Baby's First Christmas

This was Caleb's first Christmas. It was a huge blessing to have him with us! (Especially since last Christmas he was in mommy's tummy, and mommy wasn't feeling so well. . .) Caleb got to use the special "Baby's First Christmas" stocking that we used for Joshua.

Joshua and I had quite a conversation about that stocking today. First, he told me that he wanted me to save it so that his kids could use it when they came to see me at Christmastime.

After a little probing, these are the details that he provided regarding his future:

He and his wife, Abbi, will have fourteen children. Most will be boys, but a few will be girls. He and Abbi are going to get married in a basketball net. (Yes, that's really what he said.) Abbi is going to wear one of those "things over her face" and he is going to wear "white with black on top". They will stand on the hoop part of the net. There will be flowers, but he's not sure what kind yet.

He is going to work at Daddy's office in the same room as his daddy. Abbi will stay at home with the fourteen children just like me. I think I feel sorry for her.

He does not plan on giving Abbi any kisses, but he will hug her on occasion.

Those are all of the details thus far.

Mickey Mouse is NOT Real, But The Angel Lawn Ornament is

There is this little boy in Joshua's class that he doesn't like all that much. Honestly, I can't say that I blame him. Joshua is generally a pretty good judge of character, and, based on the reports that I hear regarding his behavior, this little guy is not the kind of friend that I want Joshua to have.

On our way home tonight, Joshua was telling me that this boy thinks that Mickey Mouse is real. I'm guessing that this came from the fact that they watched a Mickey Mouse cartoon at school today. Joshua's proclamation was as follows: "I told him that Mickey Mouse is NOT REAL, but he still thinks he is. I told him that animals do not talk, and that they do not walk on two legs. And I told him that they do not wear white gloves. Mommy, I want to invite him to a play date so that you can tell him that Mickey isn't real. Then, we'll just send him home because I don't really want to play with him. I just want you to make him know that Mickey isn't real."

Not ten minutes later, we drove by a house on our street that sometimes has a beautiful lighted angel in their yard. I say sometimes because some days it is there, and some days it mysteriously isn't. I have no idea what that is about. Joshua's thoughts on the subject are that maybe the angel is real and flies away at night but comes back during the day.

That, my friends, is why Mickey Mouse is not real, but the lawn angel down the street is.

Just Like Jesus

After Caleb's bath last night, Matt wrapped him up in his towel. Joshua said, "He's wrapped up just like baby Jesus!"

Animal Factories and The Chocolate Chip Thief (and other tales)

On the way home from school the other day, we were stopped by a train. Joshua decided that it was heading to an animal factory. As he watched the train cars roll by, he told me what car would haul various animals. I asked him if animals were created in factories, and he told me no. However, according to him, lost animals are taken to these factories to determine their owners. Then, the animals are placed in the correct car of the train and returned to their homes. And to think I never knew that!

Today, Caleb stole my chocolate chip. He was quite sneaky, really. You see, I had taken a trail mix type of snack with me because I had to take our car to the dealership and expected to be there quite a while. I was actually in and out quite quickly, so I saved my snack and ate it while walking around Babies R Us. At some point, I dropped a piece of my mix. I knew I had dropped it, but couldn't see it, so I just kept on walking and munching. WELL, when we arrived home MUCH later today, I noticed that Caleb had something brown all over one of his hands and his pants. Now, chocolate was NOT the first thing that I thought of when I saw it, but upon closer inspection, that is indeed what it was. That little guy had grabbed it and held on to it until it melted in his hand! Who knows if he had his first taste of chocolate today or not. . .

Tonight, Joshua's prayer went something like this: "Dear God, thank you for yeah, and help people make more toys and more commercials, and thank you just yeah and amen." Think the boy's watched a little too much TV.

Whenever someone says that something stinks (literally or figuratively) Joshua always responds without missing a beat: "That's Caweb."

Christmas is a' Comin'

We started decorating for Christmas tonight. We started pre-Thanksgiving because we travel during that time and will have a hard time getting it done afterward. Joshua was so excited (read driving his parents crazy), so I pulled out his and Caleb's new Little People Nativity set. I was hoping that he would be preoccupied so that we could do the "boring" stuff like actually put up the tree. While I was attempting to get the toys out of all that packaging that can only be described as obnoxious, Joshua was busy setting up the manger scene. When I was done, I looked up, and this is what his scene looked like. Just precious. He said, "Well, they're all looking at baby Jesus because it is his birthday." We can learn so much from our children.



PS: This song sums up my feelings on toy packaging perfectly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1t90Bg9wAw

Joshua's Friend Abbi

For several days now, Joshua has been asking to have a play date with his friend Abbi. If you know Joshua well, you know that she is his favorite friend. She still lives with her parents in Gadsden, which is about an hour and a half away from us. We used to get together at least once a month, but both families have now added second children. This makes it a little tougher to make play dates happen.

I finally got around to talking to Abbi's mommy and arranging a date. I was telling Joshua when we would get together this morning. He said OK, got a little quiet, and then he said the following:

"Well, when I'm eight, I'm going to go stay with Abbi for twelve weeks. You can come, too. And Caweb. We will all stay at Abbi's house for twelve weeks."

Matt wanted to know if he could still go to work. Joshua informed him that he would be having a lot of "special daddy stay home days", a.k.a. vacation. We asked if Ms. Staci (Abbi's mommy) would be going to work. No, she would be staying home. I don't have a job to escape to, so I guess I'm stuck at home, too. Joshua decided that Mr. Daniel (Abbi's daddy) could go to work and go get our groceries. I'm wondering why he's the lucky one who is allowed to leave the house.

The Parrot

Joshua is a parrot, meaning that he loves to repeat what we say. He especially likes to do this when talking to Caleb. He does this in a high-pitched, sing-songy voice. Today, it went something like this:

Me: Caleb, do you have a stinky diaper?
J: (In his I'm-Talking-To-A-Baby voice) Caweb, do you have a stinky diaper?
Me: Let's go change your diaper and get a clean hiney.
J: (Same voice) Yes, wet's go change your diaper and get a cwean hiney, Caweb.

As you can imagine, this gets really annoying after a while. I tried to ignore it, but eventually I could NOT take it ANYMORE. So, I told Joshua to use his regular voice and his own words to talk to his brother.

His response:

"Well, my voice just does that when I'm talking to Caweb. And Mommy, you just keep picking all of my favorite words!" Of course it's my fault. It always is.

He tried this again after Matt got home from work. He repeated something, and Matt and I both told him to stop. This time, he said, "They weren't the same words, they just SOUNDED the same."

Drawing in the Jungle

Just a couple of funny things from tonight:

Joshua said that he watched the "Book of the Zoo, no, the Book of the Jungle" at church tonight. He meant Jungle Book.

Then, he told us he knew how to draw a party hat. This is how he said to do it, more or less: "You draw a line, and then another line, and then another little line, and the another line, and then a circle."

Joshua has some elaborate plan for my birthday, also. It's a secret, so I'll have to fill you in later.

Some days. . .

Today was one of those that I really enjoyed being a mom. Caleb was laughing (cackling) very loudly this morning while I was "getting" him. Joshua was loving on his brother and telling him that he was "the best baby ever". There were lots of kind words and laughter, and I could even here birds chirping in the background. (Well, not really, but it was a good day.)

I was reminded today that there are no better gifts than my children. Truly a heritage from the Lord, just as He says. Please remind me of this post on the days that I think I may kill them. =)

Just one funny: Tonight Joshua was in the tub talking about closing his eyes to keep water out of them. He said that he just needs to close his "shutters" on his eyes. In other words, his eyelids.

More Children Than the Stars

Today, Joshua told me that, when he a Caleb are both too big to sit in my lap, I should have another baby so that I have someone to hold. I then asked him what I should do once that baby was too big to hold, and he said I should have another one.

Suspecting that this was a never ending plan, I asked him how many children I should have. He told me that I should have more children than the stars, because that's how many children God told Abraham that he would have.

I asked him where all of these children would sleep, and he said that we would have to get a bigger house. He also said that we could get some of those "stacking beds like the ones on TV" so that they could share rooms.

This was funny to me, since he had just said a few hours before that the hardest thing about being a big brother is that I "don't really look after him anymore and he's always getting sick". How much "looking after" will I be able to do with a galaxy full of babies?!

Aminals

Conversation between Matt and Joshua:

J: My go fish card directions say something about aminals.

M: You don't even know how to spell animals.

J: Yes I do!

M: How?

J: g-o-s-t

M: That isn't even a word.

J: Well, how do you spell aminals?

M: It's not aminals, it's a-ni-mals.

J: A-mi-nals.

M: No, a-ni-mals. Say it with me. . .

Gotta be able to say it right before you can spell it, kid.

How God Made the Trees (According to Joshua)

While driving to school this morning, Joshua told me that he wanted to tell his daddy that God made the trees "just in case he didn't know that". Then, he proceeded to tell me how He made them:

"God made the trunks and the branches. Then, he made all the leaves fall on the ground. People picked them up and put them on the trees. If they couldn't reach the tops of the trees they had to use a ladder. That's why we have ladders, you know." No, as a matter of fact, I did not know.

