Gaffes and Laughs

Isaac has undertaken one of life's great challenges. (This only after much resistance. Finally this week, no one (meaning his mother) would put a diaper back on him one night. Avoiding the diaper-in-hand-Isaac for a moment, I went to get the mail. Isaac decided to chase after me down the sidewalk and he then did a naked jig--covered by a T-shirt--in front of Stewart our neighbor to continue his protest. Apparently, that made him cold enough to finally agree to underwear. He's been a champ about the learning curve since).

We are all cheering him on.

He has a brother that put on 14 pairs of underwear--just for him.


And another that laughs with glee at every flush.

With this kind of support, we are sure he will succeed--at just about everything! We should also mention that Isaac should be glad to only have to don one pair of underwear. According to Benjamin it is very difficult to move while wearing fourteen.

Quote of the Day

We're out and about and there's a bit of a bite to the air and a cold wind blowing at us. As Benjamin and I are walking to the car he says, "I really love warm. I love warm better than...(Pause as he thinks)Dad...more than playing ball with Dad in the yard!"

Let's just say that he likes playing ball a lot, so he must REALLY like it to be warm. Good thing considering our travel plans.

Goodnight Dylan...

Love and Isaac

Isaac doesn't lack for people loving him--no surprise with his eyes, hair and silly ways. When we were at the park the other day and he was playing "train" in the playground equipment when three little girls came on his train. He decided to go to a different "train." But they followed him. Soon he realized that where ever he was going, they would go too. So he started running and giggling and they started chasing him and giggling even more. All around the playground. This went on for awhile. I sat down on a bench and watched the sun glint off his golden hair flying in the wind and enjoyed his glee. His little legs finally wore out and out of breath, he plopped down beside me, "I need a break!"

On the way home our conversation was about friends and love. I would say something like, "Do you love Dylan?" He would answer yes or no. Now according to Isaac who is NOT at all a reliable source of information since he is quite a tease, these are the three people whom he loves. I must have listed over thirty, but he stuck with these three. (Don't be offended anyone).

Sarah ("big" Sarah--every time we see her or he gets to play at her house, he tells me over and over again how much he loves Sarah and he has taken lately to giving her some good hugs and smooches too! He quite enjoyed his "date" at the circus.)

Daniel Wyatt--his cousin ("I like it when he drives the tractor")

Emma Roosa (My friend)

Before bed he did add Mom and Dad to his list. And now you may ask, so whom did he craft this lovely Valentine??? I know his secret and it's also the reason why he insists on pink oatmeal and a pink spoon every morning out of sheer admiration...let's just say that there is someone else on his list because he made his Valentine for her. Starts with the letter "M." Maybe he likes to keep it a secret because it's also a known fact that this particular sweetie has quite a following as well--for very good reason!


So young and already so wily. He is ever my boy who will give you a great big kiss while trying to poke your eye with a very mean finger.

Dedicated to Aunt Susan and Her Goats

Dear Aunt Susan
I drew this today. It is a picture of a goat like yours. The goat has grass and a big lake for when it gets thirsty. This is the goat's barn where it can go in at night. The door is like a cat flap so that it can go in and out whenever it wants. The sun is going down. That's why it is yellow, orange and pink. There is pink in the sky for the sunset. I'm going to put this in my book of animals.

Benjamin

Dear Benjamin,
I LOVE your picture of our goat! You included everything a goat needs as
well as gave them such a beautiful sunset : ) We have two baby goats now
that think we are their moms. They follow us everywhere. They lived in our
house for awhile in a box by the kitchen stove because it was so cold and
they needed a warmer place than outside. We feed them with a bottle three
times a day. They are getting big now and love to jump and run all over the
barn yard.

I'm glad you got to visit our farm and see the goats this last summer.

I love you!
Aunt Susan

To the Rescue

Benjamin has a thing for catastrophes--storms, power outages, tornadoes or terrible things. The only difficulty is that he likes things to be so bad that there is no way to fix the problem. For example this is what happened today before church. I wouldn't mind, except for when I'm supposed to offer some kind of solution and then he rejects my solutions repeatedly. I'm sure that's part of the game. He is the son of Mr. Worst Case Scenario.

"Policeman (that was assigned to me!) The power's out. There is no electricity. All the cars are broken down."
(I'm washing dishes) "Call the power company. They're the ones to fix it."
"They can't. They don't have any fuel for their vehicles."
"Policeman, (Isaac talking now) help!"
"Why don't you go get a bulldozer?"
"No. No one can help. It's dark and there's no power. There was a storm. It took all the power out. What will we do?"

This went on for some time. Isaac and Benjamin ran around the downstairs dealing with the problems of the city while I did my dishes. Every so often, they would pop in to confer with "Policeman."

Finally, "Policeman, can we use your ambulance?"
"Sure."

Then I had to shower. When I came back from the shower, this is what I found.

I was told that they were the rescue train on a mission to help all the people who had lost their power. Now I want to live in THAT city!

What I really love about this is how somewhere underneath it all is the influence of Virgina Lee Burton and her stories. I am so thankful for her creativity and books. She wrote Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and Katy and the Big Snow while watching her boys play with their trucks in the sandbox. I love how she puts a story into what her little boys were doing. My boys and I love reading her stories and we love how the little guy can save the day. As the mother of ALL boys, I'm very grateful for books about trucks and diggers and steam shovels that have some flair beyond the facts and parts.

Mr. Tippy Top's Birthday Party

Mr. Tippy Top has many friends in Topsy Turvy Town. He wanted to invite all of them to his birthday party, but they wouldn't fit in his tower. So he decided to have a big party in the park. He invited the dragon, Red Rita, and all the puppies. Blue Puppy couldn't come because he was tied to the railroad tracks. Just when the train was about to come, Husky dog saved him. Then they were able to come to the party. That made Husky dog a hero and everyone was happy. There were lights and decorations in all of the trees and everyone had fun dancing. Mr. Tippy Top had a problem. He wanted to have ice cream for everyone. How would he get enough ice cream? Well he thought, if a dragon can make things hot, then there must be something or someone that can make things cold. He decided to go catch a cloud. He made a special balloon with a rope to go up into the sky to get a cloud. He brought the cloud to earth and then dumped all the ingredients for ice cream into it. The cloud shook it all together and then he was able to serve everyone from his ice cream truck. At the end of the party there were fireworks. The fireworks even spelled "Happy Birthday Mr. Tippy Top" and "Horray for Husky Dog for saving the day!"

Collaborative bedtime story by Benjamin and Renee