Health-Conscious

I bought Max and Ella each a chocolate advent calendar to countdown to Christmas. This morning Max said to me, “You know what? The thing on the back told me that the very last chocolate on Christmas has a lot of fat in it.” When I said, “Oh really?” he said, “but not too much.” I hope I'm not making this poor kid paranoid.

Max has been working on some worksheets from school and he's been practicing writing his name. He told me this morning that he's been writing his name a lot at school. I told him, “And you're getting really good at it!” and he said, “Apparently almost too good.”

Family Support

Today at church, Max bore his testimony (and did a very good job.) When he was about halfway through, Ella yelled to him, “Good Maxi-boy!”

A few weeks ago when we were taking Max to school, the moon was still up. Ella was really excited to see the moon and she kept talking about it. Then she said, “I wanna go up in the sky with the moon. I need a moon step stool.”

The Joy of Making Your Own Rules

Nate was walking outside with Carter and Carter told him about the new game he just made up. He calls it the "Super Super Bad Game." He can punch and when he races he doesn't have to say, "on your mark, get set, go"; he just goes.
Ahhhhhhhhhh, freedom!

Ella

Tonight Cory was helping Ella say a prayer and he told her to say, "Please bless Mommy and baby Sam." Ella said, "Bless Ella."

A month ago or so, I said something to Max and called him "Boot Strap" (one of his nicknames is Boot Strap Booah, his "pirate name.") Then Ella said, "Max is Boot Strap, Ella is Awesome!"

Sounds Like Crap to Me

As usual, Ella was pooping her diaper tonight. She stopped moving, became silent, and got "all teared up." Helping Ella prepare for potty training, Shell asked "Are you pooping, Ella?"

"Yes."

Then Max jumps in, "Really? It doesn't sound like pooping."

"Hmmm...what does pooping sound like, Max?" (Only dads ask these questions.)

"Drop. Drop. Drop. Drop."

Well, at least we know he's potty trained!

My Brave Bilingual Babe

A few months ago, I gave Cailia some food and she said "Shi-shi" (thank you in Chinese). I didn't think I heard her right, so I asked her what she said and she said "Shi-shi, thanks!" She now alternates saying thanks in English and Chinese. Then tonight when I was putting her to bed, I put her baby down next to her and she turned to the baby and said "Ni-hao" (Hi in Chinese). Who said you can't learn anything from tv?!

Also today I was trying to open a bottle of bubbles and couldn't get the seal off of it so I said quietly mostly to myself, "I need something sharp", but just kept trying to do it with my fingers. A few minutes later I heard Cailia yelling "Help Mommy, I stuck!" So I went to see what was wrong, and found her with only her belly balancing on my laptop desk, teetering back and forth about to fall off, with my scissors in her hand! I didn't know she knew I kept them up there! I also didn't know she could figure out that when I need something sharp, scissors will help! She's smart, but too brave for me! She also climbed up on Jeff's motorcycle twice today. She reminds me a lot of Jen, good thing her legs aren't long enough to climb the walls yet!

At Least He's Honest

For the past couple of months, we've been using charts with stickers to reward Max's good behavior. When he fills a chart, he earns what he's been working towards. (It's been lots of different things like a new bike, a trip to Jumpin' Jacks, etc.) Most recently, he was working on earning some new Curious George stamps. A couple of days ago he told me, "Mom, after I earn my Curious George stamps, don't do any more charts because I don't want to have to be good anymore. I want to do things I'm not supposed to do."

Clever Boy

I teach the Sunbeams (3 & 4 year olds) in church. A few weeks ago in class I was passing around a bag with an apple in it and the kids were trying to guess what was inside without looking. After Jace had a turn with it, he looked at me and discreetly said, "Why don't you just tell me what it is?" - and then he winked at me! I couldn't believe it! He not only knew how to wink, but he knew how to use it to his advantage!

Bum-shaker

Yesterday at dinner, Carter was sort of standing up in his seat saying, "shake-a-bum-bum, shake-a-bum-bum" while he shook his little bum.
I'd never seen him do this before so I asked him, "Where did you learn that?"
He said, "At my Grandma's house"
I asked, "Grandma Brown?"
He said, "yeah, my Grandma"
"Who taught it to you?"
"My Grandpa."
Apparently Dad has a bum-shakin' side of him that we've never seen. :)

My Nurturing Boy

The other day, I had to use the bathroom and Carter followed me in, closing the door behind him. He then turned off the light and said, "I-I-I-I-It'ch awight (he's going through a stuttering phase), Me hewe. Don't be cawed." --(translation: It's alright, I'm here, don't be scared). He's always looking out for me.

Too Much Information

Max and Ella were sick and had diarrhea all last week. They both finally fully recovered yesterday. So today I took Max to get his hair cut. He was being especially good and very talkative to the hair dresser. At one point she asked me, "How do you feel. . . " (asking me about the length in one spot) when Max said, "Better! I have real poopies now!"

Cailia's new nickname

Today Xander, Cailia and I were all eating dinner, when Xan looked over at Cailia and said "Hi Hittie, that's your new nickname because you hit everyone!" Cailia has been getting a bit violent lately, and Xander usually takes the brunt of it without ever hitting her back, usually he just falls to the floor and cries. I don't think he realizes he's bigger than she is! I did just realize though that anytime she hits someone and it's not on the face or head, she's usually trying to give them a "good game" (i.e. smacking them on the bum like football players do), so it's not all out of the need to assert her power. Although, I've been trying to ween her the past few weeks, and the first few times she tried to nurse and I told her we weren't going to do that anymore, she got a defiant look on her face and tried to hit me, so sometimes she does just want to show us she's the one in charge.

