Brian’s Brain

Remember this?

Now we have two new photos for the sequence. Here’s Patrick yesterday:

I’m not quite sure why he decided to roar at me.

It was a memorable trip to the playground. First, it was only myself and Patrick. It was near the end of the day, and Alex didn’t want to go outside. Alex chose to stay in and read Raz-Kids on the computer instead. I’ve grown to think of the two of them as inseparable, and it’s strange for me to be with just one of them. Second, this was Patrick’s first trip out on his wooden balance bike. He loved it (although he was doing more walking than riding).

Finally, this is the first time I’ve realized: Patrick’s finally gotten fast! As a toddler, he wasn’t as graceful a walker as Alex, but he’s now got the running thing down. He spent most of the playground time running around the grassy field. A family was also out on the field kicking a soccer ball around. As you know, Patrick has an eye out for the ladies… he spent half of his running time orbiting a sixth grade girl and just soaking up the attention she gave him!

Today was an unspeakably beautiful February day in Seattle. I mean it: I won’t speak of it. If you live here, you know how great it was. If you don’t live here, you’ll be jealous if I described it to you. Thus, unspeakable.

The weekend was fantastic, too. We spent a lot of time outside. Here are the boys at Dahl Field on Sunday (click to enlarge).

Notice who else is in all of the pictures? This is another difference between my two sons: Stuffed animals. They’ve never been a big deal for Alex. Yes, he went through a phase where he attached to his Pillow Pets, but was casual like summer romance. Alex has never named a stuffed animal (or any inanimate object, for that matter).

Patrick, on the other hand, loves his stuffed animals. He’s particularly fond of stuffed animals that he can hold easily in one hand… no big gargantuan animals for him. And he’ll name his animals, although the names change. His most beloved dog was initially named “China,” but then his/her name morphed to “Lucy” when he befriended a Lucy in his class. However, in December, when little cousin Lucy was born, Patrick decided to change the dog’s name back to “China.” If you give him the choice, Patrick will carry China everywhere… even onto every play structure at the playground.

Those who know me on Facebook read this earlier today:

First casualty of the season: Patrick wanted to know what was inside a snow globe, so he whacked it against the wooden back of our Stickley couch. Now he knows.

What I didn’t capture on Facebook was the simple, matter-of-fact conversation I had with Patrick after I cleaned up the water, broken glass, and bits of fake snow from our couch.

Me: Patrick, why did you do that?

Patrick: Because I wanted to see what was inside.

Me: What did you think would happen if you hit it?

Patrick: It would break.

I didn’t really know what to say. Everything unfolded exactly according to Patrick’s plan. He wanted to know what was inside, so he wanted to break the snow globe, so he did. All in a few seconds.

I later tried to explain that I didn’t want him trying anything like that again. Beyond the mess, I told him that broken glass was dangerous, that it could cut him, and it made me scared when I thought of him getting cut. He thought about that for a moment, and then he said, “Like that time I ran out into the street, and the car was coming, and it saw me? Like how you were scared then?” (This particular incident happened months ago.)

“Yes, Patrick, like then.”

I wonder if I’ll ever figure out how his mind works.

The blessing or the curse of having our kids at the Bright Horizons at University Village: The Sounds of Summer Concert Series. Wednesday evenings during the peak summer months, U Village hosts a free outdoor concert in the parking lot right outside of daycare. From the window of Homebase G, Alex gets to watch them set up the stage, so by the time we pick him up he’s past all hope: “Can we go to the concert?! Can we go to the concert?!”

The kids have been to the two shows so far this season, and they’ve had a blast. We get there early, before the music starts and it’s too crowded. The kids each have a slice of cheese pizza and a smoothie. Then they play until the music starts. After the music, Alex still plays… Patrick, on the other hand, goes right to where the music is loudest. He might dance a little, but mostly he just stands and watches, captivated.

Thus, his dream to be a rock star is born!

Patrick moved to the next room in Bright Horizons this past Friday. He’s now officially a “preschooler.” He gets to go on field trips this summer (tomorrow: The Burke Museum!).

To welcome the new kids, some of the parents and teachers organized a picnic at Windermere Park on Saturday, a nice little park right on the lake. There was a small playground for the kids, and a grill for cooking our lunch.

Those who don’t live in the Pacific Northwest might not know what a typical June day is like: Cloudy and cool in the morning. (If you’re lucky, the clouds burn off in the afternoon. If not…) Saturday was no exception. If the next generation had any common sense, they’d realize that cloudy days with temperatures in the low 60s does not make for great play-in-the-lake weather.

However, after keeping the kids out of the water for over an hour, they started inching in with this:

…which somehow turned into this:

And no, nobody had bathing suits. We forgot that kids are CRAZY.