Now THAT'S thinkin'

We just got pneumatic chairs for the kids' table in my office so they wouldn't need to sit on their knees or use a booster. Everything is great about the chairs except our 2-year-old can't climb onto or off of the chair unassisted when it is at table height. The other day I was in the kitchen and he was asking for help getting off. I told him I couldn't get there right away, so he would have to wait a few minutes.

When I finally got over to the office to help him, I found our 5-year-old had already devised a solution to the problem. He and our 3 1/2-year-old climbed up on the chair with our 2-year-old, and their combined weight was enough to lower the chair so our youngest could get off by himself. And not only does it work, it's fun!

The whole world at their fingertips

3 1/2-year-old to his brother, "Let's go to China to get more chocolate."
5-year-old responds matter-of-factly, "Actually we need to go to Mexico for that."

Where do they get this stuff? We recently bought a globe and it has added a great dimension to our conversations, for instance, how toys made in China get to our homes; about where cacao plants grow (that question arose while reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). It is encouraging to think that the boys accurately incorporate what they've learned into their playtime.

Should I oval it?

I am accustomed to my kids taking things literally, but I've come across an instruction that is REALLY starting to annoy me. In one of our son's books, rather than writing out the instruction "circle it" it gives the instruction with a picture of an oval + "it". The first time my son read it he said, "so I oval it?" Good question. Why not be accurate and print a circle + "it". Well, the problem is that you often can't "circle" some things, you really do have to "oval" them, but we don't say "oval it" we say "circle it".

I can say that in the first three and a half decades of my life, I never noticed the difference, or had a problem "circling" something in the shape of an oval, but now every time I ask my son to "circle" something, I find my self wanting to say "well, you may have to oval it."

Snails in the house...

...or so they tell me.

Rules of Engagement

"You can't shoot my knees because I have bass drums on my knee-caps," said our 3-1/2-year-old to his 5-year-old brother.

Double Trouble

I can hardly tell where one ends and the other begins...

Need go pee

I don't think our almost-two-year-old quite "gets it" yet, but he'd be ahead of the game if potty-training only involved the lifting of one's shirt!

You Wanna Kiss My Bug??

I'm not really sure what was going through our almost-two-year-old's mind here. I looked over at the table and he was planting big kisses on the pictures of these bugs. Maybe it was inspired by our recent bug-observing (we've captured and watched a few ants, a stink bug, a spider and a cricket). Whatever the case - "ewwww!"

No one laughed

I wish I had a photo of this one. My husband likes to make us all laugh by pulling the waistband of his shorts up as high as it will go (yes, I admit that after 12 years I still chuckle). Yesterday was no exception, when apparently he hiked them up when they were all outside playing. Last night when the boys were getting ready for bed, one of our sons hiked his pull-up as high as it would go - and then he asked his dad, "why did you pull your shorts up like that?" and Dad answered, "because it was funny." Our son responded dead-pan, "No one laughed."

Do you wanna see my BIG MOUTH?!?

Dogpile on Daddy

Alligators and Hippos

The boys were watching a video about different kinds of animals. My husband has fun identifying the animals incorrectly and then the boys correct him. After calling a hippo an alligator, he asked our 5-year-old what the difference was between the two. Our son's answer, "well, they both like water...but they have different names."

I guess we need to work on the mammal/reptile distinction.

Cease-fire

A request made by our 3 1/2-year-old to our 5-year-old while riding around in the back of the van:

"Please stop shooting me, my gun is resting."

Toys on the other side of the Earth

Every night before bed, our five-year-old goes into the bathroom to take care of business. We often have to call in and ask if he's done. One night last week he was in there for a particularly long time. My husband asked him why he didn't let us know when he was done. Our son said, "I got distracted, I was thinking." Curious, my husband asked what he was thinking about. The answer: "I was thinking about toys on the other side of the earth."

Go figure.

Ms. Dimples

Ms. Dimples is four weeks old today. I was so pleased to capture this picture of her smiling with her eyes open.

The Princess has arrived!

On May 23rd we welcomed our newest addition to the family. Here she is being adored by her big brothers :)

A Better Translation

It's been a busy few weeks preparing for the arrival of baby #4 - she's making her grand entrance tomorrow morning. One afternoon the boys were a bit more wound up than usual, and I commented about putting on a video to help them un-wind. A little later our five year old asked, "can you put on a video to help 'unwild' us?"

