Quinn Peterson's Weblog

Theo Jimmy

Allison's favorite book right now is the recordable Dora storybook that Jimmy recorded and gave her for Christmas. I really need to get a video of her listening to it. She gets so excited and laughs so hard when Jimmy is being silly. And several nights I've heard her singing the pirate song Jimmy improvised in as she drifts off to sleep. The other night I caught her looking down at the book and waving. When I asked her who she was waving to she said "Jimmy". I told her that was sweet but that he couldn't see her, she shook her head in disagreement stating "Yes he can, he's in those holes". [There are holes that the book uses to know what page you are on. She knows the holes need light for the book to read.]. Confused but cute :-)

Kumon update

It was goal setting day at Kumon today (an after school math and reading program). Quinn is currently one grade level ahead for math and slightly ahead of grade level for reading. If he maintains his momentum, in 6 months they expect him to be at a 4th grade math level and a grade ahead in reading. He was just beaming when he came out and explained it all to me :-) Quinn: "I didn't know I was doing second grade math already! I was wondering why Ms. Baucom's work was so easy."

Captain Underpants is my hero

Captain Underpants is my hero. Quinn has discovered his love for reading. He started reading the book before bed last night, again at the breakfast table, and took the book to school so he could read when he completed his assignments. He filled me in on the exploits of Captain Underpants, George and Henry for the entire drive from school to Kumon. He spoke with thrill and enthusiasm about characters that obviously came alive to him. I am so excited and proud of him :-)

who's the adult?

Quinn and Jason are playing the wii tonight. The timer I've set goes off. I hear Quinn immediately say "I've got to go to bed now.". Jason "turn it off, let's finish this level.". Quinn "I can't. Mom said I have to go to bed when the timer goes off.". Who's the adult?

do it again next week?

At the end of Gymboree every week, Allison turns to me and asks:
"Do it again next week Mommy?"

I'm not quite sure where she picked it up from or if she even understands what a week is but the she leaves without a fuss. Regardless, it seems to be an acceptable answer almost anytime I want her to stop doing something. Lately she has been OBSESSED with painting. Which I would have absolutely no problem with if she wasn't so messy and unbounded by what she will paint on. So when it's time to put the paints away, I simply say in a super enthusiastic (and I'm sure annoying) voice "It's ok baby, you can do it again next week!". How awesome is that?!? How much longer do you think I have before she catches on... LOL

Perfect

My dove chocolate wrapper declared
"If nobody is perfect then you must be nobody!"

This is particularly funny since it aggrivates Jason to no end that I think I'm perfect. To clarify, it's actually his perception that I think I'm perfect which is far from reality. On top of that he feels that people regularly seem to validate my fantasy of thinking I'm perfect (in particular my mother) [sidebar: it's a good thing he never met my Yia-Yia]. Now that it has come from an unbiased source it must be true... it's official folks, I'm perfect. LOL

Turkey on valentines day?

Yesterday we ran some errands that included some last minute valentines day shopping. On the way home the kids and I were talking about valentines day.

Quinn: "It's tomorrow?"
Me: "Yes"
Quinn: "What?!? When are we leaving!?!"
Me: "... to go where?"
Quinn: "Yia-Yia's house."
Me: "huh?"
Quinn: "Aren't we supposed to spend valentine's day with her?"
Me: "huh?"
Quinn: "[a bit too condescendingly] you know, like we always do..."
Me: "I don't think we were at Yia-Yia's house last year for valentine's day. But I think she was here last year."
Quinn: "[frustrated sign] yes we were, remember, everyone comes and we eat Turkey."
Me: "[concealing my laughter] oh! That's Thanksgiving. Valentine's day is when you tell people you love them."
Quinn: "[annoyed since he was confused] aren't you supposed to do that everyday?!"

Thank you Theo Billy

Allison opened her valentine's card from her Daddy which included some dollar bills and excitedly yelled "Thank you Theo Billy!"

It was hilarious.

overshadowed

On Feb 4th, 2008 Allison surprised us by arriving 6 weeks early which happened to be 2 days before her big brother's 4th birthday. So poor Quinn didn't have much of a birthday that year - I think someone remembered to get him a balloon but that was all he got on his actual birthday. It was my worst day recovering from delivery complications and so I wasn't even able to smother him with love. I'm not sure Quinn even noticed though - he was so excited to have a baby sister - which had been his wish for the past year.

