T.G.I.F.

One afternoon, I let the boys lay in my bed for nap time because it was thunderstorming. There was a spider web in our window with a spider in the middle. It had captured lunch and was tending to it. So we watched it as we lay there listening to the storm. After a little while, Elijah (who is pretty much paralized by thunder) softly asked Judah, "Should we pray to not be afraid?" Judah said he didn't know, so I said that one can pray anytime they need to. I asked Elijah if he'd like to pray, and he said he did. In the sweetest little boy voice, "Dear God, please help mommy and daddy. And please help me not to be afraid of the thunder and lightning. And please, Lord, help the spider and his food to be safe from the rain and thunder." It was just too cute with a sweet edge of compassion.

As I was making breakfast-for-dinner, I asked the boys if they enjoyed seeing the chickens some friends from church had. I asked them if they thought it was cool that our friends could just go out in their backyard and get fresh eggs.

Judah: To do what with them?

Me: To cook them and eat them, of course! So yummy!

Elijah: NO! Then they wouldn't be baby chickens!

Me: Aww, well, Elijah, those eggs are eggs to eat, not grow into baby chickens. You have to have a daddy chicken to have baby chickens.

Judah: Hmm, that's different. I know that mommy grown-ups have babies; but with chickens, it's the daddies that have the babies.

Me: (Oh dear.) Well, no, you have to have a daddy chicken and a mommy chicken to have baby chickens. Just like you have to have a mommy and a daddy to have a baby. (And we'll end it there for now!)

While eating Spanish rice with dinner, Judah asked, "Will it turn us to speaking Spanish?"

T.G.I.F.

I was drying my hair and putting on very light make-up one afternoon before my Hubz got home. Judah was watching me and asking why I was doing it. I said that I wanted to look a little nicer for Daddy. "Why?" Because I love him. :-) When I was finished, I turned to Judah and fluffed my hair. I smiled and asked him if I looked a little nicer. "Sure." ::pause:: "And with a smile on your face, you look even more nicer." Ah, Lord, let him always remember that principle when dealing with women. :-)

While I was cleaning up for breakfast one morning, Judah asked "Mommy, can I cut my heart out?" LOL No worries. He meant that he wanted to draw me a red heart and cut it out -- he saw a boy do it in a book we read the night before. But it sure was weird to hear my 5 year old innocently ask that question!

T.G.I.F.

We were driving home from Target with the windows down since it was so nice out. As we were going slowly through the neighborhood, we could hear the evening songbirds. I asked the boys if they could hear them. "Yes!" Judah suggested that maybe they were looking for their family. I said maybe they were looking for dinner. Elijah? "Yeah, they're having chicken nuggets for dinner!"

There's something about picturing a songbird dining on chicken nuggets that just seems...wrong.

T.G.I.F.

Judah, from the living room, "Are these Eden's socks? No, these are her kankee pants." Then he walked into the room holding the "kankee pants" mid-air by the toe. They were tights. I have no idea where he got "kankee pants" out of tights.

Elijah to Nurse Elaina, "Do I get a shot today?" He really wanted a lollipop. "No, no shot today. Do you WANT one?" Elijah nodded his head yes and had a very thoughtful look on his face. "In my bones. Because they are tight and won't hurt. My knees are bones. But I don't want a shot in my knee. I want one here." as he pointed to the front of his shin. Uh, I think a shot in your bone would hurt MUCH worse than in your muscle! But Elaina affirmed his thought process as creative. :-)

I told Judah to go upstairs and get dressed while I finished feeding Eden her breakfast. He called down from the top of the stairs, "Mommy, I don't think I can wear this guinea pig shirt. It's too small." My mind raced through his wardrobe, wondering what on earth he meant by guinea pig. I asked him to clarify. "I can't wear this guinea pig shirt because I think it's too small." I told him I couldn't think of any shirt that had a guinea pig on it. Maybe he meant size? We did watch G-Force a while back. Maybe he was trying to be cute saying a guinea pig sized shirt would be too small for him. Then it hit me and made me chuckle. "OH! You mean your Razorback shirt?" He said yeah, and I assured him it would fit. That's for all you Arkansans! Woooooo, guinea pigs!

T.G.I.F.

