John and His Mouth

Sometimes I think John is way ahead of his time, and sometimes not quite up to speed when he talks. Either way, it's often pretty funny. My disclaimer for when you read this later in life, John, your Daddy convinced me I needed to write it down.

First of all, John has started to enunciate more, which is bringing out some speech issues (normal for development, but still funny to listen to). For instance, one of his favorite phrases now is "Pweeeeese stop" or "pweeeeeese no" (a step up from "peas"). I've also noticed that he always likes to play the pwanto (otherwise known as the piano), and he's so proud that in August he'll be "free" (or maybe three).

Another funny thing he's started, and I'm not quite sure how to take it, is that he's started to say things about me in a forceful, almost angry tone. I think he thinks it's funny because he usually isn't angry when he's saying it. What I can't figure out is if he just thinks the tone is funny, or if he's trying to cut me down and be mean and he thinks that's funny. What makes it confusing is that he says things like "You rock, mama" and "You're the best". Haven't quite figured out if he thinks those are insults, yet, but I take them as compliments and say, "thank you! You rock, too!"

OK, here's the really funny one. The first time I heard it I thought, "really? Does it really start this young?" We were in a public restroom that had higher toilets than at home. I suggested maybe he should sit because I didn't know if he was tall enough to reach. His response...no lie "No, I big. My pee pee is big." I didn't make a big deal out of it (although it was terribly hard to hide my giggles) because I didn't want that to become his mantra. No luck. He now says that frequently when he goes to the bathroom. Not so much at home...more so in public restrooms. Oh dear.

BUSTED!

Not once, not twice, but three times...BUSTED! For quite a while we've locked John in his room for nap time, bed time, and time out. It seems mean, I know, but while he's sleeping it's really more of a safety issue. Otherwise he'd just be roaming the house unsupervised...scary. For time out, well, judge me as you may. Anyway, after he painted his room with poop, we decided maybe he needed the freedom to leave to go to the bathroom if he needed to, so we stopped locking it for naps and bed time. Some nights, more so frequently, he plays for a while before he actually goes to sleep. Wednesday night we heard some banging around, not so out of the ordinary. Later I heard what I thought was the door opening. We muted the TV, but didn't hear anything else, and the door was closed, so went about our business. When I heard more banging, I went upstairs to tell him he needed to lay down and go to sleep. I opened the door, surveyed the room (no telling where you'll find him at times like this), and didn't see him. About that time I turned around to the cutest "Uh oh, busted...what do I do now?" face. The little booger snuck out and was smart enough to close the door behind him! Immediately I saw scissors on the floor directly in front of him. I asked where he got them and he dutifully let me into our bathroom. I think he must've really been caught off guard because he was incredibly compliant and honest. I promptly asked "Did you cut anything?"...very nervous at this point. He pointed to a few Q-tip boxes on the counter and said that was it. Whew! I led him to his room and gave him a boring lecture on trust...a tough thing to explain to an almost 3-year-old. Anyway, last night I was heading upstairs for a shower and heard the knob rustling. I asked if he needed to go to the bathroom, and he played it off pretty well, but I'm pretty sure he was trying to get out. Today during nap time he made his way out to find me standing downstairs looking right at him. Busted again! I suppose we'll lock the door a while longer. That look on his face the first time I caught him, though, was priceless. If only I had the camera.

More Pictures

Sunflowers! John and Scotty (our neighbor, 4-years-old) planted these in the spring and they turned out BEAUTIFULLY! We've even had a few gorgeous gold finches come to feed off of them. Kudos to Buck for actually seeing them the first time. They blend right in!

Eve LOVES popsicles
And is so sad when they're gone. Check out those huge tears!

Peek-a-boo! Not the best picture of it, but you get the idea. Eve loves this. It happens to be genetic. Apparently it was Aunt Amy's favorite pasttime too.

Oh, and she likes Cheetos. She's such a ham.

I made shirts for Grandma's Camp (with a lot of help from my neighbor Kathy). I was so pleased with how they turned out. This one for Eve...

This one for John, and another one for Mom with the little boy and girl both on it. They tried to get a picture with all of them wearing it, but John is often camera shy, so this is what you get.

John is into making funny faces now. Not just for the camera, but in general, and particularly in front of the mirror. Pretty cute.

