Sleeping in the Middle

There aren't alot of parenting issues that I feel strongly about, but letting kids sleep in Mom and Dad's bed is one of them. I firmly believe it should be avoided if at all possible. (I know not everyone agrees with me on this one.) Only in the last couple of months has it really become an issue in our house. Little Man has finally realized that he can choose to get out of his bed if he wants to. It gotten especially bad over the last couple of weeks. Several nights a week, we hear the pitter-patter of his little feet and then he asks, "Mom, can I sleep in your bed?" Most nights, I'm just too tired to fight about and so I pull him up and in. I was complaining to James about this last night, and he said he didn't think it was so bad, and then he started to sing this song:

• Let Them Be Little by Billy Dean

More Billy Dean music on iLike

In case you don't want to watch the whole video, the chorus is

So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give 'em hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

I rolled my eyes and moved on to other topics. Then, this morning, just as my alarm was going off, I heard that pitter-patter. I pulled him up into bed, and as he pressed his warm little body against mine, he whispered, "Thanks for saving some room for me, Mom." If I didn't know better, I'd think these boys were out to get me.

And a Happy New Year!

Ah, the holidays. There is so much frantic preparations, eager anticipation, and then *poof* it's all over in about 20 minutes. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but the actual day never quite lives up to the all the planning that goes into it. But, don't get me wrong. We had a wonderful Christmas, full of family parties and presents. Christmas with an almost-3-year-old is an experience that everyone should have. The great part is, Little Man gets excited about everything! As we were sorting the presents Christmas morning, he looked at his pile and exclaimed, "Holy cow, Mom! That's a lot of presents!" It was a dinosaur-themed pile of presents, but his favorite gift was his set of Tinker Toys. We've played with them nearly everyday since Christmas and Mom and Dad are definitely glad to have some new toys in the rotation.

Also in recent weeks, Little Man has found an new friend... an imaginary friend. I've been waiting for this day, actually. He's got such an imagination and is always acting out scenes from his favorite stories. And he has no one to play with her besides boring old Mom and Dad, so I've been thinking it was inevitable. His friend is a baby T-Rex named Baby Cass and LM is his momma. Whenever Baby Cass is about to make an appearance, LM sits himself down (on his nest, you know), says "Cwack, cwack. My eggs are hatching!" and Baby Cass spends the next hour or so with us. Baby Cass likes to sit in your hand and be petted, play on the Tinker Toy playground, and eat hot dogs. Today in the car, I corrected LM and told him that he would not be a Mommy when he grows up. He proceeded to have a complete break-down. James later explained to me that I had essentially told LM that he couldn't be Baby Cass's mommy and that was the reason for breakdown. I think I'll still chalk it up to the terrible threes.

Our silly little Christmas tree.
Mommy and LM getting ready to go to sledding.
Making Christmas cookies in our jammies.
Christmas morning... and the pile of presents.

Highlights

Here are some of the highlights from our life over the last few months:

• I have been canning like crazy! It all started when we discovered grapes growing on our fence. So, of course, I had to bottle grape juice. Then, mostly because my mom got me a screamin' deal on some apples, I also put up a bunch of applesauce and apple butter. It has been a lot of work, but its very rewarding to have a pantry full of food that was basically free. And, by the way, homemade apple butter is DIVINE. You should try it sometime.
• Little Man is FINALLY using the potty ALL BY HIMSELF! All of a sudden, he's just doing it! I have never been more proud of him!
• Little Man's current obsessions are Buzz Lightyear (Don't let him get started on his "Buzz Lightyear shoes that light up the dark!" He's had them for months now and he stills talks about them nearly everyday.), dinosaurs (more on that later), Spider-man, anything spooky, including ghosts, monsters, skeletons, and jack-o-lanterns (he can't get enough of Halloween, even though its been over for weeks!), and Harry Potter (yes, I'm turning my kid into a total nerd).
  
• Last month, we visited the Natural History Museum at the University of Utah. We made it just in time for the Dinosaur Show. At the end, when the kids got to come up and ask questions, Little Man walked up the guy and asked, "Is that a Utahceratops?", referring, of course, to the skulls that were recently discovered in Southern Utah. The guy looked at him, and said, "Yes, it is. How do you know that?!" Again, my kid is becoming a nerd.
• Little Man dressed up as Buddy the T-Rex from the show "Dinosaur Train" for Halloween this year. I guess it is now a tradition that I make all of L.M.'s costumes. This one took me nearly 20 hours (including much unpicking), but he loved it, so it was worth it. My favorite Halloween-night quote was when L.M. saw a kid dressed up the "Scream" killer, complete with sickle. When he saw him, Little Man pointed and said, "Look, Mom! A paleontologist!"

