Deconstruct

 Have you ever seen one of those cool remote control cars that lights up, turns 360 degrees, and does flips?

We had one. Technically, I guess we still have one. It's currently completely deconstructed, but we have it.

David has a fascination with screws right now. He's not finished until all of the screws are out. Boy is he proud of himself for getting some of the most stubborn screws to budge! He thinks he's king at problem solving. I don't know how this can be more exciting than watching a car with 6 wheels flip 360 degree turns and roll over, but somehow in a 5-year old brain--this activity won out.

 After our big move and all of the decluttering I did last year, I wasn't ready to give my son Christmas gifts with more plastic toys that would be missing pieces or half broken on our shelves within a few weeks. So we (ahem, I mean Santa) ran with David's fascination of Daddy's tools. I went to the "broken store" as we have come to call the local Value Village and picked up some old appliances--an old keyboard, a small appliance, and a 35mm camera--and wrapped them up with David's own set of tools. I was hoping that his own set of tools would deter him from getting into Daddy's tools. And for the most part, it does. Until he misplaces something, in which case he knows just where to find a look-alike in Daddy's tool box.

But once he gets the right tool, this boy will spend hours deconstructing things. Other than the two remote control cars he deconstructed this weekend, David has only taken apart the designated items from the "broken store." 

 Here he is working on the 35 mm camera, clear down to the lens coming apart into a series of small magnifying glasses.

 What do you think our chances are that he'll discipline himself to just the designated "take apart" items.

 These screws are as big as a pinhead. David does not feel that a project is complete until he takes out every last screw.

Which is why Sam's eyes were as huge as saucers when David randomly asked, "Daddy, does your iPad have screws?

Davidisms--February, 2014

It has been a while since I've captured a few Davidisms, but they still come up on a regular basis. Let me see if I can rack my brain for some of his funniest moments.

• David was more than thrilled when Daddy invited him to go to some meetings with him yesterday afternoon. With Daddy as the Bishop, we often watch him leave to his "meetings" and David has been begging to tag along sometime. Yesterday Sam had some visiting to do, so he took his little companion with him. When they came home, David stayed in the car, crying his eyes out as a disappointed soul. The grievance he had? "But I wanted to go to a meeting and sit down! We just went on visits!" After we calmed him down, I made a promise to David: When he is a missionary, he gets to have as many sit-down meeting as his little heart desires. He dried his eyes and grinned from ear to ear at that thought. I'm confident that promise will be fulfilled in its entirety.
• David and I play the alphabet game as we drive around town. We were on V, and I made it a point to tell David that we were looking for a letter in his name. I said, "V, as in daVid. Hey, should we call you Vid?" To which he immediately replied, "Sounds good, Om."
• Sometimes I'll ask David if Alina is asleep in her carseat. One time, here was the exchange: Mom--David, is Alina asleep? David--No. She's just back here being a quiet duck. Mom--Oh. Are you a quiet duck? David--No way. One quiet duck in the family is eeeeeeeeeeeeee-nough! (using his finger for emphasis).

Strong

Daddy picked up our sweet pea and she hung on to the rings attached to the floor play mat she was on.

She has a strong little grip and after carrying it around for several minutes, she released this hold only by our prying her fingers from it.

Alina also has a great set of abs. If she's laying down, she does crunches and holds them so she can see what's going on around her. This girl is completely content as long as she can see what's going on around her.

Head to toe

Although I wish she would smile for the camera as easily as she smiles for us, I still think she's wonderful from head to toe.

Cuddle up

I put Alina next to David on the couch while I prepared lunch on a Sunday afternoon.

Instinctively, he put his arm around her and brought her in close.

They watched momon.org videos while they both enjoyed their time to cuddle up together.

Super Hero

Oh, how I love this 5-year old boy that wears a costume day in and day out.

He finds a super hero cape or his spider man costume to wear every day (That poor spider man costume looks like it has seen better days--but he loves it!) And while we don't run around town with the costumes on, David puts it on over his coat when he plays outside. Sometimes he'll go so far as to wear his cape into the bath tub with him, which is really a site to giggle at!

This photo was taken in February, but you can see the winter we've had--it has been all over the place, swinging between really cold and really warm. Our deck was clear of snow for a couple weeks while we had warm temperatures and rain. It is now covered with snow again.

Winter Fairy Princess

I thought this outfit was especially cute on Alina.

When Daddy came home from work he took one look and called her "Our winter fairy princess!"

She sure is pretty, don't you think?

 Even the "outtake" is beautiful.

(This is her face for the camera unless I'm peeking around the side to reassure her that it's just me.)

There now, that's better. 

(although a bit off-center--she's more fun to look at in person instead of through a view finder.)

Feeling Good

I love my helper.

On the days that we start out by working together, David is his most agreeable and happy self.

His contributions to our home help him to feel good about himself, and (most imporantly!) feel good about his family members, too. Maybe it's because it's just the two of us on chore duty each day, but for some reason he doesn't have a set of things he does every day. (Well, I guess he unloads the dishwasher daily, and helps me load it at night. But that's all I can think of for consistency in chores. He also has responsibility for doing his personal grooming, making bed, etc. So I guess I'm just talking about the overall upkeep of the house.) His chores vary widely from day to day. We play a game where he comes to me and says, "Mom, what's next?" I'll give him the next task, and he'll run off to go complete it. Usually he is happy, willing and focused during our game. The last task I give him is always, "Last, I need you to give your mom a hug!" And he does that with a big smile.

On this particular day, he was tasked with washing out the trash cans. 

His idea of fun was to climb in and get the job done right.

Allllllmost

 Alina teases herself by nearly rolling over.

A couple of times she has surprised herself and completed the roll. I didn't see her do it, but I heard her signature squeal of excitement and found her to be pleased as punch with herself.

Alina loves that little dolly, so I set her up to motivate our wee one.

 When Alina grew tired of trying, she was happy to just coo at her little friend.

Sharing the Love

Just in case you think her cheeks are getting all the love--I assure you, that's not the case.

 Her thighs are also plumping out nicely. She loves to grab her toes right now and that definitely shows off her chubby legs. 

It's that smile that really can't be beat.