As I mentioned before, John is flying around the cul-de-sac on 4 wheels now. When I say flying, I mean it! He's so proud of himself. I'm pretty proud of him too. He's even mastered back pedaling to get out of a pickle. The funniest, though, is when he gets stuck on a bump where the training wheels are touching but the back wheel isn't touching and it's like he's on a stationary bike. He never gives up, though.

And off he goes. (Don't look too closely or you'll see he put his helmet on backwards...at least part of him is still my baby).

Pictures from Grandma's Camp

This is the paper mache tiger that was sort of a mascot during the week. AND, he brought John presents during his nap...not bad.

Gingerbread house

Here's John in his Grandma's Camp t-shirt (of which I'm a bit prideful...I think they turned out really cute). He's holding a basket with seeds that he planted and watered every day to give to me when we got home. In the background is his camp tree. He made a bunch of ornaments, maybe a different one each day.

Campfire. I think John convinced Grandma to do it twice a day since he liked it so much.

A few sparklers for the 4th...from a distance they aren't quite as scary.

At least we know he got one bath during camp (I'm guessing he required quite a few)

Here's one of the ornaments for the tree.

Tiger tracks leading to his after-nap surprise

His tote bag ended up with a lot of shapes on it. He's really started to make an effort to do more than scribble. As you can see he was working really hard.

And so was Eve.

And having lots of fun, too.

Another ornament

Pine cone, peanut butter bird feeders...ooey gooey fun!

Cool tee pee! (and headdress and war paint)

Happy July 4th!

Gone Fishin'

An artist in the making.

The pictures are all out of order, but I think it's pretty clear they enjoyed themselves. I got a little bit of a travel bug that kicked in this weekend, so Mom came and got them last night so I could rest and go to the doctor today. When she walked in they were so very excited to see her. Never a dull moment with Grandma.

Deep Inside There's a Sweet Heart

This morning John got up a little early, and either I'm still recovering from the trip or a cold, so I took a nap at 8am. While I was asleep, John told Buck that he'd like to take money out of his (John's) piggy bank to buy toys for the orphans. Buck said it wasn't something he just spouted off, he actually thought through it. I don't know where exactly that came from. I can think of a series of random events and talks that he could have possibly put together (possibly having to take money from his piggy bank to replace a toy of Scotty's we thought he lost, Mama and Daddy going to Peru to play with orphans, buying school supplies for kids that can't afford it), or maybe they talked about it at Grandma's camp? Anyway, as far as I can tell it was pretty random. Of course, if your child says that, you've got to immediately jump in the car and head to the store! We went to Target. He had said he wanted to get a big blue monster truck when I asked him what he thought the orphans might like. I took a little more than a dollar of change out of his piggy bank (he has no concept of money...cute, I asked him how much he thought we'd need and he replied "one"). Anyway, I gave him the change and told him to put it in his pocket to keep it safe. We looked at the matchbox cars, which I happen to know are just about a dollar. Of course, when he saw how cool they were, his tune changed a bit. He wanted to play with them. I reminded him that we were buying it for the orphans. He compromised and suggested he could share it with them. He also wanted to pick something bigger. I convinced him to pick one of the matchbox cars to buy with his money and let him pick a larger truck for me to buy. He was so excited to put it on the belt at the cash register. He really wanted to put his change on the belt, too, but I finally convinced him to give it to the cashier. I had him explain to her why he was buying it, and I explained that he came up with the idea all on his own. On the way out, I convinced him one more time that we couldn't open it because it was for the orphans. When we were in the car he asked if we were on our way to see them. I hadn't thought it through that far, and he got upset with me when I said they were probably busy and we'd take it to them later. I finally convinced him that we could put it in the mailbox and mail it to them. When we got home, he promptly took them and put them in the mailbox (of course I had to retrieve them behind his back so I can actually wrap it and get postage...details, details). Anyway, I know he doesn't really understand, but I can't help but give him some credit for wanting to help people that don't have parents, and I can't help but thank God for putting that sweetness in his heart and letting me see it.

Totally unrelated, in an hour I'm taking him on our first date to see his first movie on the big screen "Up". I am so excited!

My Sweet Little Princess

Not that these are new, but I just felt they should be randomly recorded.

1. Eve loves hitting her head on things and with things. I suppose it started with the head butting, but she does it all the time...with books, other people's heads, toys, you name it.

