We were playing play doh this morning and Emma made some snakes. There was a whole family of snakes. She was explaining to me how to care for these snakes. She told me I could "snuggle them, but not too hard. Like you can't do 'hee haw.'"
'Hee-haw' refers to when Aaron or I sometimes grab the kids to snuggle them we will put them in a bear hug and then squeeze the bajeebies out of them and say 'hee-haw.' Aaron started it. It made John laugh as a little toddler and 'hee-haw' was his first recognizable word.
I am attempting to persuade John to potty train. Really it is going no where. I have given him 2 M&M's for going pee in the potty. It seems stingy but the kid won't eat lunch if you gave him a lolly pop in the past hour. Turns out those M&M's aren't really motivating. Recently we have discovered that he has a thing for fruit snacks. He was more than willing to go to the bathroom before bedtime if he got a bunch a fruit snacks. He however had a wet diaper and so I knew he didn't have anything in him. Sure enough he didn't. He was perplexed and disappointed because he really wanted those fruit snacks. He tried really hard and then looked at me and said, "How do you make this thing work?" Apparently we have farther to go than I thought in the potty training arena.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Stay At Home
I have the kids in swim lessons. They have been enjoying them until this last week. Emma decided that she didn't like having wet hair afterwards so this week we brought a hair towel. John didn't like the new kid in his class that screams and cries. Can't blame him. It came time to get in the car and John didn't want to go.
John: Leave me at home.
Me: I can't leave you at home. The law says I can't leave you here by yourself.
John: Why?
Me: Because who would help you if you got hurt?
John: Jesus.
Me: [long pause to figure out how to counter that one.] You are right, He can help you but the law still says I can't leave you here by yourself.
John: Leave me at home.
Me: I can't leave you at home. The law says I can't leave you here by yourself.
John: Why?
Me: Because who would help you if you got hurt?
John: Jesus.
Me: [long pause to figure out how to counter that one.] You are right, He can help you but the law still says I can't leave you here by yourself.
Bedtime Stories
When I was growing up my dad would tell us Batman and Robin stories before bedtime. We LOVED them. To this day my sisters and I would probably listen to them every night if that was an option. I remember one where the Penguin covered the roads with bubble gum and so the cops and everybody got stuck. So he robbed a bank by freezing the bubble gum with liquid nitrogen and using roller skates. I don't remember what Batman and Robin did to counteract the Penguin but it was equally creative.
Emma and John ask for Spiderman and Hello Kitty stories. These are pretty well less creative (at least when I am telling them - Aaron is better) than what my dad would do. Usually they involve Hello Kitty and Spiderman helping someone. Generally they are siblings and young kids with a mom and a dad. Occasionally Emma and John want to tell their own stories and they follow the same pattern usually.
Last night John asked me to tell a story.
John: Can you tell me a story? But not a scary help story.
Me: Ok [So I told one about HK and SM going swimming and having fun.]
John: No! Not a wet one!
Me: Ok. A dry one?
John: Yes!
So after my dry story where HK and SM drove a doone buggy, John wanted to tell a story. He started out his story and then he said, "Hello Kitty and Spiderman were having a grand ole time." I just about busted up. I don't know if he got that from Aaron or I. Aaron wasn't sure either.
Emma and John ask for Spiderman and Hello Kitty stories. These are pretty well less creative (at least when I am telling them - Aaron is better) than what my dad would do. Usually they involve Hello Kitty and Spiderman helping someone. Generally they are siblings and young kids with a mom and a dad. Occasionally Emma and John want to tell their own stories and they follow the same pattern usually.
Last night John asked me to tell a story.
John: Can you tell me a story? But not a scary help story.
Me: Ok [So I told one about HK and SM going swimming and having fun.]
John: No! Not a wet one!
Me: Ok. A dry one?
John: Yes!