Smushed Fire Breathing Police Officer Who Wonders What Hackupping Is But Knows All About Halloween

Matt and I are pretty serious about not allowing Joshua to sleep in our bed UNLESS there is a thunderstorm. Well, a couple of nights ago, there was such an occasion. It happened about 4 a.m., and Matt just brought Joshua in and put him in the middle of the bed. I moved over a bit to allow for our guest, but Joshua absolutely refused to move over off of Matt's side of the bed. The result was that poor Matt was half hanging off of the bed for the remainder of the night. The next morning, Joshua decided to complain to me about how "smushed" and "squished" he was in our bed because there just wasn't room for him. Poor guy. . .

Today at school, Joshua was a fire breathing dragon. He was having fun fire breathing until he decided that he would rather be a police officer. Um, OK.

Our cat sometimes has these asthmatic sounding coughing attacks that sound like she is hacking up a lung. She had one such attack a few days ago, and I reported it to Matt. Joshua asked what "hackupping" is.

Tonight, Joshua was explaining trick or treating to me. Trick or treating is for kids who are "4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 3 or 2 or 1, but not for adults with big numbers or for babies." I think I'm an adult with a big number.

Business

One of the things I've had to learn as a parent of two is that, if you want to maintain the Santa Claus fantasy, you cannot let the kids see anybody's Christmas presents. I mean, if Joshua saw Caleb's loot pre-December 25, he would know Santa didn't bring it. This has made life interesting in the Jennings house.

Matt and I have learned to talk in code about anything Christmas related. For starters, we don't say "Christmas", we say "December 25th" or "The 25th". We spell things, refer to things as "the thing we talked about before", etc.

So, yesterday while Joshua was at school I did some shopping for "The 25th". I very strategically placed the bag in the very back of our CR-V with Caleb's gift on top so that Joshua at least could not see his own. Then, I asked Matt to try to get it out before we got home from church last night. Matt remembered it at about 10:00, so we just decided to leave it until later. (To be fair, we have about 2,862 things to remember on a typical Wednesday night, and last night we had to do the Alpha Bucket (see previous post) so that made 2,863. It's not surprising that something was overlooked.)

This morning while we were waiting in carpool, Joshua noticed the bag. He said, "MOMMY! THERE IS SOMETHING BACK THERE FOR CAWEB!" (L's are pronounced as W's) I tried to ignore him. "MOMMY! THERE IS A TOY BACK THERE FOR CAWEB!" Me: Joshua, that is none of your business. "WELL, THEN WHO'S BUSINESS IS IT?! IT MUST BE SOMEBODY'S BUSINESS!" Me: It doesn't matter, because it's none of your business. "Well, it is Caweb's business. And it's your business. So, Caweb can't ask, so I am." Me: Well, I'm not answering, and I don't want to hear anymore about it. It is NOT your business.

I think life would be easier if Santa was real. Just sayin'.

Alpha Bucket

Joshua is star student this week. That means, among other things, that it is his job to fill the alpha bucket. The bucket is an ordinary plastic one that has every letter of the alphabet written on it. They learn a new letter each week, and the star student brings the bucket home and fills it with items beginning with that letter.

So, Joshua's letter is "F". Now, Joshua thinks that anything can begin with "F" as long as you make the "F" sound in front of it. Example: "Mommy, pole begins with "F"! Listen: fffffff-pole." I could go on and on with this idea. Drives me crazy.

Tonight, he told me that there was no "E" on the alpha bucket. I asked him why not, and he replied, "I DON'T KNOW! I think maybe it's tricking me and hiding. Even though I told it not to before it hid. It just didn't listen." That bad old "E". I mean, ear begins with "E", so you'd think it would be a good listener.

Yellow

I went to pick Joshua up from school without Caleb since Matt was home sick. Caleb was asleep, and I didn't want to bother him. When Joshua FINALLY noticed that he wasn't in the car, I told him I left Caleb at home. He got this horrified look on his face and said, "MOMMY! You aren't supposed to DO THAT!!!" I assured him that Caleb was in good hands.

He told me that he got on yellow today for throwing blocks. I asked him how that happened, and he replied, "Well, first of all, I was playing with blocks. Second of all, I don't know." Really cleared things up for me.

Joshua is also creating a song for Caleb's first birthday. According to him, some of it comes out of his mouth, and some of it is just in his head. Glad he has a while to work all of that out.

Bananas and Stuff

The above picture is of Joshua pretending to be a bug man.