Besides that, life is pretty much same-old around here. We have enjoyed the fall very much and are now looking forward to the Holidays. Little Man can't wait for Santa to bring him every toy he's ever seen advertised. A kid can dream, right?

Completely Spoiled

Yesterday was my birthday. And, seeing as how I'm no longer 8 years old, I didn't really think the day would be all that spectacular. I was planning on spending the day working, going out for dinner, then having a piece of cake at my mom's house. A good day, but not spectacular. Well, the day completely exceeded all of my expectations. It started with a very early phone call from my mom, wishing me a happy birthday. Then she called back 5 minutes later, telling me to hurry and turn on my radio so I could hear the Birthday Round-up. Oh, geez....
Once I got to school, everyone seemed to know it was my birthday. All day, co-workers and students were very enthusiastically wishing a happy birthday (my 2nd period class even burst into song!). My two good friend at work got me a cake, complete with candles, that we dug into at lunch, and they even ordered me some Harry Potter action figures for my desk. During the last class of the day, an office aide walked into my room with a bunch of balloons and roses and told me that a man with a long white beard had just dropped them off for me. The card was signed Professor Dumbledore. I eventually got my mom to confess that it had been her.
Later, we went to dinner at an Indian restaurant (this is the one day of year that James can't veto me, so I went big!). Dinner was lovely and afterward, everyone met at my mom's for cake. I got more presents, more good food, and spent most of the evening laughing so hard with my sisters that I couldn't breathe.
It was such a lovely, lovely day. It really made me take a step back and realize how many truly wonderful people I have in my life, and how lucky I am. I felt intensely loved and very blessed. I'm not sure I deserve any of it, but I am so, so grateful for people that make me feel so special.

Summer Fun

Although summer has been VERY short this year, we have tried our best to squeeze in as much fun as possible. There have been camping trips (well, one anyway), visits to the park and the pool, family get-togethers, and trips to Salt Lake. Here are a few pictures:

For some reason, we keep thinking its a good idea to eat ice cream cones in the car. What are we thinking?!



The highlight of the summer for Little Man (and possibly his life), was our visit the the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point.

My new favorite photo:
Can't you just hear him telling us all about the dinosaur he's looking at?


Posing with the brachiosaurus.

A Boy's Prayer

Warning: This story might be offensive and cause intense laughter. Proceed with caution.

This actually happened a couple of weeks ago, but every time I tell this story, I end up with tears rolling down my face because I'm laughing so hard. And I keep thinking... I need to blog this!

We were saying the prayer at bedtime, and Little Man was repeating the words that James was saying. Here's what was said:

James: Please bless LM to grow big and strong.

LM: Please bless LM to grow big and strong in his wiener.

And now you know the deepest desire of Little Man's soul, and I would venture to guess, the soul of every male on the planet.

Trying to Be Grateful

Some reasons why I am (or should be, anyway) grateful today:

• Even though my car is probably totaled, nobody was injured in the accident I caused today.
• We finally got our deposit back from the old apartment. (But, who charges $165 for carpet cleaning?!? Ridiculous...)
• I got to spend some quality time with Little Man watching Toy Story 3.
• Little Man only had one accident today (and it happened at home), even though we had a couple of long car rides and a long movie we sat through. Yea!
• We were able to visit family today and enjoy a delicious barbecue.
• Tomorrow is Sunday, and I have no plans!

And, just because it has been so very long since I posted anything, here are a few pictures of what's been going on around here.

On the first official day of summer, Little Man fell at the park and broke his nose. He was very swollen and colorful for several weeks and ended up needing to have surgery to set it. He's all better now, and although I don't think his nose looks quite the same, at least it's not crooked.


We've been spending lots of time with the cousins now that summer's here. Here's Little Man and Cousin E, bathing together. This picture will come in handy someday, I'm sure. Mwahaha...


Little Man's favorite activity these days is playing in the water. He loves to play in the canal in front of the house, get sprayed with the hose, and run through the "sprinkles." Here he is with Daddy, running/being dragged through the sprinklers.