Kids Say the Darnedest Things - Part 1

I keep thinking that I'll always remember all the adorable things Mason says, but as his vocabulary is growing exponentially I realize I've already started to forget some of the earlier phrases. I'm hoping this series of posts will help me remember these seemingly unforgettable moments.

It turns out Mason is the class comedian at daycare. Who knew my child would be funny. The term that gets the teachers going these days is "doozie." As in that poop "is a doozie." I think Adam must have mumbled something to this effect after cleaning up a particularly messy diaper, and it's stuck with Mason ever since. He proclaims his own poops to be doozies as well as the other kids' and each time I think the teachers laugh a little more.

For Valentine's Day his class had a little party, and Adam made Rice Krispy Treats for him to share. Mason was so proud to bring them in and told his teacher to "share treats." She took the treats and put them with all the others for their afternoon snack, but Mason wanted to share his treats now. It took some explaining, but the teacher and Adam finally convinced him that he could share his treats after his nap when they would have the party. Apparently when he woke up he exclaimed "come on guys, time to party!"

The most recent comment he made I know I'll never forget, but it's worth documenting a hundred times. On Sunday mornings I'll have the Food Network on to get ideas for grocery shopping later in the day. We usually watch Rachel Ray's Week in a Day followed by At Home with Giada. When Giada comes on he always mentions that she's the "otha lady." Known for being the most attractive TV chef on the network, I asked him "is she pretty?" He looked right at me and straight as can be he said, "No, mommy pretty." My heart melted, and he was instantly forgiven for all the naughty things he'd done that weekend.

More quotes to come later - and hopefully with pictures the next time around.

Leap Month

When Adam tells me I need to update the blog, you know it's been too long. I can't believe I "leaped" right past the month of February. (Sorry, I am my father's daughter, it can't be helped.) We've actually had quite a lot happen since last I wrote.

We were finally blessed with our new neice, Julia Lynn Burr, on January 10th. Due to a round of family sickness, it took us almost two weeks to actually meet her. Mason seemed to really like her and hammed it up in all the pictures he took with her. He also didn't seem to mind when either Adam or I were holding her. It made me pretty hopeful that he'll behave the same way when number two arrives in June.

Speaking of number two, we got our first picture taken of the little one. And we found out it'll be a girl, who we will name Mya Carolyn. Everything is going well so far, though our due date did get pushed back to June 27th after reading the ultrasound. That's fine by us - Adam says the closer to the Fourth of July the better (so he can still be on leave) and I'm personally shooting for June 24th. Mason was born on my brother's birthday, and if Mya is born on June 24th she'll be born on my sister's birthday. It's too crazy for it not to happen right?

In between all this frenzy, we had our main bathroom remodeled. The before was pink, pink and more pink. I love pink and this was always too much for me. After our toilet finally gave out and the mold under the grout in the shower over me, we decided enough was enough. It was definintely a long and stressful process, but in the end it really was worth it. For someone who watches too much HGTV, it was hard to see the builder leave when there was still so much clean up and decoration that needed to be done. I thought for sure that this process would lead Adam to drop the idea of us building our own house, but he's actually still interested in us doing this at some point. It only took us six years to remodel the bathroom so who knows if building our own house will ever really happen. A girl that always enjoyed sketching house plans can only wish. Before and after pictures are below, though neither quite capture the extent of how awful it looked (before) and how nice it looks now.

Little Chef

Adam calls it the worst time of the evening. The time before I get home, when he's trying to get dinner around. Mason wants nothing to do with sitting in his high chair, nor will be play nice all on his own. Our kitchen is not baby proofed, so Mason isn't allowed to wander in an out while Adam's cooking. And when we gate the room off, he can't see Adam in his prep area so won't go play out of daddy's sight. As a special treat this week (mostly because he wasn't using the stove or oven), Adam pulled up a chair and let Mason help with the "cooking." He loves using tongs, as you can tell from this picture. I hope that he continues to love cooking with daddy. Too bad the Cafe is gone... I could see Mason following in his daddy's footsteps - manning the grill and "babysitting the pitas."

Snow-Mow-Mow

Mason spent all summer mowing the lawn with Daddy. When we pulled the snow blower out for the first time, Mason thought it was the mow-mow again. We tried to explain that this is the snow blower, it's for the snow. Mason, in the most honest voice only a child could have, said "oh, snow-mow-mow." And so it has remained the snow-mow-mow all winter. He gets so frustrated with me when I make him stay in the house and watch Daddy snow-mow-mow in the evening. But sometimes Adam will do it during the day, so we'll all bundle up and snow-mow-mow together. Mason grabs his mow-mow (which has miraculously converted itself into a snow-mow-mow too) and goes up and down the driveway next to Daddy.

