Cash is Syphr's best friend. It might not be noticeable when he is screaming "NO CASH!!!" in his angry voice, but he really does love his friend. They like to play together, yet know exactly what to do to make the other crazy. It wasn't until recently that Cash really figured out what would make Syphr the most angry, and he was spot on. The thing that steams Syphr up most is when Cash touches his babies. Often, Cash will wait until Syphr turns his back, grab a baby and run while periodically looking back, waiting for Syphr to notice and chase him down. Sy regains possession of his baby and all is well again.
On this particular day, I told Syphr at snack time that Cash was coming over to play. His eyes grew wide and he said, "yay! Cash!!" as he looked out the window to see if he could spot him toddling down the sidewalk. Then, his head made a very sharp shift to the right, he got out of his chair almost in a panic and ran to the slide where his babies were taking a nap. He grabbed all four babies in his arms, climbed up the rock wall to the top of the slide, still clinging to all babies, and still with wide eyes. The top of the slide is the perfect spot to watch out the open window. He gave me a quick glance, and must have been worried I was not as on guard as he was, because, at that moment, Syphr said his first complete two sentence exclamation.
playing in the bath tub until well after the water is all gone and his body is just about dry.
Trains. The only thing that tops a plain old train is a show about dinosaurs riding in trains. Syphr calls that show "hoo-hoo roar"
lightening mcqueen
bugs. Both of my other kids have been timid around bugs. Syphr just wants to stomp on them, poke them or eat them.
binkas (yuh-yuhs). I'm in the process of taking them away in the day. Usually I give in after 2 hours of him screaming "yuh-yuh mama! get it!"
his "bebe" which is a small cabbage patch doll wearing a tiger costume. He once lost his baby and walked around the house yelling "BEEEEEBEEEEE!" The next time we were at target I snagged another one and gave it to him and he would not stop hugging and kissing it. The kid sure loves his baby.
Ashton, or E as Syphr calls him. If Ashton does it, says it, likes it, looks at it, wants it, etc. Sy does also.
bubbles
putting clothes in the dryer and pushing the button to start it up
choosing his own clothes.
riding in the big part of the cart.
Dislikes:
Talan. I don't think Talan has graduated off this list yet. As Syphr is getting older he really wants to do everything Talan does, but he also doesn't want Tal to see, hear, speak, or acknowledge him in any way. When Talan does interrupt his bubble, which happens on purpose several times a day, Sy will scream "no!!!" or "Talan...go AWAY!!"
being told no.
just about every type of food that is good for you.
Having help with any task. He is a very independent little guy.
Talents:
Angry screaming. You know, the kind of scream that comes from within, where you have to stop, take a breath and your fists start shaking slightly while the noise coming out of your mouth lets everyone around know you mean business. Usually Talan is involved when this screaming happens.
Being left handed. As a right handed person, it is crazy to think people can actually make their left hands work with enough control to write legibly. I am currently 99% sure Syphr is left handed. Even when a writing utensil is put in his right hand he moves it to his left before scribbling.
Climbing. It is so nice to be able to sit at the playground and not worry about his whereabouts every second.
Syphr is a master of snuggles.
He tried so hard to hold up two fingers. On the other hand, he is really good at saying two.
Birthday breakfast consisted of cinnamon rolls with chocolate frosting.
Then presents. There are 3 things Syphr loves most in the world. Pack-packs (backpacks), babies, and firetrucks. After he opened 3 presents each containing one of those favorite things he was done with presents. When asked if he would like to open his next present he would very boldly say, "no!"
It seriously took Syphr 15 minutes to open this one present.
I had this brilliant idea to give Syphr more baby friends for his birthday. Two hours after the babies had been opened I realized I did not fully think of the fact Sy would want to carry all 4 babies around all the time.
Our afternoon consisted of playing at the park. Sy has a new found love of swings. He had been swinging for a good 10 minutes and I asked him if he would like to get down and go play on the slides and he said, "no mommy...play swings"
All day today Sy was bringing me Kraft Mac and Cheese and saying, "cook!" So, that is what we did.
And just so you know when I say angry scream I am not exaggerating:
I've never had a kid do that. Really, I find it quite funny, but only laugh in my head because heads would roll if he knew I thought he was funny.
