November 7, 2010

My Baby

It is about time that I blog about my littlest little boy. My little Josh is my miracle baby. There were times, during my pregnancy, that it was uncertain if I would ever get to hold him. So you can imagine my joy everyday when I get to cuddle him. He is perfect! He is my sweet little guy and I love his happy little smile. I really don't know what our family would do with out him. He fits right in with the other little mischievous personalities in our home. I am such a lucky mom!

This weekend I went out of town for a girls weekend and left the boys to hangout with Dad. When it got close to bed time I received a call from Boston saying in a sad voice, over and over, that he needed me.

Later that evening Ryan told me that Remington had said when he thinks of me he can smell my coat and it smells like white chocolate. That boy knows his mom so well!

The best moment was when I returned home. I walked in the door and my little Josh squealed with excitement and scooted over to me as fast as he could. When I picked him up he latched on to my neck, giggled, buried his head in my shoulder and wouldn't let go. He couldn't stop giggling for the next half hour. It was so cute! It made my heart melt!

My boys are wonderful! I love their tenderness! I love their curiosity! I am in debt to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with them.

October 20, 2010

The Rules

On occasion I am privileged to see into the minds of my children. The other day was one such occasion. As we were driving in the car this was the conversation.

Boston: "Mom, Mom, Mom... (pause) Mom, where's my candy?"

Mom: "I think we left it in the diaper bag."

Boston: "No we didn't!"

Mom: "Yeah we did. Remember, we ate some at church?"

Remington: "But we aren't supposed to take candy to church."

Mom: "You are right Remington."

Remington: (mockingly) "But we did."

Mom: (smile)

Remington: "Mom, if you don't listen at church you have to talk in front of everyone."

Boston: "Yeah and if you don't be quiet you have to go in the hall where they won't hear you."


I love my boys!

October 17, 2010

Dangerous

The other morning, we were getting ready to go out and enjoy the day. As usual, we were waiting on Boston. I had asked him to get dressed at least a half dozen times. Finally Ryan gave in and escorted him to his room to help him pick his clothes. Boston decided he needed to wear shorts so he pulled out an item of clothing, inspected it, "Pants," then chucked it over his shoulder. Next he pulled out some camo shorts and paused. He looked at dad and said "these pants are dangerous".... and he put them on.

September 26, 2010

Crabs

Often dinner is cooked, if the cooking of dinner involves Dad, as little cooking as possible is involved.

One particular night, however, Mom had grilled some lovely salmon with garlic and lemon. Dads contribution to the meal was significantly simpler. He had purchased some California rolls and was happy to contribute.

Boston had never seen this dish and, like any two year old, was curious as to the content of the confection. This prompted him to ask what it was. Like any good father, Dad explained. "This part is rice, this part is seaweed, and this is crab." Dad said indicating each component respectively.

Boston's eyes focused on the roll. "This part is crab." he said, pointing to the middle.

"Yes." Dad said.

Boston's brow wrinkled slightly and his voice lowered just a bit as he said "This part here?"

"Yes." Dad said again.

Brow still wrinkled, voice lowering again and head tilting toward the morsel "And we eat it?"

"Uh huh", Replied Dad neither looking at Boston, nor seeing where this was going.

Boston has seen crabs in the store. He has also seen them on TV. Eight legs, hard shell and all the funny looking walk that you could ask for. He knows what a crab looks like. Thus, in a voice just above a whisper, and with all the sincerity that a two year old can muster he asked, "Is it dead?"

A two year old certainly sees the world as it is explained to him. Dad just needs to explain the explanation.

Potty Training 101


One morning Boston told me that he was only going t
o wear big boy potty pants from now on. I was a little leery to just jump into the whole potty training process at the drop of a hat, but he was so determined that I couldn't say no. So it began. A few accidents here and there for the first few days. By the fourth day he had it down pretty good and that was that. I was completely surprised at the simplicity. Remington took 3 months to go an entire day with out an accident. I had to pat myself on the back.

After week two I began to realize it wasn't going to
be as easy as I had previously thought. Though Boston keeps his clothes dry, he has a hard time keeping the entire bathroom dry. Thus began the hourly scrub of the bathroom.

One evening we caught Boston sitting on his little pott
y and the floor and the big toilet and the toilet paper was soaked. He looked so disappointed. After a few minutes of instruction on how we keep the bathroom dry, he looked up and said, "I missed." We just stared back at him with an obvious nod. Then he pointed to the big toilet across the bathroom and said, "I missed." The realization came and we all burst into laughter. He had been trying to pee into the big potty across the room while sitting on his little potty, but... he missed. (note the dripping wet toilet paper roll)

July 27, 2010

Self Image

Sunday's are, to say the least, very busy. If I am not up and showered by seven then everything is a mad dash to make it to church on time with everyone fully dressed. Don't ask me why it takes me two hours to get the boys ready. On any other day of the week the boys are more focused and seem to float down the stairs fully clothed when I have only asked them to get dressed once. Sunday's are the complete opposite. I have to be watching their every move and keep reminding them of what they need to put on next, otherwise they they start playing with something and throw a humongous fit when I try to finish getting them dressed.

Anyway, this past Sunday I had just gotten the boys out of the tub and was getting them dressed, when Boston turned and looked at me with huge excitement on his face. His shirt was off and he was half flexing his muscles with his elbows out and fists nearly touching his hips. "Mom, I am BIGGER now!!!" Then he quickly turned around and faced Remington and said with just as much excitement, "Remington, look, I AM BIGGER!!" Remington stopped what he was doing and looked up at him from the floor and said with so much sincerity, "WOW! You really are bigger!" Boston had nothing else to say, but was completely brimming with confidence, holding his shoulders high and smiling a tough guy smile.

Ten minutes later, the struggle of getting them dressed was over and I headed to my room to finish getting myself ready. As usual, the boys or should I say baby ducks (that is another story... baby ducks following mommy duck everywhere, "Quack, Quack, Quack.") followed me. As I passed the full length mirror in my room, Boston, who was right on my hills, stopped dead in his tracks and looked into the mirror. He studied himself carefully at a distance of 3 inches. Then his shoulders slumped. He pointed to himself in the mirror and said with such disappointment, "I'm just little."

It seems as though we would all be better off not looking in the mirror!

July 13, 2010

MONEY!

Remington has been on a money fix lately. We painted cans for piggy banks one day and all he can think about it filling it up. We also took a trip to the Motorcycle shop the other day and he fell in love with a little red four wheeler (or as he attempts to say it, foureeler). Every day since then he has been begging for jobs to do so he can, someday, buy the four wheeler. I keep trying to explain just how much money (in pennies) it takes to buy it and he keeps pretending to understand, but he really hopes I will just buy it for him so he doesn't have to do all the work.

Well, after several days of doing odd jobs around the house he was getting the hang of doing little jobs with out me asking so he could get money. Then on Sunday he wanted to help make dinner. He scooted the chair over to the counter and started chopping strawberries. Which, by the way, is a rare occasion for him to get to use a sharp knife. He loved it and was so proud of himself for doing it right with out cutting himself. Then while we were eating he ever so politely asked for his money for cutting the strawberries for me. I had a good laugh. I explained that he did help me, but it was a fun learning experience for him and I wasn't going to pay him for it. He sadly replied with "but mom, I did my job." For a second I was clueless of how I was going to differentiate paying jobs and unpaid help in the future. Then the best excuse came to me... "Remington, did you know Heavenly Father commanded us not to work on Sunday?" I tried to hold back a giggle.
He stopped complaining, seeming to remember a recent family night we had about keeping the Sabbath day holy.