DJB's Big Kid Blog

Neck Medicine

This past weekend, Dex spent some time with some younger girls in the neighborhood.  One is 6, the other is 4.  We hung out with their parents in their driveway chatting, while the kids played on their backyard swingset, and drove around in the Barbie Jeep.

After about an hour, we went home, and quickly noticed that Dex smelled....like perfume.  And he more than smelled.  He reeked!

We asked him if he noticed the smell, and Dex said 'well the girls put neck medicine on me.'  OH REALLY?!  So it begins! :)

We also went to a birthday party, and Dex encountered his first ever pinata.  His plan was simply to collect candy the first time it fell out, then park himself at a table and eat it.  He let the rest of the kids scramble after the rest of the candy and was content to watch all the mayhem.

Painted Hair

Dex has been insistant after bath for the last few nights that he doesn't want his hair spikey, or even dried too much.  He wants to keep his 'painted hair' for bed.  Oookay!

Speaking of bed, he's also now accustomed to picking out what movie he wants to watch at bedtime.  Long gone are the days of Wall-E every night.  Now there's about 6 or 7 different options that he regularly enjoys.

We had a busy week, complete with Poker Night (aka play with Hess truck night), Great Grandpa's 85th birthday complete with cupcakes), two dinners at Moe's, running errands, dinner with Grandma Linda and Aunt Becky, the arrival of new sneakers, and plenty more. 

Mr. Jack Black is my favorite muppet

The new Muppet Movie is a favorite of Dex's lately, and if you ask him who his favorite character is, he'll tell you "Mr. Jack Black."  So yeah.  He's not a muppet, but if you know who Jack Black is, you probably get the unintended joke there.

Dex is now also a fan of giving a thumbs up when he approves of something.  Sometimes he won't even answer yes, or ok, he'll just give an enthusiastic thumbs up to express his approval.

He has another ear infection, and his hearing is all goofy again.  He's on antibiotics, and his eyes have cleared up, but he asks us to repeat things frequently.  And Dan was talking about mashed potatoes the other day, and Dex interrupted and said "Hey Dad, what are Spanish potatoes?!"  Yiiiikes.

However, he is getting really good at singing along with songs.  That little goober knows ALL THE WORDS to the songs we sing him.  He's just now starting to sing along, and I keep finding it shocking at first.  I guess after 3.5 years I should expect that its sunk in, but it's just wild to hear it coming from him.

I'm behind on posts, so here's some pictures from the last week and a half. :)

Pinkeye doesn't impact the cuteness

On Wednesday, I thought Dex might have gotten bopped in the eye, since one eye was puffy.  On Thursday, it had gotten worse, and Dan made an appointment for Dex to see the doctor on Friday.  Sure enough, it was pinkeye so we got some drops.  Poor guy woke up with his eyes gooped shut a few times, so while he doesn't love the drops, he knows they make his eyes feel better so he's much better about them now.

He did bounce back for a visit from Aunt 'Marfa' and then Easter at Grandma Linda and Grandpa Matt's, complete with an Easter egg hunt.  The Easter Bunny visited our house too, and brought a candy basket along with Mr. Potato Head.  Dex was VERY excied that the bunny got him exactly what he wanted!

Mommy, why's the ice cream shop open in the rain?

Dex noticed the seasonal ice cream stand was open when we drove past today, so he asked me that question.  Too cute. :)

Busy week, and I realized I had some photos from around March 15th that I never posted.  So those are first.  The rest of this week was pretty good.  The cereal drawer was a raging success, and now he's just on auto-pilot in the morning.  As soon as he gets downstairs he heads for it, and on Friday he was sure to note that he was running low on some items.

Saturday he helped Dan with mulching, and due to his newfound adoration of all things Toy Story, I raided my toy collection in the basement and found a whole bunch of toys, still in their packaging, from when Toy Story 2 came out in 1999.  So we had fun with those until naptime, and Dex even took Buzz Lightyear to nap with him.

