Third Tooth

Karston's third tooth came out! He forgot he had a loose tooth because he was so excited about Christmas preparations, so when he bit into his cheese-and-cracker, his tooth stuck in the cheese! Yes, a tooth stuck in cheese that barely has tooth marks all around is looks as comical as it sounds!

We are hoping that The Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus don't collide on their ways to our house tonight.

The Cocoa Shoppe

Karston's first grade class held a holiday Cocoa Shoppe, and read letters to parents. Karston's letter ...

Dear Mom and Dad,
I love it when you play chess with me. Mom, my favorite thing about you is you are sweet. Dad, my favorite thing about you is you are strong. It is so much fun when we go on Opa's motor boat because it is so fast.
I love you,
Karston

Meatloaf

I made meatloaf (with lots of veggies made mostly invisible through the food processor) for dinner for the adults. Since Cale is often willing to try what we're eating, I put a slice of meatloaf on his plate. Cale asked, What's that? I said, It's meatloaf. Cale put up his hands to block me from handing him a plate of meatloaf. Since I didn't want to give up easily, I said, Daddy and Mommy want to eat meatloaf for dinner. Cale switched to "gimmee" hands, and started eating meatloaf. Yes folks, the magic phrase for Cale appears to be telling him that's what the adults are eating! If only it were that easy to get his older brother to eat!

Zachary

Today we got our bike rentals delivered (eventually - they had to build one for me) and pedaled over to Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park just in time for lunch. The boys played on the beach, then we ate lunch, then we explored the historic fort. Each time I read out the full name of the park, Karston said "Zachary?!" because one of his friends since preschool is Zach.

3V's

We left the house early this morning to catch a flight to Fort Lauderdale. After an interminable line at the car rental counter, we hopped in a minivan to drive to Key West. Although we were hungry, we also wanted to get away from the airport before eating.

At the first exit, the best choice was Burger King, so we went on. The second exit had a Subway, so we followed the signs there. However, as we were walking up to the Subway, I saw the adjacent restaurant, 3V's Organic Cafe, had a special on a cuban mix sandwich. I couldn't resist! The restauranteur pulled out all of the stops (who cares what's listed on the menu?) to try to coax Karston to eat a reasonable amount of food, but he learned what we already know: Karston is pickier about food than you think. To his credit, he's sincerely interested in serving tasty food that's as healthy as possible.

Along the way, we stopped at Bahia Honda State Park so the kids could play in the sand.

We made sure to have an early dinner so we could watch the Key West Holiday Parade starting at 7 pm. The parade went on until 9 pm! Key West may be small, but you wouldn't know that from the number of floats. many of the floats tossed candy to the kids. Since this is the second time we've watched this parade, we knew to bring a bag for all of the candy! Karston wants to bring the candy to school for his class' gingerbread house decoration. When we left the parade, Karston said, "I'm tired of getting candy now."

C-a-l-e

This afternoon, Cale said, My name is spelled C-a-l-e, picked up a marker, and wrote his name on the whiteboard. He's three!

Games

Karston has been playing Angry Birds at Mimi's house after school, and Dig Dug at home after school. Three nights ago, before falling asleep, Karston explained his Dig Dug strategies to Daddy so he's getting more sophisticated quickly. He was very proud yesterday that he finally made it to level 5 in Dig Dug! About a week ago, he picked up checkers quickly. And this evening, he started to learn chess.

I think game play has clicked for him. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I need to find games for this kid to play ...

Matching

This morning when I dropped Karston off in his first-grade classroom, the girl who sits next to him stared at my shoes. Finally Keely said, I think your shoelaces don't match. For a few weeks, my shoelaces have been one polka-dotted and one striped, so my shoelaces definitely don't match. So I asked, Are you sure? and she stared at my shoes again before answering I think so. The subtleties of "I think so" must not be apparent to first-graders! So I told her, my shoelaces definitely do not match, but we agreed the bright colors were pretty.

NC State Fair

As if the circus weren't exciting enough, today we went to the state fair! The weather later this week looks to be cooler, cloudy, and possibly rainy, so we went today. We took Karston out of school a little early, had a quick lunch, and drove to Raleigh.

When we first started walking around, the weather was really quite warm! OK, I got hot. We hit our usual attractions, like the antique farm equipment and the Village of Yesteryear. We let Karston ogle the Lego displays. Daddy, Mommy, and Cale ate pickles from the Mount Olive booth before we went over to the kiddie rides. Cale just loved the roller coaster, while Karston really liked spinning around. While we were at the kiddie rides, we saw Lucy, Lexi, and Drew!

After that structured entertainment, at Karston's request, we wandered over to the waterfall by Dorton Arena and the kids played in the spray (I stayed dry instead).

The only drawback was that our usual state fair dinner (Murphy House barbecue) closed at 5:00 PM, and we didn't get there until nearly 6. Karston and Cale were fascinated with the remote-controlled school bus Buster who talked to them. We kept getting a few raindrops, and I kept thinking we would leave soon, but the rain held off. We all shared a funnel cake (yum!), and the boys had soft-serve ice cream. I got an apple cider freezie, but the boys liked it so I had less than half. We'll have to make some at home! Since the rain held off, we walked around the gardens and the boys played miniature golf until the mosquitoes were about to carry me off.

As we walked back to the car, the weather was still a warm 75 degrees with a gentle breeze. (It felt really good to sit down in the car, though!) Just as we all climbed in, the skies opened up and it started to rain. Perfect timing, for a perfect day at the state fair!

The Star Family Circus

Today Daddy took Karston, Cale, Opa, and Grammy to a small, family-run circus in Burlington. As a bonus, Karston's friends from school Drew and Lexi with their mom Lucy came along! At first, our hopes were low because we couldn't get additional information when we called the Armory where the circus was held. However, we went with free kid admission coupons from Bandido's Mexican restaurant just to see.

Luckily, the show was phenomenal!

The lead, father or grandfather of the group, juggled, flipped, and spun huge cylinders, 4x4 feet sheets of painted plywood, and then full-grown people all with his feet! Yes, upside down, using just his feet, and never missing once. The ladies did twirly rope acts suspended only by their hair, and other bizarre acts interspersed with cute animal tricks. Cale barely made a sound, except occasional enthusiastic clapping, through the performances because he was captivated. Karston kept turning around to make sure we saw what just happened with huge eyes ready to pop out. Karston was very excited, and the show was very exciting.

At the end of the show, there was one more act outside because it did not fit inside: the “Cage of Death” - a forty-foot-tall spinning contraption with a 10’ diameter ring on it. The performer ran inside of this open air ring to make the entire cage rotate. Then he juggled while riding it. Then he jumped rope while free falling as it rotated. This show was almost too scary to watch! Then he climbed outside of the open ring and walked on top of it as it continued to go into forty-foot circles. Creepy! Then he jumped rope, on the outside of it as it was rotating. Please, please get down, this is too much. We like you, we had our money’s worth; we don’t want you dropping 40’ to the ground. He didn’t listen. He then got a black bag and put it over his head and did it some more, blindfolded…

If you happen to see flyers for the “Star Family Circus” pick one up and go to the show – amazing!

NC Seafood Festival

Boy, October shows up and the weather changes for the chilly!!

We went to the NC Seafood Festival today, wandered through the crafts, met up with Opa and Grammy, sampled the fresh seafood, but especially played at SasSea's Island Playground for the kids. Karston and Cale were particularly interested in decorating SasSea cookies [from the Alex and Brett's bakery] again, so apparently that made an impression last year.

Our timeshare added a miniature golf course since last year, and Karston has played mini golf every afternoon while Cale naps for the past four days. Karston is so involved in his miniature golfing, he always comes back sweaty, excited, and exhausted. Future golfer?

Tomorrow we go home after a week of fun! (After one more stop at King's Barbecue!)

Best Day Ever

Yesterday, the kids watched the sunrise over the ocean, played on the beach, played miniature golf or napped, went to the pool, and played on the beach again. Today, we went to the NC Aquarium, took naps, and played on the beach. The two days don't sound too different, but Karston announced that today was the best day ever after feeding an entire box of (expired) crackers to seagulls while on the beach. Apparently having seagulls within three feet is a grand experience!

Gyotaku Fish Printing

This morning we went to the NC Maritime Museum in Beaufort for the Merry Time with Tots. This time, many more children attended (last year, it was a new event; I assume Miss Allison recognized us despite the intervening twelve months because we were early adopters), so we had to wait for a spot. Instead of real fish, Karston and Cale put finger paint on very realistic rubber fish, then rubbed paper over them.

Yesterday it rained so much that we stayed in, and Karston happily made crafts all day. One of Karston's craft activities was to be sure that Cale would know which door was ours so Cale couldn't get lost.

Uncomfortable

When we piled in the car to drive to Atlantic Beach this morning, Cale said, Mommy, my car seat isn't letting me be comfortable. Daddy checked, Cale's car seat didn't have any extra toys in it this time, so he strapped him in. As usual, we stopped for lunch at King's BBQ in Kinston. As I picked Cale up, I noticed a bump in his pocket. Hmm. Yes, he had a toy car in one rear jeans pocket, and a keyring of old car keys in the other rear jeans pocket! No wonder he wasn't comfortable in his car seat!

