How to get better ...

When one of the boys are sick, they watch a lot of TV. My kids don't do naps, and TV is a mostly sure way they stay calm and rest a little. Otherwise, they are bouncing off of the walls. Having two boys, they bounce off the walls a lot, even when they are sick.

So right after school started, Nathan got sick, just a little cold that kept him home one day. Knowing that he was going to get to watch lots of TV, Nathan said, "TV will feel me better."

'Drop off' playdates

Yesterday Nathan went on a playdate. I've really been neglegent in doing playdates for Nathan. So most of Nathan's friends are Colin's friends, and most of the playdates that were scheduled this summer were with Colin's friends.

Anyway, Nathan was invited over to the house of a little boy that will be starting in his class soon. The little boy's sister used to be in Colin's class and that's how we know the family. On the way over to the playdate, Nathan told me he wanted to be "dropped off". Well, since I know the mom and wanted to hang out with her, I told Nathan that he could just pretend that I wasn't there. But the fact that he asked to be dropped off really demonstrated to me how different Nathan is from his brother. Colin hates "drop off" playdates.

Directions

Colin still has difficulty with left and right, but he totally gets North, South, East and West. It's really strange. My theory is that to him North, South, East and West make more sense because they are always the same but right and left are dependent on your prespective. Kinda like how I preferred math to english because 2+2 always equaled 4, but english has all kinds of exceptions ('a' before 'e', except after 'c', etc. etc.).

Nathan grunting

When I was pregnant with Nathan, I grunted ... a lot. It seemed like I grunted more than when I was pregnant with Colin; maybe it was because I had to take care of a toddler.

So now when Nathan is working really hard at putting the wheels on a toy, or lifting something heavy, he grunts. I mean really big exaggerated grunting sounds. It makes me wonder if it had anything to do with all the grunting that I did when he was in my belly?

Mr. Inventor

Colin is the master of inventions. He is always saying, "I'm going to make a machine that will ..." and fill in the blank with the most amazing, bizarre, and/or random thing that you can think of.

Many times, this is Colin's coping mechanism when he is angry. I was a mean mommy one time (imagine that!) and wouldn't let the boys do something. Colin was extremely upset with me and said that he was going to make a machine that was an elevator that could hold all of his friends and not me. There was more to the elevator but I can't remember all the details, it was pretty elaborate.

And just today, Colin expanded his inventions to potions. So school just started and there's a little bit of a transition involving who plays with who on the playground. Without going into all the details, one boy made Colin very angry because he was playing with Colin's usual playmate on the playground. So Colin says that he is going to make a special potion that will turn people into bugs and give it to so-and-so and then he's going to catch the bug and put it in a container.

What an imagination.

A beatle in the park

Last night was the Paul McCartney concert in Piedmont Park. I had tickets to another show and sold them so we could go to this one. The other show is a bi-annual event, and I figured that this was a once in a lifetime occurrence.

Wow, what a show. Paul did a couple of really special tributes, the first to Linda. He sang "My Love" which he also wrote for her. Second, Paul brought out an ukulele that George Harrison gave to him. During "Something", a slide show of George played behind the set.

Paul also talked about Woodstock, that yesterday was the 40th anniversary and then did a little Jimi Hendrix, very cool. The anniversary of Woodstock was further cemented when it started raining ... for a while it rained pretty hard and we held the blanket over our heads.

Nature called during the show so I headed to the porta-potties. The energy of the show continued where someone sang "Man on the Run" full volume in there. Okay it was me singing! Except I was singing "Band on the Run", a little rendition that was made popular during bootcamp elastic band workouts.

But my two favorite songs of the evening were "Hey, Jude", and "Live and Let Die" which he did back to back. I remember "Hey, Jude" from the first time I saw Paul McCartney in 1989 at Iowa State. We sat outside the stadium watching the show. During "Hey Jude", the whole stadium of fans sang and it gave me goosebumps to hear it. Last night, being one of the many singing, I wondered what it sounded like to everyone else outside of the concert venue. If the sound was as loud and as awesome as I remembered.


Then "Live and Let Die" cranked it complete with fireworks and explosions, just like the first time in Iowa. I was looking forward to it and thought I was ready but was still blown away.

The stage behind us, impressive!

Dentist

Nathan went to the dentist for the first time on August 12. However, he got a couple previews of what to expect when I went to dentist a week earlier, and Colin also had an appointment two days before Nathan's. Next time I have their appointment on the same day.

My dentist appointment was probably not the ideal time to bring Nathan. I had a full set of x-rays done and poor Nathan had to sit out in the hall in a little stool. He looked so bored.

So with all that practice, Nathan's appointment went really well. He opened his mouth really big and cooperated very well. I was very proud. And all three of us didn't have any cavities, Yeah!

Colin at his appointment:


Nathan's shoes: