Water play

Ty: "Just go do something to distract mom! Just do anything that keeps her from coming in here."

Trist: "Mom, want to play a game?"

Ty: "Trist, psst. Do you want mom to ground us? Tell her you don't want to play and help me get all this water cleaned up!"

Ty: "We need to get this sparkly clean."

Trist: "Why?"

Ty: "shh!"

Talking to Santa

Trist has been talking to Santa. He will tell me he's going to ask Santa for something and then quietly starts talking to Santa. It's like he is praying. I need to start keeping a list of what he has been asking for so he isn't disappointed when Santa doesn't remember half the things he has been asked to bring.

Last week he even told Ty how to ask Santa for something. "You just have to ask him. Just say it now." Tyson probably did the same thing but never in front of anyone, always in private:)

My Boys are Growing Up Part 2

Last night Ty had a baseball game. He had come to see me on the bench a few times with his usual "I don't feel good. I want to go home". I kept sending him back to the bench. In the 4th inning he was playing right field when a kid hits a pop fly right toward him. Now, rarely do kids at this level hit pop flies. Even more rarely do they hit pop flies that end up making it to the outfield. Ty, and most of his teammates, realize outfield is a place you can usually just chill. Once in a while you will get some action but not often.

The ball is coming right for him. Everyone realizes he is paying absolutely no attention to the game and a few coaches start yelling his name. This does not have the desired effect of Tyson looking for the ball and making an incredible catch. Nope. Just the opposite, he starts looking around at who is calling his name.

Against all odds, the ball comes down and hits him on the head!

The coaches were all right there to take care of him but I also ran over to be sure he was ok. They took him to the dug out and one of the coaches says "you don't need your mom, do you?" Not realizing I was right behind him. Surprisingly, Ty was ok with this and said he was ok. I was not needed. It is so bitter sweet to see your children grow up. I love that they have their own life, friends and interests but I am sad that they don't need me to comfort and take care of them so much anymore.

My Boys are Growing Up

Trist's latest joy is riding his scooter at the skate park. Last week he skated the whole time I was watching Ty's baseball game. I kept an eye on him from the game about 50 yards away. At first there were some other 6 or 7 yos he was riding with but eventually they all left. It was Trist with the jr. high kids and some 20-somethings. At one point, I looked over to see everyone sitting on the bench taking a break and there in the middle of them all is Trist - just one of the guys.

As I walked up to check in with him, I see him cut off a skater. So I asked the guys if there were any "rules" at the park. Of course they looked at me as if I was a 40 yo lady and I realized "rules" was not a cool word. They got what I was asking about and said they'd try to set him straight. Then I worried they might be too rough or mean about it so I had to say "be nice but help him learn how to be safe!"

The next time I walk up, he cuts off a 20-something in the line-up. I again look like the 40 yo lady and yell at Trist not to "cut in line". I then overhear one of the guys say something about "his mom's giving him the business". Part of me wants to crawl into a whole because my son is one of the guys and I'm making him uncool. Part of me wants to say, "He's FIVE!" And part of me just accepts that 1) I am now an old lady and 2) my boy is growing up!

Stylish Mama

Today is the last day of summer. I took the day off to spend it hanging with my boys. Ty has been asking to go visit his old daycare for a while now and today should be a perfect day - we're free, its open. Ty walked into my room as I was putting on a new sweater to wear for the day when he said, "That's too stylish to wear today. " Where does he come up with this stuff?

I want a Dinosaur

Tonight my almost 4 yo cried because he wants to get a blue dinosaur we can call Chopper. He just finished watching Land Before Time. He asked if we could get a dinosaur and I answered, without really looking at him, that dinosaurs aren't alive. He began to sob and was the saddest looking boy I've seen. I told him we'd keep an eye out for a blue dinosaur.

Mama are we stealing?

Last weekend my husband said we should buy a cord of firewood instead of buying the small bundles every weekend at HomeDepot. So, when I came across a post on my mom's blog for free firewood, we jumped on it. The post gave an address and said it was neatly stacked on the side of the drive way, available first come, first served. We loaded the boys up in the van and took off to see if there was anything to be found. As we drove, I googled the address on my BB and sure enough there it was; a whole drive lined with firewood. There was a light on in the house and the tv was glowing. Since this was a post on the mom's blog, I didn't want to disturb a family in the middle of thier evening. We pulled up to the drive and all got out to start loading up.

Of course, my husband asked me to double check the address ... and I did. It was dark but I could just make out the numbers. Yep, this was the place. How many houses have a stack of firewood on their driveway?

My 5 year old then asks me in a very concerned voice, "Mama, are we stealing?" I answered, of course not. Mind you, we have never stolen before and I'm not sure why he would think we were going to start now with firewood of all things! At the same time, I kept feeling like we should talk with someone. I kept watching the windows to see if they were even going to acknowledge that someone was taking the wood off their hands.

My husband and I joked about how much wood there was and that we could even come back tomorrow if we wanted more. About this time, a big diesel engine pick up truck starts coming slowly down the street. We realize right away that the rest of the wood may soon be gone. He eventually stops in front of the house and rolls down the window to talk. We tell him to pull up because there's plenty of wood here!

Just as he gets parked and is on his way over, a woman comes out from two doors down and calls out for "Tom". I get a sinking feeling. Could we really be at the wrong house!! Yes, we could. She politely points to a beautiful pile of wood that "Tom", the guy with the big pick up, can take as we try to figure out what to do with the wood we have now "stolen" from her neighbors.

She was more than kind about the mix up, apologizing for the lack of a house number on her home and saying we can take the wood we have. She explained that we were actually being helpful since the homeowners were not well and really needed to get rid of the wood anyway. I gave her my contact information and told her to let us know if her neighbors "missed" the wood we took.

I'm a bit embarrassed and know it will take some time for my son to believe me when I say things like "we aren't stealing". Later he told his dad that he probably should have gone to get the wood by himself and left us at home. He also informed my husband that "Mommy's the boss of our house." I have a feeling he would like to hire a new boss!