Life lessons.

Alex has recently been asking for a new game. Specifically, a very, very quiet and calming game called Hungry Hungry Hippos. I can only assume it's from the same toy designer who invented the ball popping "vacuum" cleaner. I hate that person.

Anyway, I thought about letting someone get it for his birthday (can't even talk about the f-o-u-r) and then we opted instead to use it as a little life lesson. We told him he had to earn his new game by doing special chores and helping around the house...which, to my surprise, he was SUPER excited about.

So after a weekend of cleaning up toys, helping with dishes and being a VERY good listener, off we went to the toy store. As luck would have it, there were two left on the shelf (and it was on sale!). My sweet boy asked if we could also buy one for Aunt Jane, since hers was "just a little bit broken." Of course we agreed and he was able to use his special weekend of helping to also bring a new toy to his friends at daycare. Two life lessons, one stone, & one happy Momma.

I think I'm getting the hang of this parenting thing!

Moments.

Like anyone else, my days are made up of little moments all strung together to make a bigger picture. Sometimes, I think we all look past the little and ordinary things, expecting greatness to come only from the biggest, loudest moments.

Lately, I've been trying really hard to quietly be more appreciative of the little things. More specifically, how they collectively fit into the bigger picture and shape my life, my moments, my memories. Like these:

"Here, Poppi. I will help you with your zippers."

I've become quite the Mommy expert in GeoTrax building, thankyouverymuch.

"Two dudes, doin' dude teeth brushing."

Evening snuggles are the best!

He was telling Aunt Jane about pudding on Monday, so on the way home he asked if we could make some that night. How do you tell this face no? So of COURSE we made pudding and it was YUM.

Potty break.

Last night we had a first! Alex got up to pee instead of peeing in his Pull Up! (Yes, he still wears them at night...and he will until he's 19 for all I care. Daytime training was easy, yo. Nighttime training will just happen on its own.)

But he did it on his own, is my point. And the only reason we are aware of it is because the little stinker came in our room and used our bathroom....and left the bathroom light on and the door open a la 3 a.m. So, I guess in theory he could have been doing this for months and was just using the hall bathroom? (Because 9 out of 10 mornings his Pull Up is dry).

Either way, *happy dance* for more independence!

Alex-isms.

While snuggling in bed with me on Saturday morning, stroking my face with his little hand.
"It's ok sweetheart. You just rest here for 30 minutes and your headache will go away."
Note: I did not have, nor did I tell him I had, a headache.

While being buckled into his carseat by my Dad.
"Oh, Poppi. I like your hair. It's grey."

To Joe in the master bath while I was sleeping on Sunday morning.
"Dad! I gotta go check on Mom to make sure she's not dead."

While building his latest Lego creation.
"This is a limited edition 530 space airplane." Points to bottom where he built a hole. "This is where the fire comes out."

While eating dinner with my parents.
"Hey, Joette?" Realizing he now has Grammi's undivided attention. "I love you stronger than the wind and softer than a cloud." ...and then we all melted.

Story time.

Sneaky bid-ness, part II.

Remember this post, in which I shared photographic evidence of a then 1 and 2 year old little boy sneaking food from the plates of grown ups?

I've caught him red-handed again!

Although I simply cannot blame him, as he's thieving some dangerously delicious dark chocolate cherry scones (purchase the mix here--just add heavy cream and dark chocolate chips!). In fact, this photo makes me proud. My boy, all growed up and stealin' scones.

And what you might also see in this little pic is some glorious bacon. But what you can't see (or taste) is that the bacon has a slight sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar and was cooked in the oven. Try it next time and thank me later.

In unrelated news, you can also follow me on instagram! Some very unkind person was already using my 'kveedub' moniker, so I'm 'kristiwmu' over in instagram land.

Gift card Monday.

Joey and I played hooky from work yesterday to have a date day. We decided to put a fun spin on the day and start using up some of the gift cards we have collected over the last few years and have "Gift Card Monday." Basically, we could do anything we wanted all day, but we had to use a gift card. Fun, right?

We started with coffee from Starbucks--the perfect start to any morning! We didn't have any gift cards for "brakfasty" places, so we went home and Joey made breakfast for us. Toad in the hole on sourdough. Mmmmm. Also? Next time you make bacon, do it in the oven and sprinkle a little bit o' cinnamon sugar on each piece. Thank me later.

Then we used up some movie gift cards and saw "Silver Linings Playbook." As an aside, I thought the movie was terrible. I do not get all the hype it's gotten--especially related to Jennifer Lawrence. She's annoying. And yes, I'm already preparing myself for the hate mail.

We broke the gift card rules only once, and that was our next stop. We've been putting off ordering the tile for our backsplash since, oh, August, and finally got around to it. It's amazing what you have time for when you're playing hooky!

After that, we lunched at P.F. Changs and I was again reminded of why we only go to Pei Wei. But, we used a gift card so no love lost.

Ater that it was time to pick up our little nugget and have a nice, relaxing family night. I could get used to days like yesterday!