Top Tens

Top Ten items we have discovered in our VCR this month

10. Graham crackers

9. My debit card
8. My insurance card
7. Entire puzzle worth of puzzle pieces
6. Matchbox cars
5. A brotherhood of "Lego guys"
4. TV Remote
3. Toy Car
2. Pacifier
And my very personal favorite...

1. An entire wooden back scratcher.  I must admit we were all impressed with that feat.  And yes, we need to move the VCR.

Top Ten Sayings from Jonah this month

 (Nothing is ever just said, it is exclaimed!)

10. "Gotcha!!" as he throws himself on your back and grabs you around the neck
9. "Turn a'wound! Turn a'wound!!" is cried every time we turn from 99 on to Westminster Road. I think it's because he knows we're going home and LOVES being out and about.
8. "Mommy, great song!" is declared after listening to Primary songs in the car, especially "Scripture Power"
7. "Bye Cotton.  See ya later.  Be back soon."  And then a kiss is blown whenever we leave the house.
6. "I wanna baff!" (bath) I hear this at least 4x a day, even if he's already had one. This kid would live in the bathtub if I let him.
5. "Come on, Mommy. Show you!" said to me all day long as he finds my ring finger, always my ring finger, and pulls me to whatever he has to show me.

4. "Trucks!  Nemo!"  The only two movies he wants to watch.  Richard Scarry's Busy Town and Finding Nemo.
3. "He'p! He'p! (Help!) Save Jonah!"  is yelled as he dangles his legs over the side of the bed or couch.  He loves to be saved.
2. "Where's Jonah?  I hiding!" right after he throws the blanket off because he can't hide for more than 4 seconds.
1."No, Mommy!  Stop it!  He'p! He'p!" as I lay him down for his nap every day.  After I get him down he falls unconscious but he fights it every step of the way.

He keeps us laughing and cuddling and enjoying life.

What a crazy joy!

Our kid

This is the kid who, once told we were going to the library, hung onto my leg and cried "Library! Library!" as I brushed my teeth. Cried "Library! Go!" as I got dressed and scarfed down some breakfast. The same kid who, as I finally rushed around to find my keys, my arms full of books and door open, decided



 "I want a shower!"

This is the kind of kid who screams in the library bathroom as I change his diaper because he loves to hear his echo.

The kind of kid who won't sit quietly like ALL the other kids in story time and has to rummage through the librarian's play mailbox as she tries to read a story.  I am the mother sitting there wondering if it's more disruptive to just let him play or go up to the front and make a scene.

He is the one kid who is climbing under the table and thinks it's hilarious to scatter around the art supplies.

He's the kind of child who won't participate with the other kids in the bean bag song, but has to pull out the librarian's bongo drum and play it as loud as he can in the middle of the floor.

He's the one who runs around pulling all the stuffed animals off the shelves and screams as I try to make him pick them up.

He's the kid whose mother leaves early from story time. 

He's the one kid who plays dead and goes completely limp as I gather up another armful of books and say it's time to go home.

He's the kind of kid whose mother is ready for nap.

Speaking of Lucas...

Our son, the musician, :) had his very first band concert last Wednesday and it was momentous.  The audience was filled with the beaming, proud parents of a bunch of 5th graders who have been learning an instrument for 3 months.   The kids were thrilled at being the center of attention and to be able to show off their hard work.  And I was such a Mom, asking Lucas to move the music stand so I could see better and stage whispering for him to look at me so I could get a better picture.  The sweet boy took me in stride.

I know.  Most parents would say this about their child, but I have to admit Lucas is pretty good at the trombone.  He and two other of his trombone brothers kept rhythmn and hit their notes strong and clear. 

Video cameras were plentiful as were the endearing mistakes.

 

Until the spring concert...

Lucas, you're my hero

Since we got back from our weekend in Portland I have not been able to find my "Lucas & Jonah" necklace I received for Mother's Day last year.  I looked EVERYWHERE and had no idea where it could have gotten too.  It was something I even prayed I could find since the necklace has sentimental value.  Well, this afternoon Lucas got 1000 gold stars!   He found it.  Who would have thought to look in the dungeon of the Fischer Price castle?  Hmm, I wonder how it got there?!

Our own kind of entertainment

Life has found it's January rhythm.  It trudges on as usual without holidays or much fan fare.  It's been an up & down month but there are a few highlights.  Tonight Lucas has his very first band concert and I can't wait.  He's actually pretty good for only playing 3 months, but I am anticipating a Music Man band experience.  And my parents are coming this weekend. Yea!  So that should be fun.  Until then I'll tell you how we've been entertaining ourselves around here.

Lucas wanted to play Wii last Saturday before reading.  I'm pretty flexible as long as it all gets done but in order to play he had to let me do one thing.  Connect all his freckles.  It's been a long standing joke between us. I always want to connect his freckles.  I know.  I can be weird sometimes. 
I guess Wii was worth it this time.

