Your change, Sir!

Daddy has switched jobs! Leaving behind the bankers' hours and bankers' holidays, he's furthering his career as a financial analyst.

His office happens to be in a call center now. Packed with customer service representatives.

When I asked him about his first day at work, he said, "Well, I'm in a room full of 40 yellow personalities."

David has absolutely loved having Daddy's time back--now that the job search is through. In his prayer the other night, he said, "And we're glad that Daddy can have a day off tomorrow to have fun with me." David is keeping track of his Daddy's days off now that he knows how a calendar works.

Yesterday David woke up with the agenda for his time with Daddy--1. Go to McD's. 2. Go to the carwash. 3. Go get a donut at Fred Meyer's.

So much change presented itself at the beginning of this year--the possibility of a new job, selling our house to buy a different one, and who knows what else.

One change is made, now we can look forward to the other changes with a little more certainty.

Snapshot

This is the portrait of David when he concentrates. His mouth opens, his tongue comes out, and his fingers are all over that keyboard. He loves the backspace key the best, which makes his "emails" about 1/3 shorter than they would be without it.

And what he looks like when he requests to send an email to someone.

Now that I look closely, this is also a picture of what our keyboard looks like with all those missing keys that I've mentioned in past posts.

I wonder if the missing keypads will help or hurt David in his typing skills?

Iditarod 2013

On Friday, March 1 David and I went to a downtown hotel to what was called a "Meet and Greet" with some of the mushers. It was a question/answer forum, with a few refreshments, then a chance to meet the mushers afterwards. It wasn't as kid friendly as I had imagined, but at least David was quiet while the mushers spoke and he enjoyed a plate full of cheese, crackers and fruit. 

After the presentations were done, we waited in line to meet some of the mushers. Most notably, the entire Seavey family was present. We met Conway Seavey (Jr. Iditarod champion 2012), Dallas Seavey (Iditarod champion 2012), Mitch Seavey (Iditarod Champion 2004), as well as Jeff King (4-time Iditarod Champion) and a few others. We were waiting in a line that had formed, only to find out that the mushers were talking to people from another line. So I didn't feel too badly (since technically we were in line) when David wanted autographs and went up to each musher's conversation and waited patiently for his turn. I had my camera, but unfortunately the memory chip was gone from it--but let me try to repaint how it went down.

David would approach a conversation between two adults--one of them a champion musher. He would wait patiently. When you're four and you're trying to wait for a break in the conversation, the best way to make sure you catch that break is to stand real close, look up at the adults and watch them talk. It didn't take long for the grown ups to look back and David, probably wondering why he was standing there. This appeared to David like it was his turn--so he stuck out his paper, and said, "Can I please have your autograph?" in his sweet four year old voice. He had to repeat himself at least once with every musher, and at least 50% of the time he handed his paper to the correct grownup in the conversation. (Sometimes he handed it to the non-musher, and there was a little confusion.) I absolutely loved watching his confidence and purity. He didn't know enough to be star-struck or intimidated, but he still felt like he wanted their autographs.

I also got to meet the wife and mother of the Seavey champion group--Janine. What a lovely lady! She is genuine and beautifully presented, and I understand she has homeschooled her 4 boys so they could live the life of dog mushing. I really enjoyed meeting her.

The only other notable moment of the evening was when David was petting a dog that was in the room and he loudly announced "We can't have a dog. My mom is allergic to dogs." That half of the room grew silent. Some were even shaking their heads, saying, "tisk tisk." I found it quite comical, and in my mind I thought, "He said I was allergic to dogs, people--not that I have a strange communicable disease!" Clearly some (many) in my midst thought I had a fate worse than death. But what could I expect! I was in a room full of mushers and their fans, so I was the odd one out. I just smiled sweetly when everyone turned to look at me, and I reminded my son that dogs like their fur petted down, not up.

(Just for the record, I grew up with dogs. We bred and raised beautiful labradors. My dog allergy has only manifested in the last few years, and it seems to bother me mostly with indoor dogs. In Alaska, all dogs are indoor dogs--so David has only seen my reaction in this climate that doesn't allow for outdoor pets. An outdoor dog is not out of the realm of possibility in our family's future--but it will have to be in a different climate.)

On Saturday we went to our usual spot to watch the ceremonial start to the race. And had a great time. One of the questions that came up in the meet and greet on Friday was whether or not the mushers like the ceremonial start, or find it to be a waste of time and energy right before the big race. Jeff King fielded that one, and he said that he loves it! He would much rather have a leisurely pace through town and stop and greet fans than the way it used to be. He said until 1997, it was a race through Anchorage to Eagle River, then each musher had 4 hours to pack up his team and be in Willow for a continuation of the race. He described is as "We were a traffic hazard, one and all!"

It was a glorious, sunshiny day! Temps were mid-30's, temps above freezing were a real treat. There's nothing like the first few warm(er) days with brilliant sunshine after a long Alaskan winter. 

This year as a sled passed by, I called out "booties!"--and I got a pair thrown at me. The mushers put booties on their dogs to help their feet in the cold, and they change them out often. So the booties they throw to fans are the ones they have already used. Turns out that they're smelly little things. (I've washed them and hope to send them to my nephew Spencer, who loves following the Iditarod.)

Last year David took off across the "open field" behind us that is really a frozen pond. This year's warm temps made that pond more wet than frozen. I was glad when he left the field alone and instead entertained himself with this small sledding hill.

David moved all over our little area while we watched the mushers go by. I stopped him before he tried to throw a snowball at a passing team, so he amiably turned to just cheering them on from this little perch. David is one that likes his independence in places like this. Often times I have to keep a hold of his hand so I don't lose him to his curiosities while we are in crowded places. It was wonderful to have so much roaming space for him where I could watch him with a 360 degree view, and let him have the space that he loves.

