Blue Bear's Makeover (updated)

If you know Greyson, you've at least heard about Blue Bear. He is a staple around here. He is Hobbes to Greyson's Calvin. Greyson would love to take him everywhere (and we could probably let that happen now) but we've always been too afraid of what would happen if he was left somewhere or accidentally pitched out a window or ... the possibilities are endless. So that is why you've only met Blue Bear if you've been to our house or we've seen you on vacation. Sadly, Blue Bear has been a forced hermit and doesn't get out much.

Blue Bear has a rich history. Greyson received him on his first Christmas from a church teenage friend named Lauren-Elaine. She bought gifts for both of my children and we thought it was very sweet. Blue Bear also came with a blanket (that reminds us of the colors he used to be since it hasn't gotten nearly as much wear).  (Oh, and to be fair, Madelyn's gift was a Curious George stuffed animal and book.)  Not too long after Greyson's birth, he started this nasty habit of spitting out his pacifier out in the middle of the night and losing it.  Of course, when the time came to find it, that was the mama's job and there was no telling where it would be.  Behind or under the crib, stuck in the crib slats, wrapped up in his swaddling blanket.... it became a problem to find it and soothe the boy without completely waking him up.  So, we attached the pacifier to Blue Bear with a safety pin for easy finding.  It did the trick!  It also made Blue Bear the most sought-after thing in Greyson's young life and a friend like no other! 

As you can see in this picture, Blue Bear used to be plush and clean, bright pastel blue and pristine white.



As you can see from this picture, although not super clearly, Blue Bear is... ummmm.... well loved.  The most loved part of him is his hat.  It's the satin part that is rubbed against Greyson's face while sleeping and awake.  It is also the part that Blue Bear gets swung and slung by much too often.  






So, after putting it off for a LONG, LONG time, I finally decided to replace Blue Bear's hat.  (I also decided NOT to restuff him since his stitching is awesome and I'm afraid to mess with it.) Greyson and I went to the fabric store and we picked out the fabric together, spent the $1.86 to buy it, and then I started crafting his new hat.  Blue Bear got a long bath and went without his hat for two days in the process.  Today, when I told Greyson I needed Blue Bear to sew his hat on, Greyson could bearly stand to wait long enough for it to happen. 





Greyson is super happy now and Blue Bear has new life in this new hat of his.



It makes this mama's heart melt to see this - my little boy loving on his oldest friend.  Blue Bear, you have been a blessing to all of us.



I wish I had gotten a before picture... alas, I did not.  You'll just have to trust me that this looks SO MUCH BETTER!



UPDATE: I found these two pictures... this one shows the old hat material next to the new hat.


This one was taken last night of my sweet boy and his old friend.

The paper towel was the trick

Greyson has had a wiggly tooth FOREVER! Okay, maybe it's only been 3 weeks or so... but, man it's been FOREVER! He isn't much of an active wiggler. I guess you could call him a passive wiggler. Pretty much didn't care when or if it came out.  I, on the other hand, was anxious to see it come out! I know, I should just let it go but I couldn't... his tooth was bending all the way around and he just wouldn't take it the last little bit to make it come out! It was driving me crazy. So, I bribed him. Yes, I did. I told him if it came out on the appointed day, I would give him a foam soccer ball (that we already had stored away for him). He wants the foam soccer ball. It served its purpose. His tooth is out. All the thanks goes to Madelyn and her brilliant idea to use a paper towel.  And guess what!  It worked like a charm!  So, let that be a lesson to you.  When you need to extricate a super loose tooth from a resistant mouth, use a paper towel.

