little-bear

The Mission

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 05:25:27 +0100

I love my little bear for so many reasons. One morning this week he was on a mission from the moment he woke up. In his blanket sleeper he marched right downstairs and declared it was time to go outside. It was the first really chilly morning we've had this fall. We got him all cozy in his bright orange puffer vest and his bright blue snow hat. This kept him warm while he rode his bike, hiked around the yard and pulled off and examined tree branches, and pulled apart many expired roses. It looked like he was on his own little tour of the world out there. For a few moments, I remembered what is was like inside the mind of a small child. All is new and fresh. There are things to touch and causes and effects to learn. What an invigorating and intelligent time of life.

Adventures with the boy

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 02:19:35 +0100

Alex watching the hot air balloon fly over our house: "Daddy, let's go in the hot air balloon!" Jeff: "Do you notice how they are up there and we're down here?" Alex: "Let's get the ladder, Daddy!! Get the ladder!"

  "Mom! Let's pump a rock!" (I have NO idea what this means or where it came from, but there it is, folks).‎
   Sitting at his desk looking at a magazine, "Look, Dad, I'm reading!"
  "Hmmmm, where's the zebra?" (pretending not to see it in the book we're reading). "Oh there it is! I found you, Zebra. " -Alexander Jack Newman

The little bear asked, "who's been sleeping in my bed?"

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 05:25:34 +0100

Landmark day. Alex got a twin-sized bed and it was set up this last weekend. He loves being in the big bed. My parents generously got him some big boy furniture. He was very excited to help Grandpa set it up and as he screwed things into place told Grandpa, "I'm helping!"

Tonight as he prayed in a hushed voice I heard him say, "and thanks for Nana and Grandpa, and my bed, and my blanket, and Nana and Grandpa, and my bed, and my blanket." It's been almost a week. Apparently it's really made an impact on him.

The 3 Year Old Dream

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 03:06:10 +0100

There is a certain fascination with large machines that make lots of noise when you're a child that dissipates at some point around early adulthood. My son is amazed by dump trucks, street cleaners, cranes, tractors, fire trucks and motorcycles. As an adult I observe these without much thought. The eyes of a child bring back the wonder of such great machines. It's not uncommon to see Alex run to the window when the trucks arrive. He's especially fortunate to live across the street from a truck that has lights and beeps and makes all sorts of noises. When we see fire trucks while driving or parked we always talk about them.

For his third birthday it seemed appropriate to give him a more up close and personal look at a fire truck and the station where it stays. So we scheduled him for a visit. This was the most exciting 45 minutes for him. He loved seeing the trucks and talking to the captain and other firemen. He was even able to try on a suit and get in the truck. Alex loved his trip so much that every day he's asked to look at pictures and watch videos from his time at the fire station. It was really fun to see him SOOOooooooo excited. Happy birthday big boy!

A Smantering

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 21:04:40 +0100

It's been a couple weeks since I've captured any of Alex's antics. The following is a collection of memorable events.
Alex spent some time running around the house, purposefully falling (and making a crazy screeching noise that sounded like the beginning of a rooster crowing) and then exclaiming, "I'm okay!" Intermittently he stops at Natasha and says, "Oh hi, Tash!"

I banged my knee on the gate at Alex's door and since he saw I was hurt, Alexander bent down and kissed my "boo boo" to make it better. So sweet.

Here is a of how we spent my birthday morning.

I think Alex has seen me take my shoes to a spider too many times. He just found one of his boots and ran over to a beetle...and....well, you know what happens next.

Today Similac is voluntarily recalling some of it's powdered formula for the "remote possibility of the presence of a small common beetle in the product produced in one production area in a single manufacturing facility." Yesterday Alex ate a gigantic beetle.

TODAY:
Alex requested changing out of his clothes to put on his freshly washed blanket sleeper. He promptly declared, "I feel much better," and laid down on the couch :)

An automated solicitor just called. Alex is telling them what's up.

Alex injured his finger on a toy and promptly ran over to have me pray for his finger and then asked me to kiss it. He then exclaimed, "I'm better now."

Ear buds are edible

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:30:35 +0100

Did you know you can eat an ear bud without side effects? My son proved this theory about a week ago.

Normally my ear buds are just lying around on a counter somewhere. Usually our little bear pays them no mind. This day was different. He was playing with them and trying to get them to do things they weren't intended to do. Natasha started crying because she was hungry, so naturally, I went to her. My little man comes around the corner smacking his mouth and looking as if he just chewed something up. And his facial expression was curious and questionable. There was mild guilt and humor in his eyes and look. When I asked him to open his mouth, there was nothing abnormal to see. Then a thought came to me (must be a result of parenting a curious almost 3 year old boy) and I turned around to look at my ear buds (the last item in his hands). One was definitely missing.

The best part: when I looked back at him, he smiled and asked if he could eat the other one. At least I know he's learning some manners.

Glo-stick

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:33:12 +0100

His first encounter with a glo-stick was a sight to behold. We had some left over from a party. I generally save stuff like that (stickers, coloring books, etc) for times when he's bored or needs a distraction. Well he was very distracted by these! I cracked them and wound them up to make a bunch of bracelets. Leading him to the bathroom was the best part because once inside he was in disbelief at what he was seeing. He then spent the next 20 minutes opening and closing the bathroom door to see them glow.

