Mickey Backpack for the 3rd Child

One of Harrison's favorite items in his life right now is his "Mickey backpack."  He takes it EVERYWHERE.  To the library, to preschool, on trips.  He fills it with his favorite books, stuffed animals, and assorted toys.

Here's a photo of the "Mickey backpack":  

Notice anything unusual about Mickey? 

Yep.  It's not Mickey.  It's Minnie Mouse.  

Quite obviously Minnie Mouse.  

This is what I like to call "3rd Child Immagination."  

You see, like all good 3rd children, Harrison gets a lot of hand-me-downs.  

(Okay, just about everything he gets is a hand-me-down.) 

And in this case, Harrison was invited to pick a backpack out of a box containing backpacks previously used by his sisters. 

He immediately gravitated to this backpack.  But from day one, he called it his "Mickey backpack."  Even though he watches "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and clearly knows the difference between Mickey and Minnie, he insists on calling this his "Mickey backpack!"  

That is "3rd Child Immagination" hard at work.  "Of course we bought this Mickey backpack just for you, kid!"  Dream on 3rd child, dream on!  

The Beautiful Game

Soccer is often referred to as "The Beautiful Game."  And this Fall, the Beautiful Game gave a lot of joy to the Lim household.

This summer, after taking in the U.S. Women's National Team friendly against Ireland down in San Jose, Caroline expressed a desire to play soccer. 

Not ever have played soccer, I immediately researched the myriad soccer leagues in the Bay Area, and signed Caroline up for AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organziation).  

To say Caroline had a good time is an understatement.  

Turns out she is pretty good at soccer, and she ended up on a team of sweet girls who all got along well together.  And they all played some pretty good soccer along the way.  Or as we call it now, "Football."  

Caroline's team ended up going undefeated (10-0) in the U10 girls division for San Mateo.  

They then won the league tournament (4-0) and qualififed for the Area Tournament against seven other cities. 

In the Area Tournament, they advanced to the finals where they upset a very strong Redwood City team, 2-0! 

They then advanced to the Section Tournament against seven other teams from the greater Northern California Area.  They lost in the semi's to South Lake Tahoe 1-0, but bounced back to win the consolation game against Prunedale (Monterey County), 3-0 to take thirld place. 

More importantly, Caroline made great new friends, and developed what I hope will be a lifelong love of football!  

Fall soccer has now given way to Winter soccer, as Caroline tried out for and was selected to the AYSO Winter Team, which is quite a feather in her cap for a first-year player!  

Congrats to Caroline! 

Do You Like My Hat? Nope.

One of the joys of having a toddler is to watch for those magic moments.  

First steps.  First words.  You get the idea. 

Often overlooked but no less exciting is that magic moment of -- First Book. 

By "First Book" I mean that moment where a child takes ownership of their first book that they REALLY, REALLY LIKE.  I mean they will have you read that thing to them a hundred times, then one more time just for good measure. 

They will memorize that book until they believe they ARE reading it.  

Dozens of new words get learned through the magic of this "First Book." 

For Harrison, that moment arrived two weeks ago, with the discovery of "Go Dog.  Go!" 

Harrison LOVES this book.  He giggles at the sight of "Big dogs going up."  (The roller coaster)

He loves the photo of the angry dog umpire.  

Best of all, he like the "Hello!  Do you like my hat?"   In the book, the other dog answers, "No.  I do not like that hat."  But Harrison loves to answer with a short, crisp, "Nope".   He also loves to drawl out the "Hello!" into a nice long "Helloooo!"  

Of course, the thrilling ending of the book is the all exciting DOG PARTY at the top of the tree.  Harrison enjoys laughing and pointing at all the dogs at the dog party, and will sit at the end of the book pointing out the yellow dog, blue dog, green dog, etc. and laughing at their antics. 

The First Book is magical.  And Harrison has his First Book! 

After all, who doesn't love a good Dog Party? 

Good Guys, Bad Guys

Harrison is your typical 3 year-old boy.  Despite not pushing gun toys or other violent toys on him, as soon as he started pre-school and hanging out with "older" boys, he came home and EVERYTHING became a gun or sword to him.

Broom?  "Pew-Pew!"   

Plastic bat?  "Pew-Pew!"

Remote control?  "Pew-Pew!" 

So I finally broke down and over Thanksgiving at my parent's house, dug out my old "Han Solo Blaster" circa 1977.  It was my cherished toy as a child, and I admit it was pretty neat to see Harrison's face light up when he saw it.  He loves it. 

His newest game is to play "bad guys".  To be clear, Harrison is NEVER the "bad guy."  He is always the "good guy."  He designates his sisters, mommy, or daddy to play the role of "bad guy."  Your job is than to let him chase you around while he shoots/stabs/wrestles you into submission.  He can play it for hours!

Here is a photo of Harrison "Han Solo"!