After we got back from picking Analise up at school today, it was naptime in our house.  Most days, Analise naps on my bed, and I lay down with her until she falls asleep.  Lately, though, she’s been wanting to skip her naps, which I let her do every now and then (and the bonus effect of this is a much quicker, early bedtime!  If we can tolerate the tired, whiney/crying attitude that often crops up in the late afternoon without a nap…)

Today she laid down next to me and said, “Just a short nap, Mama?” 

“Sure,” I said. 

“When can I get up?”

“After you rest, sweetie.”

“How ’bout I decide how long?  I’ll tell you how much time I want to rest for.”

Easy enough, I thought, since she still hasn’t grasped the hours/minutes/time concepts yet.  “Ok.  How long do you want to nap for?”

“Thirty hours, Mama.  How’s that?  I’ll nap for 30 hours.” 

I stifled my laugh.  “Sure thing, sweetie.  That’ll be great.”  That might start getting me caught up on the accumulated sleep debt of 5 years of bad sleep!

Naptime only lasted 30 minutes, but that means bedtime should be a breeze tonight!

More funny-ness from my boy.

At dinner, we were having this Crockpot Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes and Coconut Milk, and both kids had chicken and rice to eat.  Josiah also had carrots.  Two days ago, he opened the fridge, took out the bag of whole raw carrots, and started eating one, telling me, “I wike cawots, Mama!  I wike cawots!”  And after I washed and peeled it, he munched on carrot sticks all afternoon.

Tonight, though, he pushed them away, and said, “I don WIKE cawots.”

“Josiah, you liked carrots yesterday!  Try your carrot.”

“I don WIKE cawots, Mama!” he said, as he pushed them away.

I nudged him towards his chicken.  “Have some chicken, Josiah.  And some rice.”  A couple seconds later, he pushed his plate away, and said vehemently, “I WON’T give up, Mama! I WON’t give up!”

Brian and I were chuckling under our breath, and Josiah kept saying, “I WON’T give up! I WON’T give up!”

After about 10 repetitions of his battle cry, we were laughing out loud.  We weren’t sure what it was he wouldn’t give up on, but he wasn’t going to back down!

Later, at bedtime, I called him into his room to get ready.  “I WON’T give up, Mama!  I WON’T give up!”  He’s going to be a tenacious little man!

There have been so many things lately that I’ve wanted to write down about Josiah.  I just wish all our far off family and friends could enjoy a fun little conversation with my blonde-headed boy.

• “Um, yes.”  If you ask him something, he often answers, thoughtfully, “um, yes”.  So cute
• One of his favorite things to say is “I wuv you, Mama”, “I wuv you, Daddy” (though sometimes he accidentally says “I wuv you, Mama” to Brian, too.  Still very sweet!), and “I wuv you, Sister” (his most common name for Analise).  We hear this so many times during the day, but I promise, it doesn’t get old.  I know that eventually (probably sooner rather than later) we won’t be hearing it as often as we like.  Today at church during the kids program, he turned around to the people behind us and said, “I wuv you”.  They were charmed 🙂
• Both Josiah and Analise had a great phone call with Grandma Sandy the other day.  She was thrilled to be able to have good (ie, not rambling, comprehensive) conversations with both of them.
• “Oh, sank you!”  He’s so polite.  Whether it’s me taking him to the park or giving him a glass of water, he’ll say “Oh sank you!”, full of gratitude.  “Sank you, Mama, sank you.”  I hope he never outgrows the politeness.  And if we say, “You’re welcome”, he’ll say “yo welcome!” right back.
• He can count all the way to 14.
• I’ve caught him several times reading a book, saying “Wapon da time…” (which, I believe, translates to “Once upon a time…”).  I guess all the reading of his sister is soaking in!

