Delayed gratification

Reece, on Color Wonder markers:
"You have to wait a couple of hours until the color comes out."

Really, it's a couple of seconds, but in his world it's all the same.

Someone here just turned 4

It's hard to believe that Reece is four years old. He's no longer a toddler and is now a preschooler, which seems like a big milestone to me. Everything moves faster with the second child, I think. He got a sticker and crown to wear at school, both of which he insisted on wearing at home until bedtime. This is my first attempt to imbed a video on the blog, and in previewing it I realized what poor quality it is, so I apologize. I have to dig out the manual to my camera and figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Two entirely different children

I recently watched a family video from when Greyson was 3 1/2. During one clip, it is evening and Greyson is clearly tired. He is sitting in my lap on the floor in the kitchen of our rented house in NC, crying and talking at the same time, saying he's hungry and wants a sandwich but on DIFFERENT bread. I explain to him that we don't have different bread, he cries a little more, and then says "Give me a hug". We cuddle, and he settles down and eats a string cheese he's been holding. The entire scene lasts for maybe 2 minutes. If I remember correctly, this happened maybe twice a month, at most.

Cut to our lives today with another 3 1/2 year old. The above scene times 20 in intensity and length plays out almost daily and often multiple times a day, with no warning or rhyme or reason for whatever triggers the blow-ups. One day I do something and it's fine, the next day it's ALL WRONG and causes yelling and crying and gnashing of teeth. Reece turns 4 on Tuesday, and I am so hoping that a magical transformation will occur on or near that date, because I feel I'm aging years with every day! I am planning on videotaping the next meltdown so we can view it in another 5 years when we have some perspective and (hopefully) no more tantrums. And to show him why we can't pay for his college since all our money is going to keeping me comfortable at a mental institution.

To remind us there is sun, somewhere

A few photos from our recent trip to Florida. I'm hoping just looking at them will give me enough daily vitamin D to stave off any seasonal affective disorder!

Good news for the new year

For anyone who doesn't know, we've been planning some major renovations for the house, including tearing down the garage, extending the mudroom and putting a bedroom above it, attaching a new garage to the mudroom, and renovating the master bath. Our town is known for being strict on architectural changes and deviating from what already exists, so we had to petition both the architectural review board and the zoning committee to get approval for all this. And as you've probably already guessed, we received approval from both as of today. Yippee! It's really thanks to our architect and our neighbors on either side that it all went smoothly. Now we just have to convince the bank to lend us the money...