Poor Otto.
He's been obsessed the last couple of weeks with tornadoes.
I think it started with the spring tornado drills at school, followed by news reports/school discussion of the big storms down south.
All of which led to him showing up at my bedside at 5am one morning carrying the following:
- pillow pet
- Otto bear
- Puppies
- LEGO Star Wars visual dictionary
Those are his most precious belongings, the things he would grab if forced to leave the house to escape a fire or - in his imagination - a tornado.
Of course it was dead quiet that morning, no rain or even a stiff breeze. I gave him a blanket and had him lie down on the floor next to my side of the bed so we could talk about how there are sirens to warn us about tornadoes, and that mom and dad watch the weather on TV if it's bad, etc. I can remember how scared I was of bad storms when I was a kid, so I understand.
He's had a better time at school lately - less whining about being bored and not wanting to go, etc. I think the warmer weather helps a lot. He rides the bus to day care in the afternoon and then plays outside, and plays pretty hard, until pickup time, which is good for him in all sorts of ways. We're working on plans for summer and looking at a couple of day camp alternatives for something new and different, but mostly he wants to spend his summer at day care with his buddies. I feel lucky every day for finding our day care.
My plans for Bel's birthday party next month are getting a little bigger every day. We're going to have to throw her a big bash this year. Her teacher said the other day "I think she's really going to remember this one," and I agree. Pink cupcakes, pink balloons, pink cowgirl hats... she has a list of party wishes as long as both her arms, and adds more every week. She's been planning her party since Christmas and talks about birthdays every day at day care with her friends. Last weekend she told me Santa was going to come to her birthday party and bring presents for everyone.
To say I have some work to do there would be an understatement...
Hopefully we'll have good weather, because I think the only way it'll work is if we have a party in the back yard.
I wonder if I could delegate weather-watching and tornado preparedness to Otto? I can just see him standing on the back deck, waving his arms and shouting "you guys! There's a tornado coming! Everyone needs to go to the basement NOW!"
