Mind of His Own

Alexander got in big trouble the other day. The incident involved a parking lot, running away, and his little sister following him. Oh, and a bunch of yelling on my part.

Later, when we talked about it, he admitted that he shouldn't have run away, but he was angry because he wanted to get to the car a different way than I did. The conversation was going along fine until...

...I tried to get him to acknowledge that he should listen to his parents (and do what we say) even when he disagrees. I said that we can always discuss things later but if I yell to him, "Come back here right now!" he needs to do it.

It took quite a bit of talking and over an hour of sitting in a chair and thinking, but finally he managed to repeat after me: "I will listen to my parents, even if I think differently."

I could tell he didn't mean it. I felt dubious about the good of making him say it, but at least I could pretend to call it good, as if I had won. Ha.

A couple of days later, we were reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume and came to this part just after Peter promises his mother he won't call his little brother "Fang" anymore:

"But secretly, whenever I look at him, I think it. My brother, Fang Hatcher! Nobody can stop me from thinking. My mind is my own."

When I read that line, Alexander got an evil little grin on his face, and I knew he was remembering our earlier conversation. I knew he was thinking, "They can make me say it, but they can't make me think it."

Isn't he supposed to be a bit older before figuring that out?

First Poop...

...in the potty, that is. And it's not actually the first. She's had little plops here and there that made it into the potty, mostly by accident. This was the first time that she came running down the hall yelling, "Poop! Poop!"

"Do you have a poopy diaper?" I ask.

"Poop! Potty!"

"Quick!" I say. "Let's go to the bathroom."

Off we rush, down the hall. But she stops suddenly.

"Book!" she says and runs back to the living room to grab her favorite potty book, Everyone Poops. (For the record, her favorite potty books are In a People House, Goodnight Moon, Mi Amor Por Ti, and Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?)

Back in the bathroom, we get halfway through the second book before I realize she's done it. She's pooped in the potty!

We'll see how quickly it progresses from here, but I'm betting she'll be out of her night diaper before her brother.

A Lovely Visit Comes to an End

Jeanni and Carel flew back to the Netherlands today, and it was a sad sad time--walking out of the airport and driving back home. We stopped at IKEA for a little fun, but my heart wasn't in it. I just needed to be sad for a while.

But it was a lovely visit. They stayed with us for a week, went off for 3 weeks to tour the amazing sights of the western US, then returned to spend the last week with us.

We spent lots of normal time together. Carel would bike with Alexander to school in the morning. We took walks around the neighborhood. And of course, there was lots and lots of playing with the kids.

We even got to share some special occasions. We went to Bauman's Farm to experience the crazy American harvest festival celebration. (Carel is pretty handy with an apple slingshot.) And they were here for Halloween too. Annabel wore a flamenco outfit they brought from Barcelona and Alexander went as a kangaroo.

As you can see, Alexander ate a lot of candy:

And of course, there were pannekoeken dinners, and lovely clothes for the kids from Jeanni, and books galore! I am so happy to have so many Dutch books in the house. Most of them I can actually read aloud without sounding like I'm in elementary school.

And what will the kids hang on to? Annabel will no doubt keep asking us for a certain fingerplay that begins: "Daar komt een muisje aangelopen..."

And she now knows the Dutch word "botsing," which means collision. She'll be bumping and crashing into things for months to come, always ending with a gleeful, "botsing!"

As for Alexander, he got heaps of attention from his oma and opa. He'll remember sleeping in the motor home with them, reading lots of stories, and playing trains. He's already talking about how "next time, when I go to visit my oma and opa, we're going to...."

He's got big plans, big plans. They involve the ballenbak, a certain boat, feeding ducks, sleeping in his own room, and of course, snoep (candy).

Jeanni and Carel, we miss you!