Category: Chase

Yesterday, Chase was going outside to play with friends. As he was slamming the door, I called after him, “I love you!” He heard this and opened the door again to quickly respond, “I love you, too!” And slammed the door again. I was pleased as punch. As if that wasn’t enough, he then opened the door once more to eloquently state,

“I love you as tight as a bird can hold you.”

(Followed by another slamming of the door.) I felt honored to receive such an expression of love, even though I didn’t quite understand what it meant. But we’ve been watching BBC’s Galapagos, on which he’s seen (in Blu-Ray glory) Bald Eagles snatch up rabbits or strangle iguanas in their talons and carry them up into the sky. And those birds are really holding on tight! All I can guess is that he sensed an intensity coming from that bird’s grasp which, to him, resembled the intensity of his love for me. What a sweet, poetic boy!

April is a crazy birthday month with our family and friends (topped only by December, I think)! It makes for a lot of excitement, and Chase’s birthday was no exception.

On his actual birthday, we were reminded that he is adored by a lot of adults in the family, being the only grandson and all. He was spoiled! A few days later, he had a birthday party (his “real birthday” he called it) with his closest friends in the ward.

Though his birthday friend list was comprised of about 30 kids that he knows, we narrowed it down to 10 for sanity’s sake. GG, Rachel, and Jessica also came to join in the fun (oh yeah, and to help out)! Thanks, ladies, for all the help and love!

Pace had set up an amazing superhero obstacle course in the backyard, which did not disappoint. Among other things, the kids got to throw real ninja stars at an evil cardboard robot (isn’t Pace awesome?). The kids made it through the course to earn their goody bags which would soon be filled with pinata candy.

We tried out a pull-string pinata this year! It was certainly safer than a traditional pinata, but not quite as much fun, in my opinion. But the kids were content with all the candy and stickers they gathered!

Why so serious???

Little man’s birthday is coming up, and I was so excited to buy him some video games, guns, and back hair. Instead I nabbed Cars on Xbox360 and Star Wars Clone Wars the movie. I’m sure he’ll be excited, even if Mom wasn’t. When I bought them I was so excited, I had to tell someone. When I told Joy, she said, “wow” all lowercased on purpose. Well, Joy, why don’t we tell the story of My Little Pony and Charlotte? Hmmm hmmm?

If you’re in a gift giving mode (or mood) and wonder what Chase is into, he’s into anything that he can play with outside, anything that helps him use up energy, or anything on this list. Sorry I had to keep this post to all words, Chase can see images, but he can’t read.

While we were in NC in June Chase randomly started telling us how such a big boy he is because he could ride his bike without training wheels. We had only just gotten him a bike in April, so we said “that’s nice”. Upon our arrival home he ask so politely that I had to take off his training wheels. To our utter amazement he rode his bike just fine on the first try, although he did have a bit of a stopping problem. Check out the video for proof. The next day I was eager to see him ride more, but he asked for his training wheels to be put back on so he could keep up with the neighbor kids. How fast these kids learn though, it’s amazing! And now Charlotte is going around yelling “da na na da na” which sounds pretty much like Dada, which is Daddy, and therefore Daddy was her first word… right?

December:

   — Chase: “I want to marry you, Mommy.”   Me: “But you can’t because Daddy already married me.”   Chase: “Well I am going to marry somebody special.”

   — “I am SO busy.”

   — “What’s THAT cute shirt, Mommy?” (I had changed into a teal shirt at bed time)

   — Me: “You’re a good boy.”   Chase: “You’re a good girl.”

   — Chase: “I’m big and flat.”   Me: “Why are you flat?”   Chase: Because I eat too much candy.”

   — (after nearly biffing it) “That was AWESOME!”

January:

   — “I’m gonna give you a saudge.” (and he started massaging my shoulders)

   — (somberly) “Sorry mom. I keep arguing.”

   — “It’s so beeeeeeautiful! Lightning McQueen likes Sally!”

   — “I have a tummyache. I think Daddy said it’s from the gum I swallowed yesterday.” (he really had stolen gum from my purse the day before and swallowed it before we could get it out of his mouth, and Pace told him he’d get a tummyache.) 

   — (I was cleaning the kitchen sink and Chase walked in) “What the HECK is going on over there?!?”

This is how I found Chase the other day in his room at nap time. It’s always interesting to see how he ends up since he is adamant about not getting in bed or having quiet time alone in his room! But he still gets tired so he falls asleep wherever he is.

Chase has been protesting nap time and bed time more than ever since Charlotte was born, and it has been a major test of our patience. I’ve realized that he might not need a nap every day any more…. But since he gets up around 6:30 am every day, I definitely still need a little break after those 6-7 hours of action! People have recommended making him have a “quiet time” in which he can color, read, whatever he wants, just in his room alone. Hm, my question is, how do you achieve this? Well, I’ve had to experiment with various forms of discipline.

Time outs didn’t work in this case because he would just keep getting off the chair and I kept having to put him back on. This is not realistic though because I have a baby now, who can’t be ignored! One day after 2 hours of putting Chase back on the time out chair, I was super exhausted and gave up, and yes, I cried from all the frustration I felt… He is quite a persistent boy, I must say!  We also tried a sticker chart and that worked sometimes, but one day he ripped it up and then after he had finally completed the 4-day chart, he seemed to be “over it.”

So then I just resorted to my friend Becky’s suggestion of putting a child lock on the inside of his door. Before you think me an evil mom who relishes locking her child in his room, read on for a moment. He gets to keep his door open during the 1 hour of quiet time as long as he doesn’t scream or come out of his room. If he does, then I close the door. So far, I have been consistent, and it seems to be working. The door doesn’t even get closed very often anymore! Whhew, we’ll see if it continues this way! No more quiet time “battles” please!