Micronaxx

This past Monday, Dad-o celebrated his 36th birthday. We treated him to pizza at one of our favorite local joints, Willow Street Pizza (also known as “Mega Bot!” for their delicious fresh-baked loaves of bread you can snack on while you wait. Bot = bread, of course).

The boys would have much preferred to skip the pizza and get straight down to the business of eating Dad-o’s birthday cake, which was chocolate through and through. We showed Dad-o the cake before we left for dinner so he’d know to leave some room for it afterwards.

I think the guys were also pretty excited to sing “Happy Birthday” again since it’s one of their current favorites! They helped him blow out the candles, and then got involved in some serious enjoyment (photos) of the chocolate bounty. For Henry, the experience was only slightly marred when he bit off a piece of candle, expecting it to be delicious candy, and discovered it was not delicious at all! (Note his expression in the final shot in the gallery.)

While Dad-o was away in Chicago this past weekend, the boys and I had a jam-packed weekend full of adventure. On Saturday morning, we visited our local fire station, where the dudes got to explore and sit in the pumper truck, tour the station, and see a fireman come down the fire pole (twice!). They also tried on some helmets and got to chat with the fire captain and firemen on duty.

Afterwards, we headed home to host a playdate at Fort Nack (a.k.a. the new playset) so Finny and Henry’s friends and their parents could enjoy the new swings, slide, fort, and trapeze. I think everyone had a ball–there were lots of kids clambering around, Finny was giving them a tour of the newly-dubbed playset-as-fire truck and explaining to the other kids how he would put out fires. There were kids on the sandbox, kids in the fort, kids on the grass, and parents enjoying the gazebo and grass for a picnic lunch.

Sunday morning found us “bageling,” our traditional Sunday-morning stroll to the neighborhood bagel joint for apple juice and cinnamon raisin bagels with cream cheese. Then we strolled home through Palm Haven with a pitstop at our favorite rock garden, which is filled with interesting small succulent plants and wee garden sculptures. After naps, we headed over to San Jose State University for a free “Pops in the Park” concert, featuring famous movie theme music, another picnic, lots of grass to run around in, *free* ice cream, and more time to hang out with our buddies big and small! It was also our friend Malachy’s 3rd birthday (thanks to his mom Shay for hipping us to the concert!), so the boys also got to enjoy cupcakes and watermelon courtesy of the birthday boy. The guys had an absolute blast and were so worn out that Finny asked to leave the concert early so they could come home and get ready for bed!

We all missed Dad-o while he was away, but we sure had a nice weekend with lots of activities to keep us busy. We were also a little sad that Dad-o couldn’t be around to party with us, but we did snap some pictures to share with him and with you. (See also some concert/picnic pics from our friend Tara.)

On Monday night as Margot & I were watching a movie, a little blonde man suddenly appeared in the doorway. “I wanted to snuggle with you guys upstairs! I couldn’t find you up there!” he declared. As I escorted him back to bed, he was eager to show me his open door: “This is where I creeped out!” Afterwards as we laid in the sack, he struck up conversation:

“Dad-O, what if your back was broken and there was a hole in it where we put food?”
“Uh… what do you mean, buddy?”
“I mean what if you were a food truck, and I was a table?”
“You were a table…? Where would you be?”
“I’d be in the kitchen, by the stove.” [Duh, dad!]
“Oh… and who would eat off of you?”
“Mom-O and G-Man. [Double duh!] You’d pull up outside, and I’d go out to unload the food.”
“Ah, okay. Would you walk on all fours, like a bear, or regular person-style?”
“I’d walk person-style.”
“Okay. You’d probably have to be careful not to dump off the food when you stood up.”
“Yeah… Hey, what if I was just wearing a table costume, instead of being an actual table?”
“I think that sounds like a pretty good plan, buddy. Okay, ready for some sleep?”
“Sure. May you rub my back first?”
“Sure, pal.”

[Aaand, *scene*]

Recently I decided to try a new strategy on our histrionics-prone Henry. He really seems to enjoy crying at the drop of a hat to express how he’s feeling about things. Don’t like getting your dipe changed? Bring on the caterwauling! Don’t want to eat what you requested for breakfast? Time for crocodile tears! Feel like protesting before your day at preschool? Cue the shrieking. You see where I’m going with this…

Time for a change, I thought to myself. So this weekend, after Henry cried and screamed his way through having his hair washed (as usual), I talked to him about what it might be like if he chose not to cry. l said, “If you could stay cool and calm during hair washing, things would go so smoothly! And quickly! And you could have a treat like an Oreo or something.” He sort of seemed to understand the no crying = treat idea.

Then I thought it might be worth prepping him with the same idea before preschool on Monday. Lately he’s been crying quite a bit at drop off and sporadically during the day. He can be such a sweetheart but he’s starting to become known as “the kid who cries a lot.” Not great. So on Sunday I talked to him a couple times about preschool, and how he could decide to be a happy guy and not cry at preschool. I reminded him how much fun it was, how Finny was always there to help him out, how he could have Ollie if he needed him, and how much the nice Maestras like him. I said “really, there’s no reason to cry, Henry. Preschool is fun, and it will be even more fun if you decide you don’t want to cry, and that you want to enjoy yourself.”

Lo and behold, success! In the car on the way to school, I heard Henry quietly repeating (unprompted!) “I’m not going to cry at preschool.” When we got to school and he was taking his hat and shoes off, he repeated “I’m not going to cry at preschool.” He wailed for a minute when he asked for a snack and I told him we just arrived and it wasn’t snack time yet, but then I encouraged him to go find something fun to do. He quieted right down, went off to play, and after smooches, I departed with zero histrionics! When we came to get the boys yesterday afternoon, I asked Maestra Yolanda how Henry did. She said he had a really good day and she even heard him saying “I’m not going to cry at preschool” a few times. (Apparently he also said “I’m not going to nap at preschool,” but his weary bod won that battle!)

That’s my boy!

[Update: Hen did even better today, not peeping even once in protest when I dropped off the guys! Way to stick the landing, kiddo. As Borat might excitedly say, “Great success!!” –J.]