What's Wrong with Me?

The other night I was carrying Blaine into the bathroom to brush his teeth before bed. I accidentally knocked his foot against the wall, causing him to grimace in pain. I rubbed his foot while saying, "Oh, Blaine, I'm so sorry, what's WRONG with me?" Blaine very innocently said, "Are you stupid or are you smart?" When I didn't respond fast enough he said, "I guess you're stupid about my foot, but that's ok Momma." Now, if you had heard this conversation, you'd know that he was not insulting his Mom's intelligence, just asking an honest question.

Sometimes I wonder, though...

Hide and Sleep

The other morning I came into the boy's bedroom to wake them up for day school. They have a bunk bed and Braylon sleeps on top. I saw Braylon in bed as usual, but Blaine was out of bed with his covers pulled back. This is strange, I thought, because Blaine is very much my difficult morning child. He would like to sleep until 7:45 every morning if he had his way, but he must get up at 7:15 to keep our schedule on track. Anyway, where was he? I looked up on Braylon's bunk again, no. I surveyed the room, nowhere. Hmmmmmmmm....

So I pulled back his covers all the way down...Blaine was sleeping horizontally in his bed about 3/4 of the way down - About where an adult's shins would be in a twin sized bed. I can only assume he was having a dream about a hibernating bear...

Interesting Prayer

Another funny prayer moment ~ We seem to have a lot of these lately. I guess when you open the floor to a 2 or 4 year old, you just never know what they will say.

Blaine: "Thank you God for Nana and Papaw, and for Papaw and Nana. And thank you God for all the people who live in the forest."

Haven't a clue who these people are...

An Easter Story

This a.m. we got dressed in our new Easter digs and headed over to Nana/Papaw's house for Easter pictures at Papaw's request. These pictures now will serve in part as "before and after."

During the worship service, I get a tap on the shoulder that Blaine had hurt himself and that I should get my things and head to the nursery, stat. Upon arrival, I see little Blaine in the bathroom with blood dripping from his chin. Ick! Turns out he took a stumble into a glider rocking chair and caught the edge just so. Guess he broke his fall with his face because as it turns out, he not only cut his chin open, but bit the inside of his lip, bruised his front gums and knocked a tooth slightly loose. Yikes!

I must say that after 2+ hours in the ER, having nurses/doctors poke and prod, a needle parked in his lip for what seemed like eternity and 3 stitches, Blaine was a trooper. He cried only minimally and greeted his attending doctor with a simple, "What's your name?" amidst blood dripping out of his mouth. The doc was very gentle and nice and responded with, "Jose," instead of "Dr. So and So."

All in all, not the Easter we expected, but not a horrible one, either. Blaine's tough and I'm sure his wound will heal without incident. Brandon says now he's officially in the 'boys club' with his first battle wound.

A Camping We Will Go

We returned today from a 2 day family retreat to the Texas hill country. We 'roughed' it - Ok, not really 'roughing' it, per se. We rented a rustic cabin at the KOA that sits right on the Llano River. Among our activities, hiking, canoeing, cooking out, the boys favored throwing rocks into the river over anything else. Go figure. Who'd have thought the highlight of the trip was the cheapest way to go? Nevertheless, we had a special bonding trip and just let the boys be boys as far as possible. Now we're back, the house is in pretty good shape after a good cleaning and this momma is in need of a good, long shower and a SOFT mattress to sleep on!!

'The Farmer in the Dell'

I woke up this a.m. to a serenade through the baby monitor (yes, I refuse to give it up). Both boys, in unison, were singing, "The Farmer in the Dell" in soft tones as sweetly as they could muster. Good start to the day.

Movie Review: Nancy Drew DVD

Starring: Emma Roberts
Rated: PG

Based on the popular book character, Nancy Drew, teenage sleuth, travels cross-country from River Heights, USA to Los Angeles to solve the mystery of a famous movie star who disappeared for 5 months, then reappeared and mysteriously died in her home. She must hide the fact that she is attempting to solve a mystery from her worried, yet strangely absent, father. Of course, Nancy Drew to the rescue - She solves the mystery and survives being frequently mocked for being strange among her classmates.

Becky's rating: B-

I love a good Nancy Drew mystery. This movie is targeted to pre-teen girls, no doubt. For them, it was surely a big hit. For adults, it lacked a little substance. I figured out the mystery about 25 minutes into the movie. I hoped for a little more 'ah-has' and intrigue. However, young Emma Roberts did a superb job acting as Nancy Drew. The story line, though basic, was interesting.

Bottom line: Rent this for your pre-teen/teen. Otherwise, just read the books.

Close Your Eyes!

While Brandon was praying with Blaine the other night, he was kneeling by his bed and listening intently to what Blaine was praying about. When Blaine brought up an otherwise questionable subject of what he was thankful for, Brandon cocked his eye open and looked at Blaine, who was still just pouring his heart out in prayer. Without missing a beat, Blaine said, "Thank you for...Dad, CLOSE YOUR EYES, and thank you for...." Nothing gets by him!

Reading Books

Every night Braylon and I read 2 books before bedtime. He's been reading me a short, simple book and then I read him a longer one. I've been keeping the ones he reads me extremely easy so as not to overwhelm him. But man, did I underestimate him! Last night I let him pick out the book he would read to me. He picked an easy reader, but it was Level 2 instead of Level 1 (for anyone who knows what that means!). There were harder words in it like 'someone' and 'napkin' and things like that. That kid got nearly the entire book read with very little help from me! When he didn't know a word, he would sound it out just right and wouldn't give up on words very easily. He even laughed at the right spots, indicating he was understanding the material.

