Kids Sayings and Doings

It is finally spring around here!! We've had multiple snow storms this month (they almost always arrived on a Tuesday, too), and just this week the weather has turned the corner and it is shorts weather!! Yaaaa! Leaves are starting to pop out on the trees, and we've been watching a pregnant robin try to find a place to build a nest (in a snowstorm no less). She tried to make a home in our garage during a snowstorm (I can't blame her) but the owner of the house had different plans...

Anyway, this winter I've been keeping a running document on the computer to keep track of the boys' sayings and doings. I thought you might enjoy some of it, so I'll paste it here. It's a lot, but - hey.

1/23/13

Garrett: “God is the boss of the whole world, and he fires all the robbers.” I told him that actually even robbers can be forgiven and go to heaven if they just ask Jesus to forgive them. He reiterated that he has asked Jesus to do that, back in the old Brighton house. We talked about how Jesus says he is building us a house in heaven and Garrett said he wants one with 150,000 ceiling fans and wants it to be in a tree.

Garrett’s teacher did some assessment testing on him this week and he was doing well on pretty much everything, but when it came to reading he completely blew her socks off! She said she’s going to have to get some other assessment books to determine exactly what reading level he’s at, but said, “I think he’s going to absolutely blow the doors off of those. I mean, he’s way up there!” And said they would just skip reading with him and focus on writing for now.

1/24/13

I just came into Garrett’s room, and he was still up with the light on, poring over his Charlie Brown Encyclopedia. He said, “I want to go to college when I grow up, so I have to study a lot. And if I want to be a plumber, I am going to have to study a lot.” And then proceeded to tell me all about copper pipes verses lead pipes, and how the valves under faucets work. And then said he actually would rather be a chemist like Daddy.

Wyatt: Over Christmas, Gma & Gpa Cox babysat Garrett and Wyatt for Camp Grandma for 2 nights. Mom and Dad were tickled to get to know Wyatt better, and mom said they really loved Wyatt’s sense of humor. She said, “Wyatt is such a goofball!” and loved all of his play-on-word jokes and switching words around or making them sound funny. Wyatt loves to use nonsense words to answer questions, and then say that such-and-such nonsense word means yes or no, as the case may be. Like, “Bubba light. Bubba light means no.”  She also said it’s such a kick how Wyatt is like a tape recorder when he says things…he just keeps on talking no matter what is going on around him. So true. At home sometimes he will say something, and I’ll say, “Oh, what was that Wyatt?” And he’ll say, “I already told you.” And refuses to say it again!

Wyatt is enjoying having time with mommy at home while Garrett is at Kindergarten. I love hearing more of what he is thinking about. He’s a good thinker and notices a lot of things. Like when we drove up next to the cart return at Sprout’s he noticed that there was no sign on it like “Return carts here.” I asked him what would he put on a sign if he could put one there and he said, “Dear Mommy.” Melted my heart!

When we took Garrett’s picture tonight to celebrate his first week of Kindergarten being well-done, I told Garrett to say, “Kindergarten!” and he did. Then I took one of Wyatt and he said, “Home!!” He’s perfectly happy to be at home with me, and it’s a very precious time with him.

Wade:

Wade is just loving to play with my hair. He loves strings and loves to inspect them and suck on them. He’s starting to say “dada” and “mama” maybe at the right times. He’s getting 3 more teeth on the top, and has his 2 bottom teeth. He loves Garrett and Wyatt. Garrett and he have bonded for a while now, with Garrett entertaining him a lot. Now when Garrett comes home from school he appreciates Wade (and Wyatt) even more and loves to make Wade laugh and loves when Wade touches him. Wyatt is now really bonding with Wade, with Garrett at Kindergarten. He is taking him on as his brother and touching him and appreciating him even more.

2/13/13

Wyatt: Today we had a really nice time making Snickerdoodle cookies together. He loves to cook, and enjoyed rolling the cookie balls in cinnamon sugar with red sprinkles and then getting to squish them flat with a fancy glass cup. He assured me that he would be very careful with the glass cup and wouldn’t break it. J Tonight while Jim and Garrett were at AWANA, he was so happy to get to give Wade a bath with me, enjoying getting to rub soap on his hair and body. Afterward, he ran to get himself dressed and when asked to get a pull-up for himself, he brought three to me. He said that one was for tonight and the others were for Valentine’s Day and for Wade’s birthday.

2/14/13:

Garrett: I made a heart-shaped sandwich for him to eat at school. When he came home it was uneaten (usually the sandwich is gone). He said that wouldn’t it be nice if he could keep it forever and ever?

