my koala bear

I walked into Calvin's bedroom one morning a couple of months ago to help wake him up only to find him already awake (or in the process of waking up).  Usually he gets up and comes to our room to wake us up (the best alarm clock ever, so long as it is not before 6:45am).  But on this particular morning, he was slow to get out of bed.  I went in and sat down on his bed, saying good morning and asking him how he slept.  He mumbled a few words and crawled up into my lap for some cuddling time, as he often does.  I held him and called him my cuddle bug, as I often do.

But this time he laughed and said "I'm not a bug!".

I said "You're not my cuddle bug?  Okay, silly goose."

"I'm not a goose!  You're being silly, mommy". Ha ha ha.

"Oh ya?  What are you?" I asked?

"I'm a koala bear."

"Oh!"  Of course you are, kiddo.  What was I thinking. 

For the rest of the day, Calvin was my koala bear.  He rode on my back, holding on tightly with arms and legs, snuggling in against my neck.  I'm not sure where he got the idea, but I loved it. 

Being a koala bear lasted for a few days and then he decided that we were something else.  I forget what he chose instead (there have been so many), but we're often mommy and baby caterpillars, lady bugs, butterflies, spiders, frogs, fish, snakes, dinosaurs, lions, elephants... always with some kind of appropriate sound or movement or behavior.  Our mommy and baby roles usually last the whole day, and sometimes several days.  For the last few days Calvin has been the very hungry caterpillar, pretending (and actually) eating all sorts of fruits and leaves (greens), and then promptly pretending to get a tummy ache (he doesn't follow the script exactly).

The hardest role is the frog (grown ups are not meant to hop like a frog all over the house).  The one I'm most lost in is the lady bug (what do you do as a lady bug except pretend to eat aphids?).  The strangest and funniest is the spider role and watching Calvin pretend to make a web.  But my favorite is still the koala bear.  Now, whenever I need him to ride on my back (like when we've been somewhere too long and he wants me to carry him in my arms, which is too difficult with how big/heavy he has gotten) I ask him if he wants to be my koala bear.  He climbs on my back and says sweetly "Mommy koala bear..."  and I reply "Calvin koala bear..." and we're off.

Calvin's Banana Pancakes

We've been eating a lot of banana pancakes lately - Calvin loves to "make" them, and it is a great way to use up the over-ripe bananas no one will eat anymore.  Here's our recipe.

Wet Ingredients:
* 2 eggs
* 2 cups milk (skim, 1%, whatever)
* 1/4 cup applesauce
* some vanilla (1/2 tsp?)
* some bananas, the riper the better, smashed with a fork, ~ 2 cups

Dry Ingredients:
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 4 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* some sugar (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup; the banana and applesauce add sweetness too, so you don't need a lot.  But I like to not need syrup with pancakes - less mess, less rules while eating, easier morning, happier kid, better day.)
* optional: cinnamon

Measure and mix all of the wet ingredients in a medium bowl. I usually do the measuring and let him pour it into the bowl and mix.  He likes to crack the eggs, but that skill is still a work in progress.

Measure and mix all of the dry ingredients in separate a larger bowl.  Calvin likes to sample everything.

Stir, and then pretend you are an excavator and dig a little hole in the dry ingredients...

 Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined.

 

This kid is so hungry, he thinks flour tastes good.

 Now its my turn.  Cook pancakes and enjoy!

This makes a lot - it is basically a double of the pancake recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (my go-to for basic recipes), with applesauce replacing the oil, and added bananas, vanilla, and cinnamon.  We usually have a breakfast feast and then freeze the leftovers - they are great reheated and make an easy breakfast for those mornings that don't go so smoothly.  And boy are they yummy!

Tiny Tigers Karate

After swim lessons ended and a few weeks went by, we decided to sign Calvin up for Tiny Tigers Karate.  His friend Brendon was doing it and so we thought we'd give it a try.  I am so glad that we did! 

It is so much fun watching Calvin and Brendon learn their moves.  And he looks so cute in his uniform!

 

Brendon and Calvin pose for a picture.

 Ms. Hand (the instructor) has the kiddos do some exercises (jumping jacks, pushups, situps, running, etc)...

jumping jacks.  Calvin is second from the left.

push ups.  "One ma'am, two ma'am, three ma'am..."

getting ready to run.  Calvin is on the left.

Calvin (left) and Brendon (right) running in Tiny Tigers class.

 ... and teaches them some moves (block, kick, punch, duck, etc).

Calvin's turn to go through the movements with Ms. Hand.

kick!

But best of all she teaches them what to do if someone tried to take them (yell "your not my mommy!!!" over and over, scratch your ear to get out of a grab, run to another mommy or store worker or person in uniform, keep yelling until you have help), or what to do in a fire (good ol' stop, drop, roll).  I love the practical safety stuff - things that I'm not really sure how to teach him.  We've got crossing the street safely down, but stranger-danger is more difficult.  Calvin thinks that good people look nice and scary people look scary and all neighbors are good people and scary people are green and look like monsters-skeletons.   Oh boy.

Labor Day Part 2: Sharks and Penguins and Dolphins, oh my!

After a leisurely morning at the hotel, we wandered our way over to Atlanta and the Georgia Aquarium.  The lines were long!  What were we thinking, taking our time.  Ack.  But then, after a good hour of waiting in line in the hot sun with a bored and fussy kid, we realized that we could skip the rest of the line if we bought a season pass, which would more than pay for itself with two visits.  Sold!  And we were in.

Yep, if you plan to go more than once, the season pass and the Member's Entrance is the way to go.