WOW! What a difference a couple months make in reading!!

Mr. Sweetheart

One night this week after bathtime, I wrapped the boys in their bath towels and let them sit on the sofa and watch tv while I cleaned up after the bath. After a short time, I came over, crawled up to Blaine and laid my head near his lap. Blaine had to wiggle his hand free of his towel and started rubbing my hair. He gently and sweetly said, "Does your head hurt, Mom?" I said no, but he kept stroking my hair while he watched tv.

It's the little moments that make my heart melt.

Marathon Prayers

Last evening the boys were treated to their favorite park by Nana/Papaw while I worked late and Brandon studied at the library. When they got home at 7:30 p.m. they were wound up and filthy as ever. It took me a while to get them bathed and ready for bed.

Every now and then, Braylon will open the floodgates and start talking our ears off around bedtime. We know this is a stall technique, but there are some things you just 'let go' for the sake of getting in some good face time with your child. After talking a good while about this and that, bedtime couldn't be avoided any longer.

Braylon then said the sweetest, longest prayer I've heard from him in a while. He thanked God for all the 'wonderful things He provided for us' and asked God to take care of many people by name. He also asked God to forgive him of the 'things he does bad sins.' So sweet to hear and I know God must have smiled hearing his limited vocabulary but heartfelt words.

Well, Blaine, who was not yet asleep wanted in on the action. Usually I just pray for what he suggests, but last night he said 'I do it myself!' He then proceeded to pray at least 5 solid minutes for everyone he could think of along with, 'give us good rest tonight' and 'help me to be good tomorrow.' After he was done, he asked to do it again. I told him to say his prayers alone...

It was such a sweet display and just made this mom's heart burst wide open thinking what a privlege to teach these kids to pray.

Pretty in Pink

This weekend we took the boys over to our friend's house for dinner. We enjoyed ourselves despite my constant OCD checking that the boys weren't destroying the back rooms of the house.

Well, the adults got wrapped into conversation and the kids were playing a friendly game of hide and go seek (mostly hide and hide since my boys weren't good at seeking). Then Blaine did his occasional John Wayne walk into the kitchen announcing that he had had an accident. Sure enough, I thought that was our cue to go home since I didn't bring a change of clothing for him. But then I remembered I had a diaper in the van for such occasions. Our friend's youngest daughter had some old shorts that didn't fall off of him.

After a small crying session about him being embarrassed for having an accident, I got him to go back inside with only minorly damaged pride. The only catch: the shorts were pink with green polka dots. He was one cute dude!

I will see if I can get pictures from my camera onto the blog of the 'dainty' outfit!

Dia de la Dentista

Yesterday was our annual dentist check up for the boys. Blaine, age 2, did perfectly. He waited patiently for well over an hour without complaining (despite hunger and fatigue setting in). He let the dentist see his pretty pearly whites and got a 'perfect' teeth declaration and a 'keep up the great work!'

Unfortunately, Braylon was not so fortunate or well-controlled. He was supposed to get his teeth cleaned, but never made it that far. He did not believe me that no one was going to give him a shot in the mouth. (Whomever told him about shots in the mouth needs to taken out and shot themselves, in my opinion.) Even when the dentist told him directly that he wouldn't do that, Braylon wouldn't open up. After many tears and one hysterical fit, the dentist did get a suitable exam in. He determined that the little guy has 5 cavities - 4 of which are very old and very deep. The fillings from last year weren't sufficient and the cavities continued to grow. He will require surgery to fix the situation.

To surgery, to surgery (AGAIN) jiggity jig jig...

Not to mention that Braylon's fear of dentist MAY be hereditary. His momma DID get banned from one dentist for biting him and once required surgery for cavities to be filled purely from fear of the dentist chair.

Movie Review: Fool's Gold

Starring: Matthew McConaughney, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland
Rated: PG-13

The premise is a newly divorced couple who have dedicated the last 8 years of their lives on a treasure hunt, start finding clues for their long-awaited treasure and glory.

Becky's rating: B
The movie was predictable and very formula-driven. There were good guys, bad guys and a few guys riding the fence. The main characters were entertaining enough and the story line deep enough to keep your interest in the subject. At times the theories of where the treasure might be got pretty confusing. Seems like the characters were talking too fast for the audience to understand, maybe to cover up a shallow background story. However, I do recommend this cute 'date' movie. I'm a big fan of Kate Hudson, so there's not much she could do that I wouldn't like to some degree.

Bottom line: Definitely rent this when it comes out if you miss it in the theater.

Circus, Circus

Our family treat of the week/month/year was last night at the circus event that was in town. Brandon and I loaded up the boys into the family fun van and we drove to a full evening of circus fun. Turns out we sat next to one of Braylon's best friends from church, making the experience even 'funner.'

The boys sat in wonder at the men flying through the air from the big swing. Blaine giggled through this part of the show. Braylon thought the motorcycle and trampoline exhibits were way cool. Dozens of exhibits captured their little attentions and by 8 p.m. - Two full hours of circus enjoyment - The boys had experienced enough. We left 25 minutes into the second half. The boys were sugared up and circus'd out.

A fun time was had by all - And both boys were sound asleep within minutes (er, seconds?) of hitting their pillows...