Stuffs

When I went to pick Wm up from Clubhouse yesterday, he had a crazy nosebleed. It actually scared me a bit! Wm pulled the tissue away and saw a big clot of blood and went "ahhhh…oohhhhh no!" and even though it made me catch my breath, I had to be all, "What? That? Nothing. No big. Happens all the time. Totally normal." So he calmed down and then we managed to get him home and a snort of nasal spray later it was stopped. I thought he was going to bleed to death there for a minute! That kid has the most temperamental nose.

Wm was super thrilled this morning because I got him new calcium chews that are chocolate. He goes, "DO I GET ONE OF THESE EVERY DAY?" When I told him yes, this was his response:

Vitamins are awesome!! Strong bones!

Wm has been having super fun times at Clubhouse and we are gearing up for vacation next week. We have lots of fun stuff planned! A couple days at a fancy cabin in Hocking Hills (hiking, canoeing, heading into Athens, swimming at Lake Hope), then taking Wm to his first concert, and, finally, hitting up the state fair!  After that….it's time for school shopping. :(

I came across these pictures of The Ville about a hundred years ago and thought they were neat. Back then, it was the location of the Columbus Zoo and an amusement park. It all closed permanently in the 1930's. Shame.

Roller coaster!

The trolly entrance 

Major attraction!

Schroeder, too, has been having a delightful summer. Here he is lounging fatly on the ottoman. It can barely contain his furry gut. Steve is trying to avoid being in the picture. Failed.

Spoiled.

Crazy Eyes

Wm has been working every day at Clubhouse on a storyboard for a game he has created called Martian Invasion. It is creepily detailed and he has all sorts of rules and regulations. He is super proud of it!!

Cover page

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Pages 4 and 5 are kind of boring and filled with text so I didn't bother to take pictures. Even though I love that Wm is being creative and using his imagination, playing his game is torture. It is so boring and involved - and, of course, he wins every time since he made up the rules! Sadly, I have to pretend to be enjoying myself when we play so he thinks I'm having a grand time. Luckily, Steve is his usual victim in game playing because they can use their weird video game language to talk about things while they are playing. Steve is the best dad ever!!

Wm has discovered that crossing his eyes freaks his father and I out. So he now does it all the time and laughs and laughs at us. Not. Cool.

At breakfast this morning…

Me: Did you make your bed?

Wm: I forgot.

Me: Well, you can do it when you go up to brush your teeth before you leave.

Wm: Ugh.

[15 minutes later, after I went upstairs to brush my teeth first]

Me: Hey, you said you forgot your bed! It was halfway made. So you just need to finish it off.

Steve: Halfway made?

Me: Yeah. It wasn't made, but you could see he at least attempted something.

Steve: *I* made it!!!

Me: That was supposed to be a made bed?

Steve: YES.

Me: Hmmmm.  Well, good start, buddy. Good start.

Steve: [grumps]

Cowy Friends

The willpower...
Me: Did you eat a good lunch at Clubhouse?
Wm: Yes.
Me: Hmmm. What did they have?
Wm: Spaghetti and meatballs.
Me: Oh, you love meatballs!
Wm: I was SOOOO tempted to eat the meatballs.
Me: But you didn't eat them?
Wm: No. I couldn't betray my cow-y friends.

Then, later…
Me: Hey, Big Helper, could you break down that box and take it out to recycling?
Wm: Me?
Me: No, Daddy.
Wm: Oh, I guess I am your little helper.
Me: Totally.
Wm: And sometimes I am your little hinderer.

Weekend Wrap Up

Despite the continued End Times Level rain, we had a great weekend! It was actually sunny on Saturday and Wm got to play his baseball game (much to his chagrin), we went out to lunch with Suzanne afterwards and then hiking at Highbanks.  We also managed to eek in a swim while the sun shone! 

Wm has discovered Dr. Who. And he is majorly into that action. Wm has never really liked watching shows or movies all that much. He mostly wants interactive things like games. But, now, he has finally discovered the joy of binge watching something! Wm is a tiny scifi nerd in the making! 

He likes to stand right in front of the TV to really soak up Dr. Who

And, as usual, The Boys got some good wrestling around accomplished!

Superman!

Uh oh...

Crash!

Play Date Day

Wm had his all day play date yesterday. He had SO MUCH fun!! His friend's mom texted me this at work - look at how his little face is all lit up!

