Like many young children, she has become suspicious that while she is sleeping we are out in the living room having wild parties and dancing and eating yummy cheerios.
Or at least that life is going on while she is sleeping.
She is approaching nap time accordingly. Nothing too severe, but certainly increasing her resistance to the activity.
Meanwhile, she has a suspicious Mommy.
I have the hope that as a girl, this baby will grow up to be a little less active than her brother. Heck, a lot less active sure would be nice.
After all, in the last few years I've noticed that there does seem to be some truth to the gender characterizations and that most of Asher's female friends are a fair bit calmer than he.
But. BUT. There are a couple of his little female companions that stand out for matching him, stride for stride, in his energy level.
And I can't help notice a glint in my little girl's eyes. A glint that appears when her brother is at his most, bounce-of-the-wall, energy spurting from his head, crazy. A glint that seems to say "I want to be there."
Mom had heard that a musical group that she likes was giving a concert at a nearby church, so she, Dad, and Asher went to the performance after dinner.
They returned a little early.
Turns out her information was a little off. The right group was there, but it was a church service, not a full concert.
It's nice that my parents are taking care of his religious education :)
They snuck out early.
Later on, we asked Asher if he liked the group.
He said "Yeah. But I liked the other one better. The one Colonel took me to where Nana played."
Asher, on his way out to attend his Nana's concert with Colonel (earlier in the week).
He's a loyal fan.
When we first introduced him to Asher, I thought perhaps we had made a gross error in judgment. Asher's eyes got wide, he clung to his grandparents, and he spoke so softly I could scarcely hear him.
We assured him that he was a very nice shark, and finally Asher approached to say hi.
Since then it's been...well, it's been like a match made in heaven.
"Mr. Sharky! Come watch me jump!"
"Mommy, Mr. Sharky is hungry, he needs some cereal."
"Mr. Sharky, you're my best, BEST friend!"
Asher – showing Mr. Shark his reflection in the bathroom mirror “Mr Sharky! You are the nicest dolphin I ever saw!” pause. “Daddy, Mr. Sharky says I’m the nicest Asher he ever saw! He must really like me a lot!”
Asher named his shark "EleanorErik" after his cousins (he heard me say to Deenesh when I saw his reaction that I hoped I hadn't scarred Eleanor and Erik since was also gave them a shark as a gift), but he always addresses him as "Mr. Sharky" and only occasionally calls him "EleanorErik" if he is talking about him to someone else.
Unfortunately, I can't help but feel that there's the shadow of tragedy lurking. After all, the love of a 3 year old boy and a helium filled balloon with a delicate motor? I can't help but feel like it's a doomed affair. One destined to end with a loud pop.
hmmm...how do I get out of this fishbowl?
"C'mon! Can I wake him up from his nap yet?? Can I? Can I?"
"Wake up! Wake up! I want to play!"
"Oh hi, Mr. Sharky!"
"Come cuddle me and we can go back to sleep, Mr. Sharky"
Asher has been really into practicing letters. Deenesh got him a special notebook.
Christmas came early this year. Yup, that's a guy 30 feet up in the air above our house with a running chainsaw. What did Santa get the kids this year?
He got them debris removal from the Hurricane so that it wouldn't fall on the house. That's a good use of the Christmas budget, right?
See? They were riveted. Santa did an awesome job.
Table Dancing
And here's a clip of my son table-dancing. But hey, it was for a good cause, he was entertaining his sister.
Okay, clearly as a responsible mother I could not endorse table-dancing. Tables are for eating or drawing, not dancing. Plus it's dangerous. What if he fell off the table? And clearly it will lead him down a bad path.
So I did what any responsible mother that is stifling her laughter would do. I admonished him and left the room. With the video running. I can't help it if he promptly got back on the table to resume his dancing.
Of course, little siblings have to do everything that their big siblings do, so next it was Kiera's turn to do a wiggle.
Richmond Roller Derby
We also went to Richmond to meet up with one of Asher's friends and watch a roller-derby. It was very cool, I felt very Drew Barrymore Hollywood.
Asher: He is...The Navigator!
(My brother may just be the only one geeky enough to get that reference)
A proper pre-schooler greeting.
Kiera checking out the roller derby fun.
Free candy!! And a t-shirt!!
Even better - it wore him out.
and her.
So, as you might expect, the roller derby involved a lot of bashing and crashing. Which led Asher to ask "those people are mean people? They knock the other people down." Which led us to conclude that perhaps it's not a good idea to make him a roller derby fan just yet...
Big Girl
Kiera took a break from her high chair to have breakfast at the kid table. She clearly felt very cool about the whole thing.
Manger
Once again, Asher got to place the figures for the Christmas manger. Everyone, even the cows and sheep, is tightly crowded around to see the baby. Once again, poor Joseph does not get to stand by Mary. Or even all that close to baby Jesus for that matter.
And truth be told, Asher's not very interested in the manger scene this year. He is far more interested in the menorah candles. And who can blame him. Candles! Fire!
(As a side note - explaining Hanukkah to a 3 year old? Not so fun. "Why were there mean people? They took our temple? Why? We hit them? They were bad people? We're the good people?" Christmas is a little easier - A baby was born and everyone was happy. Yup. That's easy)
We decided that train tables stifle creativity and have gone back to making hugely long tracks. (Asher loved train tables elsewhere, but no matter how cool the track we set up on his he just never got into it).
The Christmas box.
That's right. It's Christmas in a box.
Glimpse of the Future
We had our friends over for dinner. Their older son is Asher's age, and their younger son is a few months older than Kiera. And he's very mobile. And active. And it gave us a glimpse into what life is going to be like in just a few months. Ummm...daunting.
No, don't worry, he wasn't stealing Kiera's food. It was actually quite adorable. He kept putting food on her tray and then taking it back out again.
Slip-sliding away
After Asher built a tunnel with couch cushions, Deenesh came up with a "fun" little game to taunt play with Kiera.
Fish
Kiera likes fish.
ooooh. Pretty fish.
Birthday Party!
Asher (and Kiera) got to hang out with big kids at a rocking birthday party.
STINKER!! Caught red-handed! This is not the first time
he's tried to "help" a friend blow out the candles.
Fortunately, she was already done. Usually I keep him
away from the cake for this reason, but I forgot and didn't
even realize it until I saw him dash away from the table, got
suspicious, and found this photo. (Cool mask though, isn't it?)
And there was dancing.
Big Brother
Asher is still a good big brother and willing to help with diaper changes. Usually he prefers to operate in a supervisory role these days, though.
Gingerbread
And he got to make a ginger-bread man in music class. And a gingerbread house at Nana's - but I don't have a photo of that.
Rolling Over
According to a very angry Kiera, someone has been sneaking in when she is trying to go to sleep and flipping her onto her tummy. She is not happy about it.
Chillin in the jammies
This kid is getting too comfortable in our bed
Also - very typical sleeping style. Asher is sprawled out
and Deenesh is completely hidden under the covers.
The olden days
And finally...If you were a three year old, what would you notice about these pictures?
