Warrior Serenade

My own personal warrior came to me out of the blue and offered his services.  Anything I wanted. I asked for a song.

 

"I made it up."

Lesson learned

Pinterest.  Wonderful website to organize wonderful ideas.  Lots of activities for Jonah.

Here's a new one we tried last week.

Flubber. 

Elmer's glue, water, Borax (I use it in my laundry) and food coloring. Simple.

Jonah thought it was the cat's meow.  "Super awesome!"

All play includes some kind of battle, rescue and loud noises.  Exhibit #156...

One word of advice....Great for play.  Bad as a hat.

With my back turned, Jonah had tried the flubber on as a hat.  Did not end well.

Would not come loose.

After struggles, tears and getting yelled at, I finally just chopped it all out. 

Good thing this kid has more hair than anyone I know.  Cut it all out and you cannot even tell!  No joke.

Lesson learned: Do not, I repeat, do not wear flubber as a hat.

My Life & Times #2

A few weeks ago I was talking with a good friend about most embarrassing moments and I realized that I have just a few quality experiences in my life.  It got me thinking.  A lot of my experiences are most likely preserved in a journal somewhere, I'm sure. But others I'm not so sure.  So I decided to record them for all to enjoy. 

So, enjoy!

They will be written in no particular order or schedule.  :)

This one happened right after Lucas was born.  It must have been in the first few weeks after we made it to church. 

I was in the Primary presidency and was up front conducting.  Aaron taught the CTR 7's so sat in the back with his class.  I announced the closing song and prayer. The song happened to be "A Child's Prayer," one of my favorites.  As we sang, Aaron holds up tiny, tiny Lucas and faces him toward me just to be cute.  With my mothering instincts in high gear and feeling tender, I start to tear up. Nothing dramatic. Just so blessed and so grateful for my new little family. 

Well.  That's when the post-partum hormones, nursing trauma and lack of sleep kick in, and the graceful, touching tear or two turn into the ugly cry.  And I mean The Ugly Cry.  And I can't stop.  All of my emotions just coming pouring out my face and I can not stop.  The song ends and when I should have just looked over to another leader to finish out the meeting, I try to stand up and compose myself.  I can not.  Physically and emotionally, it just is not possible. So I'm trying to dismiss classes with a bunch of pointing and grunting but it's not really working.  Everyone is just staring at the crazy lady.

One 6 year old (Braden McClusky :), looks at me with literal disgust and confusion on his face, points to me yells, "What's the matter with HER?!"   I'm laughing now, a cackling, scary type of laughter that just freaks people out even more.  Teachers got the hint and cleared people out, leaving me to my cathartic outburst. 

Aaron came over and hugged me, saying "I'm so sorry. I did not mean to do that to you."

All I could do was laugh and pretend I wasn't humiliated in front of the whole primary.  Of course everyone was super nice and comforting about it and I think most of the kids just forgot about it the next week.  My only casualty is I don't think Braden McClusky ever looked at me the same again.  Poor kid. 

Ch-ch-changes

What a difference a few months can make.   Lucas really enjoyed band last year and is going to continue it in the fall. He plays the trombone, the baritone and the marching baritone (which I've been told is different.) He'll go from Beginning Jazz Band to Advanced Jazz Band and work more in the marching band. HE says he loves how it sounds when all the instruments come together with their own parts.  And I have to admit, they weren't that bad!  For a junior high band, I was impressed.

I hadn't seen this picture for a few weeks. It was taken in June at this end-of-the-year band concert. Mid June say.

And here's my baby end of July.  Crazy, right?! He turned into a young man overnight.  He cut his hair and grew a few  inches.  He had finally caught up to me in the spring, taking great pride he was as tall as his mother.  Then he went to scout camp and yes, when he got home, he was a half an inch taller!  He is now officially taller than his mama.  I had to tell him most kids pass me around 13-14 years old. :)  But still!

 

I love this kid.  He's still a talker and loves to just sit and chat about life, what he's thinking about, the minutia of his current video game and girls he likes.  He's set goals for his future and is working toward them. Yet he's still into his Legos and builds stuff with Jonah all the time.  Makes pirate maps with his young cousins and sword fights with anyone who will.

 

 

I love that he can still be a kid.  Even when he his turning into a teenager on us.

Making of a vampire

About 2 years ago Jonah was at cubscouts with me and face planted into a basketball.  I knew he had hurt his front teeth but I didn't know how much until they started to turn grey.  Our awesome dentists (Bob & Sharon) assured us that all was well, he had just damaged the roots, and that since they were still only his baby teeth, it didn't pose a problem. 

So for the last two years his front teeth have been discolored and a teeny tiny bit loose but gave no problems at all.

One Sunday a few weeks ago during the Williams Family Reunion, all the boys were playing in the living room.  All of a sudden Lucas comes running in holding something in his fingers.  He yells, "Jonah lost his tooth!!"  Apparently they were wrestling and Jonah's face collided with the corner of the couch and he had lost not just one but both front teeth!  Jonah came into the kitchen completely freaked out, bleeding profusely from his mouth and screaming, "Put them back! Put them back!"

