I Jub Ju!

Before The Bee was even able to walk or talk, before he was able to utter two words, during the days of his ravenous hunger for breast milk, and the endless poopie diapers, the Bee proclaimed, "A-wah-woo." An instance of appreciation, he was being changed once again by his loyal and caring servant.

He has blessed me with this simple sentence many times throughout his life erasing any doubts I may have had that day about the possibilities that a nine month old could speak a sentence. Not just any sentence, but this one. Something he felt was important enough for him to learn so early.

"A-wah-woo," transformed into "I jub ju" and has now become "I Love you...I love you." I love you mama." "I love you." "I love you all da time," he tells me with crazy enthusiasm. Lately, there has been an "I love you" about once an hour and sometimes more. An"I love you in the wee hours of the morning when he crawls into my bed, and the first words uttered upon awakening in the morning. Other times, he serenades me with an "I love you" song he makes up himself. Often, there is a hug to go with it. Never have I been so loved I say.

"I love you, too Bee.""I love you all the time." You will forever be my Lovebug.

Bee Happy and Learning!

This last week my youngest Bee got to go to his first day of school. He has been dyyyying to go to school this whole year. He'd beg his Dada to let him tag along to drop off the Older Boy at his co-op, and then the Bee would proceed to hold on to whatever object in the school looked securely bolted down or would simply runaway and attempt to hide. In the end, there would be some screaming and bargaining done, and the Bee would be ousted once more. "School, school, school," he'd repeat over and over and over again. He'd stamp his feet and protest, "I wanna go school, NOW." The dada would calmly try to tell him that his time would come, and he wasn't quite old enough to go just yet.

Last Monday must have been his happiest day ever in his short, but largely-lived life. He jumped out of bed at the mention of school, and before we knew it had drank his morning cup of chocolate milk (his idea of coffee), eaten his cereal, gotten dressed and hair brushed with a little help from the Mama, and brushed his teeth without a single complaint and a smile on his face. He just kept repeating, "I'm gonna go to school too-day." Every few minutes, he'd periodically stop to sing and dance his self-created little ditty--"now, now, now-now, now, now, now- now, now." This is always a sign that he is beyond overjoyed and excited.

His day started with a car ride and a big, cheesy grin that ended in much the same way. The Bee delighted in all the school had to offer: the snack table was visited often; a medal for sports day was decorated with copious amounts of glitter; a few laps around the school with several different trikes were taken; the dolls were all admired for their beauty as he lifted each against his chest and announced "beau-ti-ful"; the sand was used for digging, dust-bathing, and food preparation; the play structure became a safe haven from villains; and many balls were kicked or thrown.

He made new friends and even some temporary enemies-Miss A decided she did not want to befriend any boys and smacked him one. The next day, Miss A decided to make-up during circle time, and this time smacked a big juicy one on his cheek. Misguided love?Maybe? Thankfully, his older brother was there for support. In the end, all was perfect in his world, and I was able to be witness to another first. Had he started school in the fall, I would have missed it all--work beckons in August.

The Things They Say (or Said)

Big Brother: What are you doing daddy?
Daddy: I'm cooking some chicken breasts.
Big Brother: You mean your cooking some chicken boobies!


The Bee: Watya doin?

Mama: What are you doing with all those cards.
Big Brother: I am making some cards for Santa and his elves.
Mama: But Christmas is still two months away.
Big Brother: I know, but I want Santa to know I want EVERYTHING.


The Bee: Watya doin?


This post was originally drafted in December of 2008 and continued in June 2009. Yes. I AM that behind.


The Bee: Watya doin? (He says this phrase about 100 times a day, so I thought I'd make a point of it.)


The Bee: I WANT SOME ROCK-A-RONI! (macaroni)


Big Brother while attempting to put on his shoes: Grandma can you check my shoes for spiders.
Grandma taking a peek in the shoe: Nope. No spiders in there.
Big Brother starting to put on his his shoe, but changing his mind: Grandmaaaaa! Check again!
Grandma: Why?
Big Brother while flinging shoe: Aaaaah! Because there may be spider eggs inside and they might hatch and crawl on my foot. (Dramatic and paranoid.)


Big Brother: Do you want me to kill myself. (He is beyond dramatic.)


Big Brother while trying to steal Super George from the Bee: George is dead. He's dead.
The Bee while running and flying Super George in the air: He not dead. He's Thuperman!


The Bee: I want mommy! (He is definitely a mama's boy.)


********************

Funny words the Bee mispronounces, but I love to hear him say.

