A new way to determine gender?

When I brought the ultrasound picture home from my doctor's visit and showed it to the boys, our 4 1/2-year-old responded with an excited "We're having another BABY!" Then he pointed at it and said, "I know what THAT is (pointing at the picture), it's a BOY!!!" Now, the ultrasound was taken just shy of 12 weeks...so the gender of the baby wasn't evident. Curious, I asked, "how can you tell it's a boy?" He outlined the head with his finger and said, "because it's got a round head." My husband stumped him with the question, "well, what shape would a girl's head be?"

Who knows, maybe he's onto something. I wouldn't know. I don't have experience with baby girl ultrasounds (at least not that I'm aware of).

Four-year-old humor

It's fun to see kids' imaginations at work. I cracked-up one morning when I awoke to find this car with the bat & ball driving (it's a paddle toy - the ball is attached to the bat with a string). I had to ask my husband first if he'd set the pair up in the car - he's been known to hide a child-sized Spiderman in strange places around the house for laughs. But no, it was our four-year-old who set it up. He told me so with a very pleased grin on his face.

Things that warm a mother's heart (NOT) part III?

I guess it goes with the territory of raising boys (actually I'm sure there are plenty of instances with girls too, I just don't have that experience). We recently visited the Alamo when we were in Texas. The object d' resistance for ALL THREE BOYS were the cannons. Looking AT them wasn't enough.

First in line was our 2 1/2-year-old, followed by our 4-year-old, and finally our 1-year-old, who couldn't quite put his FACE in the cannon like his brothers, but apparently his hand was sufficient.

How many laptops is too many?

But I'm not TIRED!!!

Last words heard yesterday from our 2 1/2 year-old before I found him like this in the kitchen.

Too young for e-mail?

My husband often lets the kids play with his Blackberry (they like to type letters on the type-pad). A few weeks ago, when we arrived at my in-laws (after a three day drive from California to Texas), he asked our 2 1/2-year-old if he wanted to play with his Blackberry. Our son bounded across the room with a gleeful, "Yes! I need to check my e-mail!"

We all got quite a chuckle at how natural his response seemed. And no, he doesn't actually have e-mail!!!

"ExcUUUUUUse me, Mom?"

We were driving home from dinner the other night and back-seat-drivers #1 and #2 were in full-fledge back-seat-driver mode. After being asked why I wasn't going yet (answer: because the cars in front of me aren't moving yet); did I turn my blinker on (answer: YES); why didn't I go when the light was still yellow; and as many more questions as you can come up with, I finally decided to just ignore the last question.

Our four-year-old in the back started saying, "excuse me, Mom?" (no answer), "Excuse me, Mom" (a little louder), and finally he belted out "excUUUUUUUUse me, Mom? Why aren't you answering me?"

My husband and I couldn't stop laughing at the exaggerated "Excuse me" - thankfully, home wasn't far away.

Life at the home improvement store

We've been spending a LOT of time in home improvement stores lately. By "we" I mean the boys and me...searching, hunting, sometimes praying for the right doors, fixtures, vanity, vanity top etc etc. At our last visit, we were standing in front of the vanity tops while I tried to decide on the color of double sink I want (I want the all in one sink/top). As I stood there (probably looking rather dumb-founded), our four-year-old began to implore, "but Mommy, they're too SMALL!" We went back and forth a couple times with:

Me: "They're not too small"
Son: "Yes they are, they're just too small"
Me: "There will be two of them, they're not too small"

The revelation finally came when he replied, "but Mom, they're too small for a bathtub!"

Bwa ha ha! It took me a minute to recover from laughing before I could return to picking out the vanity top. Comic relief, it's a GOOD thing during remodeling.

Another budding artist in the family

It looks like we have another budding artist in the family. Our now one-year-old son has recently taken up coloring with his brothers.



He surprised me the other day when I found him digging through my scrapbooking tote - so I surprised him by taking his picture!

A boy and his Grampa

Spanish for Toddlers

Overheard this morning:

4-year-old to his brother: "You can't say 'Butterfly' in Spanish"
2-year-old: "Butterfly in Spanish"

Come here Moon!

When we are in the car in the evenings now, our 4-year-old and 2-year-old have frequent conversations with the moon, such as:

"Moon, are you following me? Come follow me Moon!"
"Hey, Moon, where are you?"
"Fall down with me Moon"

Last week the conversation continued when we got home and the boys ran back and forth from the garage to the grass watching the moon "follow" them. It's pretty cute to watch - and hilarious to listen to.