We made it to Atlantic Beach safely, and thankfully the rain on the post-King's leg of the drive wasn't as heavy as it was this time last year.

Recycled Pontoon Boat

The first grade classes at Karston's school are having a Water Regatta on Friday. Karston made a recycled pontoon boat this weekend, and has already almost played it to death! He should have fun on Friday.

Second Tooth Out

This morning, shortly after Karston got to school, his second tooth fell out! Now he's got the snaggletooth look going; fortunately this tooth didn't cause nearly the anxiety of the first!

Karston's First Tooth

This is the opposite of the post from November 2005: instead of the first tooth erupting, Karston lost his first tooth yesterday afternoon at 1:40 PM. The loose tooth, his lower left, was bothering him greatly and was sticking out sideways. Karston insisted Something Must Be Done, so Miss Tosha, his first grade teacher's assistant, wrapped it in a paper towel (for the blood) and yanked. One tooth gone! Karston was very proud of this rite of passage. He was especially looking forward to the Tooth Fairy bringing him a present, in this case, a new electric toothbrush. Cale explained the Tooth Fairy to me this morning. Mommy, the Fairy Tooth came here last night. We did not hear any car. Fairy Tooth left a toothbrush for my brother! Karston has always been leery of anything going in his mouth, like food or a toothbrush, so we're hoping to use some momentum from the thrill of losing a tooth to improve his care of his teeth.

Six

Karston turned six today! One difficulty of a holiday birthday is that your friends may be out of town so they can't come to your birthday party. And yes, this was the case this year. We scheduled a craft-and-cookout when Karston's friend Zach (and his older sister Amanda) could come over. Last year, Karston had more friends who stayed in town, so I had stocked up on craft projects to keep them amused. As soon as Zach came over, Karston asked, Mommy, is it my birthday? Yes, dear. Mommy, are my friends here? Yes, dear, everyone who is in town. But Mommy, where are the crafts? So I brought out the box from last year (I had over-stocked out of first-big-birthday-party paranoia) and everyone went to town!

Karston wanted a pirate hat birthday cake this year, and I thought I had it under control until he threw another curve at me: he didn't want any frosting (the compound foods he will eat are few and far between, but precious), just the accents in white decorator's gel. Yeah ... so it could've been smoother with chocolate frosting, but it's what Karston wanted:

Maker Faire: NC

On Monday I got an Oriental Trading Company catalog of kid craft kits. Karston claimed the catalog initially, but after flipping through it he announced, I don't like these because I design my own crafts! I think he is the Maker Faire type.

After lunch today with friends who have a son six months older than Cale, we all went to Maker Faire: NC: "Makers, Crafters, Inventors, Evil Geniuses, Scientists and Artists will come together for a day of family-friendly fun and inspiration. From home-made cookies to home-made robots, Maker Faire NC promises something for everyone in a showcase of the American creative spirit." What fun! Before the NC Near Space balloon launch, Cale was saying, Want see balloon go up, but as soon as it did, he said, Want see balloon come down. Karston liked the model rockets best, but he also liked the robots, especially the small ones like Hex Bugs, and ShopBot's CNC machine. Brian liked the hockey-playing battle bots, while Cale was mostly too tired for words although he did like the small robots and ShopBot too. So we brought friends to Maker Faire with us, we saw people I had expected to see, we ran into a couple couples I hadn't expected (I haven't seen Julie in ages, so I just wouldn't expect to run into her family), and I notice from various feeds that I didn't even spot everyone I know who was there this afternoon! So I guess Maker Faire: NC was the show to see this afternoon!

Cale's Hookup

We went grocery shopping this morning, and the boys hopped in their respective car seats while we put groceries in the back of the station wagon. I checked, Karston had hooked himself up, and oh look, Cale's hooked up too. I didn't do it, so I asked Daddy if he hooked up Cale. No, so I asked Karston. No, so Cale did it?! We went out to lunch (Karston ate an entire order of chicken nuggets! hurrah!), and Cale clipped himself into his car seat after lunch while we were watching! Then we stopped by a playground, and Cale fastened his car seat again!

So when Cale's ready, it's not a fluke. Highly repeatable!

This could make loading kids in the car go faster, at least once you can chase them to the car!

Ella's Birthday

We went to Ella's 6th birthday party today. (Ella was in Karston's kindergarten class, and they are very good friends. Karston and Cale just love Ella, and she plays so well with them. I've watched her change Cale's mood from sulking to happy just by holding his hand!) For my boys, the highlight of the party was the bounce castle. Karston did play with Ella, especially when he saw crafts, but both boys were much more interested in jumping themselves silly with a few breaks for juice. Cale ate a little birthday cake, and Karston had some chocolate ice cream, but then they had to jump again. Presents? No, they jumped in the bounce castle.

