This morning, Julian said, "I love daddy and Zoe and Ali." I said, "What about mummy?" And he said, "Mummy, I always love mummy!" I also made him promise that he'd still give me hugs when he's 15. I hope he remembers.

 

I must be a little insane, because for the last two nights I've been up making cardboard dinosaurs as decorations for Julian's party...

Bella!

 

 

 

 

Julian had a great time re-meeting his second cousin Bella today. She's five months younger than him and wasn't initially as good as sharing, but soon they warmed up to each other and enjoyed a duet of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" on the piano. They both shared incredibly well afterwards, and ended the afternoon with a game of hide and seek. It's lovely seeing Julian with other kids - it's one of those times when I know he's usually always well-behaved and his gentle, kind nature shines through.

 

Dino party!

I'm getting a bit carried away with Julian's dinosaur party, I must admit. Not only did I spend hours cutting out his photo - individually! - for 40 odd party invites, but I've also shopped for everything dinosaur so that the tables, decor, goody bags, etc are fully dino-riffic. But then I felt guilty for outsourcing a lot (like the gal who's baking dino cupcakes) so last night I sat on the floor of my shagpile rug cutting out dinosaur figures from large pieces of cardboard craft paper. I must be nuts. But here's what I'd really like: Full size dinosaur! Yep, it's a full-size dinosaur replica that sits in your backyard at 20 feet tall and 55 feet in length. Talk about a showstopper. There's only one problem: It costs about 50 grand. Make that two problems: once it's in your backyard, it's there for life. It's made of resin: you'd never get that sucker out.

Big bed

 

You can see by this photo how grown up Julian is. It seems to have happened all at once. Now, when I use complicated words in a sentence, he asks what they mean. He takes himself snacks. He looks after his sister (with supervision). He can help me unload a dishwasher. And, as of last week, he has moved to his own bed. Kind of. At the moment, his cot converts to a bed with the side taken off, but with that move, he also got rid of his sleeping bag - something I thought I'd have to wean him off slowly. Nope. As soon as he had his "big bed," that was it. The next morning, he pronounced, "I never want to sleep in a cot ever, ever again." Done.

Funny how, as a parent, you can project that things will be harder than they actually end up being. I thought that the bed transition would be a nightmare, because Julian never expressed wanting one. (In the end, after a tired day, I ended up taking the side off, figuring he was too wiped out to resist.) I thought he'd have to sleep in his sleeping bag for weeks and then maybe - maybe! - he'd relent to having the bottom of it unzipped. I thought he'd get up a million times a night, waking us all at all hours. In fact, none of these things have happened. Julian's loved his bed, and even though he skipped a few day sleeps the first week in it (giving me a heart attack), he now sleeps better than ever. He calls us when he wants to get out, never getting out on his own. Today he almost resisted his day sleep, saying, "I just want to run a little bit," but kids are funny that way - sometimes, if you're stern enough and adamant enough, they will actually do what you say, even if logic is on their side. So that's what's happened.

 

 

Julian is completely obsessed with our gardener, Ken, and his gardening tools.

Ice cream cake

 

Explained in the below entry!

Birthday

It was my birthday, but with kids, it's all me, me, me. Julian pretty much thought it was his birthday, what with the presents and ice-cream cake. (David wanted to get me a sticky date pudding one, but I thought it was better that he get something Julian could enjoy. Don't know why he chose pirate and dinosaur candles, though.) I had extensive makeup on for my birthday, but then, even a touch of lipstick is a lot compared to my usual I've-Been-Up-With-A-Baby-So-You're-Lucky-I'm-Not-Wearing-Slippers look of late. Anyway, Julian asked me today if my eyes were "painted." I said no, and he said, "You look just as beautiful today." Out of the mouth of babes!

In my recent and more stepped-up indoctrination of Julian in which I'm trying to get him to love New York*, I've placed a map of most of NYC outside his bedroom. It's now one of his rituals before he goes to sleep at night: I have to walk him through the map and explain to him where I lived (Upper West Side) and worked (SoHo) and point out the Museum of Natural History, Central Park, and inexplicably, where I ate. (He likes those details.)

* If my plan works, we can all move to Manhattan happily ever after. It's easy to brainwash a kid; I have no idea how to do the same to the 44 year old husband.

 

 

Julian's dino party is on the horizon...