No School for Matthew

Guess who has the flu?

Guess who threw up all night last night?

Guess who changed sheets 3 times last night between 11pm and 5am?

Guess who didn't sleep at all last night and didn't go to school this morning?

(Answers: Matthew, Matthew, Mommy, both of us and Matthew)

Today didn't go exactly as I had planned. Instead of taking Matthew to school I took him to the doctor's office instead. And of course they told me what I already knew (he has the flu) so I took him home where he is watching movies, drinking Pedialite, and eating popsicles. And hopefully napping. Which would be one of us.

So he will start school on Tuesday. His teacher called and we agreed that to ease him into things he should go for a half day. And since tomorrow is Ari's last day, I will have to take another half day off on Tuesday. Fun stuff!

It's a Sunny Day!

A new trend has developed in the St. Martin household. The past week or so, the first words out of Matthew's mouth upon awakening (and waking me) have been:

"It's a Sunny Day"!

Usually accompanied with a point out the window.

This is in contrast to the discussions that approach bedtime about "is it getting dark yet?" and "I don't like the dark, I like the sun".

On Sunday he also tried to postpone naptime by telling me that he couldn't sleep because it wasn't dark yet.

I think he's figuring stuff out...

Love,
Kristi

ps. School update...Matthew is sick with a cold or the flu...a bit of a fever, some intestinal upset, loss of appetite. It's not bad but we will probably skip the big first day of school tomorrow and try for Thursday instead. Stay tuned.

Getting Ready for School

The last few weekends have been spent trying to squeeze the last bit of fun we can out of summer, while also trying to get as prepared as possible for the huge change about to happen in our lives....preschool. Trips to the pool, train trips downtown, etc. have been mixed in with school shopping and planning. Here are a few of the things we've been doing to get ready:

The new Diego backpack, Spider-Man lunch bag, and Cars thermoses.

New school clothes...

More new school clothes

I had to put in a close up of these new pair of sneakers. Matthew picked them out at the Stride-Rite store. The "line" is called "Slimers" and this particular style name is...I kid you not..."Snot Rocket." Of course he wanted THESE. He went right to them. Although notice in the photo right above that we also got a new white pair of sneakers with monster trucks on them. Those have headlights and tail lights that light up when he walks. Cool.

And today...a new haircut. We are all ready. I think. I just need to bust out the new Sharpie I bought yesterday and write his name in the tag of all his clothes and we'll be good to go.

A Visit to the Nature Museum

Earlier this summer, Ari took Matthew downtown to Lincoln Park and to the Peggy Noederbart Nature Museum. They went with Ari's nanny friend Esperanza, and the 2 kids she takes care of, Lilly and Percy. (Lilly and Percy are siblings and also live in Oak Park. Matthew plays with Lilly and Percy nearly every day.)

Ari and Matthew took his camera, and recorded the following pictures that I recently downloaded.

In the butterfly garden

Matthew checking out an exhibit

Matthew with Lilly and Percy. Not entirely sure what he is trying to do here, but clearly he thinks he's in charge.

Introducing...

Senor Cranky Pants!

Just in from Las Vegas, Senor Cranky Pants will be playing 3 shows daily. His act features amazing displays of irritability, willfullness, and astonishing use of the phrase "Bad Boy!"

His act will be running indefinitely, until timed out, but book your tickets early! You won't want to miss this crowd pleaser!

Wed Night Cranky Pants Update: Matthew and I went to the park tonight when I got home from work. On our way home we had a major, no-holds-barred, battle of the wills. End result? In a 5 minute walk home he racked up 5 time outs and 6 confiscated toys. We got home, ceremoniously gathered the surrendered toys, and amid much wailing and gnashing of the teeth, set the kitchen egg timer for 15 minutes (5 3-minute time outs) and he got sent to his room til it rang. Turns out he's one stubborn kid, but hopefully it won't take too long for him to learn that I will always be more stubborn. Otherwise we may not survive.

He's Squishing Me!

What happens when a 20 lb cat sits on a 30 lb kid?

Well it apparently happened for the first time this morning, because we just found out.

Matthew climbed into my bed at 6am, and even though Kobe would ordinarily tend to avoid snuggles with Matthew if he could, Kobe was magnetically attracted to the lure of morning scratchies and climbed in too. Matthew was stretched out next to me in bed and Kobe laid down for scratchies, apparently on top of Matthew's legs.

"HE'S SQUISHING ME!"

It was too funny. After re-arranging the cat we all settled down for 3 blissful minutes of morning snuggles and togetherness before the spell was broken, the kid and the cat got restless, and the daily race began.

A grocery trip was on the agenda for the morning until Matthew announced that he wanted to go to the pool with his friend Cole, and since summer is almost over (how can THAT be???) I am online ordering groceries from Peapod and when the hour is decent, will be calling Cole's mommy to see if the'd like to join us at the pool.

Swing! Batter, batter...

When I got home from work tonight, Matthew told me that he wanted to go to the park to play baseball. He'd apparently been playing T-ball with Ari at Percy and Lilly's house today. It reminded me that I had bought him a T-ball set but that it was still wrapped up in the basement, so I got it out and off we went!

He knew right where to go...when we got to the park he headed straight to the baseball diamond.

He was pretty good...but resistant to my instruction.

Nevertheless, pretty successful! We had a great time.

How About Next Weekend?

Heard tonight in the St. Martin household at bedtime:

Kristi: Matthew, it's bedtime. Let's go brush teeth.
Matthew: But I'm not sleepy.
Kristi: I know. But it's bedtime.
Matthew: How about next weekend?
Kristi: What?
Matthew: Let's take a nap next weekend.
Kristi: What? Like instead of going to bed now?
Matthew: Yeah.

Kid cracks me up. Inventive as heck. Didn't work, but I give him an A+ for the effort.