When I went to pick him up, he wasn't even there. He and his friend were off having adventures. So he got dropped off an hour later. He was so exhausted from all the fun, he was asleep about 30 seconds after his head hit the pillow! 

While going to bed a couple nights ago…

Me: Can you tell me something you appreciated about yourself today?

Wm: Yes! Rhett dropped his Pokemon card and it slid under the bookshelf. He couldn't reach it and was really sad that he lost it. But, I could fit my arm in there and I was able to grab it and give it back to him and then he was happy.

Me: So you appreciated that you helped your friend?

Wm: Oh, yeah, I guess. I was thinking I appreciated that I am very tiny.

Cat Convo

Wm is super excited because he is going over to have an all day play date with his BFF on Thursday instead of going to Clubhouse. If there is one creature who is real happy the play date is elsewhere, it's Schroeder. Because he is the real loser in any Wm play date. Wm and his friends love to carry him around under his cat armpits and "play" with him. Schroeder, the weirdo, doesn't just run away the way you'd expect a cat to. He just sits there looking sullen and takes it (angrily). Then, as soon as the boys leave, he collapses and snores away for hours.

Playdate PTSD

But, my favorite was a conversation Steve had with him…

Schroeder: [bite bite bite]

Steve: SCHROEDER! Stop! Do not bite me! I'm not playing with you! [goes into kitchen]

Schroeder: Meow.

Steve: No.

Schroeder: Mrrrrrrrrow!

Steve: No, Schroeder. I'm not giving you wet food.

Schroeder: MRRRREEEEOOOOWWWW!

Steve: NO! Not after the way you treated me.

I am pretty sure Schroeder totally gets it and is super remorseful about it.

I have discovered I love watching American women kick a little world ass. Steve was happy to have a soccer-watching companion (Wm, as usual, declared it "boring an stupid" and went up to hang out in his room). Steve told me that the US-Japan World Cup game had higher ratings that the Stanley Cup or some other big sporty thing I can't even remember now. BUT, the women's entire team made $2 millions for WINNING THE WORLD CUP. The shitty men's team LOST and got over $50 million for sucking. Even Steve was horrified and he's usually all, "women's sports are stupid…patriarchy...blah blah blah." 

Speed of Summer

So much for a lazy summer! This one seems to be flying by!!

On Thursday, our server at work needed maintenance, so our department chair just told us to enjoy the extra day before the holiday weekend. FOUR DAY WEEKEND! Yaaaay! So my friend Melanie and I did all sorts of fun girlie things. Then on Friday, Wm had a friend over and they ran us ragged. On Saturday, Suzanne came over and we had a cookout and went to see fireworks. Luckily, because I am a super genius, I figured out an amazing place to go and see them. Show up 10 minutes before they start, park your car, put chairs right next to your car, immediately following fireworks, get back into car and drive home. No trouble parking, no traffic, no schlepping chairs for a mile from where you eventually found a spot. I did feel, however, that Steve was not as appreciative of my super genius fireworks plan as he should have been (probably because he kept insisting it wouldn't work - AH HA!)

We also hit up the pool and continued Wm's Water Exposure. Then, yesterday, The Boys went to see Inside Out. Apparently, both of them cried - and they both came home with tummy aches because Daddy buys insane amounts of treats when left unsupervised.

That four day weekend went by in a snap! I am now recovering at work, where nothing is going on because it's summer. Thank god.

OH! And, in other news, Wm's doctor checkup was great. He has skyrocketed from the 3rd percentile in height/weight to the 5th. After waiting 45 minutes to see the doctor, she poked around, looked in all the holes in his head with her tiny flashlight, and declared him healthy and we were out the door. She did ask if she could look at his "boy parts" to make sure all was as it should be and then asked if Wm wanted me to close my eyes. The minute we got into the car, Wm goes, "why was the doctor so weird about my penis?" BOOM. Super healthy body image. Parenting win. (That did necessitate a rather awkward, on my part, talk about predators. Wm was just mostly bored and kept going, "I KNOW.") Going to the doctor is always traumatic for me, though, because Wm insists on touching things. As a germaphobe, I spend the entire time like, "DO NOT TOUCH THAT!" and then going, "OMG - DID YOU JUST TOUCH YOUR EYE??? You may as well lick your finger. You definitely have smallpox now." And basically bathing Wm in hand sanitizer. He appears unscathed from the visit, though. THIS TIME. Probably due solely to my vigilance.