Awful to Awesome

Yesterday afternoon with Jonathan was particularly awful. I had had it up to here with some behavior issues. Nothing worth writing home about, but I was done. Finally, his homework was done and he was folding his white laundry. He came across a sock with a huge hole in the heel and wondered what to do with it. I told him he should throw it away.

"OR," he said excitedly, "we could make it into a unicorn puppet and use a Sharpie to give it a face!"

Oh my goodness, I laughed so hard I about fell off of my chair. He is so funny. I love that kid. His awesome unicorn puppet idea made my whole day. He brought it to school this morning to show it off!

A Quick One From Gracie

Grace:  Remember my birthday is coming up.
Jeff:  What would you like for your birthday?
(A question I never ask my kids, by the way.  ;)  )
Grace:  Um, cake.
Jeff:  I think we can do that.
(And yes, her birthday is not until March.)

Keeping Mommy's Life Interesting

So. The next time I sit down and feed a baby a couple of bites of pureed blackberries, and then realize the toddler needs a drink of water, I won't underestimate the baby's reach. A motivated baby can reach a faraway bowl of blackberries, apparently. At least, he can when his mom is trying to get everyone fed and in the car to go get groceries.

Isn't She Lovely...

"I'm going shopping for clothes, " she says. Oh, dear. Note the purse hanging over her left arm.

And here she is, going to get Jonathan from school.

Just how many pairs of glasses does this kid have, anyway?

One Year Ago...

When we went to the apple farms. Ah, how life has changed!

So I Don't Forget

Some more gems from the past day or two...

Gracie:  I saw a bird!
Me:  I saw it, too.  It was blue!
Gracie:  No Mommy, it was purple.  I realized it was purple.
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Gracie, listening to a dog:  Mommy, I heard the dog howl-oweening!

For Anna

This one's for Aunt Anna. After a chat with her on the phone, Grace was pretending to send her some mail, and I asked her to repeat on the movie what she had just told me. I thought it was pretty cute. I'll take this movie down in a few days because it takes up so much storage space on the blog!

By the way, Grace is standing next to a "new" toy I got at a yard sale. I have always thought the Fisher Price Learning Home was a neat toy. I think Jonathan may have even played with it at Emma Claire's house when he was little. I had never sprung for it until yesterday when a friend of mine was selling it for $5 at a yard sale. Unfortunately, the lights and sounds don't work, but the kids still love opening and closing its parts and crawling through the doorway. And when we're done with it, I can donate it and feel good about that!

Get Your Fill

It had been awhile since I tortured the sweet kiddos and made them wear the matching shirts that I love so much, so I decided I needed to do it again today! None of the pictures were standouts, so I'm posting a lot of them...be prepared to get your fill!

"Um, Mom, he is eating grass."

"Are you aware that he is eating grass?!"

I should note that Benjamin's nose is red because Grace was plugging it and laughing. To be fair, I should tell you that Ben was laughing, too.

That's just how it goes, sometimes.

They are trying, at least!

I squeezed as much out of them as I could.

More Stuff She Says

This post has been brewing for a month, and is starting to get outdated, so I need to publish it now!  The top part is about Grace, but I'll talk about the boys down at the bottom...

Gracie, yelling:  My owie wants a Band-Aid!

Me:  Well, how should it ask?

Gracie:  It doesn't have a mouth to ask!

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In the restaurant, sitting in a booth with a booster seat, and her feet up on the seat.

Gracie:  My feet aren't down.

Me:  That's OK.

Gracie:  Could you please tell me to put my feet down.

Me:  OK, Gracie, please put your feet down.

Gracie:  That was very polite.  (Puts feet up again.)  Could you tell me again?

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Gracie:  I'm buckling the cup to give it some privacy.

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Gracie:  Where's Grandpa __________?  (My dad)
Me:  In heaven with Jesus.
Gracie:  He died.
Me:  Yes.
Gracie:  Out of his house.
Me:  Yes.
Gracie:  Oh, I'm sorry, Mommy.

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Me:  We're going to go in to Grandpa's house.

Gracie:  Can I get checked?

Me:  No, Grace, remember, Grandpa's in heaven.

Gracie:  Singing?

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OK,  deep breath, on to Benjamin.  You might not remember, but I worried about Grace a bit when she didn't babble with consonants when "the books" said she should.  She was pretty late but finally did it around seven months old.  Benjamin has been much later.  He hasn't babbled with consonants (bababa, dadada, etc.) until today at nine months.  He started doing it out of the blue, and I love it.  For one thing, it's adorable, and for another thing, it's the promise of words down the road, and I just love the learning-to-talk stage.

And now Jonathan.  He is just devouring books, and I've done a little reading along with him.  One of his daily homework requirements is to spend at least ten minutes reading aloud.  Then he has to record the name of the book he read and has the option to write down any special thoughts and feelings about his reading time.  Needless to say, he doesn't share any thoughts or feelings, but when he's done reading to me for ten minutes, he usually wants to spend most of the rest of the afternoon reading to himself if we've chosen a good book.  I had forgotten how much I loved my old friends, Ramona Quimby and Laura Ingalls.  I was happy to meet each of them for the first time nearly 30 years ago, and I think I might be even happier now, meeting them once again.  Jonathan is totally hooked on the Ramona stories and I think he'll delve into Laura's world soon.  I'm hoping to find some books that are just as good as these but have main characters who are boys.

Because Glasses Are Cool

Grace loves glasses. She wants to be just like Jonathan, so who can blame her? She has some play glasses, and she often wants to wear them to bed. And when she gets to try on mine, well...that's frosting on the cake!