Cuddle Time with Grandma L

Mystery Baby clasps his hands together a lot now and "chews" on them.  The other day, Buddy said, "He looks like an evil genius." 

Funny Little Guy

Little Guy has taken on Princess Sparkley's defensiveness if we laugh or smile about anything he says. It's always because it was something cute or genius-like but both he and PS freak out. Tonight, when PS was doing a Mad Lib with him and asked him to name a planet he said, "Mars." B and I laughed because we had no idea he'd come up with that. Then he said, "What!?! It's a red planet where you can't breath air In church, he drew an assortment of popsicles, I think.  They were difference sizes.  When he explained them to me, the smallest one was "teeny", the next smallest was "basically teeny," up to "basically big" and "big."

Princess Sparkley gets a Job

by B

      Every year on her birthday, I tell Princess it's high time she got a job. Well, she's finally listened.
     This all started the last time we visited our cousins. Evidently Girl Cousin (or maybe just Girl Cousin's friends, I'm not sure) works as a "mother's helper," which is sort of like an entry-level babysitter. It's for girls who are too young to be left alone with your kids, but who can watch your kids while you're elsewhere, getting your productivity on. When we came home, Princess Sparkley mentioned to my wife that she wants to be a mother's helper. My wife told her that might not work because we don't know any rich moms.
     PS was offended that my wife thought she was in it for the money. Apparently she just wants an excuse to play with younger children, and her brothers are busy shooting and cutting things. (Example: two days ago Little Guy acted out the Luke v. Darth lightsaber battle from the end of Return of the Jedi while narrating the entire thing for me. "Luke is looking out the window at a 'Tar Destroyer and his lightsaber is just a handle sitting next to the Emperor and then Luke turns and forces it into his hand and turns it on and they start battling, and the Emperor laughs, like this: 'Heh heh heh.'")
     A friend in our ward was interested in a mother's helper, so PS got her first customer. She started work yesterday.
     At dinner I asked her, "How was work?" (It's been a long time since there's been a need to ask anyone that question in our house.) She said it was good. My wife asked, "Did you have to carry [Baby]?" Princess Sparkley excitedly answered, "Yes!" My wife asked, "Did you have to carry [Toddler]?" PS answered, less excitedly, "Yes." My wife jokingly asked, "Did you have to carry [Four-Year-Old]?" PS answered, "Yes, she wanted me to carry her, too."
     Later, she casually mentioned that she would get paid later in the week. This was when it all made sense to Buddy, who is a capitalist pig at heart. He muttered to himself, "I need to get a job," and then was very embarrassed when he realized we'd all heard him.

Imaginary Friends

On a car trip several years ago we came up with imaginary friends for our kids.  The imaginary friends were, for Princess Sparkley, Cinderella, Bella, and Stella.  Buddy refused to have rhyming imaginary friends so his were Hammer and Cone.  Little Guy's were difficult to come up with, but we finally settled on, Your Highness as his imaginary friend.  Recently, we've added to his list [Yug]*, which is [Little Guy] backwards and is how he writes his name accidentally every once in awhile.  I'll hear from the other room, "Oh, I wrote [Yug] again!"  Just now, from upstairs, Buddy yelled "G-U-Y, you're supposed to be cleaning with me!"  Little Guy yelled back, "That spells Yug!"  Hilarious.  Earlier, while he and Buddy were playing Marines, he yelled out, "I have a bad feeling about this."  When I asked where he'd heard that phrase he said Luke says it in Star Wars.

*For those of you who know his real name, Yug, is not the new imaginary friend, it's his real name backwards that we say.  For the blog, Guy backwards is Yug.

Kids

"Remember [Princess Sparkley], lots of Grandma's books don't make sense because they are missing pages because they are like thousands of years old."  Buddy to Princess Sparkley while she reads them a Star Wars book from B's childhood.

