Quiet time

Serif did not want quiet time today but after 4 days of no naps or quiet time it was starting to take a toll. He has been good today but really moody and the smallest things would make him melt. After being in his room for 30-45 minutes, I hear him kicking his wall. I went in and asked him to not do that and he kicked again. I asked if he wanted to spend the rest of quiet time in the (timeout) chair and he said no. I told him to lay down and not kick the wall and I went back to the other room. I immediately started hearing him calling for me. When I went back in there he said he did want to go to the chair so I let him. I told him no books or anything in the chair. Of course a few minutes later I hear him flipping through pages. Again, I went to his room and put the book of the shelf and reminded him of the rules. Finally, it stayed quiet for a while and when I went in to check on him I found him like this.




These are the moments you feel the sweetness of a child and the toughness of parenting. I felt bad for him sleeping in the chair but proud that he actually stayed there. Glad he was smart enough to get a pillow and blanket when he realized his efforts to stay awake were being defeated.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

King Serif

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Morning Car Ride

It was a nice quiet car ride to school this morning.  I had to lure Serif out of bed and basically went straight to the car with him.  The radio stayed off while Serif sat in the back seat eating his Boo-Berry & Franken-Berry cereal and we just listened to the sound of the rain on the car.  We were driving down 1^st avenue when the silence broke.  “Mommy?  Who got me all of my guitars?”  I went through each one, telling him about them.  Then he said, “Mommy, the little yellow one is too small for me now because I’m a big boy now.”  I asked if he needed a big one and if he would play it.  He said maybe when he gets a little older.

Quote of the day

We were almost home from school yesterday when Serif asked when it was going to be Halloween again. I told him it would be another year and it would be a while. I asked him why he wants it to be Halloween and asked if it's because of his birthday or getting to dress up. He said, "No, it's because I like halloween lights and spiders and decorations."
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

"K" is for Kino

Every week Serif's class studies a new letter. This week was the letter "K." His homework each week is tracing the upper and lower case letter. On Fridays the homework is due and it's also share day. On share day you bring a toy beginning with that letter. This week was a little tough to find something with the letter K. He wanted to take this bear so we decided to name him. We asked him what he would like for his name to be and he said, "Kino!". So Kino got a very special ride to school. He got all buckled up with Serif, got to listen to Alabama Shakes and even played guitar to it! What a morning! :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Santa Claus is coming!

We watched The Polar Express a couple weeks ago and Serif didn't seem to love it for the most part. However, ever since then, he loves putting on the Santa hat, telling us to close our eyes and snore and then he comes in and fills all the stockings with toys! He then says, "Ding-dong!" and we wake up and are surprised when we open our stocking. He's so funny. He just lights up with all of this stuff.

What Christmas is all About

We introduced Serif to The Grinch this week. He enjoyed the classic 30 minute show so we decided to give the movie a try last night. He went back and forth from liking it to unsure of it. The Grinch gets pretty scary at times and when they would get angry, Serif would get scared. I asked if he wanted me to turn it off and he said no. I told him to tell me any time and I would stop it.

A little bit later i noticed him getting a little scared so I thought I'd try to help explain what was going on. I told him that the Grinch was trying to tell these people that Christmas wasn't about gifts, presents, trees and decorations. I continued with, it's about family and being together and being nice to one another . . . Trying to convey the shows message to him. As soon as I said that he said, "No it's not! It's about Jesus being born!"

Yep. I felt about the size of a pea for a minute and about as dumb as a rock. Then quickly felt like the grinch when his heart began to swell. I was so proud of him for knowing that and for reminding me of what Christmas is really about.

This time of the year is great for us. Jeff's birthday in September, Serif's in October, mine in November and Jesus' in December. It's a good way we've been able to teach him about Christmas and its obviously sinking in.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tonight's Funny

Serif's latest thing is role play. We can no longer sit and read books quietly one after another without having to stop and act out the story. It's a lot of fun and he's so creative with his character.

