Curly Straight

Breakfast was fun today, although the food left much to be desired. TJ tried to pay the waitress in Play Doh. That didn't work out too well.

We played and looked at photos the whole time and I spent about twenty five percent of our total time there picking in Play Doh from the floor.

On our way out, a lady in a brightly flowered muumuu stopped at our table and said to me "you sound like such a good mama."

How sweet is that?

Next year at this time, as my sister so kindly reminded me, we will have a three-year-old and a four-month-old.

I'm craving pickles.

How very very cliche.

TJ will be two on August 9th and we were planning on trying to potty train him after that. He decided to whip off his diaper this morning. I told him, in my motherly wisdom, "you need to pee in the potty if you take off your diaper."

The kid ran to the bathroom, I put the Elmo ring around the bowl, plopped him on it, and he went pee.

Now I don't know what to do.

So we celebrated T's birthday this morning with a beautiful walk through Roger Williams Park on a glorious day. Felt like fall. I wanted to kick the hell out of Georgia only two times, then I followed John's advice to drop the leash. After this advice, my life is turned around. When it was time to pick up the leash, The Rottens came right to me and someone commented on how well behaved they are. You talking to me?

Got home and rested the rest of the day. Growing a baby is hard work.

When John came home from work, the three of us went blueberry picking. The blueberries were slim pickin' but we managed to rustle up a pound and paid our $1.40 and were on our way.

I begged John to stop at Newport Creamery and we did. So now this is our tradition for T's birthday - blueberry picking and Newport Creamery.

As a special treat, T went to bed an hour late after eating one whole big piece of a chicken quesadilla and a spoonful of plain sour cream, he still said "Eat, eat. Crack-ur." as he got placed into his crib. It's all a lie, because we take him to his booster seat to feed him and he'll eat the tiniest little bite ever.

Hopefully he's finally asleep. Oh, no, he's not. I hear the wailing of a two-year-old. Poor thing.

John is at the bar trying to find the painter to paint the house, Amadeus is laying on the mini Sponge Bob couch and Gigi has settled into the futon.

Me, I have a new Real World to watch.

When TJ can't sleep, he doesn't yell out "mommy" or "daddy" - he usually yells out Ah-Nay, Ah-Nay, over and over.

BUT NOW that he has turned two, he's mixing it up a little.

His no nap cry is Ah-Nee, Ah-Nee. I can attest to that fact, because he's yelling it right now.

Ah-Nee.

Currently hearing over and over: Let's do the hokey pokey! Elmo puts his hand in, Elmo puts his hand out, Elmo puts his hand in and shakes it all about. You do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around, that's what's it's all about!

Got back last night from a nice weekend away. All I can remember is a couple of fun parties and TJ not sleeping.

We never let him sleep in our bed with us, but after listening to two hours of crying and screaming with no way to tune it out (very thin walls and ceiling in the cabin we stayed in), we decide to ask him if he wants to sleep with us. "Jesh," he says, with so much conviction and want, there's no denying him. He falls asleep the minute his head hits the pillow only to wake up at 3:30 a.m. saying "piggybatch" (piggyback). The next day he woke up at the crack of dawn and whispered to me "Ready. Go." which I found to be the cutest thing ever.

It was great to spend an extended amount of time back home. It's nice to have so many people around who I have known forever. Friends and family are something that I miss terribly, even though we are only 70 miles away.

Where else would someone leave a giant cucumber on our picnic table with no note and we can immediately figure out who it is from?

T is 2 years old. Almost two years and one month. We started the process of potty training today and are following advice of a book I downloaded, www.thepottytrainer.com. It tells me to put him on the potty every twenty minutes and put him in big boy underwear.

My two observations so far:

Potty training is exhausting.

This would be much easier if I could drink.

Every twenty minutes a timer goes off.

!*****!potty time!!***** woowoowoowoo

You peed in the potty? What a good boy!

Still waiting for the poo.

This is exhausting.

T is usually really well behaved, attributed to luck and some good parenting, I like to think. Having a kid in my late thirties definitely makes so much more patient than I would have been if I had one in my early twenties.

On that note, I was standing in the kitchen talking to John, when suddenly I had a (literal) pain in my ass - my right butt cheek more specifically, where Little Mister had taken it upon himself to bite a chunk out of my derriere.

OW.

I yelled in pain. John started yelling because he didn't know why I was yelling.

T ran away and left me to tend to my wounded butt myself.

Numchucks are not an age appropriate toy for a two-year-old.

I do not recommend leaving them within reach of your little ninja.

T's culinary delight is Annie's Cheddar Bunnies baked snack crackers dunked in whole milk.

He tickles everything in sight, including this computer, the dog and the window.

This boy is not into sleeping. In the book I'm reading, it says that they are so stimulated by everything they are learning, that they have a hard time getting to sleep.

He's not crying, just chitchatting.

T Bone decided today was the day that it would be best to wear the Pooh Bear hat from his Halloween costume to music class.

TJ and I are playing with a new purchase - a Play-Doh Activity Mat. Although I hate Play-Doh, it's so messy, this is pretty fun - you fill in the blanks with Play Doh - the one we are working on is a birthday scene and it has a birthday cake with candles to be made out of Play-Doh and ribbons on the gifts to be filled in, etc. Right now TJ is making eyes for the children's blank faces.

The only problem is that you have to be of Superman Strength to open the containers of Play-Doh. I'm talking super strong. Being the silly, silly momma that I am, I was making lots of sound effects - grunting and groaning - actually, only half in jest, as it was really hard to open.

It made it all worthwhile when I finally opened it to hear my 2-year(and almost 3 months)-old exclaim "Momma did it!" with a look of pure joy on his face.

Right after, I was about to take his picture and he pretended to eat the Play-Doh! With a big grin on his face, like "Yes, Momma, I'm messing with you, just for the camera."

Little ham.

Seems like TJ has graduated from Elmo to Pooh Bear.

True love is when your little boy hands you his booger snot on his finger and you really don't even think twice about wiping it off of his and onto yours.

It does sound a little bit grosser in writing than when it actually happened.

Something clicked today with TJ - he's talking and yelling out the names of things, one after the other.

My two year old just felt my minus 3 month old move for the first time in my belly.

Southwest Airlines is the only place I know of that considers a two-year-old an adult.

One of my favorite things that TJ says to me is when I sneeze. He stops whatever he is doing, looks at me with concern and says "You ok, Mama?" - he also says it often to me when I'm in the kitchen, usually cooking or cleanig, and he's playing in the living room. I never realized how much I say ow or ouch.

Each time I say it, I hear his concerned little voice, "Mama, you ok?".

Never fails to melt my heart.

TJ was tired today after the gym and after our lunch at Newport Creamery. He slept from about 1:30 until 5:30 or so!

We think he's growing.

TJ ate his peas tonight. I had to eat one, then he would eat one.

He's funny. As of today, he suddenly is laughing out loud at everything. John gave him some jellybeans and he thought that was hilarious.

This morning, TJ took off his pjs and went to the potty all by himself!

He's pretty much been potty trained since late September, but we would still have to physically put him on the commode. Hopefully today, a new road has been crossed!

Will be interesting to see what happens after this new baby gets here.

T is now at the point where he sits quietly and listens to a story as he carefully turns the pages of a 24-page text filled Pooh Bear book. "I do it!" he says if we try to turn the page instead of letting him do this very important task.

Tried to put TJ down earlier than usual this morning, due to a playdate we have early this afternoon.

Went through the entire routine - read, music, cuddles, told him who loves him. "Goodnight, Mama" he tells me, "thank you." Usually that's a good sign.

48 minutes later...