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Today Joshua told a joke:

Joshua: Knock, knock
Matt: Who's there?
J: Nothin'
M: Nothin' who?
J: Knock, knock
M: Who's there?
J: Nothin'
M: Nothin' who?
J: Knock, knock
M: Who's there?
J: Banana
M: Banana who?
J: Aren't you glad I didn't say nothin'?

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Joshua is learning about syllables in school. One day last week, he asked me how many symbols some word had. Then he changed it to Seminoles. Then it was sybalals. That's when I figured out that he was trying to say syllables. As a side note, do not EVER ask Matt how many syllables are in words. He was apparently absent when they taught that in his school.

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Joshua is quite fond of aminals. Yes, aminals. He also really likes cimanon rolls on Saturday mornings. It does not matter how many times I correct these words, they always come out the same.

World Hunger

Tonight at church the kids learned about world hunger. Ms. Joanna talked to them about it in the Clubhouse using a power point presentation she had created. She showed a picture of obviously starving children, and then she showed a picture of a McDonalds Happy Meal and a Chick Fil A kids meal. She told the kids that, for about the price of one of these meals ($5), a child in a third world country could eat for a month. The kids made banks to use to collect change for world hunger.

Fast forward to our drive home. Joshua was telling me that he wanted to put some money in his bank. I asked him where he was going to get this money, really hoping that he would say he wanted to take some out of his own bank to put in there. He said, "Mommy, I just need to go to Chick Fil A with a five dollars and get one of those meals to put in there." He must have figured out the obvious problem with this plan, because he then said, "Well, I could just take a five dollars and give it to a missionary and they could take it to Chick Fil A and get a meal for them." Things clearly got mixed up in his little head!

Eventually, he decided he would take some out of his crayon bank and put it in the world hunger bank. He told me how he could take the top off of the giant crayon to get the money out. Then, he got all concerned wondering how to get the money out of the world hunger bank. His conclusion: "Well, I guess the missionaries know how to tell them about God AND how to get the money out of the bank."

Random Funnies

Joshua is very concerned that Santa will not know what Caleb wants for Christmas since he can't talk. Matt assured him that Santa has been doing his job for quite a while, so he will be able to figure out something.

Today, when we were driving to school (which is also our church), Joshua was complaining about how long it was taking. He asked me why they built our church so far from our house, as if they were deliberately trying to stay as far away from us as possible.

Who's on First?

This is the conversation that occurred on our way home from school today. For those of you who are from the area, we were driving on Highway 150 towards the Galleria. (This information is helpful later in the story.)

Joshua was telling me about the kids in his class. He said that there was a little girl named Anne, which is a close name to Annie, but not quite.

Me: So, you have an Anne and an Annie in your class?
Joshua: Huh? Just Anne and Annie. No and or an.
Me: What? You have an Anne and an Annie?
Joshua: NO! Anne and Annie. Just them.
Me: (Letting it go) OK.

Then, this is what Joshua had to say, all in a row, just like I'm writing it.

"Sam got on yellow today. He told Ms. Dana a wie. (lie) So we had math jar today. We were supposed to have Alpha bucket, but Ms. Dana forgot. We had cookies in the math jar. I guessed 21, which was close, but there were only 19. Oh, and I'm the calendar helper. I hold the flag, and we tell the weather and the months and the days and the Summer or Winter or Fall. They were Halloween cookies with cats and pumpkins. We'll do alpha bucket tomorrow. Cookies start with C, though. I want to be Sing for Halloween. (Me: What do you want to be?) Sing. (Me, remembering that Joshua often says "S" for "Th": Oh, Thing). Yes, Mommy. What are you gonna be? You've already been a kitty cat, so you have to be something else."

Now, by this point, we had reached the turn to get on the fly over by the Chick fil A, and a firetruck zoomed by.

"Look! A firetruck. And there's the American Flag. (On the Chic fil A roof) And a cow with a person in it! (Outside of Chic fil A) Do you think that is a cow with a person in it, or a person dressed up like a cow? I think it's just a costume. You know, I could be Ironman for Halloween. They have that costume, you know. Do you think I'll get treats? How many? I will have to eat a good dinner on Halloween so I can have one of those treats."

Sheesh. That's all I have to say.

Wobbly Weebles

Tidbits from the past few days:

Joshua "accidentally" got moved to yellow the other day at school. According to him, this occurred because he and his buddy Sam "accidentally" bumped heads. After some prodding, he revealed that he and Sam were both standing on the stool in front of the sink that the kids use to reach it. I asked who was washing his hands, and apparently Sam was. I asked if Joshua was supposed to be on the stool. His reply: "Well, I just couldn't go under it, and I couldn't go around it, so I had to go over it." Yeah, right.

