So I was trying to explain Easter to my son, who is almost 3. I told him that today is a special day for Jesus because Jesus was dead but now he is alive. I don’t really remember all of what I said to him but later on I also told him we were going to go to Grandpa’s house for dinner. I’m sure I said something wrong because all day long he was so excited about going to Grandpa’s house! To see JEEEsus!

A few weeks ago Luke started repeating a saying that took us awhile to figure out, and when we did we were kind of disappointed because it sucked the humor right out. What we thought he was saying was “When I’m big I can be in the movies!”, but what he was really saying was “When I’m big I can get the movies.” Meaning he would be tall enough to get the DVDs off the shelf. But he still loves to talk about being big! And getting the movies!

Today during dinner we had a conversation about fish tacos. We had a party last night and tacos were on the menu. The main ingredient was Frank’s famous carne asada, but salmon was present for those a bit more adventurous. I don’t know what the deal is with fish tacos. I mean, the beauty of a perfect taco is that all the flavors blend perfectly together. You can’t do that if you throw a fish into the mix. But apparently they are big on the west coast and Taco Bell is getting on board. So Mike says, “I don’t know, fish tacos are getting big.”

Luke jumped right on board with the conversation with this gem: “Big so they can get the movies!” And as we were laughing he thought about it and revised his statement: “But they don’t have hands! They can’t get the movies.”

Yes, that does seem to pose a problem. I suppose fish tacos will never be in the movies.

I have so many fond memories of building forts with my brother and sister when I was a kid. So when Luke started acting kind of bored this lazy Sunday morning, I had an idea. We need to teach this kid how to build a fort! We pulled the cushions off the couch, dragged out the sheets and kitchen chairs, and in minutes had a cozy little hideout. This fort kept Luke occupied and engaged for a full hour. That’s a miracle if you ask me. Yup. We spent an hour hiding out in the fort, only coming out for a potty break and to check on the sleeping bear nearby (Daddy). Luke made food for us in the kitchen, we took a bath in the tub, we even took a couple of naps.

I love that Luke is at that age where his imagination is coming alive. He loves to pretend and make up stories. He has been telling us all day about some “farmer guy” who yells, “I don’t wanna eat pancakes!” and some dog that pants and runs outside. We have no idea where any of this came from. It doesn’t sound like any movie we’ve watched with him and we’ve certainly never introduced him to any farmers. I wonder if he dreamt it all last night. A few weeks back he spent a day telling me all about the dinosaurs that were chasing him. Little boy dreams are fun.

About a week or two ago my two-year old son (almost three!) told me he wanted more snow. The little bit of snow that we had at the time had mostly melted and there wasn’t enough to make snowmen or even have a snowball fight. I do have control over some things, juice and crayons and whatnot, but precipitation I cannot provide. I told Luke that he would have to take that one up with God. Surprisingly, he took that as an acceptable answer and went on his way.

This morning Luke got up while I was getting ready for work. He came into the bathroom (I’ve gotta teach him about knocking) and told me matter-of-factly that he talked to Jesus. Yes, they had a talk. Luke and Jesus had a talk and Luke asked Jesus for more snow. Now how he knows that Jesus and God are one in the same, I have no idea. We’ve never really explained that to him, but he must have picked up on it somehow.

I’m so proud of my little boy. Daddy took him for his routine checkup and he had to have a flu shot. The boy didn’t cry at all. Not one tear! He didn’t even say owie. What a tough kid.

And not only is he tough, but he can count to ten… tell you what color things are (as long as they aren’t red or green, he gets those mixed up quite often)… says please and thank you and excuse me… and loves to brush his teeth He is two years and four months old and he is just growing up so nicely. We are super proud of our little boy and are sure he’s going to make a great big brother. Now we just need to teach him how to change his little sister’s diapers and we’ll be all set!

This poor kid. He has such sensitive skin. And the bugs love him. He’s had bites on his legs before that have swelled up pretty bad, but never this bad.

I think if the swelling doesn’t go down I’ll give him some children’s Claritin and see if that helps. It doesn’t seem to be bothering him though, so that might not be necessary. We’ll see. For now I’m just enjoying getting a chuckle every time I see that Dumbo ear flopping around.

Luke is not always a big eater. He eats a ton for breakfast, but not usually so much for lunch or dinner. Sometimes we bribe – I mean negotiate with – him in order to get him to eat more. The other day we were using potato chips to get him to eat more of his bratwurst. We told him, “if you eat another bite of your brat, you can get a chip.” And he replied, “No!! Beans!” He wanted to eat his green beans instead. So he ate not one, not two, but fourteen little green beans before he asked for the chip that had been offered to him.

I love this kid.

I saw my niece Charly on Sunday and I asked her for hugs and kisses. She gave me a hug and then backed away. I said, “where’s my kisses?” And she replied matter-of-factly, “I’m off kisses”. Well, good to know. Those kisses can get you in a lot of trouble.

On the same Sunday I was getting dressed and Luke was in the room. Up until this point I had never let him see me topless. It just kinda weirds me out so I avoid it. But this time we were in a rush to get out of the house cuz it was stinkin’ hot and we don’t have air conditioning. As soon as Luke saw me with my shirt off he pointed at my big ‘ole belly, yelled “baby!” and giggled like it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. We’ve been teaching him that this belly is his baby sister. I’m sure it’s very confusing. So then he started walking towards me, moved his eyes and pointing finger a little higher and exclaimed, “another baby?” I’ll just consider that one a compliment and I’ll let the laughing part go. (For those who need interpretation, the other baby was my left boob. Or right boob, I couldn’t really tell which one he was pointing at.)

Okay, your turn! What sort of funny things have you heard kids say?

It’s week two of Luke sleeping in his new Big Boy Bed. It’s not going as well as we hoped, but I suppose it could be worse. Currently he just doesn’t seem to want to stay in it when we first put him down to sleep. Once he falls asleep he stays asleep and doesn’t get up until morning. It is frustrating and exhausting but I am determined that we will get through this. At first we just tried the Supernanny method of continuing to put him back down – over and over and over again. That doesn’t seem to be working. I don’t have two hours every night to go through that ritual and there has to be a better way.

We have had a bit of success with bribing (I like to call it rewarding). We tell him that if he stays in bed then he will get a treat when he wakes up (the kid loves M&M’s, or as he calls them… num-nums). I’ve also tried to step up his bedtime routine. When he was sleeping in his crib we would clean up toys, brush his teeth, and tell him “good night” and he did fine. But I have to remember that it wasn’t always that way. When he was just a tiny baby I worked very hard to “train” him to go to bed. Now that he is in a different bed I believe we need to retrain him. So the new bedtime routine is a bit longer and more involved. We do all the same things but we’re adding book reading and snuggling and praying and sometimes a little rubbing of the head (he loved that as a baby). I’m hoping all of these things will help him prepare mentally for bedtime and hopefully naptime too. I think a big part of the problem is that when we put him to bed he’s still in “play” mode and that’s making it hard for him to just sit still. The kid loves to sleep so I know we will have success in the end. It’s just going to take some patience and creativity.

Wish us luck and if you have any pointers or empathetic stories to share, please share!

Conversation with my son yesterday:

Me: “Luke, do you want some juice?”

Luke: “Um…. sure!”

He’s been saying this a lot lately. It’s terribly cute. I wonder to myself where he gets this kind of language.

A conversation with my husband later that night:

Me: “A peanut butter and jelly sandwich sounds really good right now.”

Mike: “Do you want me to make you one?”

Me: “Um…. sure!”

Mystery solved.