And He Said...

Declan crawled into bed with us thins morning. He curls up on his side and faces me then says "I miss my friend Chelsey, Mommy."

Just the cutest. I guess he mus have been having a dream about one of the times they've played together. Talked to Chelsey's Mommy today and we see them in 3 weeks. I told Declan and he was very happy.

Declan didn't want to eat with us so Daddy and I sat down to eat together. Declan walks up to us and asks "So what are we having tonight?" 

And we nearly spit our dinner out of our mouths. "Spaghetti and meatballs. Do you want some?"

As he runs away "NOOOO!"

It was a rainy day. Stuck inside. So this morning we played with Playdoh and watched "The Muppet Most Wanted".

Them Boys

I love coming home to hear from Declan that he and Daddy had a great day. He told me they had lots of fun and they were laughing and giggling when I first got in.

Another heart warming moment was after he'd been in bed for a little while. I heard him calling "Mommy? Daddy?" softly so I went in to check on him. He told me how much fun he had the other day helping at Gramma and Poppa's in the garden. They he said "I have two Gramma's and a Poppa and a Grandpa." He was so happy. Well technically he has a Gramma and a Grandma but all I cared at that moment was that his little 3 year old self recognized that he had them, all four of them in his life and he was happy.

Less Vulnerable

Now, at 3, Declan doesn't seem as fragile. Many of his tears are forced as a means of control and less his heart breaking. He hurts himself and he is fine in seconds. Not all hurts need Mommys kisses.

He banged his arm tonight and said "OUW". I asked if he hit his funny bone. He yells "No. MY ELBOW!" 

Not so fragile.

Now because of this I find it much easier to teach lessons. He was asked to clean up his toy blocks before playing with other toys. He resists of course and after ignoring numerous requests he walks toward a favourite robot/car. Fast thinking and even faster hands I scooped it up and let him know he got it back when he cleaned up his toys.

An extremely reluctant and slower than molasses little boy put his toys away.

And then he got his robot/car back.

Pools Open

On His Face

Car ride home from Kelly's. All three of us in car.

Me: "Did you notice I took his poo diaper out to the curb with the garbage this morning?"

Daddy: "No I hadn't. That's great though. It's insane how bad the poop diapers are in the heat. They're contained in the garbage pail but when I open it then it's like whoosh and just hits me in the face."

Declan: "You had poop on your face? All over your face? Daddy like poops on his face. Daddy likes poop."

Me and Daddy: trying desperately to stifle  our laughter.

Declan: "Why is that funny? Daddy likes poop on his face."

Now I'm concerned this is going to come up in conversation sometime. 

Children.

I Want To Talk To You

Declan woke up happy. He came and crawled into bed with me. Not long after he asked me to take his and Monkeys picture and send it to Daddy.

In the car this evening on our way to Soccer class Declan says "I love you very, very much Mommy." So with that I know I did good today.

About an hour after bedtime Declan called for me to come to his room. I tell him to get back into bed and as he's getting tucked in he says:

"I want to talk to you Mommy. Can you sleep on the floor beside my bed?"

"No Declan."

"Ok. I want to talk to you. I want to bring the cow egg to our new house. I was fishing. No green. No blue. I played with the castle and then my hands get yuck-eee. I drank all my juice then it was garbage. And I poured the water everywhere. There's no Declan bed so I went upstairs, slept in Gramma's bed.  I saw Coach V and we came home and then read super hero book. Gramma read BATman."

I'm tired.

Now he's 80?

After being home for a short while and sitting down to eat Declan gets my attention and asks "How was your day Mommy?"

He's funny.

And awesome.

Tonight we read another of his Super Heor books. The one with Spider-Man and The Avengers. So cool. 

Then he kept begging me to sleep on the floor beside his bed. Seems he missed me today. 

I missed him too.

Park Day with Daddy

So jealous as my guys got the day together while I had to work.  They spent a couple hours hanging out at Rattlesnake Park.

At bedtime Declan chose a nice long super hero book instead of the usual three books we read. It was a nice change but it was loooong.

After he'd been in bed a while we heard him get up. Daddy went upstairs to check on him.  He could hear that Declan had been behind his door but ran and hopped back into bed. When Daddy walked in and saw him Declan said "Oh. Time to get up now?" And started laughing at his own joke. What a peanut. Daddy loved it.

Well it's time I head to bed so I'll sneak in and check on Declan before I go to sleep. Hopefully he's in bed and not on the floor behind the door again.

At The Park

Bunny Touchin'

Declan do you know why you can't touch the bunnies?

Yup.

So why?

I don't know.

There are bunnies you can touch. If someone has a bunny as a pet you can touch it. With the wild bunnies, they are just babies so they need their Mommy and Daddy to care for them. If you touch the baby then the bunny will smell like you and the Mommy and Daddy won't come back and take care of them because they are scared.

Oh. 

Babies don't take care of Mommy and Daddy?

No.

But Mommy and Daddy would take care of babies so if I touch then we can keep them?

No.

Time Out

Text from Daycare:

"Declan had his first timeout this morning since 9 months lol

Nicholas ran in this morning and went straight to the train table and took one of declans trains he was playing with.  Then declan said "dont touch you stupid boy."

No big deal - both boys actions were age appropriate for 17 months and 3.5.

I just put him on timeout for the words he chose because he said it in front of nicks mom.  He said sorry after.

After that...he was excellent all day of course."

