Mr. Adorable

Nolan turns five years old tomorrow. It baffles me how fast these years are flying by.

This morning, Nolan sneezed hard. A minute later, he walked up to Bill and said, "I need to wash my hands because I 'Bless You'd' on them."

Tonight, he was cuddling on my nap as we prayed and shared a good-night kiss. I commented that this was the last night I would be tucking my four-year-old in bed. He smiled at me sweetly and said, "Yes, but I'll still be your little boy."

Oh I love that child!!!

Doubting Thomas

For the Maundy Thursday service this year, Coopersville Reformed had the Living Last Supper for the service. Bill had been recruited to be one of the disciples. He agreed, but only if he could play Saint Thomas.

For the past six weeks, Bill has been growing out his beard (the guys were aiming for authenticity!) and going to weekly rehearsals at church. The boys knew that Daddy was going to be in a play, but I knew they didn't understand how different he would look and act.

Last night was the service. It ran about 75 minutes, so the kids were very tired and antsy by the end of the service. But, they were fascinated by the play. Bill did great! And he looked so different! Nolan cracked me up. He really wasn't convinced that man was his father. He had to consider carefully before he gave Daddy his good night kiss.

During the play, Sam asked me how babies are born ('no, seriously, how do they come out?'), he asked me if I would be sad if he got shot, and he farted loudly during a prayer. I wished the pew would swallow me up.

Here's Bill and the boys and the one picture I have of the 'painting'. Bill, unfortunately, is hiding behind one of the guys who are seated. You can see Bill's finger to the right of Jesus' head.

The Innocence (Guilt) of Children

Last weekend, I was at an overnight scrapbooking event. I am always given some goodies at these events (candy, post-it notes, pencils, etc.) and when I returned home, I was unpacking said items. I set the pad of post-it notes on the counter and started to prepare dinner. Fatal mistake. I turned around a couple of minutes later when Nolan triumphantly said, "Look Mom! I made lots of pads of paper for you!" Yep. He had peeled apart the entire pad and stuck the sticky notes all over the floor. Thanks, Sweetie.

Also last weekend, I was standing at the end of the front hallway, talking with Bill as he sat in the living room. I glanced toward the fireplace and noticed that our family photo, which sits on the mantle, looked strange. A piece of the frame seemed to be missing. I walked closer and saw that yes, a small piece on the side of the frame was gone. Then, to my horror, I saw one of my Willow Tree Angels had lost her entire side. It was broken off and lying next to her. And there was a gouge in the wall from her metal wings. It looked as though she had been hit by something with such force that she broke while she damaged the wall.

I was still taking all of this in when Sam walked up behind me and said, "I didn't do it". Now, I had made no accusations. Obviously, I figured a child was responsible but I hadn't even had a chance to form a complete sentence. I was still standing there in dismay. Both Bill and I looked to Sam and Bill said, "What didn't you do?" Sam gave us a very detailed response about how he didn't throw a certain object across the room and accidentally hit the items on the mantel, causing the damage.

Clearly, we had our culprit. He was subjected to a discussion on owning up to your mistakes and being willing to apologize.

The Willow Tree angel has been repaired. Bill glued her for me, since I can't be trusted with super glue (I usually glue my fingers together).

Mr. Geometry

Sam is apparently a big fan of geometry. He just rattled off this list for me.

Three equal sides = Triangle
Four equal sides = Square
Five equal sides = Pentagon
Six equal sides = Hexagon
Seven equal sides = Heptagon
Eight equal sides = Octagon
Nine equal sides = Nonagon
Ten equal sides = Decagon
Eleven equal sides = Hendecagon
Twelve equal sides = Dodecagon

I was shocked and impressed. Bill was smug.

Random thought for the day

I bought a box of those new "Cool Touch" tissues by Kleenex.  I thought they sounded nice and soothing.  And I had a coupon.

I used one for the first time the other day.  My initial thought was that one of my children had used the Kleenex, then stuffed it back in the box, rather than throwing it away.  It was an unpleasant sensation and an unpleasant thought.  You betcha I scrubbed my hands after throwing the Kleenex out.

I used a second Kleenex this morning and had the same thought.  Apparently, what the Kleenex people describe as as 'cooling and soothing', I describe as 'feeling pre-snotted and kinda creepy'.

I think I will stick with traditional Kleenex from now on.

T. Baron, Auto Expert

The news was on tonight after dinner, and the sports report on today's NASCAR race caught TJ's eye.  He loves to watch recaps of the day's crashes.  He got very excited about today's crash and was trying to describe it to me while I washed dishes.

"The cover for the motor flew up on this car!"  I interrupted him and asked if he meant to use the word 'hood'.  TJ was in awe.  He wondered how I knew SO MUCH about cars.  Um yeah.  I'm not exactly an expert.  I know if I need an oil change, I take the car to a mechanic.  I know when the needle approaches "E", that I put more gas in the tank.  I know if I get a flat tire, I call Roadside Assistance.  That is the extent of my knowledge.  But I DO know the word 'hood'.

Bill tried telling TJ that I was a closet gear head, but TJ figured out that we were teasing him.

TJ's English Lesson

TJ and Sam both have weekly spelling tests. I'm a stickler for words being spelled properly, so we take these tests seriously. The boys practice their spelling every night.

TJ has 20 words to learn each week, while Sam has 10. Some weeks are harder for TJ than others. Last night, Bill helped TJ with his list, then gave me an update. "The only word TJ has trouble with is 'obeyed'. The irony of that statement cracked me up. I laughed and after a minute, Bill started laughing too. My strong-willed, not-always-obedient child didn't find it as amusing.

Today, a new pope was chosen. We've been following this on the news, and TJ understands how unusual it is that Pope Benedict retired, rather than remaining pope until his death. But TJ completely understands. He says being Pope is a hard job, and he commented tonight that 'now that he's done 'poping', Pope Benedict will be praying for the new Pope Francis.'

I bet you didn't know that poping was a verb. I didn't, either!

Middle names

Sam asked me the other day what Bill's 'real' name was. I asked him if he could tell me. He thought about it for a minute, then said 'Bill William Baron'. I thought that was cute and then reminded him how nicknames work and then told him that Daddy's middle name was Owen. I could see that Sam was surprised to hear that Daddy has the same name as cousin Owen. I decided to explain about family names some other time.

Then I told Sam that my 'real' name is Elizabeth Marietta. He found this funny, for some reason. I didn't mind. It is quite a mouthful.

Then I asked him if he knew what his middle name was. He thought for a minute and then said, "Uel?" Now it was my turn to laugh. Get it? Sam Uel Baron?

Never fear!

When I picked up the boys from my mom's after work on Thursday, Sam excitedly showed me a handful of small brown things. It was what he said that cracked me up.

"Don't worry, Mom! This isn't poop. These are baby pine cones."

He is currently saving them on his desk in his room. He wants to plant them when spring comes.

Counting down

Nolan can hardly wait to turn five. He started counting down the days on March 1st. I assumed my mom had helped him figure out how many days were left, but she did not. That little turkey figured out how many days from March 1 (31 days until his birthday at that point) and has carefully been counting down since then. Every morning he gets up and announces how many days are left.

What's funny is that he doesn't seem to want much. He told me he wants a new tee shirt (but that I could pick out what it looks like), a couple Angry Birds, and that's about it. He's just excited to hit this big milestone.

I'm not nearly as excited. He is my baby. And he's growing up so fast. I just want to slow time down.