After nap, Nicci came by and picked him up, as she and BriBri kept him for a sleepover, and until lunchtime on Sunday.  He was awake really early with them, so he took a good nap when he got home, and then got in a good chunk of rough-housing with Dad.  He's also officially a fan of the new Muppet Movie.  He's seen it a few times, but we listen to the soundtrack a lot, so it's fun to hear him sing his own renditions, or just to see the big goofy grin that comes over his face when I start up the car and the songs come on.

What the heck?

Yep, that's a fun new phrase that Dexter has been testing out this week.  Ooooh boy.

Busy week, bunch of cute pictures.  He's really getting big.  I know that's not a suprise..but wow.  He's moving into size 4T stuff for this new spring/summer season. 

He's also more than ever into 'I can do it myself' so we're encouraging it where possible.  He can get himself in and out of his new carseat.  And starting tomorrow, he'll be able to assemble his cereal in the morning.  I made ' Dexter's Cereal Drawer' and included photos below.  For the past 2 or 3 weeks, I have to lift him up to get everything out of the cupboards, then clean up the mess from when he dumps cereal out into the bowl (somedays it's a few pieces, some days its half the box).  So I wised up and cleaned out his kitchen drawer to no longer be junk (he hasn't played in there in months) and help us both out.  I'll still have to help with the milk, but I have to admit I'm excited for tomorrow morning.  Dex got a kick out of it and the sign too :)

 

Banditos

Dex spent the night with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Matt last weekend, and here are some pictures courtesy of Grandpa Matt from that weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next batch of photos are from the last week. We had Dex's 2nd teacher conference on Wednesday, and we learned that he's applying his 'negotiating' and 'delegating' skills in the classroom. :) We also have to figure out how to schedule time with 'his girlfriends' because he wants to go over there ALL THE TIME and the only way to convince him they aren't home is to let him ring the doorbell. Hopefully the novelty will wear off. Otherwise it's going to be a long spring/summer!

Sunday SUNDAY Sunday

So based on the last few weeks, I guess I can officially say I'll only be posting on Sunday nights.  Our routine is pretty standard, and there's not much new to report from day to day.  Selfishly, that's a couple of nights I can have one less 'to do' on my list.  Now that I've put that out there, I can stop feeling so guilty about not posting! :)

This weekend we went to poker night at "the house with all of the Hess trucks" and Dex had a blast.  He also got to hang with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Matt, and then enjoy the nice weather on Sunday, when we opened the sandbox for the season.  His girlfriends also came over to play, and he spent a good chunk of the afternoon running around outside with them.  Despite the time change, I suspect he'll sleep good tonight.  Hope I didn't jinx it!

Sweet 600

Yep, this is the 600th post on this blog.  Crazy, right?

This weekend was interesting, as our tv broke on Thursday night.  We made the decision to get a new one, but it won't be here until Tuesday.  Between two laptops, an iphone, and a Kindle Fire, we managed pretty well.  Definitely less tv than usual, and no one seemed to mind.  It was a low key weekend, with our only excursions being grocery shopping, and swimming at the nearby rec center that has a lazy rapids + mini indoor water park.

Dex hadn't been since a year ago, and we wondered what he'd think.  Thankfully his swim trunks still fit from last summer, and it took him about 10 seconds to warm up to the idea.  They don't allow floaties/life preservers there, so Dan and I had to hold him or have him hang off of a pool noodle in the lazy river.  Fine by him, as he couldn't wait to try swimming totally unassisted.  Ooooh we are in trouble this summer!  Might be time for round 2 of swim lessons. :)

Afterwards (swimming makes you hungry!), we went out for sushi, followed by a milkshake.

Whole bunch of pictures

Here are some photos from the last two weeks.  Hadn't gotten around to downloading from my iphone! :)

No mention of corks these days.  Guess it really is (was?) just that easy.