People are creatures of habit, and children are no exception. Some kids suck their thumbs, some kids pick their noses, any even before he turned one Kyle has played with his belly button (or as Emily calls it, his booly). When he was younger he used to only do it when he was falling asleep, or just waking up. We would be holding him, or carrying him to bed and he would tuck his little arms between our bodies and rub his booly. Travis used to make him stop, saying that if Kyle continued to play with his belly button that we would end up with (gasp) an outie, (giggle), but I thought it was an endearing habit and was content to let him play as he might. As he got older, the habit stayed with him but over the past year or so you will find him absently minded rubbing his tummy and for lack of a better description he has developed a little bit of a callous over his booly.
Kyle picks when he is watching t.v., when he laying in bed, when he is standing in line, when he is waiting his turn to kick the soccer ball, when he is watching Emily open her birthday presents
Let's just say he pretty much has he has just become a compulsive booly picker. The booly picking has become so compulsive in fact, that I have decided that perhaps Travis is right, and this isn't a cute little habit that I can just ignore. Not that I am afraid of him having an outie belly button, mind you, but more out of fear that he will develop something akin to that weird looking cauliflower ear that many wrestlers develop. Not that I have ever heard of cauliflower booly, but there's always a first time.
My first line of attack at Operation End Booly Picking was a huge fail. Who knew that the repetitious nag of "stop picking your belly, Kyle" would be so ineffective?
My next attempt? The age old parent trick - threatening bodily harm. First I covered up the temptation with a huge Bandid....
and then I told Kyle that if he didn't stop picking his booly that I would have to take him to the Doctor who would probably decide to cut his booly off.....
The result? Kyle immediately teared up, crying "but then I won't have a tummy any more!" It was one of those situations that made me want to laugh and repent all at the same time, but I stuck my ground and stuck to my story.
The end result?
Kyle still picks his booly, but I haven't had the heart to make that booly removal appointment yet.
Somehow Emily got to celebrate her birthday 3 times this month. There was her actual birthday when we went out for ice cream
There was the family evening where she got most of her presents and a lemon-raspberry cake (which she totally asked for, btw)
And of course, the big Batman-Tinkerbell Extravaganza. Having two young kids with birthdays that are less than 2 weeks apart
presents a unique challenge ~ how to celebrate each itty bitty without
overdosing on cake and overwhelming family and friends with too many
parties too close together. I figured that while the bigger itty bitties
were still young that we could get away with having one big family
party, which worked brilliantly last year. Now that Kyle has been in
preschool for a year I decided he could invite some of his friends this
year. When I started planning the party I asked Kyle who he would like
to invite and he named a handful of boys from his class. When I asked if
he was going to invite a couple of the girls that he has mentioned in
the past he emphatically declared "no, Mama, NO wittle girls allowed!" In the
end he did gracefully concede to allowing some girls like Emily, Brina,
and his friend Addison to come. We ended up inviting 7 of his classmates
(all boys). We reserved a park shelter close to a playground that would
be fun for the toddlers and the bigger kids, since this seemed the
easiest way to entertain a herd of 4 and 5 year old tornadoes. Luck was
not to be on my side, however, and the weather went from unseasonably
warm and sunny to cold and rainy the day of the party.
The
weather was not the only party related disaster, oh no. The previous
two years have produced cakes and cupcakes that were a "bit" on the dry
side. And this year? What happens when I go into panic mode and attempt to make
cupcakes without cupcake pans (because I forgot to borrow them from my
MIL)? Cupcake blobs.
We all know how
brutally mean honest kids can be, and since I didn't feel like being reduced
to tears by a bunch of 2-5 year olds, I put out an SOS to Nana and Grannie. Luckily Nana rushed over with her pans and stayed to help me
re-make the batch, and we ended up with more kid-friendly cakes.
When I woke up this morning and realized that instead of the perfect party where all the kids could eat as much cake and ice cream as they wanted and run off their sugar highs in a wide open park was instead going to turn into a OMG-what-am-I-going-to-do-with-all-of-these-kids-in-my-house party, I admit that I had a few moments of panic.
In the end the day was full of fun and laughter, no major injuries to report, and Travis even overhead one of Ky's buddies proclaim that "this was the best party ever!" I can speculate that this sentiment was brought out by any combination of the following scenarios that occurred in my basement today:
the fact that Travis lets Kyle play all manner of sports in the house
the game dodge ball using my exercise ball that is bigger than most of them
the wrestling match that broke out downstairs
the discovery of the dart board
Lord only knows what else
In addition to the general chaos that naturally follows a group of 4 and 5 year old boys, we had a feminine touch to festivities as well in the form of a houseful of fairy princesses
Happy birthday my littles, today you were surrounded by family and friends that love you almost as much as I do!
P.S. evidence why I won't be doing another Kyle-Emily party combo.
Doesn't look to bad, you say? Well this is only the upstairs. I was
spared the after math in the basement by my amazing MIL who cleaned up
while I tried to get an overstimulated Grayson to sleep!
At least once a week you and I have a discussion about how big you are getting. It usually consists of me holding you in a bear hug and begging you to stay little. Usually you laugh and says "No, mama, I want to be big, big, big, big!" On occasion you will agree to never get too big to snuggle with me. But every once in a while maybe you share in my melancholy at how you used to fit so nicely in my lap and how you could snuggle up into a little ball in my arms because you'll say, "ok, mama, I will stay wittle".
While so many things have changed since we spent our days like this, thankfully somethings have stayed the same. You still love smoochers and giving me a huge squish and a squeeze, cuddling and doing what your daddy and I do.
