Secrets

Matt's birthday is coming up. For the boys, this momentous occasion is only slightly less exciting than their own birthdays. We love sitting around while Dad is at work, talking about him and what kind of things he might like as presents for this big day.

This year, the boys have come up with some good ideas: a motorcycle, a bicycle, a helmet, weights, track shoes, a sword, and a space ship (Mitchell is quite mad about outer space right now...)

The boys and I decided that they could chip in some of their own money to get dad a pocket knife (that's almost a sword, right?) and I ordered one online. Today, it arrived.

I wasn't thinking when I opened up the package (if I had been thinking, I would not have opened it up in front of them) but when they saw what was in there, they were beside themselves with excitement! Three reasons why they were so excited: 1. a package came in the mail, 2. it was dad's present, and 3. it was a knife!

They wanted to hold it and "try it out" and open and close it. They wanted to carry it around in their pockets. Jack just wanted to get a turn to hold it (yeah right.) They wanted to wrap it and give it to him as soon as he got home!

I convinced them that it would be more special if we wait until his actual birthday to give him his gift, so we put it away somewhere secret and swore to each other not to talk about it at all to dad. This is where Ben gave Mitchell a stern look and with an even sterner voice said, "Mitchell, you can't spoil the surprise! You can't talk about it at all! You can't ruin it! Do you even know how to keep a secret?"

Well, half way through dinner tonight, Mitchell started to leak. It was just too much to keep quiet. "Hey Dad! We got you a birthday present but I'm not going to tell you what it is!" This is when Ben started evil-eyeing him. "We got the packadidge today, but we hid it away and it's a secret!" This is where Ben told Mitchell to stop talking.

I am sure Mitchell thought he was changing the subject here and wasn't spoiling anything, but his next comment made Matt and me laugh, and Ben punch him in the arm. "So maybe when I'm a man, I could have a pocket knife too?"

Matt pretended to be none the wiser and we eventually got Mitchell to start talking about something un-knife or birthday related, but it must be heavy on his mind because it came up again later, when he and dad were having some "dude time" doing a project together down in the basement. "Dad, we should get some knives to work on stuff together... But I'm not going to tell you what we got you for your birthday!"

I wonder how often "knives" will come up in conversation in the next couple weeks...

Strong Cop the Spy

Ben and Mitchell have always loved playing "cops," and when they are in cop mode, they require me to call them "Strong Cop." Strong Cop usually puts bad guys in jail (the closet) and swaggers around looking tough and punching bad guys (furniture.)

Well, after watching Cars 2, which apparently has a spy car or two in it, Strong Cop has evolved. He is now a spy and Mitchell especially is acquiring all sorts of tools and gear to add to his costume. His ear warmers, flashlight, weight-lifting gloves, sunglasses, and various other assorted finds are complimented by a fierce scowl and a sting-inducing punch! Something about donning those gloves that makes him punch straight and hard and it hurts!

Watch out for my spies! They are out for justice!

Putting Them To Work

Why, oh why must movers insist on sticking an orange, yellow, or blue stamp-sized sticker to EVERY piece of furniture they move? I do realize there is a purpose, but surely the moving industry can come up with something better than that? Some way of organizing and keeping track of things that does not involve stickers that may or may not want to come off in the end?

For those of you who do not list "moving" as one of your regular activities, perhaps you have no idea what I am talking about. I'll tell you: every item that a mover moves gets a sticker with a number. Every box, every piece of furniture, every vacuum, broom, bike, scooter, stroller, rug... anything that they pick up and put in the truck. They don't take them off when unloading either.

Now since I have not always been the amazingly tidy and organized person I am today (haha), I actually have more than one sticker on some pieces of furniture - from other moves! How terrible is that!?

Well, no sticker is going to live long in this house! I have decided to no longer be the kind of person who has moving stickers stuck to everything or anything! I am putting the troops to work! I made heavy-duty sheets of paper with squares all over them (much like a sticker or chore chart) one for each boy. Soon, I will let them loose to fill up their papers! I have promised a penny for every sticker they find.

This sort of reminds me of the time my dad promised my sister and me a penny for every cigarette butt we picked up one time. We jumped on that, thinking we'd make a killing (we were young enough to actually think we'd make a killing) but after spending hours picking them up (nasty), we then had to re-count them! Imagine two little girls with bags of cigarette butts, counting them one by one...

Fortunately, we will be dealing with stickers here, not dirty, smelly garbage! I just hope the stickers come off easily, or I will have to run around even more than they do, trying to respond to all the "Help, mom! I can't get this one! This one is stuck! I ripped this one! Ben is trying to steal mine!"

Thankful For Sickness

Ben was not himself today. He was lethargic and moping around. He even crawled into his bed and got under the covers at one point! He couldn't think of anything to play and when I took him for a bike ride, he wouldn't shoot bad guys with me, just rode along in silence.

