Dean absolutely LOVED watching the Olympics!! It was so cute! Some of the events he enjoyed were the Luge and the Bobsled, Freestyle Skiing (he would just laugh and laugh at those crazy jumps for some reason), and finally Speed Skating. The first night of competition (the night of the failed camping trip) we watched Apolo Ohno win a medal in men's Speed Skating and Dean has been completely OBSESSED with Apolo Ohno and Speed Skating ever since!! It's kind of weird. He talks about Apolo Ohno several times a day. He knows that Apolo Ohno (and he always says both his first and last names, never just Apolo) has won 8 Olympic medals and he knows that the Korean skaters were the "naughty ones" in the races (I'm not being racist here, I think Dean equats "naughty" with the guys we didn't want to win). He knows that the number on Apolo Ohno's helmet this year was 256 and he will write that number on papers all over the house. He has sat TWICE and watched a 35-minute biography from start to finish online about Apolo Ohno. He will stand in the living room with his feet staggered and one arm raised up in the air in front of him and the other arm behind him and say "Skaters, ready", then all of a sudden run top speed around and around the living room, usually he ends by "sliding" across the pretend finish line with his skate as he falls. He saw and remembered that in one race, Apolo Ohno had to jump over another skater who had fallen in front of him, so sometimes when Dean is running around the living room he'll put a pillow on the floor and jump over it before he "wins" the race. Sometimes he falls in the middle of the race (very dramatically by the way), in a kind of sliding type of fall, usually ending up on his stomach, looks up and then bangs his fists onto the ground before lowering his forehead to the carpet in defeat (not sure where he got this as as nothing like this happened to Apolo in any of his Olympic races this year. Maybe in the biography??). It's all very melodramatic. For the past 2 Mondays at school (Show and Tell day), he asked me to find pictures of Apolo Ohno online and print them off for him to take for Show & Tell. When the Vicks commercial comes on TV, Dean will drop whatever he's doing and yell "Mommy look! Apolo Ohno!" and then he'll make us rewind it and play it again and again. It is seriously so weird. It makes me feel bad that Maui doesn't have an ice rink - like maybe I should put the kid in some ice skates and let him try it out. Doesn't this sound like the perfect story for me to be telling in 15 years in our Bob Costas interview when Dean is living the dream he's had since he was 3-yrs-old to follow in Apolo Ohno's skates and be an Olympic Speed Skater!?!? ha!
Dean and I often go on "long, long, long walks" around our neighborhood - that's how Dean describes them, but they are pretty darn long for a 3-yr-old. Sometimes we'll walk nearly 2 miles. I think I've mentioned before that Dean has always been a really good walker. He's never been one of those kids who whines and asks to be carried (like I'm pretty sure I was as a toddler) - he would much rather just walk himself. I'm not sure if this is just his strong independent nature or his desire to explore. But I like it. It makes him a good hiker and it saves my back!! Here we are walking along Kamehameha Avenue, just outside our subdivision, one Friday morning with Dean checking out the clouds over the West Maui Mountains and the construction going on across the street:
Sometimes when we just want to go on a shorter walk, Dean will ride his Tricycle. He wants a 2-wheeler bike, but he's not allowed to have one until he agrees to wear a helmet. And so far, Dean absolutely REFUSES to put ANYTHING on his head. I'd be willing to bet my last dollar that he wouldn't wear a bike helmet and the kid is pretty stubborn. I know him. If the deal was that he had to wear the helmet in order to ride the bike, he'd just be like "well screw it then. I just won't ride the damn thing". (ok, maybe not in those exact words, but that'd be what he really meant). So for now, we're sticking with the trike.
Playing a little Super Mario Brothers on the Wii in his underwear....just like Daddy!! (for the record, Dean isn't actually allowed to play video games, but he does watch Joel play Super Mario brothers sometimes and on this particular day Joel went to the bathroom and Dean jumped up and grabbed the Wii remote and started playing. He got waaay farther than I would have!!):
I think I've mentioned before that Dean isn't the greatest eater on the planet. Mealtime is a DAILY struggle around here. The kid just doesn't want to eat. First of all, he'd just rather be playing than sitting at the table. Second, he is definitely my child. I'm really bummed that he seems to have inherited my majorly picky eating habits. I know some people will disagree, but (and Joel is actually with me on this one) I really don't think this is something I've taught him. I think it's just the way he is. And MY own pickiness certainly isn't anything my own parents taught me! (right, Mom?). We are working on this, but at the same time I struggle internally with this issue as I understand what he feels like. We do make him TRY new foods, but as long as he puts it in his mouth - after that, the choice is his - If he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to eat it. I know that my pickiness is probably 90% related to texture rather than taste. And I can see that is the case with Dean a lot of the time too. So I don't push it. I'm hoping that with Joel's influence, he'll outgrow some of this, but I'm not holding my breath. I certainly haven't outgrown my aversion to a lot of foods. He still doesn't eat many vegetables, but he'll down pureed veggies (baby food veggies) like it's Kool-Ade! So we just go with that - at least he's getting his veggies, right? Anyway, I saw an idea on a parenting blog that I wanted to try with Dean - mostly just to make mealtime fun and interesting for kids. It's called "Muffin Tin Meals" and Dean LOVES it!! We've been doing this several times a week in the evening (and most lunches that he's home) and it's working really well - he's eating a lot more than usual and getting a much larger variety of food at each meal. Basically you use a small muffin tin and put a different type of food in each "muffin hole". I have no idea what the appeal is to kids, but it works!! And it really does help him get a nice balanced meal. The example in the photo isn't the best example of the most nutritious meal, but normally we'll try to do 2 veggie holes, 1 protein hole, 1 grain hole, 1-2 fruit holes, and then 1 either dairy or sweet hole (usually yogurt). Dean LOVES to empty out each hole and makes a game out of emptying the holes in a particular pattern.
1 comment:
that Apollo story is awesome!
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