Author: freeheelvegan

AGE 5, MONTH 3
OCT 21 – NOV 20 (2019)

HOME ENTERTAINMENT

• Playing games on the phone: Tom Gold Run, Mr Bullet, Bottle Flip, Clumsy Ninja
• Todd said, “I’m killing it here, on the Pitfall” (playing Pitfall on the old iPad)
• “Show of the month”: Booba
• Practice riding his new bike with training wheels
• Drawing with his magnadoodle; he drew a boot (11/1); there’s increased use of parallel lines, scalloped lines and he likes to draw ‘maps’
• Studying the rocks he took home from Walla Walla park
• Watching Bruce Lee & imitating him (he calls him ‘Bruz Lee’)
• Decorating one of our Christmas trees (11/20)

LEGO LIFE

• Building with Legos; we built the Avengers Compound Battle set with our own pieces using the downloaded instructions (11/17)
• New Lego set: Harvester Transport (he did a lot of it independently)

APPLE VALLEY GYMNASTICS
[3x this month]

PARKS

• Eastmont park (2x), Washington park (1x), Pennsylvania park (“purple park”) (2x)
• Walla Walla Point park (11/1, 11/2); playing at the park, throwing rocks, looking at the disgusting goose poop & cracking up
• He likes to bring Hot Wheels cars to parks & roll them down the slide

PENNSYLVANIA PARK

• On 10/27 we walked to Pennsylvania park. Todd played there & jumped into the leaf pile. We walked to Safeway & then back home. Todd picked up a dried hydrangea & wanted to keep it because he said, “It’s so pretty.”

WALLA WALLA POINT PARK

ERTH’S PREHISTORIC DINOSAUR SHOW
[10/25 @ the Performing Arts Center]

KINDERGARTEN

• Field trip to Erth’s Prehistoric Aquarium (10/25)
• Todd’s conference (10/30)
• No school for Todd on 11/1 & 11/12
• Eric takes his work van to drop Todd off at school

HALLOWEEN

• Todd was dressed as a ninja; we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, then he wanted to get in the car to see his school, so went to one house before he said we were done

HEALTH & OTHER

• Reading words: the, end, go, and, a, see, I, to
• He reads with less effort now
• Dentist appointment (11/4)
• He counts to 20 & above without skipping numbers now
• Todd said, “So this is my work, and this is cool. And this is my drawing for dada, and I love him and I love mama, and I love my work because my work is cool. And I’m gonna go out and see where is dada.” (see video, “110319 Magnadoodle”)

FOOD NOTES & DINING OUT

• Dining out: Ice (10/26), Lemolo (10/30) before Todd’s conference; Taco Del Mar (11/1); Ice (11/2); El Porton (11/8); 509 Bierwerks & playing with their Duplos & foosball table (11/15); Carl’s Jr (11/17)
• Todd’s Goppa consumption is way down

AGE 5, MONTH 2
SEPT 21 – OCT 20 (2019)

HOME ENTERTAINMENT

• Humming/singing songs (‘Band on the Run‘, ‘Jet‘, ‘T for Texas‘)
• Playing notes of “Jet” on keyboard
• Building with Legos: Iron Man Hall of Armor set & making our own Pitfall scene
• Playing Pitfall Relic Rush & completing all the levels; he is reeeally good! We got the ninja suit & we cracked up because of how he runs
• Playing Pitfall on our Atari classic (and other games)
• Play fighting with his figures & play fighting with us
• Playing with Hot Wheels cars & picking out “best for track” cars during grocery trips; He finally started using the car track carpet as intended (it was a gift from Grandma 2-3 years ago!)
• New game/app: Clumsy Ninja

APPLE VALLEY GYMNASTICS

FUN ACTIVITIES

• Open gym @ Apple Valley Gymnastics (9/21); doing dive forward rolls & ninja moves
• Pedal bike riding (with training wheels) at the court (2x)
• We got a new (used) pedal bike for Todd (9/23)
• Swimming at the condo pool 1x (9/25)
• Eastmont Park: car show & playing in the bouncy houses (10/5)
• Walla Walla Point Park (10/6); riding his pedal bike with training wheels on the trail
• Annie’s Fun Farm (10/12); dragon slide, bouncy orange thing, corn kernel pit, apple launcher, feeding the goats, looking at the pig, eating popcorn, & drinking hot cider
• Puddle jumping on a wet day (10/19)

