Boys' Night Out

Well if we didn't know it before, it became evident last night. Dean is officially the fun parent. I was teaching piano lessons yesterday and so Dean took Tommy for some daddy/son time. They were going to have a football-themed afternoon, attending the Godby practice and then going to the Chiles vs. Lincoln game. As they headed out the door, I asked Dean to please have Tommy eat somewhat healthy. Like grilled chicken and vegetables or something. He didn't exactly agree, but he somewhat acknowledged my request.

About an hour later I get a picture on my phone of Tommy eating at Red Elephant. The pizza place where he eats about 3 times a week. Oh well. I found out later they also got dessert. This kid was livin' it up!

Before they went for pizza, they headed to Godby's football practice, where our friend Joe is a coach. Tommy got the special treatment. Joe brought the kickers over to where Tommy was and he got to kick with them. He even got to kick off a tee while Joe held the football. He had a blast.

Then after their dinner run, they went to the Chiles vs. Lincoln game. They arrived about an hour early, which would make me go insane, but Dean loves watching warm-ups (why?!? why would you love watching warm-ups??) and so now Tommy does too. He threw the little football that they handed out back and forth with Dean and stood by the fence while the players got ready. At one point he started stretching with them.



When Lincoln had a pretty good lead, Tommy looked over from where they were in the stands and noticed that the North Florida Fair was in town (the stadium happens to be adjacent to the fairgrounds) and he talked Dean into going to the fair. This was a feat in and of itself. Dean promised they could go on one ride and Tommy chose a huge slide that you ride down on a mat. He's afraid of climbing things so that was interesting. But he and Dean made it up to the top and Dean managed to sit down with him on the mat (he relayed the entire harrowing experience to me and let's just say I'm glad I wasn't there). But Tommy had a blast going down. Then Dean bought him some green glow-in-the-dark sword thing, which of course Tommy needed. On the way home he fell asleep, sword in hand. This is what I saw when I met them at the car in the driveway.

Met His Match

We Inserras love our friends the Knipples (the K is silent). Tommy and Riley have had an arranged marriage thing going since before Riley was born. And when Riley came out a redhead, we knew that she just might be as feisty as our little guy. We were about right. You see, Riley wound up getting her mommy's personality, and Tommy got his daddy's. On the other end of the spectrum, Shane and I are about as laid back as they come. Therefore, one might conclude there might be something in the water at Leon High School!

On Monday night, we were driving back from Tampa, so we called up Shane and Riley to see if they wanted to meet us for dinner (Lindsay was working night float at Shands so unfortunately couldn't be there). We decided on Cracker Barrel in Gainesville, and met them there. Apparently Riley was in a bit of a mood, because she attempted to throw a fit or two. This kind of amused me because since she's a year younger than Tommy, her fits aren't nearly as intense. They're still almost cute and funny at this stage. And she has mastered the pout. She sticks that lower lip out, and as her grandmother says, "She could walk all the way to Live Oak on that lip."

Tommy took advantage of this moment and decided to be the sweet one, rubbing her arm and telling her it would be ok (See?!? They were meant for each other!), sharing his crayons and that triangle peg game that I can never do.

What the Knipple family doesn't know is that just a few hours before that, after his naked romp in the fountain in Tampa, we had to drag him kicking, screaming, soaking wet, and in the nude over to the bench to dry him off and get him dressed so we could leave.

So maybe Riley's met her match.

My Exhibitionist

Yesterday we decided to take the day and drive Sally back to Tampa after visiting Tallahassee for a few days. She's 35 weeks pregnant and so we figured driving for 4 hour stretches at a time by herself might not be the best idea. So anyway, we took off on a road trip. Sally had told us about this great park that is about 2 blocks from her house and of course Tommy was psyched to go. In fact, he talked about it during the entire 4 hour drive. Every time we would stop to eat or get gas, he would ask if we were at "Sally's park" yet and when we told him no, he'd get upset and want to keep going.

We finally made it to Sally's park. Tommy ran around a bit near the swings and other standard park equipment. Then he saw the fountain. This is not just your run-of-the-mill fountain, folks. This is one of those ground level fountains with water that just continually shoots straight up through about 50 holes in the concrete. Oh yeah, and there are stone lions around, just for the effect. When he first spotted the fountain, we ran over there but he was very nervous around the lions. And he was wearing sweat pants, a t-shirt and sneakers (it started off cold that morning, but was 86 degrees by the time we got to Tampa).

So after psyching himself up a bit, he wanted to run in the fountain. We stripped the child down to his birthday suit and let him run wild. There were no other people around so it was all good. Except for the two little girls (they looked like they were in first or second grade) who were walking by with their little dog. Tommy ran out to the edge of the fountain and said "Come on girls, you can come in here too!" They didn't.

I asked Dean at what age it would be inappropriate for Tommy to run naked through a fountain and his response was "Anytime after today!" So that was his first and last time streaking. At least with his parents' consent and encouragement.

He Did It!

No, I'm not talking about potty training. We got a long way to go for that one. But it's just after 7 am in the new fall back time and I've been up for the last 20 minutes because apparently Tommy didn't get the memo that you're supposed to sleep an extra hour. However, I don't care. I'm just basking in the glow of his first successful Halloween.