Wyatt: He told me today that his love for me would never end and to think about that all day long, and even when the new earth comes his love for me would never end. J

2/18/13

Wyatt: Told me the next baby we have should be called Lily. After some discussion, Garrett said he thought if it was a boy it should be named Glowby. (This is NOT an announcement. :) )

2/21/13

Wyatt: Asked me today what “toil” and “snare” meant, and after I explained them he then piped up with, “I know! When we built the bunk beds we were toiling!”

2/26/13

Wyatt likes to find/hide pennies and other treasures under the front room couch cushions or other places around the house.

4/18/13

We were talking about Garrett’s parent-teacher conference today, and I said that his teacher was happy with how well he is doing after adjusting to school. Garrett said, “Yes, getting used to a new class is kind of like getting your training wheels taken off of your bike. It’s really miserable at first, but then you realize that you can do it all by yourself!”

Wyatt told me something he was eating tasted like slugs, and I said I wondered if he really had tasted slugs before, because I haven’t seen any in Colorado myself, and anyway what DO slugs taste like? He said, “They taste like fleas.”

Wyatt, eating cheese, said, “Look, I have a camera! It’s just like Mama’s…say cheese!”

Wade has been saying “shoe!” very proudly at the right times. He has been crawling around all over the house, doing great at normal crawling since he had some massage therapy. The Physical Therapist says that he is looking almost completely normal and has scheduled us for appointments through June and thinks we may be done after that!

Wade also LOVES Smashburger hamburger meat! He was in raptures the other Friday night when we piled pieces of meat in front of him. He kept scooping huge handfuls up, stuffing them into his mouth, and saying “UMMMMMM!!! UMMMMM!!! MOM! MOM! (More! More!)” It was so satisfying that we wished we had a camera to take a video and send it to Smashburger as an advertisement of the most convincing kind.

Wade loves to try to yell “I love you!” and “Bye-bye!” in the morning to Jim and also tries to say “Ni-night” before bed to Jim and the boys.

Garrett and Wyatt love to yell to Jim when he leaves in the morning: "Bye, Dad! I love you as much as God does! There's no end to my love!!!"

Garrett has been maturing in amazing ways lately, and it has been such an answer to prayer. We realized that he has been having trouble transitioning to new activities and then saying the opposite of what he feels. Jim explained this to him, and he really got it. Now, for example, when I come to pick him up from school, instead of saying a whole bunch of awful things to me he looks at me and says, “It’s time to go home now.” And sometimes adds, “I love you as much as God does.” WOW – night and day difference!! His new behavior was highlighted to me when we were at the Rec Center playing in the play area and Garrett was being really sweet to a little girl, asking her to come up the ramp and encouraging her that it wasn’t too hard, and making funny faces and sounds to make her laugh. Her grandma finally turned to me and said something like, “Your kids are so nice! It’s sometimes iffy when we take her here because the kids are often so rough and pushy. It’s so refreshing to see kids like yours.”  What a difference a month or so makes! Thank you Lord for the wisdom to know how to help him have a better attitude, for a husband who is patient and discerning, and for helping him change his heart.

Jim asked Garrett if he wanted to be a policeman when he grew up, and Garrett said “No, I want to be an inventor and invent cars.”

Wyatt: Perhaps the skin on tangerines holds back squirts.” 

4/28/13

Wade: Has been throwing things…food off his highchair, or some blocks in the car. I was impressed by his ability to throw strong and straight in the car. He kept throwing a block and it would bounce off of the seat in front of him, then he would pick it up and he would throw it again and again. He keeps snuffling his nose…so cute. He is doing better at PT! His neck is almost back to normal – praise God – and we just have to watch his crawling which is a little lopsided, but will have Primo come and give him massage to help that. I’m trying to have him crawl up the stairs each day making sure he pushes up with his left leg.

Wyatt: Has started taking swimming lessons at the Rec Center, and loves them! He is enjoying blowing bubbles in the water, going down the slide with Daddy, and walking across the pool! When I signed him up for the lessons, I asked him if he wanted lessons where he is with Daddy in the pool, or if he wants to be in the pool by himself with the kids and the teacher only....he immediately said "BY MYSELF!!" (This from the baby who had the worst separating anxiety from me!) He still says nonsense words and then tells us what they mean. Like “Sneeby. Sneeby means no.” He’s doing well at potty training and having more dry pants at the end of the day!

Garrett: It has been good to see Garrett come and ask us to pray for him right away when he has a bad dream or a scary thought. He also has been praying himself for things readily and more easily! (One night this week he came into our room in the middle of the night saying he had a scary dream and Jim tells me that I sat up and prayed a long prayer with him, which I don’t remember! Glad that I am going to prayer right away too, even in my sleep. J) This morning he came in and told us that he had the best dream ever – he dreamed that he was at his Kindergarten school, and didn’t ride home with me but actually drove him and Wyatt home on the big street in a nice little yellow convertible with headlights on! J