Discussions

Overhead on our walk today: Finn: “You know, Dawn got credit for watching three crazy kids, but they weren’t that crazy. All that happened was one kid got lost and that was an accident. I’m not so sure she is the best babysitter because the kids weren’t that hard to watch.

Finn and Rhys were having a lively discussion on who was the best sitter from the Babysitter’s Club graphic series they are currently immersed in. They found many aspects to consider, such as how often they sit, how they treat the kids, and if they are safety conscious. They decided to rank them, and they both were very opinionated on how they were to order all BSC members.

Happy Birthday Rhys

We had a slow easy going day. I felt annoyed at myself for not having decorations and gifts ready for him in the morning. “It’s okay” he said,”you can wrap them now!” I started to prep when he decided he’d rather just open the shipping boxes instead.

We got him small and medium sized figures of Godzilla and King Kong characters; the boys immediately brought them down to play together on the ping pong table.

Later in the afternoon we went to the silver playground, then came home and took turns hitting or punching the video game controller Pinata. After we dug into a delicious meal of Fettuccine Alfredo and cake with candles for everyone. They all wanted to put on their own toppings; Rhys was too excited to eat before sprinkles. Lighting the candles led to melting crayons in a metal bowl, to which the boys were ecstatic about.

It was such a wonderful experience for me to slow down and watch how the small things made Rhys happy today. In the past, when I would try to have things more polished and proper, Rhys would get overwhelmed by the attention. I remember him not wanting us to sing happy birthday, but this year he welcomed it a couple times ❤️.

Throughout the day I gave him little squeezes and said wow your first day of being six! He responded “yeah I feel really special, I don’t know how but I feel like things are different.”. Our baby Rhys is now six. ❤️

Happy street

Bo loves walking along the busier streets in our neighborhood. He has started calling them “happy streets.” Today I asked him: “do you want to walk along the busy street?”. And he exclaimed “No, it’s happy street!” I think happy streets make him happy, or perhaps he sees them as being lively, happy places to be. I do enjoy wondering how his mind thinks and feels about his happy streets.

Bo’s play soundtrack

Bo loves his cars and trucks. He plays with them most of the day, and is increasingly only interested in playing trucks with Rhys. And Rhys enjoys it too, for the most part.

Bo has very particular ideas of how he wants his playtime to go, and that includes the soundtrack His current requests are “Wheels on the truck go round and round,” “Farmer had a dog his name was Bingo” and “Baa baa (enter the color of car he has in his hand) sheep”. He also asks for various Blippi songs. Once we start singing, he starts playing. I love this so much.

A ha

I had a lovely moment with Finn that I will cherish forever. I grabbed his hand, ushered him into the kitchen and invited him to make pizza with me. As I got out ingredients he sang a line from “Take on me” and I lit up. I immediately put the song on and we sang, danced and laughed uncontrollably while assembling pizza. It was perfection.

Ice cream truck

Bo and I had our first imaginary role play at the park. He stood next to a structure that looks like a counter, and he said “it’s an ice cream truck!” I immediately came up and ordered ice cream. He gave me so many different delicious flavors and styles of ice cream, and I paid him his coins. It made my heart full.

Hugs

My mornings with Bo are achingly sweet. He nurses upon waking, and some days he will wrap around me when he’s finished and says in his sweet voice “let’s do hugs”. We spend our time hugging and nuzzling, “getting cozies”. I melt everytime.

Choosing different things

We had a family friend’s birthday party to go to at the beach, and so we needed to make a plan for who and when would go. There were a few logistics to balance, and Michael and I tried to come up with scenarios that would work best. At the end of our list, I said let’s ask the boys and see what they think.

When I presented a couple options to Finn and Rhys they each chose a different way. I asked them how we could work it out, and Rhys said “Actually, I don’t want to go. I want to stay home with Dadoo.”. This was not something we had thought of beforehand, and not something I would have guessed Rhys would want. After he said it, all plans clicked into place and the logistics were solved!

This was one of the first times Rhys has chosen to do something different than his big brother Finn. He loves being with Finn, and would sometimes give up his wants to appease Finn. Slowly over the months I have seen small shifts, because Rhys grows more independent.

And Finn having more of his own time has helped deepen his interests and understanding of himself. It was always a tricky balance navigating both of their needs engine they were basically inseparable. Finn wasn’t often verbal about what he wanted for quite a time, but now he too is getting more verbal about needing space. It feels like a natural progression that they came to on their own timeline.

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