Dino-roar (dinosaur)

Lemolade (lemonade)


Funny words the older boy used to mispronounce that I loved to hear.

hella-chocolate (helicopter, but I guess he loves chocolate so much he has to insert it in everything.)

noonol (noodle)

The things these boys say seriously make us laugh!

Knock, Knock

The Bee has recently gotten into telling knock knock jokes he makes up himself. He just thinks all his jokes are hilarious and clever. We get the biggest kick out of listening to these jokes and watching him just laugh his butt off afterwards. His latest goes something like this.

Bee: Knock, knock
Me: Who's there?
Bee: "Dapu"
Me: "Dapu" who?
Bee while giggling and making gesture as if he was throwing something: "Dapu" trow it in du trash!
Bee: hahahahahahahahahahahah
Me: hahahahahahahahahahhahaha

He's Five Now

So I have been posting more and more sparingly, and missed many opportunities to discuss the many crazy things going on in the lives of the boys. The eldest boy is FIVE now! He doesn't let us forget it these days.

"I'm five now so I wash my own icky hands before I suck my thumb" -because apparently only immature four year olds suck their dirty thumb. Cleaning it makes you mature.

"I can brush my own teeth because I'm five"- not really. He forgets all the time, and maybe manages to brush two teeth.

"I'm five now so I can pour my own drink"-only if there is only 1/25 of the drink left in the bottle.

"I'm five now so....." You get the picture.

*****

Big brother has been attending a co-op preschool that he loves, but is completely draining his parents. The requirements for the co-op seem a bit obscene if you ask me: buy $250 of scrip every month, work one day a week in the classroom, complete six hours of fundraising, work 6 hours on a workday, perform the work for your committee, attend a monthly meeting at night for 3 hours and another 3 hours in the daytime, design a yearbook page and ... well, who knows what they will come up with next.

It's a full time job most of the time, which would be fine if I didn't already have a full time job I actually got paid for. His daddy does most of the work since he is only working half-time most days, and he loves going to preschool with the older boy, but the time commitment is a bit much. What happened to just dropping the kids off and picking them up when they're done? They get some playtime in, and you get a much needed break. I am all for being an integral part of their education, but sometimes, I wouldn't mind just handing that job over to someone else completely. Maybe if we just had to work in the classroom without having to do any of the outside classroom work, or vice-versa. I could swing that.

The Bee may not be attending this preschool next year-SAD. We both have to work full-time if we ever want to afford to buy a house here. That leaves us once again with finding another preschool we love, and another elementary school suitable for the older boy and his hyper needs. Some stability would be nice about now. I am sick of the trade-offs.

Why the world turns

One sunny day last week, as we were walking home from the park, Big Brother looked up, pointed at all the "pretty" colors in the sky, and spewed forth an endless stream of questions.

BB: Look momma, the sun is setting
Me (huffing and puffing up the mini hill where our house sits): Yep.
BB (looking up at the sky): Why does the sun set?
Me: Because the Earth turns and the sun hides on the other side of the Earth.
BB: Why does the Earth turn?
Me (pausing for a moment trying desperately to think back to my Earth History class in college): I think it's because of the pull of the sun, but I'm really not sure.
BB (looking puzzled): How do we not fall off?
Me: Gravity is a force that makes us stick to Earth because Earth is enormous. It's shaped like a big ball - a sphere.
BB: So grabity keeps us stuck? What's inside the earth?
Me (Thinking I seriously didn't expect these kind of questions until at least 4th grade): Rocks, metals, dirt. The world is made up of several layers - the crust, mantle which is more of a lava-like substance, and a dense core.
BB: Can we go inside the Earth?
Me: Not very far. The Earth is so huge, we just don't have the technology to go inside the Earth.
BB: Can we leave the Earth and go into outerspace?
Me (trying to remember I am still walking on the street and should look out for cars): Yes, but we can't go too far. We need to use powerful spaceships or rockets to break from gravity's force.
BB: Can we visit the sun?
Me: No we don't have the technology to go as far as the sun, and even if we did, we would start to melt before we got anywhere near it. It one big fiery star.
BB: What if we wear astronaut suits?
Me: It would still be too hot.
BB: Can we go to other planets like Saturn or Mars or Jupiter?
Me: (attempting to gather all our things including kids into the house): We can't go yet, but we have sent satellites and robots to Mars.
BB: Can you show me pictures of the Earth?

The conversation went on for another 30 minutes like that that led to a display of a ball revolving around a lamp, a visit to google earth, and further discussions of Earth years, seasons, and the Earth's orbit around the sun.

