Dinner discussions

"What comes after kindergarten?" 1st grade. "What school has kindergarten in it?" Elementary school. "What comes next?" Middle school. "What comes next?" High school. "What comes next?" College. "I'm going to go to college and play the tuba."

"Scoot me up. I'm cold."

"Let's try that Mommy. Get that bug and honk it, honk it, honk it."

"Why baby Andrew not sitting up here with me?" Because he's not big enough yet. "Why he not playing pajama party with me?" Because he's not big enough yet. "Why he not going to play with me?" Because he's not big enough yet. "Why he not going to eat with me?" Because he's not big enough yet. "Why he not going to play a game with me?" Because he's not big enough yet.

"Why is this our house?" Because this is where we live. "In Hoover Alabama; where all the stuff is."

While counting Hershey kisses, "One volcano, two volcano, three volcano, four volcano. These are Hershey kisses, but look like volcanos. When I turn 5, I can have 5."

How much is a tuba?

Gene called me after picking Austin up from school when they were on their way home. Austin said in the background, "I want to talk to her." Gene handed him the phone and we talked about his day. I asked him what kind of ice cream he had at school and he told me he didn't push or hit anyone today. (Austin's had a bit of trouble with keeping his hands to himself lately.)

All of a sudden he asked me, "Mommy, how much money do I need to buy a tuba?" I told him that I didn't know, maybe $20. He said, "Yeah, $20." I asked him if he had $20 in his piggy bank at home. He said, "We'll look."

Pajama party

While I've been home on maternity leave, Austin's still, for the most part, been going to school during the day. Almost every day he gets home and wants to "play pajama party."

He LOVES pajamas, mostly "long pajamas." One pair he wanted to wear were fleece. I finally had to hide them. Of course, he found them and asked me, "Mommy, why did you put these in the box?" I told him that they didn't fit him anymore and it was way too hot to wear fleece pajamas.

Until last night, he had two other pairs of long pajamas which he had worn completely out. There were holes in the bottom of the shirt and the stitching had begun to unravel. On Tuesday, I bought Austin some new long pajamas. I washed them and told him that he had a surprise in his room for after bath. When he saw them, he told me he didn't like them and wanted to wear his worn out pajamas. So, he did one last time.

Yesterday morning, Austin told me I could throw away the old pajamas. And we did.

Nightly book reading

Tonight, after convincing Austin for upwards of 45 minutes to eat his dinner and bathing, lotioning, and pajama-ing both boys, it was time for bed. After I gave Andrew a bottle and got him settled, I went into Austin's room just in time for our nightly book reading.

He's recently acquired a book called The Tooth Book. It's a great book about brushing and flossing and talks about the dentist, baby and permanent teeth, and even talks about the Tooth Fairy. Since Austin has switched to big boy toothpaste and flossing, he loves to read about what to do and not to do with his teeth.

At the very end of the book, there's a page of DON'Ts (i.e. DON'T leave toys around so you won't trip over them). Anyway, Gene came to that particular page in the book and he paused letting Austin say the title of the page, "The DON'Ts!" Then, Austin said, "I so smart." Well, yes you are Austin!

Pop guns and swords

Playing with boys is such a different and new experience for me. Growing up, I'd never really been around boys and definitely didn't play boy type games.

Today, I decided to keep Austin home from school. Since I'll be going back to work next week, I thought that having a day to spend with just me and the boys would be fun. While Andrew takes a nap (much to my surprise and delight), Austin and I play.

He grabs his pop gun, foam sword, foam knight helmet, and foam gun (thanks, Nonna) and we play shooting. He shoots me; I shoot him. We take turns wearing the helmet and falling to the floor, legs and arms up in the air.

Even though I'm more used to playing like a girl, I think I'm pretty good at playing like a boy.

Kid's drawing

Tonight after dinner, Austin said, "Wait. I'm going to draw you something!" He headed into the playroom to grab some paper and crayons. He told me to hide, not to look at what he was drawing. This is what he drew.

I asked him what it was. He said, "It's a man." I said, "Really!" He said, "His name is J. J., the jet plane." Later, when he was getting ready for bed, he told Gene that the drawing's first name is Justin. Got it? Full name: Justin J.J. the Jet Plane.

Matching game

Austin thinks that every card game is a matching game. We have the game Memory, but he mostly wants to match Go Diego Go cards. There are different pictures on each card from the show: Diego, Click, Rescue Pack, Bobo Brothers. For you mothers, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Austin cheats. A lot. We're trying to teach him the rules of the game. Sometimes it works; sometimes not. He makes up rules as he goes along i.e. if he gets a match he gets another turn. He plays with all of the cards face-up making matching easy. Here, he's playing the game correctly.

And I asked him to wink at me this morning. Here's his interpreation of winking. He looks more like a pirate.

Austin's favorite t-shirt

After Austin was born, my cousin Rachel purchased a t-shirt for Austin. She lives in Austin, TX and the slogan for the town is "Keep Austin Weird." Every time Austin put on his "Keep Austin Weird" t-shirt people laughed when they realized his name was Austin. It's just funny.

