Spider in the living room

Avi's been decorating again. This time (unbeknownst to me until just now) he's using a combination of zoob pieces, Mr. Potato Head parts and rubber band as his media for creating new window decor.

Finished quilted patchwork duvet cover

I finished it last night at 2 am. I'm pretty proud of how my idea came together. I think there should be more patchwork quilt duvet covers.
So I put it in his bed in the middle of night and asked him this morning if he saw his new present. He said, "it's not a very good present." He asked what I was doing just now and I told him and so he told me to tell y'all that he likes his ($3) dinosaur egg present. Mind you, he helped me start this project, picked our fabric, etc. Now he's pouting.
Anyhow, a "wow Mom, thank you that's so cool," would have been great. Guess kids don't always know what to say.

More Boy-style Decorating

Avi has been (without my encouragement or permission) decorating the house for Hanukkah. Yes, that is a baby washcloth in the mix.

"I'm concentrating on my numbers"

Avi has been very focused lately on figuring out addition facts. This morning he was talking about some of them at breakfast, 4+4=8 etc. Then I was trying to ask him a question about lunch or some other unimportant thing and he wasn't paying attention to me. Finally he said with a patient explanatory air, "I'm concentrating on my numbers.". Then he said to me, "3 plus 2 take away 1 is 4!"
For the record, we haven't done anything to promote this math obsession. We are just supporting his enthusiasm as it arrives.

Now, as I write this he is rolling around on his bedroom floor (NOT getting dressed for school like he's been asked multiple times) and singing "Oh Hanukkah" with a typical four-year-old attempt at the lyrics. Got the main idea, but throws in (or leaves out) some extra words.

The Ahwuhwuh Monster

I just never know what's going to happen next.  The Awuhwuh Monster wasn't pants-less until he burst into the bathroom for this filming.  He didn't know I was filming, but that wouldn't have made any difference. 

 

As an aside, the wild Ahwuhwuh Monster (a.k.a "The MC") viewed here spent much of the day quietly playing with magnets, duplos, silly bands, books and ripped paper (??!?!?).  Much of the time (about 2-3 hours, he was in his room by himself.  He wasn't forced to be in there all that time, but when I asked him to get dressed before coming out again, he wasn't willing to do that.  He was content to play on his own for all that time, but eventually had a meltdown.  I had checked on him frequently and continually asked what I could do to help him and reminded him that he wasn't in trouble, he just needed to get dressed, but he's so stubborn that encouraging offers like reading books together, playing games or doing an art project weren't enough to coax him out of his hole.  I think he just needed the downtime.   No wonder he had so much pent up energy in the evening.  

Nothing is normal around here

Life with Avi is anything but routine. Am I wrong to assume that most other kids go to the bathroom, do their business and come out? After an exceptionally long time, this is how I found him when I went to check on him. Actually that's not entirely accurate. He didn't have underwear on and hadn't wiped yet. I insisted that much was done before a picture was taken of his creation.
Just in case the picture doesn't make it clear, all the tp squares were perfectly separated.

The Dragon returns

After getting in PJs tonight, Ezra found his dragon costume and brought it over to me and communicated very effectively (without words of course) that he wanted it on. He loves that costume. The picture below is crummy, but it's the best I could get on several tries because he kept moving too fast. He's running around smiling and laughing.