Little Tidbits

Chad and I are mean parents. The other night, Anderson wanted a bagel. He was already tucked in bed and should have been asleep, so we told him 'no'. Like I said.... mean parents. Anderson was quite angry at us. After 10 minutes of fuming alone in his room, he stormed out, pointed his finger at us and yelled, "If you don't get me a bagel, then I'm outta here!" I started laughing so hard that I had to walk away. Fortunately, Chad remained calm and helped Anderson back to bed. 5 minutes later, Anderson was out of bed and ready to confront us again, "What I meant was: If you don't get me a bagel, then YOU are outta here!" We both started laughing that time. Anderson turned around, huffed back to his bed, and went to sleep. It's nice when problems solve themselves.

And the Award Goes to......

And the Award Goes to Caleb for the best injury of 2009! (so far). I hope no one at our house tops this one. While we were at a campground, Caleb rode his bike off a ledge and face-planted on rocks and brambles. Ouch. I did take him in to the ER (I prefer the instant care clinic, but the ER was the only place open once we made the drive home from the campground). I wanted to make sure his eyeball was okay; the verdict: no scratches on his cornea and his retina did not detach. Phew! Perhaps I'm an overcautious mother, but it is his vision we are talking about. I would rather err on the side of caution. I have such big plans for my children to be professional football/basketball players (Tee Hee!). I just don't want Caleb to be at a disadvantage. ;)

Oh Dear.

Now that Anderson is in kindergarten, I am able to spend more time with Caleb. I know that Caleb, being a second child, has never received the amount of one-on-one time that Anderson did at his age; sometimes I worry that I've neglected to teach Caleb things that Anderson knew by now. The other morning we were working on learning colors. I pointed to orange, and Caleb responded, "orange." Genius child.... and I was worried his education had been neglected! I point to green; Caleb responds, "Hulk." Well... not the correct response, but Incredible Hulk is green. Next, I point to red: "Spiderman!," is the reply. And blue: "Superman!!" Oh dear. The other colors he is just confused by. Apparently there is a lack of yellow, purple, and pink superheroes. Someone ought to check into that.... How do they expect our children to get a well-rounded education?!

A side note: How does my child know all the superheroes even though we don't watch superhero shows? Their images are plastered on clothes, toys, and food boxes. If we really want the preschoolers of America to learn something, we should plaster it on their toys.

My New Obsession....

I thrive on the sense of accomplishment. Nothing makes me feel better than standing back and looking at a job well done. The more visible the results, the better. The past 5 years of remodeling our house have been great for me.... I have had an unlimited number of projects to fill this 'need' of mine. As our projects have run out, I have found myself searching for the next big project. A few weeks ago, I was ready to rip up our carpet and refinish the wood floors underneath. Fortunately (for Chad especially), I have moved on from that. My new obsession is to fill my backyard flowerbeds with fuchsias:

Aren't they beautiful? Of course, this is the wrong time of the year to start such an endeavor. And- to be honest- by the time spring rolls around, I will have moved on to another obsession. At least we can enjoy the pictures.

A Big Family

Anderson let me know this evening that we should have a bigger family. Anderson loves babies, so I am not surprised to hear this. I asked him how many kids we should have. He told me that we have plenty of extra space. And, after counting up all the extra 'sleeping spaces' we have on floors and couches and such, he informed me that we can have 29 kids! Wow! Who knew? A few minutes later, he came back and asked me if I thought I could take care of 29 babies.... how thoughtful of him.

Sons of a Baritone

Chad, two of his brothers, and his dad spent a week at a barbershop harmony camp. Music is a talent they all share, and I am glad that they could all attend camp together. Here is a video of their quartet 'Sons of a Baritone' doing a personal performance in a stairwell. I think they should go pro!

The Amazing Anderson!

Happy Birthday to Anderson! I can't believe we have a 5 year old in the house. Watch out Kindergarten, here he comes!

Anderson is such a smart, inquisitive boy. He asks such detailed questions that I struggle to give an explanation without using vocabulary words that are college level. "How does gasoline make a car go?" "How does a debit card work" "What is electricity made of?"

Last night, I had just put the boys to bed when Anderson came out of their room. "Anderson, you are not suppose to get out of bed," I tell him. "I know," he replies, "but, if I can't get out of bed, then I just have to scream your name until you come... and that would wake up Caleb. So, I had to get out of bed." Touche!

Anderson spent some time with friends yesterday. While he was there, he must have seen something about 'wishes' on TV. Before bedtime, he exclaims, "Mom! Did you know that you can go outside and make a wish on a star.... and it will come true!" He insisted that we try it, and I indulged him because I was very curious what his greatest wish in the world would be. I had hopes that his wish would be simple enough that I could make it come true for him. Tee Hee! Silly Mommy!

He was disappointed to find that there were no stars out yet. So, I convinced him that it was okay to wish on the sun (it being a star and all). He told me I couldn't watch him or the wish wouldn't come true. So, like any self-respecting mother, I peeked through the blinds. He knelt down on the ground and clasped his hands together as if in prayer. "When I wake up tomorrow," he said, "I want the world to be Candyland!!"

"Oh Crap!" I thought. There is no way that I can make this wish come true.

I pretended to be busy as he came back inside. "Your turn!" he announced. I went outside and made my obligatory 'wish'.

As I tucked him into bed, I explained to him that wishing on star was make believe. I told him that it is important to have wishes, but we need to chose wishes that we can make come true by working hard. I told him that him that if he did some extra jobs for me, he could earn money to buy some candy. He took it all very well.

Thinking the conversation was over, I started to walk out. "What was your wish, mom?" he pipes up. "I wished that daddy will get home safely," I told him. "Mom! That's not a wish! You said we should choose wishes that we can work for. You can't work and make daddy come home safe!" He's right.

My new wish: "I wish I could remember to bump my 'level of reasoning' up a few notches, because Anderson is getting pretty good." Caleb, on the other hand, still believes me every night when I say, "If you close your eyes and lay still for 5 minutes, I will send daddy in to sing more songs." He falls asleep every time. And, Chad, just so you know: I really would send you in after 5 minutes.... if Caleb managed to stay awake. So, it's not too much of a lie.