Shadow

Connor had to go back home yesterday. His entire visit here Bohdin was his shadow. Bohdin hardly left his side. I'm surprised Connor was able to go to the bathroom by himself. As soon as Bohdin woke in the morning he dressed to go upstairs to Connor's room. He wouldn't go to bed until Connor was going to bed. I'm not sure of everything they did in that time. They played outside a little bit. I think they set up track. They watched some tv. Nyla was a little left out during this time. Bohdin told Connor to slow down a few times and even that was much too fast for Nyla to keep up. Bohdin had a long nap yesterday afternoon to make up for all of his lost sleep the past few days. Eleven year olds don't need as much sleep as four year olds. When he woke up it was almost time for daddy to arrive. We'll see Connor again tomorrow. I was impressed by his patience with Bohdin. It's not fun to have a younger tag along at that age.

Last night I noticed a large scratch and several smaller scratches on the coffee table upstairs. Next to the biggest scratch was a screw. That's where Bohdin and Connor had been spending most of their time. I asked Bohdin what happened. He said it had been scraped. I asked what could make that kind of scrape and he guessed a saw. When I saw the screw I asked if that had been used. He said he didn't think so. I dropped the subject for a few minutes then brought it up again. I wanted to know if Bohdin was responsible for the damage. Bohdin has been lying a bit recently about candy consumption so I can't trust him completely. I told him he would be in even more trouble if I found out he was lying. He said he though he did do it with the screw. We were both crying as we talked about what he did, why it was wrong, and what he would have to do to fix it. We were talking for more than 5 minutes. When Papa came upstairs I thought Bohdin should show him what he had done. Bohdin didn't want to and I pointed it out. It turns out that scratch has been there for a long time. Bohdin did not do it and as soon as Papa said that Bohdin agreed and said he was right. Bohdin said he had been confused. I suppose he only told me what he thought I wanted to hear. It was surprising how easy he could be led to say something that wasn't remotely true.

Texas

Too early this morning we woke up to drive to the airport. Buddy flew to Louisville via Chicago to report to his new job and to close on the house. Later this week he will join the kids and I in Texas. Our airplane was small with only two seats per side. Since Nyla is two that meant one person would have to sit by themselves. Luckily the plane was empty enough that we had an entire aisle. The kids probably would have preferred if I was the one to sit by myself but instead it was Bohdin. That gave each child a window seat. Bohdin took advantage of his by either barely being buckled or being completely unbuckled. It is unfortunate that he is too short to see properly out of the window without sitting on his legs.

I put some Backyardigans songs on Buddy's mp3 player and Bohdin spent a good amount of time just listening to music. He looked so grown up sitting by himself with earphones on. It felt like a long flight even though it wasn't. Nyla eventually settled down to sleep and didn't wake up until it was time to deboard. Everybody thought it was really cute or funny to see her catching a ride on the suitcase. She had to trade off with Bohdin at times because he likes to do it also. That's how she learned to do it in the first place.

Now we are here at Nana and Papa's house with Connor. So far Bohdin is having a fun time with him. We saw Brody, Angie, and Donovon earlier today and will see them again later this week. It's good for Bohdin to spend time with an older male but Nyla gets left out. Hopefully she'll find a way to hang out with them together.

My thing

Last week Nyla was crying for "my thing". I had no idea what she was talking about. Every item I could think of was not it. Eventually she found it. She was referring to a Playmobil teddy bear. She has an orange one and a yellow one. She prefers the orange one and it has been renamed "orange thing" so as not to confuse it with the vastly inferior yellow one. She really likes to hold this tiny thing. She has taken it in the car with her but I make her leave it in the seat when we get out. As soon as she is back in the car it's back in her hand. She even likes to hold it while going to sleep. I wish she had found a larger item to love. She puts the bear down from time to time but will not look for it. She comes to us and insists that we look. It's so tiny though that it could be anywhere. It has disappeared for hours and even now is missing. She's crying right now but I have Bohdin looking for it.