We sure do love our Syphr. His personality has grown so much in the last year. He is now a very opinionated, strong, daring, silly, funny, mimicking, doesn't back down kind of guy. I love every second of his floppiness, wobbly running, poofy cheeks, and snuggles. He is the perfect final edition to our family.
"I KNOW ANOTHER REASON I SHOULDN'T GET MY HAIR CUT!!!! Look!!! It holds my wand!!!"
Thank you, Harry Potter, for not only teaching my kid really useful defense skills, but also for leading him to believe he is actually a wizard, and this chopstick he found in the silverware drawer is now fully capable of carrying out his magical spells whenever necessary.
Although I am still in slight denial, so much that it has taken me 2 days to write this post, Ashton has turned ten. There is something that grips you into reality when your child hits a milestone, and double digits is definitely a big milestone. One that Ashton has been looking forward to.
Ashton actually had 3 birthdays this year. He had a three month early birthday present when we switched phone companies and he was graced with an iPhone. Then when Brad was here we had his fake birthday so we could celebrate this big year all together. And now, the real deal.
And so I sit here, with these realizations:
In 8 years Ashton will be heading off for a mission or college.
In 6 years he can date
In 5 years he is going to start learning to drive
In 1 year we will be well in the middle of preteen status.
He is to the point now where I can't really teach him much more. I can be an example to him, but he's needs to start making his own choices, and making his own mistakes.
I believe the next decade will be quite the ride, and quite the learning curve for both of us. But I'm sure I will have a lot more to say about that as the years pass.
As for now, where it all began, here is how we started our day:
I was waiting in the hall for at least 30 minutes for Ashton to finish doing ninja moves and talking to himself before he actually opened the door.
Then he came downstairs after many more ninja moves, and trying out spells that were supposed to do things like brush his teeth for him. They didn't work.
He was greeted with an omelet, and bacon in the shape of a 10. How this boy loves his bacon!
Starting with a clue in his lunchbox, I then sent Ashton on a 10 clue scavenger hunt to find his present. It was fun to think of hard clues for him, and while he figured out most of the clues with no help, being the boy he is, was not very good and looking for the piece of paper with the next number on it once he was in the right spot.
After clues we ditched the small boys and found Ashton some of the best shrimp in town. If it isn't bacon he is constantly asking for, it is shrimp.
Pre shrimp
Post shrimp coma
I'm so glad Ashton came out of his shrimp coma in time for ice cream. This year Ashton requested and ice cream sandwich cake, which is delicious if you have not tried it.
After the small boys went to bed I sat down with Ashton and did a birthday interview. I was going to ask him the questions and type them in this blog, but I can't write his cleverness and sarcasm. So, this year we did a video, and this video is just so classically Ashton. Coming in at just under 20 minutes, I won't hold it against you if you skip out early. (except you grandparents. You must endure until the end.)
I love his sarcasm. I love his whit. I love that he is a science geek and would probably think a pocket protector is awesome and would most likely start wearing shirts with pockets just to accommodate the pocket protector. I love that he is such a great big brother. I love that he loves to help. I love that he is trustworthy. I love that he is responsible.....90% of the time. I love how clever he is. I love that I can have a normal conversation with him. I love that he loves school. I love how excited he gets about Harry Potter. I love how that most of the time he does chores without a complaint. I love how particular he is about what he wears, yet hardly ever matches. I love that he loves to read. I love that he doesn't care too much about girls yet. I love that he is so smart. I love that he can make his own breakfast. I love he plays the sax. I love that he loves to play the sax. How lucky are we that this kid is ours.
Our family waited patiently for eight months for the two bitter sweet weeks Brad could come home for a visit. Two weeks that was filled with tons of fun, two birthday celebrations, 900 miles on our brand new car, and went by in the blink of an eye.
We were lucky enough to have great friends to offered to watch our kids overnight so we could get away for my birthday. This is the first birthday for me in the past four years that I've been able to celebrate with Brad by my side, so I'm glad we were able to do something big. We spent our time in Annapolis, MD taking a super awesome kayaking tour which we plan to do again later in the year with all the kids.
Best birthday view. Vibes on my feet, a ladybug hitching a ride on my toes, and really funny tour guides with tons of useless facts (as well as interesting ones) about the city. A must do if you're planning a trip there.
This view is much better than my toes. Brad was in charge of steering. We only bumped another kayak a couple times.
