Belated St. Patrick's Day

We met with T's business mentor from Kansas City on St. Patrick's Day this year so the donning of the green was slightly subdued for The Moores on 3/17. However, young FFM was full of questions about the Irish, leprechauns, shamrocks, and all the "stuff" (as he put it) that goes with St. Patrick's Day. He was most impressed, however, with the music.

My knowledge, however, of the lyrics to Irish folk music is limited to Molly Malone (it's not just Irish music, I can't remember ANY music lyrics). So, one afternoon on the way home from swim lessons I sang it a couple of times for him, and it stuck.

So, Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011 from the Irish Lad himself, who's been singing it since Tuesday.

The Nap Dilemma

Lunch, stories, rest. That's how we roll around here. Rest = ~1.5 hours of quiet time, which can be spent reading books or just cuddling with cherished stuffed animals. Sometimes FFM stays up the whole time looking at books, which is fine with me. Most of the time, up until about a month or so ago, about 20 minutes into "rest" sleep would happen, which was a good deal for all of us.

Now, however, he does fine until for about 1-1.25 hours. Then he gets NAUGHTY. I thought about just cutting out rest or making it shorter, and did a few times, but the afternoon craters. He falls asleep before I can even get dinner on the table. What to do? For consequences I took things away (sob, sniff, even the books!), but the thing that finally penetrated was adding 5 minutes to his rest every time he misbehaved.

The kicker, anytime we get to the end of rest and I have to add 5 minutes, he falls asleep during those 5 minutes. So he battles away, being naughty, and then, FINALLY, after I put on my mean mommy face and tell him I'm adding 5 minutes to his rest time, he falls asleep during those 5 min. When I'm ready to move on with our day. Humph.

So now he's conked out, and will sleep for 1.5 hours. Of course! I remind myself I'm thankful he's getting good sleep, whenever it is.

Look Out Bode Miller, or We're in Trouble Now

After missing a ski weekend because of The Croup, the Moores hit the slopes again this weekend. After growing about eight inches (OK, but I think it might really have been about 1.5) FFM was raring to go. His ski pants barely fit over his boots, but that didn't stop him. He skis with very good control and can avoid obstacles on the slope like downed snowboarders or other little kids on skis. The biggest new thrill this weekend, going 'into the woods' as he put it.

On the way home we had a post-game run down (I was driving VERY SLOWLY and I have a shortcut to video on my phone so all I had to do was hit one button). As you can see my aim wasn't the greatest which is why FFM's head gets chopped off.

Favorite things? Going really fast, riding the chairlift, and going through the trees. Rock on.

Rocks 2011

We are heralding the cusp of Spring 2011 by again moving landscaping rock around our yard. We discovered that it's likely no rock hauling project will ever be as hard as last year, we managed to tackle the biggest rock beds first. This year: removing red random rock from under our blue spruce tree and replacing it with rock that matches the rest of our backyard. Also, removing the rock along our back fence and creating a bed where (hopefully) we'll get some flowers to grow.

Our Son's Aussie Roots

How, oh how, do you explain the concept of LANDLOCKED to a three year old?

Recently, for some unknown and bizarre reason, FFM has been exposed to a fair amount of surfing. Surfing photos, surfing on TV, and today we went to the Wildlife Experience (a local museum) and watched their version of IMAX and the "Living Seas" movie had, yup, surfers in it. A lot of them.

FFM has it in his head he's gotta surf. And that we need to take forty planes to get to the beach. Obviously he gets that the beach is FAR FAR away because it's going to take a lot of connections to get there. He vibrates whenever he sees anything surf related and can spot a tiny surfer even when it's not the focus of a scene. He's pretty hot to trot about skiing, but I can tell you he certainly doesn't vibrate when he sees pictures of skiers.

*sigh*

There are no waves in Colorado.

It's a VERY long way to the closest ones.

He better study hard in school, get a good job at a company with overseas branches, take a leap of faith a few years into his career and go for one of those overseas jobs, and then maybe he'll end up in a place where the ocean is a little closer. Or maybe his dad will, you just never know.