Daddy even helped him get a few hand slaps as they passed by.

Happy mushing, dogs! We'll be tracking the results with you online.

Helper Boy

Is there anything more motivating than the eagerness of a little 3 or 4 year old working alongside you?

Here's a picture from last fall when we were painting doors before hanging them.

And a few more recent pictures when David wanted to push the snow around on the driveway a little bit.

Davidisms--Feb 24

• David showed an astounding amount of persistence on Monday. Daddy was home for President's Day, and early in the morning David decided he wanted to go to McD's to celebrate. We told him initially that McD's was not in our plans for the day. And once we told him no, we felt it necessary to stick to our answer. (We had lots of other fun plans for the day, some of which played out!) But David sure tried to persuade us otherwise. He asked. He asked again. He rephrased the question. He used the power of positive thinking by saying things like, "Daddy, when we go to McD's . . ." and "Ohhh! I love the slides at McD's!" A very conservative number of how many times he asked us to go to McD's throughout the day would be 100. It would only be a little off the mark if I said it may have even been double that. All of the parenting books say that giving a child a firm but kind answer, being consistent in your answer, and distracting them will help the child move on. They haven't met our David. It was a comical display of a challenge we often run in to in parenting, and I'm glad we were both around to witness it from start to finish. As the 5 o' clock hour approached, and David was once again trying to convince us, we started laughing together. Sam and I agreed that if we both hadn't seen it firsthand, it would be an unbelievable tale of how persistent this little guy can be. I'm glad for the comical perspective it offered us on a place that can easily cause frustration. One of my key phrases I say as a Mom is, "When I say no, I mean no." And now I see why I have to say that so often. Now, there are plenty of times that David has the say or gets to choose our activity, or we use his idea. This just happened to not be one of them--which is good for him, too. And we got a very vivid illustration of the strong spirit inside our little boy, especially once he puts his mind to something.
• I folded David's laundry, then asked him to come put it away. He wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of this small chore, so he delayed. Finally, he came in to the room and this was our conversation. David: "Mommy, you're the goodest mommy. And the rightest mommy. I'm so glad you're part of our family." Me: Oh, thanks, David! David: You're welcome. Now will you please put away my pile of laundry?
• In very exciting news, David is reading!! Just a few short words here and there, but he's attempting to sound out new words wherever we go. We're using the BOB books that came so highly recommended, as well as a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. David likes to push through the lessons as quickly as we can to keep moving forward, but I've put a limit at 2 lessons per day. I can't wait until he really takes off and can read well enough to read stories--not just words. 
• Sam's mom made Samand I some very bright pillow cases with pink flowers all over them. The first time we put them on the pillows, David was excited and complimented me on having such a pretty pillow. I showed him that  Daddy had the same pillow case. And David say, "But boys don't like pink flowers on their pillows!?!" We laughed, and asked him what boys like to have. "Boys need pictures of candy!!"

Church Clothes

Recently David has taken to playing a game he calls "Recycle." It consists of dumping the contents out of every bin and drawer in his bedroom, and mixing it all into one gigantic pile in the middle. Toys, clothes, keepsakes, books and the giveaway pile in one giant heap, waiting to be resorted. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of this game.

As can be expected, it's hard to keep track of clothes when they get dumped out and rearranged multiple times in the week. And as can be expected, a few things have started to disappear. Unfortunately this morning we learned that the sets of church clothes we keep in one of the drawers went missing. All of them. So here was David's best substitution:

 The hat is from when he was a baby--which tells me that even the drawer with the baby keepsakes has been ransacked. The pants have been put away to be handed to a smaller boy. The shirt belongs in the rotation with his current clothes, as well as those slipper socks. What would Daddy do if his little boy walked in to church looking like this!?! Probably give us a questioning look and stifle a laugh at the same time.

After a joint effort, we were able to pin down something a little more appropriate:

Ahh, that's much better.

 

Davidisms--Feb 3

• We were parked next to the stall where you're supposed to return carts, so since he wouldn't have to cross any other vehicles, I asked David if he wanted to return the cart for me. Boy did he ever! He came back to the car, and this was our conversation. D: I'm so big, Mom. I returned the cart all by myself! Me: Oh, are you getting to be such a big boy!? D: Yes, when I  return the cart I feel like I'm 20.
• We were at David's 4-year old checkup, and he kept interrupting while I spoke with the Doctor. I finally paused long enough to remind David that he had to wait his turn to talk to the doctor. So he waited. Very patiently he waited. When finally it was his turn, he had to say something. So this is what he came up with--in a very excited, cheery conversational voice: "Dr. Penman, I'm really looking forward to my shots today!"
• In one morning before 9:30 am, David emptied a Costco sized bottle of shampoo down the drain, unwove the lid of my 3-foot tall wicker basket (But Mom! I didn't break any of the pieces!--He was right, they were all in tact, just no longer woven together.), found out that small sticks (from said unwoven basket) work just fine if you want to pry baseboard off the wall, and dumped all of my spices in one bowl to mix them together. Dr. Penman recommended that I get him reading sight words as soon as possible to challenge this little exploring mind of his.
• In other news, our house is officially on the market. Where are we moving? Somewhere within our ward boundaries, that's for sure. The good news for selling a house right now is that the inventory on the market is low. The bad thing about looking for another house is that the inventory on the market is low. Here's a link to a virtual tour. We've had 3 showings in just the first week, and a little nibble of interest from at least one of those showings. Here's to learning  how to keep an immaculate, show-ready house!! David has been a champ. When we are trying to hurry and clean up for a showing, I say, OK, David! We're going to play "Mom, what's next?" So he'll come to me and say, "Mom, what's next?" I give him a little chore to do, then he comes back and says it again. And again. And again. What a little champ.