A day with Cole

Last week, Alcuin was closed for several days to remediate some asbestos that was exposed during repairs from water damage that has occurred over the holidays. During this period, I arranged a childcare 'swap' with Kara, the mother of Matthew's very good friend and classmate, Cole. On Tuesday Matthew spent the whole day at Cole's house while I worked and on Wednesday Cole spent the whole day at our house so Kara could work.

The boys did GREAT and had a wonderful time playing together. They even napped both days, sharing a room! I guess they are used to napping together at school, but it was still a surprise that they managed to sleep instead of play!
Robots, jet planes, and rocket ships. Such boys!

Playing with remote control race cars. This was a lot of fun and kept them entertained for a long time (when they weren't fighting over who got the orange car...)

Outside playing in the snow. It's a good thing I had TWO snow shovels because they BOTH wanted to shovel the nonexistent snow on the sidewalk.

Mmmmm. We made our own pizza for lunch. They had fun deciding what toppings to put on their pizzas (just pepperoni for Cole...cheese, pepperoni and mushrooms for Matthew) and then we watched the pizza cook in the oven. They ate a ton!

It's so nice to know that Matthew has a friend just a few blocks away, and that they play so well together. Kara and I are already planning on future babysitting exchanges and/or sleepovers...

Working on New Superhero Bedroom, Part I

I have the itch to redecorate something. But in these fiscally conservative times it doesn't seem prudent to do that kitchen remodel I've been dreaming of. So I decided to do a little redecorating in Matthew's room. He's got a really cute truck and transportation theme going, and I figured I'd enhance it with some wall decals. I showed him some examples online and he was...underwhelmed. I made the mistake of letting him see the other options available online and when he saw these a major room redo was born, superhero style.

When they come we'll put them up on his walls. I've also ordered from Pottery Barn Kids the Spider Man lamp shade (see pic below)

Bat Man Pillow Sham

And Spider Man and Bat Man pillow cases. I'll use his existing solid colored sheets and buy a coordinating solid colored comforter, too. Mormor is using her considerable talents to redo his bed rail cover in superhero logos, too. More pics to come!

We also made a trip to Ikea to get him a little desk/table for his room. It's so cute!

We put it by his bed so it acts as nightstand too, and we moved his bulletin board above it. The tall chest that used to be there is now in the closet. Of course, the tall chest was anchored to the wall, so now there are two huge holes in the wall...time to get out the spackle! Good thing I have a helper.

Matthew also really wanted to be able to hang up his own coat (something he is encouraged to do at school) but all the bars in his closet were too high. So yesterday we installed another bar halfway down so that he could reach his clothes. I also took the opportunity to reorganize his closet and get rid of stuff he'd outgrown. It was a good day for projects!

More pics to come when Phase II of the Superhero bedroom redo commences and the real fun begins...

Humiliations Galore

So Matthew likes to show off his "big muscles". He flexes his bicep and asks me to feel it. And then he poses. Not sure where he learned this but it's cute. Then he generally asks me to show him my "big muscles." I've always felt somewhat pleased that he thinks my muscles are big, too, all evidence to the contrary.

That all changed last week.

We went to dinner on Wednesday at Lalos, a local kid-friendly Mexican restaurant chain. I was having difficulty opening the brand new ketchup bottle and a bus boy saw me and came over and opened it for me. Matthew immediately pointed out that my muscles were "small" and the bus boy's muscles were "big".

Ever since then he's been mocking my small muscles. Yesterday I struggled to get a difficult top off a milk jug and he said "Mommy, it's hard cause your muscles are little."

Thanks kid.

A total and complete loss of dignity

His Masterpieces

A pencil sketch he did a few days ago. This was done with his left hand...

Three paintings from yesterday. Think he may end up ambidextrous. Sponging was done with left hand, paint brushing was done with right.

Painting with Max

Matthew decided he wanted to paint today. He painted some great artwork, and really got into the process.
He also had a VERY interested little helper. Max liked the brushes and really wanted to paint too. We tried our best to keep him off the table...

But later tonight we found some blue and yellow paint on Max's left front paw. Oh well.

What's been going on

I know it's been a long time since I've posted. I think I was taking a Christmas vacation. Well, actually I was taking a Christmas vacation, but apparently I was also taking a vacation from posting. And also picture taking because I didn't take nearly my usual number of pictures over the holidays. So apologies for all of those who expected lots of documentation of how Matthew spent the time (but he was largely at his Dad's and his time with me was really low key...that's my excuse and I'm stickin to it).

During the real cold spell before Christmas we brought the snow indoors to the bathtub since it was way too cold to play outside.

Building one of Max's Christmas presents. Part of my quest to create a "target rich environment" to keep him occupied and off my counters, drapes, etc.

Opening his tractors from his Grandma. He LOVED these tractors.

Playing with his tractors.

"I'm a good driver"
(This was his requested Christmas present from Santa)

"But I prefer to drive naked"

Wine tasting with Mom & Paul in Napa Valley

Uh. Well. It's Max, what can I say.