Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Lime Leader

Have I mentioned before that Turbo loves to direct? I hope he will grow up to use his skills for good rather than for bossiness... he's kind of a bossypants these days. :)

Turbo learned a new term at school, one that suits him beautifully: Line Leader. Or, as he calls it, "Lime Leader."

Since I don't get to spend my days at preschool I am guessing here on what it means, but I'm pretty sure it means you get to be the one in charge of telling people what to do. Or, maybe, it's just the first person in a long line of kids doing exactly what the teacher tells them to do... only don't tell Turbo.

Here is how it plays out at home.

"Mom, I'm the lime leader."

I dutifully stand behind him.

Turbo then leads me around the house, or through the Museum of Flight, or wherever the director mood strikes. It's kind of fun, having a name for what he's naturally good at.

The other morning Turbo, having taken forever to go potty in the morning (mom = late for work), finally departs the bathroom and declares himself the Lime Leader. I stand behind him, hoping we're on our way down to the breakfast table, when he says to me:

"Now, kiss my back."

Me: "Um, what?"

Turbo, pointing to his bottom, "Kiss my body."

Me: "Why?"

Turbo: "Cuz that's what you do."

Reminds me, I should probably call the school to find out what that's all about.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm going to have to regroup and post more details about this great weekend, but, for now, as I can barely support my sleepy head on these tired shoulders, I will simply share what Turbo said so eloquently this evening.

"Happy Thanksgiving is aaaaaaaaaaaaaall done."

He said this as he was enjoying his dinner of a bowl full of Ruffles potato chips and a cup of juice. I looked him in the eye and said, "This is a special day, so you can have all these chips for dinner. We're not going to have chips for dinner again."

He looked thoughtful, then said, "Mom, this is our last chips. Happy Thanksgiving is all done now."

And then the "aaaaaaaaaaall" done version came loudly, several times over.

I love my kid. He's got spunk.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

That's Classy

I forgot my gym bag in the car last night, which meant my make-up was outside as I was getting ready for work this morning.

The contemplation went like this: put on boots and a raincoat over my jammies and fetch the make-up, or wait until my husband woke and risk being late for work.

I chose not to be late for work (employer = proud), and that meant that I had to dress in my Uggs, bathrobe, and a winter coat over top of that saucy little outfit.

On time, yes. Hot and classy, oh yeah.

Monday, November 21, 2011

He's Doing Math

I've always liked math, so tonight's little surprise from Turbo has got me excited beyond measure.

Turbo has long used the number 5 as a replacement for whatever number something might actually be. Before he could accurately count, he'd say everything was "five." Five Cheerios, five books, five more minutes of his favorite movie...

Since he's been able to count, we hear this less and less, but it still surfaces. The other day at preschool there were 7 of something on a tray and the teacher asked, "how many?" and Turbo glanced, waved his hand over the objects, and declared, "1,2,3,4,5." She asked him to try again, and when he counted he got it right. Sigh, I was so proud.

But it gets better.

Tonight, Turbo asked to read books with his "heavy duty diggers" - or, as he calls them, "heady-duty diggers" - and while it was a little LOUD during story time, as much from my own laughter as from the sirens on the fire engine, we made it work.

5, count them, 5 trucks in bed for story time.


Before story time, Turbo said, "I want 5 heady-duty diggers in mama's bed for books" and I said OK.

He ran up and down the stairs twice, ending up with 3 trucks in our bed, and I said to him, "Is that all of them?"

Turbo said, "No. Five more." He started to head back downstairs, then stopped, turned back, and paused to think.

Then he held up 2 fingers and declared, "No. Two more." and then ran back down the stairs as fast as he could.

I checked the bed again. 3 trucks.

Did he just do math????? Oh, my heart just geeked out a little bit.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Soft Spoken

My husband has a calming, peaceful voice. I have always loved the rich, deep timbre and could listen to him for hours.

As I type this, having taken a rare moment to return to my beloved blog, I can't quite make out the words my husband is saying to our son during bath time. The closed door and the bathroom fan compete and drown him out.

What I can hear, in all its glory, is Turbo's part of the conversation.

At the top of his lungs:  "NO! I'M NOT LISTENING!" about 6 times in a row.

Forgive the all caps, but the situation required it. :)

Monday, November 7, 2011

Moonshadow

Turbo is not really comfortable with all this early darkness that comes at the end of a day at school. I think he was a little confused with where the sun had gone, but thank goodness the moon was bright and shiny in the sky as we exited his preschool.

Gasp. Then, "Mom. Look. The moon is right there."

And then he dawdled for his obligatory 2 minutes before he got settled into his car seat.

As we drove home, the moon followed us.

"Mom!"

"Yes?"

"The moon is following us home?"

"Yes."

Ah, the magic of it all. I love, love, love bearing witness to first discoveries.

Later tonight, as we were reliving the magic of that moment, I told him I know a song for just this occasion. I broke into song with, "Yes, I'm being followed by a moonshadow. Moonshadow, moonshadow..."

But before I could really show off my vocal pipes, he piped in with, "No. Don't sing."

Sigh. My own kid won't let me sing. What a turkey!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Where's a Camera When You Need One?

I hope I can adequately describe the scene at dinner tonight. This is one of those fleeting moments that would be better conveyed in video rather than in the written word, but I shall do my best.

I made homemade pizza for dinner. Turbo used to love pepperoni and olives, but now he makes it very clear, in case I've forgotten from the last time we had pizza, "Mom, I don't like olives. Just pepperoni."

"Yes, Turbo, I know, but thanks for reminding me."

And tonight was even more fun because he helped make it. I carefully used the back of a spoon to spread out the pizza sauce and Turbo kept slapping his spoon on the sauce, sending it splattering in all directions and laughing, "This is more fun."

In splattering the sauce he got some on his hands, which he made me immediately wipe off, several times, thankyouverymuch, and I mention that because it makes the next part of this story even more funny. At least to me. And my husband. It's fun to laugh at dinner, especially if you and your spouse are enjoying a private moment that the kids don't really get.

Here's what happened.

Toward the end of the meal, Turbo realized he had a little sauce on his arm. The location of the sauce is a crucial part of this tale, so I hope I get it right... it was a pencil-eraser-sized spot on the sort-of-inside of his arm, between his elbow and shoulder. And it was juuuuust out of reach.

Turbo exclaimed, "Mom, there's sauce on my arm!" and as I leaned in to wipe it off, he started trying to lick it off. So I backed off to watch the show unfold.

As mentioned, the sauce was just out of reach and so began a series of arm twists that had my husband and I rolling with laughter. Didn't he know it was his own arm he was twisting to get at this spec of pizza sauce?

He kept going in! Twist left, nope. Twist right, nope. We were in tears from laughter and he didn't even notice us as he was so intent on this near futile exercise.

He eventually got the sauce.

I hope he didn't sprain his tongue.