How Time Flies...

These pictures were all taken during the last week of May over the past few years.

2003

2004

2005

2006

2004

2005

2006

2006

Anyone know who Rico is?

Danielle was in a silly mood today. While getting dressed this morning, she insisted on playing "instruments". I was given a tambourine. Tyler had some bells. She chose the xylophone. She started us all off with "a 4 and a 5 and a 6". Putting her bathing suit on was difficult because she had to giggle and run while shouting "See my butt? See my butt!" That game was interrupted by her desire to change Tyler into a frog. She grabbed her Tinkerbell wand, waved it over Tyler's head, and yelled "FROG! FROG!". She gave up after several failed attempts.

At the water park Danielle sat on the tube with me to float around the creek. Her baby sat on her lap. She carried on conversations with her baby while we floated around the loop. Apparently her baby does like the mist, although Danielle's not so sure. She was excited to change out of her wet clothes and put her Tinkerbell dress on because she could "twirl for Daddy when he gets home". After insisting she could too walk with both legs in the same leg hole, I gave in and let her try it out. Turns out Moms are right about some things. Tonight while I was cleaning her up from dinner she wanted to know why I had so many boo-boos. "You have all those spots everywhere, Mommy." I explained to her about freckles.

She kept me laughing all day. She's comical just by being Danielle. My biggest chuckle, though, came when she was playing with her dolls. She usually doesn't name them but for some reason decided they needed names today. She sat three dolls down on the couch and pointed to each one. "This one is Mommy. This one is Ty. And this one is Rico."

Happy Meal Sunglasses

Today's Outing

Sorry I don't have enough humorous happenings to fill an entire blog today. It's just so difficult to translate the image of a two year old pulling down her pants and wiggling her butt at her brother, saying "See my butt, Ty? See it?" into words that capture the attitude of that moment. (For no apparent reason other than she just felt like it.) It may sound mildly amusing, but witnessing it first hand is hilarious. Thankfully, we have a lot of little moments like that throughout the day. And yes, many of them do center around body parts & bodily functions.

We tried out a new walking path today. The kids were pretty sure they were going to die on the way back to the car. Here are some pictures from our outing. My budding photographer Tyler took the last picture. He thought it would be neat to try taking it at an angle. (BTW, I did not ask them to hold hands. Some days they actually like each other!)

Laugh Lines

At the beginning of this year I started documenting the amusing one-liners the kids were tossing out in a document I entitled "Laugh Lines". After adding another entry to it tonight and reading through some of the past comments, I thought I would share a few.

"Mommy! Stop picking at your nose. That's gross!" Tyler (1/06)

After going to the bathroom, Grandpa C told Tyler to "hurry & zip up". Tyler replied, "Hold on a minute, Grandpa. I just peed, so now I have to wiggle it." Tyler (1/06)

"I can make my penis move in my pants! Want to see?" Tyler to Grandma & Grandpa R (2/06)

While playing, Ron had to take a VERY IMPORTANT bathroom break! Once done, Tyler & Daddy resumed their game of hide & seek in the house. When Tyler found Daddy, Daddy asked him how he knew where he was. Tyler replied, "I smelled you back there." Tyler (2/06)

I grabbed a wiggly Tyler to trim his fingernails and Danielle cried out, "Let go of Ty, Mommy! He's my brother! He's my brother!" Danielle (2/06)

Danielle crawled up on the couch beside Tyler, carrying a book. “I’m going to read to you, Ty” she said. Some silence passed & I looked in at the two of them. They were both looking at the book & Danielle was turning the pages. I said, “Danielle, you’re not reading it.” Tyler said, “She’s reading it, Mom. She just doesn’t know the words.” - Tyler, age 4 & Danielle, age 2 (2/06)

Tyler made a nice picture at school today. It had lots of colors and looked like it was done with finger paints. I said, “Tyler, did you make this with finger paint?” He replied, “No. We used those hairy things you clean your ears with.” – Tyler (3/06)

Tyler & Danielle were wrestling & Danielle fell. Tyler said, “Danielle, did you hurt your buttock?” Danielle replied, “I don’t have a buttock, Ty, just underwear! Just underwear!” – Tyler, age 4; Danielle age 2 (3/06)

Some pictures from today

Another "don't ask, don't tell" moment.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Year #2 of preschool is almost history for Tyler. Only 2 more days after today. I have to admit that I'm glad. Running across town to reach his school (now that we've moved) hasn't really been a problem. And while I am somewhat excited that this unofficially means summer is here, that's not really why I'm glad either. Honestly, I'm glad I won't have to pick him up any more. Afterall, it's difficult to avoid making eye-contact with his teachers for this long!