So after my dry story where HK and SM drove a doone buggy, John wanted to tell a story. He started out his story and then he said, "Hello Kitty and Spiderman were having a grand ole time." I just about busted up. I don't know if he got that from Aaron or I. Aaron wasn't sure either.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Touch A Truck
Every year The Woodlands puts on an event called "Touch A Truck." John might call it Heaven. They bring out garbage trucks (4 kinds), police cars and trucks, rangers, tow trucks, big rig tow trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, life flight (my favorite), diggers, huge lawn mowers, tractors, immigration command centers, etc. You name it and it is there just about. The kids can climb in and look around and push buttons and honk horns.
John remembered last year's Touch A Truck and has been asking to go for 6 months now. I am being quite literal on this one. He would ask, "Can we go to February? I want to go to Touch A Truck!" So this year, I didn't tell him about it because we had one event where The Woodlands advertised it and then it never happened. And it was supposed to rain Saturday morning so I didn't have the heart to get his hopes up and then have it not happen. So we pull up into the parking lot and tell him that we are going to Touch A Truck and he just smiled from ear to ear. He got out of the car and just ran to stuff.
Emma was excited as well and had a few trucks that she remembered and wanted to go back and see, The main one she was interested in was the immigration command center. It is a huge bus that has computers and a kitchen and in the back is a jail with a potty. The jail and the potty were of course the highlight. After a while Emma had enough and wanted to play on the play ground. John kept on going. We visited the garbage trucks a couple of times. There was even a sand box with toys in it and John didn't want to play in it for fear of wasting time and not seeing the trucks.
At one point life flight landed a helicopter on the field next to us. It was awesome!! It was probably the vehicle highlight for Aaron and I. After it was over I asked Emma what her favorite part was. The helium balloon. I asked John what his favorite part was and he said getting a sheriff's badge sticker, and the snacks that we brought. Go figure.... I am going to hope that there is just a miscommunication going on here.
John remembered last year's Touch A Truck and has been asking to go for 6 months now. I am being quite literal on this one. He would ask, "Can we go to February? I want to go to Touch A Truck!" So this year, I didn't tell him about it because we had one event where The Woodlands advertised it and then it never happened. And it was supposed to rain Saturday morning so I didn't have the heart to get his hopes up and then have it not happen. So we pull up into the parking lot and tell him that we are going to Touch A Truck and he just smiled from ear to ear. He got out of the car and just ran to stuff.
Emma was excited as well and had a few trucks that she remembered and wanted to go back and see, The main one she was interested in was the immigration command center. It is a huge bus that has computers and a kitchen and in the back is a jail with a potty. The jail and the potty were of course the highlight. After a while Emma had enough and wanted to play on the play ground. John kept on going. We visited the garbage trucks a couple of times. There was even a sand box with toys in it and John didn't want to play in it for fear of wasting time and not seeing the trucks.
At one point life flight landed a helicopter on the field next to us. It was awesome!! It was probably the vehicle highlight for Aaron and I. After it was over I asked Emma what her favorite part was. The helium balloon. I asked John what his favorite part was and he said getting a sheriff's badge sticker, and the snacks that we brought. Go figure.... I am going to hope that there is just a miscommunication going on here.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Fireside
We had a fireside at our house this past Sunday. Aaron spoke on friendship. I prepared the kids ahead of time that if they couldn't be quiet, I would take them upstairs. John looked at us and said, "I want to go upstairs!' I guess he was just going to cut to the chase.
So the time of the fireside came and Emma sat there very quietly and still for a long time. She eventually came and sat on my lap. At one point she asked if she could go by Aaron and I told her no but she didn't make a big deal out of it.
John stood still but for a different reason. We had a new babysitter on Friday night. Her name is Olivia. John now has a big time crush on her. This is breaking from his typical blond pattern because she has red hair. So Olivia came to the fireside. John stood next to her and just stared at her the entire time. We are talking 45 minutes of standing still and watching her. At one point he came over to me and told me he found Olivia and then went back to her side. When I was taking him upstairs to go to bed he asked me which set of shoes belonged to Olivia. He also told me he wants Olivia to live at our house. He is beyond smitten. I haven't seen him show this much interest in any of his previous crushes before.