You are my best helper, and will readily jump in to help out with the dishes or sweeping. Emily is not fond of picking up her toys, and many times you will run around cleaning up after your little sister.
You are a fabulous big brother and have accepted Grayson into your life
just as easily as you did Emily.
I love how you were so willing to share all of your favorite "tings" with Emily when she was a baby,
and now with Grayson
Your amazing balance and coordination combined with your sense of fearlessness have kept me on my toes at times, and your sense of adventure will surely bring me some moments of fear. For now you are content to climb whatever you can whenever you can.
Within 5 minutes of first learning how to use the motorized 4 wheeler we got for your birthday, you were already switching it into high gear and trying something new; standing up
Without question I know that the trepidation I felt when your dad enabled the faster speed on the 4 wheeler is nothing compared to what I will feel in the future when you discover things like hockey or football, dirt bikes or motorcycles, and Heaven help me when you are ready to start driving a real car, or when you begin dating.....
The past year has brought many new and exciting changes to your life as well.You started preschool this year, and while I know this might change in the future, you have adored your time at school. You have learned how to write your name,
made new friends, and explored musical theater and had a starring role as a camel in the Christmas program.
Thomas the Train has been replaced by Batman as your new favorite obsession
All traces of the chubby cheeked toddler have disappeared
leaving a handsome young man with a quick and easy smile and a contagious laugh.
Happy 4th Birthday Kyle James. You have given the last 4 years more meaning than I could have ever imagined and more memories than I can count. You will always be my baby boy.
Kyle loves going to preschool 3 times a week. According to his teacher, Miss Nola, he is nothing short of brilliant. Ok, my words, not hers, but she does say that he is a great little student and a whiz at learning his letters. Tonight he wrote his name for the first time all by himself, and the look on his face says it all!
Emily wanted in on the action too, she's his biggest cheerleader!
All the other marks on the page? Apparently he's developing his own written language. Pure genius, I tell ya!
A weekend in Minot to celebrate Sam and Steph getting married.We had lots of fun, and only a few additional gray hairs by the end of the weekend. We decided to make a full weekend out of the trip so that we could take the kids swimming at the hotel pool. Kyle absolutely loved it.
If you cover Travis up in this picture it looks like Kyle has
super long, hairy legs hee hee. Go ahead, try it.
Emily enjoyed the pool for a while, but then she was all about practicing for a future career as a swimsuit model
Hoping the fun and excitement from the trip and new adventure in the pool would wear the kids out so that they would go to sleep at a decent hour ~ wishful thinking. One hotel room + two beds + one pack and play + two tired adults hoping two excited kids would be asleep by 9:30 = epic fail.
Here are a couple of photos from budding photographer, Kyle Livesay. You'll notice the unique perspective he presents with his photojournalistic style. With that I present to you "Wedding in a Small Norwegian Church: A 3 Year Old's Perspective".
We made it through less than 1/3 of the ceremony before the itty bitties decided that it was time to head outside. When the wedding was over we tried to get some family shots. I have resigned myself to the fact that family photos will not be fantastic for the next couple of years as evidenced by the lack of success in capturing one picture in which all of us are looking in the same direction, smiling, at the same time. These are the two best options for this year's picture. I have decided that kids are just cute when they are little, so as long as Travis and I look good, we'll go with it.
The reception was a lot of fun. Kyle made friends with the flower girl and for lack of a better word, he pretty much stalked her all night. To the point of following her into the girl's room. Multiple times. The kids danced, Emily played with cups, and Kyle discovered how much fun standing right in front of the speakers could really be.
Kyle has joined the world of big time athletes! The YMCA offers sports programs for kids 3-5 years old and this month Kyle is exploring a future career as a soccer player or a baseball player. The life lessons I learned from this experience include:
1. Even if your Daddy and Papa are both well over 6' tall, at 3 years old you still may be one of the smallest kids on the team
2. While Kyle may have unbelievable coordination and balance for his age, some other skills have much room for improvement ie: standing in line, waiting his turn (I think the coaches had to draw straws every session to see who needed to keep one hand on Kyle at all times to keep him semi restrained attentive)
3. It is possible for a child to "do their own thing" and not really interfere with any one else's fun
4. Teen age girl coaches take their jobs much more seriously than teen age boy coaches. I feel comfortable stating this as pure fact due to many (ok, mainly 2) factors. Firstly, I was a teen age girl who worked with teen age boys. And lastly, in typical teen boy fashion, 2 of the coaches not only laughed at Kyle as took laps around the gym kicking a soccer ball/running the bases while the other kids patiently waited their turns, they gave him high 5s and threw/kicked the ball back to him 95% of the time. While I failed to catch the instigators in the act, I'll leave this picture up to your interpretation.
5. If your child is small, but super fast, takes 10 turns at hitting/kicking/throwing the ball/running the bases for every one turn the rest of the kids take, and super-cute, all 5 teen aged coaches will remember his name after the first practice.
6. Kyle's belly button either contains magical powers, or else is the residing place of the little elf that told him to run like a wild man
At first Miss Em was not impressed with the talent displayed by this particular group of preschoolers
However after a reminder that many of these athletes were just learning the basics of the sport, she quickly turned from critic to cheerleader
The one thing I can say about Kyle is that when he plays, he gives it all he's got. Ever since he learned that running was fun, even if it is just a 3 foot sprint to get the cheerio off the floor before Emily, he has run like this:
Arms pumping, knees high and almost always with a face of pure determination!
Here is a video clip in which Kyle and his accomplices demonstrate pretty much everything mentioned above and encompasses the Spring Session 2011 of Itty Bitty Sports for little Kyle:
In the end fun was had by all. We'll see if Kyle gets to break in a whole new set of coaches next Spring.
