Halloween Who's Who?

So here are our 3 little Tiggers. Can you guess which one is which? I'll post the answers in a few days.

In Bed

Sleeping in a 12 by 12 by 12 box that is his "nest." Very sweet.

And not yet asleep, but laying quietly in his bed watching me take a picture of his brother

Pushing Buttons

The answer to this question may be obvious, but I'll ask anyway.  Do your kids ever push your buttons?

Oy.  How is it that they seem to know how to do it and sometimes, without even meaning to, they can send you through the roof in a nansecond.

Ben has this new habit of saying "I know, I know!" when we ask him a second time to do something, but continues to do something else.  It just makes me want to scream "If you know you're supposed to be clearing your place from dinner, why are you walking into the living room!"

And Kyle now says, "Daddy, I was on the top of the couch pwaying with mama's decowations too.  I'm sawy."  And very contritely I might add.  But does that mean he won't do it again?  Not necessarily.

It's enough to drive me batty!  But as I thought about it this morning, I wonder how much we push God's buttons.  "Yes God, I know you want me to share my faith," as we let another opportunity slip past.   "I'm sorry God that I entertained those impure thoughts today," knowing full well that it will happen again.  

I'm sure it probably drives God batty too, but I'm eternally grateful that He is so much more capable of handling it than I am.  The grace and discipline of my Heavenly Father is incredible.  He may be saddened by my choices, but he forgives completely.  And if we're walking with Him, He's faithful to teach us a better way.  

Lord, I pray that you would give me some small measure of your grace and wisdom in dealing with my boys and I thank you for your grace that covers me and the ways that you've been working in my life.

So how do you push God's buttons?  And are you open to his discipline to stop?

Pragmatic 3 year-old

When did my 3 year old become pragmatic? It's really fun to start seeing him make these little reasoned statement. This morning, Ben was wanting me to take him with me to church this morning. It just wasn't feasible this morning and Ben was very disappointed. Kyle was watching from his perch on Mama's lap he was very reassuring to Ben: "It's ok, you can ride with Mama, and me and Owen."

Flock of Dogs

There's a new show on Discovery Channel called Iditarod: Toughest race on Earth that I've started watching with Ben. It's pretty fascinating and Ben is very interested in the dog sleds and how they work.

At dinner that night, I asked Ben if he wanted to tell Mama about the show.

Ben got really serious and told Mama that the race was very hard. They had to practice lots! First they had to practice staying up all night. And then they have to practice staying up all night outside!

Mindy and I stifled our chuckles and asked him more about the show.

"One of the ladies fell off her sled and her flock of dogs kept going... but she caught up with them."

I love listening to him explain things! He was very astute about what was happening on the show though for the most part. It's so much fun to start to have more adult conversations with him. I can't exactly explain it, but there's just this new quality to our conversations that are not little kid conversations any more.

I've been Tagged

Well, I guess if Mindy's doing it, I better.  But I don't quite read as many blogs as Mindy, so I won't be tagging nearly as many people.  But that's a decision for later.  First I've got to pare down the quirky things about me.

1) I don't instinctively know which is left and which is right.  I have to think about it for a second. (wedding ring = left, class ring = right)

2) I put vinegar on my macaroni and cheese.

3) I love pickled pigs feet.  Although I don't get to have them very often.

4) I enjoy reading math textbooks for fun.

5) When my job starts to involve more documentation and less actual coding, (I'm a computer programmer) I find silly little programming projects to work on in my spare time for fun.

6) I racewalk.

7) When I roll over in bed I always roll toward the edge of the bed.  Mindy thinks it's hilarious, but if I roll that way, the covers don't get bunched up between us.  (I also sometimes end up stealing covers that way too, but it's purely unintentional!)

Andy - http://meaningfulglances.blogspot.com/

Cory and Cory - http://californiaisoms.blogspot.com/

And that's all I got that haven't been tagged yet.  It was nice of Mindy not to tag my cousins so I got to do it.  Thanks, honey!  :*

Daddy's Little Helper

Growing up so fast

Ben has always been just completely enamored with his littlest brother (he doesn't have to share toys with him yet) and at the table if Ben is sitting next to Owen's chair, he'll scoot even closer when we put Owen in.

Today at lunch as I was getting ready to feed Owen, Ben looked very interested, so I asked if he wanted to feed him. He said yes, and after a short demonstration did a very good job feeding him.

All the while, Ben kept saying, "I'm learning to feed Owen!" and was so proud of himself.

Last night, this historically picky eater shared my sardines with me, and he's become a big fan of lentils lately as well!

And at yesterday's soccer game, I saw him excerise some incredible self-control. He always wants to throw the ball to the coach or ref at games when it's time for a throw in or goal kick. And it's usually not an easy throw to catch. I don't think that's on purpose, just how it turns out. So I've been asking him to hand it to the adult at those times. It's been a little hit and miss the last couple of games, but yesterday, he handed the ball to the coach every time. I could see him run up and wind up like he was going to throw and he so wanted to. But every time he pulled back and handed the ball to the coach nicely.

When did my baby boy get to be such a big boy. Eating new foods, helping with his brother, showing self-restraint. I'm so proud, I could bust my buttons

Our Little Spellers

We knew it was bound to happen sometime and it looks like the end is near for being able to spell things in order to keep them a secret. From Ben at least.

He's been in to the language work at school lately and just loves to "write stories" This could mean anything from drawing pictures to actually writing words. Sometimes it's completely phonetic and sometimes it's right on.

He also has taken to calling his mother and I "M-O-M" and "D-A-D" and sometimes he calls Kyle "K-Y-L-E" His younger brother takes issue with that and respond adamantly "I'm not K-Y-L-E, I'm Kyle!"

And of course his little brother is working on emulating him. He's definitely able to identify most if not all of his letters and will list them all out and then ask you what it spells.

"O-R-G-A-N-I-C! Mama what's O-R-G-A-N-I-C spell?"

And that conversation is a whole different post...

Kyle the Enforcer

Heard at the Dinner table the other night from Kyle:
"Ben said that all the raisins were his, but I said 'No, no no! They belong to the whole family.' Isn't that right, Dad?"

Tiny Friends

Kyle has lately been best friends with a tiny hard plastic turtle about the size of a quarter and a rubbery lizard about 2 inches long. They're both bright red and amazingly until the past couple days have rarely been lost.


The lizard helps Kyle clean up. Kyle builds "tree houses" for them to sleep in upstairs. He build forts for them out of blocks in the living room. It's all very sweet and he has so much fun with them.

But last week the turtle disappeared for a while. He didn't seem too upset and I don't remember him asking for it. But he was thrilled when we found it. Tonight, though... the lizard was lost.

He came out of his room very sad and I couldn't understand what he was saying. When I finally got him calmed down enough to understand him, he said, "I'm too sad that I can find tHE LIZARD!" Crescendoing into more tears. And then "I don't know where my turtle is!"

Through the sniffling and a little more crying I convinced him that we could find the lizard tomorrow and that I had seen his turtle upstairs on his bed. He agreed that he could ask mama to help him find the lizard in the morning and I helped this sweet little boy back to his bed and found his turtle for him. I left as he crawled into his current little hidey hole to sleep clutching Rainbow Bear under on arm and holding his turtle tight in his other hand. Just warms your heart.