I've adopted the "Don't-ask-and-hopefully-she-won't-tell" philosophy this year. I think I would have enjoyed his first year a little more had I come to embrace this philosophy sooner.

Now, I'm well aware my son is no angel. But, I just don't believe my son is the only one who hops down the stairs or sneaks a drink at the drinking fountain on the way to the bathroom. Surely he's not the only one who dances across the hallway because he doesn't want to step on a crack and break his mother's back? Or the only one that shouts out unrelated answers when the teachers ask questions at circle time? Or growls, just a little, when he's mad? Now, he might be the only one who yells "I'm going to kick your butt" across the playground (to no one in particular), but surely he's not the only one that, as he put it, "had problems with my brakes" (3 different times) or "accidentally got sand in her hair when we were digging to Africa"? ("Why Africa?" I asked. "Because we wanted to see if The Man with the Yellow Hat was still there.") I have a hard time believing my son is the only one who acts like an energetic, confident 4 year old little boy. (Allow me to be delusional.)

In addition to being extremely intelligent and articulate, I think there are a lot of other good traits he brings to class with him. Before going into his classroom today, he asked me if he could keep his jacket on "so I won't waste any time". How could a teacher not appreciate an enthusiastic learner like that? He walked in and saw they had the pet shop set up again. He excitedly said, "Oh! Thank you so much for putting out the pet shop again!" and ran right to it (with his jacket still on). How could you not appreciate such politeness and earnestness? I suppose it's all counterbalanced, though. When I picked him up today I asked him what he learned about. He said, "Pets" but quickly caught himself and added, "I mean poop and the turds that come squishing out of your body."

Ah...only 2 more days.

Topics of Discussion

Today's topics of discussion:

• Why girls can't pee standing up. (Revisited)
• Why it's not ok to press our noses on our neighbor's sliding glass doors.
• What would happen if our weather really was "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (by Judi & Ron Barrett) and along with that...
• What we would choose for it to rain down if the weather really did bring food.
• What Daddy should take "to remember us by" on his trip. (After some discussion about taking Danielle's belly button, the kids decided to leave Daddy with a couple very wet licks on his face.)
• Why we don't need to announce the bodily function for which we've just requested to be excused. (Revisited)
• The interesting fact that when the bottom of your foot itches and you scratch it, it actually tickles.
• That it's Mommy's car and she can sing if she wants to!
• Why getting dirt on Mommy's new van seats would certainly be cause for swift and painful punishment.

In other news, Danielle learned how to pedal her bike today! Won't be long before she's racing Tyler and making him work for the win!

Bits & Pieces

Had you spent the day with us, here are some of the bits and pieces of conversations you might have overheard:


"Tyler, you don't have to hold it all the time. It won't fall off just because you're not wearing any underwear."

"Danielle, why are you growing up so fast?!" "So I can be a mommy!"

"Did you do anything to make her want to bite you, Tyler?" "No. I just lifted her toe."

"I want to jump on your belly and bite your pants off." (Tyler said this to Ron when encouraging him to go change out of his work clothes. The kids like to attack him after he's changed. I promise he is NOT repeating something he's overheard.)

My favorite came from the Cinnabon lady at the mall...

"Your mommy's going to spank you right in the middle of the store, and I'm not gonna tell a soul!"

Feeling vindicated

I have two stories to share today.

First, I gave in today and did something I thought I'd never do. I checked my kids in to the play area at the grocery store. I have always had this feeling that the folks employed to bag my groceries were probably not screened carefully enough to watch my children. I don't mind if someone with a criminal record is tossing my bread and milk into bags, but I feel a little differently about that same person caring for my children. I wouldn't say that I've entirely changed my mind about my stance on this issue, but recent grocery trips have made me feel a little more desperate. So, after checking out the play area and security measures, I decided to risk them, er, I mean risk it. The kids were thrilled! And, they had a great time. All that leads me to my first little story.

On the way out of the play area today, the kids both got stamps on their hands. I noticed the inkpad the lady used was pink and said "Strawberry" on the front. This led me to believe the ink might be scented. So, on the way out to the car I asked Tyler if his stamp smelled like strawberries. He took a big whiff and said, "No. It smells like hands."

