Football!!

I signed Will up for flag football in August. He's in a league with 3- and 4-yr old's. Much to my DISMAY, he ended up on the Raiders. Yeah, the Raiders. I just call it the "Black Team." Anyway, so flag football at this age only faintly resembles actual football and that's okay. There's no tackling (on purpose, anyway) but the kids often end up in a big pile at the end of every play. Each team gets a chance to have each player snap the ball once and run the ball once. No score is kept but we cheer like crazy when they run it into the end zone.
Will is starting to learn a little bit about the sport. Granted, he spends a fair amount of time sitting on the grass, gazing at the sky while I hiss from the sidelines GetuprightnowifIhavetocomeoverthere... you know, really compassionate, motivational talk. He learned how to block at last week's practice and that has seemed to increase his enthusiasm for the game. He's also perfecting his Game Face, or maybe he's just glaring at his parents on the sidelines because they won't bring him a juice box onto the field during *halftime.*On Saturday, Will scored his first touchdown. This is the only picture I snapped of the action because I was too busy jumping up and down and screaming like an over-competitive lunatic. Will's not the fastest kid on the field and his 30-yd scamper took about 2 1/2 minutes but it sure was pretty. You know how sometimes a defensive lineman will recover a fumble and rumble down the field for 80 yds to score the touchdown, and it takes forever and he needs oxygen when it's all over with? That was a little like Will's touchdown. He was actually running slow enough to swat the hands of the team away as they tried to grab his flag. I was just screaming RUN WILL RUN RUN RUN. He didn't really understand the enormity of scoring a touchdown (and I know how ridiculous I sound by typing that because there really isn't any enormity since they don't keep score and blah blah blah) but it was his first touchdown and I couldn't have been any prouder. After you score a touchdown, you have to spend a good five minutes getting all of your flags back on because they get ripped off long after you've run out of the endzone. Some kids just keep running onto the next field. I've advocated for shock collars or an electric fence because the yelling and whistling from the parents does little to keep them on their own field of play. Maybe a few intimidating-looking herding dogs would do the trick? Hey Reina has some exciting news. File this one under "reasons why she'll hate me when she's older" but she's not wearing diapers in this picture. Yeah!! We did the whole boot camp strategy for potty training and so far, not bad. She's had some accidents but she seems to be figuring it out. With as finicky as she is about her clothes, I thought she'd hate to get her pants wet but ehhh, she's pretty casual about the whole thing. She's more concerned about negotiating how many M&M's she gets following each successful trip to the bathroom. She fans both hands out and says "I want this many!" (10). I want to get her potty trained but I'm not giving her ten M&M's every half hour. So to wrap-up, each week Will seems to learn a little more and gain a little enthusiasm for football. He even set aside his Lego's and curled up next to me on the couch on Sunday while I watched NFL games - the Purple team and the Blue team (Vikings v. Lions). He seems to actually like it and while the uber-competitive side of me wants to see him on the football field in a few years, the mommy side of me is just happy that he wants to watch it with me right now and we don't have to worry about concussions, ACL's and all that scary stuff. I'll take this stage for as long as it lasts.

Where the wild things are....

I've mentioned in previous posts that our backyard sits up against the Air Force Base but instead of military buildings and industrial stuff, we have a view of the beautiful prairie. I tell people that we have all of the advantages of living in the country. We have a scenic view and no neighbors behind us, but we are just a few minutes from work and school and Target, all the town stuff. There are a couple minor disadvantages; when the wind howls from the west, our house is the first line of defense and there are many times of the year when that wind is howling. In a month or so, it's Attack of the Giant Tumbleweeds because weed control is *ahem* lacking on the federal land and those tumbleweeds find a nice cosy spot to roost on our front porch. But despite the winds and weeds, one of our favorite things about this house is the view of the prairie off of our back porch and all of the wildlife that lives there.

Here's our resident herd of antelope. We get to watch the circle of life with this herd as the months go by. Well, let me clarify, we don't see the whole "circle" because there's no hunting on the AFB so other than disease or really bad weather, this herd is pretty protected. We get to see the littletinybabyantelopes race around after their mama's in the early summer, watch the males jockey for position during the rut, see the big fat pregnant mom's-to-be's when springtime rolls around, and then it starts all over again.

I've mentioned Banjo (Banjo-te!) in previous posts but he's the resident buck. This time of year is hard on ol' Banjo because he has to be on alert to other manly types coming in and stealing his herd away. He works hard to keep the rest of the herd in a tight bunch and chases any strays back into the fold. He makes me tired just watching it all.