After watching a commercial for the NEW and improved Weebles, Joshua looked at me and said, "Mommy, I just need some of those Weebles because they wobble but don't fall down. I have lots of toys, but they all fall down. I need some that don't fall."

This morning, Matt was getting Joshua his breakfast. Joshua has decided he doesn't like the "crust" of Poptarts (the non-iced part). He asked Matt to take it off, and Matt told him to do it himself. Joshua said, "But daddy, it's so much easier if you do it." I'm sure things are easier if other people do them.

I can't quote it exactly, but he was chosen today to say the blessing at church during Clubhouse (worship for 4 and 5 year olds). It was simply the most precious thing I have ever heard. Period. I love him to pieces!

On a side note, Matt and I are hoping that Caleb will actually learn to talk. It may be difficult since Joshua NEVER STOPS.

The Kid Who Eats Stuff

So, today Joshua provided an update on the disappearing biting kid. Apparently he also eats puzzles because today he "got on yellow" for eating letter shaped puzzle pieces. He must eat more than just other children.

He also told me that he forgot to push his "self control" button today. That's what Ms. Dana told him, anyway. He also said that his button is this little red smiley face sticker that he has in his room. So, no pushing the sticker means no self control. Only a four year old would think that he literally has a self control button!

Just a Monday

So, today was a LONG day. Caleb got his first shots. Not too fun. Joshua was none too happy about him getting "vatcines" as Joshua calls them. (We do not call them shots. Just ups the anxiety factor to call them something sounding so violent.) Anyway, the first one was an oral one, but Joshua sat with his hands over his ears just in case.

When we got home, Joshua laid on the floor to make a "floor angel". See pictures above.

He has also reached the stage where his pretend play has become very real to him. Case in point: Today, he was doing something with Matt's computer chair that was causing it to make a noise. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "Mo-om, (please hear it in two syllables) I just had to get more tickets for my game." Oh. That makes perfect sense. Why did I even have to ask?

School Days

Joshua tells such interesting stories about school. Yesterday, he told me that someone kicked him "just to see what would happen". He also said someone else bit his friend Sam, and that person "disappeared for a while". Yikes! Pretty sure that person "disappeared" to Mrs. Jo Ellen's office!

Today, they made necklaces with Apple Jacks cereal. He was examining it when he got home and said, "The red parts are the apples and the other parts are the jacks."

Football Player

Today Joshua informed me that his job right now is playing football. In order to do this, he must eat vanilla wafers and Cheeze Its. He must eat these things so that he can run fast with the ball. Not sure exactly when he does this job of his or where his paychecks are going. . .

Joshua's Sleeping Position

Today Joshua told me that he sleeps with one arm up above his head and his tongue sticking out. He says he sleeps this way EVERY time he is asleep. I begged him to demonstrate so that I could take a picture, but he said if he did, he would fall asleep.

Boys' Night

When I am not at home, Joshua has named the night "Boys' Night".  Tonight I went to dinner with some girls, and the boys watched football.

I came home to a very sweet Caleb who just grinned and cooed at me before I put him in bed.  So precious.

The highlight, however, was when Joshua told me that they watched the Jets and the Raisins (aka Ravens) play football.  =)

In other news, Joshua just got out of his bed to ask how many sides an "X" has.  I let Matt handle that one, and he actually told him to ask his teacher tomorrow.  So sorry Mrs. Dana.

If you insist

So, I've been told that I had better start writing things down.  Maybe folks are afraid I will lose my mind, forgetting all the cute things my oldest says.  Not really sure, but I will try to put something down here so that I can read it after I'm senile.

So, the other night Joshua and I were leaving church in Matt's car.  Matt had these Super Heroes in his car that he was supposed to take into work to add to his LARGE collection in his office.  They've been there for some time now, and this was bothering Joshua.  He asked me, "Mommy, is Daddy going to take those to work before he is married again?"  Now, a little necessary back story:  We always tell him that things will happen before he is married.  Like, when will this hurt go away, when will I get this toy, when will I learn to do such and such, etc.  All answered with "before you are married".  Matt said he took them to work the next day.  Wonder if he's getting remarried soon.

We were watching the news the other day and Joshua saw the story about the gas fire in California.  He asked me where it was and I told him in California.  His response:  "OH NO!  Lightning can't race there anymore!"

Song Joshua sang to Caleb:  "You will always be safe.  You will because I love you, I love you, I love you."