So the time of the fireside came and Emma sat there very quietly and still for a long time. She eventually came and sat on my lap. At one point she asked if she could go by Aaron and I told her no but she didn't make a big deal out of it.
John stood still but for a different reason. We had a new babysitter on Friday night. Her name is Olivia. John now has a big time crush on her. This is breaking from his typical blond pattern because she has red hair. So Olivia came to the fireside. John stood next to her and just stared at her the entire time. We are talking 45 minutes of standing still and watching her. At one point he came over to me and told me he found Olivia and then went back to her side. When I was taking him upstairs to go to bed he asked me which set of shoes belonged to Olivia. He also told me he wants Olivia to live at our house. He is beyond smitten. I haven't seen him show this much interest in any of his previous crushes before.
Sweet
Emma has been doing some sweet things that I want to remember.
Today she came home from preschool and told me she did something nice for someone at school. A kid wanted to sit next to his friend and apparently that is where Emma was sitting. So she moved over and made room for the kid. You could tell she felt good about it.
On Sundays, Emma normally stays after church with Aaron while he helps out with tithing. She loves to have every minute of Daddy time. This week Aaron had some meetings that would go longer and weren't really appropriate for a little kid. I told Emma and she turned to me and said, "that's ok Mommy, I am ok with that." I could have just hugged her. During sacrament meetings she has been reading the friend and sitting there quietly. It has been so helpful for the wrestling match that ensues with John.
Emma wrote John a note that said essentially, Dear fireman, I want to bring you some cookies. John has been pretending to be a fireman lately. It was the worlds cutest note.
Emma also worked for several days on a picture for John's birthday party. She was very meticulous about it. We took it and hung it up at his birthday party. John was even worried that other kids would get a hold of it and ruin it.
When we do laundry, Emma has been asking if she can put away John's laundry for him.
Today she came home from preschool and told me she did something nice for someone at school. A kid wanted to sit next to his friend and apparently that is where Emma was sitting. So she moved over and made room for the kid. You could tell she felt good about it.
On Sundays, Emma normally stays after church with Aaron while he helps out with tithing. She loves to have every minute of Daddy time. This week Aaron had some meetings that would go longer and weren't really appropriate for a little kid. I told Emma and she turned to me and said, "that's ok Mommy, I am ok with that." I could have just hugged her. During sacrament meetings she has been reading the friend and sitting there quietly. It has been so helpful for the wrestling match that ensues with John.
Emma wrote John a note that said essentially, Dear fireman, I want to bring you some cookies. John has been pretending to be a fireman lately. It was the worlds cutest note.
Emma also worked for several days on a picture for John's birthday party. She was very meticulous about it. We took it and hung it up at his birthday party. John was even worried that other kids would get a hold of it and ruin it.
When we do laundry, Emma has been asking if she can put away John's laundry for him.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Pay Bills
I had an interesting experience this week with John. First off, I should tell the background story associated with it.
We were getting ready to get in the car to go to the airport to go to California. I had meticulously packed everything I might possibly need and loaded the car while the kids were napping. I got them up, and was loading them into the car. John had his backpack on his shoulder and he said, "I have my backpack. Do you have yours?" It made me remember that I did not have my backpack and was going to forget it if he hadn't said that. It had my wallet and the DVD player in it. Hard to say which was more important. I was very grateful to John for helping me to catch that.
When I told Aaron about the story and he said that John did something similar to that to help him remember something important.
Ok, so now to the current story. I usually pay bills on the 15th of the month because that is the day that they are all posted and not due yet. There is a small window of time in which that happens. I pay them during quiet time so it isn't something the kids see me do. Nor do I talk about it with them because it doesn't come up with a 3 and 5 year old.