I'm sure some of the informations mentioned was incorrect like the part where I said the Earth spins because of the sun. What I should have said was that it's probably because of the cosmic explosion that formed Earth and hurled it into space, and other collisions that sent it spinning. In my defense, his question caught me off guard, and no one really knows exactly why the Earth spins. I'm sure he'll ask me about all these wonderful cosmic forces I know little about next time we see a sunset. I really thought he and I would be much older before he started asking me questions I couldn't answer. There are still so many questions I myself am searching for answers to - like how it is two tiny bodies can produce soooo much laundry.

Conversations with Brain Rot

I feel guilty for not keeping up with my blog and writing more often, but it always seems like life gets in the way. I always want to wait to write when I know I will have time to finish writing a post, but those moments are few and far between. I am the kind of person who does not like to start something unless I can finish it. I get plenty of ideas for posts all the time, but I am usually lying in bed or busy doing something else. There are also plenty of funny things that spew out of Big Brother's mouth to write about, but I can never seem to remember them for too long. What makes it even harder to remember now is that he just doesn't say funny phrases anymore, but we can have whole conversations about his take on the world.

One short conversation revolved around the topic of leg hairs that I overheard him have with his dad in the shower while I was busy nursing the Bee. It went something like this.

Big Brother: "Daddy, what's all that fur on your legs?
The Dada: "It's hair. When boys grow older and become men, they grow hair on their legs."
Big Brother: " I don't want to become a man, I just want to stay a boy."
(I can't say I blame him.)

It continued on from there, but like I said, I can hardly remember these conversations unless I've had the opportunity to repeat them soon after with others.

One conversation I still remember from about a year ago when I also decided it was a good time to stop walking around the house naked looking for clothes after my showers, I discussed with big brother my lack of an accessory.

Big Brother: Mommy. You don't have a penis?
Me: No.
Big Brother: Why not?
Me: Because I don't need one. Only boys have a penis.
Big Brother: Daddy has a penis.
Me: Yes he does.
Big Brother: the Bee has a penis.
Me: Yep.
Big Brother: But you don't have a penis???? [giving me a very perplexed and puzzled look with a hint of worry followed by a very pensive pause]
Big Brother: Maybe you can borrow daddy's penis.
Me: [Laughter ensues] I don't really think daddy would like that.
Big brother eventually loses interest in this conversation and runs off with a puzzled look.

The only reason I even remember this last conversation is because I just had to call to tell everyone in my family about it. It was too funny to forget.

For now I will continue to blame my inability to remember things on my pregnancy brain.
Has it been too long from my last pregnancy to keep blaming my inefficient brain on that? Hey, if you can still have postpartum depression two years after you've had your last baby, I think I can blame my less than perfect ability to remember things on "pregnancy brain".

The Poo Poo Iniot Tribe

The Dada and I have reason to believe Big Brother thinks we are part of the Poo Poo Iniot Tribe. Whenever he is irate that he is not getting all that his little heart desires, he frequently responds by reminding us we are "Poo Poo Iniots".

Who are the Poo Poo Iniots? Is it possible that Big Brother wandered into my many dusty anthropology books and discovered something about our ancestral heritage that I missed reading about while in college? Probably not. This kid knows his alphabet, but that's a far cry from actually being able to read college level books. Huh? Maybe he has us confused with some tribe he heard about on PBS. He does watch a lot of Reading Rainbow and I know for a fact Levar Burton has done an episode on the Taos Pueblo. Are the Poo Poo Iniots somehow related? Maybe he means the Poo Poo Inuits?

Or is it possible that Big Brother is just a BRAT with an uncontrollable potty mouth. I think maybe the last choice is the most plausible answer, but it would have been cool to be a part of some exotic tribe called the Poo Poo Iniots.

Oh well, on another note. I LOVE Four! Sooooooooo Much better than 2 and 3. The tantrums are less frequent, the kid more self sufficient, more calm, more teachable, sleep more continuous and afar, more independent and creative play, increased ability for rational thought, more patient, more responsible, more cautious, and the things he says and does are just plain funny. So when four isn't spewing out naughty nonsense phrases, having some kind of meltdown, or ignoring my request to clean up or behave, he is quite tolerable. Now, if we could somehow get the Bee to skip all the wonders that are 2 and 3 and jump right into four we'd be in business.

Beeisms

The Bee has been busy acquiring new words. Here are a few of his most frequently used words (or at least the ones I can remember).

"Ma-ma": This was his first word and it still melts my heart when I hear it.

