~~WATER UNDER THE FRIDGE~~: The Hurricane

Showing posts with label The Hurricane. Show all posts

Brought to You by the Number 4

Hurry took a while to get used to the idea of turning 4, but now he is wild about the number 4. He wants everything to come in fours.

He wants 4 bites of each food at mealtimes.
He likes us to read 4 books before bed.
He limits his prayers to 4 items, ticking off on his fingers as he goes. When he gets to 4, he says "Amen."
He loves that we have 4 people in our family and he doesn't want us to have another kid until he turns 5... which is fine for now, but we'd have to churn out a child each year to keep up with that trend. Here's my 4 word response: Never. going. to. happen.

Hurry painted me a flower pot at preschool for Mother's Day. There was a little handmade book growing out of it entitled "All About My Mommy." The final page in the book looked like this:

Hurry has begun to love pretend play. For a while he was doing the usual temporary identity-switching. Buzz Lightyear while playing with friends, Batman for an afternoon. But then he became Indiana Jones...and it stuck. He liked being "IndianJones" so much that he decided to stay that way.

He hasn't seen the movies. But he's played the short demo version of the Lego video game and--thanks to his Aunt Christie--he has an Indiana Jones costume. Naturally, he wanted all of us to be characters, too. Dad became Sallah. Baby was Short Round. I thought I'd be Marion or Willie Scott (whom Hurry, I mean Indie, called "the screaming girl," thanks to the video game.) Instead, Hurry told me I could be Indie's sidekick in the game. "He's cool. He has a shovel." I decided not to tell him that this guy betrays Indie and dies a grisly death-on-a-skewer. "Okay, that guy is named Satipo," I said. But since he could never remember that name, Hurry just called me "Guy with the shovel." Example: "Hey, Guy-with-the-shubbel, could I have some yogurt?"

He got really into his new persona, even pretending not to know where things were in the house: "Can you tell me where the sink is? I don't know because I'm a new guy here." It got to the point where if we accidentally called him by his real name, it'd hurt his feelings. Then, finally he woke up one morning and said, "I'm not IndianJones manymore." (Thank goodness!!) "Now I'm Obi-Wan."

Baby No-neck

A little while ago, Hurry remarked,
   "Mom, how come our baby doesn't have a neck?"
   "She has a neck," I laughed.
He tilted his head and looked at her closely.
   "No. She has no neck. I can't see a neck."
So I stretched her out on the floor, lifting her chubby chin.
   "See? It's in there, all right. It's just hiding."
   "Huh," he concluded. "Not like my neck, and not like your neck. Just a really, really short neck."

[Frozen] River of Lights

My apologies to those of you who are tired of Christmas-themed posts, but don't come back until January 1st because around here we ride the Yuletide right on through to the end of the year. This is because I love Christmas with all my heart. As I've mentioned, I think people are more like they should be at this time of year (except in parking lot etiquette and financial responsibility). In general, we are more open, generous, and joyful.

This time of year, we are also more likely to FREEZE when we attempt a family outing. We had an ice cold night of fun at the River of Lights last night. Yes, we did check the weather forecast before venturing out. No, we did not remember what "Feels like: 10 degrees"...actually feels like. Brrr!!!

In the end, Frank and Little Scout camped out inside while Hurry and I scuttled around to glimpse the spectacle of lights. Hurry loved it and didn't want to leave. His face was a frosty perma-grin, as documented below.

This truck was his favorite.

He asked if I thought they'd let him drive it.

"Do you know how?" I responded.

"Yep, it has a steering wheel in there for driving, see it?"

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve, everyone! (Drive carefully!)

Rudolph and the North Pole Ninjas

Hurry has turned singer/songwriter on us this holiday season. He’s been making up all kinds of wacky songs set to Christmas music, or sometimes to no recognizable melody. He belts out his original lyrics (such as “Baby girl, you are cute like a kiwi fruit and you like to sit in your swing and laugh and here is your pacifier...”) and then he always finishes off with the word “Endinnnnng!!!”

Last week he was playing with Rudolph toys, enacting lots of blissful Christmasy scenes. Then the ninjas attacked, and my new favorite Hurricane song was born: “You better watch out, you better not [shout], I’m tellin’ you why... Ninjas! ...Endinnnnng!!!”

A ninja aided by North Pole magic = the ultimate sneaky, efficient & cheerful fighting machine.

Happy Birthday Hurricane!

Hurry had a super fun LEGO party with his friends this year. He loved having all the kids here to celebrate his birthday, and share in his love of Legos.

The party crowd (only missing Katie in this one).

Each kid made and decorated a minifig cookie.

"Make a wish!"

Blowing out the Lego candles

4 years old!

(This kid loves his frosting. I chose a matching shirt to accommodate his hands-on approach to birthday cake.)

Hurry and I made Lego chocolates for everyone.

Some assembly required

The Claw was a big hit at the party.

Hurry was excited to have unlimited chances to play after all the guests left.

"I winned, Mom! I winned!" He is thrilled with his 12 cent prize.

As you can see by the aftermath, it was a wild party. Thanks to all Hurry's little friends for a pandemonious fun time!

Cracking the Code

My son just turned four, but he’s boycotting it. Not the party and presents, of course--just the getting older part. (I can relate.) He says he just wants to stay a kid all the time.

Despite his Peter Pan complex, he’s learning and growing every day, which is fun to see ...except when it means he’s too smart for my tricks. For instance, when I say, “Let’s have a dance party,” he now knows that I usually mean a cleaning party, with music. Here are a few more examples:

“Let’s go on a treasure hunt!” = Dig through that laundry basket and find some matching socks.

“Let’s race!” = I want you to go upstairs, go downstairs, get in the car, eat your food, etc.

“Let’s go for a drive” = Time for a nap.

“Let’s play a game” = If I’m not holding a board game or a video game controller, there will be chores involved. If we are in the car, this usually equals “Be quiet.”

You get the idea. And, unfortunately, so does the Hurricane. I guess that means no more candy coating. No more fun and games. Welcome to the real world, kid.

P.S. Evidently other people in the community can’t decipher my Motherese so easily, and sometimes they misconstrue the “let’s make it fun” phrasing. Yesterday, I was trying to get Hurry to head out of the store with me so I said, “Come now, or I will beat you,” which earned me a very severe look from a nearby mom.

Chivalry is Dead.

Yesterday I took the Hurricane to get a haircut. We've had some disastrous trips to the barber with this child, so entering a hair cutting establishment with him is a bit like agreeing to a hunting trip with Dick Cheney.

...But he did GREAT this time around. And we love his new short hair--we can actually see his whole face now!!

As it turns out, I was the dangerous party on this excursion. When we walked out of the place, I was carrying the baby in her car seat, plus a diaper bag packed to the gills. (Side note for any of you who don't already know this about me: I am exceptionally clumsy.) I didn't grab the door quickly enough as it was closing on Hurry, and it clipped him on the shoulder. Holding back tears, he looked up at me and said, "Mom, next time you have to be a gentleman."

Sportin' his robot jammies and the new 'do.
(He likes it swept up, faux-hawk style, because he thinks he looks like Astro Boy.)