EASTMONT PARK & CAR SHOW

WALLA WALLA POINT PARK

ANNIE’S FUN FARM

KINDERGARTEN

• Field trip to Sport Gymnastics (9/27)
• Field trip to a Ukulele show at the PAC (10/11); all day Kinder that day
• Field trip to Rocky Reach Dam (10/16)
• Todd talks about the ‘back table’ (a table next to the carpet, where kids go if they don’t listen to the teacher at the carpet)

HEALTH & OTHER

• At times it’s a major struggle brushing his teeth at night (due to his wanting to be silly before bed & not listening)
• I was sick & Todd took care of me by insisting that I have ice cream with him, to help my tummy (and it worked!) (10/15)
• Todd is very snuggly with me
• Todd said: “I’m sorry for not doing slow cutting” (hours after I got annoyed when he was trying to do his table work too fast)

FOOD NOTES & DINING OUT

• He started eating romaine lettuce (10/8); he said “I love it”
• He eats carrot sticks without complaint
• He eats full slices of pizza with Daiya vegan cheese (instead of just the crust)
• New food: Morningstar nuggets
• Todd ate French fries at Burger King (9/28)
• Todd ate his first bean burrito (Taco Bell, 10/9)
• Ice (10/6); Taco Del Mar (10/6); Lemolo (10/11)

SLEEP

• Todd wanted to sleep on his couch in his room starting 9/24, then I put a foam mat on his bed & he went back to sleeping on his bed again (10/6)
• He fell asleep on the living room couch 1x (9/26)
• He asks me to put my hand on his tummy when he falls asleep (to reassure him that I’m not leaving the room…until he’s asleep)
• He likes to make up ‘rules’ for made-up games before bed

AGE 5, MONTH 1
AUG 21 – SEPT 20 (2019)

FIFTH BIRTHDAY – AUGUST 21

Elisa was back to work. In the evening, we went to open house for Kindergarten, then we ate dinner at La Fuente. See post, “Todd’s Fifth Birthday“.

TODD SAID…

• Eric: “Will you eat some sweet potato?” Todd: “No.” Eric: “I thought you were going to be 5 tomorrow?” Todd: “I’ll still be 5 even if I don’t eat sweet potato.”
• “That’s not a word to say” (after Eric asked, “What kind of logic is that?”)
• “Before 55 is 54”
• “I’m gonna have a quick Goppa, dudes”
• “Break it off!”

HOME ENTERTAINMENT

• Playing with Hot Wheels cars
• Outside: looking at bugs, kicking balls in the grass, running in the sprinklers
• Singing to ‘Band on the Run’ & ‘Jet’
• For ‘Jet’ he sang, “I want mama to always love me”
• Todd was fixated on catching a fish & bringing it to the condo to take care of it; he filled up a bin with water for the fish
• Video games: On Eric’s old iPad he completed ‘Dragon’s Lair” & then moved on to playing ‘Pitfall’
• Able to work a 45-pc puzzle (we take turns)

SHOPPING

RUNNING IN SPRINKLERS

FUN ACTIVITIES

• Lincoln Rock State Park (8/23); looking for fish & trying to catch them
• Slidewaters (8/24)
• Cashmere pump track & catching fish with his net (8/25, 8/27)
• TEAMS Learning Center (8/26)
• Open gym (9/7, 9/14); they took down the monkey bars 😦
• Sorbetto @ Ice, then to Walla Walla Point Park to look for fish & throw rocks (9/8); At the park, he jumped with confidence to grab the monkey bar with both hands, then grabbed the next bar before dropping

HIKING – HIDDEN LAKE

• See post, “Hiking: Hidden Lake (9/01/19)“
• Hike to Hidden Lake (0.8 miles round trip) & looking at fish (9/1)
• Throwing rocks & walking over rocks at Lake Wenatchee (9/1)

BIKING

• Riding his pedal bike with training wheels (9/14, 9/19); Eric throws the frisbee & Todd tries to ride away

POOL

• See post, “Pool Videos (Age 5, Month 1)“
• We swam 14x this month
• He did 2 back flips & 1 failed attempt (8/22)
• We playing ball toss in the pool
• There was a double rainbow (9/16)

KINDERGARTEN

• Open house to see his school/classroom (8/21)
• First day of Kinder (8/28); he goes 1/2 days M-F
• He has PE 2x per week; One evening he dropped to the floor to demo push-ups, so maybe he learned that in PE!

