Saving Electricity

When the sun is out I like to use the natural light as much as I can. I love natural light and it doesn't hurt the electric bill if you know what I'm sayin'. When I went up to make dinner the family room was aglow with natural light. Of course the sun is setting quite early these days and during dinner I had to turn on a light to see. So imagine my surprise when I come downstairs to the family room and find Ryan in a very dark room reading. "Why are you trying to read in the dark?!" I asked. I suppose a stupid question deserves a stupid answer because Ryan very nonchalantly responded, "Because I can."

Learning Curve

I went to say good night to Ryan. This is a time when he often asks very profound questions. Sometimes I wonder if it's because he is trying to get me into a conversation that will last a long time so he can stay up late. Sometimes I think it's just because he thinks about these things when he is by himself.

Tonight's question was not so profound. "Mommy, do you know how to write a cursive D?"
"Yes."
"Will you teach me?"
"Sure, but not right this minute."
"Good. I want to be able to write [my last name] in cursive. I know how to do the scribble after."

If you've seen my signature you probably got a good giggle out of that one;-)

Lego Boy

There is almost always a pile of Legos in our family room. Ryan LOVES them, especially the Star Wars ones. I'm usually pretty impressed when he builds one of those ships. There are a lot of directions and it takes a lot of focus to finish the big ones. He recently bought the Battle of Endor kit with some birthday money and some money he had saved up. It took him 3 consecutive days of working after school to build all the parts. He had so much fun doing it. I don't think I got pictures of it because it "got destroyed" before I had a chance. It was really cool though.
This morning he showed me this...

I'm sure he knows much more about it than I do, but it's the ship Boba Fett uses in the second movie. The thing is, he never got a kit to make it. He did it all on his own, from memory. And I thought I was impressed when he built ships with directions! I'm sure Star Wars purists will have all kinds of things to say about it's inaccuracy, but I think it's pretty impressive.

Little Girl Dolls Make the Difference

Lily and I went to the store together. We were walking by the little girl clothes and Lily feel in love with a dress. It was purple (of course) with a bow on the front and a matching dress for a doll. It was 40% off and I had a gift card so I bought it for her. She was tickled pink. Then I realized all her dolls are babies. Little bald babies. She put the dress on one of her baby dolls happily enough and played with it for a while. Then I remembered something.

I spent the evening digging through boxes and eventually found my old dolls. There are two that I had that were close to the 18" size that is so popular right now, My Friend Jenny and My Friend Becky. So we gave them baths and washed their clothes and Lily has barely put them down since. She takes them everywhere. Jenny stays the closest, but mostly it's both of them. It's so sweet. She's played with dolls before, but this is something else. She absolutely loves them. They are a little skinny for the dress matches her new dress, but she doesn't seem to mind at all (she's a little skinny for most of her clothes, too!) She mostly has them in the outfits they had on from when I was a kid. 

The other day I noticed her dolls didn't have shoes on. I thought it was just like her other baby dolls- sometimes they just don't have anything on and it's no big deal. Then we went to leave the house and of course the dolls had to come with us. She grabbed her dolls and ran to her cubby to put her shoes on and I saw this...

Isn't that just the sweetest thing you've ever seen? I didn't make a big deal (I took the picture later when she wasn't around). I just waited to see what happened. When we came back she took off her shoes and took off the doll shoes and lined them all up again. She's melting my heart, that girl! I think she may be ready for her own big girl doll soon! It's a big moment. I'd better start saving now! I wonder if I should let her decide which big girl doll to pick or just pick one I love. My favorite was Samantha and she's not available anymore. Maybe Lily and I can pick out a new favorite together. This calls for a trip to the library.

Pants Weather

The battleground has been set. It's fall and the weather is cooling off, but my son doesn't seem to think so. Early this week it was pretty cold. I am admittedly a cold wimp, so I had my coat on and I was feeling comfortable. Ryan, however, insists he will be warm in shorts. Every day I walk to the bus stop with a sweatshirt in hand and try to convince him he wants to wear it. One day he even put it on before we left the house! He had goosebumps on his legs that day because he wore shorts and it was freezing. I told him the next day he needed to wear pants. He agreed as he stood there covered in goosebumps at the bus stop. Just for the record I told him he could go home and change and I would drive him to school. He wanted to ride the bus. So I told him I would bring pants to his school. He said no, it would be embarrassing. I brought them anyway. He didn't change.

So the next morning when he got up I reminded him that he should wear pants that day. I left to go make his lunch. When I walked by his room this is what I saw...

I thought it was pretty hilarious, so I took these pictures. Then I made him really put the pants on. I wasn't really paying attention to the fact that his broken dresser drawer was sitting in the background overflowing. I really need to send in the paperwork to get that fixed. Sometimes it's the moments that matter, not the surroundings.