The Many Disguises of Rudy J.

I've been lucky to have had a few weeks off with Rudy this month. So instead of always running around, we've had a lot of lazy days, which leads to a very creative kid.
On Monday, Rudy woke up and put his spiderman costume on. When it was time to get dressed to go out for the day, he wanted to just put his clothes over the costume. After much negotiation, it was decided he could, if he took of his pajamas that were under the costume first. As he ran around the neihborhood before going out, he wore my sneakers (which he could run surprisingly well in).

On Tuesday, Batman spent the day with us. Once again he put my shoes on (my boots because they were all black, which he needed for the costume) while we were at home. For part of the day, he also had another Batman costum with this one that had the mask and cape.

Batman's ice cream choice was a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup blizzard.

Running home and searching for enemies.

And sometimes he is disguised as a kid. Here he deomonstrates the skills he learned in Kindergarten - who says school is all about work?

Look how tall I am! A rare thing!!

Using the zip line. He still can't reach it by himself, but he can hold on and fly both ways without letting go.

Santa Arrives at Smithville

Friday night Santa arrived by fire truck in Smithville. This is the first time in several years that they've done this, so we were really looking forward to it. Paul wasn't feeling well all week, and we were babysitting Charlie for the night, so Paul and Charlie stayed home while Rudy and I went and met his friend Tommy.

Clothing note #1: See the hat that's a little large on Rudy's head - it's Paul's hat. We couldn't find Rudy's winter hat and before I could even look for an alternative, he grabbed Paul's and said, "Look, this one fits me." So that's what he wore.

As we waited for Santa, some characters walked around including Frosty



and a guy from Ya Gabba Gabba (who no one seems to know his name, since every child there called him Yo Gabba Gabba).
Clothing note #2: Rudy had his sweat pants from school on before we left, and I told him to go put a pair of pajama pants on under them. When he came downstairs, all I saw were the pajama pants and I told him he needed to go back up. After protesting from him, I realized that he had put the pajamas on OVER his sweatpants. It's not a great look, but I was happy he picked a plain pair of pant rather than one with prints all over.

Then he fire truck arrived with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Although we were in a corner, we actually were in the best place because the fire truck came right up to us and Santa and Mrs. Claus sat in the cherry picker above us for several minutes.

The the ladder turned and they were let off on the other side of the lot.

But they walked around to greet everyone and made there way back to us.

After seeing Santa, we walked around and were able to have pictures taken with many of the characters.

We had some hot chocolate and cookies and then the boys went on the carousel before we left. Rudy didn't want to look my way for the picture...

... and then when he finally did, this is the face I got.

Our Bouncing Baby Boy

Rudy had a busy, bouncy Saturday. Our town fair was held not far from our house, so Paul, Rudy and I walked over to check it out. The weather was windy, but nice. There were food vendors, information booths and of course, big inflatables. Here is Rudy going down the slide in one...

... and jumping inside the train of another.

Even on a cool, windy day, Rudy can't resist having a popsicle (while Paul sat and drank coffee!).

There were some characters hanging around. We saw Belle and a pirate- this year, Rudy wanted noting to do with them (last year, the princesses were his favorite). Then, just before we haded home, we saw Batman. Rudy would barely talk to him, while Batman tried engaging him. Then I offered to take a picture of Rudy and Batman, but he wasn't willing to do it without Paul. So here are the Superheroes.

In the evening, Rudy had a birthday party to go to - at a local bounce place. He had a lot of fun and was very active for most of the time.

About a half hour into the party, one of his friends from school showed up (before that there were only about 4 kids from school - all girls and most of whom he said he didn't know their names!). Once J showed up, the two were inseparable for the rest of the time. Here they are climbing up the big slide.

For once, all this activity worked in our favor. Rudy woke up a little after 6 this morning and went to the bathroom. Then, as usual, he woke up at 6:45 and came down to our bed. He snuggled under the covers as he always does and then next thing I knew, I had dozed off and woke up to realize Rudy was asleep next to me. I went back to sleep myself and wok up to realize it was 8:00! What a nice morning for me! We may have to arrange for Rudy to spend several hours at a bounce place every weekend!

