Preston: “You helping Daddy mix?
Me: No, I’m helping daddy plug things in (cables and other stuff – although I’m not actually helping him at all)
Preston: I want to MIX
Me:  Maybe tomorrow we can make cookies together.
Preston:  Yeah!  We use the white thing that spins?
Me:  Yeah, we’ll use the mixer!
Preston: NO! We use the white thing that spins!
Me: Honey, it’s called a mixer!
Preston: NO! It’s called the white things that spins… and it has a mixer on it!
Me: Ok. 
Preston:  You going to help Daddy plug it in?
(And we came full circle)
Me: Yes, I'll help Daddy plug it in
Preston:  Ok, and don't forget the butter!
Me: Yes, honey, when we make the cookies we will remember to use the butter
Preston: I LIKE the butter

From Mommy:

John and I have been waiting for a while now for Preston to start naming his own toys.  I guess kids start doing this at their own pace, but the cuteness factor of play-time goes up a few notches when kids start thinking of silly things to name their animals.  So far it has been “My doggy” or “bear” or “Lion Blanket.”  But today, after daycare, Preston’s favorite blue dog was waiting for him in the car.  He climbed in his seat and said “Oh, there’s my doggy; his name is Dot.”  Just like that!  I didn’t have to ask or anything.  I can’t wait for the next name he comes up with!

Here is a picture of Preston and Dot:

From Preston:
Daddy is “nesting.”  It’s kind of strange, because usually it’s the mommy that does the nesting when a new baby is on the way.  She’s been doing other things like knitting and napping.  Daddy is rearranging our nest, moving furniture from the basement back up to the first floor, buying shelves at Ikea for the basement, recabling stuff (is that even a word), setting up computers and electronics and then taking them down again, etc.  He’s busy.  And next on the list is redecorating the guest room into my big boy room, so that the new baby can have the nursery.  So we have a lot going on in this house. 

Tonight at dinner we had tacos.  When we have taco night, Mom and Dad use a crudité plate to serve all the taco toppings (the cheese, tomatoes, olives, etc) so each ingredient has its own spot.  Mom first tried to give me a regular old round plate to use for my tacos.  She forgot that I have a special taco plate (with monkeys on it) that has different compartments for each of the taco ingredients.  I had to remind her to get the monkey plate out for me, and then I told Daddy where each of the yummy toppings was supposed to go!  And then Mommy (who’s pregnant remember) had some oreo cookies for dessert.  She was trying to sneak them, because we already sort of had dessert.  But I saw her eating one, and I said “Hey, I want a circle cookie, too!!”  And then I licked all the cream out of the cookie (they were double-stuff – have I mentioned that Mommy is pregnant?) and left the two cookies for someone else to deal with.

The sticker thing is still working for me at daycare in the morning.  This morning (since we were coming off the weekend) I got a little upset when Mommy was getting ready to leave, but she reminded me that I had my special sticker already, and that she would come back in the afternoon.  I had a fun time at school, and I got to do the big slide on the bigkid playground.  

Preston had been having a really hard time at daycare drop-off, and I didn’t know what to do.  Well, fast forward a few months and he’s still having issues.  So I decided we’d try a few things to see if I could get him to not cry at drop off.  So this morning I talked to him about getting a sticker if he could go to daycare with no crying.  He kept saying no and insisting that he just wanted me to stay with him at school, but I just kept explaining that I had to go to work.  I told him the plan was to get a sticker if he didn’t cry at drop-off, and then he could have another sticker when I came back to pick him up in the afternoon (to sort of book-end the day and put the same positive spin on me leaving as me coming back). 
When we got to daycare I had a new plan (although I didn’t tell him) to offer a sticker at each step of drop-off: checking in to the computer, putting his lunch in the fridge, dropping his bag off at his cubby, and then finally saying goodbye.  So I started at the computer and gave him his sticker, explaining that it was so he didn’t need to cry at school when Mommy left.  When we got to the fridge I asked him if he wanted another sticker, and he said “No, Mommy, I already have a sticker!”  Then we dropped off his bag, he found his favorite fire-truck, and, shockingly, I said goodbye and left without so much as a whimper.
So all it took was one measly sticker?  Why didn’t I try this a long time ago?

Daddy literally took hundreds of pictures over the weekend, which got weeded down to 157.  So that being said, I’ll share some highlights, but you should really check out the album if you want the full story of the weekend.  Just about every picture is worth a glance, so enjoy!
FULL LABOR DAY WEEKEND ALBUM
As usual, I had a VERY busy long weekend.  Camp Activities Director Debbie had a full schedule of endless fun and games, and it helped to have a few other little people around to play with: Stella, Lilly, and Jackson.  On our agenda was blueberry picking from a canoe, paddling around on a surfboard, showers under the spillway, catching frogs and lizards and then letting them go, BUBBLES, puddle jumping, swimming, island exploration, campfires, and hardly any naps.  My little red bucket was home to several different froggies and lizards, and THREE giant spiders had nests on the rocks in our beach!

I’d also like to mention that underpants are my new favorite FULL-TIME article of clothing.  The only time I wear diapers is to bed, and even then I wake up dry about half the time.  I am a regular potty-using big boy (although bushes work well, too).

Mommy would now like to take a few minutes tell you about croquet:
Let it be known that I don’t always play croquet on Labor Day.  It’s a family tradition, but some years I have other things to do.  This year there weren’t as many people as there sometimes are, so I decided to give it a go.  In the past, I never get very far, and the idea is to get through all the wickets on the course, and then back again to become poison.  Then once you are poison you can kill off other players at your leisure.  Previously, I barely got through the first half of the course before being killed off by someone who reaches poison within the first 4 or 5 rounds. 
This year, I was the SECOND person to reach poison.  And not only was it the first time I ever got to be poison, but I also ended up being the deadliest player, killing off 4 of my comrades.  In the end I was knocked off by my own husband, who was then dispatched by my father (who took the win for the second year in a row and countless appearances on the family plaque).  In hindsight John felt bad about killing me.  We could have teamed up and FINALLY gotten one of us on the board, but it just wasn’t our year.