When does it change?

Joshua refuses to learn to push himself in a swing, he prefers to have someone else push him. I've noticed several of his friends can do it and I wish he would learn to do it to. I want to be one of the moms that can sit on a bench and talk to other moms while my child is swinging.

Well, Joshua and I were having a talk about it this week, and, I found myself saying "But all your friends can push themselves." Yes, I said it... I've also wanted to say it to try to persuade him to drink his milk cold as opposed to warm (he used to drink it cold, but then he got sick during the winter and I gave him warm milk to help comfort him and he has refused to drink cold milk ever since) and to get him to try riding his bicycle again (he was so excited when we first got his bicycle, the first time he rode it, the pedal fell off - it was preassembled at the store and I didn't check all the screws - and he has only ridden it one time since then because he is afraid the pedal is going to fall off...not that he fell off or anything, just the pedal...), but I stopped myself.

Embarassment or shame is not a good motivator and I thought about that right after I said it so I will not be saying it again. But, it did get me thinking....I wonder when will my thoughts change from "But all your friends are doing it" to "Well, if all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?"!

It's been a while

I haven't been spending much time online lately and the blog hasn't been updated in a while. So, here are just a few random things.

Nums? For months, Joshua has been calling my boobs "nums." I had no idea where the word "nums" came from...he never asked what they were and I guess I never told him what they were called so "nums" was the chosen word. One night, we were playing with Joshua's doctor kit, he was the doctor, I was the patient. He had his stethescope on, listened to my heartbeat and then, he went to my back and told me to breath deep so he could listen to my....yep, you guessed it "nums!" Lungs/nums, made perfect sense...I am happy to have that one solved.

Joshua still tells me "Mommy, you look beautiful", "Mommy, your hair is pretty", and, I guess he has a favorite shirt of mine and he even asked me to wear it one day because I look beautiful when I wear it.

Butt, poop, booger, booger butt, poop butt, booger nose, any combination and we hear it NUMEROUS times per day. I've told Joshua he is only allowed to say these words at home...as far as I know, he only says them at home (knock on wood). A couple of times, he has attempted to call me "butt" but I told him not to call me "butt" because I don't like it. He then said "But I was just going to call you butterfly. You like being called butterfly don't you?" And how can I say no to being called "butterfly?" Butterflies are beautiful, butterflies are delicate, butterflies are fun. Yep, this is just the beginning...he is going to smile and talk his way out of or into anything.

The other night, we were playing Burger King drive-thru. Joshua was driving thru and ordering, I was giving him the food and the toy. It was really fun listening to his orders..."I'll have a double ketchup and milk shake. And put my ketchup on my fries and none on my cheeseburger."

In addition to making up words, Joshua likes to make up jokes. The joke for today was What did the cow say when he ran out of milk? "I ran out of milk!" And Joshua laughed out loud and said "Wasn't that hilarious?!"

He is also obsessed with rhyming words, but he isn't very good at it yet. "Mommy, does water and watermelon rhyme?" "Does light and light bulb rhyme?" "Mommy, does sit and chair rhyme? How about bed and chair?" He gets a little disappointed when the words don't rhyme...but I guess it's good that he realizes the words are somehow related. He doesn't completely miss the point, he comes up with words that do rhyme too but that is not as interesting to blog about.

Well, that's it for now...I promise not to take so long to update next time.

Just some random things

Well, Scott came back from his fishing trip and all was right again with Joshua's world. He was very happy to have his Daddy home again.

We had a full day on Saturday starting with Joshua getting a hair cut. He is still going to Peek A Do, a kid's hair salon that has toys and DVDs to watch. It is a little more expensive than, say, a Cost Cutters, but he sits quietly and still, listens to everything the girl says, answers her when she asks questions, so I can't complain and I'm not changing until he thinks he is too old to go there. I think he has bonded with his stylist because, after his hair cut last time, she played with him for a while. This time, she even remembered him.