So this week John kept saying, "I want to pay bills." He would say this at the most random times. I don't know if he even knows what that means. I brushed it off because this kid says a lot of random things. Then finally it occurred to me that given John's past, maybe this was a prompting of the Holy Ghost. So I decided to pay bills on the 11th. Not all of them were in but I paid the one outstanding one a few days later. On the 15th, John said, "I don't want to pay bills." I thought that it was odd because his phrase changed. So then on the 16th, I get a call from the credit card company and our card number had been stolen and used in Arizona on the 15th. The account was frozen automatically when the company figured out that something fishy was going on. If I had waited to pay my bills on the 15th, I could have run into problems if I had done it after my card was frozen. Now, it will take 10-14 business days to get a new card. So if I hadn't paid my bills, it was have been harder to do so since I have to wait a while to get a new card.
Thank goodness for little kids and promptings!
We were getting ready to get in the car to go to the airport to go to California. I had meticulously packed everything I might possibly need and loaded the car while the kids were napping. I got them up, and was loading them into the car. John had his backpack on his shoulder and he said, "I have my backpack. Do you have yours?" It made me remember that I did not have my backpack and was going to forget it if he hadn't said that. It had my wallet and the DVD player in it. Hard to say which was more important. I was very grateful to John for helping me to catch that.
When I told Aaron about the story and he said that John did something similar to that to help him remember something important.
Ok, so now to the current story. I usually pay bills on the 15th of the month because that is the day that they are all posted and not due yet. There is a small window of time in which that happens. I pay them during quiet time so it isn't something the kids see me do. Nor do I talk about it with them because it doesn't come up with a 3 and 5 year old.
So this week John kept saying, "I want to pay bills." He would say this at the most random times. I don't know if he even knows what that means. I brushed it off because this kid says a lot of random things. Then finally it occurred to me that given John's past, maybe this was a prompting of the Holy Ghost. So I decided to pay bills on the 11th. Not all of them were in but I paid the one outstanding one a few days later. On the 15th, John said, "I don't want to pay bills." I thought that it was odd because his phrase changed. So then on the 16th, I get a call from the credit card company and our card number had been stolen and used in Arizona on the 15th. The account was frozen automatically when the company figured out that something fishy was going on. If I had waited to pay my bills on the 15th, I could have run into problems if I had done it after my card was frozen. Now, it will take 10-14 business days to get a new card. So if I hadn't paid my bills, it was have been harder to do so since I have to wait a while to get a new card.
Thank goodness for little kids and promptings!
BLT
Emma has been taking a BLT sandwich to preschool for her lunches for the last several months. Then suddenly she wanted to take something else for her lunch. I figured that she was sick of them. I have finally found out the real reason she doesn't want to take them (although I do think she is tired of them as well).
When I have gone to her classroom her teachers have commented that they love her BLT sandwiches and that they look so yummy. For the record, it is more accurately turkey bacon, spinach, and tomato sandwiches. Her teachers said that they loved watching her put her sandwich together. I put the tomato in a separate bag so that the bread doesn't get soggy.
So here it is: the kids in her class have asked her to bring BLT sandwiches. I am guessing they picked up on the teachers comments and started making their own comments along the same lines. Well it turns out that since they ask Emma to bring a BLT sandwich and they don't say "please," she won't bring one. Once the kids say please, then she will. Emma is a stickler for rules, what can I say. So for the record, she brings a cheese and bean quesadilla.
When I have gone to her classroom her teachers have commented that they love her BLT sandwiches and that they look so yummy. For the record, it is more accurately turkey bacon, spinach, and tomato sandwiches. Her teachers said that they loved watching her put her sandwich together. I put the tomato in a separate bag so that the bread doesn't get soggy.
So here it is: the kids in her class have asked her to bring BLT sandwiches. I am guessing they picked up on the teachers comments and started making their own comments along the same lines. Well it turns out that since they ask Emma to bring a BLT sandwich and they don't say "please," she won't bring one. Once the kids say please, then she will. Emma is a stickler for rules, what can I say. So for the record, she brings a cheese and bean quesadilla.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Bikes, Controlling the World, and Cleaning
The weather was nice today so I took the kids on a bike ride to the park. Once we got there, we rode around some more. John started saying, "Vroom Vroom Vroomy Vroom Vroom! Doey at the wheel!" Later he said, "Biker Dude at the wheel!" (For some reason I taught John about biker dudes and biker chicks.... seemed like a good idea at at the time.)
