Barring unusual circumstances, each day on our way home from work, we call Grandma and Grandpa. Usually during this chat, aside from pointing out busses and cows and bridges and tunnels and scoops and my new favorite, ‘pretty water’, we talk about the other things that happened in Brendan’s day. Grandma always tells me to write these things down while they are fresh in my head, and I have learned that Grandma always knows best. So here are a few of my favorite Brendan moments from the day.
The morning started out with Mommy taking way too long to get ready. I started giving Brendan tasks to do – like, ‘Can you find Mommy a Mickey Mouse?’. I would hear little feet scamper off to his room, and he would come back with at least one, but often an assortment, of whatever I requested. He has also taken to picking out his own shoes, and sometimes Daddy’s shoes or Mommy’s shoes. He always selects the actual pair, rather than just two shoes. This morning, he was very proud of himself for finding a pair of pink neon flip flops in the back of Mommy’s closet, and I was sad to have to crush his artistic sense of fashion and go with a different choice.
When he wants to be picked up, he raises his little arms and says, ‘I want to go up high’. Love that. He is all about ‘up high’ these days. Cows are ‘up high’ and often they are ‘hiding in trees’. Which sounds funny, but sometimes they are. We have crazy cows in Novato.
I went to visit at school today just as his class was going outside to play. We walked along together and suddenly he crouched down, pointed his little finger and said, ‘pretty flowers’. It was true – very sweet purple flowers blooming their little heart out that nobody but Brendan had stopped to admire.
We went with Aunt Lisa to pick up Charlie at her class room today, and there was something very exciting sitting in the hallway – a tiny trampoline with rails to hold onto as you jump. Brendan didn’t know what it was, but he climbed right up and I showed him how bouncy it was. He was just starting to get the hang of it when Charlie wanted to get on and show him how it was done. I asked him if Charlie could have a turn and he happily jumped off into my arms. Soon Charlie let Brendan back on and he bounced for about 5 seconds before looking at me with a big smile on his face and saying, “Carlie’s turn!”.
He is such a nice friend. On the way home he even held his little stuffed animal up to the window so they could see the ‘pretty water’. We’re lucky Mommy didn’t run the car off the road as she stole many glances.
Most nights when we get home, Brendan wants to have a ‘picnic’. This means that he picks a snack – for some reason it’s usually a carrot, but sometimes it’s an orange or some cereal – and we go out and eat our snack on the front step while we wait for Daddy to get home. I love our picnics. I hope we always do that.
And then there is bed time….
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Brendan is not even two, and already he has become an excellent con artist in attempting to prolong his bedtime. Last weekend I made him a lounger out of a sheet and four pillows (thank you pinterest!) and he loves this thing.
He wants to sit there to have his bottle or a snack – to look at books – to watch Cars…
During his last bottle of the day, we used to sit on the couch, but now he wants to sit on his lounger. The problem is, he knows that when he is done with his bottle it’s bed time. So he starts wandering around, looking for other things to distract us. If we have forgotten to grab a binky, he runs over to get one out of the drawer where he knows we keep them. Most of the time he asks for a particular book – “Niners” (the 49er book) or “Oops” (a new favorite where a turkey ends up wearing clothes on the wrong body part). We will remind him that if he’s going to wander around then it’s time for bed, which we also tell him, is a very good choice. He will push it as far as he can, and then when he realizes we are serious, he runs as fast as he can and plops himself right back down on the lounger. This cycle continues several more times before we finally explain that it really is bed time. We all share family hugs and then when we get upstairs there is one more book – his recent favorite is “Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site” which is fun because I bought it at a book sale while Meredith was with me. Or he also loves “Hug”. It’s a book with very few words, so we make up our own words to the story. It’s about a little monkey named Bobo who sees all of his friends hugging, and wants a hug himself. He gets very sad at one point, and Brendan really feels his pain – but he also gets so happy when Bobo’s Mommy comes running as fast as she can to give him a hug. I love how much empathy and kindness is inside my son.
Bedtime is long – but very rewarding.
And as soon as he is in bed, Chelsea takes over the lounger.
And now, other than discussions of what is for dinner, and a few kisses blown, you have experienced a ride home, talking to Grandma and Grandpa.
Note to self, and particularly to Grandma and Grandpa in Boston – Brendan says, ‘here’ and ‘there’ with a Boston accent. I have to capture it in a movie.