Garrett the Graduate

GarrettGarrett is now one step closer to Graduate School, Medical School, or Law School! I’m not sure which one Garrett will choose. But, as long as it’s not Clown School, I’ll be happy.  

Garrett is now a proud graduate of pre-school. He has spent the past school year mastering his letters and his numbers, learning the fundamentals of art, practicing some Yoga, and being reminded that we play with our friends. We don’t punch them in the face.

All in all, I’d say it was a successful experience! Up next – KINDERGARTEN!

 

 

The Priluck Boys Present…The News!

WMNEach Spring, GWE and I bid on one particular item at Justin and Garrett’s school’s silent auction. It’s not a wine basket or gift certificate. It’s the experience of hosting the school’s morning news/announcement show for an entire week. We’ve done it for the past couple of years and it’s become such a tradition that even the administrators at the school know that it’s something the boys (and maybe GWE) really, really look forward to.

For the first two years, Justin hosted the show with GWE. Last year, he hosted the show with GWE, but with Garrett making a few cameo appearances. This year, GWE was replaced by Garrett and he did an incredible job.

And now I present to you: The Woodcrest Morning News with Justin and Garrett!

Tuesday, April 19th:

Wednesday, April 20th:

Thursday, April 21st:

Friday, April 22nd:

Where’s the Pee???

At least nothing happened to the Nintendo 3DS Justin was hiding under his bed!

At least nothing happened to the Nintendo 3DS Justin was hiding under his bed!

It was my intention to write about three of four funny recent events with the boys. However, this evening, we had an incident with Garrett that made me so angry that I wasn’t able to get into “Ha, Ha, what a funny story!” mode. Now, I’m in the “Are you F#$#^&G kidding me????” mode.

At some point this evening, Garrett announced that he had to go to the bathroom. He made us pause the television and wait for him. After a few minutes, he returned with a guilty look on his face.

“Garrett? Did you pee in the potty?” I asked.

“Yes!” he announced to me and MoGWE. (Mother of Greatest Wife Ever)

I continued my mild interrogation. “But, I didn’t hear a flush. Did you flush the pee?”

“Yes!” he proclaimed.

Honestly, I didn’t believe him. My dad-senses were tingling and he looked guilty of something. I stood up and walked to the bathroom to see what had happened. From behind me I could hear MoGWE telling Garrett, “If you did something, you better tell your dad. He’s about to find out anyway!” I turned to see that his lips were sealed…with a smirk.

I looked in and around the potty. No evidence of anything. If he did it, he flushed it and that was the end of that.

A few hours later, with Justin soundly asleep in bed, I began Garrett’s nighttime routine. I put Garrett into pajamas, got him a cup of water, and I was about to read him a book when he whispered, “Daddy. I have to tell you a secret.” The smirk was still on his face, but now his whole body began to shake in a spastic manner like he was going to burst of excitement if he didn’t say this one thing.

“Ok. What’s your secret?” I asked, expecting to hear about something that happened at school that day.

“I snuck into Justin’s room, went under his bed, and peed on the floor!!!!!”  

He said it with the frenzied excitement of someone who just won the lottery or found out they weren’t the father on “Maury.” My guess is that he thought I would find it just as funny and exciting. I did not. And, clearly, he did not anticipate the level of anger from me that this action would elicit.

Needless to say, toys were taken, tears were shed, and I made myself perfectly clear: if you piss on the floor again – you better be prepared to sleep in it!

It’s a good thing Justin doesn’t know what happened. The one thing that really upsets Justin is the thought of Garrett coming into his room without his permission. If he ever found out about what happened under his bed, he might need therapy!

Bird, Bird, The Bird is the Word!

Sesame Street  Season 43 Big Bird

This is not the bird you’re looking for.

While having dinner at home one night, we decided to open the back doors and windows to allow a cool evening breeze into the house. GWE, the boys, and I sat around the table eating, laughing, and getting caught up on how everyone’s day went. It was a pleasant evening and nothing was out of the ordinary, until….all of a sudden…

… a bird flew into the house!