We spent an afternoon in Baltimore at the aquarium, which never fails to be awesome.
We celebrated Ashton's 10th birthday a bit early. He played hooky from school, and we headed back to Baltimore to play at the Children's Science Museum. Ashton loves everything science, and even chose the museum over a night at Great Wolf Lodge. Everything was hands on, and there was something to do for all the kids...and even us parents. Ashton says his favorite part of the museum was the planetarium. We learned about constellations at the planetarium, and as soon as the light went back on Ashton was asking to go back in an hour for the next presentation about Black Holes. I truly love my science geek.
Syphr was hesitant about this bed of nails so he made his babies lay on it first. They survived so he decided to give it a try.
We took almost daily family walks on the trail.
We hiked around Roosevelt island at Talan's request.
Ashton, who deemed himself the leader of the hike, also gave himself the nickname 'awesome huge rock finder'...because you know, those huge rocks are super hard to find.
We built towers with the greatest diamond in the rough find on craigslist, a huge bucket of bottle caps
And then it was over.
The two week visit is always bitter sweet. We love the time he can be here with us, but it is also just another goodbye. The good news is in four months we won't have to say goodbye again for hopefully a long time. The countdown is on!
Talan has spent his day pestering Syphr in every way possible. Poking him, taking something of Syphr's, like say his baby, and holding it high enough so the toddler can't get it, loading all the trains in his shirt so once the train track was built Syphr would have nothing to drive on it. One time when I said, "Talan, please leave your brother be." he replied with, "but, I'm annoying him right now."
Syphr has spent his day screaming at the top of his lungs every time Talan so much as looked at him wrong. I'm surprised his voice still works.
In the last 4 days I have attempted to lock my keys in the car more than once (luckily my car is smarter than me and prevents this from happening), left my house keys in the deadbolt overnight, forgotten about an appt that I knew was coming, and almost burned my kitchen down twice (in the same day). At the end of what seems to be the weekend my sanity called it quits, it does not surprise me that it is 8:17 on Easter evening and I have just realized I did not take one photo of us all fancied up, easter egg hunting, or silly string fighting. Good thing I had this picture of my handsome guys so I don't feel the desire to wake two thirds of them from their slumber to recreate our should have been Easter photo.
Our first day of spring break this year was spent at the farm. Not only was this farm awesome with a carousel, and hay ride, but it also was home to several babies born in the last few months. I much prefer the look, and smell, of baby farm animals.
I think everyones favorite part of the farm was feeding the cows. And even better for the farmers, the kids were de-weeding the field next to the cows. I'm not sure they were supposed to be eating half the things kids were feeding them, but it isn't every day you get to feed a cow, so I'm sure the cows will survive.
At the risk of sounding like the worst parent ever I am going to admit, I really love that one day a year where it is okay to make your kids cry. Okay, that sounds pretty awful, but here is how I see it. I listen to whining, mocking, fighting, crying, talking back every day of the year. I've earned the right to trick Talan out of donuts that he had been waiting to eat for over 12 hours, or to fill the toothpaste with green tinted mustard. And it is surprising how accomplished I feel after pulling off a well thought out prank.
I still don't understand Ashton. After a morning of knowing it was April Fools day, knowing I was coming for him at some point, noticing his toothbrush looked a little different (I had put food coloring on it, but alas he noticed and got a new one.), I thought as he said, "this toothpaste smells like pickled relish." he would have figured it out. I couldn't even stand near him because I couldn't fight the laughter from this kid who seemed to be un-prankable. For sure he was going to ask if his odd smelling toothpaste was an april fools joke. Instead he threw caution to the wind and started brushing. Moments later, with huge eyes and very shallow breathing, he realized he was brushing his teeth with an unknown substance that was for sure not toothpaste. He hates mustard.
I thought I was getting off scott free. Then we went to the park, and a friend of ours told Ashton he needed to step his game up. He could not let a mom win the prank war. So that is what he did with a roll of duck tape in hand. That is my kind of kid.
At the end of the day, I would like to say I won, but I have no idea. There was an ongoing prank extravaganza in our house. Ashton's best prank of the day was waiting until the evening hours rolled around, and I was tired, and done with the day, to start his seemingly never ending run of April Fools Fun.
He did get the last word as he left his phone outside my bedroom door with an extremely annoying alarm set to go off at 1030. Nice one kid....nice one.
