Our Big Friday

Friday was a big day.  The plan was to do Danny's makeup Speech and Language screening at 9:30, then go over to Henry D's house (Henry D, who has the big Buzz Lightyear with the belt and button) afterwards.  This prospect was very, very exciting - exciting enough to entice Danny into normal clothes without much of a fight, and off we went.

The screening was fine, and as we got in the car to head over to see Henry D with the big Buzz Lightyear with the belt and button, we got some bad news:  Henry D had fallen ill at the last minute, and the playdate was canceled.  This caused enormous grief for Danny - not really because of his love for Henry D, oh no.  Because he wanted to play with the bigBuzzLightyearwiththebeltandbutton, duh.

Many tears were shed.  However, we decided quickly that all was not lost, and we would go instead to the really cool playground up the way.  This place is literally the absolute latest in playground technology - seriously.  You get the feeling every single height, surface, and apparatus has been analyzed to fully minimize injury potential.  The big slide is made up of little rollers so you can't get stuck, and the bigger you are, the faster you go down (actually flipping terrifying as an adult, lemme tell ya).  There is a hill that I call the "Lord of the Flies" hill - made of phony grass - where all the kids scramble to get to the top and then nail each other in the face with their sneakers on the way down.  Needless to say, it's the hot spot of the park.  On top of all this there is a huge sand pit and a crazy, crazy complicated and varied climbing apparatus thing that has everything.  It's a cool spot - and best of all, it's entirely fenced in.

So we changed course and headed over.  But since it was Veteran's Day, every other single family on the West Side of Los Angeles decided the same thing - it was a madhouse.  Danny headed straight for the Lord of the Flies hill, and within 3 minutes had his shoes off and was eating half of some cute little ladybug-booted girl's granola bar.  Then he was playing light sabers with a bossy little kid, but he was holding his own, so I stayed away.  I had no choice, really, since Matty was climbing right up the stairs and running along the ramp to the big slide yelling "THERE IT IS!!  THERE'S THE SLIDE!"  And "Whee!" - ing it up the whole way down this thing that's about a year past where he should be physically.  He was 4 inches shorter than anybody else on that thing.  The craziest part was that he can climb the snake all by himself.  He really shouldn't be able to do this, but he can, so me standing back with a camera looks pretty negligent, and got me a horrified stare or two.  Of course, the one time I try to film it, he stops short.  Oh well, you'll just have to trust me.

Shortly after this video was taken, Danny announced that he'd peed his pants, and we needed to go home.  Frankly, I was exhausted, so it was kind of a win-win.  We ran to the car, where he climbed right in and took off all of his clothes.  Well, there you go.   Most amused/surprised by this sight was Matty, who promptly yelled out "BA-BEE, BUTT BUTT BUTT!"  (This is Matt's version of our "naked baby" song that we sing when he careens naked around the house after a bath.)  I threw Danny my beautiful South East Asian scarf from Mom (thanks Mom!), which he used as a modesty drape as we went through the In-and-Out line.  Ha! 

Here they are having their well-deserved picnic (with fresh clothes for Danny.)  After this, both kids slept for about 2 hours.  Not a bad Veteran's Day, after all.

Haircuts!

Few More Halloween Pics

Here's Buzz getting ready...

Buzz on the floor after he breaks his arm trying to fly...

Here are the guys before we left for trick-or-treating.  Our camera is not working, so these are fuzzy.  It breaks my heart.  But you get the idea.

Here's everybody just before they left (the pea pod stayed back to hand out candy)...

The Bragging Post (Apologies to Non-Family Members)

So this is really for posterity, but it might come across just like outright bragging, so if you're not directly related to Danny, please skip or be forewarned.

Danny had his very first parent-teacher conference yesterday (or we did?) and it was a rousing success.  "Delightful" was the word used over and over.  They said he was extremely bright (picks up and assimilates information extremely well), happy to help and pick up after himself, very kind and a very considerate friend (kissed the teacher's hand when she had a boo-boo!), enthusiastic about everything they do and full of life.  

He likes "playing on the rug" (who knew this was a thing, but I guess it is) with Magna-tiles, trucks, and cars; cooking (they found this kind of charmingly unexpected, but we all know that this makes perfect sense); dancing to music and physical movement; playing outside on the deck with the other boys and the outside trucks; and jumping off hay bales, ha.  His favorite thing is clay and 3D building, which he proved today when he built this "napping place" for the big Speed and Mater, complete with roof, oil cans inside to sip on, and the smaller, "little brother Mater":

He's not such a fan of drawing, coloring, or the art table, which is my experience at home too, and truly, a tragedy for going out to dinner.

His best friends are Ryan, Henry D, and Samia.  Apparently Samia has quite a thing for Danny, so much so that Danny said to the teacher, "Why does she keep looking at me?"  And one time, she flopped to the ground and said, "Danny, help me!!"  His response:  "First you help me, then I'll help you."  Aunt Julia and I told him that Buzz Lightyear would probably have saved Samia, to which he laughed.  But I do have to appreciate his modern, feminist attitude.

The only small note was that he's a little timid physically sometimes, and they recommended we get him a trike, which we're going to do this week.  I told them with a chuckle that neither David nor I were the star athlete of our high school (although Dave was much better than I), so he may just be genetically unlucky in that area.  But we'll continue to try different things with him and encourage him where we can.  He's really fine, it doesn't seem to get in his way, but we can try to help him be as confident as possible.

But you know me, I'm such a worrier, and it was great.  So wonderful to hear how your child is in the world.  I've always said, all I want is for him to be kind.  He certainly can be a brat at home sometimes (can I get an amen Lala?), but to the world, apparently, he is extremely thoughtful and sweet.  I couldn't be prouder.

Halloween 2011 Video

Going Trick-or-Treating is obviously so much better when you can go with a buddy. And perhaps there's no better choice than Danny's buddy Shane who is just a bottle full of enthusiasm and energy and sweetness. Dan, of course, was excited to be Buzz Lightyear and Shane just loves Spiderman and will make sure that you like Spiderman, too. The two of them had a blast. They wanted to go to every house (whether lights were on or not) and waited patiently for the slower Matt to catch up (Shane was quick to correct that Matt was not "Yoda" as everyone was calling him, but, rather, his name is "Matty"). Matt's bucket was so heavy (to him) that he started to walk a little lopsided to counterbalance the weight of the candy. He wouldn't let me carry his bucket, he wanted to carry it himself. He also wanted to walk himself, only allowing me to carry him when we had to pick up the pace and catch up to Dan and Matt.

In these videos, the giggling you hear is from Patrick (Shane's dad) who would also help Matt get up and down any steps since I was filming everything. Towards the end of the night, Matt was even saying "thank you" and knocking on doors (usually when the homeowner was sitting on the porch and there was no need to knock on the door, therefore, Dan and Shane were not at the door themselves knocking on it).

I told Mary that she has to go with them next year because the excitement has to be witnessed. Danny and Shane would, between houses, hold their buckets up to their faces and inhale deeply and announced how good the candy smelled.

When we got back to Shane's house, the boys checked out their loot. The parents opted to weed out some of the lesser candy and re-gift it, so to speak, to anyone who came to the door. They were out well past their bedtime and didn't sleep on the way house, probably because they were all hopped up on sugar.

In case you're wondering, Danny's favorite candy is lollipops. Matt has no favorite but will take 5 minutes eating whatever it is that you hand him.

I Did It!

He worked on this for hours - talk about a lucky shot - I was only filming to catch Matty's reaction.