Wordless Wednesday - 2 AM

After staying up rather late the other night [cough, cough. 2AM!], I rounded the corner at the top of the staircase and noticed something not quite right, Harrison's bedroom door was closed and his bedroom light was on.  So I went in to find him not awake [thank goodness] and not in bed either.

Who knows how long he went before crashing under the darkness of the blanket.

What do Underdog and Speed Racer Have in Common?

They both live here:

Let me back up.

We began to have some new and challenging behavioral issues with our very spirited and outspoken 3-year-old. After some advice and guidance, we instilled a point system a couple months ago for good behavior; when Harrison filled a "fish bowl" with balls he would get something special. Getting Goldfish had been bounced around for a while and the timing was perfect, so we went to the pet store and looked at fish.

 Harrison got really excited about having fish; and to give him some incentive I let him pick out some new aquarium rocks and we picked up a couple things we would need.

 And as only a boy would do, one of his cars gave the final approval to the aquarium.

 Then we talked about earning the fish with good behavior and making good choices. We made a list of what those were and a list of what would cause him to lose (remove) a ball.

He became excited.

Harrison helped me collect balls from around the house and we put them in a container, then we got a bowl to transfer the balls to for his good behavior.  The whole process over the last month has really caused Harrison to pause and think about some things he chooses to do, or some of his reactions to us. 

We upped the ante when he would not poop (yes, I said it!) on the toilet. It was quickly becoming a worrisome situation that I was about to take to the Pediatrician when he finally did it. We had promised TWO balls for every poop, and a light stick at bedtime. It wasn't working.
One night The GID made him sit on the toilet just as he was beginning to - need to do something.  Harrison shut down, wouldn't do it; light sticks, balls in his bowl, it didn't matter. As I was helping him get off the toilet I broke down and said, "How about a tootsie roll if you go poo-poo on the toilet?" (thank goodness for the Halloween stash) he responded, "OK!" and immediately jumped back on the toilet and did the deed. After he was finished he said, "Do I get two balls in my bowl?"

Who knew all it took was a piece of candy to get the process started. It's been a green light every since.

So with that, using polite words and having good behavior, he finally put the last ball in the fish bowl this morning. Off to the pet store we went.

 

I think our fish are a little BIG.

 We let them get acclimated to the new environment (not that I'm sure it will work...) Then put them in their new home. The gold guy got caught in the net during transfer and I couldn't get him free without an extra set of Daddy-hands. Poor little thing started hyperventilating by the time it was all done!

Once they were  situated in their new quarters Harrison ran down stairs to get his magnifying glass for closer inspection.

Meet Underdog and his golden sidekick, Speed Racer.

 Do you think they'll be alive in the morning?

BSM - These Are a Few of My Favorite Things!

Harrison told every Santa he saw (and anyone else that would ask him) that he wanted a E.T. Rocketship and a guitar for Christmas.

Well, he received a Star Wars play set and Eve [from Wall-E] was in his stocking, he had wanted her for a while. He slept with her the first night.That's the closest we came to a rocket ship.

Then I went to store to exchange a gift, I thought better sooner than later, I was right! Harrison had received a gift card from the store so we looked at the toy department and found this on clearance...

In his words, it's his very own "E.T. Rocketship!

It went to bed with him on Friday night - until it needed to come back downstairs an hour later.

We had our good friends over for Christmas dinner. Their son is Harrison's best little buddy. Dad & sons took turns serenading us with songs on the guitars. Above, Harrison and the G.I.D. are finishing up Wicked Games by Chris Isaak.   I know, not a very Christmas-y; hey, if it's any consolation, we listened to Chris Isaak's Christmas album.

Don't worry, his other new toys aren't feeling left out, I found this Star Wars convention next to the sofa last night after he went to bed.

I think it was a civil gathering, although some of them do have their weapons drawn. And that ugly guy in the front - keeping guard - scary.

Happy Best Shot Monday!

Christmas Loot

Christmas is a sweet reminder of how wonderfully innocent our young children really are.

After a VERY late Christmas Eve with Harrison's God-parents, we didn't wake up and get down stairs until almost 10:30 am.

Even then Harrison didn't rush toward the tree to dive in to the gifts.

 

Finally Daddy got him started on the how-to of gift opening - this year he opened them completely by himself - very cool!

 

With the first gift, he proclaimed over and over, "Santa brought me a new race car set, Santa brought me a new race car set!"

 

Pictures on the boxes showed him what was inside...

which seemed gratifying enough as he explained the Spiderman on the box to Big Brother.

Then he unwrapped a box without pictures on it...

 

He let out a burst of excitement as the last piece of wrapping hit the floor, "Yeah! A box!" He studied it for a moment as the G.I. D. looked up and commented, "Macy's".

  

The G.I.D. asked Harrison what he got and he responded, "A Macy box!" and held it high for a picture.

Convinced that was all to it, he put the unopened box down and asked, "Can I open another present?" We told him to open the box and look inside.

For Harrison, this was a whole new level to the gift opening protocol - unmarked boxes are to be opened immediately for additional gift-goodness.



Oh, remember the trips to see Santa and telling him what he wanted for Christmas?

 

There's that guitar!

[Disclaimer - Staying up until 2am does not make for good picture taking abilities.]

 Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday - Kickin' It Back

It's the holiday season around here- that means shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking... cleaning.

While I'm busy with all that, he rearranges the sofa cushions and kicks back to listen to his [current] favorite soundtracks: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Chitty Citty Bang Bang and Star Wars.

and there is always time for a special holiday lollipop treat!

Life is sweet when you're 3 years old.


More Wordless Wednesday over here.

When Christmas Met Chanukah

Harrison attends a Jewish Nursery School where I work. I love the learning he receives from the Jewish faith at school. Judaism puts great value in family and education and is rich in custom and tradition plus I feel it's the foundation of our/his Christian faith.

But once in a while, the two worlds collide. A few weeks ago, I  chased down my child only to find him in the Rabbi's office talking about Jesus with the him and his daughter. As the Rabbi put it, "we're talking over philosophy and theology".

So it wasn't surprising yesterday when one of the teachers walked up to the G.I.D. and me right before Harrison's Chanukah program to tell us what he just said to her:

Harrison: "Jesus's birthday is coming next-later!"

Teacher: "Yeah, that's right." puts her finger to her lips, "Shhh."

Hey, at least he didn't announce it over the microphone.




I better not give him any ideas...

Harrison motioning "I Love You" to me before he started singing.

 

 He LOVES to sing, can you tell?

The Dreidel song

Waiting for his Latkes, applesauce and sour cream (they also served pizza but Harrison snarfed down eight latkes and snubbed the pizza.) And for those of you who are not familiar with Judaism, Harrison is wearing a headband with a candle on it representing the eight candles that are lit throughout Chanukah.

So to all of our Jewish friends, Happy Hanukkah!

Photo Story - Times, They are a Changing...

A friend stopped by to give me a little early Chirstmas gift (thank you friend!) and as she was leaving, I got a notice about fraudulant activity on a financial account of mine - that stressed me out. So off to the library Harrison and I went to return (ironically) some past -due books and check out some Christmas books [and videos]. We came home with State Fair, White Christmas, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (original) and to round it out - Scooby Doo (the cartoon); not to mention a few good books. I guess we couldn't decide.

From there we went to Starbucks to use my newly acquired [and perfectly timed] gift card on my favorite holiday drink, an Eggnog Latte. Mmmm. No more stress for me.

I also got a little something for Harrison... a Hazelnut Cream (and it tastes as good as it sounds)! This year I've finally let him try all these fun things like hot chocolate (at Halloween), hot apple cider (Thanksgiving) and now, a Hazelnut cream from Starbucks.

He's almost four years old and I'm glad I held off from giving him all these yummy treat experiences. It's so joyous watching him relish in the flavor "firsts" and being able to express his excitement not only on his face but with his own words.

What does he think of the Hazelnut Cream?

"Mmm, Mommy, this customer treat is my all-time favoritest drink in the whole world!"

And then he asked,

"Is this a healty drink?"

Um, Err...

Photo Story is Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Wordless Wednesday - Who's With the Baby?

I put out Harrison's nativity scene under tree and he immediately set about playing with it.

Then other day when I went to take some Christmas pictures when I noticed something odd added in the set.

I knew that  the cow, donkey, lambs and camel were common at the scene - but did you know a little black cat was right in the middle of the action?

Me either.

I can't believe it's Wednesday.

Crafty Tuesday - He Creates

As I try to finish up my Christmas cards and the monthly newsletter for work in between all the holiday events stacked one on top of another, Harrison sits down to just create.

And it's good when he sits and concentrates on his art.

Because it's quiet...


For a moment.

BSM "Christmas time is Almost Here!"

is what he tells me every morning with big, twinkling eyes that become crescent-moons when he's really excited.

This year is already full of magic. And we're still just under two weeks away.

Santa stopped by the neighborhood this evening...
He took his hat off to show Santa he had one just like his.

What do you think he's telling Santa he wants for Christmas?

(I'll tell you - an "E.T. Rocketship and a guitar" That would be from the movie E.T.) Every Santa we see asks him and he tells every Santa the same thing. In fact, he wants to talke to EVERY Santa he sees.

Uh-oh, do you think he'll be like Ralphie Parker trying to get to Santa to make sure he gets his Red Ryder BB gun??

Yeah, I think so, too.


Check out more Best Shots to warm your heart.

He's Become Inthralled with Sir Lancelot

During bath a few weeks ago the subject of knights came up. I told him about Sir Lancelot. Ever since then he pretends to be Lancelot with his hooded-frog towel over his head. He talks about him constantly so how perfect that there was a knight "human" in with the wooden people.

I guess I'll be reading that book to him later.



More Wordless Wednesday here.

His Best Shot at an Elvis Impersonation.

 

If you are wondering whether or not he really wears these glasses out of the house, the answer is a resounding YES.  As was the case last week on our anniversary when the little celebrity-wannabe wore them over to his friend's house for the evening.

He has the dance moves to go with the glasses.

Now all he needs is a guitar.

Hmm. Christmas is coming...

More best shot moments at Mother May I.

Wordless Wednesday

It's Christmas card season. Eeek! Trying to get them done in my little free time. Here's one of my favorite outtakes of Harrison with his arms wrapped a round a giant rain stick.

More Wordless Wednesday here and here.