This is such a fun, fun age.  I just recently realized that Analise was this age right after Josiah was born, and I feel that I missed alot of her at this stage, because I was so busy with Josiah.  She also started going to preschool at this age, and I really didn’t have a lot of one-on-one time to appreciate all the little developmental things that were happening.  It makes me sad to think I was too sleep-deprived to notice her sweet moments at this age.

But I am LOVING getting to know Josiah as a little person, watching his personality develop, and spending more one-on-one time.  We go out and about a lot more now that Analise is in school, and he’s gotten to be a very easy-going little companion… especially if I finish the running-around with a trip to the playground!

Yesterday was exactly like that.  We’d been to several stops, and he’d been great.  He even indulged me in a long (well, long with a child.  Maybe 30 minutes?) walk around Kohl’s.  He rode in the cart/stroller, munching on cereal bar and raisins.  I’m sure the Kohl’s employees were wondering about the little black “droppings” in the clearance section.  I knew it was time to go when he climbed out of the stroller in the underwear section, and climbed up onto a shelf in the wall, burying himself behind the panties 🙂  He didn’t want to leave, actually, but that’s when I mentioned the playground, and he was all ready to go.

So I swung by Starbucks so I’d have something to enjoy at the playground.  I ordered an iced caramel latte, and as we were driving to the playground, I swirled the icy drink around to cool it off and mix it up.  Josiah heard the ice in the cup and said, “It’s gone, Mama.”

“What’s gone?”

“The coffee is gone.”

I decided to play along.  “Oh no!  What am I going to do?”

“You get some more.”  Haha.  Yes, dear.  In our house, there’s always more coffee to be had 🙂

At the playground, he started running off and stopped to turn back to me.  “Come on, Mama!  Come on!”  Sweet, sweet words.  I love that the playground isn’t enticing enough to pull him away with out me.

Though he’s nearly outgrown it, we still have times where he wants to rest on my chest.  I loved those baby times of him sleeping chest-to-chest to me.  I love that he still finds quiet, comfort and rest snuggled up next to me.  No matter how tired or busy I am, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to hold my big baby boy so close.

Analise has always enjoyed games.  She’s amazing at playing Memory.  At first – probably a year ago, when she’d just turned 3 – I’d let her win, until I realized she was better than me.  We play the Hungry Caterpillar game, Chutes and Ladders, Blokus (mostly just making designs with the tiles), and Dora Dominoes.  She’s slowly learned about taking turns, but often she doesn’t get parts of the game.  For example, with Chutes and Ladders she really wants to land on the slide, which takes you backwards down the board, instead of towards the winning space.  And she likes to spin the spinner until she gets the number she wants.  We don’t mind playing her way, because it’s all fun and games 🙂

Tonight we tried Uno for the first time.  First off, Analise didn’t nap today, so she was a little teary as it was nearing bedtime.  She did really well keeping track of her cards.  She caught on to the aspect of laying a matching color or number.  We were all down to just a couple cards.  But when Brian’s turn came around and he had to draw and draw and draw to get a card to lay, Analise burst into tears.  She wanted to get more cards, too.  Brian happily passed some over to her.  We told her she needed to get rid of the cards to win, and she cried that she didn’t want to win.  So we gave her more cards, a whole handful, and she giggled through her tears.  We played on and on, giving Analise extra cards, everytime we both got too many.  I was sure if she just got down to one and experienced the thrill of yelling “Uno!” she’d want to win, but we never got that far.  And after I won, she was more than happy to hear that she “won” with the most cards.

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em… and know when to pass them to Analise!

