Meet "Dutch"

In the last few months, James has started naming his "pets" (um, yes, he calls his stuffed animals pets).  Of course, his train engines have always been referred to by name, even those that aren't officially from the Island of Sodor, but rather are the faceless type from Ikea.

Well, he did name Burnsey the Duck sometime last winter or so, but then stopped talking about him so much.  (I think maybe that was around the time Ezra was born.  I do recall that Burnsey was treated like a baby; James rocked him, swaddled him, put him to bed...)
You can see Burnsey (from behind) in this photo from the summer of 2010:

But the more recently named pets include Knuffle Bunny:

and Trixie (both of whom owe their names to Mo Willems).  Here Trixie is sleeping in the Pack and Play (which we had out when some friends were visiting with their one year old).

There is also "Grown-up Trixie" who sometimes even is said to have a baby in her belly.

Of course you know Woody, but James has taken to calling him "Tootsies" recently.  You can see him hiding behind Zumi the puppy here.

Speaking of Zumi the puppy, he went by the name "Puppy" for quite a long time.  Then last month when we were in Greenville, he was "James the Puppy" (not to be confused with James Lepori or "James the Grown Up," mommy's cousin, shown holding him below).  Not long after arriving back in NJ, he became Zumi and has been so consistently ever since.

And here are Gretchen, Frank and Ezra M'Jen.  Ezra M'Jen is waving the checkered flag, and I believe Frank is telling Gretchen that her helmet is not on properly:

It may be worth noting that these three were named almost immediately upon James receiving them as a half-birthday/baptism anniversary gift from Auntie Ali and Uncle Preston.

Oh, and there's Marie whom you may recall was named after James saw "Aristocats."

And also Murdoch the cat, whom you may remember if you're my facebook friend.  James said that Murdoch would be a "real pet" if we colored him with chalk:

But, this blog post is titled "Meet 'Dutch'."
Where's Dutch?
Right here!

James's First Day in the Threes

This post is a few weeks overdue.  Oops.

James has settled into his new classroom with Ms. Lisa.  He was thrilled to see all his friends again, though he regularly tells me that his favorite tracks are in the twos room.

During the first week of school, there was a lot of wistful talk of the twos room, as well as much jubilation when I'd arrive to pick James up from school.  Now, however, he's returned to his more typical afternoon greeting of, "Mommy, wait!  Don't come yet!  I have to finish _________."  You can fill in the blank with whatever activity he's doing-- reading a book, playing with this toy, listening to this story, having a snack, playing with my friends...

Here's James in his new classroom on the first day (Sept. 7th):

 James and Daddy in the Threes Room (Sept. 7th)-

 James finds a toy tractor in the Threes Room.

Unfortunately, there's not a full body shot of his cute little first day of school outfit, but alas.

My Little Cherub

A few weeks ago James got a postcard in the mail inviting him to the first Cherub Choir (ages 3-6) rehearsal of the year at church.  That rehearsal was last Wednesday.

When I went to pick him up from school, he was still on his nap mat, and was quite grumpy about getting up.  He then got upset because he didn't want to miss snack, specifically the cookies that were on the counter.  He said, "When all the mommies and daddies get here, we can have cookies for snack!"  Actually, the cookies were for the mommies and daddies, but for Back to School Night that evening, not for the kids at all.  After much crying and carrying on, I finally got him to the car.  Where there was more crying and carrying on.

"This is going to be great," I thought. 

We made it to church on time, and went inside to find the two super-nice directors and the other children.  James got to pick a smiley face and put his name on it (he asked Mommy to help) as well as a sticker for his attendence.  He told me not to leave (the other mommies left), so I sat behind him.  Well, partway into the first song, he yelled out, "Mommy!" and ran back to me.  Then I sat next to him in the little semi-circle of cherubs.  And I knew the song quite well by the end of rehearsal; meanwhile, he wasn't singing at all.

The children's choirs perform once a month, on Family Sunday (which is the third Sunday of the month).  The way the calendar worked, that meant that the cherubs would be singing in church Sunday after their first rehearsal!  I wasn't sure how that would fly with James, but the two directors assured me, his timidity was completely normal, and that some kids had even cried through their entire first practice(s).

For the rest of the week, I tried to practice the song with James, but any time I started to sing it, he'd tell me to stop.  Okay.

Sunday morning came, and we all got ready for church.  When we got there, we walked downstairs with James, and he marched right into the choir room and didn't even look back at us!  After assurance from the director, Dan and I went back upstairs and found a seat in the church.  We decided to sit more towards the front than usual (we tend to hang in back for the sake of James's behavior/attention).  As Dan said, "If he really does this, I want to see it!"  We also wanted to be sure he could find us.