After Joshua's hair cut, we made a trip through McDonald's drive-thru....yes, McDonald's...it wasn't Sunday after church but Joshua behaved so well getting his hair cut that he got a special treat...plus, I wanted McDonald's french fries. That afternoon, me, Joshua and my dad went to Alex's 4th birthday party. It was a pirate themed party and Joshua, and it looked like all the other kids, had a great time. Joshua had chosen to give Alex a Cariboo game...Joshua loves to play Cariboo and we play it numerous times EVERY day...evidently other people think it's a great game too because Alex ended up receiving 3 of them!

That evening, we went to Triangle Town Center so my dad to visit the Orvis store. We ate dinner at Champs and saw Cassie, a girl that had worked at Joshua's old daycare center. Joshua left the daycare two years ago but Cassie remembered his name...Joshua didn't remember her though...she was his very favorite teacher at the time and, remembering his name after two years shows what a special person she must be.

Well, off to draw some dinosaurs now!

Happy Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Joshua and Buddy gave me cards, Scott gave me red roses, that smell wonderful, and an MP3 player. Joshua also gave me a hug, told me Happy Mother's Day and that he loved me. Then, we began discussing where to go for breakfast.

I don't want to go eat breakfast. I want to eat here.
Today is Mother's Day, Mommy gets to choose where she wants to eat.
Is there a Kid's Day?
Every day is Kid's Day.
No, is there a Kid's Day like there is a Mother's Day? When it's Kid's Day, I want to eat where I want to eat.

We decided to go to IHOP, we haven't been since it opened. It was pouring rain and people were crammed inside the door. We changed direction and went to Cracker Barrel. At least there were a lot of things to look at as we waited, and waited, and waited. And my pancakes were super yummy.

After breakfast we came home, played a little while, Joshua went to his Memaw's house in the afternoon, I took a nap...Scott said I snored but I'm not sure if I believe him. Joshua went to dinner with Memaw and Papaw and Scott and I went to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant and then strolled around Target for a while. That's what happens when you get old and have young children, you go out to eat dinner at 5:00 and then stroll around Target because you can't remember what you used to do on a date...and even a trip to Target or the grocery store without a child is a treat.

Friday, Joshua's school had a little Mother's Day program. The kids sang a song and we had donuts and juice and he gave me a flower pot with a bulb planted in it...he said it is a purple flower. As you can see, Joshua didn't sing, he kept smiling waiting for me to take a picture, he didn't know I was taking a movie.



Lastly, I've gotten a couple of random "Mommy you look beautiful"s this weekend. I'm guessing Joshua's school told the kids to say it. If not, I'm not sure where they are coming from...and I dont' really care who told him to say it, I just love hearing it!

Did he get me on a technicality?

You decide.

Joshua is a sucker for the latest and greatest marketing ploys by the fast food industries. He does not choose where he wants to eat by the food, but rather by what toy they include in their kids meals. There are countless times we hit the drive-thru at McDonald's or Burger King, food is wasted and the toy goes in the toy box. Joshua doesn't even like the food at Burger King yet he will beg and plead to go there.

A few weeks ago, I made a deal with Joshua. We agreed we would only go to McDonald's or Burger King after church.

McDonald's has been advertising Speed Racer toys are now in Happy Meals. Joshua has been begging to go to McDonald's since 2:00 today...he is so hungry (even though he ate lunch at school) and he doesn't like anything we have here. I reminded him of our deal...

"Mommy, my school is a church so I went to church today. Can we go to McDonald's now?"

A technicality? I think not...From now on, I'll make sure I'm more precise when dealing with a 4 year old...We only eat at McDonald's or Burger King after church on Sunday!