Passage of Time

Cale, at age 3, definitely understands the passage of time, but not verb tenses. This morning he told me, Mommy, the other day (Cale usually means yesterday when he says this), I eat doughnuts at breakfast. And this day (Cale usually means today when he says that), I eat grapes at breakfast. So far, with the usual interpretations, he's correct! And Mommy? The next day (Cale usually means tomorrow), I eat grits at breakfast because we had talked about a nice eggs-sausage-and-grits breakfast. Just need to work on those tenses!

Museum Field Trip

Today we were chaperones for Karston's kindergarten field trip to the Museum of Life and Science. We were assigned to watch Karston and a girl who wanted to wander off on her own. We teamed up with Ella's mom watching three girls because 3 adults to 5 kids was more manageable. The kids had a great field trip! After our picnic lunch, after we signed out our kids from school, Karston and Ella went back for more museum time. Finally it really was time to leave. Karston spent more than an entire school day with Ella, but he asked why she was in a different car. His next question was, why can't I be with Ella forever? Yeah ... let's wait until you both are older for that one!

All About The Playing

After a wonderful intersession last month, Cale knows he really loves to play with his big brother. This morning he told me, Mommy, I miss Karston so much. He cheered up with Mommy, dance with me, Mommy, chase me, and Mommy, play with me.

Food Differences

This week, the boys went to Florida with Daddy to stay on Opa and Grammy's boat. (Mommy stayed home to teach class.) One evening while they were playing together, Karston pretended to be an alligator coming to eat Cale. Cale yelled, "Don't eat me! I'm not tasty!" For a three-year-old, Cale really put together the pieces: what would make the alligator not want to eat him? Why, if he were not tasty! Karston was re-enacting this event in the car this afternoon after I picked them up at the airport. However, Karston flubbed the line one time, and said don't eat me, I'm not hungry!

Right there, tasty or hungry, summarizes the eating differences between these brothers, and explains why Cale's weight is within two pounds of Karston's weight. *sigh*

Toys For Us

Sometimes what you hear is better than what was said. While getting groceries this morning, I told the boys if they would be quieter now, we could go across the street to Toys R Us afterwards. (*sigh* yes, bribes seem worth it) That incentive worked immediately on Karston, who started chanting, but not too loudly, Toys R Us! Toys R Us! Cale often takes his cues from Karston, so now he knew it was desirable, but he translated it to his own chant: Toys for us! Toys for us!

Yeah, I think that's what they really meant anyway.

Disney World wish

Daddy has a poster presentation at one of the Disney World resorts, so how could we resist Disney World for the kids and Florida in February for us? We flew in late last night because our flight on Southwestern was delayed over 8 hours! (I am seriously under-impressed with Southwestern's maintenance standards, and very pleased that our two boys were remarkably well-behaved while cooped up in an airport in the tiny secured area for the entire outrageous day. I would like never to have to do that again: instead of arriving in the afternoon and relaxing at the playground with sand between our toes, we arrived annoyed and exhausted and well past bedtime.) But today we got to go to the Magic Kingdom, that magical place!

Cale really enjoyed it's a small world this time, so we rode it several times including starting there. Most of our fun today was near there, in Fantasyland, where we also went to Mickey's PhilharMagic (don't sit in the front row, the stereo didn't work for me that close), Peter Pan's Flight, and the Windy Adventure of Winnie the Pooh before lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus. Cale found it very important to tell one of the Pinocchio greeters, I having fun!

The only disappointment was that all of Toontown Fair was closed for the Fantasyland expansion, so Karston couldn't ride his favorite roller coaster, Goofy's Barnstormer.

While Cale took a nap in the stroller, Daddy and Karston went to the Swiss Family Treehouse. We woke Cale up for the Jungle Cruise. We had dinner on the second floor at Columbia Harbor House before the fireworks show. Afterwards, we went to the Carousel of Progress (I liked the history bits best), had ice cream at Auntie Gravity's, rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover (more fun than I expected), rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, and went to the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. Cale sat on Daddy's lap, and they were in the spotlight as "the two-headed human" and Cale was asked to say his name (he was very quiet, so Daddy helped).

In the evening, we watched the fireworks show. Tonight's theme was "wish," all about making wishes. Karston got very excited, told Daddy his wish, and insisted that Daddy say Karston's wish at the correct point in the show in case he (Karston) got too excited to get it out in time. Are you ready for his wish? Karston came up with this completely on his own with no prompting! Karston's wish is "I wish love was all around." He's very right! The world would be much nicer with more love all around. Some days I worry about his poor eating and his low-blood-sugar behavior, and other days Karston says such sweet things that I know he'll turn out all right.