What?!? I think I hear a collective gasp from a few of my tens of readers. A pastor and his family celebrate Halloween?? If you're asking if we worship Satan, the answer is no. But we do dress up (as Superman this year) and go house to house begging for candy. Then we come home, fill up on sugar, and go to bed as we're crashing off the sugar high. If you've been a faithful reader for at least, well, a year, you may remember our Halloween experience last year. Well, my friends, this year was different.

Our Halloween started with MeMe's (Dean's mom) first grade class's Spider Fest at school. I brought Tommy to participate and he absolutely loved it. He rotated through the four classrooms with the rest of the kids (all twice his age... which I guess isn't a lot when you're only 3). He made a spider headband thing, then helped call out Spider Bingo numbers, made a popcorn hand, and also made a spider necklace and got a tick (it was supposed to be a spider, but it totally looked like a tick) painted on his hand. Between each rotation, the teachers read spider or Halloween themed books to the kids. Tommy sat right in the middle of them all (notice the only kid in costume- that's his Superman cape) and even asked questions about the story. I think the first graders didn't like him at the end because he proved that he was paying more attention than they were, thus making them look bad.



Last year at Spider Fest, he did ok until he saw all the spiders. That kinda freaked him out. This year he actually put on MeMe's spider mask!

Then came the real Halloween test: trick-or-treating. Remember, since he's been able to walk, we've been to a total of... um... no houses to beg for candy. He's completely choked two years in a row. But this year, he totally redeemed himself. He was a little nervous about going to the first house, but we went and knocked on the door. They were our friendly kidless neighbors, who apparently didn't realize that trick-or-treating is a real thing. The husband showed up at the door with an individual size of Mott's applesauce and apologized for not being prepared. Then as soon as we got to the next house, we noticed them jumping into their car and hightailing it out of there. That was probably for the best. Once we had gone to a couple houses and Tommy realized that they were handing out candy, he really liked this trick-or-treat thing. We did run into one or two kids with scary masks. And yes, I did ask one of them to remove it around Tommy. No, I didn't know him, but I guess I'm just one of those moms. I wasn't going to let this little snotty nosed kid ruin my son's first successful Halloween!

We made it all the way around the block and only shied away from one or two houses that looked really scary. He filled up a plastic pumpkin and halfway filled a ghost bag that we brought as as backup. So his teeth will be good and rotten by the time we go for our first dentist visit. But the real measure of his success is that when he woke up this morning, he cried a little because he wanted to go trick-or-treating again tonight. Woo hoo!

Christmas Time's a Comin'

It's the most wonderful time of the year! I've always loved Christmas music and I've been guilty of playing it as early as October (when no one's listening, anyway... Dean protests if Thanksgiving hasn't occurred yet). But I've discovered that being a piano teacher takes it to a whole new level. This year I'll put on my 2nd annual Holiday Recital (gotta be PC. I know, it irks me too) and so my students are already hard at work on their holiday songs. Which is lots of fun, but with 17 students, I'm hearing "Deck the Halls", "Joy to the World", "Jingle Bells", and a slew of others way too much.

I'd like to get them to branch out. So I'll make a suggestion. Watch this and let me know what you think. This goes out to all you Inserras out there.

Like Father Like Son

During the last few days, Tommy's been really into forts. By forts, I mean draping a blanket over the couch and dragging in every stuffed animal that he owns. Today he referred to it as his "tent" for a while. Then, I think he remembered that he was Dean's son (background: Dean won't go camping. His motto is "Why sleep outside when you can sleep inside?"), and began referring to it as his "hotel". True story.

Potty Training... Take 3?

I think this is my third attempt at potty training. But this time I'm really serious about it (if I said I was serious in my other two tries, please disregard). And the good thing is that today we've actually had success! I started with Tommy yesterday after his nap because our morning was busy. He had 4 accidents between then and bedtime, and only one of them was on the couch, so that's a good thing. He still wouldn't tell me when he was wet (except when he went on the couch and then politely said "Mommy, I pottied on the couch"). He slept in a diaper last night and then when he woke up, I fed him breakfast and put him back in his underwear. He proceeded to have 4 more accidents and denied their existence (while standing in a puddle the size of Lake Michigan). Then all of a sudden, on the 5th pair of underwear (about 10:00 this morning), he crossed his legs, grabbed himself, and looked very panicked. We ran to the bathroom and he sat on his potty. And filled it. I couldn't have been more proud! He got to pick out an M&M (my bribe of choice this time), and put a sticker on his potty chart.

Then about 20 minutes later, he slipped off to the bathroom again and went potty in his potty seat (well, mostly) for the second time! I thought "Well, surely this potty training thing will be a breeze now!" I gave him lots of high 5's and more M&M's and stickers.

But then it happened. He suddenly decided he was done using the potty and didn't want to go anymore. We took a 20 minute trip to Coosh's to pick up some lunch and bring it home. I tried to get him to use the potty but he wouldn't. You're thinking "Is she nuts? Bringing him out of the house in underwear after only 2 successful potty visits?" Well, yes I am, but he didn't have the accident there. Thankfully he waited til we got home, but as I was pouring our drinks, I heard another pouring sound and looked up to see Tommy looking down and saying "Uh oh." When I tried to get him to the potty, he screamed and kept going. All over his shoes and socks. Lovely. So now he's in a diaper and is down for a nap. We'll try again when he wakes up.

So do you think we were 2 and done? Has he given up? Will there be a round 4 or will this be it?