Post-Halloween Craze

The spookable holiday was the real deal this year for the kids...even though the trick-or-treating isn't quite like it was when I was a kid, they still had a good time. My favorite moments?
Sean, walking down the street, yelling out "People! Turn on your lights! I want to trick-or-treat!!!" I, of course, immediately told him that it isn't polite to yell out things like that. His response? "But they won't hear me if I whisper!"
Another memorable kid-quote came from Christian, when one of Neil's co-workers took out his gross fake monster teeth...all wide-eyed, Christian said "OH. You have gum disease." Where does my three year old learn about gum disease? I have no idea.
And, of course, the morning after...I found Christian with his candy bag. He had taken all of the suckers out and unwrapped each one, making a small mountain of Blow-Pops and Dum-Dums and Tootsie-pops. I was all, "Christian! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He calmly reached over, picked up a Dum-Dum, and said "Here, Mommy. Try a blue one. They're really good." Like the gum disease has taught him nothing! Geez!
So, fun was had by all...including Kailey, who played the role of the sleeping baby with great skill. Personally, I just love a holiday that gives me permission to dress my kids up in cute costumes, show them off, and pays with bags of treats for me...

Hanging Out With The Scarecrow...

Are we off to see the wizard? Nah...just having a weekend fall-fest at Nana and Papa's house!

When You Send A Kid To School In Rural NC...

...he'll come home one day and use "ain't" in a sentence.

Five years of training undone on the playground.

(Sigh.)

A Brand New Masterpiece

My little kindergartner's latest work of art...I believe the title is officially something like "Ladybug Carried by a Turtle". I'm a big fan of the artist!

Most Likely to Scheme With Ashton Kutcher

So the boys were having one of those nights where they just didn't want to fall asleep. I put them into bed, turned out the light, and went to get Kailey ready for sleepy-time. Sean and Christian kept alternating their calls - "Mommy! I can't sleep!" "Mommy, Sean threw a pillow down!" "Mommy! I want water!" "Mommy! Mommy! Moooommmmmyyyy!"

This can get very annoying. I try to ignore them for the most part, lest I get sucked into an endless back-and-forth exchange, which is so not the point of bedtime.

But, finally, Sean said "Mommy! I'm scared! I think there's a monster in the closet!"
I started walking back to their room, yelling out across the house (I'm soooo ladylike sometimes) "THERE'S NOT A MONSTER IN THE CLOSET!" I got to their room and looked up at Sean on the top bunk. "Sean, there's nothing to be scared of. I promise, there is not a monster in the closet. Monsters are not real."
"Actually, Mommy, I think it's a small dinosaur."
"There isn't a monster and there isn't a dinosaur, either. There's nothing in the closet!" I turned to the closet, reached out to open the doors, and RRROOOOAAAAARRRR!!!!
Christian jumped out of the closet.
I nearly jumped right out of my fuzzy pink socks and let out a totally sincere scream.
They were so pleased with themselves for scaring me that it was all they talked about the next day.
Here's what really scares me - if they're coming up with pranks to pull on me now, at the sweet innocent ages of 3 and 5, what are they going to do to me when they're teenagers???

Surprise Request

Sean's prayer at bedtime sort of floored me tonight...he started out with this: "God, please give me -"

And in that pause, I was thinking...and here it is. The first time he asks for God to give him something more than a safe night and good dreams. And with the amount of time it was taking him to think it up...I was getting ready to hear a request for Power Rangers or a dog or Transformers...and a part of me was sad, that his innocent baby prayers might be turning into the 'I want' list instead...I didn't expect it quite so soon.

But he continued with this: "Please, God, give Christian a new toy car that's really fast on a roller coaster that's a toy that he likes." And on with the regularly scheduled prayer.

It actually brought tears to my eyes. This 4 year old's instinct is to pray for a blessing someone else would enjoy (and he's the first one to always say that Christian likes cars, but he likes superheroes...it was actually a selfless toy request).

Another life lesson from my kid.
If he keeps giving me such great examples of how to be a better person, I might actually show improvement at some point. :)

Why Didn't Ben Franklin Think of This One?

The newest proverb around our house, courtesy of Sean's newest try to convince me that I should really wake up before seven am:

"Get up! It's morning! I need breakfast! Mommy, don't sleep on the sun!"

I'll definitely be turning that one against him when he's fifteen and convinced that ten-thirty on a Saturday is soooo early...