This past weekend, after snow-mow-mowing, we headed across the street to the sled hill. Mason wasn't nearly as excited about sledding as he was last year, so we took him over to the park and let him go up and down the slide. He seemed so happy to be doing this - like it was something he missed about the warm weather. Afterward we came inside and made some hot cocoa. Mason beamed from ear to ear and looked so grown up with his very own "hot cup". We'll try sledding again this weekend with a bigger sled that fits both Mason and Daddy, and hopefully get more fun pictures.

The New Years Post

New Years has become an annual tradition of heading over to Plainwell and celebrating with Adam's cousins. This year was quite strange in that Mason mostly played with his second cousins and didn't need much oversight from us. I kept hovering for a while until I realized he didn't need me around, and that the big cousins would let me know if he was up to no good. I mentioned as much to a tipsy Adam, and we sort of reveled in the temporary freedom.

Mason was quite the trooper again this year, staying up till midnight to watch the ball drop. He even blew his own tooter. He and I hit the pillows by 12:30 - though he wasn't too happy about it since the other kids were still just getting ready for bed.

New Years Day is also quite a tradition - but all about football instead of family. We got home from Plainwell with just enough time to set up some snacks and turn the tv on to watch MSU take the field in the Capital One Bowl. In spite of all our green and white, take the field was about all the Spartans did right this day. The game was over quickly (when will there be a mercy rule?) but we had Nana and Papa over to keep our spirits up. What a bad day for the Big Ten this turned out to be, but at least the Rose Bowl was worth watching until the end. All well, it's just a game right? And there's always basketball season... oh wait, that's not going so well either. Okay, so maybe there's always next year.

The Christmas Post

As with every Christmas, we end up taking a lightening fast family tour. We began this year by spending Christmas Eve in Bridgeport. Mason finally began saying Gramma and Grapa, which was an improvement over "Ding Dong." We had Great-Grandma Welsh's egg-bake for dinner, went to Grandpa's new church, and wrapped up with the night by opening gifts. Mason loved his Elmo camera from Uncle Colin, and his Tickle Me Elmo from Aunt Meme and Uncle Dan, and his "store" (shopping cart) from Grandma and Grandpa. You can't tell from his smile how much he enjoyed these gifts can you?

When it was bedtime, we packed up the car and headed back home. Adam likes waking up at our house on Christmas morning, so that's what we did. I didn't include this picture, but when we first woke up, Mason wanted nothing to do with his gifts and mostly cried whenever we sat him down near the tree. Eventually he figured out what was going on, and had fun opening his Melissa & Doug wooden puzzle and wooden kebab set to cook on his birthday grill. He seemed to take the most pleasure in the little gifts in his stocking though. A slinky, of all things, seemed to be his favorite. Who needs expensive gifts when you can give a kid a slinky?

After a big breakfast, we headed over to Nana and Papa's house for more family, food, and presents. Mason got a Sit and Spin, some Playdough, and Chuck the Truck over there. And what does he do? He plays with Nana's new magnetic measuring cups and his favorite pots and pans. After a long day, we all headed home again, ready to start the process over again the next day with the Mattens Family Christmas over in Plainwell. We woke up with a feverish little guy so Adam was the lone BC Mattens that went. Thankfully he was fully recovered for New Years...

Extra Thankful

Finally, my Thanksgiving post. What, it's only a month late?!?! This year Adam and I had something extra special to be thankful for. Just a few weeks earlier, we figured out we were expecting baby number 2. A month later, I can honestly say that being pregnant with Mason was a complete breeze compared to this time around, but as I keep saying, it's for a good cause.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with Adam's family. I must apologize profusely, as I failed miserably to take any pictures of this day. It was probably the worst day of morning (and afternoon) sickness I've encountered, so while I was present at Thanksgiving, I wasn't much there. Hopefully my poor spirits didn't dampen the otherwise good vibes associated with the day.

While I normally go Black Friday shopping with my mom and sister, this year it just wasn't going to work out. Instead, I took Mason up to Bridgeport on Saturday and we tried our luck at Bronner's. Mason loved the outdoor giant Santa (look at that grin!) but didn't seem too excited about being inside Bronner's. Probably because he was forced to sit in his stroller and be pushed around at a snail's pace when all he wanted to do was run around and touch everything. We made it out without breaking anything, which was a surprise given how busy and cramped it was in there.

After that it was time for some quality grandparent time at home. Mason loves going to the "Ding Dong House" as he calls it. (In reference to the Grandfather clock that goes "ding dong" every 15 minutes.) I'm sure it has a lot to do with all the attention he gets when he's there, and all the fun stuff that he doesn't get to do at home. (Like scrub the microwave with a bowl full of bubbles, what could be more fun for a toddler right?) This was also the trip that grandpa introduced Mason to his trains. What a hit! While I know grandpa felt a little trepidation letting Mason get so close to his prized possessions, I think they had an equally fun time playing in the basement.

In spite of not feeling well, it was a great weekend. I have a feeling next year will be even better!