He is in his crib, yelling "Happy New Year!" over and over, with an "Up. Down" thrown in every now and then for good measure.

How can I resist a little party animal toddler like that? 12 more minutes and then I'm calling it a day.

He's eating a fortune cookie for dessert after his breakfast. He wants more fortunes than just the one.

Today, you should spend some time to search in yourself.

Sage advice for a two-year-old.

Today TJ's little friend said "thank you" and Thomas said "You're Belcome!" back to him. Unprompted by me.

So cute and so sweet.

Whenever I make a phone call and hang up after, like if I have to make a doctor's appointment, TJ looks at me with a look of distress because I didn't let him talk.

He says "I want," which means he wanted to talk to the person on the other end.

If we are talking to Daddy or Ali and Bebe and I hang up before he blows kisses, same thing - massive look of distress that warrants a call back, just for the kiss blowing.

When we put T to sleep, we tell him all the people who love him. It's a nice way to end the day and he knows it's his cue to lay down.

Tonight after "the baby in my belly loves you," he added in the following Cast of Characters:

Piggy Bank
Pooh Bear
Owl
Tigger
Eeyore
Elmo

TJ is crying about two hours after we put him to bed, which is unusual.

We both try to settle him down. I succeed, but thirty minutes later, he's crying again.

John's turn. Daddy asks him, "are you hungry?" - which is not the problem. Turns out he has to pee, he tells John. (!)

He's not even 2 1/2 and he's telling us he has to get up in the night to pee! While he's wearing a nighttime diaper!

We definitely did the right thing by potty training him at 2 years old, because I think even now he is getting too stubborn and it would be difficult. I guess that there is also a huge issue with kids pooing in the potty, we somehow managed to avoid that one, too, through no good parenting of our own. I'm thinking we got lucky.

It will be interesting to see if there is any regression once the Little One gets here.

The little boy is still snoozing. I wonder if he feels ok.

He pulled a weird thing at lunchtime - he wouldn't come and eat - he hid behind the couch and I had to pretend I was reading Elmo stories to myself to get him to come out. When I started reading, he poked his little head out and when he finally came over, I told him he needed to eat his pizza before we read Elmo.

He ate seconds and then I put him down for a nap.

He picked the "When is Spring Going to be Here?" book, which I found very appropriate, considering the snow outside.

Sounds like he may be making some waking up noises now.

I have enjoyed these last 2 1/2 years immensely.

xo

TJ and I managed to get through 34 minutes of Singing in the Rain this morning. Then he discovered the space bar is also the pause function on the dvd.

We are still watching it at 50 minutes, although he is in a time out, because he was dancing and I told him it was good so he decided to hit me in the belly.

TJ has started to sing along with his dvds and Sesame Street.

He tries his best to sing along to the "abcs" on the Elmo goes to School dvd and I've been wondering if he would start exercising or jumping when the characters do on Sesame Street.

Today was the day.

Grover was jumping and TJ said "I want to jump too!" so I rewound it (yay for the dvr) and he jumped to his little heart's content.

At least until the sketch ended and Grover fell down and so did TJ.

TJ at naptime, heard through the monitor:

Tigger, Tigger, Tigger, Tigger.

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit.

Elmo, Elmo, Elmo, Elmo.

TJ, 2 1/2, today sang the whole "do, ri, mi, fa, so, la, te, do" scale unprompted while playing along on the piano.

Mama or Daddy: Why this or that or why are you acting like that or why do you like that or why do you say that?

TJ's answer every time: Because.

TJ is sitting on the potty with his camera taking photos. Every now and then I hear a little hard breathing so I know he's being productive.

Today TJ woke up sad because he missed his Daddy so I asked John to send TJ a text message via my phone.

I read it to TJ. "TJ, I will see you tonight and we will play hide and go seek. Oooga Booga."

TJ looked at me, smiled, and said "that's funny!"

TJ is getting to be such a big boy. He's still my little boy though but can talk and understand more and more everyday. I just realized today that he hasn't thrown his food from the table in a really long time, something that was a common occurrence not too long ago. On the other hand, I still have him sitting in highchairs in restaurants and sleeping in a crib. I figure as long as he doesn't object, I'm milking it for as long as I can.

The Sleepless Wonder is not napping. I can hear him in his crib singing "one two three, Tri-angle! Oh yeah!"

"Mama, I took a little snooze."

TJ just sang "Bye bye poopie, bye bye poopie, bye bye poopie, so nice to have you here," as he flushed the toilet.

How sad.

I never thought I would actually be reduced to tears while putting away tighty whities.

Granted, they are adorned with Elmo and Nemo characters and I am putting them into the "too small" pile because they are too small. The ones that seemed like they would never fit.

Boo hoo.

This poor kid. Does not feel well. Doing artwork now. Drawing many pink circles and if it's not a perfect circle, tells me to rip off the piece of paper. He also likes to peel stickers off the sticker book and stick them into his artwork book.

When TJ acts out, sometimes I put him in Relaxation Time Out, where he goes into his crib and just chills for a while until he calms down. I use it when he seems like he's really needing a rest.

Today he was in there after he threw his artwork book. I gave him his blankie and left him in there for a couple of minutes. When I checked in, he was laying down all comfy and looked at me and said "Mommy, I calmed down."

I find it amazing the things that TJ picks up...he repeats things that I didn't even know he heard.

Today in the doctor's office, he pointed to the scale and asked what it is. I replied "a scale for little babies." He said "I'm a little baby. I'm four months. Not two."

Which means that he knows he is two, knows Julia is four months and knows that a four month old is a little baby.

The doctor also informed me that TJ is somewhat belligerent. Hmrph.

TJ has been sick lately.

During his normal mid-afternoon nap, he woke up crying and I went in and told him to go back to sleep because he needed the rest. He did, sleeping for about another hour.

Woke up upset, sideways in his crib and wouldn't stop crying for about ten minutes. He was telling me what was wrong but I (frustratingly) couldn't understand him.

Finally it came out, with much coercion from me asking him again and again to say it in his big boy voice.

The reason for the scariness?

A giraffe that was tickling him.

I would be scared too.

TJ is FREAKING OUT because there was broccoli cooked in with his pasta. "I DON'T WANT GREEN BEANS IN MY PASTA."

This morning, as TJ and I read the book "Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog?" he pointed out all the things he would rather be. This is a first.

For the record, he would rather be a fat. And he picked dog first then cat the second time.

Yesterday TJ had a breakthrough.

I asked him "TJ, guess who is coming to visit this weekend?"* and instead of his usual "what?" or "where" he actually remembered to say "who?" for the first time ever!

*Shelby

If an airplane goes by overhead, TJ puts his hands over his ears and when I asked him, he said it hurt his ears.

In the mornings when I go in to pick up TJ when he calls me, he doesn't say hi or anything, he says "can I go draw with chalk on the sidewalk?" - he always does that. This afternoon when I went in, he said "you all wet?" which he always says when I take a shower.

We told TJ that when he hears the bell (of the ice cream truck), it is his naptime. He'll hear it and look at us and say that it is time for his nap.

Today what did I google? Mp3s for ice cream trucks.

Thought TJ was napping.

Just walked by his room and I hear him singing "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands."

C'mon, how can I tell him to go to sleep now?!

We just got home.

Went to Texas Roadhouse.

When I gave a big Texas Roadhouse yee-hah, (people next to us had a birthday), TJ burst into tears.

Full day.

We had a code when he was ready for me to go, three kisses, a hug and an I Love You.

He was having fun. I beckoned him over and asked him if I should go. He puckered up and got three kisses, a hug and an I Love You.

I walked away and felt proud and a little sad.

I hope his day goes great! They left a message, he's doing great. No hitting. No pushing. No sleeping pants during naptime!

