Surprise Me Sometimes and Buy Me a Toy, Kids Talk

“Mom, you should surprise me sometimes,” Matthew told me today.

“Like what?” I asked.

“You know, like buying me a toy or giving me some money,” he replied.

“I only have lots of cents, but not many dollars,” he added.

Copyright 2014 Anna Lozyk Romeo

First Wiggly Tooth and An Expensive Request to Tooth Fairy, Kids Talk

We found the first wiggly tooth today. In the very early morning, we told Matthew about the Tooth Fairy. After the initial disappointment of losing his tooth, he quickly realized the upside—the things he could buy. At breakfast, I had to remind him to discuss all financial matters with the Tooth Fairy because we don’t decide how much money he gets. Let’s see how long it takes before he starts negotiating again.

Copyright 2014 Anna Lozyk Romeo

Do You Even Know Who I Am? Matthew The Superman

Today, we have a drawing by Matthew, with a few enhancements made by me, like the Superman "S" and the word "Superman" in pencil, traced over by Matthew in green.

Note that the logo is cut out because I made a mistake and wrote the "S" the wrong way. Well, what can I say? I get confused when I try to write upside down, but Matthew wasn't having any of that!

Sometimes, I feel like I push him too much at his age (3 3/4), but I think it’s good exercise to start him on drawing and writing. Matthew is now able to write the letter "M" very well. He can spell and write (copy) his name. He can also draw a face, the sun, a full body (as seen above), and a snowman. In his pictures, he added Krypton (the green crystal) and a bunch of colored Smarties.

Matthew loves superheroes, and Superman is still his favorite. He was Superman for Halloween. A few weeks ago, I had to hide the Superman suit because we had to go out, and there was no way he was going to wear it, especially when it was freezing outside. The unfortunate part is that I forgot where I hid the suit! However, I promised him I’d get him a bigger size for next Halloween.

So, the other day, we were walking through our subdivision with other children and their nanny. One of our neighbors came out of the house to collect the newspaper. It was almost noon, and Betty was still in her nightgown. "It's my lazy day today," she announced.

We chatted a bit, and then Matthew interrupted, yelling, "Hi!" She waved and said, "Hi, William."

I smiled because she had called him that once before. But then, right after, Matthew called back to her, "Do you even know who I am?" She didn’t hear him well, so Matthew continued, "I am secretly Superman." She heard him and replied, "Hi, Superman," and we all laughed.

Maybe it’s time to say something to her, or else the only Superman boy on our street will be William.

But Where Is My Cake? Life Is Full Of Surprises

A week after the Christmas holiday, we were visiting my parents (Matthew’s grandparents). During the week before the visit, we picked up one of those packaged Christmas cakes on sale and brought it with us. Matthew made a mental note.

My mom asked if we could save it for next week, as she had already bought some sweets for us to enjoy after lunch. That was fine with us.

So, we had cookies and tea, and Matthew had cookies with some drink.

When we finished, I told Matthew it was time to get ready to head home. Matthew looked at me, surprised, and turned to look at Baba (that’s what he calls his grandmother).

"Baba, but we didn’t eat the cake. Where’s the cake, Baba? Baba, I brought you a cake?" Matthew kept asking.

I thought he’d never stop talking about the cake. He really wanted to eat it. We spent about five minutes explaining to him why we weren’t eating it today. It was because next week, his cousins were coming, and they wanted to have the cake too. That settled it.

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Last week, we were visiting my parents again, and for lunch, Matthew was enjoying his chicken soup. When he finished his soup and the second dish, he brought his plate back to the kitchen and then returned to the table. He lifted the placemat, looked surprised, and asked, "But where’s my surprise?"

It happened once on Christmas Eve—Baba placed $20 under each grandchild’s placemat as a surprise (way too much in my opinion, but I couldn’t argue). So, Matthew remembered and asked again. I couldn’t believe my mother went and found another $20 just because he asked!

He knows better than to say, "Baba, this is too much," but instead, he said he was going to the toy store to buy more toys. Yes, like he really needs more toys.

I think instead of having a serious talk with Matthew, I’ll have to have a serious talk with my mom.

Don't Forget Carrot In My Chicken Soup

It’s official—Matthew is now registered for Junior Kindergarten (JK) and will start next fall. We ended up enrolling him in the public school system, as opposed to other options like Catholic or Montessori. The reason is that I thought it would be hard on him to go full-time for five days, so I opted for the public system where they still have two or three alternating days per week. Okay, I’ll admit, it would be hard for me to let him go too.

On Monday this week, we delivered the last piece of paperwork to the school. Matthew is eligible for the school bus, but I thought we’d test out how far we’ll need to walk. Yes, I’m going to walk with him.

It took us 20 minutes to walk with Matthew sitting in the wagon. I think we can do it.

On the way home, we stopped by the playground. Matthew loves kids his age and isn’t afraid to talk and play. As soon as we arrived, he engaged with a boy a little older than him and a girl about his age, who were siblings.

He raced them into the play tunnel, up the stairs, and slid down the double slide with the girl. He loved the fact that they slid together. Afterward, the girl went to play somewhere else, and the boy went back into the tunnel.

Oh, it was a lot of fun for Matthew, so he decided to direct the play.

"Hey, boy, you stay in the tunnel, and I’ll go get my friend," he said to the boy.

"Hey, your friend is my sister!" the boy yelled from the tunnel.

"Okay then, I’ll get your sister," Matthew waved at him.

"Hey, girl, do you want to come and go up the tunnel and slide?" he asked her.

"I want to play on the ropes," she replied.

"Okay then, let’s play ropes," Matthew answered, abandoning the boy.

Well, the rope game didn’t last very long, as the mother of the boy and the girl called them to go home. The girl stayed behind and almost cried, not wanting to leave. The mother and the boy were leaving the playground.

"Hey, boy, you forgot your sister!" Matthew yelled after him.

"Matthew, don’t worry, they know," I replied.

Today, I told Matthew he would be having chicken soup for lunch.

"Okay, Mom, and don’t forget the carrot," he replied.

I just hope that all the demands from this three-year-old don’t grow proportionally, but I will definitely miss him when he goes to school.