We took Juliette for a walk this afternoon. Thankfully the majority of our neighbors had shoveled or snowblowed their walks. And thankfully there were many snowbanks for Devin to frolic in.

But you should have seen how big his eyes got when he spied the enormous snowbank in the church parking lot.

Of course I had to let him climb it. And of course I had to get my camera to document the event!

Blizzards aren’t typical events. The last snow dump of this magnitude we had was when Scott and I were living in Chicago in January 1999. We didn’t have a kid back then. (Instead, I played the child-like part, ooohing and aaahing as the snow poured down outside our window.) Kids add a new dimension to blizzards. You get to share with them the awe of Mother Nature and you also get to share with them a Snow Day.

Of course, this Snow Day was also a Work Day for me, so the sharing part was slightly limited. But we found some time this afternoon to make a batch of pretzels together (after also shoveling together and playing a little Wii together — don’t tell my boss about that last part). He played lead designer, requesting a Star Wars theme. You know. S-T-A-R W-A-R-S spelled out in pretzel dough. What could be more fun?

And because things weren’t as rush-rush tonight as with our normal pick-up-from-school-and-get-dinner-on-the-table evenings, he requested some extra story time. I love reading to him. But now that Dev’s in first grade (gasp!), we encourage him to read to us too. It had been a few weeks, though, since I’d last remembered to have him grab a book to share with me.

Tonight’s selection was, of course, Star Wars-related. It was also amazing. Because seriously? He can read. In just a few weeks’ time, the difference is just so striking. He’s faster, more confident and really good at figuring out challenging words. Wasn’t it just yesterday, or at least last week, when he was learning his ABCs? I really do love watching him grow and master things.

They run around pretending they’re gladiators.

Or they chase girls who are wearing boas.

They don’t actually dance unless you bribe them.

And then they’re likely to just stand still while you try very hard to get them to groove to the beat.

All mommas love their kids.

That’s not a revelation.

But it really is amazing when you become a momma, when you have a kid of your own, and when you experience that love for yourself. It’s not just love…L-O-V-E. It’s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEE. Only longer, but since I don’t have oodles of room, you get the picture.

When I looked through the photos we took the other day, as we were goofing around as we like to do, this one just summed it up. All the love. Right there in those rabbit ears and those sweet little dimples.

He found a lightning bug tonight. As we were playing cars on the front porch. He in his PJs. Me barefoot and snapping pics, of course. Summer. It’s when you can get away with such things.

We’d come across one the night before too. A tiny little mite that seemed unable to fly. His wing looked slightly damaged, so I advised Dev that we should be gentle with it. He seemed fascinated by the tiny visitor.

He was equally intrigued tonight, abandoning his cars (on our freshly chalk-drawn roadway) to watch the lightning bug’s journey across the coarse cement. He carefully tried to coax the bug onto his finger, but LB was interested only in escape. So I took a leaf and placed it before the bug and it climbed right on.

My kiddo brought the leaf very close to his face and watched very excitedly before carefully placing the leaf, and its passenger, back on the ground. As he told me, “We can only hold it for a few minutes, Momma, because it might miss its mommy and daddy.”

S-P-E-E-D R-A-C-E-R!

My son, without any assistance from us adults, gloms onto the car movies and their assorted parephenalia. With Cars, it was some cheese display at the grocery store that caught his eye — and led to two years of Lightning McQueen worship. With Speed Racer, the new king on the block, it was a free car in a box of Cheerios. (And then a little encouragement from Mom, who googled the cartoons and found a cache of all 52 episodes. He’s seen five already.)

I was fine with it for the first few days. He carried around the two cars he’d gotten out of Grandma’s cereal boxes just as he carried around many of his other cars. (Did you know you don’t have to dig around inside the cereal anymore? They put them on the outside of the cereal bag where you can just pluck them right out.)

Then we spotted a Speed Racer book at Pooh’s Corner. I’d made a point of telling him when we entered the bookstore that we wouldn’t be buying anything. But he saw the book and went into freak-out mode. It’s the first time, other than one small incident when he wasn’t even yet two, that Devin has pitched a hissy fit in a store. I had to carry him out to the car, his screams echoing off the walls of Breton Village.

I caved a couple of days later when we spied the same book at a downtown bookstore.

I had no idea what I was in for.

First, of course, we had to read the book. Every night. It’s THE book that has to be found at bedtime and read. No other book matters in his world right now.

Then he started carrying it around with him. To the breakfast table, to the bathroom, downstairs in the TV room. The first day of school this week, he stuffed it in his backpack. I told him he couldn’t take it, but forgot to tell Scott it was in there. So he got away with it the first day. The next day, though, I was dropping him off and I was onto him. I knew the book and his two cars were in there and I made a point of telling him they wouldn’t be going into the school with him.

He still pitched a fit when I emptied his backpack before we went into his room. Totally freaked out.

He’s been asking me when the teacher will have a book day so he can bring his book to school. They had a stuffed animal day yesterday and he yelled at me that morning that he didn’t have a favorite stuffed animal. “I sleep with my cars, Mommy. The are my stuffed animals! I want to bring them!”

Today I caved the the incessant request to visit the Golden Arches. (I’m a mean mom. We go a couple of times a year.) His friend Reese had told him she’d gotten a Speed Racer car in her Happy Meal. So today I found us a Mickey D’s and ordered a Happy Meal. But what was plunked on our tray instead of Speed Racer? Kung Fu Panda. We missed the boat!

I was truly afraid of the ruckus that would ensue.

But he surprised me. He was simply happy to get a toy. Panda? Race car? Didn’t matter. Yet the moment we got home, the panda took a backseat to the cars once again. My boy. He’s truly a boy.

Starting at 3:00 p.m. today, I’m a single mom for seven entire days.

We dropped Scott off at the airport for his trip to NYC.

And now we are two. (And three furry beasts.)

I joke that these times frighten me, but they’re really not so bad. You step up when there’s just one of you to handle things. It’s certainly easier when you have someone else to help out, but I’ve discovered that I become a bit more organized when I’m solo. I have to plan things out in order to get things done.

The hardest part, I’m sure, will be bedtimes. We’ve gone through so many different phases with this time of day. Babyhood and the toddler years were mostly incident free. Since the escape from the crib last February, though, things have changed quite a bit. We’ve had good times and bad.

We’ve basically overcome the initial problem, which was escape. He understands he needs to stay in his room. Good. He’s also cut down on a lot of the bedtime preamble. His list of things he “needs” after he’s already been put in bed has become much shorter. We’ve worked on fending most of them off; the rest he’s given up on for lack of response.

What he’s been up to lately isn’t truly a bad phase. Just slightly aggravating. We put him to bed at 7:30-ish and he grabs books from his shelf and “reads”…for hours. He’s been up as late as 10:00 p.m., even on nights when he seemed truly exhausted at bedtime.

He used to understand that he’d get 10 or 15 minutes, but he figured out that we can’t really stop him from walking over the the bookcase to get more kid lit. So he rummages through dozens of books and keeps himself awake, then squeals with anger at us when it’s time to get up in the morning. I had to lay down the law the other night. I took every last book out of his room. He was sobbing. “But I won’t be able to go to sleep! I love to read books, Momma!”

How heartbreaking is it to have your kid telling you that he loves to read and having to take away his books? I adore the fact that he’s so smitten with books. And there I am, hauling them out of his room. But I explained to him that we will still be reading bedtime stories, and he’ll still get his 15 minutes with a handful of titles, but he can’t stay up all night long and be exhausted and severely grumpy the next day. It’s bad for his health…and our sanity!

So I have dozens of piles of books in my office until we can work though this. Tonight’s going OK so far. He read for his 15 minutes, then tried to argue with me over lying down and relaxing. But I hear his even breathing in the next room now, so I do believe he’ll get some restful sleep tonight.

Barack Obama visited GR last night, where he was endorsed by John Edwards. Oh, the excitement! I kid you not. We’re a pretty Democratic household if you count the two voting adults, so having Mr. Frontrunner in our midst was definitely a wonderful thing.

We talked about taking Devin down there, but I had to beg off with a tummy ache. So Scott fed the kid and took him downtown to mingle with the crowds. He knew they probably wouldn’t get into the arena. Instead, they congregated on the sidewalk outside and listened via loudspeaker. Scott told me that Devin even clapped right along with everyone else.

Are we trying to influence our son at such a young age? Nah. We are educating him on a very simple level about politics. Sure, we both have a tendency toward Obama, but Devin also knows who Hillary and John McCain are. Scott quizzes him at the breakfast table some mornings with photos he finds in the newspaper. So the child has endorsed all three candidates, depending on his mood.

It was a historical moment for our city and in this political contest, so I’m very glad that Devin could witness it.

We were in the car tonight on our way home. I noticed Dev looked like he might be falling asleep so I was trying to find a way to keep him awake. (Do not fall asleep before 6:30, kid…please!) I asked him to tell me a story. He didn’t hesitate:

Once upon a time
There was a man named Poop
He was poopy and he sold poop to people
Then he peed on himself.

Certainly not the tale I expected, but entertaining nonetheless!

Can’t ya tell?

Lucy and the contraption also known as Supercar

What did Devin get for his birthday besides a bike? Lots and lots of Lightning McQueen paraphernalia. Lots. Tons.

I’m exagerrating only slightly.

He loves these little build-em cars. Big Lego-ish things that you can snap together. So there’s been much car-building going on the past few days. Mixed in with a little bit of bike riding.

Oh, and because I’m such a brown-noser, I trolled the Internet to find him Bat Hound and Krypto toys. Scott got him hooked on the Bat/Super pets, which I had no idea even existed. They came in the mail on Saturday before the party. So now he’s running around the house with his stuffed dogs. They, of course, have to go to school with him every day too. For naptime. Now we have to take extra care to keep track of them or I just know all Hades will break loose.

Right now he’s snuggled in his bed with all three of them next to his cheek. The cuteness, I tell ya.