When I Sleep In...

I came downstairs one morning this past week after sleeping in for an extra hour. Harrison and Daddy were moving through their usual morning routines by the time I joined the party; as I poured my morning coffee and attempted to get a baring on the day Harrison called out from the living room,

"Mommy can you get my kitchen knife and pirate spear!"

I stopped in my tracks - Kitchen Knife?

What could they have possibly been doing before I got out of bed?

"Kitchen Knife?" I repeated. Still pondering the "spear" part of the sentence.

"Oh, nevermind! I got it!" Harrison said as I honed in on what he was talking about.

Much to my tired relief the "kitchen knife" is the only play knife from his wooden food cutting set and the "spear" is his Pirate eye-patch. Phew!

[Yeah, I don't get where "spear" came from either]

Hey, at least he's not darting around wielding REAL kitchen knives...





Hosted by Cecily and Emily

Is It Christmas Today?

Sunday morning Harrison awoke and called out to us, "Is it Christmas Today?"  


No, I answered.

"You said Christmas was after Halloween."

He's right, I did say Christmas came after Halloween. Obviously I wasn't clear on how soon after...



A couple quick (and blurry) poses as we rushed out of the house & shortly before the battery died (the spare at home, oops).

He wanted to be a Knight Jedi.
No, not a Jedi Knight.
Trust me, there is a difference.

We went up the street to the local "Trunk or Treat" in a church parking lot - car trucks opened to trick-or-treat and a Jumper (i.e. Bouncer, Jump House, Inflatable).  Harrison trick-or-treated at three cars and headed straight for the jumper (that he remembered from his two hour jump fest last year).
"I have enough candy!" he declared as he darted.

Since Daddy came along this year, we talked him into coming out long enough for some traditional trick-or-treating up and down one block.
He boldly went up to each door, knocked loudly and yelled, "Trick or Treat!" in that adorable little-boy voice of his.  A couple houses [with lights on] didn't answer and finally at the last house he gave his last ditch effort and yelled "Trick Or TREE-EEET!" and then proceeded to have a short in-depth conversation about one of his toys with the woman who answered the door. 

Back down the street, we returned to the Trunk or Treat and closed it down - in the Jumper. Yup, two MORE hours of standing around meeting other nice parents waiting for their kids to work off sugar-highs in the Jumper. Guess what... the Jumper doesn't work.
 

PEACE OUT!

All I have to say is next year He is carving the pumpkins!




(Copied over from Just Add Color where I accidentally posted it in my delirium.)

No Harrison!

The other night I opened the door from our living room to head upstairs for bed; but the door wouldn't open, there was something heavy blocking it. My heart skipped a beat as multiple scenarios raced through my mind in the split second it took to focus in on the dark floor. I saw something white that at first looked like a paw of our dog who has been gone for over a month. Then I realized, lying in a heap against the door was Harrison - wrapped in his big blue blanket, fast asleep.

I have no idea how long he lay there because we didn't hear a peep.

I picked him up and took upstairs to his room. As I stepped into his room and I stopped in my tracks; I couldn't walk any further. In the darkness I could see that something was amiss. Or... a lot of things were a mess.

I carefully stepped over blocks and books and animals and toys to lay him down. I called the G.I.D. up and turned on Harrison's light, he was shocked. Honestly, we were disturbed. This was so unlike Harrison; and for all of the - destruction - we didn't hear a thing! I mean, seriously, he emptied shelving units, storage buckets (and then stacked them) and baskets of books. This took TIME. It looked like a child through a fit with arms flailing, clearing flat surfaces and throwing things.  BUT - we. did. not. hear. a. thing.

The next morning Harrison woke and called for me, as I came in and he asked, "you turned out my light?"

"Um, no. I put you back in bed after you fell asleep downstairs..."

"Oh yeah..." he smiled with a remembering chuckle, "I turned out my light."

"I see you were busy last night."

"I was gentle with my toys, Mommy..." he proudly announced,  "and very quiet!"

As I glanced once more at the toys

and books strewn throughout the room

  I had to know...

...do I need to take him to a child psychologist or call a specialist in paranormal activity for a possible poltergeist?

So I asked...

"Harrison, why did you do all this?"

"I wanted to be like David."

David?

Then it dawned on me, the one reason I didn't like a particular book; because not only will kids try things they see on the TV, they will try things they see in books.

Case in point:

It ended up in a pile of quarter books from a book sale. And we had read it the night before. I paged through the book and found Harrison's inspiration.

And Harrison said, "See mommy, David gets to watch a show!"

Then he was painfully reminded that his name is NOT David and that HE would be picking up some toys before watching any show.



At least it's not a poltergeist!

Two Wheels!

I know! So much going on so little time to talk about it!

In this case the pictures say it all.


Happy Wednesday!
Wordless Wednesday here and here.

WW - Rain, Rain

Stay today...
Little Harrison wants to play.

loving the autumn weather

More here.

A Long Time Waiting...

It's no secret that I occasionally grieve the reality that the baby years are finished {no more babies here}; I look at Harrison and find my head spinning at how quickly the time passes from infant to toddler; from toddler to boy.

It didn't take long to realize that I wanted to put him in martial arts program as soon as he was old enough. All of four days old, the lactation nurse at my breastfeeding support group suggested the book, "Raising Your Spirited Child" the title continues: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, Energetic (i.e. Harrison).
That is when I knew that my one week old, I'm-not-going to-sleep-like-a-baby, son was Spirited and our adventure was only about to begin; and I knew that martial arts would help to instill in him, patience, respect, self control and confidence (the last being the least of this natural leader's concerns). 

The day finally came.

The Energizer Bunny, himself, couldn't keep up with the excitement Harrison emitted in the hours leading up to the class. And then to WAIT for the instructor? Absolute. Torture.

At last, they bowed in respect...

and the teaching began.

But as it is sometimes goes with a four-year-old, tiredness kicks in and a yawn takes over.

[I just yawn looking at him]

not for long though - quickly back to business...

I'm thinking he likes it.

As for Master Don, he may be rethinking his decision to teach martial arts to rambunctious four-year-olds...




Hosted by Cecily and Izzy 'N Emmy

WW - See my Knots!

He started Tae Kwon Do this week.

He tied his belt...and tied...and tied

"Did your mom tie this for you? Remember, mom is always right. Always."
...i didn't tie it...

A little "Lord of the Dance" here, Harrison.



More about Tae Kwon Do later.
More Wordless Wednesday here.