Four!

My baby is four years old today.
In celebration, here's a list of four reasons why I love John M. being 4:

1.) John, you love to prove to me that you're a big kid and can do things. Example: "Mom, I'm big so I can sweep that up for you!". Go for it, boy!

2.) You're starting to learn all of your letters and love to spell things for
me, although you always do it from right to left. When you see a stop sign, you
say 'P-O-T-S' and I say right, 'Pots!'. We'll clear that up one day.

3.) You're big enough to want to pour your own drink, but not yet too big for
me to scoop you up and hug you for a good long while.

4.) You make me things now; cards, signs, all sorts of artwork and I want to
keep all of it to remind me of how perfectly sweet you are at this age.

I was planning on doing a list of four reasons why four is probably going to
be a pain in the butt, but let's just end it on a positive note, why don't we?

I love you, my boy, for four million reasons.

Love,

Mom (even from right to left, it's still me)

Bits of Thanks

I notice these days I offer lots of short prayers, recognizing small things I’m thankful for during the day.

My mini-prayers usually go something like this ‘Thank you Lord for (fill in the blank here) being able to pick
Anna up from cheerleading’. Or ‘Thank you God for letting me find that (fill in the blank here) I was looking
for.’

I feel silly for doing it sometimes, but I figure a small prayer to recognize something good is better than no prayer at all. For someone who rarely makes it to church for one reason or another, it’s a step in the right direction.

I wonder, does anyone else do this? Let me know.

(The teachers at John’s school take pictures during the week and post them. He tends to look a little worried in each one.)

John's Wish

You know that big, blue octopus? Oswald.
We were watching that last night; Oswald had a wish coming to him so he was consulting all of his animal friends on what his wish should be and what they
would wish for.

John M. looks at me with this 'duh' expression on his face and says 'Well, I'd
wish for a big, big, big slip and slide that went all the way to the sky'. He
seemed to be thinking 'Why does Oswald even have to think about it? Doesn't
everyone want one of those?!'.

I wish . . .

John M likes to 'I wish' lately.

It's his passive aggressive toddler way of stating what he really wants, but won't go the full nine in asking for.

He also has a fascination with cops lately, or as he calls them 'po-lice offiters'.
At first, he saw them as 'bad guys' and he was afraid of them (probably because I mostly refer to them in fear, like 'Oh s&!#, a cop, let me slow down before they catch me!').

But I explained to him that po-lice offiters are really there to keep us safe. He asked me how they keep us safe. I told him that if someone tried to steal him, the po-lice offiters would arrest that person and put them in jail.

That had him thinking for a little while.

Then he says, 'I wish someone would try to take me but real slow.'

Me: 'What?!'

He said, 'Real slow, mama. Then, the po-lice offiter would have time to get there and save me.' And then, you see, he could meet the elusive offiter, but still not actually be stolen.

Works for me, as long as I don't get that speeding ticket.

John-isms

Scene: John M. comes in crying, holding his head. (After I heard a loud 'boom').

Me: Awww, did you hurt yourself?

Him: Yeah.

Me: What did you hit?

Him: The ground!



Scene: Lying (or is it laying, someone help me here) next to John in bed.

Me: Can I have a kiss.

Him (nods his head 'no')

Me: Please.

Him: (he tilts his little head my way)

Me: No, not that kind. On the lips.

Him: I don't have any lips.

Birthday Pics almost 1 month late

So, John M's been 3 years old for almost a month now, but I'm finally getting the birthday pics in.

His party was at a local 'farm' here, complete with a pony, goats, an oversized rabbit, and a hayride. Most of the kids loved it, but John M. cried about 90% of the time. The only part he seemed to really like was the cake and the presents. I wonder who he gets that from? Hmmmm....

The Sun and the Clouds

Remember this post way back when? Probably not, because no one read my blog way back when (but since then I've gained you 5 readers - woo-hoo!!)

It was about noticing. About how most times we don't even notice that we're not noticing. Back then, I was making an attempt to be more observant, more appreciative of all of the beauty that surrounds me. I'm still working at it; it's something that I have to make a conscious effort to do most times. But you know who helps me? Emma.

Emma notices clouds, the sun, the moon, the water, she sees beauty in all of it and the best part of it is, she points it out to all of us. Monday, as we were on the way to school, (it was a very gloomy, rainy day), she said:

'Mom, look at all those black clouds. That's not good'.

Me: 'No. I think it's going to be a rainy day'.

Em: 'But if you look real close, you can see the pretty white clouds underneath over there'.

Me (struggling hard to see without crashing the car): 'I can't see them'.

Em: 'Yeah, you see, they're trying to push the ugly clouds out of the way so they can get through'.

I just grin.

She looks at me and says 'What, Mom?'. I say 'I just like the way you put things sometimes'.

She shrugs her shoulders and says 'Well . . . it just makes them seem more alive'.

Exactly.

