Snow Hippo

Dexter insisted that the bird go on the hippo's back - just like in our bathroom book, "The Gas We Pass."

Snow Alien

Designed by Dexter.

Constructed in the front yard.

Basic Training?

On Monday when I picked Dexter up from school, I noticed that they weren't in the regular classroom and, for a moment, thought that maybe I had come an hour late to pick him up.  Then I heard some ruckus coming from the "big" room and thought I saw Dexter stomping across my field of vision through the the narrow window into the room. 

Then I saw Dexter hopping on two feet back the other way followed by some other young hoppers. Before long, I saw Dexter slithering across the floor with a bunch of other kids. Then he came back in the other direction crawling on his hands and knees.  I was sure that Miss Lois had had a "rough day" and decided to put the kids through basic training but when I asked him about it later he told me that he "hopped like a bunny, stomped like a dinosaur, slithered like a snake, and crawled like a dog." 

Daddy's Better

While driving in the car today, I turned around at a red light and said, "I love you, Dexter."  He replied, "I love you, Mommy."  Then about a minute later he said, "But Daddy's better."  Despite the crushing feeling in my heart, I managed to hide my pain and ask, "What makes Daddy better?"  Dexter immediately said, "Daddy plays all crazy. He and I act like monkeys."  I'm sure they do.

Hide and Seek

A new favorite pastime for Dexter is playing "hide and seek".  I'm kind of glad that he plays by getting into a hiding spot and then announcing, "I'm hiding behind the table/under the blanket/behind the coats!!  Can you find me?!" Not that it would be that hard to find him if he hadn't shouted out his hiding spot. But this way, I can make a big deal about looking for him without actually worrying about where he's hiding. See if you can find Dexter in the pictures below.

Melting Masterpiece

When I got home from school today and came out of the garage, I was greeted by a big smiling snowman missing his eyes and some buttons. Luckily, Ben had taken pictures before the melting began.

Ben and Dexter had clearly been enjoying the remnants of last night's snow storm (I, on the other hand, did not so much enjoy driving on slick roads before dawn this morning!). 








My Bologna also enjoyed the snowman building (and has yet to pee on him).

After Tomorrow?

Every day since Uncle Rob left, Dexter asks, "Is Uncle Rob coming back today?"  And when we tell him no, he asks, "Tomorrow?" And when we say no to that, he asks, "After tomorrow?" Oy.  Yes, some time after tomorrow Uncle Rob will be back for a visit.

Yesterday, Uncle Rob called and he got to go through the whole routine with Dexter.  When Dexter asked, "After tomorrow?", Uncle Rob said, "Maybe in a year or so," and Dexter looked at me with a confused look on his face.  I said, "In a year or so is definitely after tomorrow."

Going Medieval

Grandmama and Grampy financed a gift to Medieval Times for all of us during Uncle Rob's visit.

Dexter really enjoyed the stimulating environment.

Dexter also LOVED the tomato soup they served (no utensils, drink from the bowl). After he finished his bowl I gave him the remainder of mine. When he finished that, he asked Daddy and Uncle Rob for their's (but they had already eaten it all). The server was kind enough to bring an extra bowl for Dexter.

The tournament was pretty exciting - horses doing tricks, jousting, and a falconer!

Dexter did a fantastic job cheering on our assigned "blue" knight. He also was great at cheering on all the other knights.

I was pretty sure Dexter would love the "dinner and tournament" experience but worried that it might get a little loud for him so I brought along his noise-reducing headphones.  It wasn't until the very end that he asked me for them.

Chocolate-y Goodness

That woman at the Dunkin Donuts must really love Dexter - she gave him a heart-shaped donut that was both covered in and filled with chocolate-y goodness. Dexter enjoyed it after supervising the oil change.

Changing the Oil in Uncle Rob's Audi in 15 Degree Temps

Dexter loved helping Uncle Rob change the oil in his car. He helped hold the light and watched Uncle Rob every step of the way. Dexy is going to make a great supervisor someday.

Donut for Being Cute

This morning Uncle Rob wanted to warm up his car before changing the oil so we drove through Dunkin Donuts for coffee with Dexter in the back seat.  We ordered two coffees and Dexter asked for a donut but we refused to order one for him. When we drove up to the window to pay, I saw that the Indian woman who has given Dexy free donuts in the past was working the window so I told Dexter to say "hi" to her.  It worked - she came back with a free donut for Dexter.

Technological Difficulties

It didn't take Uncle Rob more than an hour before he was hooking up his iPad to our TV and streaming the Cars movie for him and Dexter to watch. But the effort was foiled by technological difficulties. The movie would stream for about 20 seconds and then stop for about 20 seconds, until it just stopped.  After troubleshooting every possible culprit, it turns out that the problem was on Apple's end.  For all the mocking Uncle Rob gave me about "living in the dark ages", it was satisfying to inform him that we never have these kinds of problems when we watch a DVD.  Uncle Rob and Dexter ended up watching Eric the Car Guy fix a Subaru Outback on You Tube. Total snooze for Mommy but totally engrossing for Dexy and Uncle Rob.

