safe from tigers

i walked into the dining room, to find the boys all huddled under the table, munching on their cheerios snack.

me: "hey boys, whatcha doing?"

quin: "we're safe under here from tigers."

camden: "that's okay, cause the rabbits are coming."

declan: deep gutteral laugh.

huh? i guess the appropriate response is "tzuga" or "gzzzzzzz".

i cannot get enough of their imaginations. they make me giggle.

mosquito bites are a terrible thing

while we lived in taipei, we learned a healthy fear of taiwanese mosquitoes. they're fairly small, but they've got bite. horrible, horrible bite. they leave hard, golf ball sized welts, and itch like something you've never experienced - well, until you've been bit by one of them.

living in the city during the late fall and winter, brought another new encounter with these fiesty fellows. when it's cold outside, and there's no freeze . . . they come inside. ahh. camden woke up one morning with 21 bites on his face alone. healthy fear.

quin, not quite two at the time, and still learning english, picked up on the fear in our voices when the word, "mosquito" was mentioned. to this day, when he has anything painful that he wants to describe, he says he has a "mosquito bite". "not just an ouchy, mama, a mosquito bite."

the prince and the little boy with good manners

yesterday, quin was sporting a crown 'o thomas tracks, and was going around the house declaring, "i'm a prince. i'm a prince. i'm a prince!"

camden was sitting on my lap. i asked him if he was a prince also. to which he replied, "no mommy, i'm not a prince. i'm just a little boy with good manners."

well, delightful little boys, i think we still have a bit of work to do. but you are catching the vision!

the new aflac poster child

this afternoon, quin and i were sitting on the couch reading a book about animals and their sounds. quin was breezing through them, saying & signing the name of the animal & loudly proclaiming their noises. we got to the picture of the duck and quin started saying "aflac! aflac! aflac!!!" clearly, that's what it says on the page, right?

now if only cute little boys could help bring in sales for daddy.

i want some mercy, please

camden had a rough morning today. we had made several trips to the bedroom for corrections. one particular trip, i was talking with him about dicipline and mercy. trying to help his 3 yr. old mind wrap some understanding around the difference between "getting off the hook" and "deserving punishment, yet recieving mercy".

quin ran in, with his little sing-song voice, "i want some mercy, too, please."

in true mother fashion, i couldn't hold in the laughter.

then in true camden & quin fashion, they were off to build a tent (see proof above).

i think quin helped issue mercy today. that or camden got off the hook.

DO NOT correct my children

my boys have several words that are unique to their own vocabulary. words that are mispronounced and dear to their mother's heart.

camden says, "banama" and "honor my spect" (attempting to say, "give me some respect and honor my wish")

quin puts a short "a" sound at the end of verbs "pass-a me some water" "don't hit-a me with that" "i want-a some water" - how is it that he can make every sentence into a song? i love it!

and speaking of cute things they say, declan has a new word (if you can call it that). he points and jumps when he wants to talk with you about something, and says, "gzzzzzzzzzzz!!!" "gzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!"

camden had a similar word he used in similar situations. he would point to the object and say, "tzuga. tzuga" later, "tzuga" became his word for fan. then, when quin came into our lives, "tzuga" became part of their "twin language". somehow as a 2 yr. old & a 1 1/2 yr. old, both with limited vocabulary, "tzuga" communicated everything that needed to be said. they would be playing, and then one would say, "tzuga" and they would run off and start playing with the next thing - completely understood.

one thing's for sure. these are things we will allow them to say incorrectly until necessary for correct pronunciation. i'm sure that will be around the time they turn 17. does that qualify as a rule? lol!

happy birthday sweet quin!

yesterday was quin's birthday, and the sweet little guy woke up so, so sick. whatever this cold is that he has caught, comes complete with funk in his eyes. and so his eyes were matted shut when he woke up that morning, and from his nap. for the newest three year old in our house, that was quite traumatic! i used a warm wash cloth to clean the junk off, and his little swollen face looked up at me and gave me a kiss. poor, sweet thing.

despite having a yucky cold, and funky eyes, quin is his sweet, chipper little self today. we sang "happy birthday" all day yesterday. quin enjoyed every second of deligating who we sang to next. we went around, and around the room singing to everyone that was in the room at the moment - all day long. this guy's got a song in his soul, and a beat in his hands. everything is a drumming instrument. everything. but his two favorites are lincoln logs, and forks. he doesn't beat anything hard, just always has a rhythem he's working on.

the last 6 weeks, he has been fascinated with saying, "i am 2, january i be 3," and attempting to hold up the appropriate fingers. this morning, after all the rounds of "happy birthday" yesterday, i asked quin how old he was. he looked up at me with his sick, droopy eyes and with his groggy little voice he proudly said, "i'm 3! birthday, january."

since he's not feeling so great, we're saving birthday celebrations for later in the week, when he'll enjoy them more.