Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Sticks and Stones

No matter how much I try to ignore it, Palmer is more and more obsessed with weapons each day.  I try to pretend I can't hear him when he tells me he is "shooting the bad guys", but it's getting harder and harder.

All sticks=some sort of sword or weapon.  I am ever-trying to throw sticks over the back fence into the alley, but I swear the trees overhead in my backyard are against my efforts and keep gifting Palmer with more branches for his imagination. 

Palmer's buddy Charlie had an "army guy" birthday party and Palmer was so so excited to participate in the camo and military activities.

I am currently struggling with how to have good boundaries with this inevitable passage of boy-hood.  At the moment, I am working on "don't shoot at people" and "the trees outside are the bad guys".  

But, I am clearly outside of my territory here...

-Bethany

Karate

A new karate gym opened near our house and advertised two free trial classes and a free uniform to children who were willing to try it out.  Little did I know that we would in fact have FIVE free trial classes and a little boy who just loves karate and begged to sign up.

I was already looking for an activity in which to enroll Palmer and in the process of previewing various gymnastics gyms when we came across the new karate place.

I don't know much about karate and was clueless as we went to our first trial session.  What I am learning is that karate is very focused on self-control and discipline.  Some might say that I run a tight ship around this house, so I am loving the strictness of this extracurricular activity.

The free trials are not just for the family to try out karate, but also for the karate studio to make sure that the child is a good fit where he is placed.  Because the emphasis is on self-control and listening to commands/rules, it is important that the child isn't disruptive to the flow of the rest of the class.

After two private trials and three group trials (one of which was in a class that was too old for three-year-olds), Palmer was finally "allowed" to sign up.  (I mean, this place is genius.  By the fifth class, we were practically begging them to accept our son and take our money.  Great business strategy!)

Nevertheless, Palmer adores karate.  He loves the kicking and punching and games as any crazy three-year-old would.  We love that he has to focus in an active environment and think the controlled structure is ideal for a kid like Palmer.

We are so proud that Palmer already earned his white belt for saying the "7 magic words: please, thank you, yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am, and you're welcome".

He also was very proud to earn a blue stripe on his white belt last week for being a good listener in class!

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Me and My Boy

I'm getting a little weepy about my last days with just one child.  I'm excited about having a little girl and about Palmer having a sister, but I'm still sad that our special days of 100% one-on-one time are nearing an end.

Recently, a friend suggested I try to plan a special "Mommy and Palmer Day" before our baby girl arrives.  I've been wanting to take Palmer to the drive-thru Texas safari, Fossil Rim, for some time and when we couldn't coordinate a date with friends and I realized that precious time is running out, I decided to go spur-of-the-moment.

Although I was a little nervous to drive 1.5 hours away from town (in case of labor), I did make a mental note of several small-town hospitals on the way to our destination.

First stop: Dairy Queen, also known as "Texas' Small Town Stop Sign".  Palmer LOVED his Dilly Bar ice cream treat.  (What Texas kid doesn't have fond childhood memories of a Dilly bar??)

I'm not sure if Palmer was more excited about seeing the animals or sitting in the front seat of the car!  We picked up a big bag of animal feed to entice the animals to our car windows.

Palmer kept yelling out the windows, "Heeeey, animals!!! I have food for you!!!!!"

However, when we had friends like the one below come and actually visit us, he was a little terrified.  

"Mom!! Save me! Save me!" Palmer was especially squeemish about a very large and ugly bird putting his head thru my window.  "Mom!  Drive away! Drive away!"  It reminds me of the last time I visited Fossil Rim when I was about 10 yrs old and got bit by an ostrich thru the car window.

One happy boy with his head out the window:

We loved the giraffes and Palmer was totally impressed/scared out of his mind when I fed the giraffes out of my hand.  "Mom!! Are they biting you??"

I'm so glad we took the risk and made the drive out to Fossil Rim.  It was such a fun day and Palmer had many tales to tell Rick when we got home.  Meanwhile, no baby over here (although I am going to see my chiropractor in a little while and may have her sneak in some of her labor-inducing acupuncture tricks!)

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

The Boys vs. The Girls

Maybe it's my fault.  I'm the one who had our newborn photographer pose Palmer in front of a "No Girls Allowed" sign when he was ten days old.  And I'm the one who hung the said sign above his bedroom door.

But, never did I expect such gender rivalry out of my three year old.  All I can say is, "Thank goodness we are about to have a girl in our family."

Palmer's testosterone is surging at the moment.  Every possible scenario turns into, "Mommy, the boys (that would be Rick and Palmer) can do this and the girls can't."

Every. Possible. Scenario.

For example, I made up a batch of cookies last night.  I put the cookies into the oven.  I took the cookies out to cool.  Palmer sees the finished product and says, "Are these for the boys, mom?"  No, little kid.  These are for me.  And maybe I'll share.

Or the one day when Palmer told me that Porsches are for boys because there are only two seats: one for daddy and one for Palmer.

Or the day when we got a trampoline and Palmer said that "the boys can jump on the trampoline because they don't have babies in their bellies".  (That's actually good rationale, dang it.)


Or the day when Palmer declared that cereal/go-carts/race cars/ice cream/ball caps are only for the boys.

You get the point.  And the problem is: the sole girl in the family isn't that fun right now.  I'm physically limited and probably a little cranky at the end of the pregnancy.  So, the little guy actually has a point because I probably actually can't do a lot of the things he is talking about.

Sigh.

-Bethany