Holloween 2009

We attended a party at our next door neighbours this evening. We tried to get Pepe to dress up, but once again, he said he wanted to be: "Pepe". He did agree to wear a "trick or treat" shirt. Chris bought for him a costume with a sword but he refused to wear it (can you spell, Thank God???). Chris and I did dress up - that's for you to figure out who we were (see pics below). Hint1: we are a singing couple. Hint2: "I've got you babe".


Yes, Sonny and Cher! Good job!

Someone got A LOT of candy
Can you tell he already tried some of it?

It's Fall...

It's been rather chilly around here lately. We had to buy pants for Pepe - thank God for those adjustable waist Gap/Old Navy pants - and bribe or distract him in order to wear them. The boy does not like change. "I don't like new clothes", he says. He prefers to wear his old pants, which are 3/4 length now, and his crocs (with no socks). The other day I successfully put a sweater on him while distracting him with some afternoon activity. The sweater was on, and he did not even notice it (he hates sweaters). But then Chris made the mistake and commented on how good he looked in the sweater, and Pepe wanted it off. Now. I had a temper tantrum and stated that the sweater will stay ON. On it stood, but with tears. The interesting thing is that once you put something new on him (sweaters and coats excluded), those things are not new anymore, and he no longer refuses to wear them. I tried to trick him into "this are old pants", but it does not work.

We've had a few busy weekends. We visited Karl, Michelle, ROsie and Rowen in New Haven 2 weekends ago, and we had lots of fun. The kiddies played well, Pepe got to see two lighthouses (west ledge and 5 mile), we went apple picking/donut eating, and managed to play quidler in the afternoon. Pepe impressed everyone with his pizza eating ability - 3 slices/sitting, followed by chocolate cake and icecream. I wonder where all that food goes. But then I look at Chris...Last weekend we went to Grandma's house again. Chris and I got out for a night and played air hockey and fuzzball (sp) and I got my but kicked! Of well. We also saw a movie and had some dinner out. NICE! Of course, we caught up on Madman and stayed up way too late. Loved it:)

Next weekend is a surprise birthday for Papi - I will make sure to get pics, followed by my marathon on Sunday. I can't believe how quickly time is going by. Pepe is aware of that, and he told me that "Pretty soon I am going to be old enough and you and daddy can leave me", and "I will not get married but I will have kids; I will work from home and feed my kids pizza and apple juice. I will let them play all day long and they will go to school sometimes. I will get money from the money machine. You and daddy can stay, if you want". "Mommy you should have a baby girl, soI can play with her toys, because I like her toys. I will be good to her, and if she messes up my trains, I will set them up again".

Will be back with pics. Happy Fall!

Update

This will be a bullet point post, as I do not have much time to organize my thoughts in complete sentences that fit together nicely into paragraphs. So here it goes:
* This past months we have noticed a huge change in Pepe's ability to reason with us (and viceversa). I can actually explain things to him, and he listens, asks questions, thinks about what I say. He still uses some automatic sentences (I think he learns these at school) that come across as very polite (e.g., yesterday I told him that I swallowed water while swimming laps at the pool, and he said :"Oh, I am sorry to hear that"), but he is definitely at the point where he is putting thought into things he says, most of the time.
* He still does not have the ability to get outside of himself and understand other kids' feelings. When he is hurt, he thinks that everyone is hurt, when he is not, he thinks everyone is fine. The other day A. the 2 y old from across the street fell pretty hard and was crying. Pepe went to her and called her "booby head" (I later learned that the word means "your brain is not functioning well" - another gem from school) in her face. Chris was furious and close to giving Pepe a time out. I talked to him later and realized he had no idea what was happening. Kids really need to be taught these things - so many times we assume that they get emotions, feelings, etc bc of things they may say, but really, they don't have the ability to do so. They need to be taught how to do that. Repeatedly. It's clear to me now.
* I love to explain things to Pepe and talk to him. I think it's one of my strengths as a parent. I also love to be silly with Pepe, to regress and behave like a 4 year old myself. Sometimes Chris looks at us in disbelief.
* Pepe continues to be in love with music (fav now is Ryan Adams - he uses his thumb as a microphone and sings away) and drawing. He produces at least 20 drawings of lighthouses, traffic signals, and bridges daily. He can draw for hours at a time and he is really good at it.
* Pepe continues to dislike watching TV. He does watch a bit of Wiggles, or Clifford once in a while, but mostly when we go to New Hampshire. We do not have cable, and as a result Pepe has never watched any of the cable popular TV shows. At school, kids who watch those shows ask Pepe to play "Superman", or some other character, and Pepe does not want to do so. This causes some changes in his friendships. He is OK with that. "C is no longer my friend, bc he likes to play Superman and I don't. Now L is my friend and we play firefighters".
* Pepe's interest in lighthouses and traffic signals migrated to the other kids; now almost everyone is drawing lighthouses and traffic signals (as heard from teachers).
* Pepe continues to like going to school. He loves staying home much more, mostly because he pretty much get to do all his favorite activities.
* Everynight now Pepe wants to look at "books with words" when going to bed. Chris thinks he is going to read soon. I am not sure, bc he has a hard time with cursive letters and we are not teaching him - I believe this is school's job.
* His diet consists of mainly: pizza, mac & cheese, yogurt, yogurt drinks, pears, bananas, apples, crackers, cheese, peperoni, chips, popcorn, waffles, eggs, pasta and sweets. No veggies!
* He has a good brain and a funny personality!