Nyla has started asking why questions. I've already been through this with Bohdin and have no desire to experience it again. I saw a crane while driving and mentioned that I saw one. Nyla asked why. I told Bohdin to answer her questions.
Nyla: "Why?"
Bohdin: "Because she just does."
Nyla: "Why?"
Bohdin: "Because she just does. I already told you that."
Nyla: "Why?"
Bohdin: "Because she just does. Why do you keep saying why?" A few moments later Bohdin sees the crane also and then excitedly says "That's why! There is a crane out there."
Nyla: "Why?"
I had to chuckle listening to the exchange. I still remember Bohdin asking the endless why questions. Now he has at least moved on to more interesting questions like "What would happen if the rain fell up?" "If this bug was as big as the earth would it have to live on Jupiter?"

We've been scouring craigslist for used furniture before we go but it's tough work. Tuesday night I found some Playmobil stuff. We went to pick it up and paid a great price for a small castle and a barn. Bohdin and Nyla have been playing with both. Last night we went to Arlington to pick up a dresser. On the way back we stopped at the Lincoln Memorial. Buddy has never seen the monuments at night so I thought we should stop. Bohdin had not the slightest interest in the historical aspect of it. He has been asking lots of questions about the Revolutionary war so I thought the Washington Memorial would illicit at least some sort of response but that was not the case.

Diaper Free

We slowed way down on the packing this weekend. In fact I don't think one box was completed. There are two reasons for that. We're running out of boxes and packing is boring and tedious. That's part of the reason we started so soon. We have a good start.



I don't know how I forgot to mention that Nyla doesn't want to wear diapers anymore. She has been completely diaper free for over a week now. Prior to that she would wear diapers out of the house usually and at night although she didn't need them then. There has only been one accident so far on the very first day. Since then we've gone out several times and she's done well. I have to ask her often if she needs to pee since she doesn't always tell me. She has also agreed to sit on the potty prior to leaving the house and anytime we are in a public bathroom whether or not she feels like she needs to pee. I'm not thrilled with the timing. We have a lot of travel coming up and I would rather she waited until we moved. Maybe she will let me use diapers sporadically.

Busy

Before we move we want to pick up some used furniture in this much bigger market. It takes a lot of time sifting through all of the listings. It's at least 1000 per day. We've found a few things we've liked so far but as usual with Craigslist it's hit or miss. Some people don't respond. Sometimes we're too late. So far we have only picked one thing up. We're supposed to pick up a coffee table today but the guy is not responding. Maybe he sold it out from under us. Who knows.

Nyla came down with a stuffy/runny nose Wednesday night. By Friday morning it had cleared up so we went to a demo Music Together class. Friday was day 3 of rain and the turnout was pretty poor. In fact we were the only ones there at one time. Neither child seemed to really like the class. Bohdin was bored and Nyla was just fussy. The real reason for going to the class though was to see the musical instruments. I want to get Nyla a drum for Christmas and thought a few other small things might be nice also. We were able to try out everything after class. It was okay but the real winner was the drum. They had the exact one I wanted to get. Bohdin loved it. I liked it also. It's not a huge drum but I think they'll be able to share it. I may look into additional mallets, a bigger drum, or an additional drum. Bohdin also liked the bongos but not as much. They didn't make a rich deep sound like the cool drum.



I haven't been giving Bohdin additional money but since he's been saving for a long time and the Egypt stuff is on sale at ToysRUs right now he was able to afford the two things he's been saving for. He set it up last night and he and Nyla have been playing for hours this morning. I bought a new cd player for the bedroom after the old one had been broken for months. Bohdin doesn't like to play in a quiet room or so he says. Maybe it's just his excuse for having the tv on. We've been listening to a lot of music in the car and luckily my car cd player broke. Now they can still listen to music at home and I have my radio back in the car.