When I picked him up from his first long day at school today, he was under the slide with a bunch of other kids, all hot and sweaty and dirty. He came running out yelling "Mommy, I had fun today!"

TJ was trying to get his lunchbox but it was stuck and he said "it won't budge."

While hiking the other day, he said "Actually, rabbits don't make noise, they just go boing, boing, boing."

Today TJ started using "I don't know" as an answer to questions. For some reason, I find it quite endearing.

TJ wore his pumpkin hat all day long at school today.

He loves it.

It was 70+ degrees.

How cute!

Up until now, 3 years and 1 month old, TJ's favorite color has been blue.

Today, he declared his love for purple and informed me that purple is now his favorite color.

The gray sweats with the blue patches on the knees?

Too small.

Just did a science experiment with TJ! How fun.

A ball of play dough sinks, a boat of play dough does not. Although our boats did at first. He somehow figured it out. Thanks, Gardner High.

TJ has taken to walking around the house singing/chanting the following song:

Esme is a girl in his class, but he substitutes Mommy, Daddy, Katie, Aidan (who were visiting today), TJ, Julia, etc.

ESME THE CLOWN
ESME THE CLOWN
YOU ARE THE FUNNIEST CLOWN IN THE TOWN.

Now let's do a trick.

Every now and then TJ will decide that he wants to go somewhere.

Usually it's one of the following:

I want to go to Chuck E. Cheese.

I want to go to Florida. (me too, kid, that's for sure, it's cold here!)

I want to go to Disneyland.

I want to go to Ali and Bebe's.

I want to go to the zoo.

I just took a shower and came downstairs to answer my phone.

TJ was standing in the kitchen eating a bowl of popcorn wearing his Mickey Mouse ears.

TJ told me today he wanted it to be Groundhog Day.

TJ has macaroni and cheese and grape tomatoes he's eating right now. He's drinking a Gatorade Frost that was in the fridge.

He asked, "Mommy can I put these in here?" and I said "do you think it's a good idea?" but I'm secretly psyched, because I love to mix foods and flavors together and he's not so into it. Like one time he freaked out because there was broccoli mixed in with his pasta.

Anyway, I said yes, but turns out he was talking about mixing in the Gatorade with the mac and cheese.

And he's eating it.

TJ's school teaches the kids to be polite, but also to be assertive. Most three year olds don't seem to have a problem with letting others know how they feel.

The school does not encourage inappropriate behavior and will say to the kids, "No, thank you, that's not how we treat our friends" or whatever the appropriate response to the situation is.

Well, TJ has taken to using this term but has added his own little spin to it. Whenever someone does something he doesn't like, he will say very meanly, "no THANK YOU!" with an emphasis on the "thank you" - he'll say that part very loudly. Sometimes I try to give him a kiss and he may not want a kiss right then, again with the mean "No THANK YOU!" - I hate to say it but it makes me laugh every time.

I try to hide it from him because once he knows what works to get my attention, he definitely will use that trick again. Case in point, funny faces at the dinner table. "Look at this face, Mom." Or his new favorite song and the dance he does to the classic "Shake what your momma gave ya." I told him that one was only for home. Politely, though. Maybe if he does it out in public, I'll try his old standby - "No THANK YOU!"

TJ was pissed that his present wasn't a Pooh Bear camera, which is what he's been asking for.

I better get on that.

Julia was none too happy to hang out with Santa for the second time this year either.

We attended an Owl Walk and Talk (my made up name, yes, Audobon Society, feel free to take it!) tonight. TJ was really well behaved until the very moment we arrived home, and were putting him to bed two hours later than his usual bedtime.

At the owl talk, he sat there very patiently and rapt, listening to the woman speak about the owls. He laughed when we laughed and was fascinated by the box I told him probably held a live owl.

Once the owl came out, he was also quite fascinated with the tarp underneath the owl (to catch poo) and also very concerned with the speaker's foot on the tarp. "Why is her foot on the tarp? I want her to move her foot," he said. He was also wondering where the owl's bumbum is located, after we told him the purpose of the tarp.

During the walk, he was good, too, although we both ended up carrying him much of the time and we didn't see any owls. The lady made owl calls to summon the owls, to no avail.

When we arrived home and I asked TJ his favorite part, he said "hearing the owls."

Julia stayed at home with Mimi, and the owl's big round eyes reminded me of my little girl.

Now that TJ is in his big* boy bed, we read him his nighttime stories in bed.

We tell him all the people who love him and then say goodnight.

He usually asks whichever one of us is tucking him in if we will stay with him "for a few minutes."

Sometimes we do, sometimes not.

Well, apparently he's starting to get greedy because now he says "I want you to stay with me for a long time."

It's very sweet.

*understatement about the bed

2007: bathrobe

2008: Pooh Bear camera

Watched TJ at his little pre-school singing performance today. It was so cute. I actually had forgotten about it and had planned to go to the gym. Cut the workout short and hightailed it there. Got there about two songs in and he was happy to see me.

Of course, they aren't the clearest singers, being three years old and all, but I could figure out the songs very easily.

Very politically correct, too. A Christmas song, a song about a dreidel,one about Kwanzaa, and to wrap it up, We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

Well.

Tonight I asked TJ to sing it to Daddy and he obliged. Like this: We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Ear.

He said it a bunch of times. Then, just to verify, tonight when I was saying goodnight to him, we had the following conversation:

Mama: Goodnight
TJ: Goodnight
Mama: Sweet dreams
TJ: Sweet dreams
Mama: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
TJ: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Ear.

So cute.

Sore throats seem to be common in the winter. Mine is sore right now. From an illness, perhaps strep throat?

No.

Earlier, TJ declared himself Oscar the Grouch, Julia Baby Grouch and me Mama Grouch.

So, my throat hurts from talking like Oscar the Grouch for the last hour.

TJ's song:

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

And a Happy New Ear.

Good tidings we bring to you and my friends

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Ear.

I often have to hide because "the wolf is coming!"

At random timesTJ will yell out, "oh no! The wolf is coming!!" and we have to run and hide as quickly as we can, quietly, usually under a blanket.

These kids get sick often, it seems. Probably seems worse than it is.

TJ is coughing like he smokes a pack a day, like his lung is about to come out.

I guess fresh cold air is good for that, so JP has him outside.

He's too sick and crabby to think about it as an adventure, otherwise I think he would be psyched.

We always read the kids bedtime stories. Sometimes John or I will tell a story to TJ without a book.

A couple of times lately, though, TJ has wanted us to read him the captions from his 2009 tiger calendar as his bedtime story.

TJ just sat through his first full movie, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

He loved it, although he asked lots of "why" questions the whole way through and just now when I put him to bed he asked "what happened to the boy?".

The dogs are starting to listen to TJ when he gives them commands.

I am trying to teach him to use a low voice and not to yell at them and to praise them if they do what he says.

It's working somewhat.

He just told Georgia to lay down and she did it.

TJ woke up in the middle of the night and for some reason John took him into our bed with us.

It was cute, TJ held my hand a couple of times during the night.

BUT now he's at the bottom of the stairs, calling "Daddy" because he wants to come and sleep in our bed.

Not happening.

Update: Just got back covered him with eight baby blankies - of course his ABC blankie, along with Thomas the Train, one of Julia's pink ones, the Santa one, a star one, and maybe even a couple more, along with a regular Restoration Hardware one, and a stuffed cow and a Pooh Bear that he had taken the arms out of the sleeves. He had me fix that before he went to bed.

When TJ was first learning to communicate, we taught him sign language.

Sign language for blanket is two hands, from waist to chest, as though you are pulling a blanket over you.