Tonight when it was time to read, he went into character, made 2 fists with pulled up curled index fingers and in a mean Captain Hook kind of voice, said, "I have hookers!"

I obviously laughed and tried to keep my mind focused on his character and not where my mind seemed to automatically take me. After playing around a minute and reading our 3 bedtime books it was time to turn out the moonlight. He raised up his "hooker" hands and said, "Mommy, will you turn out the light because I have hookers."

After laughing out loud a minute and then pulling myself together I asked him if he could just call them hooks or hook hands. I hope I didn't embarrass him but after that he said, "No, I will just call them hands." I typically like to explain things to him but that one . . . ? I couldn't think quickly enough to explain on his level so we just moved on to our lights out and prayer. Ha!

A New Change

Now that Serif is 4, we have decided to make a change in his daily routine. This weekend we moved most of his shirts out of his closet down to his dresser drawer so he can pick everything out himself. We have always kept his pants here but his shirts have always hung on the top rod of the closet so it would be easy for us to access. We will typically pull out 2 or 3 choices to let him pick what he wants to wear and we would help him get dressed. We had a conference with school last week and learned that he can get dressed all by himself. I think we knew that but would help him anyways, usually because its quicker with less dilly-dally. So here it goes. We'll see how this works. I took the photo while everything was nice and tidy. We'll see how long that stays as well. That might be my bigger concern than mismatched outfits. One thing I've learned over the years is that I like to be in control . . . of everything. I guess everyone is like that to some degree. I just hope that when I need to have a say in the matter that he won't give too much push back. Sigh . . . It's all about balance.

Yeah, balance.

Morning Breakfast

Me: "Breakfast!"
Serif comes running and climbs up in his chair.
Me: "Does that look good?"
Serif: "That looks very VERY good!"
Jeff: "Mommy takes good care of us, huh?"
Serif: "Yes! (pause) No, GOD takes good care if us, mommy doesn't, only God."

Later as he's eating, "Apples are the best thing EVER!"

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Playing at the golf coarse

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Random photos

Abominable snowman sucker.


New swim goggles!



And pajamas.



Being silly.



Just being cute.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ready for school!

Serif had a Halloween party at school yesterday and they got to dress up in costume after their nap. He chose his "alligator dinosaur" costume and wanted to pack it in his dinosaur suitcase. Then he packed a few birthday toys in his dinosaur backpack to play with in the car. He looks so big. He's 4!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Serif's 4!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Birthday Costume Party for Serif

We had Serif's school costume/birthday party yesterday at our house and all but 3 from his class came! He also had 3 other friends come that are not from his school so I guess I could call it the kids party. I had planned for everything to be outside but the weather made it too damp and too cool so we had to move it inside. It pulled together just fine and took a lot more work than anticipated but it was worth it: nothing got broken, no one got hurt and everyone had a great time with little further effort from me. It was awesome and a success!
A good friend of ours, Julee Roark, took photos for us (she took Serifs 1 year photos and does amazing work). It was great to be able to focus on the party and not have to worry about the time being captured. Thank you, Julee! I would highly recommend her and she's up for the challenge! We do not have her photos yet but will post them when we do and will also post her information so you can give her a shout! My sister and her daughter Lindsay came to help set up and pull things together. Lindsay was able to take a lot of photos and she just emailed me hers. Thank you, Lindsay! I haven't saved them all yet but here's a sneak peek of the party!







mummy juice boxes



carrot jack-o-lantern



classic dirt cake with gummy worms



remnants of mummy game (wrapping with toilet paper)



The Gang: (left to right)
Kriti, Chloe, Lily, Gina, Serif, Evan, Cora Grace, Grant, Alexander, Tessa, Lilli

Serif asked what the spots were in the sky and I told him they were street lights and they help us see better when we drive at night. He then asked, "Do they come on automatically?"