Frisbee

The warm weather continued Monday although by the time we made it outside it was overcast. Bohdin wanted to take the frisbee and we threw it around while Nyla was on the swing. He is getting better at throwing it. His accuracy will surpass mine in no time if it hasn't already. They also went down the slide together again. I think Bohdin has more fun with it than she does. I made dinner upon returning from the playground and could hear the kids playing in the living room. When I went to check I saw Bohdin swinging Nyla way too hard in the baby swing. They were taking turns but Bohdin was too heavy for Nyla to push. It's amazing that thing didn't break. They went on to play some sort of train game where one was the engineer and the other a passenger.





Bohdin helping Nyla with her shoes. He was going to take the sword outside but changed his mind thank goodness.


Yesterday we went to N-'s new house. He moved last week to a nearby town to an actual single family house. It was a foreclosure in rough shape but there is plenty of room and a great backyard. It's not in the best section of Maryland but that is what makes it affordable. As I was taking the tour N-'s mom asked if if was making me excited for moving into my house. It certainly was. They have way more room than they used to have in their townhouse and I knew soon we would also have room to spread out. They boys had a lot of fun playing together. Bohdin's favorite part was playing in a raked up pile of leaves outside. The two of them spent a lot of time kicking, laying, burying, throwing, etc. They also played outside with a digger and watched N-'s dad play video games. He is leaving Sunday for a 5 month school in Florida. That was the best time they've ever had together that wasn't away from a house.

We had to stop at the library to pick up a cd that was on hold for us. Bohdin asked why the library couldn't just mail it. That would be pretty cool.

Packing

We're packing and moving ourselves this time due in part to Buddy's horrible experience with the next computerized system last month. He didn't want to try and schedule another move for us after many many hours trying in October. Buddy and Bohdin picked up boxes in Baltimore Saturday morning and we went to work. Saturday evening I had to stop at the store for more tape and eggs. I couldn't help but notice the difference between my child and the one next to us in line. When we go to the commissary Bohdin helps to unload the basket. This time he also grabbed the full bags and loaded them back into the basket. The girl next to us was sitting in the basket crying. I can't be too smug though since someday I could have one of those also. The girl appeared about three and I'm just a year away from that. I was proud of Bohdin though. He is very helpful and considerate.

The commissary was out of tape so we walked to the PX. They had one roll left so I grabbed it. The lines at the checkout were sort of long so I picked the absolute worst one. The checkout guy was incredibly slow and it appeared there was a problem with each person that went through the line. Bohdin and Nyla looked at the candy and piddled around until it was our turn. After a really long wait it was finally our turn. The cashier told me to wait a moment while he opened a new roll of pennies. Nyla could have opened that pack faster than he did. While he was doing this the previous customer came back and said she had been double charged for an item. He sent her to a manager I guess. The customer returned with the manager (the cashier was still working on those pennies) and they tried to figure out what happened. After at least 5 minutes it turns out that he rang up one item twice and skipped one of the items. She owed the store 24 cents. Now it was finally my turn. The pennies were out of the roll and there didn't seem to be any more surprises. While I was waiting Bohdin and Nyla were playing with a hanger they found on the floor. Each grabbed onto one end and they were pulling each other with it. On the way out I commented to Bohdin that it had taken a really long time. Bohdin didn't mind and said "at least I got to play with Nyla". Soon after we came home I found out that I had left the tape at the store. Bohdin and I went back to retrieve it.




The weather was beautiful yesterday so I took the kids to the playground. It was the busiest I've seen it since last summer. Bohdin only wanted to play with Nyla even though we saw a boy there he had played with before. They went down the slide together with Bohdin wrapping his arms around her neck to start with and then her chest after I corrected him. They also rolled down the hill a few times. They will move on to other friends in time but for now I'm enjoying watching them have so much fun together. It reminds me of me and Paul when we were younger.

Early present

When we were going outside Tuesday we opened the door to see a large package. Bohdin knew immediately that it was playmobil inside because of the symbol on the outside. I put it inside and we went on our way. Due to the size of the box he knew the box contained either the pyramid or the cargo ship. He asked if he could open it early and I said no but since the present was from Nana she could decide yes. He didn't want to ask her on the phone. The subject was dropped until we arrived home. Once again Bohdin wanted to open it but wouldn't call. We talked about sending a letter instead but he only wanted to dictate it instead of writing it. I said no. I put the box on top of the refrigerator while I was making dinner. Bohdin lay on the floor looking up at it while being mopey and sad. After about 15 minutes he sat up and asked if we could email her instead. I said sure but I would need to finish making dinner first. Bohdin was in better spirits at that point and was about to help me with the food processor when Nana called. Bohdin did end up finally asking and she said yes. Bohdin was very excited and very impatient but he was able to wait until pizza was in the oven, he had cleaned the living room a little, and I made room on the camera for pictures. Both the kids seemed excited and they were playing with it as I was assembling it. Bohdin has had a lot of fun playing with it so far. Right now he is waiting patiently for me to play pyramid wth him. It will probably be a rerun of yesterday's play when my robber stole the treasure after some misadventures in the pyramid.






Sunday is when Bohdin usually receives his allowance. This past Sunday I wasn't sure I wanted to give it to him. He had misplaced his money purse and our best guess was that he had left it in the rental minivan. He has been saving since mid September so there was just over $20 in there. Bohdin was sad and I was disappointed. Monday morning after calling the car rental place with no luck I talked to Bohdin about the importance of keeping things in a safe spot. He received five dollars from Nana that day. I told him to put it in a good spot when he arrived home. I was so disappointed to learn later that he was playing with the money and had misplaced it Two misplacement in such a short time was too much for me. I told Bohdin that he was not responsible enough to have an allowance and we would resume it sometime in the future. I'm not sure I made the right decision. Later that night we found the five dollar bill and money purse. Right now they are sitting in my safe keeping.

Nyla copies Bohdin a lot. Last night when both refused to sleep they were sitting on the bed. Bohdin was peeling an apple for a snack and Nyla was butchering one with a butter knife. Bohdin cut himself at one point and said he felt it on his bone. Later Nyla with an imaginary injury came to me saying "Me. Hurt. Bone". She also stole Bohdin's knock knock joke with a punchline of tree come to wash you. Nyla said "Knock. Tree. Wash you! Joke. Funny?".

Nyla had another dentist appointment to take care of the cavity on her molar. It did not go well. The dentist was really patient but when Nyla bit her so hard she almost broke skin it was time to give up. Nyla just did not want to cooperate that day. She wouldn't lay down very long and when she did she wouldn't open her mouth wide enough.

Doggie Knight

At the fabric store a few weeks ago I found some shiny fabric in blue and gold. I bought a little of each thinking I could use it for some sort of costume for Nyla. When Bohdin saw the fabric he liked it and a subsequent return to the fabric store had us buying a lot of the shiny silver fabric because Bohdin wanted to be a knight. His original plan was to have silver pants, a silver top, and silver hat. That would have made him look like the tin man or a burrito. We eventually compromised. Nyla wanted to be a knight as well since Bohdin was a knight. She became a doggie knight and Bohdin was a Saturn castle knight. He chose the decoration for his. I chose the dog for Nyla. They both loved their costumes. Nyla wore her top several times before Halloween. I found it ironic that I had made that pattern for her many times but this shiny dog was the only one she wanted to wear. Bohdin was also excited about his costume.




Bohdin doesn't like talking to strangers and the thought of having to say trick or treat almost made him not want to go. In the end he did go. I refused to say it for him. Well that's not true. Earlier in the week I told him I would say it but he would have to give me a large percentage of his candy as payment. He hated that idea. At the first house he didn't really want to say it but both Buddy and I would not. He said it quietly. After a few houses he was getting the hang of it. I think he was proud of himself. He talked about how it became easier. I was certainly proud of him.



Buddy still has a lingering sickness. Friday night he was coughing so much it seemed he could hardly breathe. He wasn't feeling well Saturday either but after resting the whole day he was able to go out with us trick or treating. I still hear him coughing this morning but it's back to tolerable levels. I don't know what we've had but it's not like anything we've had before.