Watch whatcha say!

It was because of my father that from the ages of seven to fifteen, I thought that my name was Jesus Christ and my brother, Russell, thought that his name was Dammit. "Dammit, will you stop all that noise?" And, "Jesus Christ, sit down!" One day, I'm out playing in the rain, and my father yelled, "Dammit will you get back in here!" I said, "Dad, I'm Jesus Christ!" - Bill Cosby

The other day, I was listening to a comedian talk about kids and how they have a timed release repeat button. He said to watch what you say, because your kid may not repeat you immediately, but you will hear those words next week. This has proved to be true in our household with Koko Bean. She is officially our little parrot. For example, when Daddy was playing his video game, she finished his sentence when he said, "son of a ..."

It's not like we are a couple of potty mouth parents, but occasionally an expletive will float out of one of our mouths. This afternoon, our puppy Flex, pooped on the floor. When Koko Bean was observing me cleaning it up, she said, "that damned dog!" It took me by surprise so I asked her to repeat it, thinking and hoping she said "dumb dog." Nope, it was the other 'D' word.

Then, there are the other things she says that make me feel like we're doing something right. This morning, she woke up in the middle of us. Daddy told her to wake Mommy, so she politely said, "Mommy, wake up." Then, she leaned over, hugged me and said, "I love you." ***I MELTED***

 

I got to spend the whole day with my favorite munchkin today. We sat at watched cartoons, ate yogurt(the kid is a yogurt monster,) and played. When it was time for Koko Bean to have some cuddle time, she beckoned me over to the recliner, where she was sitting, eating her Cheez-its. She said, "Mommy, come. Sit down with me." With that swet little voice and those big blue eyes, I couldn't resist. I stopped what I was doing and just sat next to her. Granted, she's not good at scooting over, so my hiny was squeezed in there pretty tightly.

One of these days, she's going to quit saying "I wanna hold ya," instead of saying she wants to be held. She's going to say the word yellow correctly. She will also quit holding my hand in the parking lot at the gym when I tell her I'm too scared to cross without her. She may not say she's "sowwy" immediately when she's done something wrong. For now though, I'm holding on to each little part of speech she flubs, each silly sentence she conjures, and each giggle after she politely says, "cuse me" when she belches.

BeSt FrIeNdS Pt. 2

A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails. ~Donna Roberts

There's nothing like a best friend. Nothing. And when your best friend lives two and a half hours away, time spent with them is priceless. I had the privilege of hosting my best friend, H, and her son, J,  last week for two days. When we started planning the visit, I let Koko Bean in on the planning. Everyday on the way to daycare, she kept asking, "when is J coming?" Each day, I would count down with her. I asked her what she planned on doing and she said, "um we're going to play with my dolls in my playroom." 

H and J arrived on Thursday morning. Koko Bean and J greeted and acted like they had never been separated. I was surprised at how fast J had grown. Koko Bean is three and a half months older than J, but J had almost caught up to her in height. After the initial meet and greet, it was off to Deanna Rose Farmstead for some good old fashioned fun on the farm and what would a farm be without a huge barn with a slide coming out of it.

Koko Bean and J played on that slide for a good thirty minutes like it was the only reason we came to Deanna Rose. Koko Bean would go down the slide and wait for J to come down to catch him even though he was perfectly capable of sliding down himself. Once, we waited for J to come down and five minutes later, we realized he had taken a spill down the stairs. I soon learned this wouldn't be his first. As each Mommy took turns posting up in the barn and at the end of the slide, snapping picture after picture, the kids were running, sliding and having a blast. J even showed us how he is all boy by slidng head first down the slide.

We ended the day with a trip to Target for some shopping since my best friend H, will be starting her job as the newest first grade teacher at our old elementary school. The kids were actually pretty well-behaved despite it being well past J's bedtime and they had no naps.

The next day, we went to The Legend's Shopping Center to continue our search for teacher clothes and good bargains. We took the munchkins to Dave and Busters for lunch. They shared french fries, chicken and cheeseburgers. H and I got to catch up on hometown gossip, wedding talk, and kid stories.

After D&B, we went home to rest up and promised the kids we'd take them to the nearby park to play after dinner. Meanwhile J had been using the potty the entire time he was here. This interested Koko Bean more than she was in the whole potty training business. Before, we would put panties on her and she would have accidents or we would put Pull-Ups on her and she would just potty in them like she does a diaper. This time she was on board to pee pee in the potty thanks to J. So far, we are going strong. She has been pottying in her potty chair since the visit. Thanks J!!