Children sometimes invent their own signs or a modified version of the correct sign. Somehow TJ determined that when he wanted to sign for blanket, he would just pound his chest and skip the pulling up part altogether.

He also would say the words sometimes, but couldn't pronounce blanket correctly. He was really off, as a matter of fact, he pronounced it "bitch."

It was quite hard not to laugh every time when was probably two years old and wanted his blanket.

He would pound his chest and say "I want my bitch."

My singing sometimes makes TJ really angry. "Don't sing, Mama!" he'll say. If I continue, he will yell "NOOOOOOO!"

He also gets mad, usually at the gym, when someone wants to hold the door for him, because he wants to do it himself.

TJ loves Fridays at school, because it is show and tell day. During circle time, he stands up and displays his show and tell item and talks about it. The teachers ask questions and asks if he wants to let his friends touch it or just look at it. He decides (so far he has always let them touch it), and walks around the circle showing it to the other children.

We always talk about what he's going to bring in the night before.

So far, some of things I remember him bringing in are:

- a ball - he may have brought it in two weeks in a row

- a clear plastic baggie full of change and other misc items

- his Buzz Lightyear phone

- photos that we printed out of him at swimming lessons

I know the secret to raising mellow toddlers and it’s basically repeating back whatever they say to you. They like to be understood.

TJ asks me every now and then if it's Groundhog Day.

Today it is!

He's at school now but I can't wait to talk about it with him.

After coming in after taking a shower and and finding TJ on my bed doing a puzzle, I put him back into his bed.

Five minutes later, he sneaks up behind me as I am on the computer.

I turned around to look and he has his ABC blankie over his head.

I take him back into his room and put him onto his bed. "You ruined my ghost clothes," I am informed.

Two seconds later, he comes clomping up the stairs.

"I'm thirsty." I give him a sip of my water and pull out the big guns..."go into your bed or else you won't get to go to go see Dora on Friday."

We'll see what happens next.

Update: Two minutes later. He's tapping on my shoulder, saying "tap tap tap." I am ignoring him and trying not to laugh. Now he's on the back of my chair, tapping me through it. I am ignoring him.

Put him back into back and locked the gate.

Now I can hear him, he's downstairs playing with his racetrack.

Update #2.

I went down and he asked for hot chocolate, as he was drinking it, he noticed a creamer on the table from my coffee earlier. "What's that?" he asked, so I told him it was sleeping cream and added it to his hot chocolate.

Two minutes later, he was pretending to fall asleep at the table - "I'm so tired because of the sleeping cream, Mama."

Mama: My belly is messed up.

TJ: Maybe you drank too much alcohol.

A couple of years ago, on a trip to A Store That Sells Things That I Don't Really Need But Buy Anyway, otherwise called Ikea, we bought some alarm clocks.

No ordinary alarm clocks, these. These are recordable alarm clocks. You can say whatever you want, set the time and boom! you will hear it again the next morning. It's a cute concept and apparently, we liked them at the time because we bought multiples. We only have two left, not sure exactly where the others ended up.

I can't remember what we used to say to wake us up before TJ. Probably something optimistic and cheerful. "Time to start your day," in a gentle voice seems to ring a bell.

Now it's one of TJ's hobbies, talking into the alarm clock. He'll come upstairs in the morning, climb into bed, completely ignore my request for a morning hug and kiss, grab the alarm clock and start with something nice like "Wake up Mama and Daddy." It's cute, really, when it's something like that.

He gets more and more wound up as he progresses, and by about the 10th time, it's basically just a primal scream that we wake up to the next morning.

It's the cutest primal scream you ever did hear, but still.

He told me today this is his favorite song. Learned it at school.

His rendition:

January, February, March and April
May, June, July and August
September, October, November and December

The twelve months of the ear.

Boom boom.

TJ is looking at the family portraits that John made of the whole family, including the pets.

I ask him if he knows who everyone is.

"Yes," he tells me "Mommy, TJ, Daddy, Julia, Amadeus, Georgia, Spike, Taylor and the other cat."

It's about 5:30 here. I'm talking a.m.
TJ woke up about two hours ago and announced "I'm not tired."
He's ready to go see the lions, the tigers, the dolphins and the flamingos.
I made up a lullaby about the lions, the tigers, the dolphins and the flamingos and that worked, he slept for about another 30 minutes.
Now we are all awake and I'm going on a coffee hunt.
Maybe I'll throw a quarter into a slot machine on the way.

In the airport on the way home we ate at the Jose Cuervo Tequileria. Good service! We were psyched about that, and to get food in our bellies and the kids' bellies before the flight.

TJ was raring to go after eating, ran out of there and started to "snap" people - as alligators do - he uses his two hands and grabs a part of your body in between them and yells SNAP!

He did it to at least five people before I caught up to him.

When I want TJ to do something, I have to bribe him with a Dora bandaid.

Works sometimes.

At school, the teacher is going around the room, asking the kids what they would do if they were president.

She asks TJ what he would do if he were president.

His response?

"I don't want to be president!"

Smart kid.

I guess if a kid is going to be addicted to anything, it may as well be yogurt. Drinking yogurt, specifically, as TJ calls it, sometimes he calls it cow yogurt.

He wants it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He had at least three for breakfast, just had two more and wanted one more and I think John may have let him have a couple around lunchtime.

"Drinking yogurt!" He'll just yell it out at random times.

Then he expects us to throw away the wrapper. Um, no. I don't think so.

When I was pregnant, I always rounded off to the nearest month so as not to confuse people...When people tell me they are 27 1/2 weeks along? I always just figure it out by months, but they could really make it easier for me by just doing it themselves and telling me. I don't need to know that much detail and I don't enjoy math.

We have never said our baby's ages in weeks, or even in months once they hit one year old.

In my inbox is an email from one of the baby groups, saying your child is now 43 months old, which seriously sounds just so silly to me. He's three. 3 1/2 if I get really technical about it.

Myself? I'm 471 months old. My next birthday is a big one - I will be 480 months old.

TJ wouldn't go to bed tonight until John sprayed whipped cream on all of his fingers. TJ counted as he was doing it "one, two, three, four..."

Then he licked it off, we brushed his teeth and he went to bed.

The one that has lasted the longest on our recordable alarm clock:

"Daddy, Daddy, wake up, the big bad wolf is coming!"

We put it up high so he can't get it, because that is just too precious.

We heard TJ ask Mimi why water is wet.

John has a scientific answer all ready for when he gets asked that question.

Me, I'm referring him to his daddy.

I never thought I would be up at 3 a.m. giving my three-year-old son ham and cantaloupe at his request.

Sometimes TJ loves to sing with me, sometimes he says "don't sing, Mommy. You are not in the radio."

I sing in the car, along to music, if I know the words. Today I am free singing the one song I know all the words to - Gimme Three Steps by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

I sing a line - TJ repeats it or his rendition in his little voice. Hearing him say "I was cutting the rug down at a place called the Jug, with a girl named Linda Lou." - in his little voice where his letter R sounds like a W, oh my.

Another heart melter: "Hey there fellow, with the hair colored lellow."

I had to change a few words - like gun to stick - and anything else not appropriate.

Good clean fun.

Somehow along the way, TJ has picked up a fear of trolls.

He can't sleep because there are trolls in his room.

So luckily I just remembered about some Troll Spray I have.

Sprayed it in his room. "Under my bed," he tells me, "and way up high, for the big giant troll."

Two minutes later, he comes out. "One got by."

"No way," I tell him.

He decides he needs to be under the covers so the trolls can't see him.

Poor kid, that can't be a good feeling.

TJ was showing us his school picture, which includes his little girlfriend, Ava.