The remainder of the night involved him running from room to room (coat closet, garage, our closet) to spy on his glowing bracelets and calling out, "you can't catch me!" to us, as if we were trying to chase him. He had so much fun. So much that after I put him to bed, I found one of the bracelets and brought it to him as a special treat. He was enamored and it was adorable to watch him sit up in bed and play with it, then lay down and stare at it. He did this for almost an hour. At least it was the weekend!

It reminds me of his first encounter with bubble wrap (click the link for a FB video). Who doesn't love the satisfaction of a good "POP!" of bubble wrap?!

Brr, it's cold outside!

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:59:44 +0100

Our little bear has quite the imagination. Recently he's become very interested in snow and the conditions surrounding it.

The other day he went outside to play in the snow. Then he came running in telling me he needed to wear his big red jacket because he was cold. He called me out to have a snowball fight with him. Keep in mind we were having a heat wave and the a/c was on in the house.

When we were driving home from church he started rubbing his arms and repeatedly said, "brrr, it's cold!" Then looked out the window and informed us it was snowing and asked if we saw the snow. In the front seat, we had the a/c blasting.

In addition to it being cute to watch and pretend as a child again, we are seeing him develop and understand the connections between weather and how it feels to be in a certain environment.

Oh the wonderful world...

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:43:13 +0100

Last week Alex decided he was an extreme adventurer and explorer.

It was a day where he managed to get into things faster than I could clean up the messes left behind in his wake. He spent some time turning the electric tea kettle off and on and off and on. Then moved his stool to the sink and played with dirty dishes and pans, grabbed the clean strainer on the counter and took it to the hardwood for an experiment. Apparently there hasn't been much R&D on the result of standing in a strainer while on hardwood as opposed to using a strainer for it's intended purpose: to strain.

Then he went outside to throw boats in the pool, possibly to see if they still functioned? Upstairs he went only to throw any found clothes over the railing and down to the bottom floor. At least he's helping me with the laundry. He spent some time hiding blankets and moving all the cushions on the couch to a new (and better?) location. Alex is refining his redecorating skills for when he moves out. Then he decided to use the chairs as trampolines to practice his olympic skills in "couch bombing" to train for the next summer olympics.

Apparently the computer charger was in the wrong place (attached to the computer) because that HAD to be hidden. And after that, why not grab little sister's bottle and pour milk on her?! All the while, asking me to sing the "Jesus song" (Jesus loves me) with him while he went on exploring around the house. He gets points for creativity.

And just when I thought it was over (by 8am), Alcatraz struck again. I had the top bolt locked, as always when we're home because of his desire to explore the world all on his own (not until you're an adult, Alex!). As I prepared dinner in the kitchen I was a little distracted and after a minute or two realized it was toooo quiet. When I got to the front door to see it ajar, imagine my surprise when I saw my little Alcatraz on the other side of it! Somehow he'd managed to push a chair up to the door to open the lock just enough to squeeze through. Thankfully, our kind neighbor (with a toddler of his own) witnessed our little escapee expressing best wishes to all who drove past to have an awesome day, waving with all his heart. It's funny that most people use those locks to keep people out when we just want to keep people in the house!

Vocabulary Words

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:00:58 +0100

Today we were reading a vocabulary book for toddlers. It's questionable whether it was considered reading since Alex can't "read" and it was only one word per page anyway. BUT, that's what we were doing. Really this book is meant for babies but seriously, what baby is going to tell you what these pictures mean? It should be called "Toddler's First Words." Some editor might've missed the boat on that one. At some points I felt it was unfair to ask Alexander what the picture was because, in my opinion, it was a terrible representation of said item. For instance, the "clock" they pictured looked something like a modified boombox and cuckoo clock. He busted out with an affirmative guess, as if he was sure he was right, even though I had NO idea what he was saying. This happened on a handful of pictures that were meager representations of the real deal. The best part, for me, was when Alex decided that this was obviously a living book that required his dramatic representation of what to do with said item.

The following are quotes from Alexander Jack Newman (I'm sure you can imagine the item he sees):

(puts ear to the book) I'm gonna talk on the phone! Hello? Who's there? Okay, bye!

(puts face on the book) I'm gonna wear my glasses!

I'm gonna use the broom!

(moves head back and forth on the page) I'm gonna brush my hair.

I'm gonna take a bath! (tries to climb on the book and into the pictured bath tub)

I'm gonna ride the swing (sits on the book and pretends to swing)

I'm gonna wear my mittens (puts his hands on each of the mittens)

I'm gonna drink my coffah! (pretends to drink a cup of coffee) - this is really how he pronounces coffee. It was actually a steaming cup that was probably filled with tea but to him it's coffee. I don't drink coffee so I'm not sure where this came from but it was cracking me up!

Fish! (makes bubble noises and pretends to swim)

I'm gonna take a picture! Say cheese!

Ride the skateboard! (makes rumbling noise and tries to stand on page)

One aspect I absolutely love about toddlers is their lack of inhibition! He just thought this was a great idea and had to do it for every item he could. The other thing he likes to do when we read is pretend that he's eating the picture. This is fine when it's a picture of blackberries or carrots but randomly funny when it's a kid and he says, "I'm eating the kids, Mom! Munch munch munch" as he pretends to eat whatever is on the page.