Great weekend.

Harry had a great weekend. Which translated pretty directly to, so did we.

Saturday was a small shower for Kim thrown by some of our friends down here, which meant Kim got to get out of the house. out to see people. out to see people who weren't work people, to get out to see non-work people with kids, who are okay talking about their kids, and who are all pretty much worried about, glad about, indifferent about, the same things she is. I think she really needed that. Hopefully now that work is all but officially done for a while, she'll be able to do more of it before Ainsley's arrival. I know she's already got a new 6-month post-delivery agenda/itinerary/plan, but one thing at a time...

So with Kim occupied for the day, Harry and I got to spend some time hanging out like we used to, when she used to travel a lot. We made pancakes for breakfast (from scratch this time!), headed off to gym class, made the weekly Costco run (Harry picked out a few outfits for his sister as he's wont to do), and headed home, only to be met in the driveway by Mr Trey. Harry was very excited to go say Hi to him (which is odd... Harry usually only speaks to his wife). He helped me carry in the first load of stuff, and got comfy on the couch while I finished and got lunch ready. As I headed out for load #2, Ms Anita rolled up, and Harry came darting back out to say hello. She was so excited, she asked if he could come over to visit Mr Trey, only to be met with a very frank "I just saw him."

Needless to say, Harry has seen more of the inside of their house than we have, and headed off for a visit next door, while I finished up. Then was one of the most awkward moments in a while... what to do next? You see, I was finished unloading the car, and Harry was inside next door. Do I go back inside our house & carry on putting things away? Do I go next door to claim the boy? Do I just stand around & wait? Sounds like plan C was the best option... what was probably no more than 2 or 3 minutes later but felt like 30, sure enough, Harry came trotting out with a handful of "new" toys from Anita's basement.

For whatever reason, we decided not to bother even telling Harry he had to nap this weekend (perhaps the overly obvious - he hasn't successfully napped on the weekend yet this year), and it seemed to work out well. Instead, he was assured a few times to let us know if he got tired. He mentioned napping a few times when asked what else he wanted to do that day, but never did.
Sunday was more of the same, except for getting the day off to a very weird start... he randomly tuned the TV off without any provocation, and left the room to go play. I think it even caught him a little off guard. But the rest of the day was spent playing with toys he hadn't seen in a while, very well on his own.

I made a quick run to Target to pick up some things, and swung by B&N for a few books for work. As I was heading to the register, I found a pack of Tangrams, that I quickly snatched. I've been looking for them for a while now, having used them a lot in elementary school. It was mostly just to see what Harry's reaction to them would be, and I really ahd no idea what it would be. Little did I know...

A Tangram "is a dissection puzzle. It consists of seven pieces, called tans, which fit together to form a shape of some sort. The objective is to form a specific shape with seven pieces. The shape has to contain all the pieces, which may not overlap."

The idea is mainly to arrange the pieces to match a silhouetted picture. I wasn't sure if he'd even be into it, and certainly not without explanation, as many of the reviews I had read for young kids had been extremely mixed. But, king of the impulse buy counter that I am, I grabbed them and headed home.

When I got back, he was pretty much where he was when I left. Playing on the floor in Ainsley's room with his wooden trains (they've been using them a lot a school, and it figures, as soon as we decided it's been long enough since he last used them to move them to the basement, he's totally into them again).

Kim had gotten him a gorgeous copy of Puff the Magic Dragon, and after they finished reading ti, I showed him the new puzzle game. Now I don't think he's ever seen them before, as he was very curious to see them as I opened the packaging. The pack I got included 2 sets of pieces, each with a different color on each side, a larger sheet with 3 starter pictures, and a book of many more.



As I popped the pieces apart, and laid out the sample pictures, he had already begun putting them together... little to no explanation, and matching them dead on... as with many things he does, very deliberately, and thoughtfully. It was everything I could do to keep a straight face. He quickly went from one picture to the next, and then started making his own!

We went for a spin over in the parking lot on his pedal-tractor. He was doing great, until in typical fashion, was more interested in watching how fast his feet were pedaling than where he was going, and he ran right into the curb, and got wailed across the bridge of his nose by the bar on the digger!?! Only a few tears later, he did a few more laps, hit the slide a few times, and back home for dinnertime.

By now, I think the no naps were beginning to catch up, and he fianlly veg-ed out for a bit, had some dinner, tub, and crashed for the night.

Lots of brain-power this weekend... a good sign in my book.