Batman

Rudy's drawing skills have improved so much lately. Here is a picture of Batman. Those are his ears at the top!

Rudyisms

After spending a few hours at the mall, getting pictures taken and waiting for tires to be put on the car, Rudy was very cranky as we drove home. As he negotiated about bedtime when he got home this is what we heard:

But I love you, Mommy. I don't want to be away from you. I want to stay with you all night.

He frequently uses I love you as his reasoning for doing or not doing something. And often offers to give us presents or be our friend if we do what he wants.

"My brain can't remember the one that goes ' don't cry' ". He wanted to sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

Gato now has a family to keep him company. Kitten (which he got for Halloween from Grandmom and Gram) is the baby. Gato is Kitten's Mommy and Beary is Kitten's Poppy. A few other dolls are sometimes recruited to be a brother, a sister or a cousin, too.

"When I grow up can you get me a dress and a cape like Batman?"
"Sure."
"And glasses."







"Does your radio work or did I put money in it like Poppy's?" (See this post for the story of the money.)
" Mine works."
"Why did I put money in there?"
"I don't know why did you?"
"I thought it wasn't real."





Rudy has been telling us how he and Grandma Sheila used to do things together in Guatemala. Most recently he said they watched a movie with a witch but he wasn't scared because Grandma Sheila doesn't do dishes or check her email during the movie.




Out of the blue after dinner: "First of all, I love Mommy. Second of all, I love everybody in the house. Except Smokey. Because she growls at me."

A Little Excited

Between Thanksgiving and Rudy's birthday (which is tomorrow) Rudy has been a little crazy and excited lately. Being home all day today just added to the energy he had; so he was very wound up all day.

Here he is demonstrating how he would glide from building to building as Batman (or Spiderman, maybe). He started at the door, holding the handle, let go and would jump to catch one balloon string, jump to catch the other string and then jump one more time and let them both go.

An expression we see very often - an eye roll.

Being goofy - he was playing the ottoman as if it was drums.

All dressed up and still crazy -

Finally we went to Aunt Pat's for dinner. There Rudy got to hang out with Neil (and missed Sean since he had to work).

We also celebrated his birthday with everyone there since they didn't come to his roller skating party.

Ready to spray the barking dog (or whoever else got in the way).

Rudy HAD to have Neil sit next to him. (I don't know what that strange cloud in the picture is - there wasn't any hot food on the table yet.)

Getting ready to blow out his candle on his cupcakes (with Arial wrappers).

Sitting with Uncle Neil and playing a new game he got for his Leapster.

Downtown Fair

Saturday was our town's downtown fair. It's not all that exciting - about a block's worth of activities, vendors, etc. But it is within walking distance and a nice way to spend part of a day. Rudy's friend, Tommy, and his parents joined us.

The first stop was the petting zoo. Later Rudy continued to talk about the 'paca (alpaca). He also attempted to brush a chicken.

Tommy wanted to hold Rudy's hand and Rudy willingly agreed.

Then they started dancing to the music as they walked together.

There were a few people in costume walking around. The first one we saw was Spongebob and Rudy was excited but after he walked away, Rudy told me it was someone pretending to be Spongebob because he had different shoes. Look out, Santa, this boy is observant! Next we saw Mickey Mouse (the same man as Spongebob - we saw him trying to unobtrusively change costumes in the parking lot) and then Batman. But the big hit, for both boys, was Snow White and Belle. Both of them were very excited and shy to see these ladies. And for the rest of the time, everytime we passed the princesses, Rudy would point them out again. Even now, as I type this, Rudy is telling me that he wants to see the picture with Belle again. Rudy also told me later that Batman and the princesses were real but not Mickey Mouse and Spongebob. I am assuming because they were people instead of animals or characters.

After walking around, going in the bouncer and down the slides, we stopped to have pizza and later found some yummy brownies. The boys played football while we finished our lunch. It was a beautiful morning to walk around.