(and then there was John M. yesterday, while trying to watch his Dora DVD in the car. The sun had the nerve to come out and shine in his eyes. He asked me in a really whiney tone, 'Mom, can you turn the sun OFF?!' There's a lot I can do, but there's one thing I can't. Sorry-o).

(PS. John has started POOPING in the potty! I can't remember the last time I was this excited.)

T.h.r.e.e

My baby is three years old today. I know you're thinking 'he's not a baby anymore'. The thing is, to me, he still is. Maybe I want to hold on to his 'baby years' so badly that I just can't see him any other way. He's my last, you know, so give me a break.

So, Happy Birthday to John M. My boy, my only boy. Thank you, John, for showing me what it's like to mother a boy. Thanks for showing me all the differences, big and small. Thanks for loving to pee outside. Thanks for liking things with wheels; trains, trucks, tricycles, if it goes, you like it. Thanks for sweet little sloppy boy kisses that you wipe off as soon as you give them out. Thanks for being jealous when Daddy tries to hug me or lay next to me. Thank you for reminding me of 'June' all the time and knowing that a little piece of him exists in you.

I love you, my boy.

John-isms

I was commenting to Anna yesterday about one of the moms at soccer practice (she's a tiny, little petite lady); I said 'Oh yeah, she's a little tiny lady'.

John M. chimes in, 'Yeah, mama, you a little not very little'. An insult, slightly in disguise.

This one comes straight from his sisters' example.

At the age of 2 now, 'Mama, you gettin' me so agwahvated!'.

There was another one I wanted to share but my old brain can't remember what it was.

I'll share a picture from our church fair this past weekend:

The Hunt

I come from a land of hunters. Hunting and fishing are huge down here. Last Saturday was the opening day of 'Dove Season', and my father-in-law, who is big on hunting, invited Mark and my boy on what would be John's first hunt. Mark bought him some little headphones to wear, and of course, we had to coordinate the whole 'camo' outfit (because if you're hunting, you have to look good, right?!).

Here he is on the way back home. They actually got a few doves and Mark even BBQed a couple for Labor Day. Eiuuu. I stayed far, far away. Have I mentioned I don't like to eat cute, little forest creatures (deer, rabbits, squirrels, doves, etc)? Mark said John had a good first experience, but was WIPED OUT afterwards.

Awwww . . .

This picture makes me smile. #1 because my sweet little boy sleeping, dead to the world.

#2 because I actually have my husband wearing Kenny's T-shirt, of his own free will. ;~)

FLIP-FLOP SUMMER . . . Woo-hoo!

Good God, you're almost 3 already!

I haven't done a John M. post in a while, and it's hard for me to believe that boy will be 3 years old next month.

Here he is at the bull-riding show last weekend. He loves bulls, have I mentioned that? Especially watching the 'mans' fall off of the bulls. That's his favorite.

He'll also give his right pinky toe for a doughnut. He'll give his whole foot for a bag of doughnut holes! I have an addict on my hands here. You see, my boss brings me doughnut holes every Thursday morning and I started this thing where I bring them back for John. Well, he asks every day now for those things, and cannot seem to get the concept that it's only once a week. I've created a monster.

Recently, he's fallen in love with a book of nursery rhymes given to him by my mom. He wants to read it every day and his favorite is 'The Purple Cow'. That cow cracks him up. He says every single time that we get to that page (which is usually from the get-go b/c he skips right to it), 'that cow is in the wrong pasture'. I don't know how the kid knows this but he insists that the cow has somehow gotten to the wrong pasture. Of course, he has heard his dad say the same thing about our non-purple cows about 500 times. So, that could be it.

His other favorites now are:

- playing basketball at my sister's house, jumping from a mini-trampoline

- his cousin, Jenna (Jen-Jen)

- bathing with his toy horses and cows

- asking when his 'bird-day party' is going to be 10 times a day

- pancakes at maw-maw's house

- rolling in the dirt

- being naked as a jaybird

(of course, I enjoy those last 2 quite a bit myself!)

That's my boy. Look out 3s, here he comes.

John M's rendition of his ABC's - 30 months

My Montage

Future Husband of Mary Lee

The boy likes nothing better than a donut these days. He'd eat a half-dozen at one sitting, if we let him. (And sometimes I want to just to keep him quiet and occupied).

Case in point, after reading 'Green Eggs and Ham' last night, I asked him if he liked green eggs and ham.

John M: 'Nooooo!'.

Me: Would you like them on a train?

John M: Noooooooo!

Me: Would you like them in the rain?

John M: Noooooooooo!

Me: In a boat?

Him: Nooooooo!

Me: With a goat?

Him: Noooooo!

Me: I know, at the zoo (he loves the zoo and we had been the day before).

Him: Noooooooo!

Me: No??

Him: No.

Me: Would you like them with a donut?

Him: YEAH!

Case closed.

I'm so proud.

John M's new favorite word: (drumroll please . . . )


butthole

Cousins in the Land of Missing Teeth

John M. minus one top front tooth at age 2 1/2 and Andrew minus both at age 7.