This afternoon was overcast yet pleasant, so Fuller and I spent time playing with bubbles and running around the yard. A steady breeze was blowing and I suddenly heard Damon’s voice in my mind, “You should get the kite out.”

I brought out the kite and immediately knew it would fly, but our yard wasn’t the place to do it. Too many trees and power lines. So we headed back inside to grab jackets and walk to the park. Before we made it out the back door, Damon came home and decided to join us on our attempt at kite flying.

You should always let the three year old hold the kite. It is even better if the kite is almost as big as him.

The three year old might not know exactly how to throw the kite into the air, so you might have to take over just to show him how to do it.

And Daddy looks awesome when the kite soars through the air.

Or not.

After several attempts, the wind picked up and we were able to get the kite in the air.

Fuller was amazed and eventually “helped” with the string.

Damon had full control.

Well, we thought Damon had full control.

We Damon tried and tried, but it was never freed from the tree. Fuller was temporarily dismayed, but we told him we can go visit the kite in the tree tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: family outing, kite flying

Well, our overnight trip to Auburn has been considered a success. We were able to get to Auburn by 7:30, had a sweet visit with Grandma Great, enjoyed some time with cousins, played outside, and watched some football!

We were pleased with the weather. It stayed so sunny and hot all day, making the rain gear we lugged around a bit of a bother. But we were pleased we also remembered sunscreen (except one triangle of skin on my neck, which is a bit of a bother).

Since we took this trip as a test run for how things will run when we start going to Auburn games in the fall, we were able to see room for improvement but realize being Auburn fans in Auburn is totally doable. It was a great taste of what the next football season will look like. Right now we are planning to go to at least 5 games.

Fuller had a ball visiting with Grandma Great and playing with the toys there. Grandma has a tea set she played with as a child and Fuller was totally getting into playing tea party. Damon taught Fuller to serve tea (or coffee) to me while saying, “Here you go, madame.” It was so much fun.

A good trip was had by all.

Technorati Tags: family travel, Auburn A Game

Today’s goals are pushing us toward a road trip. When Damon gets off work we are heading down to Auburn to visit with Grandma-Great. And tomorrow should find us on the sidelines of the Auburn A game, checking out the prospects for the 2008-2009 season.

It will be a whirlwind trip since we leave today and return tomorrow, so we can teach Sunday School. But it will be a good test run for the Fall, since we will be making the trip to Auburn home games at least 5 times.

The last year we have traveled lots and lots, so we should becoming seasoned pros at this. And we are. But we have never done a dash kind of road trip before, so I’ll be interested in observing the following: How Fuller adjusts to the fast pace of travel, how quickly I recover from a quick Auburn trip, and exactly how much laundry we create in one over night trip (because it always seems like more to me).

Technorati Tags: family travel, Auburn A game

Fuller needed shoes. We were in Wal-Mart where we found the shoes, tired on the shoes, boxed up the shoes, and started to walk away with the shoes. I was carrying the shoes and Fuller was fussing about not getting to carry the shoes.

“I do it!” was Fuller’s rallying cry. So I gave him the box, and he immediately fussed about the box being closed. And as he fussed, he tried to pry the lid off the box causing an avalanche of shoes, box parts, and paper. With an aggravated look and tone of voice, I asked Fuller to pick up the box (”Don’t argue!” being my rallying cry).

This is the moment a woman from the in-store bank decided it would be perfect for her to interrupt my parenting to tell me about their new checking accounts. I could get $50 if I opened a checking account with them. Or $100 could be donated to the charity of my choice.

When her commercial ended, Fuller had picked up the shoes and box, but he was now fussing with a new urgency and complaining about his finger. After Mommy inspection, it was determined that somehow, somewhere, Fuller had sliced his index finger and it was now bleeding on his hand. It wasn’t a massive amount of blood, and it wasn’t dripping in some horror movie manner. But it disturbed Fuller to no end and suddenly he didn’t care about carrying his new shoes.

I made Fuller walk through the store with his finger pointed in the air. I didn’t want his finger to bleed more and I didn’t want him touching stuff in the store.

We made our way to the pharmacy and we found band-aids (he picked Batman) and Neosporin to go. After purchasing our three items, I placed Fuller on a bench and doctored him up the best I could.

I guess I did well because as we walked out of the store, while his hand was still raised (because he just kept looking at the band-aid) he told a total stanger, “I feel better now!”

When I buy shoes for myself, it is never this exciting.

Fuller has a bad habit of arguing with us when we ask/ tell him to do something. When we ask/ tell him to do something, he immediately launches into “But…” This past weekend Damon and I both realized (almost at the same time) we were tired of it, and have started combating the behavior.

He isn’t really getting the idea of “argue” and I was wondering how you combat this kind of behavior with your kid(s)?

I remember having a vivid imagination as a kid, creating my own world to live and play in. I would have imaginary friends and siblings to talk to, imaginary places to be, and imaginary careers to participate in.

Watching Fuller develop his own imagination has been thrilling. He plays with his cars, talks for people who aren’t there, and recently has decided his bathroom is an elevator.

While we were in Atlanta Fuller was encouraged to get to the elevator quickly and push the buttons. And I guess when we got home he saw the similarity between the sliding elevator doors and the sliding pocket door and the bathroom became the elevator. And now, when Fuller has to go to the bathroom, he stops at the door, presses an imaginary button and waits before opening the door.

Tomorrow it might be a rocket ship, but for now, I’m happy to let him pretend he’s in a elevator.

Over the weekend someone (not related to us) said “It has been so fun watching Fuller grow up.” I agreed and launched into my proud-mother routine. I rambled on and on about how Fuller has calmed down since around January. He still has plenty of energy and seems like he is in constant motion, but really there seems to be more focus in Fuller’s life.

Example: He sits still longer in church, sometimes making it all the way through the service with no melt down (or candy).

Example: He will sit, listen to a book, and then talk about the book later.

Example: We went to the aquarium with Aunt Stina today and Fuller sat on the floor during a scuba diving demonstration. He didn’t make it all the way through the demonstration, but it was the first time he ever showed any interest in watching.

It is fun to watch Fuller grow and change. It’s all coming into focus.

Technorati Tags: childhood development, three years old

I just looked out the window and realized it is snowing. Damon got a sunburn on his neck Saturday (he mowed the grass and did some prettying up in the yard). We had a fire on the patio Friday night. And now it is snowing.

Can I find a cave somewhere and hibernate until Spring really gets here?