Dylan

Guess what my sweet husband indulgently bought for Dylan at the grocery store last night?

Three boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios.

Guess why?

Because Dylan really wanted these:

He's never actually read any of the Spiderwick books before, but now that they've based a major motion picture on the series, he's been exposed to Spiderwick advertising everywhere we turn. (I should also note that he's got his eye on these Happy Meal toys, too, but I'm not too keen on the idea of bringing more cheap plastic toys into our home, especially in light of our recent elimination of so much similar clutter. But what am I saying? He'll probably collect them all. :) )

Anyway, here he is last night at bedtime, starting the first of his three newly acquired Special Edition books...

...and here he is in my bed this morning, already finishing the third! He says he likes them so much that he "might even want to see the movie", but, as he's always quick to point out, "the books are more important than the movie". :) I'm not actually sure that I have an opinion of these yet (this was my first exposure to them, too) but I think we might like to read the series together in the near future. My boy loves to read!

And, while we're talking about Dylan, can I just share some more of his recent creative endeavors? I am constantly amazed at how he is forever coming up with new crafts to try! It's really not just once in a while...it is all day long, and sometimes he exhausts me! For the most part, he's pretty self sufficient, but I feel like I'm always hovering just in the periphery, keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings to ensure his safety and to keep the girls from bothering him too much. Here, for example, is a treasure map he made a couple of days ago after seeing the idea in one of his favorite books. I walked into the kitchen to find him pouring hot water into one of my 13x9 glass baking dishes and swishing tea bags around in it. Next he soaked a sheet of card stock in it, and we let it dry on a towel overnight. The next day he had this very cool, "aged" paper (which he crumpled and tore to add to the effect), on which he drew this amazing map. Don't you just love it? The best part is that when Caitlyn saw it, she immediately ran to change into her Ariel costume so that she could be the mermaid. :)

Last Saturday (our snow day!), he decided after re-reading Stone Soup that he wanted to try making one of our own for dinner. I've always loved that story, but it would never have occurred to me to actually make stone soup! Darren and I thought it was so cute, though, to find a stone sitting in a pot of water on the stove that afternoon, and when Dylan came to us with a shopping list in hand, itemizing the ingredients from the book, what choice did we have but to make stone soup? :) Darren took him shopping for the necessary groceries while the girls and I got busy working on the bedrooms, and after going to a great performance of my brother's high school choir students that afternoon, Darren helped Dylan make his soup while I took Caitlyn shopping for new bedding. It was delicious! I was so proud of my big boy.

These next two pictures are yet another example of Dylan's sweetness and creativity. One day last week he made me this flower from card stock, a yellow craft puff, a thin dowel, and some chenille stems. He said that since all of our flowers are dead right now, he wanted to make me a pretty one for the window. God, how I love that boy! (And our kitty's pretty cute, too.) What a special privilege it is to be the Mommy of this amazingly sweet, smart, and creative little boy. I am so blessed!