When he shows me, he names just the names of the kids, no commentary, but when he gets to Ava in the photo, he adds in "Ava, looking like a princess with a princess dress on" and then later, when he was showing John, when he got to her, he added in "Ava, with a cute dress."

Watching TJ try to walk in my clogs makes me wonder why I wear them.

Oh I know, because they are CUTE.

Oh my gosh, he's going to try to attempt the stairs, gotta go save a life.

So suddenly, it may be time to think about sending TJ to pre-K on a daily basis. Yikes, this really scares me.

We went to St. Matthew's tonight, I was impressed with the teachers, but the building and the play-yard left much to be desired. My son playing outside on blacktop, 10 feet away from a busy road? I don't think so.

Giant statues of Mary. Old storage, very cramped. Not that clean.

Onto other options.

So, I ask TJ to go and pick up his train tracks, which are surrounded by books, hard little animals and people, a piggy bank, numerous other colorful plastic toys. Of course, he has to try to climb over me, and over the chair, instead of just going around the table. He picks up one piece of his train track and puts it on his head. "See my hat, Mama?"

And drops it into the room I'm in. The room that is supposed to stay toy-free.

"TJ, get that out of here."

"Mama, I just came in here to give you a hug."

Tricks that work when TJ doesn't want to do something, or is dilly dallying to avoid doing it.

When he won't eat his food, I'll say "Oh, only three-year-olds can eat that, I forgot that you are not three," which usually results in him saying "I'm three!" and eating it.

If I'm trying to get him to go potty or brush his teeth and he won't do it, a countdown from five on down usually gets him to do it by the time I get to three.

The chart with Xs for bad behavior and stars for good behavior really worked to get him to stop telling people to "Stop it!" - which is huge, because he's pretty bossy.

Sometimes when I tell him to do something, or tell him the way it is, he says "I know it" in this saucy little tone.

Don't know WHERE he gets it from.

TJ is getting very interested in spelling. He asks me how to spell a word, mostly his family's names - Ali, Bebe, KK, Mommy, Daddy, etc. but sometimes characters from Disney or something similar. When I spell it, sometimes he says "good job."

Lately TJ has been spinning some tales. First he told me that the babysitter punched him in the leg while they were driving.

Then today John fell asleep in TJ's bed and I tried to get TJ to take a nap with him. About 20 minutes later, TJ comes up and tells me that Daddy kicked him out of his bedroom.

When I asked him why, TJ tells me it is because Daddy said that TJ was snoring.

For Mother's Day, TJ gave me a Lipton teabag, attached to a picture of a teapot that he colored purple and green and red that said "You are my cup of tea."

We drank the tea together.

He also told his teachers this...

What is your mom's name?
Anne

What does she do?
She helps me with anything I say.

What is her favorite color?
Uh...I don't know.

What is her favorite food?
Spaghetti and sauce. Same as me and my face gets dirty.

What is her favorite movie?
Cars.

How old is she?
Um...14.

What do you like to do with her?
Play with her.

Why do you love her?
Because I give her love and make her heart melt.

TJ likes to make computer based paintings.

I hung a couple up above my desk a month or two ago.

Today, I took one down and was thinking about sending it to the grandparents or maybe Auntie KK.

He came upstairs, looked at it on my desk on top of a piles of papers.

"Hang that back up," he says.

TJ and John are outside, I greet them from the window after I venture downstairs.

I hear TJ yelling "Mama, Mama! Look! We have a pool now!"

I look outside and he's standing in the buff in the Big Bird pool.

"Is it cold?" I ask, from the kitchen window.

"Yes! Stick your hand in!" he tells me.

Julia is asleep, I'm trying to get ready to get out of the house.

I ask TJ for help.

He actually starts to put things away, so I walk into the kitchen.

Walk back into the living room and he points to his toe - "Look! I have Big Bird on my toe."

Instead of picking up his toys, he decided to put the yellow Big Bird finger puppet on his toe and thinks it is great.

He is in his room right now with the order to put on his socks. I so know it's not going to happen.

The boy needs to learn to focus.

TJ is asking for more videos on youtube.

His favorite? Beatboxers.

At Little Gym, watching TJ and nine girls play and run and tumble and walk and jump and have lots of fun.

I do have to say that I think both of the kids are really smart.

I also have to say that I am glad TJ goes to preschool a couple of days a week, because I'm not sure I would be teaching him the right things.

Example: We were in the car and he was acting up about something so I was trying to distract him with counting. He counts up to 30 now, and I was explaining (as I have in the past) that after the 9 number comes the big number, like 40, 50 etc.

He looks at me and says "10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100!"

I must have missed the paper that said they went over that in school. I was surprised and happy that they taught him to count by tens.

It makes me wonder what else he knows that I don't know he knows.

I had TJ put his ABC blanket in his room yesterday. He has a bad habit of flipping it around and of course it hits people, mostly Julia.

I heard him tell Mimi, "I don't feel right without my ABC blankie."

TJ had a great swimming lesson today, his last one of the summer.

He dunked his head under and held his breath a bunch of times!

He's beginning to use his arms to do the freestyle stroke, and puts his face in the water as Janelle holds onto him.

Exciting.

It is really creeping up on me, the fact that TJ is going to be going to school, every day, all day very, very soon.

It makes my stomach knot up a little. And my throat choke up a lot.

I'm gonna miss that little guy.

Had a great weekend at the Camp.

Swimming with TJ at the Italian Camp and decided to see if he would jump off the dock. It's pretty high and he's never done it before, but he used to jump off the little wall at swimming lessons so I figured it can't hurt to try it.

Sang "Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall...Humpty Dumpty had a great fall..." and SPLASH! The kid jumped right into my arms.

Repeat about 20 times, then again later at our place, then again this morning.

He loves it.

TJ and I also wrote a book this weekend. He told me what to write and I wrote it, verbatim.

It's really cute and involved a prince, a king, lots of napping, lots of swings and slide and the occasional wicked dinosaur.

TJ got into a little bit of trouble at school the other day for hitting other kids with his blanket during naptime.

It's very unusual for him to act out this way in school, so I was trying to get to the source of the issue.

He finally blurted out the truth - "I love my friends at my school now and why did my fish have to die?"

It's gotta be rough being 4 years old sometimes.

TJ just left to go get a coloring book.

Comes back upstairs with it, but I notice he doesn't have any markers.

I didn't notice he was carrying one behind his ear.

Takes it out, sits down on the floor and gets down to his coloring business.

I have a book, it's called No Excuses by Harvey Walden IV, I think he's on one of the weight loss shows, he's a Marine who inspires people to exercise, boot camp style.

The book is broken up into stages, I am doing the Stage One, Get Off Your Butt, sometimes when I am at home and miss the gym that day or don't walk. It takes about half an hour and consists of exercises, broken up into 30 second spurts, with 30 seconds of marching in place.

I didn't get a chance to do it today, so when TJ comes home from school, I ask if he wants to exercise with me. "Yes!" he does, he tells me. I'm worrying that it will be too much for him, he's had a long day already, but I figure we can stop if it is too much for him.

So we do it.

The marching part turns into fun, with TJ saying "I am the leader!" and yelling "hup, two, three, four" with me chasing him around the room. We are both laughing.

I teach him how to do lunges, somehow he already knows how to do push-ups and crunches. He does the cutest "steam engines" in the world with his hands behind head, elbows out, alternate touching knees with the opposite elbow. He gets the concept, sort of.

We finish all the exercises, do the last flutter kick. "Woo!" I say, "great job!" and give him a high five.

"Let's do it again!" he says.

I don't know how it happened, but suddenly TJ has become a true artist. It's really amazing to see.

