Poop . . . . . ed

Yesterday our church had a fun filled picnic activity for members and their friends. AH was on the crew that helped set up the bull ride (a metal barrel with ropes attached to 4 corners of it) and then he helped man it for the first hour which required he and 3 other men to pull on their individual ropes to get the bull bucking. After he was done with his assignment he spent the next hour chasing Mr. B around the grounds going from activity to activity. When I next met up with my boys I was given the "eye" from AH signaling that it was time to go home.

While we were driving away AH says to me, "I have been on my feet for 6 hours. I am P-O-O-P. (pause) E-D." (AH's feet are still recovering from his Mt. Rainier climb)

As I realize his mistake I laughingly said to him, "You're poop? Okay, we'll start calling you poop."

Not realizing little ears were paying attention to our conversation we hear from back seat Mr. B's words of logic, "You should have used to potty at the picnic."

The New School Year

Today was the big day that class assignments were announced. At 4pm we were among the crowd anxious to see the lists posted to the front doors of the school. Mr. B wasn't really interested in who his teacher would be and took off to play as soon as we arrived. However, I was very curious to see who his peers would be and was pleased that our neighbor boy will be in his class this year.

I called Mr. B and Beeb over to show them the list and my worst nightmare happened. . . I started to choke up. Beeb asked to see her name and I held her up so she could see her name on the kindergarten assessment list (she starts a week after Mr. B) and I could barely talk. My voice was thick and cracking as I held back the tears.

I hear so many moms say how much they look forward to having all their kids in school, and while to some degree I do look forward to having some more "me" time, I am overwhelmed by how quickly my kiddo's are growing up. I knew this would be hard for me since my minor breakdown this past spring when I registered Beeb for kindergarten. I did not expect it to be so hard today as I fought back the tears, just hoping to make it to the safety of my car before I totally lost it.

I know this time is going by so quickly to me (even when it has been really really hard) - I just don't want to miss any precious moments with my kiddo's; not a single nanosecond.

Educational Tickles

Each evening, as part of our bedtime routine I usually end of giving Beeb tickles on her bare back for a few minutes. Our usual tickle routine is for me to do the "Treasure Hunt" rhyme with my finger(s):

Going on a treasure hunt (walk two fingers up the center of the back)
X marks the spot (draw a big X across the back)
Big circle (draw a big circle across the back)
Little circle (draw a little circle in the center of the big circle on the back)
Dot, Dot, Dot (take your two index fingers and at each "dot" gently press your index fingers into her side, each time going a little higher than the last)
Spiders crawling up your back (use fingers to simulate spiders going up back)
Blood rushing down (use flat hand and wave it down the back)
Tight squeeze (gently squeeze neck)
Sirens breeze (gently blow across back)
Now you've got the chills (general light tickles all over back)

At the end Beeb always asks for more and about a year ago I decided to make tickles educational. It's very simple, I just draw a letter on her back and ask her to identify it. It has been very helpful in her learning the alphabet beyond site. The HUGE bonus for me is that inevitably she gets bored and then I get the educational tickles on my back as she tries to stump me with her letters.

Lately we've take it a step further and are doing "live" pictures. I'll draw a scene on her back but the scene keeps changing. For example, I may draw our house on a sunny day, but then the clouds come in and it starts to rain - all the while my fingers keep drawing the changing scene. Beeb loves to draw these scene on my back as well.

Beeb + Tickles = Happy Beeb
Mommy + Tickles = Happy Mommy
Happy Mommy = Happy Family

Mr. B Logic

Today while driving Mr. B to be tutored he announced his displeasure with the reward system at the tutoring center. He's decided that he does not want any more tokens for working hard. (The tokens can be accumulated for shopping in the reward store and Mr. B is having a hard time waiting to accumulate enough tokens for the toy he wants.)

He explained to me that he doesn't have to work hard because he will not be going to college. He's decided that he is just going to buy a lot of fireworks instead.

"You need a job to make money so you can buy fireworks. You need a college education to get a good paying job." I reply. "Fireworks are very expensive."

"I'm not going to college." he assures me.

"How will you make money to buy fireworks?" I asked.

"I'll just start a lemonade stand." he replies.