House of Prince

What a Difference a Year Makes

By Kim Tracy Prince on April 18th, 2013

When people see Brady after not having seen him for a while, they exclaim “He’s gotten so big!” Because he has. Look at him on his birthday last year.

Just like Kyle, Brady looks older than he is, but he is very proud to be 6 now. He was up this morning before 6AM – he padded into our room and said “Today’s my birthday!” and then prodded us to get up for at least five minutes. He asked what changes. “Do I get to not sit in a booster seat now?” No, buddy. Still need that. It’s the rules. The most obvious change is that he will now be 100% in charge of his own bathroom hygiene, if you know what I mean, parents of children, and I think you do. We’ve been building up to that one for a few months, and I think that means I can finally say we’ve moved on from all potty responsibilities. It has only taken 8 years of parenting to get here!

This is Brady’s big day, but he wouldn’t be who he is without his big brother. No matter what they are doing, Brady always reverts back to jumping on his brother, or following him around, or wanting to sleep next to him. Sometimes Kyle can be helpful and polite, but most of the time he’s just antagonistic. This morning as Brady opened his birthday presents, I managed to stop him before he shouted out “Brady doesn’t have as many presents to open as I did!” I knew he was going to do it, because I can read his mind.

As much as Kyle is learning how to be a better big brother, Brady struggles to be the little brother with his own identity. It helps that he participates in different things. He plays baseball, and he enjoys playdates at other kids’ homes where Kyle is not invited. He’s in his own big-boy karate class now, and just got his first belt. He’s learning how to read for himself, although he still often guesses the words or has us fill in the blanks for him. He’s become much more self-sufficient with video games, so he doesn’t need his big brother’s help as often.

Brady was pretty mad when he learned that he had to go to school on his birthday. After all, it’s just another day to everyone else, right? We have our typical whirlwind of after-school activities, but when we all get home he’ll have his special birthday dinner. His request? My homemade pizza. Swoon.

General 7 comments

Wordless Wednesday: Yellow

By Kim Tracy Prince on April 17th, 2013

I’ll admit I had a tough time with this one until I realized that the last two photos I posted to Facebook were…yellow. I was preparing for Wordless Wednesday without even knowing it.

Family 1 comment

Luck of the WiiU St. Patrick’s Day Party

By Kim Tracy Prince on April 14th, 2013

There was nothing St. Patrick’s Day-ish about this party, except that it fell on March 17. Oh, and the shamrock cookies, the Guinness and Harp’s on ice, and the various Irish people in attendance. So, good enough for me!

The new Wii U game system launched last fall, and I hosted this gathering so that my friends and their kids could take a spin at it. My family attended a cool preview event several months ago, where we were introduced to the system at a tricked-out Hollywood studio. We were most interested in the new game tablet, which can serve as a fifth remote, a game control device, and even an alternate platform so that you can play Wii games while your family does other things with the TV, like…watch TV.

When we got our own system courtesy of Nintendo, the kids ripped into that box like it was Christmas morning. You’ve heard of digital natives? These kids definitely are, and I would go further to say that they are Wii natives, because the Wii was the first digital device that they played with as soon as they were old enough.

There are a lot of new features that are built into the Wii U that are not available on the previous Wii console, but in the end, our family is most focused on the games. It doesn’t really matter what features any gaming system has, as long as they are available for the games my kids want to play. For example, the new Super Mario for Wii U can only be played on a Wii U…so it comes in handy. But Mario Kart can only be played with a steering wheel accessory, and we don’t have that, so we don’t have Mario Kart.

Now that we have the Wii U, though, we are happy to engage in the games that fit the system (all previous generation Wii games work on it, too). The addition of the game tablet provides a nice comfy role for me as a parent playing games with my kids. In Super Mario Bros U, I can tap the screen to add temporary blocks for Mario and pals to hop on to reach higher goals, or not fall into deadly chasms. If I lag, though, and one of their characters dies, I get scolded by the kids, so it’s helping train my brain to react faster!

At our March 17 Wii U party, two Nintendo consultants, Chris and Brian, led the guests through the new games. First they introduced the system to all of the adults gathered, then they invited the kids to join. Adults and kids alike cheered each other through rounds of Super Mario Bros U and Nintendoland, and then all of the guests belted their way through SiNG Party! Everyone was singing or dancing. It was a beautiful sight.

We wrapped up the party with a short trivia game – guests who answered the questions correctly got prizes like Wii Points cards, video games, or branded swag – and then after everyone left, Chris and Brian cleaned up, took out the trash, and vanished as quickly as they came. But not before taking all of these awesome pictures:

I received a Wii U console and games, and food and beverages for the party, to facilitate this feature.

Family, Music 7 comments

And Then He Turned 8

By Kim Tracy Prince on April 11th, 2013

Back when I was painting Kyle’s nursery, back when he was growing safely inside my body, I had moments of doubt:

I often stand back and try to imagine what it will look like with a crib and a baby in it, and wonder if the baby will like it. What if he gets to be four years old and tells me “mommy, I hate this color”? Will I be heartbroken thinking of all the work I put into painting the room, or will I hate the color by then, too?

It’s funny now to think about how I could only imagine my baby as far as four years old, and look – now he’s twice that age. He is all arms and legs, and when he scrambles up on to my lap to snuggle, I am engulfed by Boy. We often compare him to Marmaduke. He loves his video games, karate, geocaching, and Spongebob. He has discovered pop music and asked for an Owl City album for his birthday. But he still likes it when I sing him my special lullaby and rub his back before he goes to sleep.

It is incredible to me that this child is eight, an age when you can remember everything, and gone is the consolation that he won’t remember my parenting missteps. I do my best, of course. He didn’t seem to mind the baby-peas-colored room, and we live in a different house in which his bedroom is blue, anyway.

Now that I am a parent of boys instead of babies, my moments of doubt come faster and stronger and more often, but I’ve learned to weather them and continue doing the best I can. Whether or not he remembers that in eight more years is immaterial, as long as he still has that curious, kind soul to guide him through whatever life brings him.

Honoring the years gone by, here is a song that stabs me in the heart.