FOOD NOTES & DINING OUT

• Dining out: La Fuente (8/21); Ice (9/8); El Porton (9/20)

CRITTERS

• On 9/4 we saw a small rat in the grass on the way to the pool. After we swam it was still in the same spot. Later, we saw a worm. Todd doesn’t shy away from touching anything, but I try my best to keep him safe! (i.e., I do know rats can bite.)

SLEEP

• We started a token economy on 9/5: he gets 1 star for each night he stays in his own bed, earning a toy if he fills up the month; so far he has not missed a night getting stars!

FIFTH BIRTHDAY
AGE 5, MONTH 1
AUG 21 (2019)

I had to work, so Eric took him to the splash park during the day.

In the evening, we went to open house for his new school. He’ll do half day Kindergarten this year, then start full day public school Kindergarten next year.

Next, we went out for dinner at La Fuente.

He makes great silly faces!

Todd hid behind Eric when they sang to him.

During the ride home, I caught him singing to Band on the Run, but partway through, he realized I was filming him.

After dinner, he wanted to drive his remote control car for a little bit.

AGE 4 (MONTH 12)
JUL 21 – AUG 20 (2019)

TODD SAID…

• “Brave kids are averse to Thanos”
• “You’re correct, mama/dada”
• “Am I correct?”
• “Get!”
• “Break it off!” (he says this instead of ‘knock it off’)
• “But what the hell is this? What the heck does this do, or what?” (while picking up a flash drive)
• “I’m not Mr. Lebowski, you’re Mr. Lebowski. I’m the Dude, so that’s what you call me” (he recited lines from The Big Lebowski movie trailer playing at the beginning of a Pink Panther DVD)
• Eric asked, “What kind of logic is that?” & Todd said, “That’s not a word to say”

SHARK FRENZY
Todd was a chatterbox talking about his shark toy and about taking it to the pool on 8/4. He was non-stop for at least half an hour before I decided to it write down:

• “I think the Great White shark is going to be alive in our pool. I like this GW shark because it’s pretty grey. And we have to be careful of this guy. See, I really, really think he’s going to be alive in our pool. He’s gonna bit your hands. He bitted your mouth. He bitted all of you. Now you’re in his mouth. He ate all of me. He ate all of dada. I’m just kidding. Look at his tail, look. This is really, really going to be alive in our pool, and it will swim on its own and it will open its mouth and close it. Look at the dorsal fin. Let’s see if it sinks or floats. Okay? I think he will sink. How many gills does this GW shark have? I think this is gonna sink. I’m gonna throw him into the deep end and see if he likes it. And let’s dry him off, too, from when we’re getting out of the pool. And look, this is a big one, but not as big as the pool. The pool is bigger than this GW shark. Our pool is huge. Look how big this guy is! Look, look at his tail. This guy is so freaky, from he just bites. Sometimes when he bites it’s really freaky. Right now he’s just watching you guys doing something. He’s pretty big. And this is my idea to put a GW shark in the pool and watch for it. We really have to be careful, mama. So I will be careful, so just chance me.”

HOME ENTERTAINMENT

• In the Sharks library book, he likes the page with the ‘mixed up shark’ (above)
• Building marble run, playing beanbag toss game, playing a game with chess pieces/board
• Building Legos & putting together lots of mixed up figures with weapons/accessories
• Fighting with his Hulk figures in slow motion
• Pretending he’s a cat named ‘Lizzy’ by crawling, jumping on the couch & trying to lick my face (he started doing this after our trip to Ocean Shores)
• He says he’s going to be a scuba diver from when he gets bigger
• He is better than me at Hill Climb Racer now! He likes to take screenshots
• He said:
  • “I didn’t appreciate from when you took it out of her hand” (talking about a Lego figure)
  • “I got the wrong vehicle” & “I need a new vehicle” (playing Hill Climb Racer)
  • “If you watch me you will be a fan of Neon” (playing Hill Climb Racer)

APPLE VALLEY GYMNASTICS

• Open gym (3x)
• He was able to do a full row of monkey bars! (8/5)
• He was able to grasp the bar & hook his legs on the bar; once he flipped all the way around (8/5)

CASHMERE PUMP TRACK

• Eric & Todd went to the pump track while I mountain biked (8/4)
• Swinging at the park & throwing rocks in the river

