Brian’s Brain

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.

Patrick’s birthday was Thursday, but we had his party at our house today.

As you might expect, a house full of eleven little boys and one little girl can be quite chaotic. However, the party was a big success. No major tears or fights. The piñata was a hit, and the cupcakes were even more popular. And Patrick loved the attention, the presents, and the balloons!

As fun as it was, it’s still nice to be done with birthday parties for the year…

There’s nothing quite so hyper as a newly minted three-year-old boy. Patrick was smiling and bouncing off the walls from sunup to sundown. (And at our northern latitude in June, sunup to sundown is a long time!) He got to enjoy cupcakes at school, extra dessert at home, a special birthday crown, and even a few presents. The bubble gun Molly bought him was a hit.

The cutest thing was watching Alex. Yes, there were a few moments of, “Wait! Why do we always do what Patrick wants?!” However, for the most part, he was really sweet the whole day. He was the first to wish Patrick Happy Birthday in the morning, and he made Patrick a great card in daycare. I guess out of respect for Patrick’s special day, he didn’t have to share the card with the invisible Other Brother.

Just a few more signs of our kids getting older: Tomorrow, Alex has his preschool “graduation.” While he’s staying at Bright Horizons through the summer, many of his friends will be leaving for the summer… so it really is like a graduation. And Patrick will be moving to the three-year-old preschool room on July 1st. This will be great for him, because it means he’ll have a summer full of field trips. He’ll have a blast.

For almost all of the past three weeks, somebody in the house has been sick. Alex had an ear infection that turned into a ruptured eardrum. Patrick had strep, then a stomach bug. Then I caught Patrick’s stomach bug that I just recovered from today.

Maybe, hopefully, we’re entering a healthy period. Please?

I’m telling this story to distract the grandparents & other relatives from the lack of pictures in recent weeks. I’ve started going through the small photo backlog. Here are two that were sitting on my camera, taken in between strep throat and stomach flu. The following scene started innocently enough, with Patrick just putting his hand in the fountain. “Remember, Patrick,” I told him, “I don’t have a towel or a change of clothes…”

Obviously, he didn’t care!

(Postscript: The kids & I had walked to University Village. I was able to call Molly. She came down with a towel & clothes, then drove us home.)

My cousin Amber joined us for an all-too-brief visit this weekend. We spent part of Saturday evening talking about our kids, and she mentioned the truism that you can really tell your kids’ personalities when they’re very young.

That’s what we’re afraid of!

Patrick, roaring. Of course.

Of course, we love Patrick to death. He’s spunky and smart and has a great sense of humor (even at not-yet-three). But man-oh-man! If there ever was a kid who was looking to see just exactly what he could get away with, it’s Patrick. He doesn’t just do the boring boundary two-year-old boundary pushing of declaring “No!” Instead, he’s sneaky about it.

A typical example from this morning: We’re talking about what to have for breakfast, and Patrick somehow produces the last package of Annie’s Bunny Fruit Snacks from our pantry. “No,” I tell him. “You can’t have fruit snacks for breakfast.” I take them and put them up on the counter.

Later that morning, Patrick’s inconsolably sad because Molly’s washing his favorite blue blanket. We spend 20 minutes trying to convince him that he’s going to get his blanket back soon, to no avail. Finally, desperate, I whisper in his ear: “Patrick, you’ll get your blanket back soon. While you wait, do you want some fruit snacks?” He immediately stops crying and nods his head. I carry him over to the counter where I’d put the fruit snacks, and they aren’t there. I start looking around, and Patrick tells me, “Behind the chair!”

I go to the living room chair. Patrick frequently hides behind there, and now he often takes things there that he knows he’s not supposed to have. Sure enough, behind the chair, there’s the last package of Annie’s Fruit Snacks splayed open and a small hutch of gummy bunnies abandoned on the hardwood floor. We’re learning not to let Patrick out of our sights for very long, yet somehow this morning he found the time to swipe the fruit snacks from the counter, take them behind the chair, open the package, and eat one or two before we started looking for him.

Like I said, sneaky, spunky, and smart. We’re going to have our work cut out for us.