He stays in the lines, he picks out the coolest colors, he does colorful stripes that cover an entire page.

Tonight he is coloring in a dinosaur polka dot and stripes. He let me pick out some of the colors.

I used to tell this story to TJ before bed. I would let him fill in the blanks. I am pretty sure that this is where the tradition of telling a story without a book came from in our house. John has taken it and run with it and tells really good bedtime stories to TJ without a book.

Tonight's story - the Black and White Dinosaur - was inspired by the homework that TJ and I did together earlier.

Once upon a time, two flowers named (fill in blanks - he would always say TJ and Mama) were walking down the street. The flowers were (fill in the colors).

They were walking down the street, singing "du du du du du du", when they came a great big crocodile. (maybe it was alligator, I don't remember.)

They looked at each other and said "AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHHH" and ran as fast as they could.

The crocodile chased them and said to them "No wait! Wait! I have a question for you."

So they stopped. The crocodile said "I would like you to come and live with me in my crocodile house."

So, TJ and Mama had to discuss it because they didn't think it was a good idea to make fast decisions.

They went to check it out and it was a beautiful crocodile house and they ended up living there, happily ever after.

The End.

My little boy can write!!

TJ is coloring and asks me "how do you spell Thomas?" I spell it for him and he proceeds to write it down on a little line he had drawn in his blank drawing book, underneath the pink, gray and orange shapes he had just drawn and colored. The line wasn't long enough for the "s" at the end so he drew it a little bit longer.

Then he asks me to spell Mommy. Then Daddy. Then Julia. If the line he drew wasn't long enough, he would add a little bit more at the end to fit in the last few letters. It is the cutest thing.

Then Dear. Then Daddy. Then I love you.

He writes it all down!!

In his letter to his Daddy, he wanted to write "I have a lot to do, even going to school." but he didn't have enough room on the page.

It made me cry when he wrote Thomas and I gave him a big hug, he looked at me all funny, like I was crazy. Then he started writing all the names and when he would finish, he would look up at me to see if he was going to get hugs.

TJ falls off the slide at my friend's house.

From underneath the slide, we hear his little muffled voice say "a little help here."

Sometimes I recycle TJ's artwork.

Some I cannot bear to do that, case in point...

A green rectangle of card stock with "I love my name" insert heart here...

Thomas.

Had such a nice morning with TJ.

Went to a road race, he ran the little kids race. No problem at all - straight across the field and up into my arms. He picked a whistle for his prize.

He loved playing on the playground after that - and racing - he says "on your mark, get set, go!" then blows the whistle and we race to a predetermined point. He always wins.

Stopped at the beach after, which was a great idea. We raced around, saw some dogs, he made a sand angel, then had me lay down and traced my body in the sand before we raced back to the car. It was a cute, loving, happy day.

TJ runs up to me tonight after he and John lit the jack o' lantern.

TJ: I found a dead mouse!

Mama: You did?

TJ: Yes, I picked it up and it was soft and then I saw it was a mouse and I threw it down.

Mama: Oh, wow.

TJ: It was squishy.

Mama: Euw.

John and he actually had a little burial for it.

John: Do you want to say a prayer for the mouse?

TJ: Dear Lord, thank you for the mouse.

I often say "listen to this." when I am about to start a story or I have some very important news to announce.

TJ says "hear this."

As we were driving today on 295, there are sections of bedrock on each side of the road.

TJ tells me "we are in a cliff!" which matches up when we are driving through a road with lots of leaves around and he tells me "we are in the jungle" or when there are many trees and he tells me "we are in the woods."

TJ calls a praying mantis a "pretty mantis."

Suddenly, TJ has turned into a tattletale. Happened today. It's kind of funny, the way he does it.

"I'm telling!" he says and then turns to me and says whatever just happened, even if I just saw it happen. "Mama, Julia pushed me!" or whatever other atrocity happens, he lets me know.

He even tattled on John for tattling on him.

"Mommy, Daddy's tattling on me."

We're going to have to have to nip this one in the bud.

We don't let the kids watch too much tv. One show a day, if even. More if it's an emergency. Nothing crazy, Sesame Street, Dora, Diego, Madagascar, and that's pretty much the gamut.
TJ likes it, so does Julia. It probably averages out to way less than an hour a day.

At 4 years old, TJ will still watch Sesame Street, which I absolutely love. Julia watches it too, she loves I-ya (Elmo).

Today I put on the one where Bob has a deaf niece for them, knowing that we will be with Bebe and his hearing aids soon.

Later on, with John, TJ is trying to do the sign language alphabet.

He also asks John "where do we get words from?" which leads into a big conversation about ancestors and history.

TJ announced all day "This is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever!" and it turned out to be a great day.

During the meal, we were trying to decide who was going to say grace, and I appoint TJ. "In the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit, God is great, God is good, let us thank him for this food. In the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit, amen."

After we had our bellies filled with delicious food, a jam session ensued in the basement with the boys and me,at TJ's urging - "c'mon! We are going to have a polka band in the cellar!" We jammed on the piano, bongos, recorders, trombone and drums. We sounded great, especially with Uncle Gary leading us on the piano. A little bit downhill when that wasn't happening, but still a fun time.

TJ had two eyelashes on his face, so he got to make two wishes.

Wish 1. To go visit Auntie KK again.

Wish 2. To go to Las Begas.

TJ's reaction to seeing the snow outside is precious.

I call him over to the window to look.

He starts giggling. "Snow! Snow! I can make snow angels!"

TJ swears.

He says dammit.

It doesn't bother me for some reason. I guess if he's going to swear, it might as well be that. Could be much, much worse.

The part of it that makes it really easy to deal with is that half the time he says "dammit" but the other half of the time, he says "damage!" and he means it. He thinks they are interchangeable.

We were making cupcakes today and he got chocolate all over his hands - DAMAGE! he yells.

He cracks the egg and some of the shell ended up in the batter. DAMMIT! he yells.

See, it works.

He is so going to start a new trend in pre-k.

A few weeks ago, TJ ordered us to sing the following songs. I immediately wrote them down and I don't think I ever posted them.

1. The harmonica plays by itself

2. The witch walking down the road.

3. I have a hole in my skin.

TJ told us the title, jammed out on the harmonica and we had to make up and sing the words before he would go to bed.

TJ is singing "Happy Birthday to the New Year, Happy Birthday to the New Year, Happy Birthday to the New Year, Happy Birthday dear you."

We are going to watch a movie tonight, probably Mary Poppins, because we just watched the Sound of Music (again).

This morning, TJ needed a seat to boost him, so I let him sit on Harry Potter.

He just told me "I want to watch Harry Poppin."

No word of a lie, here is a note that TJ just transcribed to me.

Dear Abigail,

I am sorry that I poured milk on your head.

I was just testing to see if the milk was gone or not gone.

I won't do it again.

I am sorry Abigail.

Your friend,

Thomas

He signed it and drew a little crazy circle ("we need to add a heart" he told me.)

I added in my own note -

Dear Abigail's Parents,

We are so sorry that Thomas did that today. We feel awful. He didn't get any stories tonight before bed as punishment and it will not happen again. we explained to him that is not the way to see if any milk is left.

TJ is picking out dvds at the library.

He has two to choose from. He does einey meenie miney mo. And it works out that he gets to take home the one he wants!

"Thank you finger!" he says, "Thank you for picking that one!"

I just heard TJ say this to his daddy. It's what I say to TJ.

TJ: Daddy, there's something on your cheek.

Daddy: What is it?

TJ: A kiss.

I am working on getting TJ to dress himself, he can do it, he just chooses not to do so.

Yesterday, John was taking him to the Museum of Natural History to the Planetarium Show at 2 p.m. It was getting close to time to go and he was still in his pajamas. TJ, not John.