All day, I was asking him if he was ok and if anything was wrong. "No, I just don't have anything to do and no one wants to play spy cars with me..." I just thought he was moping because I don't know how to play "spy cars" and wasn't showing an eagerness to learn.

Well, right before dinner, I found him curled up on the couch down in the basement. It finally dawned on me to take his temperature and, sure enough, he is sick. Why did it take me so long to suspect he was sick, not just moody? Well, normally he lets me know when he isn't feeling well and will just find a place to curl up and sleep. Today, he kept trying to keep going. He threw me off the scent!

After choking down a few bites of dinner, he took a bath without his pesky little brothers (not a luxury I usually grant any of them), and asked if he could just get in bed. He was asleep before I even finished reading a story.

I have to admit that when I discovered his temperature, I was relieved. I just breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't entering into some moody phase or some hard-to-figure-out phase. Ben has always been so easy for me to read. I rarely am left wondering what he is thinking or why he is behaving a certain way. Today had me worried, like our connection was weakening. The fever eased my worries. Sometimes I am just thankful for little sicknesses.

Parades, Classic Cars, Candy, and... Vampires?

We took the boys to see the 4th of July Day parade today in our new town. They LOVED it! Ben was very excited about the classic cars, Mitchell was a pro at scrambling for the candy and snatching more than his fair share before other slower kids could get there, and Jack loved eating the candy. I have never had such an easy time out with Jack since he was an infant! He sat in his stroller sucking on lollipops the whole time! Maybe I'm on to something with candy here....

They loved the car show and parade so much that they have been playing "parade" at home ever since. They sit in daddy's classic '66 Porsche, windows down, waving and throwing candy at us, with Jack shrieking at us and attempting to open and close, open and close the doors.

Long after Matt and I tired of scrambling for pretend candy, the boys' game had evolved into something... well, a bit stranger. A little while later, Ben shouted across the yard, "Hey mom! I'm driving in the parade with my good friend, Vampire here! Say 'Hi,' Vampire!" Mitchell then added a, "Hey guys! I'm a vampire!"

I'm not sure what vampires have to do with classic cars and parades, but I'm sure it made sense in the evolution of their game. Mitchell usually has to add his own twist to whatever game Ben has made up.

Oh, To Be A Kid...

Who loves moving? Well, I guess on some level, I enjoy moving. I like seeing different parts of the world and new beginnings, but I am talking about the physical act of moving: the packing, the moving, the unpacking that drags on for weeks, the boxes, the mess, the piles of possessions you wish you had disposed of a long time ago and now have to find a spot for...

Who loves moving? I'll tell you who: my kids! They love new places and new houses and new adventures just like I do, but they love the other stuff as well! Packing up? Sweet! It gets them excited about the adventure beginning and they get a break from cleaning up their room! Boxes everywhere? Rad! We have dedicated one whole room in our new house of too many rooms just for box forts! Packing paper exploding out of every box? THE BEST!

I tell you, these movers must have used 5 or 6 pieces of packing paper for EVERY item in my kitchen. That is A LOT of paper to mess with, and mess with it we have done! I filled my new living room with a mountain of paper and the boys were leaping off couches and doing canon balls into the pile. They were completely burying themselves. They were having fights where they just threw it at each other until they collapsed in laughter.

Of course, they might not love the mess so much if they had any concept of the work involved cleaning up that much mess, but I'd rather they enjoy this as much as possible and not worry too much about how much work it is to move. That's my job.

Just Don't Call It Football

Ben got off to a fantastic start in sports. Before the age of two, he was quite excited to throw, kick, or hit a ball. He was an amazing little golfer and ran early. "Ball" was one of his first words. If I was ever stuck for something to do with my one little toddler, I could always count on him to be happy just heading outside with a ball or a bat, or a whole bag of sporting equipment!

Then something changed. Although he is big, strong, and fast, for some reason, he now has an attitude towards all sports. In his words, "I'm just not that into sports, mom!" We have had him in soccer and t ball, and he likes to go, but certainly hasn't shown the typical Ben enthusiasm that is so characteristic of him. Getting him to play catch or practice batting or kicking a ball around is more like a chore at best, punishment at worst.

A couple days ago, though, I discovered the secret to re-opening the world of sporting games to him! I found out if you call soccer "kick the dragon's egg to the nest," he will play the game of soccer with gusto! If I call a football an egg and say he's a raptor and I'm an allosaurus and we have to attack each other while trying to get the egg back to our own nests, he can play with speed, strength, and, most importantly, excitement!

Of course, I don't love the sound effects that come with turning football into dinosaur's egg, but I'll take it if it gets Ben (and Mitchell too) excited about using the physical abilities they have been blessed with, but up until now, have chosen not to care about.

It is pretty fun to finally watch Ben excited about throwing, catching, tackling, and coming up with elaborate game plans on the field with his dad and brother (and me, of course.)