Updated – right after we finished playing, I went downstairs and posted a note to my facebook account while Kristine was unbeknownst to me posting this blog! Here is my version of the story:

So Kristine and and I are pretty competitive about things – games usually end up in intense battles. Analise just came down the stairs and asked if I wanted to play “Tigger and Pooh”. I stop and go upstairs to investigate and find her and my wife getting ready to play a game of uno using a tigger and pooh uno deck of cards. They deal me in and we are off! Everything is going well. Analise has picked up perfectly on the concept of either matching the color or the number shown on the card just laid down. So everything is fine until Analise plays a card that I can’t match. This also happens to leave her with only two cards in her hands. As I keep on drawing more and more cards without finding a match, Analise starts to wail and sob because I am getting all the cards and she only has two. We try to explain to her that she is about to win. “But I don’t want to win!!!” she sobs. So I come up with a solution: every time I draw a card that doesn’t match I’ll just give it to Analise – and I toss in half of my huge stack of cards for good measure. Well, that doesn’t go over too well with Kristine so she gives Analise a lot of her cards, too – leaving the two of us to duke out. I’ll wrap it up by saying that Kristine and I both make it down to “uno”, but she ends up winning when Analise plays a 7 (out of order) which Kristine also has in her hand. Analise is happy because she has the most cards when the game ends. That’s uno with my wife and my 4 year old! Now it’s back to work.

You give the girl a watch, and all of a sudden she can tell time!  Analise has had a watch for a while, but she’s never worn it.  This morning, she found it in the drawer and wanted to put it on.  Immediately, she was saying, “I don’t think we have time for this” and “It’s thirty o’clock” and “I think it’s time to go, Mama!”  (an hour before we have to leave).   She did amazingly tell us it was 8:00 when it actually was.  But she’s definitely decided she’s going to keep us on time!  I, on the other hand, am trying to figure out if her teacher will appreciate being kept “on time” if she wears it to school today!

Last night, Analise wanted to read me Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  She flipped right through it, word for word memorized, from the red bird to the black sheep.  She was quite pleased with herself and happily took it to bed with her to read to her bed buddies (last night that was jingly penguin, Fairy Dora, and the big polar bear).

This morning, she was up before Josiah, and as soon as she heard Josiah talking in his room, she bounced out of my bed, telling me she wanted to read to him.   So I got Josiah up, and we snuggled into the couch together.  Josiah was a captive audience as she “read” to him all about the colored animals.  She finished and said, “Josiah, did you like it?”

“I wike da book,” he said.  My heart nearly burst seeing their sweet little reading time.  I look forward to many more!

I dream of the quintessential family dinner around our table.  Good, healthy, home-cooked meal, one of my kids praying before we eat, everyone happy, food staying on plates, everyone actually eating the same food, kids staying at the table with us – peacefully – until they’re done.  And maybe even a delicous family dessert to top it all off.

Sounds great.  And yes, it does sound a bit impossible, especially with a 2 and a 4 year old who may be a bit more lively than most kids.  Dinner has been a growing frustration of mine for any number of reasons… picky 4 year old, messy 2 year old, kids not wanting to sit.

But it happened last night.  My dream family dinner.  It was so lovely, and it was even better than I could have imagined.

I’d cooked (well, half-cooked) a good meal – Mushroom Orzo Rissoto (super easy, very tasty, and even though I don’t like mushrooms, Brian does, and I knew he’d be pleased and they were easy enough for me to pick out) and Turkey Spinach Burgers (frozen from another evening… I love when cooking one night makes another night easier!).

Analise prayed for our meal, which she often isn’t in the mood to do.  But she’s been the “prayer leader” as her job at school this week, so she was excited when we named her the prayer leader for dinner tonight.

We put the burgers, no buns necessary, on the pasta, and it was TASTY.  The kids loved the pasta, and surprise, surprise… Josiah liked the mushrooms!  He ate one after another from my plate.  Seriously, my heart was bursting that one of my kids was liking something I don’t!  Analise even gamely tried a bite.  I was very proud of both of them.

Anyway, everyone was in a good mood, they ate well, we had nice fun conversation with them, and we all stayed at the table through the whole meal.  The kids shared a piece of chocolate cake, and everyone was pleased.

It was wonderful.  I know it’s possible now.  I’m not going to get frustrated and grumpy when it doesn’t happen, though.  They’re just preschoolers, and we’ll work on it bit by bit.  I know it can happen, it will happen when all the stars align, and when it does, it will be lovely and well worth it.