Sometimes it's All I Can do to Not Fall Over

Neil took his four day motorcycle course this past weekend, which means that he's finally able to ride the bike that has been sitting in the garage for a few months now and that I am finally able to have the (predicted) cold sweats when he decides to zoom away with nothing around his body except air. It didn't help that when he bought the thing, pretty much everyone I told (including his own father) immediately said - he has life insurance, right? Yeah. Thanks for the reassurance.
So yesterday he decided that he wanted the boys and me to watch as he rode down the street and back...Christian is absolutely fascinated by anything that has wheels and moves, so he was ecstatic. However...Sean is a different sort of child - the kind that is leery of anything too loud or too fast. (In other words, he's just like me.)
We were all about 'hey, watch Daddy on the motorcycle!' and, once the engine was turned off, 'hey, watch Christian sit on the bike with Daddy!'
This is when Sean walked up to the motorcycle and said : "Hey, I've got a great idea! Watch me leave it alone!" And he walked back into the garage.
Three years old and a developed sense of sarcasm. My work here, good people of the blogosphere, is obviously done.

Child-Like Faith

Sean just rummaged up an old Winnie the Pooh VHS tape from the back of my closet. He held it out for my inspection - "Can we watch this?"
As our VCR hasn't worked in...oh, about two years, I had to say - "I'm sorry, Sean. That movie won't work on our tv."
His response - "Sure it can, Mommy. We just have to believe."

In the face of such pure three-year-old rainbows and storybook logic, I am left speechless.
And feeling pretty bad that I couldn't somehow use a paperclip and a piece of gum or something to make that VCR work for him...

Of Peter Cottontail (and Santa, too)

On seeing the Easter Bunny at Wal-Mart on Friday -

Sean: "Mommy, why was that Easter Rabbit wearing shoes? Rabbits don't wear shoes."

Ummm...we dress up on Easter, so the Easter Rabbit dresses up with us. Right? I mean, wouldn't that have been a good answer?

Unfortunately, I came up with that answer....yesterday. At the time, I couldn't think of a single thing to do except distract him. ( "Hey, look at that candy the Rabbit gave you! Cool! Can I open it for you? Candy! Yay!" My only other thought was the truth - "Kiddo, that's a really tall dude in a costume. If he didn't have on shoes, you'd see his real human feet instead of big rabbit paws. Plus, this floor is disgusting." [On further thought, why didn't Wal-Mart invest in a costume that had actual rabbit feet instead of letting the really tall dude in the white rabbit costume wear those huge black sneakers? We know you can afford it, Wal-Mart. We all get up to the check out counter with, oh, five items and end up paying forty bucks for it. Every time. Probably several times a month. WE DESERVE PAWS! Or at the very least, a nice shiny pair of dress shoes instead of boat-ish sneakers. Seriously, come ON.])

Ahem.


I'm going to need serious guidance with the Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy/Santa thing if he continues to be this observant. He's three and already asking these things. I've always been torn on this issue anyway...do I let him believe that these characters are for real until he naturally figures it out on his own or do I leave no doubt that they're fun but make believe parts of holidays? If he asks direct questions, I know that I'll have to honestly answer him...I just didn't expect him to start asking these questions so soon.

I remember knowing from an early age that Santa wasn't real, but I still loved the idea of him. I guess that's what matters to me - not that the boys actually believe that there is a physical bunny in a bow tie dropping off a basket of goodies on Easter morning, but that they can retain a fairy tale-ish view of the world...that they can suspend their disbelief enough to join in the fun of it all...I want them to feel free to imagine.

Hello, Moon

A few weeks ago, I went on a grocery run one night after Neil got home from work. Sean decided that he wanted to go with me- on the way to the car he stopped and looked straight up into the dark sky. "Mommy," he said, "look at the moon! Look at all the stars!"

So I stopped with him and looked up at the thick spread of stars hanging heavy over us, at the nearly full moon. "I see them," I said. "They're beautiful."

He waved his little hand towards the sky. "Hey, Moon! It's me, Sean!"
I smiled and watched as he kept his eyes trained on the glowing orb. His next declaration was said in an 'I'm 3 years old and offended' indignant sort of way - "Moon! I said hey! Say hey to me!"

A long pause, in which he stared into the sky with a scowl on his face."Say. Hey. To. ME!"


Haven't we all felt like that before?