Besides the antelope, we've seen a few foxes, a lone coyote, lots of hawks and possibly eagles, jack rabbits and this cat. I've mistaken this cat for a bobcat more than once and been overly excited for 30 seconds until I pull the binoculars out and realize, "No. Not a bobcat. Just a big fat neighbor cat." Our pretty prairie view. Just another reason why we love living in Wyoming.

The one where Glenn teaches Will that boys don't need girls

Will: Daddy, why do boys like girls?

Glenn: Sometimes boys get lonely and want somebody to be with. Sometimes when they grow up, they want to have children like you and Reina. (Translation: Go have all of the fun that you want to have and do all of the stuff that you want to do, and then find a girl who will have your babies. It worked for me.)

Me: Hmph.

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(Clarification: This was an actual conversation between Will and Glenn that Glenn relayed to me after the fact. If I had been in the bathroom when said conversation took place, I would have pointed out to the 4-yr old that boys like girls because girls smell nice and it's fun to do stuff with people who like to do the same things as you. I lovingly and respectfully disagree with the notion that you can go be a mountain man and hunt and fish and do whatever you want and then come back to civilization and find a woman. Yes, it worked for Glenn but that's beside the point. He just got extremely lucky. If he ever figures out how to access this blog, he can post his own rebuttal. Until then, I will be strictly monitoring father/son communication. What's next, how to "pretend that you don't know how to turn on the washing machine so you don't ever have to do laundry?")

Theatrics

Lately, life is just one big theatrical performance at the Bronco Babies household. I'm not just talking about the throwing-yourself-down-on-the-floor-temper-tantrum kind of theatrics. No, these performances are often highly-detailed, well-scripted, and perfectly acted (naturally). They feature two young, budding actors who are honing their crafts in a variety of dramatic settings.

Here we have a short play in two acts. The plot wasn't very nuanced but there was a lot of action. Mainly screaming (the happy kind) and chasing the dog around the back yard. For the second act, the scenery moved to the top of the picnic table and also involved a lot of happy screeching and various hand gestures. The audience had a hard time following the story line but there was a good guy, a bad guy and a giant rope tied to the deck that made the stage manager (me) a little uneasy. Notice the beseeching look, the sheer desperation to get inside the house. For another bowl of crackers. Oh, the drama! Here we have a new play, same players. This is a variation of old westerns, Woody from Toy Story and Rango (the Johnny Depp lizard cowboy movie that Will has seen three times but I've yet to really understand what's going. I should probably watch the whole thing). We have to give a big shout-out to the wardrobe department for this production. The level of detail is amazing, although the dinosaur shirt seems a little out of place.
Let's zoom in for some detail on the footwear. The wardrobe mistress (me) found these gems at the used clothing store. I (mistakenly) thought they'd be way too big for Cowboy Will but they actually fit. If his shoe size is any indication of his height, Will's going to be like 7 1/2 feet tall. The boots are actually slippers which serves us both well - he gets to clomp around the house in cowboy boots and I don't have to actually hear the clomping. Win win!

Oh look - the fireman is back! When I picked out this fire jacket a few years ago, I specifically bought it big so that he could wear it for a while. Uh oh.... looks like there is a new fire chief in town. And she's bringing major attitude with her. Why she's topless, I don't know. I really hope that topless acting is NOT in her future. (A side note, Reina has perfected the harumph-folding-of- the-arms to express displeasure. Since none of the rest of us use this particular arm motion to signal that we are unhappy, I can only assume that there's some special secret class for two-yr-olds where they practice harumphing, avoiding eye contact and the running in place squealing prelude to a tantrum. Clearly, she's getting all A's in that class.)

Yeah! She's happy again! Topless but happy.

Finally, the Star Wars bug has hit a certain population of the Pauley house pretty hard. I bought this shirt a few weeks ago but told him that he had to wait until the weather turned cooler to wear it. Luckily, we've had a few cool days and he pops out of bed gleefully to put this shirt on. He doesn't have any Star Wars legos yet but that doesn't stop him from enlisting the ninja's, knights and the lone pirate he does have into various action scenes and re-enactments of the few bits of the Star Wars movies he has seen. Before we drug him off to bed last night, he was playing out a complicated scenario that involved four (no-named) good guys were rescuing Princess Leia (a ninja this time around) from the top of his spaceship tower and using the fireboat to speed away. George Lucas could probably learn a thing or two from this Jedi.

Haircuts!

