn adorable.  Declan was the first out of the circus performers and he was quite a bit more nervous than he had been in rehearsals. Still adorable.

 

 

Now if you want to relive that performance through sequential stills, I can't say as I blame you. 

First Day of School

First time in man-made fabrics

New backpack

That's right- time to throw out the crayons and start cramming for the SATs.

There was a moment this morning when Declan asked to just go back to his old school, but on the whole he is very excited about starting preK at PA.  We had a class mingle sesion on Monday, where he got to meet the other 17 kids in his class.  Declan went around introducing himself "Hi, I'm your new friend Declan."  To one kid, he said "I'm Declan.  Do you want to play with me?  I'm REALLY nice."  He has inherited his mother's gift for shameless self-promotion, and I couldn't be more proud. 

Our Increasingly Plant-based Diet.

So like everybody else, we are trying to eat more healthily these days, and are transitioning to a more plant-based diet, blah blah blah, won't bore you with the details, not getting too militant about anything, going for more of an 80% is perfection kind of happy medium, but here was Declan last night making a request for his favourite vegan dish:

Baby's first air quotes.  Made me laugh.

Pool time!

Tonight...

Dog in people bed.

 

People in Dog Bed.

 

Business as usual chez Whitlock.

Camping at Petit Jean

I took Declan camping to Petit Jean State Park last weekend with friends, Ariel and Brooke and their respective children.  It was a dad-free trip, just moms and kids, and we had a grand old time.




 These are a few of the activities we enjoyed:

Roasted S'mores

Went geocaching

Read stories

Painted pet rocks

Played in tents

Played at the playground

Played in the car

Slept in tents

Stargazed

Chased fireflies

Dined al fresco

Played Flashlight Treasure Hunt

Went spelunking

Went hiking

Went Swimming

Went Bug Hunting

Had a waterballoon fight

Went bike riding

Took in the Baby Animal Show at the Petit Jean Amphitheatre

Raved with Glowsticks in the forest,

and did our first Cannonball, ever.

Photographic evidence follows.