I think he captured the essence of the moment better than I did.

Easter Update

I just realized that after all the complaining I did last Easter about getting a family photo, I should probably post this photo of everyone cooperating (with the camera on a tripod) this year. These whole-group-shots are so few and far between!

Gearing up for the baby sister

A couple weekends ago a girlfriend threw my first baby shower. It's a little different having a shower for your FOURTH baby - but it was actually a lot of fun considering this is our first little girl. When I came home from the shower I was greeted by all my boys who were very interested in all the gifts. Our three-year-old asked which ones were for him :)

At first they were having fun just looking at the clothes. That quickly progressed to actually trying on the clothes. I'm sure someday these photos will be the source of great embarrassment, but for the present it was just a lot of fun.

The harsh realities of turning five

Our oldest son turned five today. The day seemed filled with far too many realities for a five year old. As he dressed himself this morning, he asked me (quite concerned) if he would now be too big for his shirt. I assured him that it would still fit.

A little later in the morning, he asked why Daddy had to work away from home today (he sees his daddy work from home from time to time and I guess he just wanted him home today). I was just trying to affirm what a good Daddy he has, and how thankful we are that he has a good job. I took the opportunity to mention that someday he too would be a good husband and daddy etc, but got a far different response than I had expected. He got really quiet...and quiet turned somber...and somber turned to tears. And he said, "but I don't want to not live here." It took ten minutes of talk and consoling to reassure him that adulthood was still a far ways off, and that he didn't need to "worry" about it.

I mentioned how he would one day find the woman he was going to marry, and would want to have his own home and raise his own family. Then he quietly responded, "but there are so many women...how am I going to know which one to pick?" I assured him that when the time came God would show him the right one.


To end the day, the boys played outside for a good part of the afternoon. And it seemed as if to add injury to insult, he slipped from the top rung of the steps and landed right on his privates. Poor guy, he didn't even know what it was that hurt so bad. All he could say was that he hurt his bottom.

After all that happened today...I'm glad we actually celebrated his birthday yesterday!

Turning Five

We celebrated our oldest son's 5th birthday yesterday. He had requested a Cars birthday cake, so we decorated with all Cars decor (the funny part about all this is that he really didn't care for the video...but all three boys love the character merchandise). Even our 19-month-old can say "Queen" for McQueen and "Docsun" for Doc Hudson.

We gave the birthday boy his choice of what part of the cake to eat, and he picked the street. Does it get anymore boy than that?!?

New Item on the Menu

We were at dinner the other night ordering our meals when our three-year-old asked our waitress for "chicken thumbs." I guess the boy prefers thumbs to fingers. Then again, it's not like chickens have fingers either!

Canned Smiles

Why is it that saying "cheese" or "smile" works so well for some, and NOT for others?

Mr. Clean

Safety Patrol

It's good to see them all wearing helmets, but I would expect nothing less from the Safety Patrol. Our almost-five-year-old has a thing for handing out "safety violations" in the form of an orange cone (not pictured) that he sets wherever said "violation" takes place.

Sense of Smell

Our boys have been going through "Katie-withdrawals" lately. Katie is their favorite babysitter, but for the last few weeks when Katie has come over, it's been to practice guitar with me (preparing for our upcoming women's retreat). Last week, our three-year-old woke up from his nap just after Katie left. He asked, "but where's Katie?" I explained that she had gone home already. He stopped, looked around, and with a smile on his face replied, "it still SMELLS like Katie."

Have Pillow, Will Travel...and Sleep

Some kids have a security blanket, our middle son has chosen a security pillow. It's not the easiest thing to carry around, but I guess it's worth the effort once he reaches his destination.

Three-Year-Old Privacy Rights

This morning while I was in the boys' room putting clothes away, our almost-three-year-old pleaded from inside the closet, "Mommy, can you please close the door so I can have some privacy?"

I am used to finding him in the closet when he's working on his business - I'm just not accustomed to the request for privacy. I wonder if that would work for me?

"THAT looks like a moon"

I was watching the ultrasound video of our baby girl this morning. It was getting to the part where we discovered that she was a girl, when my 4 1/2 year-old walked by, pointed and said, "THAT looks like a moon". What could I do but laugh?

"How did THAT happen?"

Our four year old asked when we found out we're having a baby girl.

The question isn't about having a baby - it's about how it could be a girl (see previous post).

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!!!"