Brunswick Bowling

We called ahead and figured out that a three year old really could bowl with lots of help. Bumpers in the bowling lane, a ramp for the ball, a Mom or Dad to help carry a 7 pound ball, and lots of patience.

Look! Bowling shoes just for me! I was pleasantly surprised to see such cool shoes in Toddler size 8 and with easy to put on velcro straps!


We all have bowling shoes!


It took just a little bit to convince James that putting the ball on the ramp is way cooler than throwing it. And luckily some kids a few lanes down were using ramps too.




How many pins will go down?


Yeah, James was beating us already after the first balls.


James kicked my butt!




I had to really watch James at this part. He eagerly waited for the ball to return and I was worried about his little fingers. And his face.


Dada ended up winning but James did well! The first game went pretty smoothly.


During the second game James got a little antsy. He wanted to switch balls. So he found this pink one. (Real boys like pink.) And then he wanted to roll the balls. No. And then he wanted to roll the heavier balls (ours) down the ramp. Okay, but I helped carry the balls to the ramp. It was exhausting!


We ended the 2nd game early. James just got too fussy.

In the car I told him, "James you kicked my butt!" James got upset and said, "Mama! I not kick you!" I guess he doesn't know that figure of speech. It honestly just slipped out. So I told him that he did a good job. Haha.

I keep forgetting to post this picture that my sister Ana so generously shared with me :)


Tonight I experimented with Southwest Eggrolls. I liked that they are baked and not fried. Next time I would try the more traditional Asian filling, but they were good. It's nice to try new things. (I wish James could read that.)


Speaking of reading, I swear I have read those Star Wars books five times today. I'm glad he likes them. They just have a lot of words. I guess we're used to the simpler little kid books.

And one last thing, we are thinking James is a little moody lately. Yeah, kind of Jekyll and Hyde-ish. One minute crabby and defiant, the next minute he is going through the routine of asking me, "Mama! Guess what? I love you!" It's funny, frustrating, and exhausting all at the same time. I think he had a few time-outs today. No real nap. And then later tonight he gave his Dada a really hard time at bath time. I sat downstairs and felt sorry for both of them. I knew James couldn't help but be crabby and tired, and then Jim had to figure out how to navigate that mood. Three is hard!

Ebube and James

I know I've mentioned James' dislike of Ebube, from daycare. He has told us several times that Ebube has pushed him or hit him. He seems scared of Ebube. I've mentioned it two different times now to the daycare staff and I know they are fully aware of the concerns. One of the teachers listened to my concern and then did an observation the next time Ebube was in school. He's only there on a particular day, and only for half a day.

The teacher observed that James was on high alert as soon as Ebube came in to the classroom. James seemed nervous, maybe scared, but he followed Ebube all morning. Watched him all morning. And then they played. James and Ebube played well until Ebube pushed James. Now, that's pretty common at this age. What was concerning was that James really played it up, called for attention and repeated several times that Ebube pushed him. The teacher had watched the whole thing and James really kind of exaggerated the incident. They handled it, Ebube was talked to and then everything went back to normal.

So I don't think Ebube is the terrible bully that James believes him to be. I KNOW that James exaggerates things because we see it at home. We can be changing his poopy diaper/pull-up and holding up his legs and James will cry out "You're hurting me!" (Yeah, we've been scared that he'll go to daycare and repeat that one- I had a talk with the teacher and we've agreed to always talk out whatever James says- whether he says something happens at home, or whether he says things about students/staff.)

So that day the teacher really stressed to us that James and Ebube played so well that day. We were saying this in front of James, so he could hear us. We think it's probably best to keep saying positive things about Ebube and not focus on the pushing and the fact that James thinks "Ebube is naughty". We got James to say that Ebube is fun, they had a great day, etc.

Two days later I was told that Ebube and his family went to Africa to visit family for the next few months. Figures.