Catching Up

As I was looking through my August computer file of pictures, I realized there were a handful of stories that go with some unpublished pictures. So here's a quick catch up post & the stories to go along with the pictures!

Jeff called me into the living room one morning a few days ago to see Reese's very creative Power Ranger set up. He used the base of a toy construction crane, and had his Power Ranger clinging for life on the side. Then, he took the flashlight from Daddy's office & (although you can't tell in the picture) shone the beam directly on the Power Ranger. Looked just like a set-up from a movie. I hadn't even realized he did this...Jeff caught it as he walked by. Reese had long moved onto something else, and Power Ranger was left hanging for Daddy to find.
Markers, markers, markers. This boy loves markers. But not on paper. He always wants to color on his skin. I know it probably feels good on his hands to have the tip run up and down his fingers and arms. And it does make pretty designs. I don't really make a fuss over it. I mean, he's never colored on the walls or his clothes or any other off limits place. He just wants that ink on his skin! I even caught him naked in the kitchen two days ago with a marker, trying to draw on his "privees." I had to stop that one...I don't want to scrub that part of Reese clean! But in many pictures on this blog, you'll see marks on his face, arms, hands, tummy...you name it!

Last summer, I found some balsa wood plane kits at Target for $1, so I grabbed a few and put them away for a rainy day. I completely forgot about them until Sunday, which was certainly NOT a rainy day. First we colored the wood and named our planes. Reese's was the American Flying B and Mommy's was the Flying Asparagus. See those dots on Reese's face? Marker stampers! He had little green swirlies all day.

We did some fun experiments with the parts of the plane. Can it fly without the tail? What happens if we take the cockpit away? If the wings are off center, what will happen?

I'm sure you can imagine the quality of a flimsy balsa wood plane that came 2/$1. So after a few minutes of flying, our planes began to fall apart. Poor Reese, just was in tears because his plane wouldn't fly straight. Daddy saved the day with some strategically placed tape, and Reese's plane was saved! I think the planes lasted about 24 more hours, then Reese decided to tear them apart. He did ask first if it was OK, and I made sure he understood that they couldn't be fixed if he did that, but it was fine & they were his planes, and if that's what he wanted to do with them, go for it! I think he had just as much fun flying the planes as he did shredding them!

Monday, we met our friends at the Old Town Aquatic Center for a morning of swimming, splashing, jumping, lunching, whew! I tried to find a waterproof housing for my camera so I can take more pictures at venues like this, but at $130 for just the plastic case, I'll just have to deal with not taking any waterpark pictures!

At this waterpark, there's a great twisty slide, but the height requirement is 48", leaving Reese about 8" too short. His solution: "Mommy, lift me up so I measure high enough & then I can ride." I wish it were that simple. He'll be tall enough too soon...

Last night, Reese asked to play a game Mommy made up, which he calls "Moonlight." I guess it's not really a game...I had to do some computer work one day, and he wanted to play, so I blew up a balloon, and he sat on my desk and while I typed with one hand, I batted the balloon with Reese with the other hand and made up a song about moonlight. Ever since then, he'll pull a balloon out of my stash & ask to play "Moonlight."

The only balloons we had left were small ones, and try as I might, I just could not blow them up! Daddy was able to get them inflated, so as we played Moonlight this time, we worked on counting up to 20. Reese just naturally has a competitive spirit, so he thought it was great fun to see if we could beat our old score. Apparently I didn't know the full rules of the game, because Reese kept declaring himself the winner. We were both laughing pretty hard trying to keep the balloon in the air and not let it hit the ground!

After a while, Reese decided we were done & I said he could pop it if he wanted. It was fun to see him figure out exactly how to do that. Problem solving at it's finest!

He decided the best method was to hold Mommy's hand while he jumped on the balloon with two feet. After a few funny tries, where the balloon shot out from under his feet, he got one good stomp & POP! Reese says it "scared my heart!". He talked Daddy into blowing up a second balloon, and this one was popped right away.