Thursday, December 31, 2009

Lifestyles of the rich and famous

There are subtleties that differentiate us from other families in our community...today as we were leaving a grocery store, Paxon tactfully acknowledged this one for us.

Pax: That not our car... Pointing to a new-ish Mercedes SUV
We continued to walk to our car...

Pax: That not our car... Pointing to a shiny Lexus SUV
We continued toward our car...

Pax: That not our car... Pointing to beautiful BMW SUV
Now arriving at our vehicle

Pax: THIS IS OUR CAR! Beaming at our 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe with 140K+ miles and still dusty from our holiday travels.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Turn About is Fair Play

We are staying at a camp lodge this week with Travis as he helps put on a retreat for youth from all over the south east. It's nice to get away from the hectic holiday scurrying and take a few days in rural Alabama where there is no TV, no errands, and no real schedule for me and Pax (sorry, Travis). We came two years ago when Paxon was a 3 month old. I carried him around in the Bjorn the whole time and he slept on me most of the week. This trip has been a bit different. Paxon has had a lot to say about, well, everything- the fact that you can't see the lake behind the lodge when it's dark outside to the fact that our "hotel" is lacking a pool and TV like other hotels he's stayed in. Not complaints, just observations. Funny the things 2-year-olds notice.

Today as we were leaving our room and heading to the dining hall for lunch, I could not find the room key. I just knew I'd put it on the dresser, but I couldn't find it. Thinking I was suffering from "pregnancy brain," I looked all over the room. I still couldn't find the key. There were a few places I knew it wasn't, like my purse in the corner which I hadn't touched or needed since we'd arrived at camp. Finally, in desperation, I asked Pax if he'd seen my key. He smiled proudly and said, "Yeah! I put it in your purse, Mommy." This is the logical place to put a loose key, of course. Now I know how Travis feels when I move his stuff to its "rightful spot" in our home without him knowing I've done it. I have to admit... a bit unsettling.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Making the Naughty List

Paxon has a few "dirty words." We didn't teach him that these are funny or dirty or sometimes inappropriate to say loudly in church. He just inately picked up on the fact that some words have more power than others. I'm still wondering how in the world his brain was wired to clump these words together in this sort of category... this is why language development is facinating to me, but I'm digressing into speech-pathology nerdiness here...

We have an application on our phones that basically allows a small cuddly animal to record your words and repeat them back to you in a pitch and rate modified voice. This is exactly as ridiculous and entertaining as you'd think. What words does Pax like to say to the cute fuzzy kitten? You got it: poop, tee tee, potty, trash, trashcan, hiney. I'll try to get video of him doing this and post it later. In the meantime, tonight, I overheard this conversation happening between Pax and Travis as they were brushing teeth in the bathroom:


Travis: Can you do good listening? I don' t know why he is opening himself up to a negative answer here...

Pax: Nope! Poo poo! Tee tee! Hiney! Here Travis has the much harder job of not laughing out loud. As I was in the other room, I didn't have to rise to that challenge. I see how this is going to get tricky...

About 15 minutes later, saying prayers...

Me: God bless Mommy, Daddy doo. The line in the prayer goes on to rhyme "Paxon, too." I am interrupted after "Daddy doo." You can see where this is going...

Pax: Mommy say "doo doo!" Here Travis cannot contain himself and bursts into laughter. I am afraid we will never be able to pray this prayer again...


Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

We have run into Santa several places this season: the YMCA, the Target parking lot, various malls, in his little house in my parents' hometown, and of course at the Hickman Santa party. Each time, he's been gracious and jolly, waving hello and stopping to speak kindly. So take this as your friendly reminder, he sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake! Santa Claus is coming to town!







Three months and growing!

Look at this roly poly adorable nephew we have. Sorry, we make cute kids in this family and I'm a proud aunt!



TRA-DI-TION... Tradition!

For you Fiddler fans out there...Let the Christmas traditions begin!







Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Subliminal Messages

I see my patients in the office, but most of my paperwork time is tackled from the home office, so Paxon sees me doing work from time to time. Occasionally, he asks to do some "work" of his own on the computer.This basically is when I open up Microsoft Word to a blank document and let him push letters on the keyboard.

There are several letters he recognizes, particularly those in his name and our names, plus a few others. He still gets most letters mixed up, but it's fun to see how literacy emerges and how his interest in reading is growing.

Today, I was doing work on the computer when he woke up from his nap. He found me in the office and asked if he could type. I agreed and let him sit on my lap for a few minutes to type.

This is what he typed, somewhat deliberately, saying each of the letters aloud as he typed... I am not kidding...

PAX I hit return here to tab down a few lines to see what he wanted to type next.

TOY He doesn't know what this spells, at least I don't think he does, but amazing that T-O-Y was what he wanted to type in the countdown to Santa's visit.

Do you think he's trying to tell us something?