So he started going to Kelly's at 9 months old and today he's 3 years 3 1/2 months old and he got his very first time out. So big picture - that's good. 

Now when he told me about it tonight I think he may have said "stupid f$@in boy" so clearly he hasn't learned anything yet.

Outdoor Class

Bigger

One of the first things Declan said when he got up today was "Remember the baby aminals?" Sweet, he probably thought about them in bed last night after dreaming about them during yesterday's nap. He wanted to check in on them a few times today. I'm not letting him know where the Robins nest is. I'm not certain he wouldn't shake the tree.

He also wanted to eat first this this morning which isn't normal for Declan. He was very hungry all day today and also pretty tired. I think we may have a growing boy. Good thing the weather has finally warmed up. He will be wearing shorts no matter how short they get on him.

Long Weekend

Declan woke us about 6am this morning. We got another 30minutes while he watched videos on my phone and then we were up. Expecting a gorgeous day we all had breakfast and then Declan and I went to Home Depot together to get some new flowers for the front garden. 

At Home Depot Declan was so good. He stayed close by, he listened and he helped. Of course he also splashed water on both of us by stomping in the run off from the flower beds being watered but it was a hot day and it was fun. When we got in the car to go Declan said "I don't wanna go home." So I asked if he'd be ok if we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some Lemons. "Yeah!!!" So we went. Again he was so good and a big help.

When we got home Daddy put some sunscreen on Declan and got him his hat. He was all set to help me plant all of our new plants. When we looked around the existing garden I thought I saw some plants bending over but when I went to fix them we found a Rabbit Warren. At least 5 little baby bunnies curled up inside. Declan loved it. He wanted so badly to touch them but he did listened when I told him no. He looked at them though...a lot.

Decided we didn't need to do do anything to that area of the garden so we worked on the other areas. After nearly two hours Daddy came and got Declan and brought him to our back yard to eat his lunch.

Then it was nap time. Read some stories and he fell asleep really quickly. It's the fresh air.  At 4pm Daddy had to wake him up. Declan still have asleep said "where's the baby bunnies?" Guess some little boy had been dreaming about them. 

We spent the remainder of the day in the back yard including dinner. Declan did some coloring and some running around but my favourite part was when Declan and I laid down on the grass together and talked about how great our day at been. Just the best.

Garden Friends

I got to spend some time outback with Declan this morning. He was helping me pull weeds before hanging out with his new friends. We found a big snail, then the empty snail she'll he found the other day and then finally a little "baby" snail. We saw a garden slug too but without the cool shell Declan wasn't as impressed.  I just love being in our little backyard together. 

Not long after I got ready for work and then Daddy and Declan drive me to the center to drop me off. As I waited to cross the street Declan and Daddy waited patiently in the car. Declan said "I love Mommy very much." 

Daddy of course called me back towards to car to tell me. What a great send off.

Our Bed

Sometimes Declan crawls into our bed at night.

Sometimes I go and pick him up out of his bed, sound asleep and bring him to our bed to snuggle.

Tonight was one of those nights.

Gardener

At 6am this morning I was awaken by a little voice in my face asking "We go to Gramma and Poppa's house now?"

I tried to convince him to come and snuggle in bed for a little while. I was unsuccessful. He sat in bed looking for reasons to talk to me and get me to respond. All I wanted to do was sleep in to 7am. I was not successful.

We had quite a nice visit at Gramma's and Poppa's house. Declan was thrilled to be outside. He helped pull old lights out of the garden (including one that was supposed to stay in the garden) and got to crunch peanut shells all over the deck and squish the peanut themselves through the deck to the chipmunk below.

Good times.

This evening Declan had a checkup at the Dr. He is officially 3 feet, 4 inches tall and weights 37 lbs. Everything the Dr. checked look great. Next up...need to book an appointment for the Dentist.

Best Hugs Ever

Declan still isn't a 'touchy' kid. He doesn't like me to rub his back or put an arm around him but he can give some of the best hugs. Lately he's been sinking in to me when he gives me hugs. Literally just melts into my lap and snuggles in. 

And he knows just when I need one most.

So Many Tears

Today was a trying day.

Declan cried for about 5 minutes straight.

No reason.

Just bawled while I kept telling him I might be able to help if he would use words. 

Then he stopped.

He said sorry.

3 year olds.

Tonight when he got out of the bath he cried. For 10 minutes straight. He could tell I was getting upset. He slapped my leg and said "stop that!"

So apparently I'm supposed to just wait while he cries for what feels like forever. Then he stopped. Said sorry for making me sad. Still won't tell me why he was crying.

This better be a growth spurt.

Miss Him

Today was a Daddy-Declan day. I had to work but the boys were home. They made a trip to Daddy's work this morning and Declan got to play with the trains and check out all the toys. Daddy used his work Bonus to get Declan some new Lego Mini Figures. It was a good day.

At one point today Declan told Daddy "I miss Mommy."

Sure makes me happy. Even when they're having a good day together he thinks of me and wishes I was there too.

This evening I told Declan he was growing.

"What?"

"You're getting big Declan. I think you're getting taller."

Audible gasp. "I can have gum now!?!?!"

"Declan. It's not all about gum.

And no, not yet."

Mother's Day

The best present for Mother's Day: knowing I gave my little prince an amazing weekend with his Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jackie, Uncle Peter and his cousins Corbin and Holden. Seeing him so happy, seeing him exhibit genuine love and affection for his family. 

Then finally seeing all of the activity get the best of him. He's a happy boy.

Cousins