I have to admit when I saw all the blood and the two literal HOLES in my baby's mouth, I was a little shocked.  Plus I realized real quickly that we had never explained kids actually are supposed to lose their teeth and that this was ok.  Jonah was NOT ok.  He was fah-lipping out and could NOT believe his teeth had just come out of his mouth!  On top of it all, he couldn't talk right. He had a severe lisp and knew he sounded funny.

We calmly tried to explain that all kids lose their baby teeth and we even had Garrison, our 8 yr old cousin, come over and show him his own jack-o-lantern smile.  See, you look just like Garrison?  It's ok!  As soon as Garrison walked away, Jonah under his breath said, "But I don't WANT to look like Garrison."

It wasn't until Aaron pulled up pictures on the internet of other kids who had lost their teeth and we explained the concept of the Tooth Fairy that he began to calm down.  The thought of getting money from a kind stranger sure took the bite out of disfiguration.

Plus, he kind of looked like a vampire.  And that was cool.

The next morning all horror was forgotten and his focus was purely on the Tooth Fairy and the money that was left. :)

(Sorry, kind of long video)

 

So, all is well.  Lisp is gone and so is any soreness. 

 (And he made me proud at the store.  He was set on buying a certain Bionicle with his tooth fairy money. Talked about it constantly. (Yes, I was going to subsidize such purchase for his emotional pain and suffering. Call me a softie :)  When the first store didn't have what he wanted, Aunt Renae and I asked if he wanted to choose something else or keep his money until we could go to another store another day.  He was so sad but you could see his mind working and he decided to wait and get what he really wanted.  Delayed gratification, folks.  He is stronger than I am.)

 

Anyway, like I said, all is well.  And now he can't wait to loose another!

 

August already?

Summer is flying by and I can't believe I haven't written since May.  What's up with that?  I broke my laptop months ago and I just got out of the habit.  I hope to get back on the bandwagon and document our fabulous summer. We've had a perfect mix of busy, crazy fun with family and friends and just sleeping in and being lazy around the house.  Love it!

And I love that last week we threw in two more trips to add to the fun.  On the 16th, Jonah and I are going to fly out to Phoenix (I know. Phoenix in August. Not sure how we'll survive.) to visit Amanda and Geoff and their new little girl, Rachel.  Need my baby fix!  And a DitWill 2013 in Sunriver for Labor Day.  Kids included this time and it will be one for the books!

 

I thought I'd start my foray back into the blogging world with my favorite

Jonah Quotes of Summer 2013.

He continues his outgoing ways, saying hello to everyone, exclaiming"Hi, my name is Jonah!" to every cashier and hugging the people he loves at church.  He has more adult friends than I do! I am not kidding.

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We walked to the park one morning after our cousin sleepover.  I was pushing our niece Sarah in the swing and Jonah calls me to come help him climb up the ladder.

Me: Just a minute.  I'm helping Sarah. I'll be right there.

He was not having any of that.

Jonah: No, Mommy!  You work for ME!  Not the Friesses!

I'm not kidding when I say this kid was born with a big sense of entitlement. He's fierce about his rights and no one should be able to boss him around.  Quite a kid.

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I woke up one morning while camping at Camp Sherman.  I ran a brush through my hair, put it in a pony tail and threw on some chapstick.  Jonah was looking at me the whole time and then, shaking his head said, "Nobody's going to like you if you go out looking like that."

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One morning I was cleaning our bathroom listening to Lucas and Jonah yelling at each other in the hallway. (Is it a little wrong that I like to hear them fighting? Our cock-eyed family dynamic of two kids 9 years apart does not lend itself to a lot of sibling squabbles.  I love that they at least get that normal part of growing up sometimes. 9x out of 10 it's a fight over Jonah getting into Lucas' room and messing up his Legos or dumping them on the floor. This morning was no different)

Jonah finally came to find me and he was just fuming!  He looked me in the eye and yelled.

Jonah: Lukey said I can't play in his room while he's not there!
He then proceeds to give me a look of death.
Jonah: Who put that disastrous thought into his head?!  Was it YOU?!

Me: Sorry, dude.  YOU do that every time you dump out a box of Legos when you go in his room.

My answer (the truth) was not appreciated and he just stomped out.

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We had all the Friess cousins over one afternoon and driving home from the park I hear Jonah and Bennett (age 8) talking in the back seat.

Jonah: I heard you have the Ninjago something-something Lego set.  I LOVE that set.
Bennett: Yes!  But I hope to get the Something-something Lego for my birthday.  I have SO many Legos.  I could give you some of my old ones once my birthday comes?
Jonah: No thanks.  I am just in-FUSED with toys right now. 

He almost go that word right.

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One afternoon, I had been annoyed at Jonah's eating, really lack of eating.  I kept saying no to all his snack ideas, like a brownie, a popsicle, fruit snacks or licorice, and he was saying no to all of mine, yogurt, an apple slice, or freeze dried strawberries. Jonah knew I was very frustrated, so for his last attempt he comes over with his Cherub Smile on (a practiced smile where he tilts his head just so, squints his eyes and is usually accompanied by a soft, sweet voice.) and he practically sings, "I know. We could make popcorn and then snuggle on the couch. Yes. That's my plan.  My love plan.  And we could read books and I could be your sweetheart.  How do you like that?  My love plan?"

My love plan?!?  This kid knows how to work it.  And I must admit I couldn't resist snuggling up on a couch with this kid reading books and eating popcorn. Could you??  :)