I overheard Judah and Elijah getting dressed one morning. Often times, they consider things a race with each other. Judah chanted, "I'm the champion!" Elijah, loud and angry, responded, "NO YOU NOT! GOD is the CHAMPION!!" Judah simply said, "No, He's not." Elijah - "YES HE IIIIS!!!" Made me have a little chuckle before addressing each son's issue. :-P

We had cantaloupe with dinner the other night. I think it must be the first time I've purchased one in the boys' "grown-up" life. They enjoyed it, 'Lij more than Judah. Towards the end of dinner, Elijah ever-so-sweetly asked for more "neb-uh-loaf." Still later, he called it meatloaf. SO cute!

T.G.I.F.

Judah & I, at lunch...

Where's Matt? Map? No, Matt. Mah? No, MATT. Matt? Yes. Matt who? Your HUSBAND! (with a roll of his eyes) You mean, DADDY? Yes. He's at work. Where's Matthew? Matthew who? You know. (with a glimmer in his eye) Your daddy? Yes! At work, silly boy!

Judah started talking about a "raspberry cup" when we were talking about what kinds of fruits make different kinds of jelly. I asked him what a raspberry cup is. "It's raspberries all connected together with chocolate cake in the middle and icing on top and candles in it that you blow out for your birthday." Sounds yummy to me!!

Elijah came to snuggle in bed with Eden and I one morning when it was time to get up. Noticing a missing person, he asked, "Where's Daddy?" At work already. "Oh, before I even smelled the coffee on him." I guess Daddy's morning coffee is now a permanent part of the boys' day. :-)

T.G.I.F.

One morning as the boys were sitting on the couch, Judah noted that one of the van lights was "on." I checked, and it was simply the sun reflecting off one of the mirrors within the light's compartment -- very bright! I explained what it was and that you shouldn't stare at things that are so bright or it could hurt your eyes. I also told them that we shouldn't stare at the sun either because it could "burn" your eyes and you wouldn't be able to see anymore. Fast forward to after nap time... For some reason, Judah was summarizing my earlier teaching about not staring at the sun. I took the opportunity to to teach the boys that when someone can't see, they are called "blind." Judah said that when he opens his eyes really wide, he is blind. I corrected him and said that was "blurry" and not blind. I had them shut their eyes and said that when you are "blind," you can't see anything but darkness -- no light, shadows, shapes, etc. Judah popped his eyes open and said, "OH! So Daddy must have stared at the sun and gotten blind!" Ha!! Then I had to launch into explaining that, yes, Daddy can't see "anything" without his glasses, but he's not blind.

As I was about to throw away a chicken carcass while cleaning up from dinner, I said aloud what I was doing. The boys were in the kitchen and asked what a "car-ah-cuhs" is. I brought them over to the cutting board and explained that it's basically the skeleton of the chicken we ate for dinner, that it's the bones of a chicken. Judah: "The booooones?? Oh. So chicken comes from a chicken." Congratulations, son! :-)

Most people who know our family know which one of my sons can tend to be mischievous. If you call out for Elijah and he doesn't answer, you'd better find him fast. I went upstairs for maybe five minutes to put a basket of clothes on my bed. Came back down and saw Judah where I'd left the boys, but no sign of Elijah. "Elijah? ..... Elijah, where are you?" Still nothing. It was kind of eerie because usually there are sounds or signs of where he is, but I couldn't figure it out. So I walked around until I got all the way into the kitchen. There he was, hunkered as far into the refrigerator corner as a human can possibly be with the [cutest] big-eyed gasp-she-found-me expression on his face... and a huge chipmunk cheek. "What are you eating?" Silence. "Elijah, WHAT are you eating??" My mind was frantically coursing though what I may have left within reach on the counter -- but there was nothing. All sweets were out of reach. "Elijah, open your mouth." A huge ball of chewed up cheese was inside. "CHEESE??" He shook his head slowly as he continued trying to chew it all. I HAD to smile. Matter of fact, I giggled a little. Here was the classic hand-in-the-cookie-jar moment. And it was cheese. I asked him where he got it from, and he pointed to the meat/cheese drawer. I opened the trash and found the wrapper neatly laid inside. This kid knew exactly what he wanted and how to hide it. At least it was cheese, I guess. Good protein and calcium. :-) I asked him if he was hungry, and he pitifully said yes. "Sweetie, if you're hungry, just ask!"

T.G.I.F.

Seems like Judah takes the cake for this week's TGIF collection...

While discussing what we were going to do after dinner, Judah came up with his own idea. "We should watch a movie and have something that starts with a 'P'," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "It's made with corn and starts with 'pop'." Gee. I wonder what it could be!! It was quite tickling to Matt & I.

