A quiet night with Finn

Wylie has taken to SCREAMING during his dinner, so tonight I hustled him through dinner and whisked him off to bed around 6:00.

With Jason out for an evening of his super-professional-saving-schools-thing, that left just Finn and me for a quiet night to ourselves.  First of all, why is his behavior noticeably better when he is with just one of us?  He was truly sweet as could be.

-Watching a video about the solar system, Finn commented, "Oh, Mars.  Mars is my favorite planet."  Then, "Pluto is my second favorite tiny, tiny planet." 

-Finn is all about making things these days, projects.  Sometimes building projects, sometimes cooking projects.  Tonight after dinner, while I cleaned up, he tried to brainstorm something he/we could make, something for Papa he said.  His ideas evolved and he ended up heating up some water and putting honey in it--honey tea, he called it.  He stirred and drank, made some for me, and was quite proud of himself.  Sweet.

-Later, in the basement, we watched and discussed, as a spider crawled its way through Finn's train tracks.  At first he did not seem too happy about the spider, but then said, "I don't like all spiders, but this kind is my favorite and he wants to be our pet."

-He did not huff or question or finagle or whine or argue or say a word when I said it was time to do pjs.  He just got up from his trains and walked toward the basement steps.  Really?  Who are you?

-Knowing that Papa is the one who does "cuddle time" after books, and knowing that I am always trying to engage him in conversation, Finn asked me very sweetly, "Mama, can we have some 'conversation cuddle?'"  Yes, my boy, of course we can.

-Laying in Finn's bed, talking, he let's me in on some secrets.  He tells me, "Here's what I do [when I'm supposed to be sleeping].  I pretend my bumpy mirror (his headboard, which is not really a mirror) is a maze" and he flips over to his stomach and shows me how he traces his finger through the maze.  Then he gives me a turn.  Next he shows me how he practices counting using the letters on a sign hanging above his bed. We count together, happy as could be, until he gets bored and moves on to a new topic.  Good night, sweet potato!