So as you might imagine, having their birthdays 2 days apart makes it a bit challenging. They are far enough in age that joint parties don't make much sense. This year, Allison had her first "big" party. Unfortunately by the time we decided on a location they only had availability for Sunday Feb 6th... yup, Quinn's birthday. So we passed it by Quinn and he said he didn't mind. Around the same time, we learned that the Packers were going to the Super Bowl (yeah!) which also happened to land on Quinn's birthday. We still thought we had it covered for some special Quinn celebrations until around mid-afternoon on Sunday when Allison started spiking a high fever. So even though we have enough cupcakes and cake around here to feed a small village, Quinn didn't blow out any candles yesterday. And I had to cancel his class party today so I could take Allison into the doctor (she's got the flu). So now I'm really hoping that Quinn manages to avoid the flu so his party (which is scheduled for next Saturday) can go on as planned. The good news is he loved the decorations he woke up to, the number 7 made out of candy, his birthday t-shirt, his presents, and the Packers WON! :-)

Yia-Yia

Quinn and I also chatted about his birthday but our discussion was around presents. I'm trying to get some additional ideas of what he would like (well besides legos). He surprised me with a long dialog about Yia-Yia.

"Tell Yia-Yia not to buy me anything. I get worried about her. I think she needs to be saving her money. Plus I don't want her getting tired or her legs to start hurting from having to walk around the store to buy my present. Can you believe how much doctors charge? They don't even give coupons... do they? Maybe we should check on that. I wish doctors and medicine could just be free and they could make her all better. I can't believe this had to happen to her..."

Well those were the highlights I remembered. It was actually a pretty lengthy dialog. What an awesome kid :-)

Emily's RSVP

The talk around here is birthdays, birthdays, birthdays! Allison and I were talking about her party before bed.

Me: "Who do you want to come to your party"
Allison: "Emily!!!"
Me: "I'm sorry baby, Emily can't come."
Allison: "Too far."
Me: "Yes, it's to far."
Allison: "Airplane mommy!"
Me: "That's a good idea but I don't think she can this time."
Allison: "Car?"
Me: "It's too far for her to drive."
Allison: "Ohh" (with a dramatically sad look on her face.)

food vices

Quinn and I are watching Biggest Loser and they have a temptation where they are put in a room with their favorite foods. So I ask Quinn... what would be your foods?

Quinn: "Mushrooms"
Me: "That wouldn't count, it's healthy"
Quinn: "Peppers"
Me: "Still healthy"
Quinn: "Ok then, Green beans"

We finally hone in on his vices... Reese's Peanut Butter cups (or Reese's Pieces), Chocolate covered donuts, Pop, and cereal (if you want to be picky). All in all I really can't complain, he's a pretty healthy eater :-)

No Hayden?

Quinn is negotiating to stay up a little late tonight (Friday). However, he and Jason are joining Allison and I at Gymboree tomorrow morning at 9am. So I ask, what's going to happen tomorrow morning?

Quinn: "I'm going to get up with no fussing."
Me: "What if that doesn't happen?"
Quinn: "You can spank me as hard as you can."
Me: "How about no legos all day."
Quinn: "hmmm, ok"
Me: "No Hayden."
Quinn: "WHAT?!? No Hayden? Never?!? NO DEAL"
Me: "No, just tomorrow."
Quinn: "No way. I wish it could just be legos. No deal."

ponytails

Randomly, out of the blue, Quinn strikes up the following conversation...

Quinn: "Mom, why do you always have to wear that ponytail? Most people look more beautiful with their hair down.

Me: "Cause my hair is too bushy and it bugs me."

Quinn: "Hmmm... maybe you should get it cut short enough so you can't have one."

Me: "I thought you like long hair."

Quinn: "I do."

Me: "What about loving someone for what's in their heart... not how they look on the outside."

Quinn: "I do love you and you look beautiful. [brief pause] It would be even better if you had a little makeup on there (he points to my forehead wrinkles."

Mommy the scrooge

I'm going to go broke Christmas shopping with Quinn. I think we've argued in every store so far about my level of generosity... he certainly has no concept of a budget. Knowing this I have no clue why I took him with me to Nordstrom's and Williams Sonoma - I was just asking for trouble. Apparently he has a weak spot for Juicy Couture.

Some of Quinn's persuasive arguments:

Quinn: "But they are in our family, don't you want to make them happy?"

Quinn: "They do so many nice things for you/me/us. I think they deserve it."

Quinn: "I can't believe how happy they are going to be when they get this. Wait till you see their smile."

Quinn: "You'll feel better when you see how much they love it."

Quinn: "Money isn't everything. Why do you want to keep it all for yourself?"

Quinn: "Maybe you should ask your boss for more money."

In addition to the budget, he's a very creative shopper. There are going to be a couple of surprise presents delivered this year.

Oh, and he's willing to self-sacrifice, which I adore and is usually the clincher for me giving in.

At Old Navy he was enamored by a sparkely gift card box. The box was $2.50 which I thought was RIDICULOUS so I said no. The line was long and his arguments endless so I thought I had it cinched when I said "You can either get the ball (a small ball he was excited to buy with his own money) or the box". He quickly walked back to return the ball. The next battle was over the amount. He wanted $600 put on the card and confidently walked up to the cashier and said $600 please. LOL. We won't get anyone too excited but it's no where near that amount.

Quinn had a great time buying presents for his cousins and on a couple of occasions told me I could take away one of his presents so we could get them more.