Rite of Passage

Each of our boys has gone through this rite of passage somewhere between babyhood and toddlerhood. Here we go, third time around.

Why can't we go in our room?

Last week, our living space was reduced by about 200 square feet (for a total loss of approx. 400 square feet since the remodel/addition began). The boys kept asking why they couldn't go in their room anymore- which I explained, but felt like a "field trip" was necessary to drive the point home. Here's a photo of the boys "getting the point" in their al fresco room.

The math still bothers me...I know we're paying for an addition...

SUPERfar jump

Imagine my surprise, as I was getting ready in the morning and kept hearing a loud THUD in the background. When I asked the boys what they were doing, they said, "We're doing a SUPERfar jump." After witnessing it, I'd say it's a pretty accurate description.

Would someone please tell those kids to get their car off the track?!?

Things that warm a mother's heart (NOT!) continued....

I suppose I will need an entire section (of my life) devoted to things like this and this and this!

PLEASE stop screwing me!

...said the four-year-old to his two-year-old screw driver-wielding brother....

Are we there yet?

It's a little cramped around our house right now. Between construction and a crawling baby, there are MANY road blocks inside and around our house. The other day our 4-year-old and 2-year-old were sitting behind a baby fence (yes, apparently when you're old enough to be OUTSIDE of the fence, it's more fun to be INSIDE). They were pretending to drive to Magic Mountain (which is only about a half-hour away). This was their conversation:

2YO: We're going to Magic Mountain. How far is it?
4YO: It's 2 hours away, 1...2...we're there!

Jump Mommy Jump!

Who knew that jumping around could be so much fun!!! The boys seemed a bit skeptical that their mother would actually get up and jump on the trampoline. You can see their close inspection in the lower-right photo.

Next?!

Armies...tanks...and casualties.

About a month ago my husband bought our sons (4 and 2) their first set of green army men. The boys were delighted when they woke up to see them arranged in their fortified enclosure (paper castle). Our four year old exclaimed "armies! armies!" (meaning "soldiers"). The favored items were the two tanks. But casualties mounted quickly as one tank lost it's gun on the way to an appointment (with the help of our four year old) and the second tank was left at the appointment (credit goes to the two-year-old). Did I mention that happened on the first day of play?

Waving Baby

Brawny Baby must be one of the most personable babies ever! I kept thinking I had a lot of photos of him waving. When I took stock, there were even more than I remembered.

"He's so daaarling!"

Our two-year-old gets an amazing number of comments about how "daaarling" he is. I wonder if I need to consult a dictionary for the definition of the word "darling." Yes that is DIRT on his face in two of those photos, some kind of food item in a third, and if you could only hear the maniacle laugh coming out of his mouth in the fourth...you might decide to consult a dictionary with me!

For more evidence to support my claim see here, here, and here!

Technically speaking

On the way home from a restaurant today, our two-year-old started playing his own version of the "What does (fill in the blank) start with?" It went like this:

2YO: "What starts with 'car'?"
Mom: "'Car' starts with 'c'"
2YO: "What starts with 'tree'?"
Mom: "'Tree' starts with 't'"
2YO: "What starts with 'boat'?"
Dad: "Boat starts with gas"
2YO: "No it doesn't!!!"

More Things that Warm a Mother's Heart (NOT!)

As if it wasn't enough to see my then three-year-old loving riding a motorcycle, now I've got machine guns to contend with!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

At nine months old, Brawny Baby's hair was getting out of hand. I think his new "do" suits him well, not to mention it highlights how much he looks like his brothers.

Resident Gardeners

Again, I ask myself ... why do I buy toys and things like sandboxes, when real (cheap) things like dirt are so much more fun?!?

I like birds

This evening our four-year-old and I were outside. There was a bird up on the phone wire and he pensively said, "I like birds."

I put my hand on his head and lovingly said, "aw, you do?"

He said, "yeah...I like to scare them."

Now he is a very sweet-natured boy, so this comes across particularly funny to me. And by scare them, I now understand what he and his brother are doing when they're "screaming" at the birds on the wires. I always thought he was "talking" to them - you know, in bird-language. Live and learn.

