Insanity is hereditary...

TJ was conducting some sort of experiment in the freezer today. He had a cup of water with a straw in it. I think he wanted to see what would happen if the straw froze into the ice. The only problem was the straw was from a fast food restaurant. And he hadn't taken it out of the wrapper. So I open the freezer and discover a soggy paper-wrapped straw in cold water.

I called TJ into the kitchen and pointed out the flaw in his experiment. He laughed rather sheepishly and went to remove the straw mess from the water.

As he did so, he said, "It's okay, Mom. I get this from Dad's side of the family."

Bad word

At bedtime tonight, Sam came to me and said in his most serious voice,

"Mom, a kid on the bus said a very bad word today. He said, 'Sexy'."

I deserve a reward for not laughing out loud.

Death

Last week, a note from the principal was sent home in both of my boys' backpacks. It was sad news. A first-grader had passed away the weekend before. The note was carefully worded, but I had the impression it was not an unexpected death. That seemed so sad to me. I can't imagine watching one's child suffer through an illness.

TJ and I discussed the note. He had not known the student that died, and neither had Sam. TJ is my optimist and said, "Well, his mom and dad are sad, but they can have another baby."

I looked at him and said, "TJ, there is only one TJ. And I love you with all of my heart. If you died, I would always be sad. I would never stop missing you. If I had another baby, of course I would love that child. But I would always miss you and wish that you were still here with me. No baby could ever take your place. Kids should never die before their moms and dads do."

TJ listened carefully to me. You could see the understanding and compassion crossing his face. Thankfully, he has never had to say good-bye to a close relative before, but I could tell he understood. And I could tell he felt much more sympathy for the little boy's parents.

It's discussions like that where I can clearly see that he is growing up.

Coffee?

Today is Wednesday, my day off from work. Bill has gotten in the habit of making coffee for me when I get up on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It's rough, but I put up with it! This morning, he brought me my coffee before I had even straggled out of bed. Nolan wandered in and watched me take a sip.

He said, "When I'm a grown-up, I will drink coffee. Because grown-ups like coffee. But I don't like coffee now. Kids don't like coffee."

I nodded. Then he added, "How much longer until I'm grown up?"

This question is tough. He's growing up so quickly! Thankfully, adulthood is still many, many years away. I smiled and said, "Not for a long time, Buddy."

Nolan looked relieved. "Good. Cuz I really don't like coffee."

That was fun!

On Thursday night, we had a major accomplishment. Nolan did a significant poopie on the potty. I could tell he had to go, but he was doing his usual routine. He'd tell me he needed to go, I'd sit him on the potty, and two seconds later he'd be screaming at me that he wanted to get off.

Finally, I had had enough. I told him that until he did a poopie on the potty, he was not allowed to play the iPad. No Angry Birds. Dejected, he went outside to play.

About 10 minutes later, someone was frantically ringing the front door. I went to answer it and Nolan came running in. "Gotta go poopie!", he yelled, so I hustled him down the hallway. He went about 10 seconds after I got him on the toilet. It was a significant size too. I made a big deal out of this. Lots of praise and hugs and high fives.

I cleaned him up and Nolan said to me, "Hey! That was fun!"

I guess what he does for entertainment is his decision....

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Today, Nolan's stuffed pig (from Angry Birds, of course), fell in the toilet. Thankfully, the water was clean, but the pig still got a good surface washing from me. I think I may have done and seen it all now. I've retrieved a stuffed pig from the toilet.

Medical emergency

Sam had another rough week with his asthma. The record-breaking warm temperatures we have had have not been helping him. I've heard several people speculate that winter was too warm--we never killed off all the germs, and now that we are having an insanely warm spring, everything is blooming, blossoming, and pollinating much earlier than normal.

Bill was giving Sam one of his inhalers the other day, and they were chatting about what all might be contributing to his asthma issues. For starters, Sam has had a cold. Then Bill mentioned the fact that Katie is shedding like crazy, and there has been cat fur everywhere, despite daily brushings. They talked about everything growing outside. Bill reminded Sam that he is allergic to different grasses and trees.

Sam said, "I know! AND, I am allergic to girls!"

That allergy might be fatal!

Announcements

Friday morning, Nolan waltzed into my parents' house and said, "I have an announcement. Mommy and Daddy are getting married."

My mom got such a kick out of that, she called me at work to ask when the wedding was. I laughed and told Bill about it. His comment? "Nolan used the word 'announcement'?" Yep. He sure did. But I thought the rest of what he said was funnier.

This afternoon, Nolan and I were (once again) discussing going poopie on the potty. Nolan had a touch of diarrhea a few days ago, and after having a couple accidents in his pants (which were by far the most disgusting messes I have dealt with in 8+ years of parenting), Nolan was so horrified that he started telling me when he had to go, and successfully made it to the toilet the last few times. This was a major success, and I made a big deal out of it. I thought maybe he was finally getting the hang of this. Alas, Nolan filled his pants on Friday evening.