And then there's Jonah.  He's entertaining just being his crazy self.  I have a feeling he'll be just like Lucas and live in a costume from age 3- age 7.

Have a great January day!

Final transformation complete

Well, it's official.  I have made the complete transition to the dark side.  I've been slowly becoming the stereotypical Suburban Soccer Mom for years now.  Each new season bringing me closer to inevitable.   It started with weekly playgroups, story time at the library and stroller walks around Greenlake, progressed to volunteering on the PTA, making freezer jam and dehydrating fruit my own fruit leather, and then escalating to keeping a "mommy blog," carpooling to and from soccer/basketball/tai kwon do and going to the store directly from the gym thinking throwing a hat and fleece will dress up my workout clothes enough to be acceptable.

This week we added the final touch to complete my total transformation.   The Mini Van. 

I held out as long as could, vowing never to own one.  Ever.  But as I accepted all these others things in my life, I realized I could never resist forever.  My loathing for such a vehicle has developed into a love of space, storage and more space.  And I reluctantly admit, I l.o.v.e. it.  I love it's plethora of cup holders and power doors that close by themselves. I love the seats that stow away so easily, I LOVE the tushy warmers (that really sealed the deal for me) and I love I upped my seat ante for carpools and youth activities.

I guess I have embodied everything that makes me a suburban soccer mom.  And I guess I love it.

Kosher?

Okay, I'm not sure just how appropriate it is to 1st: video tape a prayer and 2nd: to put it online.  My mother always said "if you ever have to question it, it's probably better not do it."  But here I go, ignoring my mother's sound advice.  It's just so cute.  JB has been talking more and more these days, but he would never repeat a prayer. We've casually tried a dozen times but he just ignored any attempt at saying the prayer. That is up until last week. He actually repeated it after Lucas asked him to. And now he only will do it for Lucas. What can I say? That kid loves his brother. Last night was the second time he repeated a prayer.

Afterward you can hear the patented, "Hi Daddy!" that we hear all day and night.   Any time he sees us after being in another room or just when he wants to acknowlege us, he oh-so-brightly and happily says, "Hi Mommy!  Hi Daddy!"    A sound I will never tire of hearing.  It just makes me smile every time.

Birthday of a 2nd child just days after Christmas

It's begun, poor kid.   I was warned it was typical with a second child and gets worse with each subsequent sibling.  Yet I didn't think it would happen my child.   In many families the birthday celebration of each child gets significantly smaller with each child that is added.  And now I found myself doing that exact thing.

JB's birthday was the 30th but on the 1st we were going to friends to bring in the new year so I thought I'd bring a cupcake, throw a candle in it and we'd at least have pictures to say we sang and celebrated in some way.   I have to admit I was just feeling lazy after the craziness of the holidays. 

Then I got to thinking how I used to love to make a fun cake for Lucas' birthday. Back then I had a good friend who was a cake decorator, so yes, they usually turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Everything from dinosaurs to pirate ships.  Then my cake decorator moved away and I was on my own.  Still I persevered.  My creations were much sadder but Lucas was always so nice and supportive of my efforts.  I made the "Pirate-Chef Cake" one year, which was supposed to be a pirate but really did turn out to look like a contestant for Hell's Kitchen. Do not ask me how.  And my mom and I made a fantastical castle one year.  Crazy looking but loved.  And my first-foray-into-fondant Lego cake from last year was quite sad looking but 10 year old boys DO NOT care. It was sort of a Lego and that was all that mattered.

So at the last minute I decided to take on one of Jonah's favorite things... a fire engine.  Why not?!  It something I enjoyed and it would be a new challenge.  Bring it on.

And it was coming along great until I took a break to check out our new working shower in our renovated master bathroom.  I had closed the kitchen door but...

It's hard to tell in the pictures but there a finger prints every where, wheels taken off and put back on, ladders broken ... and yes, that's a kitchen knife sticking out the back.   I didn't even get to finish it.  Jonah thought it was divine.  

 We decided to take it to the party as is, knife and all.  But the destruction didn't end there.  Apparently sitting on a warm shelf for 2 hours wasn't conducive to the construction of the fire engine's cab which subsequently made a dramatic exit all over the kitchen floor. 

This is what we sang to him with....

Knife still sticking out the back...

And he loved every minute of it.  I realized the back-to-basic attitude wasn't just out of laziness, but the wisdom of knowing what it takes to make your child feel special and loved, right?!  ;) Most of the time it doesn't require much.  Cupcake, ruined fire engine, whatever. And in my infinite wisdom I know that the pictures and story of it all would be more than memorable and even better than if everything had turned out perfectly. ;) At least that's what I keep telling myself.

And the riding Thomas the Tank Engine didn't hurt the day either.