Judah went into the bathroom one morning and closed the door. I heard celebration, then he came dancing out of the bathroom, his footies unzipped. "I have some happy neeeeeeews......I'm DRY!" There's one for your marketing, Huggies Overnights.

When Matt gets in the kitchen, usually good things happen. I had a bad headache one afternoon (I think my eyes are showing more signs of aging and need visual aid more than I care to admit), so he made French toast and eggs. I should add that when he gets in the kitchen, he also usually tries to be creative. Sometimes it works...and, well, you know. There was that bacon disaster on Mother's Day a couple years ago... Anyway, he decided he was going to chop up frozen seasoned French fries and mix them in with the scrambled eggs. I protested several times, not wanting anything to be wasted in what I thought was a crazy idea headed for failure. Ok. It was GOOOD! We called it "French Dinner" - French Eggs and French Toast. Here's the funny part... When Matt put Judah's plate on the table, Judah took one look at it and said, "It looks like a junkyard." ::stunned silence from his parents:: What did you say? "It looks like junkyard eggs." I don't even remember if Judah ate them all. But we're callin' them Junkyard Eggs from now on. :-) (Elijah picked his French frie bits out of his eggs.)

We had our first big (and close) thunders of this year a few moments ago. I told the boys that they could get in my bed with me for a few minutes until it passed and then they could finish their nap. I had left my computer open with the radar up, so when they came to my bed they saw it. Having grown up in a Southern state, I'm used to the drill of watching the skies and checking the radar. I think my boys, in their short little lives, have already learned that drill. "Oh, the radar is up!" I was showing them how the storm was moving and where we were. One of them asked where it was moving, and I motioned up the USA coast. Judah said with a hand gesture, "Is it moving northeast?" ::stunned:: Uh...I...uh...well, yes. HOW did you know that?? "Because they say it on the news." Whew, ok. I was about to be very afraid of his smarts if he knew the direction just because. ;-)

Back to nap time!

TGIF

The boys have been hungrier lately. Breakfast this morning consisted of cheerios with banana, more cheerios, then scrambled eggs. While I was trying to finish cooking mine and Matt's eggs/toast, Judah said, "Mommy, you are a good cook. Since you're a good cook, you should work at a restaurant... like Chick-fil-A!" Wow, thanks for having such high aspirations for your mother. ;-)

T.G.I.F.

Oh boy. We've come to the little kid stage of hilarium. Judah has recently discovered his comedic skills with knock-knock jokes. Here's a few I've heard (I'm sensing a theme...and I have no idea where it's coming from):

Knock, knock. Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Banana, why are you painting your toes when you're too close to the fire with a big fan? It will hurt you and spit you up.

Knock, knock. Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Banana, why are you going to paint an ear when you are going to be jailed on a sailed while you're on a furnace?

Knock, knock. Who's there? Boo hoo. Boo hoo who? Boo hoo, why are you going to light a candle on the furnace?

Just a cute little thing Eden did: I had just eaten a small brownie before I picked her up. As soon as she smelled my breath, she whipped her head around and just stared at my mouth. And stared and stared, contemplating. Hmm. Perhaps the female love of chocolate is a predisposition we are born with? ;-)

T.G.I.F.

Judah asked me if I would race them after dinner. I said we'd see. He said, "Well, nevermind. Mommies can't run after they have babies." I tried to clarify to see if he meant mommies can't run while they have babies inside their tummies. "No, they just can't run after they have babies." Why, Judah? Because we're out of shape? "No, just because they can't. Boys can run whenever they want to..." And off he went into a tangent.

Elijah, innocently, at breakfast: "Can I have more banana butt cheerios and bananas?"

T.G.I.F.

I've recently started letting the boys have a whole small apple rather than slices. Elijah bit into his apple this week but not all the way. His teeth marks were left in the skin. After looking it over quizzically and discovering the "smile," he exclaimed, "Look, Mommy! It's a apple punkin'!" Guess he thought it looked like a jack-o-lantern!

Having had a few very windy days lately, it gave Judah opportunity to ponder wind. "Mommy, where does wind come from?" Ah, an age old question, my son. We don't know, sweetie, and even the Bible says that we do not know where it comes from or where it is going. He quietly and solemnley added, "Maybe it's God's breath." So beautiful to watch his mind work.

The other night at dinner I told Matt that Eden is now up to about three cubes of food. Such a witty man I have. He replied: "One cube, two cubes, three cubes....game cube, cube-icle... We live a squared life."

Judah and Elijah were discussing what fireworks were at lunch.