2. Eve loves eating sand and dirt - way more than John ever did. Unlike John, once it's in her mouth she doesn't make a yucky face and try to get it out. No. She seeks it out and continues to put in in her mouth. The more I try to wipe it out, the more she puts in. She's almost always drooling mud. That's my little princess.

Oh, and last night I was showing off that she almost always says "Mama" when I ask "Who loves you?". Buck was going to try to get her to answer "Daddy" to "Who's the greatest". Two problems with that scenario. First, she doesn't know how to say Daddy yet (I felt bad, so I've been working on it today...not there yet). Second, John is way too quick to answer "ME!".

Grandma's Camp

Wow, lots to catch up on!

First, before we left, John said the funniest thing. We were sitting in the parking lot at Target. He had his fingers up to his nose, and he said "I can't get the stinky poopie out of my nose. It's stuck." His fingers weren't in his nose, and upon investigating, I found that neither he nor Eve had pooped. I still have no idea what he was talking about, but it was hilarious.

So, Buck and I just went on a 10-day mission trip to Peru with some of the high-school youth from church. It took me an entire week to prepare, and who knows how long to recover, but it was wonderful. When I was growing up, my grandmother hosted "Grandma's Camp" every year. She got a bunch of the cousins together for a week or two during the summer. We had camp shirts, a camp cheer, a duty chart, a flashlight campfire with songs, lots of fun activities, and we always ate dessert first. It was awesome! So, Mom was planning on keeping the kids for us...a perfect opportunity to keep the tradition rolling! We started telling John about Grandma's Camp a few weeks ahead of time, so by the time it rolled around, he was so excited. 10 days! Dropping them off was a little tough. The car was beyond full (I think I went a bit overboard, but Mom was oh so patient with me). John started watching his movie, but was courteous enough to give me a quick side hug as we left. I made it out the door with dry eyes...barely. We talked to John one evening while we were gone, and that was the toughest part of the trip for me. I was a bit worried about Eve and how she'd respond when we got back. Both were so excited to see us. It was so fun. Eve held her hands in front of her and beat them up and down with sheer excitement. John just kept talking and running around the house. It was so great to see them again. Even more fun, though, was hearing about Grandma's Camp (who knows how long it will take Mom to recover!). They had a blast! John had a camp tree that he made decorations for every day, he made a gingerbread house, dyed Easter eggs (twice), colored a tote bag, went to the park, went swimming, lit sparklers, made a paper mache tiger, played in a tee pee with an Indian headband...you name it, he did it! Mom has a bunch of pictures I'll post when I get her camera. John had so much fun that for the next day or two he was still calling me Grandma. What a sweet and fun memory. A HUGE thanks to Mom for keeping them so that we could go on the mission trip.

When we got back we noticed that John was speaking even more clearly. Eve is walking rather well now; although she's not doing ups or downs (i.e. the sloped curb). Eve is trying to say ball, and I've got her fairly consistently saying "Mama" when I ask "Who loves you?". Oh, and she climbed up on a kitchen chair the other day. Uh oh. Probably the biggest thing, though, is my new higher blood pressure. When we got back, Scotty from next door gave John his bike. A two wheeler (with training wheels, of course). That night John practiced riding it. He needed a good bit of help because our cul-de-sac has a very slight incline. The next day Mr. Jerry (our super nice neighbor) greased up the chain for him, and Buck raised the seat. Holy cow! He's FLYING now! It's funny because his tricycle was a sort of short-lived interest, but all he wants to do outside now is ride this bike. He took a few good spills yesterday and has some little boo boos (nothing too exciting), but Buck gave him the "don't take turns too fast" lesson, and he didn't fall today. He just absolutely loves it and is so proud of himself. He keeps looking over at me and smiling, and I have to remind him to watch where he's going. Today he kept saying "Here comes the biker", "I won the race". He also likes to fix his bike, and has kept a wrench and pliers on it the entire time. Very cute, but it makes me cringe to watch. I already told Buck I'm going to have to go on vacation when we take the training wheels off. John has also been taking swimming lessons this week. He's really young for it, but they're really cheap. He doesn't ever want to go, but he does alright once he's there. Since he's not afraid of jumping in (even without the lifejacket...although he can't swim without it), she's working on helping him get comfortable on his back in the water.