It's a blurry picture but it will have to do for now. Reina got a kicky new haircut yesterday. Believe it or not, this was just her second haircut in her 2 1/2 years on this planet. I adore her long blonde locks, but as Glenn pointed out, her hair was starting to reflect her personality. Wild, untamed, unkempt, unruly, only slightly domesticated. So, we've trimmed things up, cut some bangs so she can't hide behind the wall of hair and we'll see if this cute little pageboy helps turn her into a mild-mannered, calm two-year old. Yeahhhhh.....I'm not holding my breath.

When I was three.....

Based on the way he talks about it, you would think that 3 was Will's best year ever. Every time he brings up something we haven't done lately, he bemoans the fact that he hasn't been there/done that since he was "free."

"Can we go to the zoo the day after this day? I haven't been there since a I was free." (Point of correction, you were actually there earlier in the summer but I won't be nit-picky.)

"Mom, 'member when I had to go to the hospital when I was free?" (Yes. Yes I do remember that. And so does my wallet.)

"When are we going to go back to Florida? I haven't been there since I was free."

I find it fascinating to see how his memory works. Some things I think he won't remember but then some far away memory will bubble to the surface and he'll talk about an event that took place over a year ago. He's an interesting little guy.

When he's not thinking of halcyon days of 3, his brain is busy figuring out the world. His first words to me this morning were "Mom, do birds go to the doctor?"

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Will's is not the only brain working overtime right now. I need to get a picture of it, but we are currently experiencing "Hoarders: The Toddler Edition. The Sequel." At any given moment, Reina is carrying around a purse, her "yunchbox" (a plush covered wagon that certainly does look like a lunch box), a falling-apart plastic backpack stuffed with assorted detritus, two baby dolls and a stuffed animal (a revolving selection of teddy bears, kitty cats and a bunny rabbit.) At night, she can't fall asleep until she is surrounded by her "duff." (stuff) I need to start hiding some of the duff because a few nights ago she was walking around the backyard and tumbled down the stairs, with all of her stuff. Toddler forehead meets sidewalk.

In her own words, she should 'dop it! ' (stop it)

Kid randomness

Reina has been a handful lately. The last few weeks, the last few months, since January, who really knows. She's all of 2 1/2. I might have written about this before, but she seems very different than Will was at this age. When he was 2 1/2, we had a six-month old rolling around the house so I don't know if I just didn't pay as much attention to his Terrible Two's or if Reina is just playing a whole new ballgame. One of my co-workers has a boy and a girl herself and she used to run a daycare. I was complaining/fretting about Reina's behavior last week and my co-worker told me in her experience, boys were explosive and girls were moody. Man, has that ever been true for us. Will used to (and still does on very rare occasion) throw gigantic tantrums but after after 15 minutes or so, the storm would pass and he'd be back to sitting on my lap happily chattering away. Reina gets mad about something and stays that way all day. And she doesn't tell you why she's mad. She just stomps around with her arms crossed and doesn't make eye contact. I feel like I'm back in junior high. As far as we can tell, she saves up this behavior for home because the daycare teachers think she's all peaches and cream. Who can resist this face?

We had a little reprieve from all the grumpy/moodiness this weekend. Reina came down with a cold that she quickly shared with the rest of the family. So generous! She has been more mellow and snuggly and while I'm sorry she's not feeling well, it was been nice to have a happy(er) girl around the house.

We had a very nice holiday weekend, despite the family virus. We did errands around town, cleaned up the yard, puttered around the house. Aunt Vicky and I canned 1000 pounds of green beans. Okay, so it wasn't quite 1000 pounds but it sure felt like it. Glenn and I had a date night with some good friends. We made it to church relatively on time. I jogged a lot. The weather turned cooler (yeah!!). We had lunch with more good friends. Will watched a few bits and pieces of the Star Wars movies. I still think the movies are too scary for 4-yr olds but with the commercial interruption, you can sort of glaze over the fact that Luke Skywalker just had his hand chopped off by someone who may or may not be his father. Anyone want to take a crack at explaining that one?

It was a nice three-day weekend.

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Overheard while the kids were playing...

Will: "Hey Reina, want to play that game where we fight with the pillows?"

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Will: "Reina, you be the mommy and I'll be the boy. Come on Mommy, let's get on the boat."

Reina: "I'M NOT READY YET!"

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Reina: "Mommy, you are my best friend."

Awwww! Okay, okay full disclosure on this story. She had just slammed her fingers in the kitchen drawer and tearfully announced that the kitchen was not her best friend. So I guess, by default, I was chosen to be her best friend. Because I don't pinch her fingers. She has very high standards for her best friends. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.