9:28 a.m. - 2008-04-04
Birthday Weekend
Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy Friday Dance!
It is cold and raw and rainy, but I'm looking forward to an indoor tropical (if not chlorine-filled) weekend celebrating Andy's birthday. He is eleven. I cannot fathom that.
Some things that Andy no longer does, now that he is a "tween."
1. Drink from a sippy cup - I threw the last of them out (they were all shreddy and not fit for passing on to someone else) a few months ago.
2. Drool over Thomas the Tank Engine. At one point, we had every car and 16 miles of wooden track in our house. We passed them on to another train devotee. When Andy was obsessed with trains, we took him almost daily to see the train crossing in town and wait for the commuter rail to go by. He used to call them "foo foo kies." Still makes me smile.
3. Obsess over fire trucks. Another phase of Andy's - he dressed like a fireman, wore the hat constantly, we had wooden, metal, plastic and paper fire trucks. He called them "Wire Fuks" much to the chagrin of his day care teacher.
4. Do the naked dance. I may have mentioned that before. Until a few months ago, anytime Andy would take a bath or shower, he'd run down stairs and do a little naked dance for me. Sadly, that happens no more.
5. Limit his dietary adventures. I SWORE that I would never be one of those moms that cooks separate meals for the children who don't want to eat what is being served. Then at a little more than a year old, Andy was diagnosed as failure to thrive and the pediatrician said to give him whatever he wants until he got back on the charts. So I made the mac and cheese and the chicken nuggets. And then he thrived and we tried new things.
Things Andy does now that he is a "Tween."
1. Andy is an adventuresome diner. Even though we aren't having a big birthday party for him and his friends, he wants to take a few friends out for Japanese food. Now Andy eats: Sushi (yes, we are careful); Indian food; Thai food; Mexican food. He is proud to try new things (especially when his peers are a little timid and grossed out.) Now if I can just get him to want to cook too!
2. Thinks about others' feelings. I have to say, Andy is a very sweet and thoughtful boy. He is contantly taking other people's feelings into consideration. The flip side of that, is that he is hurt that not everyone is the same way; and he is easily bruised. But we are working on that too.
3. Anime. Mainga(?). He is into all things Japanese. He wants to learn to speak it, which may be doable because it is not a language with differences in meaning because of voice inflection as many other Asian languages are.
4. My little muffin man is seriously into his saxophone and wants to learn jazz.
5. He is not too big to cuddle. And when we are walking together, he still takes my hand. And when we tuck him in at night, he still wants us to sit with him for a little while.
Not bad huh? I am so lucky.
We leave this afternoon for the wave-pool hotel and we'll be there until Sunday - checking out some anime collectible stores along the way. I may even get to have turnips for dinner.
And for now, that's all I got. Happy, happy weekend!
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