A ceiling eatin' snake

Four-year-old to Mom: "What would happen if a snake ate a ceiling?"
Mom: "Snakes don't eat ceilings."
4YO: "It would if it was a ceiling eatin' snake."

We're good men

Our four-year-old and two-year-old running around like super-heroes:

4YO - "Let's go get the bad men so they don't kill Jesus."
2Y0 - "Okay"
4Y0 - "Because we're good men"

It's not odd that they think of themselves as good, but men?!!!

You look just like a flower

When I bought this floation ring, I knew there would be a price to pay beyond the cash register. I am the only female in our household. I didn't buy this to make a point. When I bought it, we were on our way to swim at a friend's house and it was the only one left at the store (our other one had a hole in it).

Today, as my husband prepared our pool stuff for a Memorial Day pool party the flowery ring reappeared. He started out with it around his neck, making the boys laugh at how it didn't fit. Next thing I knew he had it around his face (see the photo). Our four-year-old responded, "you look just like a flower!" And then like all things that crack the boys up (usually instigated by their dad) they proceeded to plead "can I try too." Well, one thing lead to another, and eventually even the baby and I posed for photos.

You've got to be able to appreciate a dad who spends the day with his family, the better part of the afternoon in the backyard with the boys playing in a wading pool, with water guns, etc etc and then still has a sense of humor and playfulness about getting ready for a pool party tomorrow. We love him!

Praying for chips

Our four-year-old started his bedtime prayer tonight with a request for God to make his leg feel better (he had injections at his well-child visit). Our two-year-old followed-up "and that I can have more chips."

Setting a Bad Example

About once a month, my friend and I meet for lunch with our boys at a mall that is half-way between our homes (picture two adults and five boys ages 5,4,3,2,& 8 mos - there is also an 8 year old when school is out). At one point, I talked with the two oldest boys about something they were doing that was setting a bad example for the younger boys. It wasn't a big deal, just a quick conversation.

Apparently the conversation wasn't quite as discreet as I thought. Yesterday morning I overheard my two-year-old acting out the following exchange between two of his Hot Wheels:

Blue car: "you're setting a bad example" (it then bumps into the black car)
Black car: "you're setting a bad example"
(for the full conversation, repeat above non-stop for about 5 minutes).

"Is there blood?!?"

My four-year-old now responds to any exclamation of pain from any member of the family with, "Is there blood?!?"

Now, I'm not sure if he actually wants to see some blood, if he's truly curious about the severity of the injury, or if he's just mimicking me. I guess I'll have to wait to see how he responds when we finally get a "yes" answer to the "Is there blood?" question.

Mad Dog

Ah the fun of the digital delay! Periodically I am surprised by what I actually capture compared to what I intend to photograph. This photo of our son and his dog Taz is not at all what it appears. Both the dog and the boy are fast friends (see also here and here) - and what's actually happening is our son is calling Taz to follow him, and Taz is stalling and licking his chops.

Tinkertoy Daddy

I may need a whole section dedicated to family portraits. Tinkertoy Daddy is his latest work, and in case you missed any of the others, they are:

Tinkertoy Mommy
A Portrait of Mommy also affectionately known as "deranged Mommy"
A Family Portrait

Bodysurfing Baby

Is this kid ready to bodysurf, or what!?

The worm doesn't like that hand

We were watching a family video from last summer when our son had an opportunity to pick up a worm (for fishing). His cousin dangled it infront of him and tried to get him to either pick up or touch the worm. While watching the video our son made the following observation, "The worm doesn't like the hand...and it really doesn't like the fishing pole."

That takes the cake

After celebrating his birthday a day early, and receiving a few well-wishes on his actual birthday yesterday, our now four-year-old son was convinced that TODAY was still his birthday. When we told him that his birthday was over he responded, "but there's still birthday cake." I didn't know that the celebration lasted as long as the cake!

I'm curious, does that mean if there's no cake, there's no birthday??

NOW it's my birthday!

Our oldest son turns four tomorrow. We are celebrating his birthday today at "A Day Out With Thomas". This morning as he was getting dressed he said to his dad, "I need my Thomas underwear." After he put them on he proudly announced "Now it's my birthday!"

(And if anyone is thinking about giving me a hard time about celebrating his birthday a day early this year- I did go into labor on the 29th...it just took 41 hours for him to make his grand entrance.)