Story #2

Before getting groceries, I took the kids to the McDonalds down the street. It has an outdoor play area that they really enjoy. While we were waiting in line for our food, Tyler was being his typical, rotten, 4-year-old self. He was licking his sister, spinning around in line, pulling his sister's hair, making loud noises, hitting me in the butt...you get the idea. Harmless, yet annoying. The mom beside me (who had already sent her kids out to the play area) was giving me "that" look. I'm sure I even saw her shake her head. I attempted to ignore her and hurried out to the play area.

The other mother soon came out carrying food for her 3 boys. The oldest boy was just a little older than Tyler. Her boys came when called and sat down around the table. She passed out their food in orderly fashion. The oldest boy took his sandwich, neatly unwrapped it, and exclaimed, "Hot damn!" I thought his mother was going to fall on the ground. When she could finally speak, there was a lot of yelling. Feeling somehow vindicated, I patted Tyler on the head, and we finished enjoying our lunch.

Pictures from the park

Spelling Lessons

Tyler has recently become very interested in learning to spell. He has been able to spell his own name for quite some time. Danielle enjoys spelling his name, too, although she can't yet spell her own. (In all fairness, it is rather long.) Last week we were playing a game and he learned to spell the word "yo-yo". He was so proud of himself! When I'd ask him to spell it again and again for me, he'd puff up his chest and very loudly and clearly say, "Y O Y O". He was proud to display his new-found knowledge to everyone who would listen.

Since that day, he has asked me about the spelling of many words. I'm trying to keep it simple for him and attempting to steer him toward words that actually mean something to him. Yesterday he learned how to spell "dog" and "stop". (I'm not sure "stop" actually means anything to him.)

This morning on the way to church Tyler impressed us by reviewing his spelling words. The praise and attention seemed to be too much of a good thing for Danielle to miss out on. We soon had our own little spelling bee going on in the backseat:

Tyler: "Y O Y O spells 'yo-yo'"

Danielle: "Y P T E spells 'yo-yo'"

Tyler: "D O G spells 'dog'"

Danielle: "D G G spells 'dog'" and to one-up him, "T T G spells 'kitty'"

Tyler: "S T O P spells 'stop'"

Danielle: "S P T T spells 'stop'"

I turned around to look at my scholars. Both kids looked proud as could be.

Tonight at dinner we enjoyed our popular side dish of pb&j. Tyler was nibbling around his crust (accidentally eating it would surely cause his lips to fall off). He suddenly held it up and declared, "Look, Mom. It's an 'L', like in my name." I told him that letter was also in my name. He intelligently asked, "Oh really? Where is it in your name?" I thought that was a really good question! I answered him and he ate his "L".

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Danielle with a huge grin on her face, holding up a corner of her sandwich. "Look, Mom! An 'E'."

I see London, I see France, I see... China?

In order to share today's story, I need to backtrack a couple months.

A couple months ago Danielle danced into the room and declared, "I have a penis!" We laughed it off, but she was quite serious. When I attempted to tell her otherwise, she got very angry, stuck her little face in mine, and said "I DO TOO HAVE A PENIS!" She was quite adamant about it. (Along with owning a penis came the belief that she could also stand to pee.) After several little chats, we finally got her to agree that girls have vaginas. She also agreed that she is a girl. So...putting the two together...she reluctantly agreed that since she is a girl, she has a "vaginis". Maybe combining "penis" and "vagina" helps her reconcile this? I don't know, but it's hilarious to hear her say it. Anyway, we attempted to keep these biology lessons quiet around Tyler. Not because he wouldn't understand, but because he WOULD understand. (It was really more of an attempt on my part to prevent public embarrassment. He has enough ammunition for that all ready.)

Fast forward to today.

Tyler was dressed and sitting on my lap. I was attempting to get Danielle dressed so we could go to the park. Danielle was standing in front of me, trying to hold her balance while I helped her put on her underwear. Suddenly Tyler chuckled and loudly declared, "Danielle, I can see your china!" (Now, for the record, he could NOT see her "china" or her "vaginis" or anything else closely related to either of those places.) Ron and I couldn't help but laugh. Knowing he said something funny, Tyler yelled "china" a couple more times before running out of the room giggling.

Thinking ahead, I hope the grocery clerk will be impressed when Tyler, thinking he's very amusing, announces that his little sister has [a] china.