My Growing Boy

Once upon a time I had a little boy...

Today, he was "gettin' bigger, bigger, you know". This is what he tells me. And he is.

Today was his first visit to the dentist. I know, he should have gone sooner, but, nonetheless, he went today.

On the way there, we passed a gravel pit.

"Mama, when I grow bigger, I want to work there."

"Really? Why is that?"

"Because, I could play in the dirt all day. It would be so much fun Mama. And you know what else Mama? I could hunt for all my favorite rocks!"

"Wow, that does sound like fun."

"It will be. It will be so cool."

Hmmm... my little baby, already wondering about what he'll be when he grows up. I just want him to still be my baby.

Then we pull into the parking stall across the street from the dentist office. I stop the car and he hops out. Sometimes I forget that he has the whole seatbelt thing figured out, and he can even get the door open all by himself.

"Mama, just so you know, you don't even have to hold my hand until we get to the street. I am not a baby anymore you know."

"I know buddy. You remind me a lot."

"I know I do, but I have to, because I am a bigger boy."

"I know."

We got to the dentist office and I got him checked in. On the way in to get his teeth cleaned, he looked up at me and said, "Mama, you can hold my hand now, I think I would like that."

I just smiled, took his hand, and thought to myself "I think I would like that too."

Jacob the Monkey Man

So there we were - at the hospital - 5:45 a.m. Tuesday morning. Mark and I are both sleep deprived and stressed out. Kyle's surgery would take place at approximately 7:30 a.m. Jacob and Kyle were both wide awake and ready to go... It was early - especially for our family - we are the "Sleepers" - you know, the 9 a.m. get out of bed - noon get up and go kind of family... Tuesday? We saw the sunrise. I don't remember the last time I saw the sunrise. Oh wait - I do - I remember one day around Thanksgiving I had to be into work before 7 a.m. - and I actually made it - except the whole way there I kept thinking that there was something wrong when it was DARK on my way TO work...

Anyway,

So you know, I think any 4 year old child that is up way early after staying up way too late will become overtired. At our house, we refer to this as "Loopyville" - a description I believe I picked up from my sister.

Whatever it was - Jacob had it.

Picture this...

Kyle is out of surgery, out of recovery and ready to go home. The nurse comes to our room with the wheel chair and tells me to sit in it and put Kyle on my lap - hospital policy. Mark goes ahead to get the van by the door. Jacob? He decides, and even convinces the nurse, to let HIM push me out of the hospital.

Around the corners, through the cooridors, through the Lobby - this is what I hear and so does the rest of the hospital...

"Tarzan the monkey-man, swinging from a rubberband. He don't care. He don't swear. He don't wear any underwear."

Over and over and over.

Jacob is entertaining everyone who hears him....

My face is red.

The nurse's face is red.

Jacob is smiling from ear to ear.

What a monkey. I wouldn't trade him for the world.

In the Eyes of a Child

Mark called me today...

"It's summer" he says proudly.

"What?" I question him. I thought maybe this at-home-Dad stuff was too much for his head...

"It's summer" he repeated.

"O.k." I said, questioning a bit.

"Jacob decided it was summer today," he explains, "He saw a squirrel and a bird - so it's summer."

And now you know...

Days Gone By

In a perfect world, I would be taking time to write about my children every day. Of course, in a perfect world, I would have time to write about my children every day... but... a perfect life would be boring.

Wouldn't it?

So we have had a few big milestones this last month... Alex turned 9. I can hardly believe it. He was very funny about turning 9 too. He was at his Father's house for the big occasion. I called him up first thing in the morning to wish him a happy birthday...

"Hello?" a very tired sounding voice says to me.

"Hi Baby... Happy Birthday"

"Mmmm" he moans back to me, very sleepily.

"What's the matter Sweetie?"

"I couldn't sleep last night."

"Oh, I'm sorry baby, that will make today kind of hard, being so tired."

"Yes," he said, "Only I couldn't sleep because today was my birthday. I was so excited about turning 9 Mom."

"Aww..."

My poor little one. I hung up with him and told him to try really hard to have a fun day with his Dad...

I could hardly believe he was 9. It seems like just yesterday he was my little stinker - learning everything faster than any baby in the world. Walking by 10 months, getting into everything... challenging my everything...

It's funny, now he has a little brother, just like him.

Kyle. He's been so silly lately. Definitely growing up faster than he should. He got his first hair cut this past month. Mark would tell me every day how much he looked like a little girl. I just didn't want to cut it because as long as his baby hair was still there, he would still be my baby. But little Kyle... he would get mad and pull his hair so hard until he would cry. So finally, one night, I couldn't take it anymore. I picked him up and off to the bathroom I went... clippers in hand.

15 minutes later...

I had a big boy.

No more baby curls.

No more beautiful long blonde hair.

Just a fuzzy head.

But still cute as a button.

And, still my baby.

He will always be my baby. Just like Jacob. Only Jacob is getting too big too! This month brought him to kindegarten screening. That's right - SCHOOL.