So, when the tooth fairy came, she(he?) brought our boy some Big League Chew. (Bubble gum has been the request of choice for each tooth lost in our house.) He was super excited about it and I couldn't quite understand why SUCH an excitement. He asked what it was and wondered a lot about his new bubble gum. Then he pulls out one of his acquired comic books (I think it is a Justice League comic book) and shows me this picture. And says, "Look, it's right here in this picture!" Oh! Now I get why he's so excited and I marvel, yet again, at his memory. The boy has a steel trap for a memory.
An additional sidenote: Big League Chew is worth the money. My kids are ones to chew gum until it loses flavor and then spit it out, usually less than five minutes of chewing. Greyson came up to me a good 30 minutes into chewing and exclaimed, "Mom, this is the best gum! It's still in flavor!"

Stitches Episode #8

Disclaimer: Gaping holes and stitched skin ahead

So, yet again, we have another episode of stitches.  I almost forgot to blog about it... they have become so common place in our house that I think they are no biggie anymore.  About a month ago (6/3/12), we were at a friend's house and Greyson was running and fell... while trying to get his pants down to urinate.... not a good mix of things to have happen at the same time.  He and everything else near him ended up sprayed down and he was hurt - physically and emotionally - by the whole ordeal.  I think it is going to provide for great comic relief later on down the road though.  I'm thinking about the times we want to humble and mortify him.... girlfriends, graduation, wedding.  I can hear Ben now... "be nice, Melissa"



Greyson is also comfortable with the whole stitches idea.... I guess when you've been here two other times for the same EXACT thing (3rd set in his chin), you start to know what to expect.



And Thor had his back anyway.



BEFORE:
We have a medical friend that when told about our stitches count mentioned her remedy for large cuts - medical adhesive.  I quickly told her that the "cuts" we have aren't cuts, they are gaping holes.



AFTER STITCHES:
All stitched up.  Two days later, the one on the far right fell out and we put a steri-strip on it. 



THIS MORNING (7/12/12):  See the three different scars?  I'm just glad that they are under his chin!

Snowy Leap Day

It feels VERY strange to say this is our one of very few super snowy mornings of 2012. By this time, we are usually sick and tired of seeing snow everywhere we go. Not this year! We have been waiting for snow to cover our hills and sled slopes to try out our new sleds for much longer than we ever expected. So, to see this when we woke up this morning was a happy surprise.

The kids got ready super fast! They were ready in 30 minutes when they usually take an hour. It was driven by getting out in the snow before we had to go to school!

Not only did they have a great time in the snow but it also gave me a great backdrop to try and get some pictures of the kids.  This is a good one, huh?

This one's for you, Tracy!  My attempt at one of your signature shots.

The kids with their finished super tall snowman. 

Love at first snow, man.

Another good picture but this one took a LONG time to capture and required a nonsensical joke told by Greyson to FINALLY get good smiles.  I gotta remember to try that sooner next time!

Oh, the down side to waking up to new snow - shoveling it off the driveway.  I'm a BIG snowblower fan, BIG!  Unfortunately when I got it started up and ran the first pass down the driveway, it got clogged again and again with the heavy, wet snow.  I finally gave up on it and put it away.  That left shoveling.... unhappy with our two shovels, I took a trip to Menards to arm myself and Greyson with a new ones.  So glad I did!  Greyson was my hard worker plugging away at getting the driveway clear.  Makes for one proud momma.

Our very own Spiderman impersonator

So, Grey loves all things superhero (much like his Dad). Last night, he came out from get his PJs on. Ben said, "Oh, it's Spiderman!" and Grey hit this pose.

And this one...

And this one...

We love him AND his Spiderman antics.

Big boys can tie their shoes

 

 

 

 

I guess he is officially ready for kindergarten now.  He knows and can write his ABC's, can count to 30, walk in line, and, now, tie his shoes.  Watch out world! My boy is growing up!  BTW, he says, "My favorite part is the loop part, Mom."

