Yesterday the kids and I went to a kite festival while Austin worked all day. We had a good time and I have pictures to post later. Tucker was a lot more interested in the moon bounces and picnicking than actually watching or flying kites, and we had a fun morning. When Austin arrived home, he asked Tucker what his favorite part of the kite festival was. Immediately Tucker said, "I LOVED the bathrooms!" No discussion of moon bounce or the bubble machine or the new playground or the kites or our picnic--nope, Tucker loved the port-a-potties.
Some other endearing things Tucker has started doing:
*When someone calls, Tucker wants to speak with them, no matter who it is. If it's someone he actually knows, he gets the phone and runs away with it so he can have a long and private conversation.
*Tucker got into a phase recently where he spent a lot of time making snacks. He would get a container and go into the pantry and mix together as many different snacky things as he could find, stir them with a spoon and divide it all up into a bunch of different containers. Ben liked this phase a lot.
*Whenever I ask Tucker what he dreamed about he always replies "making muffins!" and then promptly asks if we can make some.
*Tucker loves mailing letters right now. He has been stealing so many of my envelopes I finally got him some little ones of his own at the dollar store. He stuffs them full of paper and other random things and I'm pretty sure he will find a way to get them into the mailbox.
*When we go on walks and there is no mail, Tucker is so disappointed that we have gotten into a routine of finding a special treasure--usually a stick or a pine cone--to put into the mailbox so it won't be empty. I think our mailman is probably confused. A couple months ago Tucker fervently wanted to paint our mailbox so it could be "beau-T-full" but thankfully seems to have forgotten about this project for the moment.
*Tucker loves getting his own cup of tea in the mornings. He specifies what kind of tea it is. Today he is drinking "Daddy Tea mixed with Big Boy Tea" but sometimes he wants "Mommy Tea" instead.
*Tucker loves investigating his closet and pulling out clothes that I've squirreled away for when he's bigger. He has found some car pajamas and a car sweatshirt, new khakis, new shoes... and each of these things are so much more special since he discovered them. Of course, we never know what he might be wearing when we go into his room after rest time.
*Tucker LOVES the dustbuster and the vacuum. He loves the vacuum's "magic wand" attachment and is on a personal mission with the dustbuster to rid our house of stinkbugs.
Tucker is also in a phase where he has been doing some not-so-endearing things as well. The past couple months have been very challenging for us in terms of discipline. Tucker is focused, reserved, exuberant, cautious... and very strong willed. Recently we have removed almost all of Tucker's toys in the house to get his attention regarding some major behavior things, and I have learned that he is also very resourceful. The toys have been gone for at least a week and a half and although he's noticed, he has had no lack of things to do. Everything that boy puts his hands on--Austin's tools, cooking stuff, Molly's toys, Molly herself, Ben's toys, the dustbuster, the vacuum, cleaning supplies, gardening things, CDs (even without a CD player), his own clothes, the chickens, and especially paper and writing utensils--becomes a toy.
In other news, Ben surprised me this morning with throwing up a good sized piece of gravel/small rock--probably 3/4 of an inch by an inch and a half. He has eaten and thrown up many, many different things but a rock is new. It must've felt like having a pill stuck in his throat, except for the fact it was about 50 times the size and sharp.