Sounds Good

Max and Ella love listening to Jack Johnson. Their favorite song is "La Da" (aka Bubbletoes--the chorus is "La da da da da da"). When we get in the car, Ella often requests it. (Max has stopped requesting it--just to be different.) There's one part where Jack says, "Mmmm" between phrases. One time when we were listening to it and he said "Mmmm," Ella followed up with, "Mmmm. Yummy."

Pancakes

Jen wrote this a while ago, and I guess it never posted. So I'll post it now.

Saturday I made a whole bunch of pancakes but accidently used baking soda instead of baking powder. They tasted horrible! The kids were quite dissappointed since they were really looking forward to such a nice breakfast. When I finally figured out what I had messed up, I explained to Nathaniel that I forgot "Kaiser Natron" was baking soda, not baking powder. He yelled "Curse you German language!"

Rock Band rockers

Barb, your post reminded me to write about this one. Jeff got Rock Band for Christmas, and both kids love playing it, especially the drums. When Xan sits down at the drums to play a song, he'll point the drumstick at me and say, "Mommy, are you ready to rock?" So I'll say "I'm ready to rock, are you ready to rock?", then he says "yeah, then let's ROCK!" with the drumsticks up in the air! Then when the song's over, he says "thank you, good niiiiiiiiiiiiight!" (yes, there has been some Daddy coaching involved)

He's also great at singing, and I've been really surprised how many of the songs he knows almost all the words, and it's so cute to watch him singing it with the microphone. Also, when ever we're driving around in the car and a Rock Band song comes on, he gets really excited and lets us know it's a Rock Band song.

My little rockers

We were in the car listening to the "Curious George" movie soundtrack, and Carter kept telling Nate to make the music “weally wowed” (really loud). When it was loud enough, Kai yelled from the back seat, “Yeah Dad, that’s how you really rock it!”

Always One Up On Us

Since we moved to our new house, Max has referred to his room as his "house." One day, I noticed him looking at our kitchen cabinets. He pointed to one of the knots in the wood and asked what that "hole" was. After I explained it to him he thought for a minute and said, "My house is better than yours. It doesn't have any holes in it."

He also told me his house is better because it has 14 smoke detectors and 5 fans.

Poor Max

On our first day in our new house, I found Max in the office with his pants around his ankles. When I came in he said, "Where's the place where I go potty?!"

(The office is right next to the bathroom, so he wasn't too far off.)

Eva's greatest enemy

Eva has had a runny nose for the last few weeks and so much wiping has made her little nose very raw with open sores. We've been putting saline in her nose and wiping it every night and each time she gets more and more upset. Poor thing.

So today Joe took Eva into our room so he could rest while she watched a show (Diego and I were gone). He woke up to her saying "No!........No!........No!........No!........" then he found her on the floor pulling each tissue out of the box and shouting "No!" then throwing it in a pile on the floor. It was a brand new box, but she was so mad at those tissues she got every one of them out!

Xander slips and calls his grandpa "Bruce"

Last fall sometime, Susan and I went to dinner on a Friday night with Jeff and Kris and kids at a Village Inn near their house. We first tried an IHOP that didn't work, but when I went in to the front desk to inquire while the group waited in the foyer, Xander said to his mom, "Did Bruce go in there?"

Kristi started to laugh and said, "Did you call him Bruce?" Xander got this worried expression on his face like he had slipped and put his hand over his mouth, and said, "I mean Potts."

Eva's telephone message to grandpa

On Tuesday, November 27, at about 7:45 as I was locking up my office to get home for 8:00 scripture reading, I noticed the phone mail light on, so I took the message.

To my surprise, a sweet little voice said: "Hi... It's Eva... Call me..." After this very clear grown-up talk, she then lapsed into baby talk.

I was blown away how grown up it sounded--like a five year old (she was about 18 months at the time). I just kept laughing all the way home.

The next day I got on the phone with Annette. I thought maybe her mother had coached her, but Annette said she finally gave in when Eva kept bugging her to call Grandpa.

It's nice to be the favorite

Tonight at dinner Kai said, "Mommy, guess who I love more than anyone in the whole entire world?"
I said, "Who?"
He said, "You!"
Carter said, “and me?”
Kai said, “Yeah, and you, Carter”
Nate said, “What about me?”
Kai said, “You’re not so fun, 'cause you spank me.”

Interesting . . .

I just had an interesting conversation with Max:

Max: "Do you remember when I was a mommy and you were a kid?"
Me: "No, I don't remember that."
Max: "You couldn't cross the street--and I could. And I could drive."

From Liz

These guys from Questar Gas came to switch out our meter. So I unlocked the gate to let them through. They were making a lot of noise while they were doing it and Tori was looking out the front window trying to see. I showed her that she could look out the other window right above them. So she watched them then she told me "mom the one with the hat waived at me!" then a minute later she was so excited telling Danny "There are these two guys and one has a hat and one doesn't and they're handsome, Danny, they're so handsome!"

The TV Monitor

A few weeks ago I was really tired so when I put Cailia down for a nap, I turned on the tv for Xan and fell asleep on the couch. After a little while, Xander woke me up saying "Mom, I'm about to watch too much tv!"

Carter's prayer

I was helping Carter say his prayer tonight and when he paused for my help I saw my chance to help bedtime go smoother, so I whispered to him, "Please help me to be good." So he said, "Please help Mommy to be good."