One-on-one with Finn

On Saturday Reid took Kai on a daddy-son outing and I was left at home with Finn.  I was looking forward to a fun time, although I do admit that I wasn't sure what we would do.  Finn has always had Kai around and he LOVES to play with his brother.  He has also had very little one-on-one time with me and therefore is much more independent than Kai ever was at this age.  So, in true fashion, I was excited for the day and Finn was not.  He spent most of the day asking, "Where's my bruddah?" and saying "I want daddy!"  I offered to take him out to lunch, ride a train at the mall, and more, but nothing worked.  All he wanted to do was sit at home and wait for everyone else to come back.

Today Kai was invited to a friend's house for an extended play date.  I think Finn and I got off to a better start as we had to leave the house to drop off Kai.  We went from the playdate straight to the park where we spent nearly an hour on the playground (with the first bit of it being just us on a deserted playground--Yay for kids going back to school!).  We had such a good time on the swings, slides, teeter-totter, and chasing birds.  Finn would say, "Can we chaste them?"  But of course!  So much fun!

During our time together I took the time to really focus on Finn and I was surprised by what I saw.  At home he is often overshadowed by his brother.  In fact, I probably ask Kai to stop talking at least 3 or 4 times a day.  None of us can ever get a word in.  But with Kai out and my attention solely on Finn, I got excited about the upcoming school year when Finn and I will have much more one-on-one time together.

After the park we went to Wal-Mart where we ordered a sub for lunch (and an Icee for Finn).  Of course, Finn has not wanted to eat for the past few days, so he refused his lunch.  After that we had to pick up one item in the store and then we headed home.  We played outside for another hour or more just giggling and having a good time.  Finally, I had him come in and tried to feed him again.  Since that didn't work, I put him down for a nap.  Now I'm waiting for Kai to come home and reveling in this quiet.

I don't have any pictures (and I still have some posts to finish from July) but I wanted to record a couple of things that Finn has said lately.
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Last Thursday we were getting ready to head to his friend Lucy's birthday party.  I told Kai that Lucy had already turned 3, but that day was her party.
Finn said, "3?"  To which I said, "Yes, 3.  You're going to be 3 soon, huh?"
Finn quickly said, "NO!"
I replied, "You're not going to be 3?"
To which Finn retorted, "No, I wanna be 5!"
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In the past we have worried about Finn's speech.  He just doesn't talk as much as the other kids his age, and when he does speak, it's not super-clear.  But today he proved that just because he can't speak as well as he'd like, doesn't mean he doesn't understand or that he isn't smart.  This conversation took place while I was pushing Finn on the swing.

F:  "Finn-finn (his name for himself....and I guess, our name for him) is a wy-it."
M:  "A why it?"
F:  "No, a wy-it."
M"  "A Wyatt?"
F:  "No, a wy-it."
M:  "Ride it?"
F:  "No......(you could see him thinking) a tiger?"
M:  "Oh, Finn-finn is a lion and a tiger?"
F:  "No, just a wy-it!"
He still struggles with L's (Lucy is Wucy, for example.  Lion would be wion.  Except that he tends to end words with a "t" sound no matter what.  So, that would completely explain a wy-it!  I was most impressed by the fact that he is no longer getting frustrated when we don't understand and will instead take his time to repeat himself and then eventually find another way to explain himself.  In this case, he found another animal that he knew related to a lion and that I would understand.  So, yeah, I'm thinking he is pretty smart!  :)
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Another "typical Finn" statement involves the number 2, or should I say 3.  You see, Finn likes to count from 1 to 3, most of the time just bypassing the number two.  He will hold up 3 fingers and say 2 more minutes (which is his common way of asking for more time) but that's just about the only time he uses the number 2.  For dinner he says that he needs "Three Elmo forks!", which means that he needs both the fork and the spoon (one for each hand I guess), and the best has been when we are playing one-on-one.  He has decided that it's most fun to ride his tricycle while I push his toy lawnmower.  The only problem is that I'm much too tall for this lawnmower and so my back starts to ache within seconds.  So, when Finn isn't looking, I'll stand up and carry it and sometimes I drop a hand.  When Finn catches me he'll yell, "Three hands!  Three hands!"  It's his way of telling me that I need to use both of my hands and do it right, but it sure does make me laugh.  I wish I had three hands!
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Just for fun....

The other day Finn looked at me and said, "I told you so!"  Yikes.  It makes me laugh!  :)

Finn has also learned the art of negotiating from Kai.  He'll often ask for something and when it is denied he starts to negotiate, which always ends in the phrase, "How about that?" (said with a hopeful upward lilt at the end)

This morning we were in one of these "negotiating" rounds over breakfast.  He didn't want to eat, just drink apple juice and play computer.  My proposal always involved breakfast.  He ended up getting right in my face, clenching his teeth, and demanding his terms, all the while finishing it with a very gruff, "How about that?"  I was laughing so hard that it was hard to be mad at him.  He didn't get what he wanted, by the way.  But then again, neither did I, as he refused to eat.  Oh well!
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We LOVE Finn and his crazy antics.  He is ALL boy, stick/knife-carrying-while-chasing-his-brother, BOY!  And we're happy to have him around to learn from!