Lost and Found

Lost: One little boy without his Daddy

Scott and Papaw Bob (my dad) left Tuesday for a fishing trip. Joshua cried before they left. He cried after they left. He cried about ten times that day. We reminisced about Daddy. Joshua would say "I miss Daddy. Do you think Daddy misses me?" I assurred him that his Daddy did miss him very much. "Do you think Daddy misses us as much as we miss him?" I assured him that his Daddy misses us even more than we miss him. "I miss all the fun we have." Evidently, I am not as fun as Daddy. To take his mind off his woes, we went out to eat to my new favorite burger place, Bass Lake Draft House and to Joshua's favorite store, Wal Mart. Even though I got Joshua in bed around 9:00, he was still up at 10:00. I ended up sleeping on the top bunk because he was scared without Daddy.

Wednesday was a much better day, Joshua woke up ready for school, was happy all day, we met our friends Elizabeth, Ashley and Sarah for dinner at Chick Fil A. All was good. He only talked about Daddy a couple of times. "I miss Daddy. Do you think Daddy misses me?", "I miss Daddy thiiiiiis big (and he stretches his arms out really wide). How big do you miss Daddy. Do you think Daddy misses us as much as we miss him?"

Thursday started out a little rough. Joshua knew Daddy was coming home on Thursday so as soon as he woke up, he ran into the bedroom looking for Daddy....however, Daddy isn't coming home until later. One of our favorite morning cartoons is Tom and Jerry. Today, Joshua didn't want to watch Tom and Jerry...he cried when Tom and Jerry came on and made me turn it..."Tom and Jerry isn't fun when Daddy isn't here." Note to Daddy: Keep your cell phone on when you are out of town so that we can call you.

Lost: One bat costume

This morning, I can only guess it is because Daddy is still gone and Joshua is upset, Joshua remembered a bat Halloween costume we saw at a consignment store two...that's right, I said two Halloweens ago. Rewind to Halloween 2006, we had been watching a lot of Dora's Halloween DVD, Diego is dressed up like a bat, we see this bat costume, I show it to Joshua, Joshua doesn't want to be a bad, we don't buy it. He ends up being Batman that year. Fast forwward to today, Joshua wants the bat costume. He is crying because we did not buy the bat costume, he is crying because someone else probably bought the costume, he is crying because they do not have another bat costume, he is crying because it is not Halloween and the spooky store at the mall is not there any more. He has decided he wants me to make him a bat costume...I am hoping that he soon forgets about the bat costume...

Found: One long lost friend

Today, Joshua and I had lunch with Kristin and her son Grant. It has been about 5 or 6 years since I last saw Kristin. It was nice to see her and to meet Grant. She was just as pretty and funny as I remembered, and her son is just like her. Joshua and Grant seemed to play well together, as well as two kids can play at a restaurant I suppose. Hopefully they will come visit soon so we can get some mom to mom and son to son bonding time.

Found: A renewed passion for home cooked meals

Well, sort of. This week, Joshua and I ate dinner out on Tuesday by ourselves, dinner out on Wednesday with my friend Elizabeth and Joshua's friends Ashley and Sarah, lunch out on Thursday with Kristin and Grant and finally, dinner out on Thursday with my friend Kelly and Joshua's friends Sydney and Mollie. I think I'm going to be cooking at home for the next few weeks!

Soccer

Chatham County has a soccer league that begins at age 4. Joshua loves to play in the yard and he is a pretty good kicker and dribbler, at least I think he is, he is the only 4 year old I've ever played soccer with...heck, he is the ONLY one I've ever played soccer with. So, I thought I'd talk to him and see what he thought. Here is how it went...

Joshua, do you think you would like to play soccer?
I play soccer.
No, on a team. Do you know what playing on a team means?
With friends I already have?
No, with new friends.
I'll get a trophy! Will I get a trophy?
Yes, you will probably get a trophy. And, you'll get a uniform and shin guards and soccer shoes.
Oh boy! I'll get a trophy! Do you know what number I want? I want number 4.
Well, you might not get to be number 4. Someone else may already have number 4.
So, do you think you would like to try playing?
Yes! I'm gonna get a trophy! I'm gonna get a trophy!

Registration starts May 10. I am excited. I hope Joshua will be excited too.