SO, I was chatting with him this afternoon about how easy it was to clean up when you use the potty, and how much better your bottom felt, whatever I could think of. Nolan looked thoughtful and said, "What was it that I had? Not an enema. That's not the right word." I was confused, but asked him if he meant 'diarrhea'. Nolan's face lit up. "Yes! Diarrhea! Diarrhea is good for me. It helped me use the potty!"

I managed to get through that conversation, put Nolan down for his nap, then I walked out into the living room to share Nolan's latest pearl of wisdom with Bill. Bill was already shaking, he was laughing so hard. He heard Nolan's exclamation of how good diarrhea was for him.

Who do you think you are?

Yesterday, we took the boys, along with Clark, to Playworld. We were supposed to go last weekend, but neither TJ or I were feeling that great, so we postponed it until yesterday.

The boys had a great time. It was so neat watching Sam climb and play with the other boys. In the past, he simply stayed on ground level and watched everyone else have fun. He still won't go down the giant inflatable slides, but he did everything else.

Nolan was a tiny bit more hesitant than his big brothers, but he still had a great time. He had to keep coming and 'checking in' with me, though. At one point, he needed a break, so he came and sat on my lap. I'm not even sure what the two of us were chatting about, but I made the comment, "I said so, because I'm the boss."

Nolan immediately responded with, "You're not the boss. God is."

Okay, now how does one argue with that???

Must Love Cats

To appreciate this post...one must love cats!

And we do. Which works out nicely, since we have two rather unusual cats.

Here's TJ playing with both cats in the shower.


Here are the kitties, waiting for me to finish my bedtime preparations. They love to watch me wash my face and brush my teeth. And yes, Willoughby climbed in the sink. No one put him there.
Katie is not here by choice. Sam thought she might like to sit in the sink, too.



Suicidal cat:

Gargoyle:Keeping me company on a day I wasn't feeling well:


Kitty Love:

Some visual proof

Due to a tragic incident in which firewood fell on our vacuum (don't ask...), we have been borrowing my mom's vacuum each week, while Bill debates what he wants to purchase for our new vacuum. I will provide some input, but since he is the primary vacuumer (and the reason our former vacuum is deceased), I will let him make the final decision.

Yesterday, my mom's vacuum was visiting. Sam apparently really likes her vacuum. I snapped several pictures of him studying one of the attachments (it's a Simplicity canister vacuum, and it has quite a few attachments). Sam was so absorbed in trying to figure out the vacuum that he never noticed I had my phone inches from his face and was busy taking pictures. Look at these and you can tell he's just like his Dad:


The other day, Sam came into my bedroom and he looked like he was on a mission. He headed straight into my closet. Thinking he was looking for Katie or Willoughby, I asked, "Are you looking for the cats?"

Sam shot me a 'look' and said, "No! I'm checking the vents. What else would I be doing?"

A few 'Nolan-isms'

At one point last weekend, Nolan wasn't feeling well (something new and different, eh?). I asked him what was wrong. He thought it over and said, "I don't know. I think I might puke. Or throw up."

He didn't do either, thankfully.

Nolan has been quite proud of his progress on the potty. He thinks staying dry should give him access 24/7 to my iPad. I disagree, but he has certainly had more iPad privileges since he's been doing so well at telling us when he has to go. The other day, he was sitting on the toilet and he said very solemly, "When I was a little boy, I wet my pants and got a 'panking." I smiled and said, "When you were a little boy? So, two weeks ago?" Nolan nodded.

We still haven't had much luck getting him to do 'poopie on the potty'. He's trying more, but most of our progress seems to be that he tells me the moment he is done filling his pants. And as gross as it is to clean him up, I love his descriptions. He poops in two sizes: big poops, and sized poops.

I'll ask him if he did a big poop, and he'll say, "No. It's just a sized poop." Neither Bill or I have any idea how he came up with that term, but at least we get a chuckle while we clean him up.

Illness

Our extended family has been fairly healthy all winter, but we've been hit hard the past couple weeks. My sister Amanda has stayed healthy, thankfully, but her two older girls were so sick, they didn't meet their baby sister Georgianna for almost a full week. My mom seems to have caught their bug and has been quite sick all week. TJ got sick Thursday and has been running a temp and doing some occasional vomiting. Today, I have the stomach bug. In addition, Nolan has eiter had a cold for 3 weeks straight, or he's caught one cold after another. Or, he has allergies.

We are all very ready for spring. Bill can't wait for the first warm-ish day so he can open up some windows to chase the germs out.

Yesterday, when TJ was feeling his worst, he asked if I could take his temperature. I got out our digital thermometer, put it under his tongue, and walked away. I told him to let me know when it beeped. A few minutes later, TJ called out that it had beeped. I was in the kitchen and asked him to read me the numbers on the thermometer.

TJ carefully read out "2001". At this, both Bill and I started laughing. I walked in the living room, turned the thermometer around and said, "Yes, you have a fever. But it's more like 100.5 than 2001. Unless you've been visiting the surface of the sun."