"Get dressed!" I ordered him and a few minutes later I went to see his choices or to see if he even got dressed at all. Sometimes he has a hard time making it into his room due to all the fascinating distractions along the way.

His pick was a pair of red fleece pants and a matching hooded fleece sweatshirt, size 5, both way too big for him.

"Oh." I said. I didn't want to discourage him from dressing himself, but this really wasn't something to wear out in public, in my opinion. He wears it to bed and call him my Red Tomato. TJ loves to be cozy like no one I have ever seen. And this outfit is cozy. Thick red fleece.

I told him maybe he shouldn't wear the pants out because of the rain, it would be uncomfortable if he got wet, they are about 6 inches too long for him. So he decides to change everything.

Underneath the red fleece, he was sporting a white button down oxford shirt, unbuttoned.

John came into the room and asked TJ if he was ready.

"No, not yet. I have to change. I can't wear this out in public."

TJ likes to play games.

- Doggie -
TJ: Mama, do you want to play doggie?

Mama: OK, can I be the doggie?

TJ: No! I want to be the doggie.

Mama: OK.

The game then proceeds with me ordering TJ around with dog commands.

It's fun!

- Birdie -

TJ: Mama, do you want to play birdie?

Mama: How do you play?

TJ: You sit on me until I hatch.

Mama: Um...ok

So he curls up into a little ball and I pretend to lay on top of him. Immediately, he starts wiggling and "hatches."

I always take this opportunity to feed the baby bird, since he doesn't eat enough.

TJ told me this story and I wrote it down in a blank book as he was telling it to me. We were at the Camp on the porch.

August 2009. He was just 4 years old when he wrote it. I am absolutely enchanted with it.

Each paragraph is a page in the book.

Once upon a time, there was a King, a Princess and a Wicked Dinosaur.

They lived in a castle and a wicked dinosaur came and the prince and the king needed to run.

Someone put the king and the prince in a cave and someone put the wicked dinosaur in the cave too.

And the dinosaur was dancing and he bumped into something and he died. I'm telling you the truth.

The king and the prince got scissors - sharp scissors - and they got out of the cave and the cave fell down.

The prince and the king's dog came and he licked the prince and the king.

The lightning and the thunder came and they rushed to the castle and the dog followed them and they got home safely.

The next day, they woke up and the sun was out and they went out into their backyard and they had to swing.

Their mama and their dada came and they saw them in the swing and they wanted to swim and they already knew how to swim.

And they wanted to go on the slide so they waited in line and the prince goed first and the king goed next.

They wanted to go on a boat ride and they found plastic and it was gold and they got a lot of things and they wanted to take a nap. And they wanted to sleep in their mama's and dada's bed with their covers and pillows and sheets. They slept for a long time.

They wanted to play tag outside. They wanted to swing in the apple tree and eat apples ad swing branch to branch and they liked hot chocolate.

And they took a nap again when it was dark and the next day when the sun was out and there was still their dog was there. And they named him Barkley. And the brother dog came too. The house - they ran into the house - and they named the brother dog Ruff Ruff and they had three cats. And they took another nap in the morning when the sun was out, they wanted to go in the backyard again in the swing.

They hopped in, and their mama and their dada pushed them and they wanted to swim again. And they wanted to go on the slide again. And they waited in line again. First the king goed then the prince goed.

It was snowing and they built snowcastles and counted snowflakes and there was one hundred! And they went inside and had hot chocolate and went to bed and in the morning when the sun was out, they took pictures of their pets.

They wanted to say "I can do whatever we want." They go to sleep and the next morning when they woke up and the sun was out, they goed in the backyard and they wanted to go swimming in their pool.

And they wanted to say "we can do whatever we want." and they took a rest and they wanted to take a nap. The next morning when the sun was out, they swung in the swing in the regular trees with the leaves.

They wanted to go outside, wanted to swing in the swing, wanted to go swim in the pool, wanted to go on the slide. They hopped on the swing and they hopped in the pool and waited in line and slid down the slide and they wanted to take a nap, the next morning it was snowy and they made snow angels and they went inside and had hot chocolate and the wicked dinosaur came again. He was dancing and he bumped into someting again and he died and the king and the prince went home and they were safe.

They wanted to go in the backyard and they wanted to play on the swing and go into the pool and on the slide.

The end.

So exciting, my little boy is starting to read.

John was reading Hop on Pop with him today and TJ said "I can read that" and he read almost through the whole book!

He can't read big words yet, but he will try and try and practice and practice. That's how you get good at things.

He showed me too, John wrote down words like Pop, Stop, Hop, Ned, Bed and TJ sounded them out.

I find it amazing.

TJ: Mama, will you tell me a story without a book?

Mama: No! You're supposed to be sleeping.

TJ: Pleeeeeassse. I was a really good boy today.

Mama: Just a short one.

TJ: Yay!

Mama: Once upon a time, there was a little boy and he had two fish. He couldn't think of names for them, so he decided to call them Sun and Moon.

Then he said No. I think I will call them Frick and Frack.

Then he said No. I think I will call them Black and Blue.

Then he said No. I think I will call them Georgia and Amadeus.

Then he said No. I think I will call them Up and Down.

Then he said No. I think I will call them A and B.

Then guess what he said he was going to call them?

TJ: What?

Mama: Good and Night.

TJ: giggles.

Mama: goodnight.

TJ: goodnight.

Jimmy McTimble is no good.

He does very, very bad things.

You know what he does? Well, TJ does and he told me some things.

He sticks his tongue out at everybody.

He wipes his nose on his shirt.

He knocks birds nests down.

He throws glasses.

He pushes his sister.

He throws the trash into his neighbor's backyard.

He poops on his swing.

TJ dressed himself today in the following:

blue shorts
green t-shirt
red sweater with a stripe that he was referring to as his Ernie sweater
a white sweater vest

It was a cute look, I have to say.

It drives me crazy when I can't understand what people are saying. When people mumble or put their hands in front of their mouth while talking, preventing me from hearing what very important idea they are telling me, it makes me insane.

TJ was starting to do that and I had to nip it in the bud.

So.

I showed him pictures of people by googling images of bad teeth and told him that people that touch their hands to their mouth too often will end up looking like that. It is not pretty, the pictures that we looked at. Don't google it, I'm telling ya. Don't google bunions either. Euw.

Anyway, it seems wrong in a way, but it worked. He hasn't has his hands near his face again.

The next one I need to figure out is what to images to google to show him what kids look like when they sniffle in their boogers instead of blowing their nose.

TJ has been having a rough time getting out of the house in the morning. He doesn't want to get dressed, doesn't want to eat breakfast, doesn't want to hustle his bustle. (My new saying.)

It's been a rough few weeks.

Today we were struggling to get him out the door on time, he wasn't having it. The tension is palpable as the time to leave gets closer. The collective stress level is escalating and he is just refusing to get dressed.

Finally John dresses him and I put his breakfast in a to go container and take him to school. He is not happy the whole way there.

When I get home, I go into his room for something and see that he has made his bed. Awwww.

Now I just want to hug the stubborn little mofo.

TJ gets to say this tomorrow at prayer.

"For our teacher, who teaches us about God's love, we pray to the Lord."

We have to practice it with him tonight.

I find it to be so cute.

TJ was having a little bit of a rough time at school the past few weeks.

We pleaded, we joked, we cried, we yelled, we coerced, finally we bribed. If he got five smiley faces in a row, he would get a new toy.

It worked! Or a combination of everything did. Something finally clicked.

One super cool Cars racetrack later, he's still getting good reports from his teacher.

Thank goodness.

