Grandma Shogren had sent Alice a five dollar bill for her birthday. I kept finding it around the house in various random places, so I decided to take her shopping Sunday morning to spend it. We went to the dollar store (where everything actually just costs a dollar) and I told her she could afford five things. I gave her the strategy of walking through the whole store first to see what was available before selecting her items for purchase.
Here is what she ended up buying: An orange star helium balloon, a blue monster truck, a tandom-rotor helicopter, a suction-cup ball, and a package of five glow-in-the-dark snakes.
Someday soon we'll introduce the concept of chores, an allowance, saving and donating...but first we have to whet her appetite with the taste of purchasing power.
Saturday afternoon we went to Nate's birthday pool party at a country club. The pool for the kiddos was fantastic. It had a built in splash yard, a very shallow end, and a less shallow end where the kids could paddle around. And this was entirely separate from the big pool and a baby wading pool. It was cloudy and not too hot, so the pool wasn't very crowded, which was great.
Simon was in a good mood during supper and had been in need of a haircut for a while, so I suggested Zac give him a haircut after supper. I spent the next ten minutes prepping him for it. We talked about how he cries every time. We talked about how it doesn't actually hurt. And then, we talked about how he could have two treats afterwards if he didn't cry this time. He seemed to understand the plan and kept repeating back to me, "I cried last time. I'm not going to cry this time. I'm going to get two treats!"
Normally, he screams bloody murder at the top of his lungs the whole time, and we have to keep shouting, "It's ok, Simon, it's only a haircut!" so the neighbors don't call the police thinking we take our kid out on the back porch for special torture sessions. Simon doesn't like the noise and the feel of the trimmers, but the worst part for him is that he ends up covered in hair. Simon really hates hair and freaks out every time he gets even a piece of cat hair stuck on his clammy hands. So having it fly all over him during a haircut is just too much. We drape a cloth over him, but that usually comes undone during his tantrum, and he ends up with hair on his hands, then in his eyes and mouth. It's really gross.
But this time was totally different. Even though it took some coaching and distraction from me during the haircut, he made it through with no tears. This is huge, people, a huge cognitive step -- self control for a future reward. Anything is possible now.
Although, his choice of two identical green lollipops for his treats indicates we maybe still have some cognitive work to do.
Alice had her five-year-old check up on Monday. She did great-- passed the hearing and eye exam, and is officially no longer "under weight" -- my guess is that the other kids have finally started to burn off their baby fat, rather than that Alice is actually packing on the pounds. She got two shots, which barely made her wince--instead she giggled. Then, she proudly showed everyone she met for the next couple of days her thigh bandaids where she got her shots.
The next day, however, she had a fever and got sent home from school. She took two short naps on the fold-out couch (her plan) and watched a lot of TV and even got to drink juice. Might as well do these sick days right!
Normally, Zac makes eggs for breakfast, but since today was father's day, the kids and I had to figure it out.
For father's day, we do our traditional creek stomp. For the past several years, we've gone to a beautiful creek in Umstead forest. The only problem is that it's a big hike to get there, and the kids are getting too heavy to carry, but are not quite capable of hiking long distances reliably. So this year, we opted to go to Few's Ford at Eno River State Park because you can park very close to the river. After breakfast, we packed up the kids and headed out.
It was a fun morning of catching creyfish and trying to catch actual fish. Alice and Simon both had a blast (and of course passed out on the way home).
That afternoon, the kids helped Zac open his father's day presents.
As always, Simon petered out after a while and wandered off to play.
Zac's favorite gift is a toilet bowl nightlight. Seriously.
Alice got right to work with the new whiteboard markers.
Then they had fun playing with the fort-building stakes.
But perhaps the best gift was that we decided to eat supper without telling the kids it was supper time. So Zac got to at least eat his hamburger in peace.
Unfortunately, the kids did eventually show up. And somehow they ended up dipping their hamburgers in honey.
Simon laughs hysterically whenever we wipe him off after a meal.
Then it was time for more fort building--with new flashlights and glowsticks.
On Saturday evening we had a playdate with Alice's friend Rye. We'd never been to their house before, but knew they had a tree house. It was great fun for the kids. I didn't get good pictures, but you'll just have to trust me that there were so many cute moments. Other parents don't have blogs, apparently, and don't document every waking moment of their child, so we feel a little bit weird taking a gazillion pictures when we're around other parents.
We all stayed and had pizza for supper, while the kids played in the treehouse and on the hammock and swings. All Alice's friends have way cooler backyards than we do. I guess our strategy has just been to take the kids to playgrounds every weekend, whereas other parents have chosen to bring the playground to them.
After supper, they used nets to catch fireflies. This was surprisingly effective and even Simon caught several.
