“Where’s the spider gone?”

Sitting in the sunshine yesterday afternoon Little Bear and I suddenly realised that we were not alone.

We were having a very calm game of catch, which was going better than it should, when inevitably one of us dropped the ball and it went rolling away.  Little Bear went to retrieve it and spotted our rather large eight legged lodger, I saw it too and had to pretend all was fine as it scuttled away carrying a dinner plate on his shoulder.

Well that was it.  Little Bear was no longer very keen on walking past that particular spot and must have asked me every 2 minutes where the spider had gone.  And there was me, false happiness, explaining that it had run away under the decking because it was far more scared of us than we were of him…yeah right!

What is it about spiders that make us so nervous?  The little ones are fine, and actually, big hairy ones are ok(ish), but the ones with long black muscly legs that lurk in corners…keep them away!

The Volume Has Broken

Is it just a fact that the volume control of a three year old is non-existent?  Or am I just lucky to be experiencing such deafening bouts of play?

Since turning three I’m fairly sure that Little Bear has become much more animated and, let’s put this politely, passionate about his play.  There are lots of ninjas, super villains, and baddies, and to counter them are goodies armed with lightsabres and super-batman (my personal favourite) with his ability to knock down anyone in his path – both literally and metaphorically.

And with these characters comes “The Voice”.  “The Voice” is a snarl, a growl, and gritted teeth, and it’s all played out at cinematic volumes. Quite frankly, it’s a little disconcerting, and nearly impossible to understand at times.

Where did the quiet child who would use squeaky voices in play go?  Where did the child who would sit quietly and build go? And where oh where did my earplugs go?!?!

In truth, I know where that little boy is.  He’s still here.  He’s still shining through most of the day.  I know that this new form of play is just him expressing himself and modelling what he sees elsewhere.  And I know that, in reality, we only lose the volume control for small portions of the day.  But those are the times that stick aren’t they?

You forget the hour you spent together quietly building with lego before pre-school, you forget the unprompted “thank yous”, the unasked for kisses, the intelligent and witty comments.  You forget that he’s just a three old, doing three year old things, at three year old volumes.

Little Bear, I’m sorry I get cross with your loud and passionate play.  I’m sorry that I forget the amazing things you do. And I’m sorry neighbours, the sound proofing is on order!

Post Birthday Fun

Now Little Bear has been three for 10 whole days he has started ask, “When will I be four???”  Oh my word, one year at a time darling!  Thankfully, he got thoroughly spoilt by everyone around him for his birthday so we’ve been dampening those Birthday blues by exploring his new presents.

Our stash of Orchard games has grown ever larger, and we play these daily.  One particular game, Pirate Ludo, is aimed for slightly older children and I attempted to simplify it by just trying to use one playing piece each.  This was met with utter disdain and so we played a full game of ludo…it took half a morning but he understood it and loved it!

And won…obviously.

We’ve been making pictures with Blo Pens too – now they were more fun than I anticipated!  Although I think daddy was the real fan of these!

We’ve also been having fun outside as the weather (say it quietly) is slowly warming up.  Little Bear has been practising at the park on his new bike – it’s going to take a while but he’s already getting the hang of the pedals.  And we’ve been planting in his new planter, I’m just hoping he’ll remember about watering them as my track record isn’t that great!

So it looks like we’ve got plenty to be getting on with for the moment, no need to worry about turning 4 yet Little Bear!

They say the sweetest things

Every morning, much like many families I guess, we say goodbye to daddy.  He has a kiss and cuddle from each of us, and generally we tell each other “I love you”, “Have a good day”, “Enjoy playgroup/swimming/gymnastics”, and other such relevant niceties.

This morning, Little Bear took all that up a notch in his happy little sing song voice…

“Love you daddy, I hope you don’t die!”

Oh, ummm, no plans to today darling so I’ll try my best!  

Hot Chocolate Dilemma

Little Bear – “Ooh it’s too hot!”

Me – “So leave it for a bit”

Little Bear – “Oh but then it will be cold!”

I give up! Welcome to life with a three year old!

Post-Disney Blues

After months of waiting it’s now over.  We’ve had a magical few days in Disneyland and no words or pictures can come close to describing the awe and amazement on Little Bear’s face from the moment we arrived.

Just shy of his third birthday it was a perfect time to take him.  He has some established favourites – Toy Story and Peter Pan – and was keen to meet other characters and try out all the rides as well.  He waited patiently in queues and for the parade, and powered through until 10pm to watch the fireworks on our last night.

We returned home with some amazing memories, half the toys in every shop, and sad faces.

Little Bear proclaimed he wanted “to stay at Disneyland forever!”  And with that not being an option, he settled for clinging to all his new Toy Story toys and wallowing in post-Disney blues – I feel it too darling boy!  Take us back!