Emma was riding around and said, "Watch out, I'm on the loose!" That one made me giggle.
John announced the other day that his name is Dr. Shrinky and that I am Yucky Man. Aaron is Captain Hammer, and Emma is Weather Woman. These are characters from a Backyardigans book. John also announced that he controls the world. For a while now I have long suspected that John and my nephew Josh are almost twins. I used to think that my sister Emily could probably walk into Josh's room when he was 2 years old and find a crayon scribble drawing that was actually a plot to take over the world. Not much has changed now that Josh is 12... except his plots are more elaborate and probably involve llamas as his minions. As my sister Emily said, Josh and John are probably twins in the premortal existence and were separated at birth and now communicate through mental telepathy.
So John has been telling strangers that his name is Dr. Shrinky. They laugh. Now John walks around the house practicing his evil laugh, "Ba ha ha ha ha!" John also said that Captain Hammer and Weather Woman are going to stop him controlling the world. I had to agree with him on that one. Sometimes if John is feeling generous, he shares his shrinking powers with me but I can only shrink a little bit. He also tells me that he only does nice shrinking.
Emma was saying a prayer today and was grateful that she got to do dishes, mop the floors and go to the park to do the monkey bars. She was quite serious about it. She loves to do dishes and mop the floors. I kinda feel guilty that she is grateful for child labor. I kinda feel like I pulled a dirty rotten rat fink trick on her. On the other hand, she is happy to do those things.... go figure. I think that this is how I know she is related to Grandma Lindy.
Emma was riding around and said, "Watch out, I'm on the loose!" That one made me giggle.
John announced the other day that his name is Dr. Shrinky and that I am Yucky Man. Aaron is Captain Hammer, and Emma is Weather Woman. These are characters from a Backyardigans book. John also announced that he controls the world. For a while now I have long suspected that John and my nephew Josh are almost twins. I used to think that my sister Emily could probably walk into Josh's room when he was 2 years old and find a crayon scribble drawing that was actually a plot to take over the world. Not much has changed now that Josh is 12... except his plots are more elaborate and probably involve llamas as his minions. As my sister Emily said, Josh and John are probably twins in the premortal existence and were separated at birth and now communicate through mental telepathy.
So John has been telling strangers that his name is Dr. Shrinky. They laugh. Now John walks around the house practicing his evil laugh, "Ba ha ha ha ha!" John also said that Captain Hammer and Weather Woman are going to stop him controlling the world. I had to agree with him on that one. Sometimes if John is feeling generous, he shares his shrinking powers with me but I can only shrink a little bit. He also tells me that he only does nice shrinking.
Emma was saying a prayer today and was grateful that she got to do dishes, mop the floors and go to the park to do the monkey bars. She was quite serious about it. She loves to do dishes and mop the floors. I kinda feel guilty that she is grateful for child labor. I kinda feel like I pulled a dirty rotten rat fink trick on her. On the other hand, she is happy to do those things.... go figure. I think that this is how I know she is related to Grandma Lindy.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Graduation
We flew to California for my sister Emily's graduation from nursing school. It was an impressive feat so we wanted to be there to celebrate with her. We went to the beach with the kids. It was pretty fun to watch them play. Emma ran into the water and would play and sometimes fall down in the water and run out and do this 59 million times. It is winter in the Pacific Ocean - that means the water was probably about 57 degrees. This is so not my child. I was cold on the beach with jeans and a coat on. John didn't want to go in the water for understandable reasons. He was beyond happy to dig in the sand. He played and dug for forever. We would chase the kids down to make them take a bite of their food. I would ask them if they were cold and of course they weren't until it was time to go and then they noticed that they were cold... freezing in fact.
We got to see Emily's kids basketball games and play with cousins and Cosmo. I am sure Cosmo was the most grateful when we left. We took Cosmo for walks and played at different parks around Emily neighborhood. We celebrated Amanda's and John's birthdays that happened while we were out there. Emily made cookies for John's birthday. My mom took him out for a Burger King ice cream cone. That night he had cake and ice cream. He was one sugared up kid.