Blue Bear's Adventure

When I was doing some scanning this morning, Blue Bear decided to go on an adventure seeing how the scanner worked. Greyson watched (and learned about the scanner) while praying that Blue Bear would be okay.  Blue Bear returned unscathed and told Greyson all about it. Later, when Greyson and Blue Bear were looking at the pictures, Greyson said, "Mom, when I get older and look at these pictures, I will miss Blue Bear." No worries, boy-o, I can't imagine a life without Blue Bear either.

the FAST track

Greyson needs a little help starting up but took to riding and stopping right away! So awesome!  I can't believe how fast my little boy is growing up.... he's on the fast track.

#7... Seriously?!?

Disclaimer: Stitched skin ahead.



I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't there to see it. At least, we have an answer to who's next in our long line of stitches.  Greyson busted his chin AGAIN!  We were over at a friend's house on this gorgeous day and Greyson and his preschool friend were playing outside while us moms were prepping lunch.  Next thing I know Greyson is coming in announcing he hurt his chin and after seeing the gaping hole in his chin, I thought, "here we go again." I told my friend that he needed to go to the clinic to get it sown up but that we would stay for him to eat a sandwich first.  I think she thought me a little weird; I know I would have if I didn't have so much experience with stitches.  But the boy needed lunch and we'd be at the clinic awhile.  Anyway... he ate up and then we went to the clinic.  Unfortunately, this time it wasn't as smooth sailing as it has been in the past.  Greyson did great and was very brave considering that when they put the needle through the second flap of skin, he *visibly* jumped.  It was obviously to me that it wasn't completely numb.  The nurse tried to play it off as "he felt the pressure of it" but I don't buy it.  They used a shot of lidocaine to help numb it more (freaking the boy out because they are coming at him with a shot to his face!) and then it went much better. After the stitches, the doctor decided to give him his last tetanus booster as a preventative measure.  With Madelyn, shots were never fun but they didn't freak her out.  With Greyson, I'm sure that he thinks the doctor gives him shoots just to torture him.  So, I asked the doctor that if he was going to give one of them to just give him all his kindergarten shots now and finish it out.  Torture the boy once, please.  But all in all, he did great.  I'm so blessed to have children that understand the doctor is the "good guy" and that also trust me when I say that everything is going to be okay.

So, here they are - two stitches and four shots later he is at home and sucking on a Sonic cherry slush.  Whew....  we've lived through another stitches episode. 



Oh, and Greyson has taken to taking picture too and seems to be pretty good at it. He insisted on turning the camera back on me after I took his pictures. :)

Greyson - Momma = Happy Boy

Over the summer, Greyson and Madelyn both had a chance to spend 4weeks of 4 days a week, 2 hours a day at a daycamp where they got to spend time with other kids, making crafts, and doing special activities like swimming and puppet shows. Madelyn loved it from the get-go but Greyson... not so much. He was almost inconsolable for the first week, the second week he was very unhappy as I left, and the third week he was finally ready to have fun! I was only slightly surprised whenever all this happened because with exception of Sunday School and the gym we go to, he and I had been pretty inseparable for about 2.5 years at that point. And even though I questioned my decision to make him endure this adversity in his little life, I persisted for exactly this reason - that he would enjoy his first day of preschool! And I'm happy to report - HE DID GREATLY! I'm so excited for him. He has embarked on a new adventure of learning so many things - making new friends, walking in line, being respectful of authority, to love God... and that life can be had without Mom around too... as for that last one, I'm a little sad for me, but so excited for Greyson!!

Greyson couldn't contain his excitement as we were leaving for preschool! So excited!
OH, and here's a video to capture the moments just after too....

Carousels and Butterflies

In the summer, Como Park has a free carousel day every month. My kids (and I) LOVE the carousel and we can't help but visit some of the zoo while we are there. This time we visited the butterflies, the "big monkeys" (per Greyson), and the seals. We also tried to see the new polar bear exhibit but they were having a demonstration of sorts and we couldn't get close enough. Not a big deal since we'll probably be going back again next month. :) Como Park is such an awesome St. Paul attraction!

Summertime Sprinker Fun