My kids are known for their random knowledge. They must get it from their daddy who knows EVERYTHING. Seriously...everything. My kids know every truck their is and more dinosaur names than most adults (can you identify a papsauralophus or a michelinasaurus?!). They know the city of every professional football team. Whenever we walk into the bank, the bank manager starts quizzing my kids by naming a city and waiting for them to name the NFL team. They can't be stumped. Even C, who just turned three. It's pretty crazy.
But the piece of knowledge they know that I deem "Most Random" is.... (drumroll).... the Chicago Bears fight song. I don't even remember how it started, but they insisted on figuring out the words to the Bears' fight song. (Yes, I know we don't live in Chicago, and we don't really root for the Bears.) So we youtube-d it. Now, we'll be walking in the grocery store or playing at the park and one of the boys will feel so full of Bears pride that he will start into the song as loud as possible.
"Bear down, Chicago Bears!
Make every play clear the way to victory.
Bear down, Chicago Bears!
Put up a fight with a might so fearlessly.
We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation with your T-formation.
Bear down, Chicago Bears!
And let them know why you're wearing the crown!
You're the pride and joy of Illinois, Chicago Bears! Bear down!"
Next time you see them, ask them to sing it for you. It's pretty cute. And, just to put in my two sense, the Bears do have the best fight song. We youtube-d a few other teams' songs that they wanted to hear, and most of them were pretty bad.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Kids' Words
One of the things I love most about kids is how they say whatever is on their mind. There's no filter. Oh, the things they say! Their words can be funny:
Sitting down to dinner tonight, P put the bowls of chili in front of the boys, and they each lit up saying, "oh! Oh! OH!" like it was a plate of chocolate chip cookies.
Their words can be endearing and wise beyond their years:
C- "Mom, do you know how we can be like Jesus?"
Me- "How?"
C- "Helping you to believe in Jesus."
(not a bad answer for a three-year-old)
And their words can be stumping:
Out of nowhere, in the car last week, A said, "Mom... you know when we have more kids in our family? What color will they be? Do you think that they can have white skin like we do?" We ended up having a great conversation about how God paints with lots of different colors and how boring the world would be if it was only one color. We talked about how the way people look doesn't make any difference in their personalities, and we even hit on how the four of us have different eye color and hair color and that those things don't matter. But here I am a week later wondering where on Earth that question came from? What was working in his little mind that made him ask for siblings that have the same skin color as us? I didn't know it had even crossed his mind that they might NOT be the same color? Oh, how I would pay money to get a glimpse into his little mind to see how it works.
Sitting down to dinner tonight, P put the bowls of chili in front of the boys, and they each lit up saying, "oh! Oh! OH!" like it was a plate of chocolate chip cookies.
Their words can be endearing and wise beyond their years:
C- "Mom, do you know how we can be like Jesus?"
Me- "How?"
C- "Helping you to believe in Jesus."
(not a bad answer for a three-year-old)
And their words can be stumping:
Out of nowhere, in the car last week, A said, "Mom... you know when we have more kids in our family? What color will they be? Do you think that they can have white skin like we do?" We ended up having a great conversation about how God paints with lots of different colors and how boring the world would be if it was only one color. We talked about how the way people look doesn't make any difference in their personalities, and we even hit on how the four of us have different eye color and hair color and that those things don't matter. But here I am a week later wondering where on Earth that question came from? What was working in his little mind that made him ask for siblings that have the same skin color as us? I didn't know it had even crossed his mind that they might NOT be the same color? Oh, how I would pay money to get a glimpse into his little mind to see how it works.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Not so Terrible Twos
I think I might have posted something about this when A was this age, but I'm amazed again this time around.
The twos get a bad rap. They are dubbed "terrible twos" and as a first-time mom, I feared A's second bday expecting this overnight horror child. Maybe I'm the only mom that thinks this, but the twos weren't so bad. I actually liked the twos. They are learning so much. Language is growing exponentially and the words that come out of their mouth make me laugh so much.
Then, they turn three. As a mom, I breathe a sigh of relief that we've missed this horrible stage completely. But oh, the threes. My sweet little boy morphed overnight into a completely self-confident, independent kid, which would be great if he wasn't THREE. My little C now questions EVERYTHING I say, challenges EVERYTHING I ask him to do. I feel like I battle all day. One example.... for lunch, I made C a sandwich. PBH (Peanut Butter and Honey...what's not to like about that?). He's been a little picky lately, so I asked him if he would like me to take the crust off for him. His answer...