Toots

Little Guy told me during church on Sunday that he needed to go potty.*  B took him.  After church B told me that Little Guy went [number 1] and then told him he needed to go [number 2] so B had him sit on the potty.  He let out a big toot and then said, "Nevermind, I just had  a BIG FAT TOOT!"

*He's like 90% potty-trained. 

Ice Skating

For New Year's weekend, we headed down to Richmond to spend time with the P family. They are always super fun and plan lots of cool stuff for us to do while we're visiting. On New Year's Eve we let the kids stay up until midnight and then run down the cul-de-sac banging pots and pans. On New Year's Day they took us to an ice skating/laser tag/arcade place. The kids were thrilled with all of it, but especially the ice skating. On the way in Little Guy informed me we were going to have to buy some ice skates. I explained that we just rent or borrow them. He told me he was going to get two, one for each foot.


I can't believe they have ice skates for kids this little. I couldn't get over how cute they were. Little Guy was very proud of himself when he figured out how to stand up with ice skates on.


Buddy was especially excited to learn to ice skate because he realizes this is a skill he needs to be able to play hockey. He told me beforehand he hoped he was good at it. Because of this, I think he was a little disappointed by how hard it was, but by the end he was a lot better and a lot more pleased with himself.

We signed the kids up for laser tag at a specific time then rented skates and went to the rink... just in time to watch the Zamboni for 10 minutes. The kids of course all loved watching the Zamboni, but we were on a schedule now! When we got on the ice, Buddy and Princess Sparkley stuck to the wall with me slowly making their way around the rink. B took Little Guy ahead of us just holding Little Guy's hands up above him and having him skate between B's legs. B told Little Guy not to worry about moving, just to keep his feet under him and B would move them. LG's left foot started to slide out in front of him and he said, "but that foot's going crazy."




Then the big kids, the cousins, the aunt, the uncle and B went to laser tag (we only made it one lap) and stowed their skates and coats in a bench around the rink. Little Guy was not happy about ice skating now that he realized how much it hurt his feet and arms. I convinced him to come out with me again and we went one more lap. Then we stowed our skates and coats and walked around the arcade some until everyone was done at laser tag. B took Buddy and PS around again and they got much braver, letting go of the wall. I hung out with Little Guy on a bench until I left him with his aunt and uncle and I joined the kids on the ice. Then B and I skated around together holding hands all romantic-like. :)



And here's the video I got... as you can see, they aren't so much "ice skating" as they are "walking on ice without help." But this is much improved from the first lap around the rink where they were clinging to the wall for dear life and still couldn't keep their feet from sliding away.

{more pictures to come, H got some with her camera when I was busy ice skating and helping the kids}

Hiccups

Buddy: Dad, does anyone in our family have the hiccups right now?
B: Uh, I don't think so. Do you?
Buddy: Yeah, I was just wondering who I got them from.
B: [chuckles] You don't get hiccups that way Buddy...
Buddy: Yes you do.

Little Guy's New Phrase

Twice today, Little Guy has responded to something by saying, "Oh, that's kinda cool." This kid cracks me up.

Toop

I don't want to forget. Little Guy has gotten toot and poop confused, so if he, or anyone else toots, he says, "[whoever] toop." I love it.

(He's wearing PS's crown as a sun visor.)

Cruella Deville

Princess Sparkley: "I kind of wish Cruella Deville was a good guy because she has the best house in the world. In this movie."

(101 Dalmatians, the non-animated version with Glen Close)

Dogs play Frisbee

Buddy has been pretty obsessed with dogs for the last bit. Not real ones, although he says he wants a dog the kind of dog he wants is one that stays a puppy forever. He's got a collection of stuffed animal dogs that travel around with us frequently and he enjoys playing like he's a dog. B overheard this conversation the other day between Buddy and Princess Sparkley:

Buddy: People don't play frisbee. Dogs play frisbee.

Which prompted B to explain how two people can play frisbee, not just a person and a dog. He's a funny kid.

Smarty Pants

Because Princess Sparkley is smart. And because she knows that I get all of my answers from the internet. And because she doesn't want to do math, she just asked the following:

Can you look up how Santa gets around where it isn't winter?