TJ decided to RUN the 5k walk that we did this morning.

Which means that Mama didn't get to walk with my friend, with the kids in the stroller, as planned, but rather had to do full out sprinting intervals to catch up with him almost the entire way.

TJ tells me this morning: I have a food ache.

I overheard TJ's little friend Ava telling TJ "TJ, you act like you are 5 years old. You really do."

TJ was absolutely beaming.

Finding a little green plastic hulk who is wearing purple pants in my bathtub makes me giggle.

We have a small mirror in the car mounted under the rearview mirror so we can see the kids in the back seat. We have had it since TJ was a little baby.

He calls it the little spy mirror.

And of course the rearview mirror is the big spy mirror.

TJ is growing so fast. Both physically and mentally.

At the gym this morning, he washes his hands after using the bathroom. Without being asked.

And he doesn't need the stool anymore.

And I cry.

Had a double date with me and TJ and my friend Katie and her young son.

Went to Pastiche for dessert and hot chocolate.

Was so much fun and very cute. TJ's only 4 and he's not quite at the point where it's easy for him to just appreciate relaxing in a public eatery. He's not quite there, yet, he was a little too excited in the restaurant. Announced loudly "no more boogers!" after blowing his nose. Then decided it was a good time to show us his all his best tongue tricks (he can twist it, curl it and touch his nose with it). Once the Spiderman math flash cards came out, they settled into a much more civilized place.

As we were leaving, we noticed some people in a park, looking down at something. As we peeked over the bushes, we saw they were playing bocce!

TJ wanted to go watch, so we did, and they invited the two kids to play. They had Italian music playing on an ipod and the sun was just starting to set. My friend's son told us to look at it and declared it "beautiful."

Watching them play bocce with the adults and seeing their little faces light up when they did well made the night even sweeter than a double date with two moms and their sons.

Mama, letting TJ go in front of me: After you, TJ.

TJ: What do you think, I'm a woman?

TJ up to now has been really happy watching the innocent movies.

Pooh Bear
Elmo
Sesame Street
Dora and Diego
Mickey Mouse

Today he asks me "Can I watch a superhero one?"

...and it begins.

I have never let TJ see fireworks or go to an Airshow, because I know he hates loud noises, so why even mess with it.

He's almost 5 now so I figure it's ok now. Alas, can't find any fireworks, or firecracks as he calls them, that work with our location and our schedule.

Luckily, we are staying at the Camp for 4th of July weekend and the neighbors of the Camp have some. They are shooting them off over the pond. We wake up TJ to go outside and all of us are watching them through the tree and TJ is pretty psyched about that.

I realize that the kayak is still out and suggest that they go out for a nighttime float. They do and have a much better view of the firecracks.

TJ tells John "This is my first time seeing them! I have never seen them before." I would say from a kayak in the middle of a pond with your dad is a pretty cool way to see your first fireworks.

TJ swam for the first time over the weekend.

He was wearing a life jacket but he definitely knew what to do - he kicked and moved his arms in the right way.

Just a little more confidence and he's going to be a fish.

Growing up. Sniffle sniffle.

UPDATE: the next evening, TJ swam all by himself in the pool at the gym! It was such an amazing experience, like watching the kids take their first steps all over again!

Yay for TJ!!!

What color toes do you end up with when you let your 4-year-old pick out the color?

Blue with sparkles.

That was after I ruled out the florescent pink.

TJ has been to the movie theatre to see three movies in his four (almost five) years.

#1. The Princess and the Frog.
A date with his little friend Ava. He loved it. I loved it.

#2. Toy Story 3.
A family outing.
I thought it was scary, a little. He loved it.

#3. Despicable Me.
Just he and I, on Julia's first day of school.
He watched about 50 minutes of it, then declared it "too old" for him so we had to leave.

TJ loves to call certain people. Mainly his grandparents, his Auntie KK and Shelby.

He leaves sweet messages, like this:

Hi, it's TJ, calling you to say hi. I love you. Bye.

He speaks clearly and slowly and sweetly.

He has a new thing lately. At the end of the message, he adds in something crazy, like "You're a cow." or "You're a mountain." or "You're a house."

Both he and Julia think it's hilarious.

Liki, or Tiki, I never remember, the yellow one is still missing.

TJ is convinced he escaped like Nemo.

So, I am big on grooming. I think it is important for people to take care of themselves.

I can accept the things that people can't change - like nose hair (euw) and ear hair (euw) on guys, as long as they take care of it. I don't mind if they have it, as long as they trim it when necessary and it doesn't get out of control. It's not pretty, but what can ya do, really.

I do have some certain issues I can't ignore. Long fingernails on a guy or dirty fingernails on anybody make me feel a little bit ill and I think it's completely wrong.

On that note, I'm trying to make sure that my kids realize the importance of keeping themselves hygienically clean now, so when they are older it's not even a question.

So.

I haven't had my toes painted in about a month. They really needed some love.

The day that John was supposed to have off and that we didn't have anything else going on- today - he ended up having to do work at home. That's fine, but I am not letting that stop my toes from being cute.

John is at home working but at a point where he can break and Julia could really use a nap. He puts her down and TJ and I skeedaddle out.

We go to a new nail place in Providence.

He brings his Tag book.

We get seated in side by side black leather pedicure chairs. He looks at me to turn his on. Within ten minutes, he's changing the settings and the back massager is vibrating his head like he's at a Guns n Roses concert.

He's smiling at me and nodding with approval.

I ask the girl if they would cut his toenails. She agrees and I'm psyched because whenever we try to do it at home, it turns into SCREAMING and YELLING and CRYING and whimpering. It doesn't work out well for anyone. It's almost like the end of the world.

"TJ, she will cut your toenails so gently," I tell him.

"No thank you," he tells me.

"TJ, Daddy will give you extra money in your allowance."

"No."

"We'll take you out for a pu pu platter."

"No."

"I will kiss you and hug you."

"No."

"I'll buy you silly bands."

Pause.

"OK!"

So, he lets the girl cut his toenails, file them, put lotion on them, put a hot washcloth on them and massage his feet.

The $2.99 I spent on the silly bands at the CVS next door is the best money I have spent in a long time.

Learning to lose with grace is a learned skill.

Give him stars when he behaves.

If he doesn't, go to smiley faces.

Threaten neutral faces.

Next a sad face.

Then an X.

TJ requests that I guide his hand and have him write words in cursive.

He mandates which words we write.

Tonight it was these two sentences:

The goat is eating the underwear.

The bat is flying.

Report card rocked.

Perfect attendance so far. Oh yeah.

Go my sweet little 5-year-old!

Here's what it sounds like in my car with the two kids in the back seat:

Each time we see Christmas lights or a wreath, or a Santa or anything Christmas related, the kids yell out "Christmas!"

It's very cute.

In other winter news, my sister called TJ "TJ the snowman" and Julia said "TJ is no a noman, he's my brother."

First mistake of 2011. Just made.

TJ absolutely HATES me cutting his toenails, otherwise known as The End of the World. It involves screaming and crying and punishment and bribes. Nothing works. But the deal is that I absolutely HATE long toenails and fingernails on guys. I find them disgusting. If they are dirty, even worse.

So I googled "disgusting toenails" to show to him.

Not a good idea. Not a good idea at all.

Although he is going to get me the toenail clippers right now. Allegedly.

TJ calls the Angry Birds game Mad Chickens.

I love suggestion boxes. If I have an idea that can make a place better, I always put my ideas in them. If I was running the joint, and people had ideas, I would want to know. Plus I can usually run the place better than the way it's being run.

TJ seems to have inherited this from me.

His two suggestions for the gym so far:

#1. Make it better.

#2. Make more pools here.