September 2013 Tidbits

Drew: "In China, they have gray hair and they have black hair."

Tess was having a hard time not being jealous when other students earned "mark" stickers for doing good things at school. I told her that part of being a good classmate is being happy for others when they do well. In tears she dramatically lamented, "I'm trying to be a good classmate! But Mom, I haven't been a classmate for very long, you know!"

Tess: "I wish I lived in a different family!"

Drew: "My dad like apple donuts."

Drew on apple picking: "My apple kinda tasty!"

On picking Tess up from school: "Mom, it's so strange. Every afternoon on the speaker the principal tells the students to prepare for the afternoon announcements. Really? It's an announcement. What is there to prepare?"

Tess was riding her bike on our street, when she informed me she was going to ride up to the white house and back down again. She stopped for clarification: "Oh Mom, I meant the white house on our street. Not the one in Washington D.C." Good to know.

Drew (showing me his two toy motorcycles): "My two motorcycles are friends."

Tonight Drew ran into the morning room to grab his conducting "wand" before we sang an opening song during family home evening. When he came back, he was wearing a large, black witch's hat and waving the wand.

Tess: "I'm going to draw a random rainbow. It's a rainbow with the colors out of order, like red, yellow, orange, blue, yellow...."

I love how Drew calls his sister "My Tess."

Drew's new favorite show is "Mighty Machines," which basically shows live footage of cars, trucks, airplanes and trains. He loves to sing the theme song with this hilarious deep, testoterone-filled voice: "Mighty Machines! Mighty Machines!" Tess laughs and laughs: "He's trying to sound tough!"

During his bedtime story last night, Drew was pointing out things that live in the ocean: "Those shells, that a crab, that a big fish, that a shark going to eat me just kidding."

Whenever Drew goes down a slide at the playground, he always yells out, "I catch you, Mom!"

Shortly before jumping on Miriam, Drew yelled, "All aboard!!!"

Tess was excited for her first school art class. They drew portraits, and she was proud of the detail she put into her picture, especially the nostrils. "Most kids don't really care about nostrils. I don't know why. They're very important."

Most common Drew refrain: "Where my Tessie? I can't see her! Go get her!"

Drew and I (Miriam) were going to take a trip to River Farm and Ryan asked Drew, "Are you going to run at the farm and say, 'Yippee!!?'" Drew's response, "No. I walk and be careful."

Tess: "Mom, you know P.E is a lot of hard work!"

Drewie Delights

A few things about Drew these days...

He is really into "paths."  He calls any kind of road or sidewalk a "path" and is always wanting to go down a different path than the one we are currently on at the moment.  We've started taking long walks together during the day with him on his motorcycle.  I let him pick whatever "path" he wants and we just go and go and go.

He's a climber and a big playground fan.  He can climb just about anything and is very good at it.  Sometimes I get nervous about his attempts, but he's actually quite skilled.


Drew loves snuggles and being "cozy."  Before he goes to bed at night I tell him it's time to "get cozy," and he rolls over and pulls the blanket tightly around himself.  Drew loves to get cozy in our bed.  He insists on taking his shirt off so he can roll around and feel the cool blankets on his skin.  He has the Murdock appreciation for comfort.


He'd take off his underwear, too, if I'd let him.


He also has an interest these days with things that hook together, or that he can pull.  Trains obviously fit into this category, but he also tries more creative ways of hooking things together like a trailer.  He can get very frustrated if things don't hook together the way he thinks they should.  I've had to resort to a lot of tape.  He once insisted on hooking together two of his little bikes, so we rigged them up with a jump rope.  He likes to watch himself pulling the second car behind him.

Drew found this pair of headphones, and wanted to carry them around as his "puppy."  I guess he thought the cord looked like a leash.  This is in the grocery store, where he insisted on trailing his "cute puppy" behind him. Someone actually stopped me and asked if I knew he was dragging headphones around.  "Of course," I replied, "that's his puppy."

Drew's been having fun at his weekly playschool.  This week they each brought their favorite car and the house was set up with a giant race track taped all over floor.  Drew was tickled that the cars could drive up onto the couch.


They did a stoplight craft that he was SO proud of.  He couldn't wait to show Tess and Dad.  He has no problem with me leaving and is always happy to go--a welcome change compared to someone else I know.

Apple Picking

School Days: Drew Version

While Tess was off at her first days of school, Drew and I stared at each other, not entirely sure what to do.   The first days were hard.  Drew kept asking, "Where my Tess go?"  Now he likes to ask, "Go get my Tess?"  We filled the first days by going to lots of playgrounds.

We took a trip with some friends up to gardens at River Farm, up near Mount Vernon, right on the Potomac.  It is gorgeous. River Farm was originally by George Washington, and they have lots of gardens including the sweetest little children's garden.  All sorts of hidden pathways, little houses tucked in garden corners, and things to climb on and under.  So fun, and I'd never even heard of it before.

We met several friends up there, but took along Drew's friend Carson, who was moving the following day.  So sad.  Carson is just a bit older than Drew, and Drew idolizes him.  They had a wild time together.


More playgrounds.

We started up a little playgroup that will rotate between a few houses.  The first week was at my house.  There will be a couple of girls involved, but this time it was all boys and it was wild fun.  Most of my time was spent refereeing basketball. Drew had a bit of difficulty sharing his toys, but it's good practice.  The next day he asked, "Mom, I need my friends come."


And there's always TV to fill the day.  Glorious TV!  Drew's favorites right now are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mighty Machines and Caillou.  What do you think he's watching in this photo?