Summer in Full Swing

Playgrounds, T-ball, the Pool, car washing, slip and slide, garage sales, Grandma Days, Sports Camp, tennis lessons, flip flops, Jake & Ryan, a new bike, mosquito bites, sun screen, a swim shirt, humidity, air conditioning, shirtless, BBQing, sprinklers, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, later bedtime, sleeping in......

The Lego Chapter has Begun

Declan has been obsessed with Thomas the Train since he was two. He owns almost every toy ever made for the series and you'd think at some point he's going to tire of it, but not yet. His attention, however, has been slightly detracted by his new discovery of (regular size) legos. He's currently collecting what I refer to as the "George Lucas" collection - Star Wars and Indiana Jones legos - which he will sit for hours assembling, dilligently reading the sometimes 50+ pages of instructions. I wonder how long it will be before his male genes kick in and he stops following or even glancing at the instructions and starts ending up with "leftover" parts......;)

Sadness

I got an email from a friend today who knows someone that needs to find a new home for her two dogs. They are moving and cannot bring the dogs with.

This is not fathomable to me. I'd sooner give up the job and live in poverty than give up part of my family. The therapy bills and constant angst I'd be in wondering if they were ok would sink me financially and put me in the grave anyhow.

Good luck Cookie and Coco....I wish I could give you a home.

Shaving??

For his 6th birthday, Declan got a Thomas the Train Shaving Kit....complete with shampoo, "shaving cream" foam soap and a little water squirting "shaver".  Toys are so different than when we were kids. *sigh*  Oddly and a bit disturbingly, he did not require much instruction in methods.  Six going on twenty six.  No mom is ready for this!!

New Year, Less Time

SO very busy these days - have been awful about posting, but must make effort to at least get on a couple times a month and update, at least with pictures.

Declan is growing out of his clothes faster than I can buy them.  I was told this would happen but I was in denial more about the effect it would have on my pocketbook!

This year is already the year of "Change" - not just thanks to President Obama, but in our lives as well.  Going to be a very good one!!!  We're already off to a great start.   Declan turns six this month.  He loves school, is very into Karate, will be starting baseball in the spring, and first grade in the fall.  And thanks to my new business, I will be able to watch it all up close.  It's happening all much too fast....the cliche is truth.

The Haircut

While I have always been appalled at the mothers who let their little boys hair grow into a mini-pony tale, like an extreme version of the mullet, I too am guilty of avoiding the haircut. I like "little boy" hair - the kind you can tossle, the kind that softens the face. Declan's father, however, thinks a buzz cut is the only way to go. I have since put my foot down here - I cannot stand a buzz but on Declan because since he has a huge noggin, he looks like a big mean bully with his hair shaved. The boy needs bangs.

However, if Declan had his way, he'd be bald. I asked him how he's like his hair cut. The response? "Gone." Hmmf.

So we compromised. Here is a close cut haircut with still a little bangs in the front for mom to play with, regardless of how annoying it is to him. ;)

This is also Declan playing his Star Wars Lego Game...which he would play morning, noon and night if I'd let him. I think this was the age Uncle John became obsessed with Star Wars. It seems to run in the family.

First Day of School

Here are the Three Musketeers off to their first day of Kindergarten. Declan, Ryan and Jake....our little Bermuda Triangle!!! Something tells me we will look back on this picture in fifteen years and say that this picture foretold the future in many ways.

You know how you're afraid they might be afraid....and plan all the ways to make the transition for them as smooth and comfortable as possible? You think of every cliche thing to say, you pack special treats in their bag, the bag you picked out special to surprise them with for their first day at school. And then they completely forget you are even there, too busy, excited and wrapped up in the adventure and they run off to the bus almost forgetting even to kiss you goodbye. Yeah. That was today. Didn't even hear me calling his name.......*sigh* Have a wonderful first day, my growing-up-too-fast big boy!!!

Me and my guy.

Wear Does The Time Go?

Declan starts Kindergarten in two weeks. I vaguely remember the picture of me on my first day - I was so tiny...and wearing hideous brown seventies clothes with red shoes and I think yellow socks. No, Mom, I won't ever let you live the fashion choices down...unless you cop to doing drugs, because there simply cannot be any other viable excuse. I was forever ridiculed in grade school for the way I looked. It took me until high school to finally shake the stigma, and it helped I was able to finally buy my own clothes. But the memory of the insecurity based on appearance in school has always stayed with me. So today, I was shopping for 1st Day of School clothes....this, after taking him for a haircut and breathing down the stylists' neck so she would not do anything to screw up the perfected coiffed head I envisioned. It's ironic and odd tho, that I am more obsessed with dressing my son in the most non-potentially nerdifiying clothes as possible while I roam the aisles with no makeup and my hair wound in a blue scunchie, wearing a Playboy Club Las Vegas pink t-shirt and grey flannel sweatpants that are too big for me. Perhaps I've already conceded that I'm a lost cause in any case that doesn't require formal attire, or maybe it's just that I don't expect to see anyone at Target at 8:30am on a Sunday morning. Either way, I am obsessed with my son's wardrobe choices. While I want him to develop his own sense of style....or, in all honestly, develop his own sense of CLASSIC style....no saggy ass pants crotches, no "Kill, Hate, Death" tee-shirts, and most importantly....the desire to shower regularly. It slightly horrifies me that he loves to pull his socks up to his knees - I love Erckle to death, but I don't want to be his mom. I am (not so) embarrassed to admit I actually by him ankle socks now so he physically can't pull them that high. I know, he's five. But I also know I'm going to blink, and he'll be taller than I am and asking for the car keys. Perhaps I am convinced that as long as he's dressed the part, he'll have a better chance of living it....

Ah, the manipulations of a parent. Likely futile, but never ending......

Kicking Myself.....

This past week, Declan got his gold stripe belt in karate...until he turns seven, his belt levels consist of a number of striped colors....so proud!!

He's been taking karate at his daycare (sponsored by National Karate) since he was three. His teacher, Ms. Langley, has said that ever since he was three, his concentration level was mind blowing - and she's thrilled that now he's entering kindergarten, he's going to begin classes at the National Karate dojo near our house.

I was all very excited about this until we went to the school for him to get tested for his new belt, and I saw a class of 6 year olds, in full body pads, sparring and kicking the f*ck out of each other with serious pleasure....and they all come walking out of class, sweaty and breathing hard, ripping off their face masks and spitting out their mouth guards like a S.W.A.T. training session just ended....and half of them are cute sweet little girls....
What did I get myself into here?

The Shape of Things

Today's Backseat Commentary, by Declan J. Foley:

"I love circles, I love ovals, I love squares and I love rectangles, but I really hate pentagons."