He said it perfectly! He is growing up. 4 in 3 days.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Quote Night

What an evening! I just needed a recorder in tonight to capture everything Serif was saying!

We went to the apple store and trader joes after work and on the way home we were talking about what day is was a what day tomorrow will be. He has little sense of days and time but can tell what we do each day of the week. Tomorrow his class goes in a field trip to Lucky Ladd Farms in Eagleville. We're all excited about it. Jeff and i are both taking the day off to drive and chaperone. As we discussed the days Serif asked me, "Mommy, is there a great big hole that the sun goes down in?"

Later after dinner he goes to the bathroom and with spiderman action climbs up his step stool to the sink, looks in the mirror and says with a super hero kind of voice, "This will kill you germs!" and proceeds to turn the water on and wash his hands.

At bedtime, we did the normal routine of books then turned out the moonlight and cuddled up. I put my arm around him and say a prayer. I was almost done when I heard him whispering. I stopped and listened to him and realized he was saying his own little prayer, "God keep the monsters away from the bid city and thank you for (mumbling . . . I couldn't make it all out), for Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Kenny and for . . . Jack . . . And Ms. Jerri (his daycare teacher)." He paused and then excitedly said "Mommy, I said my own prayer!" then I said, "Yes you did and it was wonderful!"

After laying with him a little longer, I gave him a last little squeeze, told him I loved him and he said (as he always does) "Are you going in there now?" I said, "Yes I am. I need my eyedrops and I need to go to bed now." He squeezes my arm and says, "But Mommy, I'm afraid that you're going to go to outer space!" ha! "I'm not going to outer space. I'm just going right in there to my room." I said. He replied, "Just down the hall?" "Yes." I reassured him and finally went to bed. Well, I sort of went to bed. Really I just came in here to write down all of these quotes before I forget. Now I can go to bed. Good night!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Car ride conversation

Serif:
Mommy, when I get bigger me and daddy are going to go snorkel in the ocean.
Me:
Okay! Can I come?
Serif:
Well, you're not really good at snorkeling but you can sit and watch.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

"My Quotable Kid"

When we went to Seacrest a few weeks ago, Staci (the owner of the house we were renting), left a sweet little package of goodies for us. In it was this fantastic little book called " The Quotable Kid." I never really write down stuff but I tend to blog instead. This book has encouraged me to put things into my own handwriting and make it just a little more personal. SO . . . instead of me rewriting tonight's quote, you're getting a view of the book itself.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Save the date!

Well I've pulled out a good 'ol childhood treasure and have made tootsie pop ghost for Serif's class to announce his upcoming birthday party. We decided its too early for the actual invitation but thought a nice "save the date" might be good for now so they can pencil it in to their calendars. We'll do the invitation 2 weeks before so people won't forget. We're planning an outdoor costume party so I'm hoping for really great weather. No idea what I'll do if it rains. :/ Our house can't handle that many kiddos!

For family: I think we may be doing a separate party Saturday, October 28th so go ahead and pencil it in for that afternoon. More details to come very soon! We may do dress up for you too! :D

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Finding Nemo in 3D

He got so excited over so many parts of this movie. He would blurt things out (loudly) and we would have to try to explain there were other people trying to watch it too. He was so absorbed and cackled so many times through this thing! Good times.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Anne

i guess since i just turned 40, i can start a bucket list? well, check getting to meet Anne Lamotte off the list!

New Music

he was really excited to get the new Aimee Mann album.

Serif, meet Darth. Darth meet Serif

Art

"Mommy! Look at what I did! He has blue eyes.". Then he drew a line on top of the head and said, "and this is his Mohawk."




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My boys

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

"Robot Pinchers"

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Photographer

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

An evening at the beach

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

He's not drunk

. . . really. This is what no sleep and lots of chlorine will do for you.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

One silly bedtime

"Guess how much I love you?"


We were reading this book and Serif wanted me to help him "reach up the tree trunk with his toes." He's been enjoying role play with his books lately.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone