Just for the Books

Still have lots of pictures to post, but today is not the day. The weather is finally warming up (every now and then) so we're enjoying the sunshine (every now and then). We had a beautiful weekend to work/play in the yard, go for a hike on the neighborhood nature trail with fun neighbor friends, and finish it off with a cookout (same friends). Today, Tuesday, is nice as well so we went to the zoo and really enjoyed it.
Baby is at 28 weeks now and still doing well. We decided we needed a nickname to make it more personal. I just don't like "it" and "the baby". John has chosen Little Batman. I suppose we'll go with that since we haven't come up with anything better. John will NOT have a say in the given name, though. I feel certain it would be a super hero name since I am now Iceman, Buck is the Green Goblin (or Grobrin as John says it), Eve is Wonderwoman, and John is always Iron Man.
John's mouth continues to amuse us on a regular basis. It's never the same without the expression behind it, but I'll write some down none-the-less.
Saturday we were going to lunch. I was carrying Eve and John was walking with Buck. John really likes to race, so he mentioned that since they were faster, the boys got to go in first. We corrected him (first time we've introduced this concept) and said that boys always let the girls go in first...that way we call them "gentlemen". He was not too keen on the idea. After church Saturday night we were asking questions about his lesson. He said a girl was sick and was healed. "Who healed her?" "God, but I don't want girls to go in first. I want to go in first. I don't want to be a gentleman. That's why I'm mad at you!" I didn't know until that moment that he was upset with us, but apparently he'd been harboring this anger all day. He rattled off the answer so quickly and without pause at any point, it really cracked us up.
Sunday morning Iron Man, Wonder Woman, and Ice Man were racing the Green Goblin to see who could get ready fastest for church (we have to be there super early, so have to be creative in getting them ready fast...a superhero race was the key this week). I mentioned that Wonder Woman has the lasso of truth and that she could catch the Green Goblin in her lasso when he comes down stairs and ask if he brushed his teeth (slow him down and make him tell the truth...I don't know a whole lot about Wonder Woman and needed to find a way for her to help...clearly I was grasping at straws). Anyway, when the Green Goblin came downstairs we caught him with the lasso of truth. A few minutes later Iron Man put him to the test again "Are you sure you brushed your teeth?" With a big smile he replied "Do they look clean?" John's matter-of-fact response "They're not sparkling."
Funny kid.
Another one for the books; although not funny until we have a few years behind us. Yesterday was another of the ultimate tests of wills. In the morning I asked John to eat a small piece of banana with breakfast, about a 1/2". He said "No Thank you", which was nice for manners, but I said he needed to eat it anyway, just a bite. Mind you, banana is not a fruit that he hates. He eats (or should I say used to eat) it quite often. We sat at the table for about an hour fighting over the meaning of obedience, and discussing that when I ask him to do something he needs to obey right away. This continued into a bad attitude, which was met with vinegar in his mouth. We took a break from timeout to get ready for school. He came home and decided he still didn't want the banana, which at this point was getting rather soggy and brown, so he went straight up to his room for a nap. Many spankings, much time in timeout, 4 toys gone for the week, a few more doses of vinegar, and many tears from the both of us later (approximately 11 hours and 45 minutes), Daddy finally convinced him to eat the small piece of banana just seconds before the "straight to bed" clock alarm rang. Needless to say, he ate a lot for supper after that. Anyone guess where that strong will came from?