C-No.
So I bring him his plate.
C-No... no crust please.
He threw in the please, so I humor him and start taking off the crust.
C-(now getting more angry) NO! I want my crust! Put it back on! I want my crust!
I'm not one for much drama, so I put the crust on the plate, and move on to making my sandwich.
C-(now screaming) I don't want crust on my plate! I don't like crust! No crust!
Seriously! There is an internal need for three-year-olds to battle, and it is oh, so wearing on their mommas. We're not even one month into the "Trying Threes" and I'm wondering when this stage will end.
So what's a momma supposed to do? Breathe. Deep breaths. Pray for strength and wisdom. And pick the battles that are worth fighting. And realize that with everything, this is a stage. My sweet C will return someday... soon, I hope.
The twos get a bad rap. They are dubbed "terrible twos" and as a first-time mom, I feared A's second bday expecting this overnight horror child. Maybe I'm the only mom that thinks this, but the twos weren't so bad. I actually liked the twos. They are learning so much. Language is growing exponentially and the words that come out of their mouth make me laugh so much.
Then, they turn three. As a mom, I breathe a sigh of relief that we've missed this horrible stage completely. But oh, the threes. My sweet little boy morphed overnight into a completely self-confident, independent kid, which would be great if he wasn't THREE. My little C now questions EVERYTHING I say, challenges EVERYTHING I ask him to do. I feel like I battle all day. One example.... for lunch, I made C a sandwich. PBH (Peanut Butter and Honey...what's not to like about that?). He's been a little picky lately, so I asked him if he would like me to take the crust off for him. His answer...
C-No.
So I bring him his plate.
C-No... no crust please.
He threw in the please, so I humor him and start taking off the crust.
C-(now getting more angry) NO! I want my crust! Put it back on! I want my crust!
I'm not one for much drama, so I put the crust on the plate, and move on to making my sandwich.
C-(now screaming) I don't want crust on my plate! I don't like crust! No crust!
Seriously! There is an internal need for three-year-olds to battle, and it is oh, so wearing on their mommas. We're not even one month into the "Trying Threes" and I'm wondering when this stage will end.
So what's a momma supposed to do? Breathe. Deep breaths. Pray for strength and wisdom. And pick the battles that are worth fighting. And realize that with everything, this is a stage. My sweet C will return someday... soon, I hope.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Randomness
Yesterday it was 40 degrees... maybe warmer. If the ground wasn't so wet, I was going to take the boys for a scooter ride/walk around the neighborhood. Today. It's 20 degrees and the snowflakes are still slowly fluttering to the ground. I know I shouldn't complain. It is January, so 20 degrees is normal and expected. But to go from 40 to 20 over night is a little... shocking. So, "hello winter. I guess you finally decided to show up."
It's one of those days when I can not believe how slowly the clock is ticking. We have nothing planned. Nothing. So, I wanted to remind myself of a few things that I love:
-One of C's most used words is "cu-cuz" for because. Oh I love how sweet it sounds!
-When A is in a super sweet mood, he still calls me "momma". Melt my heart.
-I made hot chocolate the other day thinking it would be a fun treat. A's reaction "Mom, you don't make hot chocolate very good. Miss Kelly makes it better. That's cuz she makes it on the stove and you put it in the microwave. Maybe next time you should try it on the stove instead. Can I have warm vanilla instead?" Warm vanilla is basically just heated up milk. Yep... he turned down hot chocolate for warm milk. Wasn't hard for me to say "yes" to that one.
-My sweet, sweet friend M came over the other night for a glass of wine after the kids went down. We hadn't seen each other in awhile with the holidays, and it was so good to catch up. Two hours FLEW by. I couldn't believe how fast it went. After she left, I still had a whole list of things I wanted to ask her about. I love having the kind of friends that you could hang with for hours and love every minute.
-Gak. My kids are downstairs playing with Gak. It's a mixture of cornstarch and water. A weird half-solid-half-liquid kind of mixture. It's keeping them entertained long enough for me to take a short break. Love it.
