Hot Date and Dinos

Mason and I went on a date last Saturday and left little brother with Grandma. When went to the Children's Jubilee featuring Dinosaurs. They had a bunch of activities, fossils on display, and coloring before the concert.



The music was great and there were illustrations by children shown throughout the concert. Mason liked to roar at them or say (loudly) "Whoa, scary!". At the end they played the score from Jurassic Park. I liked the trumpets. Mason liked the drums.



Mason really wanted his face painted to we waited in line for a very long time. When it was his turn he said he wanted a dragon. The lady said he was too small. I suggested a small dragon? She said that he's too small as in he won't sit still long enough. Mason showed her he was big enough to sit very still as long as she needed if it meant getting a dragon.


There were also some toys the kids could play with. Here is Mason with Eliza. Uncle Nate calls this Mason's "just standing there" pose. (He did this for almost an hour at Nate's house the other day). I love this picture. He's thinking "Look! Fun blocks. Aw man. Not fun enough to approach the girl. Bummer."

bundled

Little Red Riding Hoodlums

We got a little outdoor cottage for the backyard. Half the yard is still covered in snow and it will certainly storm a lot more this season but we couldn't wait to get it up. Mason came into my room and asked if he could play with his friend.



I asked him which friend and he said Hyrum. We went and picked Hyrum up and the boys played in the backyard while Jason assembled the hut (and until their noses got too cold).



It's funny to see how kids absolutely love things their size. Mason asks to go play in his house every day.

a little bit of khaki action

Jason invited Mace out for a jeep ride to get some fresh (COLD) air and see if they could spot any deer. As they got ready to head out and were putting jackets on we realized they were mighty matchy. Even more funny was when Jason headed out the front door to move the car so he could back out the jeep, and we headed out the side door to load Mason in his car seat. On our way out I decided he needed a hat and pulled a black beanie over his head. Jason similarly realized how cold it was and put on a black beanie that was in the car. We met on the side of the house, both boys now black capped, and had a good laugh.


Also funny: Mason fell asleep before they even got out of town.

running wild

Little brother was sick and needed extra love and attention.
Mason ran a little wild for a few days.
Yes, we ate blue berry muffins and nutella covered bagels for more than one meal.

Kitty cat

This is Mason's kitty cat. Can't you see it? Actually he might be holding two... It's hard to tell.


We have several of these kitty cats running around our house. They show up when you least expect it. We'll be walking down the hall and Mason will squeal "Look my kitty cat" run over, and pick it up off the seemingly empty floor. Sometimes they are in his pocket. Sometimes they eat breakfast with us. The other day he brought me a suitcase and said "Shhh. Kitty cats are sleeping". I asked how many were in there and he said "thirteen" while holding up three fingers. One day he handed a kitty cat to his dad. Jason, not knowing what it was, said thanks and pretended to eat it. So now Mason will occasionally chomp a kitty cat. They've spread the word apparently because there has been a recent surge in the invisible puppy dog population as well.

Don't worry though. Mason is very good at building homes for them. I hope they like the Alphabet block style of architecture.

All Gone

One of Mason's fish died. We're not too shocked after finding him on the counter. How he got there, we may never know. (Jason is actually proud of this incident because however Mason managed it, he must have been fast and coordinated). So Nemo was sent to his watery grave. I thought perhaps this would be time to talk about death with Mason. So we did. I don't think he gets it because as the toilet was flushed, Mason clapped and cheered.

AIRPLANE!

When Aunt Amy comes to town we always volunteer to pick her up at our little airport. Mason has always loved airplanes and took his first flights when he was just three weeks old. Whenever he spots an aircraft in the sky (plane or helicopter) and say "Airplane! Mamie?".

Amy went to Israel recently and borrowed our iPod touch, which Mason thinks is his. Since then, every time he sees an airplane he says, "Airplane! Mamie! Pie pod???".

I told him Amy was coming this weekend and forgot to add she was driving her car this time. We might have to go watch a plane land just to keep from breaking his heart.

Mason's hands and face are saying that the plane is BIG!

Fort Man

Mason is supposed to sleep in his bed, although he prefers to sleep in the recliner in his room.
He also likes to sleep in his parents' bed but is quietly tucked in back in his own room if it's before 7am.

He's even been found testing out his brother's crib, but he was laughing- not snoring when discovered.

This is Mason's new crash pad. It's a fort we made so he could read in the dark with a flashlight. He opted to sleep in it the first night. We put him back in his bed before we went to sleep. When he got up in the night to go to the bathroom he returned to the hut.
This has gone on for a few days. I thought about putting my foot down but why? When we say it's bed time there's no cajoling on our part or stalling on his. He'll run to his room and climb into the fort and call out "Night".

Sharky gets a fish

Mason's preschool teacher came over for a home visit today. He always gets excited to see her and calls her "my Collette". She showed me his articulation test from a few months ago to go over what sounds he's still not making. The test showed that the "F" sound wasn't showing up in his language at all. She brought activities to help out. We were both super surprised to hear him clearly say "Fish" as he worked on a fish puzzle. Recently he has made huge improvements in his speech. Today he continued to make the "F" sound so well, even in the middle of words, not just the beginning.

To celebrate we decided to get him a fish, partially as a reward and partially to continue to work on the sound. We went to Wal-mart and bought two goldfish. Mason picked out some glass rocks from the Dollar Store. We put it all in a big spare vase and our fishy home is complete. Their names are Spaz and Nemo. There might be something wrong with Spaz...

Mason likes to blow on top of the water. This evening I walked in on him holding the vase and growling "my precious". (I don't really expect these pets to last long...but that was sort of my intention).

As a side note, his Aunt Lisa nicknamed Mason "Sharky" a few weekends ago. He still responds to it and when he's Sharky he really devours his fish crackers. Add that nickname to the rest (Mace Face, Captain Tenderheart, JasonJr., The Amazing Mason, etc)

and a few more:

We've been working on Mason's speech articulation. Helping? perhaps. Now he walks around saying T-T-T BALL! or M-M-M Nilp (his way of saying MILK). I think we've encouraged him to develop a stutter :)

At night he asks for one of three bedtime stories: Polar Express, Baby Mason story, or Deer Hunt. Last time I was telling him a made up deer hunt story he took over. He was telling me who all was going. "Me Mason Starr, Daddy, Joe, BJ, Elli, Nate...". When he paused I suggested Eli. He laughed like it was the biggest joke. "No! Baby not go. Baby not walk!"

The other day we walked into a dark room and Mason asked me to please turn the sunshine on.

He counts: One, two, three, four, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.

Ask him which of two options he wants and he'll answer BOTH! with a big smile.

When Mason didn't hear something I said that he thinks might be interesting he gets in my face with big eyes and asks "mommy say?". When there is a noise and he can't figure out where it came from he does the same thing but asks "mommy noise?"

He's very polite. He has continued with the "yes, I may" answer for almost any question. He thanks me for making his bed and helping him potty. He uses "please" all the time. When he wants to talk he'll say "shooz me" over and over until he gets his turn. If he trips or accidentally bumps something he'll say "Oops please".

More Masonisms

What he says:
"Ooooh! More milk. Thanks mom. Mommy makes me HAPPY!"
"Hey Mom, nice toes. Oh cute toes."
"Mom? Baby say Baa?"
To Eli "Honey. "Hon-nee! don't cry honey"
 He says "Sha-Ta Sha-Ta" for the noise trains make.
Any time we put on shoes he starts shouting "Hurry!"
The word LOOK sounds like Yuut and he says it all the time.
Recent favorite phrase "Not yet"

Sho Man

Mason loves snowmen. He'll take anything that can be stacked (blocks, rocks, books, playdoh balls, yogurt cups) and turn it into a snowman. He loves to sing the song "Once there was a snowman" but when he says "snowman" it sounds more like "sho man".



This is the boys building a snowman in the front yard (oh how we love having a yard). They carefully built it out of the crusty snow, added a face and arms, loved it, hugged it, and then Mason decided to smash it and stomp it to bits. He sure loves his snowmen...

Back to School

Today was the first day back at pre-school for Mason in a month. He slept in this morning. I went in to wake him up and said "Mason it's a school day" and started doing our School Day Dance. He jumped up and shouted "Me excited!".

He stayed excited and happy all the way to school and ran inside. Once we got to the classroom he was greeted by the teacher and all the aides. Suddenly he was overwhelmed and shy. He stood still, staring at the ground. Then slowly he raised his hands to his beanie and pulled it down over his face. He stood there frozen- invisible in his mind- until I removed his hat. Someone directed his attention to the toys at the table and he snapped out of it.

looking up...

Mason looks up to: the block tower
Mason looks up to: cousin Ryan