The things they say, age 4

Today in the car Brian was telling me all the rules for Disneyland.  As best as I remember:

“Rule number one: No food and drinks, because then you get crumbs everywhere.

Rule number two: No pushing or hitting people.

Rule three: No bombs [?!?!?]

Rule four: No dumping dirty water on people’s heads.

And that’s all the rules.”

This is Brian with his flower.  He is always picking flowers (clover) for me, so one time I picked him this red clover while we were out walking.  He was riding his trike and carried this carefully back the whole way, riding with one hand, and as soon as we got home, he ran inside, filled this container (an empty ricotta container) with water, and gave his flower some water.  It was so sweet!

------------------------------------------------------------------

(In the car) Eli: “Brudder?  Cool car?”

Brian: “Yep, Eli, there’s lots of cool cars in this town.  And some not cool ones.  Like old cars.  And crashed cars.”

------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian (out of the blue): “I hope I’m not allergic to Eli.”

------------------------------------------------------------------

And a bonus Eli moment:

Eli woke up, got Brian’s teddy and announced “Teddy breakfast.”  He brought him to the high chair and put on a bib.  I asked him, “What does teddy want for breakfast?”  “Chicken” he replies.  Good choice for a bear’s breakfast, I guess!  So I gave him a bowl and spoon so he could feed the bear.  So cute!  Brian wanted in on the action too, so he is giving puppy a bowl of water.  Monkey see, monkey do is the rule around here and it goes both ways!

Happy Birthday, Brian!

Today you are 4 years old.  Old enough to know your age, as well as how old you were, and how old you will be.  Given free reign of the breakfast menu, you chose waffles.  You were going to help make them, but wandered off to play, then wondered why you hadn’t gotten to help make them.  While we were eating, you wondered why Daddy wasn’t up yet… you are getting used to having him around on weekends, which is a bit of a novelty!  We went to a playgroup and had a blast with new friends and old friends too.  You were even surprised with little cupcakes!

You had so much fun this morning that you passed out (along with Eli) on the way home. 

It was incredibly adorable. 

I said you could have whatever you wanted for dinner, too.  “Anything at all, like…” I was going to finish with “pizza” but you were clearly thinking faster than I was and shouted “parsnips!”  I think this was more a think-of-the-weirdest-food-you-can-name thing, and not something you actually wanted.  Later you told me you wanted “China food”, so we got takeout.  You got the best fortune: To the world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world.

We took a family picture:

It reminded me of this.

Then we went out for ice cream, yay!

The sign was generically perfect; you announced, “Yup, they know I’m the birthday boy!”  So we forced you to take a picture.  Sorry, but it was too cute to pass up. 

We spent the rest of the evening eating raspberries right off the bushes until it was time for bed.  Happy Birthday to our bright, funny, sweet little boy!  You are the world to us!

The Blue Angels

A big air show was in town this past weekend.  We had seen the Blue Angels practicing all week and I thought Brian might like it.  But he told me he didn’t want to see an air show, he thought a water show was much better, like the one at Disneyland.  I guess calling it an airPLANE show would make more sense to a 3-year old.  Anyway, I took him on Sunday, but not to the real show, just to park on the street by the airport like everyone else in Rochester. 

Kind of a “poor man’s air show”; I love the people in the pickup with lawn chairs and an umbrella.  Beats paying $20 to go in, where there is no shade, no food, no drinks, no backpacks, etc.  This plane flew right over us; it was pretty awesome!  Brian was busy with a freezer pop.  He’d never had one before and struggled to figure it out.  A lot ended up on the ground. 

We ran into some friends who had suggested this spot and sat with them in what little shade we could find. 

I love the Blue Angels so please indulge a few of the pictures I snapped:

I think Brian was overwhelmed by the noise; he was a little bit crazy, but he did have a good time. 

Here’s the proof:

He slept for almost 2 hours afterwards.  :)

County Fair

We went to the Monroe county fair this past weekend, and while by all accounts it was kind of a bust, involving one major tantrum, and two hot, tired, cranky kids, looking back I think it wasn’t all that bad.  Like the state fair, we saw some animals…

…rode a horse (no, not really)…

…looked at lots of plants…

…(mom, I’m sooo bored of these hostas)…

…but then we found some COOL ROBOTS!

And TRACTORS! 

And all was well again.  (Until we tried to leave without riding the $5 rides…)

A walk in the woods

One of our favorite things to do down in Delaware (aside from the beach, of course) is going hiking in White Clay Creek State Park.  It’s very close to my parents’ house and has a nice, wide trail that goes along a creek.  We find beaver dams and in the past we have seen ducks, but this time the only wildlife we saw was the tiny kind.

 

There were lots of beautiful dragonflies!

Hiking with Auntie Denise, he says, “Auntie Denise, I love you.”

The main attraction is where the trail gets close enough that we can go on the riverbank, and throw rocks.  Oh, we could spend hours doing this!  Eli is getting in on the action now too. 

He yells, “Big rock!  Splash!”  He went splash too one time.  Oops.  Oh, Auntie Denise, I see you on your iPhone!  Busted!

But to be fair, Auntie Denise is the one who found the fish and pointed them out to the kids.  They were tiny but we could see them!  Finally we turn around and head back to the car.  The kids were exhausted even though it was mid morning and this was how we left the park:

These kids are getting too HEAVY for this!

Brian’s Birthday, part 1

We celebrated Brian’s birthday while we were down in Delaware so that family and friends would get a chance to wish him a happy birthday.  In reality, it turned out to be more of a social event for the grown ups, but hey, there was swimming and cake, so he was happy. 

Blowing out the candles on his enormous ice-cream birthday cake!

Meanwhile, Eli was clowning around with his best friend, Monty. 

From Auntie Denise, he got a Tickle Monster Laughter Kit…

And it delivered laughter, all right!

At the beach

Does Eli like the water?

Oh yes!

Brian was "making a faucet". Don't ask, I don't know.

And he drove his jeep around, just like last year.