Things I Want to Remember

I try to do posts like this every once in awhile so I don't forget some of the things the boys do or say.  I wish I was better about keeping track of their funny things.  Here are a few.

Owen is at such a fun age!  He communicates VERY well.  He doesn't say much, but boy oh boy can he get his point across.  The older two boys are really into BeyBlades right now (I know right?  What are those?)  Owen will often bring me the top, launcher, and rip cord and have me assemble it so that he can launch the beyblade.  He comes to me, hand outstretched, clutching the pieces, saying, "uh..uh..uh" I put the pieces together while he claps and looks as pleased as punch.  Then I give him the beyblade and he looks at me really seriously and says, "ghaidhgkjwhbjaslkgh  shgihlshgfj?"  He's just telling me that he is going to go and launch it in the arena.  Of course.

When Wade was Owen's age, we took videos of him raising his hand and saying "Me" for everything.  "Who wants a sandwich?"  "ME!"  "Who wants some candy?"  "Me!"  "Who clogged the toilet?"  "Me!"  So cute... anyway...Owen has his own version.  He raises his hand and says "NEEEE".  Today I brought out some otter pops and before I said a word, Owen's hand was up, "NNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"  :)  He got one!  :)

He loves the pantry.  He will often wander in there and come out with a box of cereal or package of oatmeal. He brings them right up to me and says, "ghidhgngdhien  aghinelngiahde?"  (May I please have some, Mommy?)

He waves his arms and dances whenever he hears music.

We just got done with our convention, and he was a real trooper.  Fortunately he is still taking 2 naps a day, and it was pretty easy to have him nap at 10 and 2:45!  He slept through most of the first two meetings everyday!  The 2nd meeting they all slept, so that was great!  The night meetings were a little bit rougher, but all in all the boys were champs!  And of course the messages were just what we needed!

Speaking of convention, I was scolding Wade for something he had done (don't remember what exactly), and he was looking kind of sad and pouty when I was done.  Then he piped up, "God is still in my heart!"  Just what I wanted to hear!

Wade wasn't feeling very well this weekend for our yard sale and block party.  When I told him it was time for the block party to start, he trudged downstairs to his toys and asked which blocks he should bring.

The boys Escalade is broken!!!!  It was used at the block party by a lot of the neighbor kids and now it doesn't work!  One of our neighbors is very handy with things like that, so I might have him take a look!

The same neighbor has a REALLY nice boat that he has parked between our house and his.  After we took the boat out this weekend, we decided to park our boat next to our house too.  (It had been parked at one of our friends' shop.)  Now our neighbors boat looks REALLY, REALLY nice!  :)

All parents come up with strategies to get their kids to eat healthy and to obey.  Often these strategies have to change with the different children and even as the children get older, but here is what is working with Tristan right now.  He is very excited about going to school.  (He still has over a year to go....)  Almost every day he asks me how many more days until he goes to school.  (I don't know, but I think we're around the 450 day mark.)  Then he'll ask me how many that is.  (Numbers that big don't mean a lot to him.)  So I count to 450 (This job is just going to get easier!)  When I'm done he says very excitedly, "Woah....that's not very many!"  Then, I have mixed feelings.  I would like it to be a lot less because I get really tired of counting that every other day, but only 450 days until my little boy goes to school!?!?!?!?  booooohoooooohoooo!!!!!!

Anyway back to what I was saying about him being excited to go to school.  It comes in very handy.  Washing hands:  "Tristan, you need to make sure that you wash the fronts and the backs of your hands, with soap, because that's what they do at school!"  Brushing teeth:  "Make sure we brush everyday so we don't have stinky teeth for school!"  Standing in line for the bathroom:  "We need to practice standing in line quietly and not skipping, because that is what they do in school!"  When one of the boys clears his plate and the other doesn't: "I can tell that Wade is almost ready for school, because he's learning how to clear his own plate!"  (The other boy quickly follows suit)  etc etc etc for everything....it works!  For now!  :)

The other thing that Tristan is really into right now is his muscles (tiny though they might be).  He is really intent on making his muscles "big and strong".  He asks about every food he eats if it will make his muscles "big and strong".  I've been trying to broaden his thinking a little by explaining how each food will help his body.  Not necessarily his muscles, but his bones, or his eyes, or his brain.  He loves to think that he is helping himself grow by what he eats.  He also has become very aware of sugar and how it doesn't help his body.  He will eat a cookie for dessert, but will say that he doesn't want to eat any more of them because they have too much sugar and will give him a tummyache.  This is STRONGLY reinforced by me!  :)

That's about all I have for now!  I hope to get some pictures of my mom and dad's visit to show you....and we've been on the boat a couple of times, but I haven't taken my camera yet!