Musical beds

This is where we find Avi more often than not. Either before bed as pictured here when he has snuck into our room to fall asleep unbeknownst to us or in the middle of the night when he wakes up and sneaks in be with us, also unbeknownst to us generally because we're both too dead tired to notice an extra body in that queen size bed (which is already also Murphy's sleep spot of choice to my frustration) until we wake up stiff and sore because of our contortions to make room for him (and Murph). I have to say one thing though. For all his challenges getting to sleep and staying asleep in his own bed, once he's asleep he's a great little smuggler. He doesn't wiggle and squirm. He doesn't breathe loud or anything else distracting. Unlike his big brother who is too squirmy to sleep with or his little brother who is too independent to sleep with anyone, Avi is a great sleep companion. Until of course you wake up drenched as I did one night last week because he'd peed all over both of us and the bed. Ugh. We both changed jammies, abandoned Cary on the dry side of our bed and moved to Avis bed together. Other nights (no pee involved), Cary has been the one to give up and move to Avi's bed in the middle of the night. Easier than moving him I guess he figured.

Puzzle master

Ezra did this whole puzzle almost all by himself. It may be the first time he has seen it, I'm not sure. He has a very good sense of what needed to go where with very little assistance.

Avi's wonderous brain

It's been five months since the snowstorm caused the tree branch on the power line experience that so significantly affected Avi. He still talks about it regularly. We've mostly worked through the fear of electricity that resulted. (The fear that made it hard for him to fall asleep because the electricity in the wires of the house might harm us, etc...). Anyhow, we're driving down the road just now on the way to our family day at Enchanted Forest and he says, "Is a branch a conductor?"
"Are you asking if wood conducts electricity?" I clarified.
"Yes."
"No," I said, explaining how that's why powerlines are made of wood.
Without missing a beat, he responds, "Then why did the branch catch on fire when it touched the powerline?"
If he asks questions that hard now, what's it going to be like when he's 8? Speaking of 8 year olds asking questions, that one is driving me crazy with his questions. Incessant. It's been that way since before he was two, and it hasn't let up. The worst is that he doesn't let up with a line of questioning. You give him a good answer and he asks a follow up question and you give another answer and just get another question until the questions just get more unreal and unanswerable. I end up exploding in frustration regularly. Then I feel badly of course, but it's out of control. Worst is when he repeats the same question when I've already given him an answer.

Tired boy

He might be a little worn out. Not only did he wake up at 4:40 this morning, but he just spent the last hour jumping into my arms from the side of the pool and walking to the steps, getting out and doing it again. He must have repeated that cycle 30 times.

Speed reader

We gave Noah a new book to try at bedtime last night, Ereth's Birthday by Avi (the author, not his brother). That was right about 8:00. Tonight he complained of having nothing to read. I said, "what about that book from last night, didn't you like it?" He grinned and said, "I finished it!"
"No you didn't," I retorted, thinking it not possible since he was asleep by 9 or 9:30.
"Yes I did," he insisted.
So I grabbed the book and read snippets from the back of the book, "Who died and how did she die... What were the mice singing at the end?" etc. He answered all my questions accurately. What do I do with a kid who reads 180 pages of a book marked ages 8-12 in 90 minutes?

Today is Avi's birthday. 5. We went out to Chapala as is becoming customary to mark birthdays around here. Then off to swimming lessons and then back over to 28th and Willamette to go to the Yogurt Extreme place so he could have a treat and play with the wii they have there. His idea. Nonetheless, he hardly ate any of the frozen yogurt treat and then he mostly just wanted to watch Noah do the dancing game on the wii. He tried a little bit eventually, but didn't actually want to use the remote or wand or whatever the handheld thing is called. Typical. He was happy observing. I'm assuming he will move out of observer role eventually, but I wonder if there's more I need to do to encourage that or if it will happen naturally regardless of my strategizing.

And since I've mentioned the other two, I might as well record an update on #3. He has finally started talking. Not all at once, but he's getting some words (recognizable by us if not outsiders). They include:
Up
Yes (yesh)
No
Mama
Daddy
Night night
Off
Poop

And more.... The other ones aren't quite as regularly heard and don't come to mind, but I have heard attempts at ball, all done, thank you, me, doggie, and others. It's coming slowly but surely. Not to mention plenty of imitation sounds like barking, sirens, cars, etc.
My personal favorite has to be "yesh" though. He says it so quietly and deliberately, and with a sheepish grin on his face. It's irresistible.

Thank you They Might Be Giants

My child is obsessed with the "backwards alphabet."

In the water!!!

Every now and then I think I may have figured out a dime's worth of wisdom about this parenting gig. Doesn't happen everyday, but when it does it sure feels good! So I'm patting myself on the back right now as I watch Avi smiling and enjoying swim lessons. No one would believe this was the same child from two days ago. Tuesday: crying, shaking, panicking, and refusing to get in the water. Today: bouncing, jabbering, grinning. We were a minute or two late Tuesday and that meant that the class started without him and I think, knowing him as I do, he then felt out of place and uncomfortable, which just compounded his apprehension of the swimming situation. He felt in the wrong. So today, I vowed to get there super early, which we never manage to do. But we did! We were 10 minutes early and that meant we were the first ones there. Even before the teacher, whom we were then able to say hello to before she even got into her suit. Avi waited for her ten and she came out again and he helped her get the props out and he was first in the pool before any other kids were even there. Success!!!