I very nearly got a new haricut this morning, thanks to Thomas the Train.  I was changing J’s diaper and getting him dressed.  Sometimes he likes to hold a car or a train while we get him dressed, and sometimes he pretends to run the car over you.  “Vroom… da car go over da head!”  Very cute.  This morning he was holding battery-operated Thomas, who was whirring away.  He was laying on the ground, and said, “Thomas go on your head!”, holding Thomas out towards me.

“No”, I said sharply, “Thomas can’t go on anyone’s head, because his wheels could get caught in their hair.  No, Josiah.”

I stood him up to finish getting him dressed, and he wrapped his arms around my neck… with Thomas still whirring away in his hand… and the wheels spun themselves right into the hair behind my ear!

I’d like to say I handled it calmly, but I didn’t.  I freaked out, and it’s a good thing Brian was here.  I screamed for him, and he came running up, thinking something terrible had just happened (which it had, in my mind).  I’d gotten Thomas turned off, and it was hanging from my hair.

“Do you want me to get the scissors?” Brian asked, as I was sobbing.  “NO!” I cried!  It would have been a serious chunk out of my hair.  Brian wasn’t sure what to do, but then he said, “I’ll put Thomas in reverse.”

Whatever, I thought.  Thomas doesn’t go in reverse, and I wasn’t pleased with his joking at a time like this.  I kept sobbing like someone had died.

But Brian was serious, and he wound Thomas’ wheels in reverse and my hair pulled right out, without a single piece damaged.  Amazing.  Brian is my hero.  And we’ve all learned a valuable lesson that battery-operated Thomas’ and hair don’t mix.  And I’d be happy if all Thomas’ stayed away from my head, just to be safe!

The public schools here in Alabama started back in early August, Brian started last Monday, and today was finally Analise’s first day back at school.  She’s in the 4-year-old kindergarten program, Tuesday through Friday.  To be honest, I’ve been pretty ready to send her back to school.  She’s very busy, and we’re having a hard time finding enough creative activities to keep her out of trouble around here.  And she loves the social aspect of school.  And I love having one-on-one time with Josiah.  He plays very well by himself these days, too, so that gives me some much needed time to get things done for myself.  It will be a big change for us to have 4 days instead of the 2 days a week we’ve had the last 2 years, but it will be a good preparation for kindergarten next year.

Kindergarten!  Crazy to think that next year at this time, I’ll have one child in school 5 days a week at kindergarten, and Josiah will be in preschool 2 days a week.  What in the world will I do with 2 days entirely to myself?  I can’t even imagine all the things I might actually get accomplished!  Still, the thought of Analise in kindergarten tugs at my heart.  I can’t believe how fast she’s growing up!

A glimpse from last year’s first day of school…

Brian walks Analise to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays when he’s available.  Believe it or not, she still rides in the backpack, as she has has since she started 2 years ago.  They love their walk over!  Josiah usually hates to see her go on the backpack adventure without him, but this morning, he and I joined them for part of the walk, so there were no tears.  Then we both enjoyed our walk… I, particularly, enjoyed pushing just 1 child in the stroller… 50lbs of weight versus 85+! Josiah and I also went to the mall to get him some new shoes, picked up some yummy Auntie Annie’s pretzel stix, then played with the Thomas train table at the bookstore. It’s so fun to chat with him these days! And it sure is easy taking one child out and about, rather than 2!

(Added by Brian): Here’s her “first day of school” picture from 2006, too!

From our lunch playtime at Chik-Fil-A…

Analise came out of the play area to munch on her nuggets and gulp down some lemonade (“yemon-ade” Josiah calls it).

“I met a new friend, Mommy!”

“Really?  Did she tell you her name?”

“Yes, her name is is South Carolina.”

Do you think her Daddy needs to back off on showing her maps of his favorite rides from his college days at Clemson?  I have a hunch her friend might have been named Caroline 🙂