It's one of those days when I can not believe how slowly the clock is ticking. We have nothing planned. Nothing. So, I wanted to remind myself of a few things that I love:
-One of C's most used words is "cu-cuz" for because. Oh I love how sweet it sounds!
-When A is in a super sweet mood, he still calls me "momma". Melt my heart.
-I made hot chocolate the other day thinking it would be a fun treat. A's reaction "Mom, you don't make hot chocolate very good. Miss Kelly makes it better. That's cuz she makes it on the stove and you put it in the microwave. Maybe next time you should try it on the stove instead. Can I have warm vanilla instead?" Warm vanilla is basically just heated up milk. Yep... he turned down hot chocolate for warm milk. Wasn't hard for me to say "yes" to that one.
-My sweet, sweet friend M came over the other night for a glass of wine after the kids went down. We hadn't seen each other in awhile with the holidays, and it was so good to catch up. Two hours FLEW by. I couldn't believe how fast it went. After she left, I still had a whole list of things I wanted to ask her about. I love having the kind of friends that you could hang with for hours and love every minute.
-Gak. My kids are downstairs playing with Gak. It's a mixture of cornstarch and water. A weird half-solid-half-liquid kind of mixture. It's keeping them entertained long enough for me to take a short break. Love it.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
C Updates
Here are a few things going on in the world of our sweet C:
1. Stitches: On Thanksgiving day, he took a headfirst dive into a wrought iron wood holder for firewood. We ended up at Children's Hospital getting stitches in his lip. He was such a trooper. I am absolutely amazed that this was our first ER trip. With how rough-and-tumble my kids are and how much they love to climb, explore, run, jump off of high places and wrestle, I'm amazed we haven't had to get stitches before. Let's hope it's our last trip for awhile.
2. Football cards: Neither of my boys really had a lovely as babies, but C has one now. Football cards. He carries them with him everywhere! He tends to leave a trail behind him. I've found them under couches, in books, and even under his covers in his bed. The most amazing part is that he knows the teams. He LOVES for me to flip through the deck like flash cards and ask him who each team is. I felt a little like the psycho mom in the ER when the doctors would walk in and I was quizzing my two-year-old on all the NFL teams. Next time you see him, you should ask him about some of the teams. Name a city and he can tell you which team plays there. He even knows that there used to be a team in Houston called the Oilers but now there's team called the Texans.
3. Fuzzy: The other day, C kept complaining that he had a fuzzy and pulling on his pants like he was uncomfortable. I had no idea what he was talking about, and it took an entire day of complaining for me to realize he meant "wedgie"! I asked him if that's what he meant, and he replied, "Yes... but I call it a fuzzy." Wish I had known that at the beginning of the day. Could have saved us a lot of whining.
4. Mixing up Words: I know this is part of this age, but I think it's absolutely adorable to hear C mix up words while he's telling a story. Most common are things like, "I yike Bwooke because HER is nice." Oh, he thinks he's such a big kid and loves to hang with the big boys, but his sweet 2-year-old voice gives him away. He's still a little boy. At least for a few more days until he turns 3!
5. Beautiful: C is super compassionate and has such a loving heart. Yesterday, I left for a girls' night out at our church. Before I left, C climbed on my lap, looked at me with a cute, shy smile and said, "Mommy, you are beautiful." As if that doesn't melt my heart enough, he continued, "Your hair is beautiful and your sweater is beautiful and your new purse is beautiful and EVERYTHING of you is beautiful." Oh, my. What a sweetheart!
1. Stitches: On Thanksgiving day, he took a headfirst dive into a wrought iron wood holder for firewood. We ended up at Children's Hospital getting stitches in his lip. He was such a trooper. I am absolutely amazed that this was our first ER trip. With how rough-and-tumble my kids are and how much they love to climb, explore, run, jump off of high places and wrestle, I'm amazed we haven't had to get stitches before. Let's hope it's our last trip for awhile.
2. Football cards: Neither of my boys really had a lovely as babies, but C has one now. Football cards. He carries them with him everywhere! He tends to leave a trail behind him. I've found them under couches, in books, and even under his covers in his bed. The most amazing part is that he knows the teams. He LOVES for me to flip through the deck like flash cards and ask him who each team is. I felt a little like the psycho mom in the ER when the doctors would walk in and I was quizzing my two-year-old on all the NFL teams. Next time you see him, you should ask him about some of the teams. Name a city and he can tell you which team plays there. He even knows that there used to be a team in Houston called the Oilers but now there's team called the Texans.
3. Fuzzy: The other day, C kept complaining that he had a fuzzy and pulling on his pants like he was uncomfortable. I had no idea what he was talking about, and it took an entire day of complaining for me to realize he meant "wedgie"! I asked him if that's what he meant, and he replied, "Yes... but I call it a fuzzy." Wish I had known that at the beginning of the day. Could have saved us a lot of whining.
4. Mixing up Words: I know this is part of this age, but I think it's absolutely adorable to hear C mix up words while he's telling a story. Most common are things like, "I yike Bwooke because HER is nice." Oh, he thinks he's such a big kid and loves to hang with the big boys, but his sweet 2-year-old voice gives him away. He's still a little boy. At least for a few more days until he turns 3!
5. Beautiful: C is super compassionate and has such a loving heart. Yesterday, I left for a girls' night out at our church. Before I left, C climbed on my lap, looked at me with a cute, shy smile and said, "Mommy, you are beautiful." As if that doesn't melt my heart enough, he continued, "Your hair is beautiful and your sweater is beautiful and your new purse is beautiful and EVERYTHING of you is beautiful." Oh, my. What a sweetheart!
The Art of Telling Mom
Some of you may be familiar with Brian Regan. He's a very funny situational-comedy kind of comedian, and he's very clean, which I love. He's got a great skit about having to tell his mom about a brother who broke his arm. Hysterical. And A has mastered the same art of breaking the bad news to mom. Two examples from our Small Group Christmas Party the other night:
#1
A- Hey mom, can you come up to the third floor? I want to show you something.
Me- Sure! I can't wait to see it. What do you want to show me (totally expecting a tower, lego building, etc.)?
A- Um... just something.
Me- Is it a good something or a bad something?
A- Um... maybe it's kind of good but I think maybe it's mostly bad.
Me- (now more serious) What is it?
A- Well, it's on the floor upstairs and maybe it might kind of look like poop.
I can't believe that's the tactic he chose to reveal to me that there was a pile of poop in the middle of the playroom floor! (It was tracked in from someone's shoe)
#2
A- Hey mom, you've gotta come see what AJ (our friend) is doing. (He says this in a joyful voice as though there was something really funny going on)
Me- Sure... what's he doing?
A-He's upstairs. You should come see.
Me-Sure buddy. But what's he doing?
A- Well, you know how sometimes snot comes out of your nose, like a lot at one time. Well, it's kind of like that only with blood.
Me- (now more serious) Where is he? Where's the blood?
A- Well maybe there is a little on your bed (which is white) and maybe a little more on your carpet (also white)... or maybe it's a lot.
Now compare that to AJ's brother's storytelling tactic.
"Mom, there's blood... Mom, there's blood... Mom, there's blood!"
Seems a little more direct than A's method! I think A will make a great PR person some day!
(Disclaimer: AJ was fine. He'd bonked heads with his brother and got a bloody nose. In case you haven't learned this trick, Hydrogen Peroxide got all of the blood out of both the white duvet cover and the white carpet.)
#1
A- Hey mom, can you come up to the third floor? I want to show you something.
Me- Sure! I can't wait to see it. What do you want to show me (totally expecting a tower, lego building, etc.)?
A- Um... just something.
Me- Is it a good something or a bad something?
A- Um... maybe it's kind of good but I think maybe it's mostly bad.
Me- (now more serious) What is it?
A- Well, it's on the floor upstairs and maybe it might kind of look like poop.
I can't believe that's the tactic he chose to reveal to me that there was a pile of poop in the middle of the playroom floor! (It was tracked in from someone's shoe)
#2
A- Hey mom, you've gotta come see what AJ (our friend) is doing. (He says this in a joyful voice as though there was something really funny going on)
Me- Sure... what's he doing?
A-He's upstairs. You should come see.
Me-Sure buddy. But what's he doing?
A- Well, you know how sometimes snot comes out of your nose, like a lot at one time. Well, it's kind of like that only with blood.
Me- (now more serious) Where is he? Where's the blood?
A- Well maybe there is a little on your bed (which is white) and maybe a little more on your carpet (also white)... or maybe it's a lot.
Now compare that to AJ's brother's storytelling tactic.
"Mom, there's blood... Mom, there's blood... Mom, there's blood!"
Seems a little more direct than A's method! I think A will make a great PR person some day!
(Disclaimer: AJ was fine. He'd bonked heads with his brother and got a bloody nose. In case you haven't learned this trick, Hydrogen Peroxide got all of the blood out of both the white duvet cover and the white carpet.)
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Thanksgiving
Sometimes it is easy to fall into line with the rest of our society and join in the complaining. So easy. I mean, sometimes complaining just feels good, and sometimes I start complaining and don't even realize it's complaining until the conversation is over. But when I really stop and evaluate my life, the things that drive me crazy are so small. "First world problems"... you know the kind of thing that no one in a third world country would ever complain about.
I started this Christmas season feeling so overwhelmed with having so much to do. We have a child's birthday and a milestone anniversary to celebrate both within four days of Christmas. We have a lot of family, which means a LOOOONG list of presents to buy. We have a new house, which means lots of space to decorate and lots of parties to host. I caught myself actually COMPLAINING that we have too many parties this year. Seriously?! It must be hard to be us!
So then I realized that we have two sweet kids on the other side of the world waiting patiently for our family to come for them. They won't get any presents this year because they have no family to buy presents for them. They certainly aren't complaining of having too many parties to go to with too many sweets to eat. I realized how snobby I sound complaining of such great things. I am so anxiously awaiting the arrival of our kids into our family, and yet I still get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season that I completely lose focus of what's important.
I am so blessed. I am loved by the Creator of the world. He created me exactly as I am and loves me unconditionally. And even better is that I am aware of that love and can experience His love every day. He is good. Period. He is not good because he chooses to bless me, yet he does choose to pour his blessings on my life. We have two healthy, sweet boys who love their mommy and daddy. We have a new house which is literally EVERYTHING I wanted in a house. Down to every detail. We are surrounded by a cloud of friends and family that love us and support us. The kind of friends and family that call at the exact right time to offer the exact words of encouragement I need.
And we have each other. We are very close to celebrating 10 years of marriage. It's a little overwhelming to think of how different life was 10 years ago. We've been through a lot together, and our relationship has changed and matured in that time. We are both so different, but good different.
Alright... I know this is a random post. I'm ending it now because I've maxed out my computer time. One of my children is pretending the other is meat and trying to eat him. Guess which one is which? I probably need to step in.
I started this Christmas season feeling so overwhelmed with having so much to do. We have a child's birthday and a milestone anniversary to celebrate both within four days of Christmas. We have a lot of family, which means a LOOOONG list of presents to buy. We have a new house, which means lots of space to decorate and lots of parties to host. I caught myself actually COMPLAINING that we have too many parties this year. Seriously?! It must be hard to be us!
So then I realized that we have two sweet kids on the other side of the world waiting patiently for our family to come for them. They won't get any presents this year because they have no family to buy presents for them. They certainly aren't complaining of having too many parties to go to with too many sweets to eat. I realized how snobby I sound complaining of such great things. I am so anxiously awaiting the arrival of our kids into our family, and yet I still get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season that I completely lose focus of what's important.
I am so blessed. I am loved by the Creator of the world. He created me exactly as I am and loves me unconditionally. And even better is that I am aware of that love and can experience His love every day. He is good. Period. He is not good because he chooses to bless me, yet he does choose to pour his blessings on my life. We have two healthy, sweet boys who love their mommy and daddy. We have a new house which is literally EVERYTHING I wanted in a house. Down to every detail. We are surrounded by a cloud of friends and family that love us and support us. The kind of friends and family that call at the exact right time to offer the exact words of encouragement I need.
And we have each other. We are very close to celebrating 10 years of marriage. It's a little overwhelming to think of how different life was 10 years ago. We've been through a lot together, and our relationship has changed and matured in that time. We are both so different, but good different.
Alright... I know this is a random post. I'm ending it now because I've maxed out my computer time. One of my children is pretending the other is meat and trying to eat him. Guess which one is which? I probably need to step in.
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