Ghosts and Pepperoni

One night last week Silly was looking for me in the dark house. Here's our conversation after found me:
S: I thought you were a ghost.
M: There are no ghosts in this house.
S: There's the Holy Ghost.

Last night's conversation with him about pizza:
S: Why do they call is pepperoni?
M: I'm not sure, that's a good question.
S: I know, because they put pepper in it (pause to think) and then they put roni in it.

Makes sense to me! This morning he wanted to know what cement trucks do when there is no more cement in the drum. I told him I've never seen how a cement truck is filled, only how it's emptied. I can probably find a video online. Goodness knows we've already checked out every single truck book in the library.

Bubbs is learning more words. He was thrilled last night to discover the doors on Silly's little red VW bug actually open. He kept showing me, saying "ook" aka "look." He also says stinky and uck for yuck. He was really excited when I showed him the sign for milk, he uses both hands and now uses it pretty much anytime he wants something in his mouth. I've been trying to get him to sign water for a long time, but no luck so far, just "all done" and "more."

All this week I've been watching 3 other kids which basically gives me three sets of twins. The baby/toddlers have been quite funny together. They don't mind sharing with their siblings, but they sure don't want to share with each other! Yesterday I gave each of them a snack cup and they sat together on the floor happy as can be. This morning baby#2 came with a leaky bottle so I gave him one of Bubba's sippy cups which brought out some screeching from Bubbs. He recovered quickly though.

Cakes is about to lose another tooth. It was already loose, but Scott took them to Motorworld (or something like that) Tuesday and somehow she managed to catch her tooth on some netting in a bounce house and nearly yanked her tooth out. Just when the giant hole in her mouth was starting to fill in a bit!

Bubble Gum Brain

Silly has been going through quite a chewing phase this summer. He chewed a hole in one of Bubba's pacifiers, a throw pillow and has significantly gnawed pretty much every shirt in his wardrobe. I bought some gum hoping to give him something relatively harmless to chew on (haven't found it stuck to anything yet). We were driving around a few days ago and he'd been chewing on a piece of gum. Out of no where he says, "My gum looks like a little piece of my brain." I think I agree with him, but I wonder how he knows what a brain looks like. He has also finally realized that he can chew gum forever. He used to just swallow it, but at least twice this week I've heard him complain that his gum just won't go away or he'll never be done with it. I explained that you just chew gum as long as you want; when it doesn't taste good anymore or you're tired of chewing it, you throw it in the trash. He's getting it all figured out.

Counting

Last night Bubba was trying really hard to learn how to jump off the fireplace onto the dog pillow the way he's seen Silly jump several thousand times. Silly was quite an early jumper; I'm pretty sure he was doing his pike jump off the fireplace (or the couch), land on his bum trick before 18 months. Bubba was pretty much just stepping off the edge and landing on his knees. There were a few times he got really close to actually jumping (and why in the world am I excited about this?)

What made it cuter than anything was his counting. He would climb back up on the bricks, stand like a ski jumper, say "uh, two, schh!" and then attempt his jump. He did this for a good twenty minutes last night. Scott and I just sat and laughed at his cuteness. He made a few more attempts this morning. Maybe tomorrow I can get a picture.

World Views

A few weeks ago we were driving along in the minivan when Cakes suddenly asked why so many things are made in China. My simple explanation was there are a lot of people in China and they make things cheap. Her response: "They must have a whole lot of plastic." Indeed they must.

While the kids were at the grandparents this week they of course acquired a few new things. Silly got a 3-in-1 Lego set. Cakes has mentioned a few times lately that she would like some Legos, but not "boy-ly" ones. Silly was trying to convince me that there are no girl Legos (while I tried to convince him to lighten up on his boy-stuff, girl-stuff theories). He ended the conversation with "There are no girl Legos...except in India." I am at a loss on that one. Where did he hear anything about India to start with, and what led him to believe that things are different there for girls?

This morning we were all in the kitchen, the kids were making their oatmeal, Scott was filling his pockets and otherwise getting ready to head out the door for work and I had the news on. They started talking about the latest Proposition 8 developments so Scott asked Cakes what she thinks about two boys marrying each other. She said, "Then it would just be all boy things and they couldn't have kids and it just doesn't make any sense." Well there ya go.