What was once a calm and relaxed dinner turned into a (slightly) chaotic moment. Justin, the child who doesn’t like to go outside or have nature come inside, froze in a panic. Garrett, the child who loves being outside…but probably loves chaos even more, was thrilled to see the bird! Garrett greeted the interruption with a mixture of dance, excitement, and screaming with glee. GWE and I took the tactical position of turning off all the lights in house, turning on the porch lights, and shooing the bird outside again.

Once the bird left, we closed the doors and windows and resumed our meal. However, the excitement in Garrett’s body could not be contained. 

“I DID IT!! I DID IT!!! I DID IT!!!” Garrett squealed. “What? What did you do?” I asked. 

“I HID!!!!!” He announced triumphantly, as if he had conquered Mother Nature by himself.

In case of emergency, I’m still not sure which kid will be the most useful!

Angry Bird

I am an angry bird!

 

Giving Me The Finger

 FingerYou know you’re a parent when a child asks you to hold their imaginary finger gun and you take the imaginary gun in its proper form and stick it in your pants pocket like it’s a real thing.

That’s the type of partner-in-crime I am to my 4 year old.

 

Garrett’s Five Finger Yo-Kai Discount

Whisper

This is Whisper

As a parent, there are times when you have to decide to either react immediately to something your child did or ‘wait and see.’ If your child were to run up to someone and hit them, then you’d react. But sometimes….there’s a grey area. There are times when something bad happens, but maybe it was an accident or perhaps good intentions accidentally led to a bad decision. This is one such story:

Justin has become a Yo-Kai Watch fanatic. It’s a toy watch that is part of a role-playing game. The watch is supposed to help the person wearing it identify other Yo-Kai who haunt people and cause mischief. (Imagine Pokemon with a watch.)

Since Justin has become enamored with Yo-Kai, so has his little brother. (Garrett’s really only interested in it because Justin is.) Garrett wants to watch Yo-Kai with Justin, play the Yo-Kai video game with Justin, and even watch Yo-Kai on TV with Justin.

On Saturday, I decided to take Justin and Garrett out to the mall. I made it clear that they were allowed to buy one small toy each. Garrett found a small Lego toy that he wanted in Target. After Target, Justin dragged all of us to GameStop to see if they had any Yo-Kai tokens for his watch. They did and I allowed him to buy three packages.

While Justin was shopping, I took a step back and allowed Garrett to browse the aisles of the store as well. He clearly knew I was there, but he probably didn’t think I was watching him closely. With the Target bag in one hand, I could see him casually pick up another toy, check it out, and then put it back on the shelf. However, when he found a stuffed animal version of Whisper from the Yo-Kai world, he held onto it longer than he had with the other toys. And then, I saw him put it in the Target bag and walk away. (By the way, Whisper looks like a giant sperm. Seriously. He’s translucent/white with a tail. He’s a sperm.)

Here’s the moment when I could have reacted, but I decided to wait. Was he shoplifting or was he having an absent-minded moment? I wasn’t sure.

After a few moments, he walked up to me and asked me to hold his Target bag so he could continue to look around. I agreed. As he walked away, I looked in the bag and saw Whisper staring back at me…and imagined him quietly mouthing the words “Help me!”

I removed him from the bag, put him back on the shelf, and didn’t say anything to Garrett. I honestly could not tell if he had done this purposely or if it was an accident. So, I decided to wait. I would not have to wait long.

About an hour later, we arrived home. I unlocked Garrett’s car door, unbuckled him, and handed him his Target bag. He took the handles of the bag, spread them apart to look into his bag, and only saw his Lego toy.

He looked up at me with an expression of stunned dismay and outrage. With a furrowed brow he screamed, “HEY!?!?!?! WHERE’S WHISPER??? HE WAS IN MY BAG!!” (It was like a movie moment when the thief realizes that he had been double-crossed.) He was so angry that he checked the bag a second time. Nope….Whisper still wasn’t there. I told him that I saw what he did and returned the toy to where it belonged. The look he gave me after rechecking his ‘stash’ said, “I’ll get you for this!”

Well, that answered that. My 4-year old was a thief and he got double-crossed by his own father!

There's no Whisper here!

There’s no Whisper here!