He Made It!

It was an exciting arrival for Uncle Rob.  Dexter greeted him with shrieking and running.

When things settled down, Uncle Rob showed Dexter his roadmap app on his iPad.

Hot Dog Eating Champ

We had lunch at Hot Doug's today where Dexter ate the exact amount of food that I did: a hot dog and a corn dog.

It looked for a while like Dexter was going to eat the corn dog stick!

Uncle Rob Prep

Dexy has been very excited about my brother, Rob, visiting us this weekend.  For the past 10 days, he's been asking, "Is Uncle Rob coming today?" And we say, "No, Uncle Rob is coming next Friday." And Dexter says, "Is tomorrow Friday?"

Well, today we got to reply to Dexter, "Yes, Uncle Rob is coming today!"  We spent the morning cleaning up and getting the blow up bed ready. In the process of cleaning, we found a bunch of bubble wrap that Dexter enjoyed playing with.

Mommy Paper-Writing Time

Ben took Dexter to the Chicago Auto Show to give me a few uninterrupted hours of writing for a paper that's due this week. Dexter's favorite part was when the jeeps "went on the side driving road".  Apparently, there was s small obstacle course set up that included an incline. "Two wheels were up and two wheels were down!"

When I asked if he saw other kids there, Dexter told me there were two boys there who said, "those cars were dancing." When I asked Dexy what he said (expecting him to tell me about a conversation he had with the boys), he said, "I told Daddy that they thought those cars were dancing!"


Ben said Dexter was not happy about him taking pictures (as evidenced in this shot where he caught Dexter screaming, "Stop taking pictures!"

Dressing Himself

Dexy got dressed all by himself this morning.  His shirt is on inside-out...

...and backwards, but he insists he's comfortable so it's staying this way for the day.

Building Big Buildings

This week Dexter excitedly told me that he built a BIG building at school. He said he took a big cardboard box and turned it upside down so he could put blocks on top of it and they wouldn't "fall in". He seemed to be really into the building thing so we separated his wooden blocks from his train tracks into their own basket.

He has been happily building "big buildings for New York City" ever since. I've explained to him that he could also build big buildings for Chicago but he insists that his creations are New York City buildings.

Yes and D

This afternoon I went into our bedroom and heard My Bologna breathing on the bed in the dark.  I said, "Is that My Bologna on my bed?" and when I turned on the light, I said, "Yes, indeed!" Dexter came into the room and said, "Is that My Bologna on your bed? Yes and D!"

Committed to Taekwondo

After the four free lessons, we decided that Dexter enjoyed Taekwondo enough and was getting enough out of the class to sign him up for regular lessons twice a week.

 He enjoyed getting his uniform but insists on wearing it over his clothes.

He's still the youngest and smallest in the class but he tries to keep up and is getting better at listening and controlling his little four year-old body.







Usually one of the older and more experienced students is charged with giving him a little extra attention.

Hot Chocolate Boy

After sledding, Dexter warmed up with some hot chocolate.

He drank it dry in record time.

Sufficient for Sledding

We finally got enough snow for sledding so Dexter and Daddy headed out to two sledding spots this morning.  Dexter got to do his first, ever, run down the hill all by himself!

  He also had the pleasure of pulling the sled back up the hill.

One of the spots overlooked a quarry so Daddy and Dexy got to watch the big trucks clear snow in the big hole.

Rhyme Time and Reading

Dexter has always loved books and started "reading along" about a year ago.  This was largely memorization of the story and looking at pictures for clues.  He wasn't actually reading the words.  But lately, Dexter has been really interested in actually reading words.  He sounds out written words and asks how words we use in conversation are spelled.  Yesterday, Daddy almost choked on his BBQ when Dexter said, "Daddy, you spell edge: E, D, G, E."

Dexy has also been rhyming like crazy.  I think they have been doing this at school. Yesterday, it was a half hour rhyming session with Dexy rhyming all sorts of words (both real and make believe).  I was able to keep a straight face when he rhymed a work with "yuck" that starts with "f". He didn't know what it meant and continued on with other rhymes.

First Snowman of the Season

We've had a crazy winter season.  Last week, temps went from the 60's to -16.  Poor Dexter has been asking to go sledding all winter but we just haven't had any snow!

We finally got a bit of snow about a week ago.  It wasn't enough to go sledding but it was enough to scrape together a tiny snowman on the slide...

 And knock him down with snowballs.

Dinosaur Exhibit

It's been crazy busy since my classes started.  Even though I'm officially on leave from work, I'm still trying to get some projects moving. To top it off, my classes this quarter are very challenging and demanding.  Like an idiot, last quarter I submitted an abstract (at my advisor's urging) for a sociology conference in March and wouldn't you know it got accepted...so now I have to write that too! Oh yeah, and I have a family that deserves some attention. Unfortunately, it's going to be a while before they get it. I don't know how I'm going to make it up to them...

A couple Sundays ago, Ben took Dexter to a dinosaur exhibit giving me a little quiet work time at home. Despite the expressions on Dexy's face in the pictures, Ben assures me he had a great time.