Wow, the Georgia Aquarium was impressive.  First of all, it was huge, with multiple themed rooms.  In one corner was a giant tank with a moving walkway under a tunnel through shark-infested waters.  Whale shark, anyway, which evidently only eat plankton but are HUGE.  Hanging out with the sharks were lots of different rays and fish.  Amazing.

 

We saw the penguins and were able to crawl up into a viewing space under their "land", with glass bubbles that allow someone to stand in and be face-to-glass-to-face with lots of penguins.  So cool.

Jellyfish, star fish, sea horses, sea urchins, all sorts of strange sea creatures.

And for the finale (of our visit, anyway) was the dolphin show.  Only this wasn't a normal dolphin show where they show off cool tricks.  It was a SHOW.  There were singers and dancers and dolphins and swimmers and props and lights and water fountains and loud (and I do mean kid-panic-hands-tight-over-the-ears loud) music.  I prefer the regular dolphin show to this one, but I don't think any of us were the target audience.

We came home with a stuffed whale shark (which Calvin promptly named "Stuffy") and a momma and baby sting ray (as yet unnamed).  Calvin now sleeps every night with Stuffy.

clockwise from left: Calvin, Froggie, Stuffy, Donkey-Breath, Morty, and a horse.

After these two days, we were exhausted and headed home with a quick stop in Auburn for dinner.  It was a good vacation.

Labor Day Part 1: Engineering and Science and Beer

Back over Labor Day weekend we took a little vacation.  First stop was the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera, Alabama and 1.5 hour train ride.  Years of playing with Thomas the Train ensured that Calvin was all about this trip.

Checking out the toy shop before our ride.

Exploring the train museum.

Getting ready to board the train, Calvin shows his ticket.

Getting the ticket punched by the train "brakeman".

We got to choose where we sat and could switch our seat when the train stopped halfway on the trip to effectively turn around.  So we started off inside an old fashioned 1920's car with big upolstered seats and windows that opened halfway.  It got nice and breezy, which felt really good on that hot morning. 

After reaching the end of the track, we watched the engine move from one end of the train to the other so that we could ride back to the station.

By then we had switched to the open car with bench seating running along the center.  Temperatures were really high and it was getting dangerously close to lunch time, so Calvin was losing energy and patience, and the loud train whistle was almost too much to bare.

But then we were back at the station and quickly got lunch in our bellies and headed on up to Birmingham.  Calvin would look back at the train ride as his favorite part of the whole trip.

After nearly melting on the train ride, we drove up to Birmingham and cooled off at the Science Museum.  At the science museum, there was driving a submarine...

Initiating dive sequence.  bleep bop boop

Pressurized.  Check.  Lights.  Check.  beep burp blop beep beep.

Move, daddy.  I gotta push this button.

Oh no!  Watch out!

... growing in a bubble...

... ball balancing...

... and dinosaur digging.

Then we headed to a few breweries.  With two Alabama football games playing, there was practically no one on the streets - it felt like we had Birmingham to ourselves.  We visited Good People, Cahaba, and Avondale and enjoyed them all, but Cahaba was Bryan's favorite.  Then a quick dinner and off to our hotel half way between Birmingham and Atlanta, only a couple of hours down the road.  We all slept well that night.  When you share a room with a toddler, everyone pretty much goes to bed at the same time, so Bryan and I got to catch up on some sleep.  Ah, vacation!

Grocery Shopping

Sometimes the best way to get Calvin to cooperate is to make whatever we need to do a game.  Putting on shoes is a perfect example, although it opens up a whole new box of worms when he doesn't win...  Well, we needed to go to the grocery store a few weeks back and Calvin was not interested at all.  That is until I let him bring his toy shopping cart. He practically ran into the car, insisted that the cart got to ride on the seat next to him, and didn't complain or dilly-dally the whole trip.  It was pretty adorable.

My Helper

I had no idea that mopping the floor would be so much fun for a 3 year old.  There have been more than one temper tantrum insisting that he gets to mop.  He does a pretty good job too, so long as you don't mind a few missed spots.

It is difficult to reach those far away spots under the table.  Requires some fancy mopping-moves.

Swim Lessons

Soon after moving here we signed Calvin up for swim lessons.  He started off as the kid who clings to the instructor for dear life while she would literally have to peel his limbs off one at a time only to have them right back glued to her neck/arm/back, and each time inching a little higher out of the water.  We ended the 2-week class with him pushing off by himself (floaty attached) and treading water in a mouth-barely-above-the-water, slowly "swimming" around.  He "swam" to the middle of the pool while the instructor was with another kid, and then calmly "swam" back to the wall where he was supposed to be waiting.  And to top it all off, he went off the diving board.  Twice.  

 

The end of the first day of swim lessons and he is still smiling.  A good sign. 

A week into the swimming lessons:  Calvin is waiting for the "okay" to get on the diving board.  He's wearing a floaty on his back.  Still, this is his first time off the diving board and I'm not sure if he'll even get up onto it.

With a little help from one of the swim instructors, Calvin climbs up onto the diving board.  By this time, the line of kids waiting for their turn is growing.

Calvin has put on the brakes.  He is NOT going to jump without someone in the water to catch him.  The swim instructor standing next to the board will then jump in and catch Calvin when he jumps (read: gets lowered) into the water.

Excited about going off the diving board!

Last day of swim class and Calvin is swimming on his own.  He doesn't go very far or very fast, his moves are more like treading water, and he still has his floaty on, but this is a far cry from how he behaved in the water less than two weeks earlier.

Looking good, kiddo!  Calvin made a friend at swim lessons - Sam is sitting on the side of the pool in the white shirt.

"Hi Mom!"

Having fun in the water, waiting for his turn.

Playing at the end of the last class.

All wrapped up in his favorite towel.

Calvin and a his new buddy, Sam.