Less is More

My gardening philosophy when planting seeds:

A few is good...

A lot is better...

Well, that doesn't work when growing radishes:

I learned (from my parents) that one seed = 1 radish. Makes sense but somehow I thought I was going to get a bunch like you find at the grocery store. So I planted 4 'plants' thinking I'd get 4 bundles. Little did I know that I was to get only 4 radishes...It had been about 21 days so I pulled them up to find the above. Guess dad was right - thin them out or plant an itty bitty seed 1 in. apart. Lesson learned - new radishes are on their way.

Weekend Update

Adam took Gerrit golfing again this weekend. (I don't know who likes it more - Adam or Gerrit.) It was a bit rainy but no one complained about it. I wish I could go along and listen to them because I think their conversations must be pretty funny. Adam told me at one point Gerrit was mad at Adam and threw his club. He then proceeded to respond to Adam by saying:

"I'm not talking to you".

Where does he learn this stuff? He even told Adam that one of his shots was a bad one. I asked if it really was a bad shot and Adam said it was. So the kid is learning. If only he would stay out of the line of sight of the one hitting, he would master the etiquette of golf!

Tonight we watched Luker's baseball game. Gerrit sat and watched the game for a long time (longer than most 3 year olds). When we got home I brought Emmit inside and Adam asked where Gerrit was. I said take a guess....

Every time Gerrit watches a sport, he need to play it. So yes, Gerrit was outside playing baseball when we got home. He now wants baseball pants like Luke. Yesterday it was soccer in the basement during the World Cup. (He even tried hitting the soccer ball off his head like he saw on TV.)

We really don't push him into playing anything or with anything. He does it all on his own. I love watching him reenact what sport he sees on TV. And this is why we don't watch WWF - although today at baptism brunch for Max Rockne, Paul was helping Gerrit do butt slams on Luke. Luckily it was time to eat so that came to an end, even though he walked around the house saying 'butt slam'!

Emmit's weekend? He spent his time chewing on lots of things, rolling over some, taking a few good naps and was a perfect gentleman to anyone who gave him attention. He's showing great interest in food so we might have to break out the rice cereal now that I'm done working.

Bribe

Let me tell you about this wonderful little 3 year old of a son we have:

Cell phone rings and Gerrit wants to answer it. (Its Adam so I let him)

He starts talking to Adam and I run to the bathroom. I come back and they are still talking so I ask to talk to dad.

Gerrit says 'no'.

I walk towards him to get the phone and he runs away from me - around the dining room table. [Whichever way I go, he runs the opposite] I can hear Adam telling Gerrit to give me the phone and that he wants to talk to mom.

Gerrit says 'no'.

I finally tell Adam to hang up and call the land line and I'll answer that phone. In the meantime I try to get Gerrit to give me the phone and he says:

"put a kids' show on {cartoon} and I'll give you the phone".

Yep, there you have it, our 3 year old is bribing his mother!

A Raincoat at Bedtime?

Lately, Adam has put the boys to bed so I can get a quick run in and tonight was one of those nights.

Gerrit likes to think of excuses or things he needs to prolong bedtime. Usually one request is a drink of water. Little did I know that the other night he spit water out onto his bedroom floor instead of swallowing it. Tonight he took it one step further: when I returned home, Adam stood up and his pants were wet....

Yep, Gerrit threw his glass of water at Adam!

Guess bedtime just got shorter - no more drinks of water! (plus, it'll give us a head start in potty training at night which we are far from starting!)

Edited: I asked Gerrit this morning if he threw water on daddy last night? His response:
"No, I dumped it on his belly."

Persistent Dare Devil

Last night the boys went to bed at their normal time. Emmit fell asleep right away (as usual). Gerrit had other plans than sleeping. He needed everything under the sun from us and when he couldn't think of anything else to ask for, he scaled the gates - yes, plural GATES! We have to put 2 baby gates up to keep him in his bedroom (can't lock the door b/c its old and won't lock). He did this 4 times! We were in the middle of watching a movie so we ended up letting his stay up and watch the end of it (bought it on demand so we couldn't pause it). He enjoyed chips and watching Rugby at 10pm! When the movie ended, it was time to feed Emmit. So I took care of him and Adam tucked Gerrit in for the umpteenth time tonight. He didn't tuck him before he removed the latch lock from the bathroom and put it on the outside of Gerrit's door. Nothing like using the drill at 10:15 at night! It was a quick and simple fix for us - and a very cruel trick in Gerrit's eyes. A few minutes of crying and he gave up and went to bed. What seemed so funny to him was not going to be funny in the morning when he needed to get up! Surprisingly he wasn't too bad for us and Julie said he was OK for her too. (He did fall asleep mid morning.)

And the Rugby - he was imitating it once he understood the basic concept. He went for his football (big one that looks like a rugby ball) and set up his uprights (from football) to play his own game. He came charging at me a few times too! It amazes me how fast he picks up on things from watching! Guess we better be careful what we do too!

Tonight should be interesting as we will no longer need the gates. I'm looking forward to that!

JPGA

(Click on to enlarge)

Watch out Junior PGA - here comes Gerrit!

Adam took Gerrit golfing this afternoon at the same course as last weekend. Gerrit had been waiting all weekend to go to the golf course. He had to wait till his blister healed before he could go. It didn't bother him until the 9th hole when it started to bleed. Guess we will need to get him a golf glove - for the wrong hand seeing he has his hands backwards for a righty. He did better with his putter too on the green. Adam said he did well until the end when he got tired. He started throwing Adam's ball on the greens! I think this might be a typical Sunday afternoon event for them.

What did Emmit and I do? We took naps! (I can get use to that Sunday afternoon event too!)

Playing Together

Gerrit decided to play with his cars by Emmit this afternoon.

Emmit quickly used his new trick of rolling over to get his hands on the cars.

Gerrit didn't mind which I'm sure won't last long.

This was the first time they 'played' together.

I can only hope it goes this well all the time (hope is the key word).