Well, soon enough a little parade of cherubs made their way into the church, with James in line.  They assembled on the steps at the front of the congregation and started to sing.  James and his big brown eyes didn't actually ever open his mouth, but we were so very proud nonetheless! 

When they finished, he saw us, smiled a BIG smile and came and sat down.  He made it the entire church service (even joining the children sitting at the priest's feet for most of the sermon) and was more well behaved than he's been in church in years.  No joke.  I think it helped that two very cute, friendly, fellow- cherub twin girls were sitting in the pew in front of us.

After church we told him we were SO PROUD of him.  "But I didn't sing," he replied.  We told him that we were proud he got up in front of the whole church anyway.

This week, I failed to remind him of rehearsal Wednesday morning, so I was a bit nervous when I went to pick him up from school.  I didn't want another tantrum.  As I was pulling in, I saw his class on the playground.  Great.  But by the time I'd gone inside and gathered his things, they lined up and came in.  He was at the end of the line and saw me.  "James, do you remember where we're going today?" I asked.

"Let's go to the train playground after music class," he said, grabbing my hand and happily walking out to the car!  Wow!

When we got to church, he marched off to rehearse in the sanctuary with the other cherubs, so I stayed back in the parish hall with the other mommies.  It was lovely.  Afterwards, as the director was handing out copies of the new song to us, she said that he knows it but told her, "I'll sing when I'm four." 

Sleepy Boy

Yesterday was Ramsey Day, and James enjoyed many glowing accessories while at the laser show. They're still glowing tonight as he and Zumi (his puppy) cath some Zs. James spent the day "helping" Daddy and Grandpa dig out the gutter leads and drain pipes. He was a dirty, happy, tired boy.

The End of Summer

Well, I'm sorry that I didn't do a better job of posting this summer.  I will try to post a slideshow of photos as a summer-in-review later this week.  Or next weekend-- let's not kid ourselves-- I go back to work in a matter of hours...

This weekend we crammed as much of the activities we didn't fit into the summer as we could into a four-day period.  On Friday, Dan was working, but James and I tried to get as much done as we could.  We ran several errands in the morning then headed to the pool for the afternoon. 

On Saturday, Daddy and Grandpa started painting the dining room.  Yea!  Hooray for color!  Meanwhile, James and I did as much work as we could to prepare for Sunday when we hosted our first cook-out at the new house. 

James was a wonderful host!  Two families joined us, so there were six adults and six children (ages 1-6) altogether.  The kids played together beautifully; James's souped-up Jeep was a huge hit.  There was also sprinkler time, ball play, scooter riding, bike & trike riding (James LOVED Ava's bike and rode it for what seemed like hours), a kickball game,. . .  The mommies and daddies had a great time visiting and catching up as well (and the daddies were all-stars in the kickball game).

When our guests left and we'd finished cleaning up, we headed over to the pool for a quick dip.  It was the best idea, and we regretted not going to the pool in the evenings all summer!  We had the pool to ourselves, truly, and it was so refreshing after a humid day outside.  To cap off the evening, we watched "Beauty and the Beast" with James.  He's been singing "Be Our Guest" ever since.  I am Belle (aka "Beauty") and he is Lumiere.  It's as cute as you'd imagine.

Today Daddy and Grandpa finished the dining room (pictures to come, I promise!), and James and I headed out to get his feet measured.  Dan and I were pretty sure that James had been growing this summer, but I was pretty surprised to find that he'd gone up a size and a half!  His new (boat-like) sneakers are size ten and a half!  Crazy!  After showing off his great new sneaks to Grandpa and Daddy (when the shoe-salesclerk brought them out to James he said, "Oooh.  I think those will make me run fast!"), James and I headed to the pool.  As I've mentioned before, we didn't get much pool time in during August, so James hadn't made much progress in his water skills.  Today when we got there, I swung James around in the water to get him used to the cold, then he dunked himself several times in a row.  Then, all of a sudden, he swam to me!  Underwater! Arms crawling, legs kicking, eyes open.  It was so cool!  Then he said, "Mommy, you stay right there," and he backed himself up and did it again.  And again, and again.  We both smiled and laughed.  He called me Mommy Fish and himself Brother Fish.

When we went home for lunch, he was thrilled to tell Daddy and Grandpa.  After rest time, during which he did nap well and the dining room was completed, we headed back to the pool for one last hurrah with Daddy.  James said, "I want to show you my underwater swimming!" and he did.  We had a great time, and Daddy was just as impressed and proud as I was.  Too bad today was the last day of the pool being open!