Crime and Punishment

Our sons have been playing with some die-cast airplanes lately- bombers to be exact. Our almost-four-year-old started out dropping "bombers" on the bad guys - then he switched to dropping webs (think Spiderman) "to bring back the bad guys and throw icky water on them."

I'll be sure to stay on my best behavior!

Just the Two of Us

My hopes for a family photo on Easter failed this year in spite of hauling my camera all over town with us. My last hope, a photo after lunch, failed when our oldest got grumpy ("I don't want to take a picture now") and his younger brother fell asleep in the car on the way home. Leave it to Brawny Baby (Mr. Easy-going) to oblige his mommy and have his picture taken - with a smile even after being woken up. Oh well, I guess 2 out of 5 family members is better than none at all.

Family Portrait

Artistic renderings of the family seem to be en-vogue lately at our house. I find this one more flattering than the last two. In case you don't recognize us: Mommy has the long neck, Daddy has the big head, the almost-four-year-old and two-year-old are up top, and Brawny Baby is the little one (lower right).

"The pig noses help you climb"

We just got the swing set installed, and our almost-four-year-old exclaimed with delight, "the pig noses help you climb!" My initial response was, "What??!!!" Then I looked at the knobs and huh, they DO kinda look like pig noses don't they???

London bridge is falling down...

Actually the boys call it a "tunnel" when one stands up and the other inches underneath. I think some retro-fitting is in order here.

Is there a doctor in the house?

This weekend, my almost-four-year-old and two-year-old were playing in the backyard together. My older son calmly came to the door and said, "Mom, I need a band-aid." So to verify the necessity I asked, "why do you need a band-aid?" His answer, "so my finger doesn't fall off."

Is it calloused that I laughed out loud at his response???? Just for the record, I did go see the paper-cut-like injury - and provided a Spiderman band-aid.

Whoa little pachaderm!

Portraits of Mommy

Today my almost-four-year-old son excitedly called me over to "see the picture I drew of you!!" Granted I have been dealing with kids that are sick and whiney all day - but will somebody please let me know if it's really this bad??!!

This isn't my son's first artistic rendering of me, just the most "eye-catching."

If I was pretend...

Talking about a character from his favorite show Little Einsteins, our almost-four-year-old said, "if I was pretend, I would give Annie a hug."

It struck me as funny that his thought process wasn't "if Annie was real..."

Noculars and Re-noculars

This morning our almost-four-year-old was playing with his binoculars, which he calls "noculars." I explained that if there was only one lens it would be called a "monocular." He then filled me in on this little ditty of information: "And when I turn them around backwards they're called re-noculars."

Cold Play

Okay it's not snowing outside, but this is Los Angeles for crying out loud! Anything below 50 degrees is freezing to me. Apparently my "cold" gene isn't hereditary.

Stretch-Earstrong

This is our almost four-year-old marching around showing off his "elephant ears". It's even funnier when his little brother marches around behind him doing the same thing - but I have yet to catch their little circus duet on camera.

"Mommy, is your head gonna pop?"

A couple weeks ago on my way to a sinus infection, I commented to my husband that I was so stuffed-up that I felt like my head was going to pop. Later that day while I was driving, my oldest son somewhat cautiously asked, "Mommy, is your head really gonna pop?" When I finally stopped laughing, I was able to reassure him that it only FELT like my head was going to pop.

"I'm the Maker"

With Brawny Baby's fleece taggie blankets clinging to his shirt, our oldest son announced, "I'm the Maker!" Slightly perplexed I asked, "What?!" And he again replied, "I'm the Maker!" It finally dawned on me that he meant "Baker" - and the fleece blankets were his apron.

He may not be the Maker, but he gets points for creativity!

If I only had a hammer...

He looks so manly...you almost don't notice the hammers are facing the wrong direction. Then again, maybe he was trying to figure out how a dentist might use a hammer.

Headlines

I know there's a great headline here...I just can't seem to come up with it myself.

"I've got one eye, I'm a PIRATE!"

Grown-ups and Dolts

Currently at the "house of plague" there is a chorus of medicine being distributed throughout the day (4 out of 5 family members). After watching me make multiple faces of disgust while taking some colorful geltabs (I hate swallowing pills), my oldest son asked quite inquisitively "what is that?" pointing to the geltabs. I explained that they were medicine for grown-ups, adults. (He understands the word "grown-up"...I'm working on "adult").