Jacob will start kindegarten in the fall. I can't believe that either. I just don't understand how it is that my children seem to be getting so big and I am still 25?

Life. It happens all around us every day. Sometimes I just wish I could capture every second on a camera in my mind so I could I play it over and over again and never miss a moment of my baby's lives...

Can You Hear Me Now?

"Can you hear me now?"

"Good."

We all know this... we are all sick of this. Try living it. We have cell phones, from Verizon, and guess what? we can't hear A THING! There are so many areas that we have no reception... I would like to send that guy from the commercials here to test them... but nonetheless we know when we are going to drop a call, when we are going to lose reception, and when we need to just not call.

Tuesday morning, 8:30 a.m. driving down hwy 41 to Menomonee Falls. My phone always works here. After all, when you travel to big city, dumb phone works...

Guess what?

My phone rings... I answer.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Hello?"

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

click

I look at the number, it's a number from my kid's school.... instant panic sets in... my kids never call my cell phone and also - they knew I would be gone this morning.

I call the school back.

"Hello? This must be Sue... I can't hear you but I hope you hear me" the voice on the other end of the line says to me.

"Hello?" they say again.

"If you can hear me Sue, your son has been hurt and you need to get him to the doctor. His knee is badly swollen and he's in a lot of pain."

"I hope you can hear me."

Guess what? I heard her alright - but she couldn't hear a thing from me...

5 minutes later I arrive at a payphone and call the school back - I let her know that I am an hour away and they will have to call my son's father.

Everything turned out o.k. - my son? A sprained knee... .crutches, you know the routine...

But guess what? No one could hear me... it was horrible. My heart raced all morning. Stupid cell phones. What was life like before them? I bet that my son's father would have been called immediately. Instead, my baby had to sit at the school for an hour in pain before someone came and got him.

I wonder if Verizon would care.

Bedtime Business Blues

The routine is the same, night after night, 8:00 p.m. is "bedtime business" time.

Jacob learned this from Blue's Clues... first, p.j.'s (and he HAS to wear zipper jammies that he can zip up a time or two), the toilet, then washing up and brushing his teeth. This has been something we have done together for a while now... the other night, it was different.

It was 8:00 p.m and I announced to him that it was bedtime business time... he raced me down the hall. When I finally reached the bathroom, he was already going potty. He finished and I asked him if I could help him with his jammies (sometimes they get turned inside out).

"No Mama" he said, "I can do it by myself."

"O.k." I said as I watched him struggle to finish, but he finally did it.

Then it was brush teeth time. I got up to help him and he told me to wait. Then the little stinker climbed up onto the sink just enough to reach everything. He even put his toothpaste on his brush.

The tears started dribbling down my face.

"Why you crying Mama?" he asked.

"This makes me sad." I told him.

"What?"

"That you can do this all by yourself. That means your getting bigger bigger now" I told him.

"Yeah, me are" he said.

Then he came over and gave me a hug, "but don't you worry mama, I may get bigger bigger, but I will always be your baby."

He's right. He will.

Chores

During a recent visit to my sister's house, Mark and I learned about a wonderful system she has for her children to do chores and get rewarded... but the rewards are enough to make them want to do the chores. We liked this and decided to start a similar system at our house. Even little Kyle has a chore! :)

Today, Jacob started his morning helping me clean. He yelled at me because I did one of his chores (cleaning off the tv with glass cleaner/paper towel) so I let him do it again. Though our system really doesn't start until Monday, these chores and the points he will receive must be on Jacob's mind.

At dinner time, Jacob announces to Mark and I, "Mommy, your chores can be 'portant stuff, cleaning, vaccuuming, laundry, cooking and hmm... I think that's all. Daddy, your chores can be battling with me and playing Spyro (on PS2)."

Mark and I both laugh... only 4 years old and he has the boys role all figured out.

Snow Day

So Mother Nature decided to dump about 5 inches of snow on us today. Of course, for those of us in the working world, this sucks - having to get up, shovel, and make it to work on time. Well, this didn't happen for me today as the plows decided to skip over our little country road today. So it was time for me to try to shovel out.

I was outside for about 5 minutes when the front door flew open "Mama! Mama! I am coming out to play with you!!"

That little boy had been sound asleep 5 minutes earlier... I couldn't believe he could be so wide awake and ready to play that quick - but he was.

I went inside and dug out his winter clothes and then Mark got him ready. 2 minutes later he was outside throwing snow at me.

We had fun.

I shoveled and he threw snow at me.

We laughed as we jumped around in the snow. It was really a great morning. But I still needed to get to work, so it had to end....

"Mama, can I go in and have some hot coffee now?"

No, I don't give my 4 year old coffee - he meant cocoa!

"Of course you can baby doll" I smiled at his little red cheeks and nose.

We went inside and I made him a cup of hot cocoa.

"Mama, you make the bestest hot cocoa" he smiled at me.

"Thank you buddy."

"You're welcome."

"Thank you for playing with Mama today - that was the best" I said to him.

"You're welcome," he said again and then gave me a big hug and kiss.

I think I like snow days.