Weekend roundup/Crying Over Spiderman

I'm just settling in for a relaxing Monday evening at home and I thought I ought to catch up with y'all (with the apostrophe inserted immediately after the y, as I've been instructed by trusted southernese experts.) I haven't been feeling too chatty lately, mostly because I just haven't had much to say. Maybe I've just been busy? My weekends have been feeling quite rushed of late. Kai had four 4-year-old birthday parties within 9 days - two consecutive Saturdays and Sundays - the last of which was Kai's own party.

This past Saturday, the entire day, I co-coordinated a girl scout event at my workplace. Together with 17 other (primarily female) volunteers, we hosted ~55 girls between the ages of 7 and 15, teaching them about weather and climate, running lots of hands-on activities, and hopefully inspiring them to consider a future in science, if they feel inclined. Needless to say, at the end of the day, I was beat. I fell asleep on the couch for about an hour from 5:30 to 6:30, which... um... rarely happens with a 4-year-old running around the room.

Yesterday afternoon, Keith mowed the lawn (have I mentioned that we get paid to mow our own lawn? it's a little criminal) and then he went to work. Meanwhile, I took Kai and Jake to their respective playgrounds.

Do you see how the clouds over the water just seemed to go on and on forever? That was to the East. I thought that we'd surely be heading home at some point because of those rain clouds to the West, but somehow they remained over the mountains. In the end, I even got a little sun on my face, despite my 15 spf daily moisturizer.

When we finally returned home, I suggested that we watch Shrek. I bought a VHS copy at a garage sale last summer, but Kai has never been interested in it. This time, surprisingly, he agreed, but he insisted that I sit with him during the scary parts. (Scary parts???)

It bored him. About 10 minutes before it was done he announced that it was too long, and he turned off the TV. Sorry Mike Myers, but Kai is rather fickle when it comes to movies.

That reminds me - last week Kai announced (after watching a commercial for Spiderman 3) "Spiderman 3 is in theatres... I want it to be in homes!" Silly kid. So during dinner tonight he told me that he wants to go to the theatres to see Spiderman 3. I told him that it might be a little too scary for him, but he saw through that dodge and denied that it might be scary. I then suggested that we perhaps we should rent Spiderman and Spiderman 2 first, and see whether or not they're too scary. Somehow this made him burst into a torrent of crocodile tears.

Ah... four. Four is more emotionally unpredictable than a woman a couple days before her period. (Yes, Keith - that was self-referential. You can breathe.)

I simply stared at him for a minute, not angry and definitely not laughing at him (I sensed that it wouldn't have helped), while at the same time refusing to comfort him for crying about Spiderman. A moment later the tears stopped and he asked me again why we couldn't just see Spiderman 3 in theatres.

Kai: Remember when we went to see Happy Feet in theatres? Let's go to see Spiderman 3 in theatres, Mom.

Me: (Um... yeah. I remember. I had to chase you around the theatre for an hour because you were ready to go home as soon as you were finished your popcorn.) Kai, I think it's a scary movie. And besides, it's probably very long. You don't like long movies.

Kai: No... Spiderman 3 isn't a too long movie for me, and Spiderman 3 isn't a too scary movie for me.

Me: And you know this because... Listen, we'll just rent the first two, and we'll see if you think they're too scary. Besides, Spiderman 3 is going to be in the theatres for a while.

Kai: How many days?

Me: (pulling a number out of nowhere) Uh... 60.

Kai: (looking at his fingers) How many is 60?

Me: It's all your fingers times 6. 10 times 6.

Kai: I don't have that enough fingers.

Me: Um... No. I know. Look, if you had 6 friends here, it's all their fingers.

Kai: (Blank expression. Still staring at his fingers.)

Me: It's all my fingers and all your fingers and all dad's fingers, and then all of our toes. That's 60.

Kai: Let's go now.

Me: No. It's bedtime.