After two whole days with J and H here, I was sad to see them go. Koko Bean didn't want J to leave and still asks to see him again. I wish it was sooner rather than later, but it just makes our time together that much more special. We are definitely going to have to plan more playdates like this, for Koko Bean and J, and for H and me. Hopefully next time, J's comic character shirt wearing clown of a dad can come too. He an Koko Bean's daddy always end up wearing the same outfits when they get together. H and I sure know how to pick 'em.

I am blessed to have found H in Kindergarten. We have been through everything together and as cheesy as it sounds, she's been my rock throughout it all. I wouldn't be who I am today without her. I'm glad we now get to continue our friendship through our beautiful children.

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown

AdVenTuRe'S oF kOkO bEaN (and her mom and dad)

"The strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws".

- Barbara Kingsolver

After a long ten-hour work day, seeing seventy customers, at least a third of them being new customers (new customers require more attention at times,) and driving home on the asphalt jungle that is highway I-435, dodging traffic, I finally made it home- only eleven hours after leaving my house. This was my welcome.

(We LoVe MoMmy)

Koko Bean and Daddy had been out on the driveway creating masterpieces and of course, this was my favorite.

There's definitely never a dull moment in our household, especially in the mornings before work. It's become routine for us to have some sort of dramatic episode. Today was no exeption and once again, we took in stride. We all woke up as late as possible, but in just enough time to hustle our little rears in gear to get to daycare and work on time. Daddy let Chloe out, and started breakfast for Koko Bean. I went down to let Flex out and found a wonderful present from him. He decided to leave me fecal presents all over his cage. I hurried up the stairs carrying the poo filled crate and hosed it down outside.

Then Koko Bean decided to have a crappy problem herself. Actually, it's not right to say she chose to have this problem. She was cursed with it. I heard her scream in the basement and immediately ran down to see what the problem was. She just cried, shook her head, and wouldn't tell me. Finally I took her upstairs to change her diaper. Upon removing the diaper, I saw it. (Sorry in advance if the following disturbs you.) That familiar cry was that of pain. I sat her on the potty to expel the "problem." Well, she couldn't just sit on the potty. It was so bad that she stood up and it dropped down her leg, smearing all the way down, and onto the bathroom floor. As I picked the tennis ball size business off the floor with toilet tissue, we tried to make a bigger deal out of her using the potty than the big deal that was causing her pain. She was rewarded with not one, but three stickers this morning for that!!

Tonight, I let Koko Bean pick out her jammies. She picked out what she calls, "walking jammies," also known as footie pajamas. I asked her if she thought they would get too hot tonight. Her reply? "No, I don't think so."

So we decided to have a rowdy pajama party on Mommy and Daddy's bed to end the crazy day.

I miss that face so much when I'm at work all day. I am constantly thinking about her and I know Daddy does too. She can make a long day like today disappear like we'd never been apart. Sometimes I wonder what I'm missing while she's at daycare, but I am so happy she's in a loving home with all her friends. She is loved by so many as she loves them. I'm glad God gave me this little gift to share with others so that she may light up their life as she has mine.

Future Photog, the creative masterpieces of a two-year-old prodigy.

One evening last week, as our family was just sitting (a rare occurrence in this household,) I let Koko Bean shoot some pictures with my camera. After the initial point-anywhere-and-push-the-button-shots, we taught her how to use the screen on the camera to pinpoint what she'd actually like to capture. The following shots were actually taken by Koko Bean and then Mommy cropped as needed. I think you'll find she might have a talent in this.

Apparently Mommy was her muse for this particular creative process. However, she didn't leave out Chloe...

Or Flex....

(I think Flex may have been temporarily blind after this. She had the camera centimeters from his face.)

And she definitely didn't neglect her daddy....

Koko Bean is one creative munchkin. She enjoys coloring, drawing shapes, and stacking various objects like coffee creamer whenever we are out to eat. She makes the most beautiful and monstrous coffee creamer pyramids. For the last six months, she's been able to name shapes. She knows how to draw a circle and instead of everything being pink, she's actually learning other colors.

It's also amazing how a child can soak up stuff, retain it, and then spit it back out at you when you least expect it. The other day, she had a penny in her mouth. When Dad saw it, he told her to get it out of her mouth immediately! She did what she was told, but after Dad left the room, she looked at me and said, "He's dramatic!" Yes, Koko Bean, I would have to agree.