Now, 4 years later, we're on our second "Keep Austin Weird" shirt. This one is tie-dyed. And it's his favorite shirt. If it's clean, he wears it. It's the first t-shirt worn out of the laundry.

So, thank you Rach. It's brought great laughs our way!

Teething?

Hands in mouth constantly? Drool on chin and cheeks? Chewing thumb?

Sounds like the 2 1/2 month old is teething. Does it really happen this early?

Do a happy story

Lately, Austin's obsessed with stories. He's constantly saying, "Mommy/Daddy, do a happy/scary story." Some stories consist of recounting his baby days. Others summarize the day he's had. Even others are completely make believe and involve various topics like pirates, kings, knights, bubble gum balloons, space travel, fire trucks and fire men, beach trips, and picnics. Almost all of them require the presence of a volcano spitting lava or sharks. Ah, the minds of boys.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, Austin asked me to tell him a happy story while he was in the bath tub. So, I proceeded to tell him a story of Austin getting his toe stuck in the drain and being sucked down into the pipes for an adventure. He saw garbage in the pipes, fish, sharks, and other things. The pipe led him to a pond where he went down a waterfall. He saw more fish, sharks, turtles, and a frog who gave Austin directions back to his house.

Austin was completely into this story as I told it and added to it himself. A few days later while Gene was bathing him, Austin was sitting on top of the drain as the water was draining out of the tub. It made a sucking sound and Austin completely freaked out thinking he was being sucked down the drain like in the story.

What I thought was a happy story turned out to be a scary story afterall.

Returning to work

A week from today I will be returning to work after 12 weeks of maternity leave. The time has flown by and Andrew has changed so much.

Andrew developed colic at around 3 weeks old. It hit it's peek around 4-8 weeks with non-stop crying from 5:00 until 8:00 or 9:00 every night. "Crying" is the nice term for what Andrew was doing. He would literally scream, painfully, for hours on end. At that time, I really considered going back to work immediately to get away from it all. Let someone else deal with it.

Now, Andrew's on the back-side of the colic, thank goodness. He's in a better mood these days and our house is finally a happy place. With that being said, the thought of going back to work makes me sad. He's so much more pleasant to be around and is doing more every day.

So, think of me next Monday when I drag myself out of bed to get ready for work, putting on my suit and heels, leaving my baby all day for the first time. True, I will be leaving him with my grandmother, aunt, and mother, people I love and trust with all my heart. But, it's still tough.

Knocking down trees

On Saturday, Austin and I went to his room to get dressed for the day. After picking out his shirt and shorts, he said to me, "I need to get dressed to go outside." I asked him what he was going to do ouside. He responded, "I'm going to knock down a tree with a hammer" to which I cracked up completely. He stomps down the stairs and tells Gene the same thing. Gene tries to convince him that to use one of his play hammers. No dice. The next thing I know, I'm looking out the kitchen window to see Austin with one of Gene's hammers hitting a tree.

The tree did not fall down much to Austin's dismay. There's always tomorrow.

You better eat

Austin is a picky eater. I guess that's to be expected from a 4 year old, a busy 4 year old. He knows what he likes and knows what he doesn't like.

Last week was an interesting week of eating where Austin's concerned. On Monday, I met my mother at the D.Q. to pick Austin up from spending Sunday night at her house. We all ate lunch. Correction, my mother and I ate lunch. Austin picked at his lunch. So, after my mother and I finished our lunches and "I'm full" came out of his mouth, I wrapped up the uneaten chicken fingers and french fries and brought them home for later.

We're trying to explain to Austin about being wasteful. We've told him that he doesn't need to ask for something and not eat it only to throw it away. So, I explained to Austin that he'd see the chicken fingers that he didn't eat at lunch again at dinner.

Dinner came and went with the chicken fingers uneaten. I explained again that he'd see those chicken fingers at dinner the next night. I also told him that Andrew was going to see Dr. Hamm the next day and we'd tell him that he's not eating his dinner. This comment left Austin just distraught at the thought that we'd be talking to his doctor about him and he begged me not to say anything. (For those of you who don't know, Dr. Hamm is the kids pediatrician. We use his name in all sorts of ways to get Austin to do or not do something.)

The next night, the chicken fingers made their final appearance on Austin's dinner plate. Austin was so proud of himself for finally eating them. I'm sure one day when he gets older he'll say, "Remember the time Mommy saved those chicken fingers and made me eat them for days."

He ain't heavy

Andrew is a big baby. Period. Gene, Austin, and I wanted to know how big, so we performed our own measurements at home. As Andrew laid on the floor playing, we used a variety of implements to measure him including a metal tape measure and toy musical inch worm. Our conclusion: Andrew is 24 inches long, almost 3 inches longer than when he was born. Now, that's big. Our measuring was confirmed at Andrew's 2 month checkup. In fact, we were off by almost 2 inches! Andrew is 25 1/2 inches long and 14 1/2 pounds. The doctor showed us his growth chart and, as suspected, he's heavier and longer than over 95% of kids his age. No wonder my back hurts these days.

Funny kids

Austin is 4 years and Andrew is 11 weeks old. The older Austin gets the more funny things he says and does. I want to keep track of them all, or most of them. What better way to do that and share everything with family and friends, right?