Matthew: When Annika gets to be a big, big kid, she’s going to sleep in my bed.
Mommy: Oh, really? Where would you sleep?
Matthew: With you in your big bed.
Mommy: With me? But what about daddy?
Matthew: He’ll sleep in the basement.
This is a test from my iPhone.
by Tyler and Matthew
Setting: Annika’s changing pad. Annika is crying. Tyler is changing Annika’s diaper in preparation for putting her down for a catnap before her last bottle of the day.
Tyler: It’s ok, Annika. We’re just going to change your diaper, and then you can have a short nap.
(Matthew enters, stage right)
Matthew: Daddeee! There’s a dinosaur out there!
Tyler: Really? What color is it?
Matthew: Pink!
Tyler: Oh really? Does the dinosaur have a name?
Matthew: Angie! (very loudly, startles Annika)
Tyler: I’ve never heard of a dinosaur named Angie. Can you go tell the dinosaur not to eat us?
Matthew: Yeah!
(Matthew leaves, stage right. Thumping of little feet down the hall are heard.)
Matthew (off stage): [unintelligible]
Annika: Waaaah!
Tyler: It’s ok, we’re almost done, Annika.
(Matthew enters, stage right)
Matthew: I told him not to eat us.
Tyler: Thanks, Matthew! Is Angie a boy dinosaur, or a girl dinosaur?
Matthew: Boy dinosaur!
Tyler: What color is Angie?
Matthew: Wed!
Tyler: How many feet does Angie have?
Matthew: One, two, three, six, seven, eight, nine!
Tyler: How many tails does Angie have?
Matthew: Just one.
Tyler: How big is Angie the dinosaur?
Matthew: Four and a half.
Tyler: Feet or miles?
Matthew: Miles.
(Matthew exits, stage right. Tyler finishes up with changing Annika, puts her down in her pack-n-play and exits)
My favorite quote:
No community is best-served when only the elite have control.
Update: JJ Abrams is the creator of the TV series “Lost”, among other projects. The conference he is speaking at, TED, which is a conference focused on bring together the best and brightest of Technology, Entertainment and Design to see what they think and are working on.
I took Matthew to his 3 year well visit today. He is a healthy little boy and we are so thankful. He loves his Dr. Clark and really got into the whole exam, including a hearing and vision screening. One issue that Dr. Clark and I talked about was the use of his pacifier and that Matthew was planning to leave his ‘paffers’ for Santa to give to the babies. His paffers have always been very important to him. He only uses them at nap and bedtime, and has had this limitation for a long, long time. But he has had several paffers in bed with him for the past 2+ years, one for each hand and one for his mouth.
We were not about to rip his only security object away prior to Annika’s birth, and life has settled to a point where we thought Christmas would be a good time to say good bye to the paffer. Tonight he annouced before his bath that he didn’t need his paffers anymore. He wanted them gone today. We asked him if he was sure, and he said he was. After he was ready for bed, we put all the paffers in a bag and he threw the bag down the stairs. There is a new toy waiting under the tree for him tomorrow morning.
He had some difficulty getting to sleep. We put Annika down in our room, and Matthew took almost 3 hours to fall asleep. At one point, he was calling my name and I was sure he was going to ask for the paffers back. But when I got in his room, he wanted to give me another paffer that he found in his bed. He said I had to put it in the special bag for Santa. No problem, little buddy. Later, I went back in to snuggle him and he was talking about what he wanted Santa to leave him. He has decided that he wants a chainsaw to cut down trees. He told me that he will wear saftety goggles and work gloves and cut down the trees. He is insistent that it should be ‘bigger, bigger, bigger than Boppa George’s’. What a funny little man.
The little guy turned 3 yesterday and we had a fun-filled weekend celebrating. Cousins, aunt and uncle, and grandparents came from the Northland to join us, as well as being surrounded by the rest of the family and a few friends on Saturday night for a party. This year was so fun, he really “got it”. We talked about his birthday for several weeks leading up to it, I attempted to do a paper chain to count down the days with him. Making it was tons of fun, but then he didn’t want me to rip the days off and wreck it. So the concept of counting down was not something I could teach him this time.
There are a few moments that stand out in my mind from the weekend. The first is the look on his face when he saw his cake and had 20+ people singing to him. It was so pure glee, so precious. The second is when he woke up from his nap to come downstairs for his party on Saturday. There were several people already there and I had hung up a ‘Happy Birthday’ banner while he was napping. He came down and asked what it said. His paternal grandpa told him, tounge in cheek, that it said “Congratulations, Boppa.” Let’s just say it took us a while to convince Matthew that the party was for him and not Boppa. The third thing I did not experience in person, but was told by Tyler. Apparently as he was drifting off to sleep after his party, he was yelling ‘Happy Birthday’ in his room. I think he had a good time.
Yesterday he was playing with a lego set that his cousins picked out for him. It’s a farm scene and there is a male and female character. He told Tyler that they were named Andrew and Lisa (my cousin and his wife.) The funny part is that he insists that with his lego characters, Andrew is Lisa’s dad.
“Does Jesus have a shadow?”
“Is Jesus a girl?”
“Does Jesus have a beard?”
Today I dropped by the Apple Store at the Mall of America in Bloomington. I had the power brick for my MacBook Pro laptop with me. The point where the cord going to the computer comes out of the brick was coming apart and fraying a bit. I had read a while back that there might be a recall or exchange, but I wasn’t sure.
I was greeted just inside the door by an Apple Store employee. I showed him the power brick, and said I thought I had remembered a recall. He said there wasn’t actually a recall, but he would take care of it. He walked over to the sales counter, asked for a new power brick, opened up the package, and handed me the replacement part. No muss, no fuss, etc.
There are some remarkable things about this:
Apple may have an up-front premium, although I can demonstrate that this is more urban legend than absolute truth. However, I would be willing to pay such a premium for the fantastic service and treatment I get as an Apple customer.
Matthew says the darndest things. Some things need more explanation than others.
“Do you want to nuggle me in my cozy big boy bed?”
Translation: Do you want to snuggle me in my cozy big boy bed?
“I meed Daddy’s hooker.”
Translation: I would like to play with daddy’s cell phone charger. I will use it as a gas pump for my matchbox car.
Last Saturday morning, I was changing Annika’s diaper, and Matthew came bounding up. We had a little conversation like this.
Daddy: Did you sleep well Matthew?
Matthew: Yes.
D: Did you have any dreams?
M: Yes.
D: What did you dream about?
M: Mommy!