OTHER FUN ACTIVITIES

• Play date with Lyndsay/Wyatt/Zeke after open gym (7/29)
• TEAMS Learning Center (5x)
• Puddle jumping on a very rainy morning (8/9)
• Library (1x); getting new books & looking at the fish

TRIP TO OCEAN SHORES (WA)

• See post, “Trip to Ocean Shores (July 2019)“
• We drove to there 7/24 & drove home 7/28 (stayed 4 nights)
• Activities:
  • BoomShaka trampoline park (7/24, 7/28) [See post]
  • Grammie’s house: Building trains at Grammie’s house, playing Hill Climb Racer, loving on the cat (Misty), tearing apart & rebuilding the Lego Jr. fire set, watching American Ninja show then practicing ‘moves’ before bed
  • Grammie’s beach: flying the kite, playing in the water, walking in tide pools
  • Riding on Globber scooter (7/25)
  • Coastal Interpretive Center & Matthew McGee Nature Trail (7/26)
  • Damon Point Beach (7/26)
  • Swimming @ the Ocean Shore Community Club, Cabana Park pool (7/26, 7/27); Todd’s first jump off a diving board! [See post]
• He got 2 answers on Jeopardy correct (“Great White” & “Thresher Shark”)
• He slept on the inflatable bed & said it was ‘cozy’ (during past visits he slept in the travel tent)
• He loved the ‘sandwich cookies’ (Trader Joe’s Neapolitan Joe Joe)
• Dining out: Carl’s Jr (7/24), Los IV Hermanos (7/27), Pho and Baguette (7/28)

HIKING

• Icicle Gorge Loop (8/11); 4.4 miles
• See post, “Hiking: Icicle Gorge Loop (8/11/19)“
• Highlights were: throwing bread in the water, seeing fishes/water snake/Northern Alligator lizard; throwing rocks in the creek, sitting with Todd on the same log that I sat on when I was pregnant with him

TRIP TO BEND (OR)

• We drove there 8/14 & drove home 8/18 (stayed 4 nights)
• See posts, “Part 1: Trip to Bend (August 2019)” and “Part 2: Trip to Bend (August 2019)”
• Activities: Lego building (Old Fishing Store set), playing at the park, mountain biking, floating the Deschutes River, discovering tadpoles/frogs/fish/snakes at Todd Lake, going on the waterslide & diving board at Juniper Swim and Fitness Center, ‘catching fish’ at Discovery Park
• Birthday party for Eli & Todd (8/17); we had vegan burgers, cupcakes & ice cream
• 5th birthday presents:
  • Nana & Grampy: Lego Batman Mech vs. Poison Ivy Mech
  • Grandma & Grandpa: Lego creator Deep Sea Creatures, Shark Bite game, Megalodon monster truck, Shark/diver/cage toy set
  • Elisa/Eric & Karin’s family: Lego Welcome to Apocalypseburg, small bagged figure
• Dining out: Burgerville (8/14, 8/18); Pacific Pizza & Brew (8/15); Bonta (8/15); Baskin & Robbins (8/16)

FLOATING THE DESCHUTES RIVER

• This was part of our trip to Bend (see above)
• After we got home, he said, “Next time from when we go on the river, we have to go much, much farther, so we can go to South America”

POOL

• Swimming at condo pool (12x)
• He spontaneously decided to try diving from the top step of the ladder in the deep end (See the videos here: “Water Play (July/August 2019)“)
• Friends Charlene/Henry joined us 1x

SLIDEWATERS

• We went to Slidewaters 3x
• See post, “Water Play (July/August 2019)“
• 7/23: Todd rode behind me on #1 big slide twice, then went by himself for the first time!
• 8/2: Todd went by himself on all big slides #1 through #4. He liked #2 & #3 the best because of the tunnels; in the pool he practiced making a shark fin by floating prone & placing hands with palms together over his head
• 8/7: He likes to climb up through the hole in the lazy river inner tube (requires effort but he can do it)

HAIRCUT

• We convinced Todd to get his hair cut by motivating him with a small Lego set that he saw at Fred Meyer. First, Eric buzzed his own hair then he used his clippers on length #6 for Todd.

