Loving Hamilton...

Throughout the entirety of our recent family vacation, Hamilton tried to convince Alex to drive away without me. "No! No Mommy! Don't come!" is what I heard every time I got into the car. I went from amused to slightly annoyed to hurt, so I have been relieved to be home and back to our normal (mostly positive) routine together. Today seemed especially nice, and I didn't want to forget it. Nothing too amazing...just a snapshot of one of our days.

• Played trains together in the morning. He's getting better and better at putting those tracks together. He likes playing "I think I can...I think I can," but today the uphill ended in a "cliff," so the poor train's accomplishment turned immediately tragic.
• Went to "Park Day" (fab park overlooking the ocean---some parts of my life are truly awesome) where Hamilton played for about two hours with one of his best buddies, Stockton. Stockton got hurt, and I gave him a piece of licorice (trying to teach emotional eating early). When he got hurt again, Hamilton came running over saying, "Licorice boys!" He also climbed halfway up a very tall chain link fence, which he called a "web"--kind of clever, I thought.
• Ate "kabobs" and grapes for lunch. The "kabobs" are actually chicken hamburgers I cut up and put on toothpicks. Last Saturday Hamilton heard a sample lady at Costco saying, "Kabobs! Try some kabobs here!" and became obsessed with eating one. It was, of course, a crazy crowd around her, so we got him a hamburger sample instead and called it a "kabob." He ate it and liked it, so we bought some. But Hamilton has suckered me into buying stuff before, so I decided to keep to the sample presentation. It's working.
• A couple books and a "scuba diver story" (he insists on this latter one---one we make up-- everytime), and he was out. Thank you Park Day!
• When I picked him up from the gym's Kids Club, he ran up to me with a "surprise." He'd made me a helicopter out of blocks. It was actually pretty good.
• As we pulled into the Target check-out line, Hamilton was singing "Farmer in the Dell" at the top of his lungs. He then turned a little grumpy when I denied him candy. After I gave him a "mommy look" for screaming at me, he turned to the guy next to us and said with great seriousness, "We're in really big trouble."
• His music request for FHE was our version of "We are a Happy Family," his announcement (as usual) was "green," and when Alex asked him to name one of his friends, he said, "Mommy."

Man, I love that kid!