Baking a Special Birthday Cake

Last night Preston told me that he was going to make me a “Special Birthday Cake.”  So he dragged a chair across the kitchen to the counter, pulled out a drinking glass, and started sprinkling lots of different spices into it (this becomes an expensive habit of his, so we try to put the less expensive spices on the bottom rack where he can reach them).  When he had a satisfactory amount of spices in the glass he told Daddy that he needed to add some water.  So Daddy put a little bit of water in with the spices.  Then it was time to mix! 
Of course, when you are baking, you obligatorily need to taste your batter; in this case, Daddy had to taste it, not Preston.  And then it needed to go in the oven.
We set the timer for 5 minutes, checked on his creation through the oven window, and went upstairs for a few minutes.
When the timer went off, John called upstairs for us to come down and check the cake!!
To our surprise, Preston had made the perfect creation: a single fig newton sat in the bottom of the cup.
It was a delicious Special Birthday Cake.

Bedtime Tinkles

This will probably be one of those embarrassing stories to share with Preston’s high school girlfriends one day. 
Preston likes to stall at bedtime.  He’s especially good at stalling for Daddy, although, I deal with my fair share of random, ill-timed requests.
One night, after multiple trips in and out of his bedroom to say goodnight, read ONE last story, get a different animal friend, etc, Preston called out “DADDY!!!!  I NEED TO GO TINKLES IN THE POTTY!”
THIS kind of a request gets immediate attention out of Mommy and Daddy, so John went in to check on him.  He has his own potty in his room, and usually, once it is lights out we have him use that potty instead of a regular one, just to impress upon the fact that we are not actually going to let him get out of having to go to bed.  But he insisted on a “big potty” and Daddy’s will is not always as strong as Preston’s, so off to the “big potty” they went.
I was listening from the next room, as Preston sat down on the potty, tooted a little bit, and then yelled “I’m ALLLLL done!” 
Daddy had been standing there the whole time, and I could hear from the other room, and neither of us heard any tinkles.
So John said, “How can you be all done, you didn’t do any tinkles”
Preston insisted “Yes, I DID do tinkles, see?!”
There was nothing to see, because there were no tinkles.  But Preston insisted again that he was all done, so they flushed and went back to bed for the night.
Stalling tactic = successful

THREE NIGHTS AGO………

I asked Preston if he wanted to go to sleep with a diaper or underpants.  He said underpants.  After weeks of successfully waking up with a dry diaper, and one successful underpants night last week when Grandma and Grandpa put him to bed, I decided that it would be fine.
At 11:30 when I was ready to go to bed, I went in to check on Preston like I always do.  I tuck him in if he is on top of the covers, and for several months I’ve done it successfully every night without waking him up…. I woke him up.  And he was awake enough that he had trouble getting back to sleep.  He kept clinging to my arm, and every time I would try to leave he would open his eyes and start crying again.  So finally I just left and let him cry.
But then John came upstairs and rescued him and brought him to bed with us.  John lasted all of 5 minutes with Preston in the bed before he decided to vacate to the guest room… Preston started crying about wanting a white pillow instead of a red pillow, which was apparently too much of a problem for John.  
Then Preston and I – still in the big bed – Played musical sides until Preston settled down completely sideways on what is usually my side.  I was on John’s side.  All was finally well.
Except I woke up at 5:30 with a stomach ache.  After a few trips to the bathroom I was feeling a little bit better, but Preston was starting to stir each time I climbed back into bed with him… and if he woke up, that would be the end of sleep for me.  So I climbed in the guest bed with John to snooze in the early morning.
Yes, our 2 and a half year old toddler won the bed war, and ended up with a King sized bed ALL to himself.
And then he peed.  He didn’t wake up and call to one of us that he needed to go tinkles, like EVERY morning for the past 2 months.  He didn’t climb out and try to find someone, because he follows the rules and won’t leave the bed until someone comes to get him.  Nope, on the morning that he is wearing underpants he wets the bed.
I’m sure it was as accident, but it was a major comedy of errors.  I think that if I had still been in bed with him this morning he would have woken me up to go to the potty.  But I wasn’t.  
So we stripped the bed, and life will go on.

I’m starting to notice a pattern here.  Every time it’s Halloween… we lose electicity.
This morning was no exception.  Early this morning we had a strong storm come through, so about the time Preston and I sat down to eat breakfast, the wind was blowing hard… and the electicity went out!!

Preston – ‘Uh, oh, Mommy!  Something’s HAPPENING to US!”
Me – “I know, honey, the lights went out because we lost electicity”
Preston – Looking scared and confused “You going to fix it!?”
Me – “I wish I could, but we have to wait for the electric company to fix it”
Preston – “I don’t LIKE it!  Is Daddy going to fix it?!”
Me – “Daddy can’t fix it, he’s on an airplane.  And we have to wait for the electric company”

This went on for a little while: Preston looking scared and refusing to finish his breakfast… Me trying to reassure him and explain to him how electricity works…
When out of the blue, one of Daddy’s electronics starts beeping (I think it was the router?)

Preston:  “What’s THAT!  What’s happening to us!”
Me: “Daddy’s box is beeping because it needs more electicity”
Preston: “It’s scary! Turn it OFF!”

So I troop it over to where the box is… there are a million boxes.  It only beeps sporadically, so I don’t know which one it is that needs to be turned off! 
It beeps!!!  Of course it’s one of the boxes BEHIND the heavy bookshelf… There’s no way I’m moving that thing.

Me: “Preston, I can’t reach the box to turn it off.  We need to go to school soon anyway, so I have to leave it alone”
Preston: “But I don’t like it.  It’s scary”

And then… ANOTHER box starts beeping.  All I could think was “we need to leave for school ASAP.  Let’s forget breakfast”  - thinking that the extra beeping is just going to upset him more. Then he says:

Preston:  “Mommy, they’re making MUSIC”
Me: (confused) “What’s making music? The beeping?”
Preston:  “Yeah!  They’re making beautiful music, ALL together!”

That was a strange twist to the story, but one I could handle. 
Shortly thereafter we left for school, and the electricity was thankfully back on by the time we got home.


And just for good measure, here is a picture of Preston doing crafts in his underpants.