Ferraris and Lamborghinis and Jaguars, oh my

(this post was written last week, mid December)

"I want my Ferrari, daddy...  I want my Ferrari...  I want my Ferrari, daddy..."

That is what we listened to last night while we waited for Calvin to fall asleep.  Over and over, Calvin pleaded quietly for his daddy to bring him his other matchbox Ferrari car.  (He has a matching set of two yellow Ferraris, one of which was already tucked into bed with Calvin along with his stuffed frog, hippo, and giraffe).  We listened to this pleading for a few minutes, chuckling to ourselves, and then Bryan went up to settle Calvin down again for bed, without the second car. 

Then today at the store, while looking for "prizes" for potty training successes (more on this later), Calvin pointed to what looked to me to be a random toy car and said "That's a Lamborghini.  I want that."  I'm sure you do, kiddo.  Mommy, who evidently knows less about cars than a two and a half year old, had to read the side of the box to figure out that he was right.

Calvin has many matchbox cars now, and they are easily his go-to favorite on any given day.  Calvin loves books and puzzles and music and trains and firetrucks and all sorts of other toys.  But his must-have toy at a restaurant, on vacation, or just around the house is a matchbox car.  When visiting other friend's houses, he makes a bee-line for the cars (and if he knows they have some but he can't find them, he'll ask for them).  Bryan has been doing his best to make sure there are some "good" cars mixed in with all the random pretend ones.  So now Calvin has a small collection of Ferraris and Lamborghinis and Jaguars.  He can (usually) identify which is which, and even distinguish between an Enzo and other types of Ferraris.  And when Calvin's daddy handed him a strange kind of Lamborghini that looks different from the others, Calvin laughed and said "that's not a Lamborghini!".  When Bryan insisted it was, he looked at it carefully, from the front and the sides and back, verifying that it doesn't look like all the other Lamborghinis and said again, "(ha ha) no, that's not a Lamborghini."  Silly daddy. 

The other day my battery was dead.  This was no doubt a result of me allowing Calvin to play in the front seat of my car the previous evening (turned off and with the emergency break engaged, of course) while I unloaded groceries and gear from a day of work, daycare, and errands.  As Bryan and I scrambled that morning to jump my car with Bryan's battery, get Calvin ready for school, and ourselves out the door on time, Calvin was insistent that he needed to "fix mommy's car".  He loved looking at the engines with the hoods open, confident that he knew what needed to be done.

One of these days, kiddo, I'm sure you will. 

Christmas Concert

Calvin's school had a holiday concert last week in which he and his classmates sang two songs, Skinamarinkadink and Jingle Bells.  Some of the kids from each of the three kindergarten classes "hosted" the concert and are seen sitting in the chairs on the stage.  They were so cute as they welcomed the parents and introduced each class. 

The first video takes a few minutes to get going as each of the kids in the toddler room file in and find a seat on the font of the stage.  Calvin is sitting in the middle in the red sweater.  Sorry about the shaky video - I was holding the camera above my head and checking every once in a while that it was pointed in the right direction.

In the second video, Calvin is so distracted with this set of bells that he misses the first half of the song.  But then he wakes up and joins in. 

It was so cute to see him up there.  I'm pretty sure I would have been one of the kids sitting there in shocked silence, frozen until clapping finally broke the spell.  Good job, Calvin, we're proud of you!  

Summer Vacation to Rehoboth Beach

Earlier this summer we took a vacation to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.

We rented a house a block and a half from the beach for a week with a few other couples and had a great time!  The house had a large screened-in front porch that we spent many mornings and nights on, relaxing with a cup of coffee while the kids played with their cars and race tracks or gathering around in the evening for drinks, conversation, and sometimes a game.
 
We all enjoyed the beach, including Calvin.  Though instead of relaxing or building sandcastles or splashing in the water, he preferred to wander off in any direction so long as he was headed toward more sand.

Calvin would then occasionally stop to lay down on the soft sandy ground, and then roll, dig, build, destroy, and walk some more.

 

Moving in closer to the water and waves was definitely not okay - too scary!  Even with both of us holding his hand, or holding him in our arms, he would not get back in the water after that first "big" wave came crashing up to his knees. 

And of course, when it was picture time, he didn't want to cooperate in any way.  But we managed to sneak in some great family pictures anyway.

 

This east-coast beach town also had a boardwalk, which was fun to explore, and we spent many afternoons in the Funland arcade.  Calvin loved all of the rides, and rode them over and over and over.  Bryan and I each won several stuffed animals with random old fashioned games.  And any tickets we won went to the 6-year-old in our group, who collected hundreds of tickets that were traded in for some cool prizes.

 

  

 

 

 

The group of friends we went with divided up responsibilities for many of the meals, each taking one dinner and one lunch and all of us contributing to a fabulous brunch.  Everyone's meals were so fantastic, we ate way better than if we had gone out to eat every night.  All in all, this was a great summer vacation.

Rides and Rollercoasters

Last June we went to Dutch Wonderland in Pennsylvania for a weekend vacation with some friends.  Dutch Wonderland is a park geared toward little kids, toddler to 7 or 8 years old, so it was perfect for our group.  This was Calvin's first experience at an amusement park, his first chance to ride the rides, his first thrilling experience on a roller coaster, and he couldn't get enough.  

We stayed at a nearby hotel that had an impressive swimming pool/water park, which the kids loved.  Calvin instantly got over any previous timidness with the water, and walked right into baby wading pools, spraying towers of water, and, eventually and with our help, the big pool.

The next morning it was off to the amusement park. 

The entrance to Dutch Wonderland in Pennsylvania.

With a look of seriousness and a bit of shock, followed by a short pause and then "again! again!" and some tears when we had to actually get off the spinning, twirling, dizzying, mommys-gonna-get-sick, ride to get back in line, Calvin officially became a fan of amusement parks.  We rode nearly every ride he was tall enough to get on, which was more than some kids his age. 

Getting ready to start his first amusement park ride, the Turtle Whirl.  So much fun!

Calvin was tall enough to make it into the second-to-smallest category, which opened up many more rides to him.

 We rode the Turtle-Whirl, the Off-Road Rally, Duke's Dozers, some bears circling a honeypot ride, a painfully slow boat ride down a non-moving "river", the Joust rollercoaster, the Fun Slide, the Wonderland Train, and much much more.

 

 

Walking down the ramp with a big smile after his first rollercoaster ride.

Calvin was so tired after a long day at the park, but he couldn't leave without riding the train.

By the time we left, Calvin was exhausted!  He was sound asleep in his carseat before we even left the parking lot.  It was a fun day, a great weekend trip, and so much fun seeing Calvin experience his first amusement park and rides. 

That's one tired kid!

Calvin and Morty - sound asleep in the car before we even left the parking lot.