Hyper? Who's Hyper?

It didn't feel like the days of sweltering heat and humidity were ever going to end just a few weeks ago, but now that we've had a couple of actually cool days, I guess it's official. Summer is closing up shop. But before we have to pack away the shorts and t-shirts, we're making the most of it.

My childhood friend and her son came over one Saturday morning to hang out. I had these strange hallucinations misconceptions that the boys would play while we'd relax and drink coffee. Pfft. The boys, mine mostly, had other notions. Evan hasn't really had many non-family kids over to the house before, for whatever reason, so I didn't realize he'd get territorial and ... crazy. Ah, the perils of an only child unused to sharing. Poor Simon who is not quite 2 yet is so quiet and reserved compared to Evan.

So what did Evan do? He showed him how to do this:



Simon's a fast learner.



Sorry, Heidi.

For reasons you might guess, I don't often give my kid more reason to go crazy than what he naturally possesses. There are plenty of studies that have shown there's no link to sugar and candy making kids hyper, but it doesn't mean Evan won't get excited about getting sweets. His love affair with Smarties is well-known and it's still a weekday reward for good school reports. But for some reason I had never let him participate in the classic childhood experience of licking the bowl after making cake or brownies. This is probably more a testament to my baking skills than it is a healthy parenting choice. But a couple of weeks ago I went to the grocery hungry and bought, among other fattening choices, brownie mix. And Evan finally got to check this one off his "to do" list.





You're only a kid once. Sometimes you have to indulge.

Pals

You know how you tell people, "hey, let's have lunch sometime" and then forget to follow through or think there's plenty of time? Or is that just me? I'll admit I had plenty of good intentions on daily drop offs and pick ups at school to plan a play date for Evan. Then, life happens and one day I realized I hadn't seen Evan's best friend, Teddy, at school in a while. Now I know how fickle toddler friendships can be, but Evan and Teddy have been peas in a pod for a while. They went through a phase around age 2 where they swapped shoes and I'd have to check on pick up to make sure Evan had on the same pair I sent him in. The teachers would tell funny stories of their antics and email us pictures occasionally. Seriously, how cute is this?

Wearing Christmas hats, ~2 1/2 years old



Thankfully I had Amy's (Teddy's mom) email, so better late than never I sent a message to see if Teddy had left and she suggested a play date. They were even nice enough to host us at their place because they'd just bought one of those inflatable water slides and we could let the kids wear themselves out. We actually got to talk while the kids played (a bonus us parents of only children seldom see). Dan quickly discovered a kindred spirit in Brian, who is equally addicted to fantasy baseball. Amy and I commiserated over being baseball widows half the year. We talked about the taboo topics of politics and religion and everyone survived! How does that happen? Very cool people.

So a few weeks later I suggested we meet up at the Zoo and splash park since the kids had such fun in the water the last time. I'm determined to get one of those water slides when we move. This time I brought my camera.







Do they practice synchronized standing?



Oh yeah, and we walked around to see the animals.





Guess who didn't know I was taking their picture? I'm a sucker for father-son stuff like this.

Happy Birthday, Liam!

The baby of the family (on my side) just turned three years old. Liam's a pretty awesome kid. Ridiculously cute blonde curls, piercing blue eyes, and a grin that could melt your heart. Although he doesn't yet speak, he lets us all know what he thinks and how clever he really is.

Yeah, Dad, you read the card, I'm in charge of the gift unwrapping.



For my next trick...



Foiled! Oh well, there's still cake.



We tend to only make the boy brand in my family (though in truth, two in this wild bunch are friends).









Happy BIG 3, Little Liam. XOXO