* You can't take a pic of him these days....see, he turned his head again!

Pepe's drawings

Pepe is spending a great deal of time these days drawing lighhouses, bridges, and traffic signals. Here are some of his masterpieces...
Traffic signals:
Number 1 Bridge:

Memorial Bridge

Traffic signals: marble ligths and doghouses:

Lighthouse:

Another lighthouse (You may want to rotate your laptop...probably easier than me reuploading these picture)

4 years old check-up

Pepe had his visit with Dr Janet today. I was a bit worried she is going to ask him what he had for breakfast today (popcorn and a waffle), but she did not. He is 31.7lbs (13th percentile) and 41 inches tall (53rd percentile). So he is right where he should be in terms of height; in terms of weight, well, I would not want him to be like the average American child... Pepe had his vision checked, which was tough because he decided to play games with the medical assistant, but it worked out fine in the end. He had 4 shots today, which was a bit of a surprise - I guess some doctors like to wait on some of the shots. Pepe did well, he cried at the last shot, which was the most painful, but he settled down shortly after. No more shots until he is 12, yay. The flu shot is a mist, and he will get that in 2 weeks. After the appointment, we went to Dunkin Donuts to celebrate (Pepe loves their sprinkled donuts and I love their raisin bagels), and to Catch a falling start where we purchased a book and a few train tracks. Pepe seems tired as I write this, so I see a "5 minute nap" in our near future.

it's too healthy for me

AM: Pepe, would you like some water with dinner?
P: No water, is too healthy for me....
*
P: I am a little sad so I need something to make me feel better.
*
AM: I love you more than lighthouses
P: I love you more than lighthouses with decorations.
*
C: Pepe, you had lots of treats today, donut when we did the oil change, than crackers at the Y, a tofuti cutie, a popsicle, pizza...
P: Pizza is not a treat, that's dinner...
*
AM: Now you have to sleep.
P: But, I want you to stay with me. I am all alone
AM: You have your stuffies
P: But they don't talk.

first dentist appointment

Today Pepe had his first dentist appt. I know you are supposed to take kids at 3, not 4, but there you go, we are slackers on this one as well. We only got our act together after Pepe's 4 and 6 y old italian cousins had dreadful dental exams that included lots of fillings and some pulled teeth. Yikes! Chris took Pepe in today. We've talked about the upcoming visit for a while now. Pepe and I even played dentist, and he actually let me look in his mouth with a magnifying mirror and I could not see any cavities. Pepe was asked today whether he is brushing his teeth, to which he nonchalantly replied: "yeahhh????". Truth be told, Pepe brushes his teeth about 10 times/week, including morning and night. Chris thinks he associates teeth brushing with bedtime. I think he is just lazy when it comes to hygiene. Plus, he can't spit out the toothpaste, or mouthwash (he loves that stuff), so I have been a bit afraid of fluoride poisoning. Anyhow, Pepe did well today, no cavities, had a cleaning, and was told to brush his teeth coz otherwise he'll get wholes in his teeth! Guess that works better than saying if you brush your teeth you will have nice white pain free teeth.... Will see how that works out!