Back Together

Cakes and Silly are back from their week long visit with their grandparents. They came in the door and immediately asked where Bubba was; I told them he was taking a nap, but they could go ahead and wake him since it was about time for him to get up anyway. Cakes picked him up out of bed and he immediately started running and dancing around chattering his head off. He was so happy to have them home again. Poor Charlie (our dog) is glad they're back too; maybe now Bubbs will quit climbing, rolling and sitting on him.

We went to Silver Diner for lunch. When we were waiting to be seated KC and the Sunshine Band's "Shake Your Booty" was playing. Cakes looked at me and said, "Why do they have to play this song? It's not appropriate."

At the table Betty was telling me about a conversation they'd had during the week. They talked about what was special about each of them when they were born. Silly said he had to make his dimples before he could be born. I told him maybe that's why he was born 12 days late; his dimples weren't done yet. I also reminded him that the first person to see his dimples was Mamie.

Cakes and Silly ordered Oreo Cookie milkshakes. I gave Bubbs a sip of Cakes' and he was really mad when I gave it back to her, so we ordered another one for him. He would not put that thing down! I kept trying to pull it away for just a few seconds so he wouldn't get a major brain freeze, but he wouldn't have it.

Tonight after the kids cleaned up their messes we walked/scootered/strolled to Rita's for some ices and/or custard. I'm still not sure Cakes liked her choice; she ate it, but she didn't seem to be enjoying it. Scott really liked it, so much that he got a gelati then went back to get an ice! On the way back I was pushing both boys, two folded up scooters and two helmets in the stroller. Cakes was walking behind with Scott. When we got to the intersection I turned around to see Cakes crying and hugging Scott. She had tripped walking in her new sneakers and scraped herself up really, really bad. She's really only ever had one big knee scrape before but this time she did quite a number on both knees, one elbow and her hand. I kicked Silly out of the stroller and rushed her home to bandage her up. Out of all my many bandaids none were big enough for her scrapes so I had to bust out the gauze and tape. Poor kid. Those are going to be really sore tomorrow.

By the time all that was done it was way past bedtime, their beds weren't made and they desperately needed their nails clipped. We got all that done and put everyone in bed. I went back to check on them a few minutes later and found this:

He's sound asleep, yet still holding his book.

I don't know how this boy sleeps so well. He always has a pile of books in his bed, and usually quite a few cars too, never anything soft and cuddly.

Garden Visits

In the last few weeks we have visited Busch Gardens, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens and Norfolk Botanical Garden. We've chosen to ignore the fact that this has been a really hot summer and spend lots of time outside no matter what.

Bubba's first ride! Please notice that their faces are already red and we had only been there about 10 minutes.

This was the only ride Bubbs clearly liked; he was his usual self on all the others, even the log ride!

I just had to include this picture because somewhere in this house is a picture of me and my younger sister riding this same ride many years ago.

The next day we hit Mamie and Papop's botanical gardens. We don't do special things with them very often so that was a fun treat.

Bubba discovered he likes getting squirted in the face.

And to wrap up July we visited our own botanical garden for the first time all summer. I'll be sick of it by the end of next week because I'll be driving Cakes back and forth to camp every day.

My three little pigs

Can you hear his laugh?

I love this picture!

Putting Daddy to work; Bubbs was very intent on filling and dumping the watering can.

I've decided I should buy a few more brooms and leave them laying around because this is not the first time my kids have spotted a broom somewhere and just get to work.

My Little Cakes

My little baby turned 7 on Sunday. "Cakes" was the first thing Scott called her after she was born and we've been calling her variations of it ever since. We thought for sure she'd be the quietest kid on the planet since her parents were both quiet kids, but not Cakes. She's been making noises since the moment she was born. When she's not talking, she's reading, writing, or working on some little art project. She is mortified to get just a warning from her teachers. I can't imagine how devastated she would be if she ever got in real trouble.

She put this on her door after practicing her jump dives at swim lessons two weeks ago.

For those of you that don't read 1st Grader (I guess I should say 2nd Grader) it says, "Audrey is not feeling very well! My whole body hurts. Knock if you want to talk."

I love her little notes.

AKA "Seafood"

We were out of town for the weekend, at Grandma's house to celebrate Cakes's birthday. We got there Friday night, and of course a yummy dinner was waiting for us. Gma B made two kinds of salmon, which got Silly talking about a restaurant we went to a few weeks ago. He was trying to explain it to her and said, "They had all different kinds a sea creatures you can eat!" Yes, we call that seafood, which BTW, both of my boys really like, and not just fish sticks.