After I took the medicine, he said, "Mommy, are you an adult?" To which I replied "yes." Then he said, "Can kids be little dolts too?"

The color blue is already taken

There's a new argument brewing at our house. Our first-born is convinced that blue is his favorite color. I know I shouldn't laugh, but it is humorous to see him try to establish his ownership of the color when our second-born comments that blue is his favorite color too. ("But blue is MY favorite color!")

Considering our recent conversation about my dad, and the fact that I never knew there were exclusive rights available for common titles and colors, I'm starting to wonder if there are some things I haven't thought of that I'd better claim for myself :)

THAT cow doesn't moo

Let me preface this by saying I grew up on a small farm/ranch. As a kid exhibiting animals at the fair, it always amazed me to meet kids that didn't know where their milk/meat came from (aside from the grocery store).

Tonight, I made filet mignon for dinner. My husband was explaining to our son that meat comes from cows (steers if you want to get picky about it). When we sat down to eat, mine was too rare for my taste and I made some comment that it was still "mooing." After putting it on the grill a little longer, I sat down to eat.

My son said, "that's not a cow..."
So I poked it with my fork and said "sure it is...moo"
He replied, "THAT one doesn't moo!"

Am I gonna get a ticket?

In recent days Back-seat driver #1 has been very interested in "speed" - as in, "how fast are we going now? Are we going too fast? What happens if we go too fast?"

I explained that if we go too fast we will get a ticket from a police officer. I had to clarify that the "ticket" would be a bad thing (not like a ticket to go ride Thomas the Tank Engine).

So, yesterday he was spinning in circles in the living room and fell down. I asked what happened, and he said, "I was spinning too fast (pause)...am I gonna get a ticket?"

Why DO we buy so many toys???

I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs today, when one of Busy Mom's posts reminded me of a question I often ask myself: Why do we buy so many toys, when it's the everyday household items that seem to get the biggest kicks?

In the last few months I've posted about the kids playing in and with tupperware, dirt, food, toilet paper, a potty seat, a chair etc.

To drive the point home, here are a few photos of our oldest playing in boxes, and our second-born in of all things, a laundry detergent bucket.

Here's Your Sign

While approaching a stop sign today, our 3 1/2 year old practiced his emerging reading skills. He carefully spelled out "P.O.T.S." and then exclaimed "STOP!"

Maybe we should start with Hebrew instead of English.

Can I pull the trigger now?

The question our 3 1/2 year old asked this morning about flushing the toilet. Where does he come up with this stuff???

Discovery

Yesterday our 3 1/2 year made a startling discovery while going to the bathroom.

Son: "What's THAT?!!!"
Mom: "What's what" (not looking)
Son: "That! Behind my pee-pee!"

He was of course referring to the rest of his male anatomy. What is startling about that, you ask? Well, I guess it was startling to me that he just NOW noticed it.

Tinkertoy Mommy

When we brought Brawny Baby home from the hospital, I was introduced to my "stand-in" created by our 3 1/2 year-old. He affectionately referred to her as "Tinkertoy Mommy."

I wonder if I should be flattered or offended?

Going Postal

Maybe someone can explain this one to me. When my son (3 1/2) takes a bath, he likes to put this bowl on his head and proclaim, "I'm the mailman!" I don't really get it, but now he's got his little brother doing the same thing too.

"Need More Bread"

Much of the time our son has a rather angelic face, however during Christmas dinner our almost 2 year-old shocked us when he chanted out in a gruff voice (like something you'd expect to hear in the Exorcist) "NEED MORE BREAD...NEED MORE BREAD!" I wish I had an audio clip to go with the photo!

"Do you call my Grandpa 'Dad'?"

This morning at breakfast the following conversation took place:

Son: "Do you call my Grandpa 'Dad'?"
Me: "Yes, your Grandpa is my dad."
Son: "But I don't want you to call my Grandpa 'Dad'"

Baby Bjorn Lederhosen

Not long ago, my son asked if he could carry Brawny Baby in the Baby Bjorn. He was crest-fallen when I said he wasn't yet big enough to carry the baby. However he was easily appeased when I saddled him with his bear. The funny thing to me is that the carrier (obviously riding a little low) looks more like Lederhosen than a baby carrier.

A side note - I didn't know until tonight that "bjorn" means "bear". I don't know, but it seems to me there is a joke in here somewhere!