FOOD NOTES & DINING OUT

• He ate carrot stick & avocado slice when motivated by a ‘sandwich cookie’
• He likes grilled cheez sandwiches made with Daiya shreds
• Dining out: Munchen Haus (8/11) after hiking; Froyo (8/12)
• Eric: “Will you eat some sweet potato?”…Todd: “No”…Eric: “I thought you were going to be 5 tomorrow”…Todd: “I’ll still be 5 even if I don’t eat sweet potato”

MISC

• When he brushes teeth, he takes pretend phone calls [Example: “Hi Boones. I’m getting ready for bed. Are you brushing your teeth? Yeah. Dada already went to bed. Is Jason in bed? Oh!”]
• Most nights he wakes up in the night, then goes to sleep with Eric (he says he gets afraid when he’s alone)
• Couch nap (8/7; after a short day at Slidewaters)
• We met his Kindergarten teacher (8/13)
• He is afraid to ride his peddle bike with training wheels!

TRIP TO BEND, OREGON
AGE 4, MONTH 12
AUG 14 – AUG 18 (2019)

See “Part 1: Trip to Bend (August 2019)” for the first part of this post.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16

At mid-day, we went to Todd Lake for the first time. Grandpa, Karin, Ashley and Eli joined us.

The sign says,

“Todd Lake was named for central Oregon pioneer John Y. Todd. In 1860 he built Sherars Bridge, the first structure to span the Deschutes River. Todd Lake is nestled in an ancient dacite volcano that was last scoured by glaciers 18,000 years ago. The receding glaciers left behind a rock basin holding Todd Lake which covers 33 acres to a depth of 60 feet. The lake’s outlet disappears into permeable volcanic terrain about two miles southwest of here. Introduced Eastern Brook trout now support a popular sport fishery in this once fishless lake.”

As soon as the trail met the water, Todd was looking for fish to catch with his net. He pretty quickly caught a tadpole and examined it in his net before releasing it.

At the next little brook crossing, Eli found a full grown frog, but Todd wanted his chance to catch it with his net.

There were masses of tadpoles at the end of the lake.

Eli had the opportunity to hold a snake.

After our excursion at the lake, Eric rode his mountain bike to my parents’ house from the Swampy Sno-Park, while the rest of us had ice cream at Baskin-Robbins, (because I’d heard that B-R now has a vegan ice cream made from almonds).

Todd had scoops of ‘Raspberry Sorbet’ and ‘Watermelon Splash Ice’. I had the non-dairy and vegan ‘Chocolate Extreme’ ice cream (the Bend location didn’t have the ‘Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough’ flavor yet).

That evening, we gathered at Karin’s house for a spaghetti dinner. Todd actually tried some pasta shells with sauce…without being coaxed to do so! Todd mixed up Eli’s Lego figures while some of us played a card game. Eric snapped a good picture from their outdoor living space.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 17

Happy birthday to Eli! Todd slept in long! At mid-day, we went to the Juniper Swim and Fitness Center because Todd had never been on the waterslide there. The slide is short but fun and fast.

After riding the slides, we went to the indoor pool, where Todd passed the swim test and jumped off the diving board a couple times. Mostly, though– he wanted to watch other jumpers and divers going off the low and high dives. They also had a rope swing.

In the afternoon/evening, we gathered at Karin’s house for a party to celebrate Eli’s 12th birthday and Todd’s 5th birthday. This included Nana and Grampy (Jason’s parents). Beforehand, Todd looked for fish in the pond/lake located across the street. We met two boys from Juneau (AK) who were catching/releasing fish, so Todd did, in fact, have the chance to hold a fish then release it back in the water.

I was able to coax Todd into the house with a promise of opening one of his birthday presents.

We had veggie burgers for dinner, and Grandma brought homemade vegan chocolate cupcakes for dessert. Todd spent some time upstairs with Eli playing Xbox car racing and mountain biking games.

Todd’s biggest birthday present was waiting for him back at home, so I wrapped up the picture of it. He seemed a bit perplexed!

We sang to Eli and Todd.

Todd is never interested in cake/frosting, but he sure loves ‘ice cream’ (raspberry sorbet in this case!)

We snuck in a game of Shark Bite before going back to Grandma’s house for the night.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18

We drove back home, and we had to stop at the Burgerville once again for lunch. This time, Eric had the Oregon Marionberry Bliss shake, and I tried the mint Oreo Bliss shake.

We’ve been spoiled by unseasonably clear skies this summer, thanks to the lack of forest fires. I couldn’t resist snapping a few more pictures of the scenery while crossing the Columbia River.

THE END…of a great trip!