No Broccoli, Please

Honor is a great eater. I’ve never seen a kid that easily eats so many foods. I’ve fed her artichoke hearts and kalamata olives, and she’s gobbled them up. She loves spicy sweet potato fries and anything I make with Ro-tel tomatoes. She loves strawberries and kiwi. And don’t even think about eating a banana without sharing with her.

She doesn’t, however like scrambled eggs.

Or broccoli.

She has this thing she does with her tongue when she either doesn’t like something, or has had enough. She ate two bites of broccoli and then started this business:

Crazy kid.

Last night, she ate 2/3 of an avocado, some cilantro lime rice, and 1/4 a black bean enchilada. I guess if she decides to only eat two bites of broccoli, she’s going to make up for it.

Caedmon Tells More Stories

Caedmon is still enjoying telling stories at bedtime. He begs for me to make up stories every night. You can imagine how good I am at that. As in, terrible, awful, not good at all.

But I did make up one story about a month ago when he was having trouble dealing with a “strange noise” he kept hearing. And he loves that story. He likes to tell it, too. With a little more gusto than I usually give it, admittedly.

Of course, I had to keep in line with the “One day, when someone was camping” theme he likes to have in his stories.

This story, he made up on his own. You might recognize the general theme, but it takes a surprising turn. He might be a suspense writer one of these days.

I love that he immediately wants to review his work.

I’m sure there will be more stories, so look for a new installment soon!

New Trick

Remember that new trick I referred to yesterday? Here it is!

Honor and Daddy came up with it, then taught it to Caedmon.

I must apologize before you watch this video. Caedmon was a little…wired. Letting him have a cupcake with bright pink frosting is always a risky move. You can see the results.

Also? Oz wasn’t sure what all of this was about, but he wasn’t going anywhere. 

Cheap Entertainment

We’re easy to please at our house when it comes to entertainment. An empty box or a cardboard paper towel insert is all it takes to spark imagination that lasts all afternoon.

This, however, was something completely new. And apparently hilarious.

You’ll notice that Honor’s hysterical laughter didn’t keep her from continuing to shove food in her mouth. Sister doesn’t mess around when it comes to food. She was also sitting lopsided because she’d been laughing so hard, she literally couldn’t sit up straight. Caedmon is definitely the creative mind behind this little game, and I am both excited and dreading what happens when they take it to the next level. Because it always works that way.

Honor’s Turn!

Yesterday, I promised a video of Honor. And this would be me, delivering on that promise.

I started out with the intention of making a video of her crawling across the floor and all that jazz. But she was quickly distracted by something…shiny. She’d been watching Caedmon all morning and knew exactly what to do with it.

Caedmon Tells Stories

I promised some of Caedmon’s stories. And here they are.

He asks every night if we can tell stories and record them. Here are two of the stories we’ve recorded in the last week. He wasn’t coached, and these stories are all his own. He’s much more creative than I am!

This one might be my favorite. It involves a Razorback and a bear going deer hunting.

This story has a friendly T-Rex. And visual aids.

Hopefully I’ll have a video of Honor tomorrow. But she won’t be telling stories.

Away In A Manger

Caedmon sang in “big church” yesterday. And when I say “sang,” I use the term loosely. Because I don’t think I’ve ever heard the child sing much of anything. He’s just not a singer. He’ll say the words to the song, but he doesn’t sing them. And he’s really good at saying the last word of each phrase. Husband has declared that he’ll be the “random dancing guy who says a word here and there” for a band. He could totally do it.

But he was excited to sing in big church. And he was right up front.

He was into those motions, huh?

Maybe we’ll work on it a bit and have the rest of the words down by Christmas.

And maybe not.

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Honor is not yet rolling. And I kind of have mixed feelings about it, honestly. I am in no hurry for her to become mobile. I love putting her down and her staying there. She currently has zero interest in rolling…doesn’t even try. I know that will be over all too soon. I just don’t want her to be developmentally “behind.” I know. She’ll roll when she’s ready. And she may crawl before she rolls, and that’s really ok. Us Mommas just worry about dumb stuff like that sometimes.

I’m not the only one who’s anxious about Honor rolling over. Caedmon wanted to teach her how to roll over the other day. Of course, I grabbed the camera.

And You Thought Flushing A Goldfish Was Tragic

Remember Caedmon’s “boy”? He’s been around for quite some time. And he tends to stay out of trouble most of the time. But the other night, Caedmon ran in to find me and started telling me a tragic story.

I will go ahead and say right now that I believe it took some mad parenting skillz to keep a straight face. Husband had to leave the room. Because he was trying not to laugh, but also because Caedmon demanded it. He wanted to tell his story just to me. And the rest of the world.

Plunger = Plumber (in case you hadn’t figured that out)

You’ll be glad to know that just a few days later, Caedmon was reunited with his “boy.” At Walmart, of all places. We were checking out when he mentioned the “boy.” I asked how he’d found him, and was told that he’d crawled out of the sewer pipe and found us at Walmart. Of course that makes total sense because that’s where we first acquired him. I’m just glad he made it home safely.

I just hope he took a shower before he got in the car.

This is me. On video.

I’m not really a huge fan of myself on video. But several of my blog/Twitter friends are vlogging an “accent vlog” so we can see/hear how we say things since we’re from different parts of the country. I thought it might be fun to join in.

I’m such a conformist. Or not.

Anyway, here’s the video, and below is the list of words and questions we were to each say/answer. Don’t make too much fun of me, ok?

Word list: aunt, route, wash, oil, theatre, iron, salmon, caramel, fire, water, sure, data, ruin, crayon, toilet, New Orleans, pecan, both, again, probably, spitting image, Alabama, lawyer, coupon, mayonnaise, syrup, pajamas, caught.

Questions:

1. What do you call it when you throw toilet paper on someone’s house?

2. What is the bug called that rolls up into a ball when you touch it?

3. What do you call carbonated beverages?

4. What do you call gym shoes?

5. What do you say when addressing a crowd?

6. What do you call the insect with eight long legs?

7. What do you call your grandparents?

8. What do you call the thing you put groceries in at the store?

9. What do you call it when the sun is shining and it rains?

10. What do you call the thing you use to change channels on the TV?

If you want to join in, please do! Head on over to Jenna’s to link up!

I’d also love to hear your comments…but be nice!

So Beautiful

Check out this video Husband made. I needed a tissue, but that’s just me.

In Which He Shreds

Husband showed Caedmon the iShred app on his phone. That may have been a mistake.

Simple Pleasures Of Childhood

Recently, Caedmon has been watching “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” quite a bit. We are fans of the bald kid around here.

One of his favorite parts is when Linus jumps into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker. So I decided the other day to teach Caedmon the joy of jumping into a pile of leaves.

He. loved. it.

First, he helped rake the leaves.

Here’s our pile!

And the jumping…

Again!

And just for fun, a video.

My Surfer Dude

**Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a $45 gift certificate from CSN Stores!**

The other day when Caedmon decided to be a surfer, I thought it might be a good time to introduce him to the goodness that is the Beach Boys and Surfin’ USA. So I found a video on YouTube. Ya’ll know how he gets with his music. And the Beach Boys were no exception.

Train A Child In The Way He Should Go…

…and when he is old, he will not turn from it.  Proverbs 22:6

Amen and amen.

(Can’t see the video? Go here.)

A few things I’d like to point out:

1. I mainly took this video so I can have proof in, say, 13 years or so, that he did willingly (and happily) vacuum his room at some point.

2. We’ll work on the wearing the shirt right side out thing another day.

3. Caedmon was concerned that I wasn’t taking pictures. I wonder if he’s going to be looking for future evidence as well?

4. While I’ll be pulling this video out in about 13 years to show him his happiness at vacuuming to perhaps guilt him into doing it again, his justification for not wanting to vacuum will probably be, “See? I did it once.”

5. For all you Type A’s out there, yes, I finished vacuuming the room. There’s no way I could’ve just left it half vacuumed. That wouldn’t have been right.

Video!

I might regret this later, but Husband taught Caedmon a popular phrase. Check it out.

And if you haven’t heard that phrase before, here’s a fun place to watch it. Not that it’s used in context, but it’s still funny.

He Plays With Soul

As I’ve mentioned before, Caedmon thinks everyone has their own personal theme song. And once he gets a song stuck in his head for someone, that will be their song for life.

The other day, I was working in the office and had my iTunes on. I asked Caedmon if he wanted to hear Papa Duke’s song (Don’t Mess Around With Jim by Jim Croce). Of course, he said yes. And we proceeded to listen to it about 87 times. (Thank goodness for the “repeat” button.) He was totally getting down. And I had to share it with you.

And if you must know how this song became dubbed “Papa Duke’s song,” I’ll tell you. And if you don’t want to know, just skip to the end. And go ahead and hurt my feelings. I’m just kidding. I don’t care. Really.

We were driving to church one Sunday morning, when I turned the radio on. Caedmon’s fickle about his music, and he nearly had a hissy fit when he heard the tail end of the song that was playing. It went off in the middle of his fussing, and he didn’t hear the new song that came on, but I did. It was Don’t Mess Around with Jim. I told him to cool his jets and listen to this song, because it was one of Papa Duke’s favorites. He quickly got quiet and listened intently to the entire song. After it was over, he told me to play it again. I had no choice but to sing the chorus over and over until we got to church. Why the chorus? Who knows all the words to those verses? (Well, I do NOW, but that’s after listening to it 87 times in one day.) And so it continued. We sang the Papa Duke Song at bedtime and random other times throughout the day. I even showed him the video on Youtube, which he did NOT care for. Finally I downloaded it on iTunes and the rest is history.

Video Commentary:

1. Yes, he’s wearing his pajamas at 2 in the afternoon. It was a pajama day. Mainly because when I tried to change his clothes, he pitched a fit and I decided it wasn’t worth the fight.

2. He occasionally sings along, but only a word at the end of a phrase. Maybe he’ll be in a hip-hop band one day.

3. The guitar was necessary for proper jamming. He plays it left-handed, though I don’t think he’s really a lefty.

4. The boy gets into his guitar playing.

5. He really does wonder about his Papa Duke while the song is on.

6. He’d created a “castle” out of our office chairs. I was sitting in it with him during the last clip of the video. Apparently, he wanted me out.

It’s A Barnyard In Here

Caedmon has been…vocal…lately. His vocabulary has grown exponentially and he’s now willing to repeat things you ask him to say. For the longest time he would just stare at you if you asked him to say something. He’d say it when he was good and ready, but I think he was trying to get the point across that he’s not, and never will be, a parrot.

The other day, we bumped into each other in the pantry, and he said, “I sorry ‘bout that, Momma.” So sweet.

Animal sounds have become especially fun, as Caedmon is now willing to tell you what sounds animals make. He’s known them for a long time, but would never play along on-demand.

But you know how detail oriented the boy is. He couldn’t just stop at animal sounds. Every person must have a sound attributed to them. I give you: Caedmon’s Sounds.

Some Hair Fun

Caedmon’s loving the new haircut. He especially loves it after a bath.

No more nearly rubbing his scalp off in an attempt to dry his hair. No more blow drying.

The other day, he had goofed off in his bed his entire naptime and there was no rest. Which, of course meant that by the time we got to about 5:30, everything was either horribly tragic or hysterically funny.

Thankfully, the wet hair in the mirror was the latter.

A few thoughts on the video:

1) Please excuse my attire. I was in the throwes of changing from a “good” outfit to a “comfy” outfit when I was distracted by…life…and never made it back to change my shirt. What you can’t see is my brown heather Aeropostale sweatpants. So at least I was comfy. And only cold from the waist up.

2) Yes, we are standing in the entryway. We have a mirror in the entry, and from the time Caedmon was teeny tiny, that’s been the one we “play” with. Maybe because we can get close to it without having to lean over the sink. But he always wants to check himself out in the mirror after a bath.

3) That laugh at the beginning is so fake. But then he gets tickled and really started laughing again. I love that sound.

4) I think if he’d flopped himself over like that one more time, I might have dropped him. Seriously. That would’ve definitely been horribly tragic.

5) It did cross my mind that he was not wearing a diaper and surely all the laughing might not be a good thing. Thankfully, it did not become an issue.

Sometime next week, I’m going to share a new recipe with ya’ll. I can’t wait!

What We’ve Been Up To This Week Besides Operation No More Bah

Caedmon re-discovered Pez. Mmmmm, Pez.

After fussing and saying, “My hands, cold,” I made him a koozie for his juice box. Yeah, he loved it.

We went OUTSIDE to play, you know, the place with the sunshine (sometimes) and grass and stuff. Hallelujah, forever and ever, amen.

And got a little dirty.

And played a little hide & seek. Someone’s not so good at the hiding yet. But the counting…that’s in the bag! If, you know, you have no need for the number six.