J: Do you know what fireworks are?

E: No.

J: They're things that pop in the sky.

Later on, I heard them still talking about fireworks, the sounds they make, and how they work.

J: When the balloons go up and pop, it's a firework. Red balloons make red fireworks.

E: And purple balloons make purple fire trucks... I mean fireworks.

J: Green balloons make green fireworks...

And on and on they went about which balloon color made which firework color. Sometimes it's so cute to hear the perspective of kids.

I was feeding Eden her first cut-up pears rather than pear babyfood. For the life of me, I don't know what her problem is. It's perhaps the most grimaces I've seen from her when it comes to food. She'll eat pear babyfood mixed with infant cereal. Texture, maybe? Anyway, I told the boys I had no idea why she didn't like it. Without a beat, Judah assured me, "Maybe when she grows up." Yes, thank you, my son of four years. ;-)

T.G.I.F.

Judah: "Mommy, can I show Elijah how the world works?" Wow, son. Can you show me that, too?? Then I found out he was referencing the globe sitting atop our bookshelf and wanted to show Elijah how the "sun and dark work."

Elijah came down from his nap with a mischievous grin and sing-song voice. "Mommy, wanna see what I can dooo?" Uhh, do I? He then proceeded to unbutton and unzip his pants and shove one of his stuffed monkeys down his leg, hysterically laughing all the while. Wow. Sometimes I will never understand the male sense of humor.

Judah was explaining to me what he wanted to happen when we were finished with dinner. I have no idea what he said. Why? Because as soon as I heard him say, "And in the meantime..." my brain shut down to mull over whether or not my 4 year old just used that phrase in a proper manner. Did you just say, "And in the meantime"?? "Yes, I did. ::proceeds to talk about his plan::"

T.G.I.F.

Sunday is Football Day around here. The boys are getting into the cute tradition of choosing which team they are for whatever game is on. While watching Redskins vs. Giants, Judah called out, "I'm the Redskins!" Elijah answered, "I'm the Blueskins!" (Note: For non-football fans, the Redskins have red jerseys while the Giants have blue.)

While eating some BBQ potato chips, Judah said, "These are stingy, but I still like them!"

I've had a problem with freezing feet all week long -- to the point that I'm really irritated by it. I figured out one of the problems was my socks. I suppose the moisture from my feet (though not much) was just enough to keep my socks cool rather than warm. So I've opted to start wearing my flip-flops around the house. While my toes are still icy, my feet are not AS chilled. Still irritating though. But, I did manage a smile when I looked down at my feet today to discover that I have two black flip-flops on...but they don't match. One is my from my nicer pair, and the other from my 'round the house pair. Glad it's not warm enough to accidentally go out in public like this! :-P Not that anyone would really notice... And what's funnier is that I have no idea where the other two flip-flops are! I couldn't make a match even if I cared enough!

T.G.I.F.

Along with Tippy Tuesdays, I'm gonna try to throw in regular T.G.I.F's (To Grin is Fun)-- collecting all the kidisms that happen throughout the week and having one post of hilarium a week! This week's will be slim since I've not been keeping track except for today.

Judah, counting in a sing-song fashion: "...sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twun-hundred!"

At lunch, Eden has been practicing her dexterity with some Puffs. It's so amazing to watch the brain gears working to get those tiny fingers to do what she wills. She's getting better even after just a few days. But, I still occasionally give her a break and put one in her mouth for her if she seems to be having extra trouble. Apparently, she gets that mixed up with the times I hold up a Puff for her to easily grab from my fingers rather than chasing it around the tray. Today, when I'd hold one up for her to take with her fingers, she'd dive for it with mouth open wide. Pretty average reaction for a baby. But when it's YOUR adorable baby, of course it's cutely worthy enough to post about. :-)

Outside during our frigid 20 minutes of play, the boys called me over to look at something. "Look, Mommy! A milk splash!" I looked down to where they were pointing. Uh, that's not a milk splash, boys. "What is it?" That's bird poop. Their stunned expressions and worried glances to the ground were priceless. Did you touch it? "Not with our hands." With your gloves?::pause:: "No, not with our gloves." Hmm. I'll be washing their gloves.

11.24 Elijahisms

In BJs the other day, I asked the boys to help me look for the items on our list. After finding the milk, the next item to look for was eggs. We located the eggs, put them in our cart, and as we were walking away, Elijah said, "Look, Mommy! Chocolate eggs!" I had no idea what he was referencing until I turned around and saw the brown eggs next to the white eggs.