Buddy Makes Jokes

Buddy: Mom, why are you a clementine?

Buddy: It's a joke. I made it up. You know how it ends?

Me: No.

Buddy: Because you got peeled.

Recent Conversations

Conversation between Buddy and Mommy:

Buddy: “Do girls have penises too?”

Mommy: “No, that's the difference between boys and girls. A boy has a penis and a girl doesn't.”

Buddy: “Then how do girls go pee pee?”

* * * * * * *

There is a Chinese Restaurant in town that has a giant panda on its sign. At the auto parts store across the street, Buddy pointed to the Chinese restaurant and said to Princess Sparkley:

Buddy: That's the panda shop.

Daddy: That's not a panda shop.

Buddy: Oh. What is it?

Daddy: It's a Chinese restaurant.

Buddy: Oh. 'Cept how come we never eatten there?

How cute is it that he thought they sold Pandas?

* * * * * * *

Princess Sparkley said something about what kind of car she was going to buy when she grew up. Buddy said, “I'm going to buy a UPS truck when I grow up.”

* * * * * * *

Buddy: “I'm going to be a train driver when I grow up. Or a mail man. I don't know yet.”

* * * * * * *

Buddy: “[Baby X] looks like a whole different boy today. Did he get a haircut?”

Mommy: “No.”

Buddy: “Then how come he looks like a whole different boy?”

Overhead bedtime conversations

There's a special needs girl from church that is spending a few afternoons with us this week, her name is Jarris. Today was her first day at our house. This is what I heard Princess Sparkley say to Buddy when they were in bed last night.

"It's not Jonah that's coming over tomorrow. Jonah lived liked 150 years ago. It's Jarris. Jonah was a prophet who was swallowed by a shark."

Embroidery

At some point last week Princess Sparkley heard me say the word embroidery. As a result, she's called these chalk drawings her embroidery.

Cardiologist Check-up

Baby X had a check-up with his cardiologist today (EKG, echocardiogram, etc.). It went well. His doctor said that his tests results were even a little better than at his last appointment, and that the valve that they corrected is growing with him as he grows. So that's a good sign. I guess they never really know if it will grow as the baby grows or not. He indicated that some babies who had had angioplasty when Baby X did might need it again at this age, or very soon, but Baby X seems to be doing great. We don't have to go back again for two months. Yea!!

[I posted this without adding Buddy's translation of this so I'll add it now. B got home from work and Buddy explained to B that Baby X's doctor's appointment went well because "his heart was beeping more than at the last appointment." How cute is that?]

[I also posted this forgetting to include his weight. They weigh him in kilograms, so I have to come home and type it into a kilogram/pound conversion calculator online to figure out how much he weighs. This appointment he weighed 5.945 kg (if I wrote it down right), which translates to 13.106 lbs. or 13 lbs. 1.7 oz. (if my math is right). I don't remember how tall he was (they tell me in centimeters). He goes to his regular pediatrician for is 4 month old check-up at the end of May.

Buddy as President Monson

Since General Conference, Buddy and Princess Sparkley have been playing General Conference... mostly Buddy's choice. He always wants to be President Monson. It was hilarious at first because every once in awhile he'd say, “what's our new prophet's name again? Oh yeah.”

B walked into the living room today and Buddy was standing behind a chair (his podium) saying the following:

“Welcome to General Conference, it's going to be kind of long.” Then Buddy explained that this is General Conference and he's President Monson. Then he continued saying, “This lesson is going to be kind of long. That's what makes General Conference General Conference.”

Funny things Buddy's been saying

"Wouldn't it be funny if a rocket ship went past Jesus and he saw it." -Buddy

"Wouldn't it be funny if Jesus had a rocket ship and Satan had a rocket ship and Jesus crashed his rocket into Satan's. Isn't that funny? The end." - Buddy

"Into the garbage shoot, Fly Boy." - Buddy