The kids had a great time on Emily's trampoline and playing with her toys and watching Cosmo do tricks. But most of all they liked playing with cousins and the fire truck park.
We got to see Emily's kids basketball games and play with cousins and Cosmo. I am sure Cosmo was the most grateful when we left. We took Cosmo for walks and played at different parks around Emily neighborhood. We celebrated Amanda's and John's birthdays that happened while we were out there. Emily made cookies for John's birthday. My mom took him out for a Burger King ice cream cone. That night he had cake and ice cream. He was one sugared up kid.
The kids had a great time on Emily's trampoline and playing with her toys and watching Cosmo do tricks. But most of all they liked playing with cousins and the fire truck park.
Clever Pig, Helga, and Phones
Emma and John did some pretty funny things today.
1. The singing time lady came into John's nursery class today to sing with them. She asked John what his name was and he told her "Helga." The nursery leaders got a kick out of that.
Helga was Aaron's St. Bernard when he was in High School. We have a puppet St. Bernard and so I named it Helga. John likes this toy so sometimes he calls himself Helga.
2. Emma was playing with her toy phone today. She was wearing leggings and wanted to put her phone in her back pocket but leggings don't come with pockets so she did this:
3. John walked up to Aaron and said, "You clever pig! Clever means smart." He got it from a book.
1. The singing time lady came into John's nursery class today to sing with them. She asked John what his name was and he told her "Helga." The nursery leaders got a kick out of that.
Helga was Aaron's St. Bernard when he was in High School. We have a puppet St. Bernard and so I named it Helga. John likes this toy so sometimes he calls himself Helga.
2. Emma was playing with her toy phone today. She was wearing leggings and wanted to put her phone in her back pocket but leggings don't come with pockets so she did this:
3. John walked up to Aaron and said, "You clever pig! Clever means smart." He got it from a book.
Punished
We we at the airport waiting to fly to California and we got there early so I sat down near an outlet to let the kids watch a movie. I was flying by myself with the kids so we broke down and got a DVD player for them to watch. Well, they didn't want to watch a movie so they sang songs and watched airplanes take off.
In the area that we were in were three men. There was something odd about them. They were definitely together but they weren't talking like they were coworkers or friends. There was maybe one other person in the area so it was very quiet and we were sitting close to the tree men because that is where the outlets where.
John starts singing the second Article of Faith:
We believe that men will be punished for their own sins
And not for Adam's transgressions
And not for Adam's transgressions.
Kind of a bit weird to have you almost 3 yearly singing this at full volume in public places. It is a good thing we live in the Bible Belt and people will just assume we are Baptist. Anyway, John just keeps singing this over and over.
Fast forward and the three men decide to get up and go to their gate. Two of the stand up to leave and then the third man gets up and I notice that he has never taken his hands out of his coat pockets. When he turns sideways I could see he had handcuffs on! I just wondered what he thought of John's song.
The men were on our plane and as it turns out that United does not have priority boarding for families with small children but they do have priority boarding for those traveling on a extradition order.
In the area that we were in were three men. There was something odd about them. They were definitely together but they weren't talking like they were coworkers or friends. There was maybe one other person in the area so it was very quiet and we were sitting close to the tree men because that is where the outlets where.
John starts singing the second Article of Faith:
We believe that men will be punished for their own sins
And not for Adam's transgressions
And not for Adam's transgressions.
Kind of a bit weird to have you almost 3 yearly singing this at full volume in public places. It is a good thing we live in the Bible Belt and people will just assume we are Baptist. Anyway, John just keeps singing this over and over.
Fast forward and the three men decide to get up and go to their gate. Two of the stand up to leave and then the third man gets up and I notice that he has never taken his hands out of his coat pockets. When he turns sideways I could see he had handcuffs on! I just wondered what he thought of John's song.
The men were on our plane and as it turns out that United does not have priority boarding for families with small children but they do have priority boarding for those traveling on a extradition order.
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