This afternoon, the boys and I were lounging on my bed at the end of nap time. We were playing a rhyming game and got to "eat, meat, seat, etc." Judah started explaining that meat comes from cows. I said that meat can come from different animals, and hamburger is what we get from cows. I then asked, "Where does chicken come from?" Elijah, without a beat, answered, "Chick-fil-A!"

On the whole food thing...

Can I just say that it is so odd to follow the "new guidelines" for feeding an infant? It's amazing how new studies and research can change mass thinking so quickly. Elijah is only three years old. It wasn't terribly long ago that I went through the baby food process with him. And in just the short time since then, it's all changed. Where once you had to spend at least a week introducing a new food to check for reactions, now you only have to wait 3 days. Where once you had to make sure to introduce every single ingredient before you could mash up a casserole or main dish, now you can go straight to feeding your baby exactly what you are having for dinner after you and baby master the basics of solid food feeding. Simply mind bending. Disclaimer: If you do your own internet research, you can find all opinions represented. I really like Wholesome Baby Food as well as my own pediatrician's advice.

Granted, I'm sure "they" are not saying to grind up some spicy (read: burn your mouth off) curry chicken for your 6 month old or popping a few whole peanuts on the high chair tray. I'm gonna call it "Cautious Freedom." That's what it seems like after reading into it. And I like the thought. But it's a little scary because it's just different from how things were with Judah and Elijah. What was especially scary (though our pediatrician approved it) was giving Eden a mix of sweet potato, rice cereal, and ALMOND milk tonight. I gave my 6 month old a nut product. Every spoonful was given with frightening thoughts in my head: "What are the signs of anaphylaxis? Would I call 911 for an epi-pen? How soon would she break out into hives if she's allergic? ... " So, why did I do it if I was scared? Because there is no reason to be afraid. There is no known nut allergy in either of our families. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure life as we know it would cease without peanut butter. ;-) I consulted Dr. L, and he said sure. I wanted to give her something yummy-creamy, and water can't do what a milk texture can. Trust me. I know. (6 months down and less than 6 months to go on this dairy free...with occasional slips...diet.)

I'm treating Eden as an experiment. Since I plan to make more of her food homemade than I did with either of my boys AND because she has not reacted to any foods yet, I'm going to introduce her to more foods than I did the boys. She's already had sweet potatoes, red potatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash -- things the boys never had or to which they reacted. Maybe by doing this, she will have wider food horizons than the boys. Maybe not. We'll see! (Though, the boys seem to have broadened their horizons as of late. I think Elijah at least THREE times this week told me over and over how delicious dinner was...wow!!) Also, because I have recently realized that perhaps I do like avocado... I'm going to buy my very first avocado this week and feed it to my baby. NEVER thought I would say or do that. Watch me!

And now that I've totally rambled about baby food, I offer an adorable Elijah food-ism. Tonight, he and I had a Mexican layer dip with tortilla chips for dinner (see above statement about the dairy diet slip...but just a leetle bit...::sigh:: I know I'll be cleaning up a bit more spit-up tomorrow for that...). As I was building Elijah's layers, he kept telling me what he wanted. He'd think through the list as he said it:

"I want, uh, cheese. Aaaaand....cream [sour cream]. And sauce [no salsa]. And, uh...uuuum...::thinking very hard and long::.... SELL-US! I want sell-us, too."

You mean lettuce? "Yeah! Sell-us!" Too cute to correct. He's putting "salad" and "lettuce" together. That just makes me smile and love his adorableness even more.

Kid Literature

When Elijah says, "I need some pry-swee," he wants me to leave the bathroom while he goes potty. My three year old wants privacy. He also calls an ambulance "eem-blipse." Or something like that. I still can't figure it out!

I dabbled in some dairy to see if Eden has grown out of most of her spit-up issues. Boy, she hasn't. At all. After dotting the floor about 10 times in one hour, I helplessly exclaimed "Child!" as I cleaned up yet another pool of spit-up. Judah responded, "...are known by his actions." Guess he's got that Proverb in his heart: "A child is known by his actions." But in this case, I suppose a mother's actions is known by her infant's reactions. :-P

The other night, Elijah decided he wanted to tell us a couple bedtime stories.

Story One: "Once upon a time, there was a little mommy talking to daddy. She fell down a hole with bugs. There was a blue one. And that's the end of my story."

Story Two: "Once upon a time, there was a big monster; and there was a little Eden looking at it. And then she runned away. That's the end."