"ten-tu":(Thank you) This is actually the second word/phrase he ever spoke, and he likes to use it to show his gratitude when being given a requested item that required much thrashing, head-bonking, and screaming. Sometimes he just says it to be polite.

"Da-da": Frequently yells this to get his Dada's attention upon arrival from work.

"Pa-pa": Pronounced with a Spanish accent since my mom taught him this one. Papa means potato in Spanish and sometimes it's taught to babies to mean food since it's so easy for them to say. (with a different inflection, it also means dad.)

"Um-um": (Does it count as a word if it's just the sound one makes when biting into food) Another word he likes to use to tell me he's hungry.

"Ba-bu": (Brother) Often used when in search for Big Brother. I actually caught the Bee practicing how to say brother's first name while we were all still lying in bed.

"Ah-dun": (All done) An important one for him to know since he uses it to tell me to stop shoveling food down his throat, or when he's had just about enough of his car seat.

"Na-Night":(Night-Night) Time for bed he says.

"Ba-bye": (Bye Bye) He isn't afraid to tell me when it's time to get out and see the world. He's a "callejero" ( calle meaning street in Spanish, but the term refers to someone who likes to be out and about.)

"Apa":(Grandpa) Learned this one back in October when grandpa was out visiting us. He just had to compete with Big Brother for his attention.

"Ga-ma": (Grandma) He learned this word from big brother while visiting my mom, as my mom was unable to teach him the word abuelita.

"A-wah-woo": (I Love you) He said it for the first time as I was changing his diaper completely out of no where. I hadn't said it recently, and I had never practiced this phrase with him before, so I totally did a double take. Guuuuuuuuuuuush. It definitely felt good to hear, especially while doing the unpleasant task of changing a poo diaper. He's said it many times since to everyone else in our family, and I never get tired of hearing him say it.

Quote of the Day

As my oldest son was changing out of his nighttime diaper and pulling up his underwear, he tilted his butt cheeks to the side, grinned, and exclaimed "I have a sexy boo-TY momma!"

While watching the Emmy's...

and looking at pretty dresses I will never get to wear or even have a place to wear them at, my son commented, "Look mommy! That's the wady that lives in the doctor show!"

Quote of the Day

"Look mommy, my penis is wearing sunglasses."

He found his sunglasses in the bathroom after having used the potty, and decided this would be funny. Silly boys and their obsession with their penis.

I've Got Pickles

According to my oldest, I have pickles. A few nights ago, while attempting to give big brother a bath, he loudly screamed and proclaimed that I had pickles.

me: "It's time for your bath."
the boy: "Noooooooooooo!"
me: "Come on, we need to give you a bath so that you'll be ready for bed."
the boy: "Nooooooooo, mommy has pickles!"
Dad joins in:"Mommy needs to give you a bath, I'm washing dishes."
the boy: "Nooooooooo, mommy has pickles! I want daddy to do it"
me (while wrestling with him to get in the shower): "Come on, it will be fast."
the boy (flailing, kicking, and screaming): "Nooooooooo, mommy has pickles!"
the boy (while being thrusted into the shower): "No! No! No! Mommy has pickles! Aaaaah, pickles! Pickles! Pickles!"

Even now, I 'm not sure what he meant. He has called pimples pickles in the past, but as far as I could tell I wasn't breaking out or anything. Could he have been so overtired he was seeing spots? Mommy had turned into a freakish pickle monster right before his eyes waiting to feast on clean little boys. "Mmmmmmm, clean boys are good for pickle growing ya know."

Is it possible?

Is it possible that my 3 year old has the capacity for rational thought, the ability to understand cause and effect? His previous what-were-you-thinking behavior can make me think otherwise. No, A&D is not for finger painting on mirrors and sinks, and no, it's not okay to put that plastic bag over your baby brother's head.

A few days ago, we were walking to the park when a Fed Ex truck rode by with a man who was suppose to be driving it, but was not. He was intently looking down and savoring his slurpie as he stirred it during that hot and muggy day. He felt it was more important to pay attention to his slurpie than the fact that he was driving by a school, a park, and pool during this very sticky and busy day.

My 3 year old who was riding in the stroller at the time, yelled out to me completely astonished, "Look mommy! The truck is dribing by is self !"

"Why do you say that I asked?" prodding for info.

"The man is not paying attention. He just moving the straw back and forth, back and forth."

"What do you think might happen?" I asked again searching for the signs of intelligent life.

"He's gonna crash! (proceed to fill with your favorite crashing noises)" Nothing like a good crash I guess.

Luckily, no one was hurt. We'll at least as far as I could see.