I'm going to have a daughter.

 You.. are.. a.. GIRL. And I am still in shock. I mean, I knew the odds - 50/50. But in my mind, I was 100% mentally prepared for a boy. In my gut, however, I knew you were a girl. From the very beginning, it was this very strong, scary, intuition. Which, I know, sounds sort of ridiculous, given the equal odds - but it was truly a gut feeling. One that I didn't like to admit out loud, because.. I don't know why. Because I didn't want to jinx things? Not, of course, that a precious little boy would be less favorable, but because the thought of a girl just kind of made me giddy. For all the reasons that they do make us giddy.

At the ultrasound appointment, I was pretty wound up. I hadn't had time to really get nervous, up until that long endless wait in the waiting room. In doctors waiting rooms, I typically like to power through as many celebrity gossip magazines as possible, but that day, I just stared. At the walls, the chairs.. who even knows. My mind was going at warp speed at how very much our lives were about to change. The endless differences between a boy and girl, our futures, the planning.. everything. We were (FINALLY) called back and the ultrasound began. She told us, after measuring different things, that all looked right on target. Praise the LORD, for this was most certainly the main source of my nauesous anticipation. All looked perfect, and that was music to my ears. At that point, my adrenaline kicked in and I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I literally put my hand on my chest to feel it, it was beating that hard and fast. She pointed to 'the goods' - and said that we were looking at a little girl. And my rapidly beating heart went to my throat, and my eyes watered, and I looked at Pablo in complete shock and grabbed his hand and held on for dear life. Minutes later, I finally let go and only then realized how hard I was squeezing it. Sorry! I was/am in shock.

Afterward, we went out to lunch, and just looked at each other with these stupid grins, and would say 'A lot!' - referring to how much our lives just changed. We know it's still a baby. She will still require endless diaper changes and there will still be endless sleepless nights. Still the same 'first's - smiles, clapping, words, food, tantrums, dancing...  But. She will be OUR DAUGHTER. We have never been the parents of a GIRL. I know this all sounds so dumb, as if we are the first people to ever have a girl - but this is the first girl, to us, and we are still a little bit awed by that prospect.

After lunch, we went (where do you think??!) girl! clothes! shopping!!!! It was just so darn fun. The market for baby clothes has definitely given the girls-side the edge. There's so much out there. Every cute outfit Pablo saw, he would hold up to show me, practically squealing over the immense cuteness. I still used some store-coupons, and only bought what was on sale. But still. He's going to need a raise and a promotion, and soon.

And this post is delayed because we wanted to wait to tell immediate family all in one room, on Christmas morning. We thought that us finding out 9 days prior to Christmas was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. BOY was I stupid. It has taken all the strength I possess to not blow this little secret, with just about everyone I know. At least people I don't know have been getting the good news, without them even asking (and caring, probably!). Neighbors we hardly speak with.. retail store employees.. hairdressers.. oh yes, they all have heard the news, because I HAVE to tell someone. I have literally dreamt almost every night of standing on a rooftop, or somesuch other tall building, and screaming 'We're Having A GIIIIIRL!'.

So, internets, WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First letter to you

Tomorrow we have our big 20 week ultrasound, that's main purpose is a full anatomy once-over, detecting all the potential scary things it can. That's my technical description at least. A cherry on top is a peek betweem the legs, and we find out girl or boy! Entire wedding or rehearsal dinner! I can't say that I am not worried about this ultrasound, simply because of the many many things they could tell me is wrong, but I think I'll choose to focus on how excited I am to find out if you are a little lady or a little man. And since I don't yet know, I wanted to cover both bases, writing to you from both perspectives.

If you are a boy, I hope:
~that you are an excellent little brother to Andrew. He is not the kind of kid who would push you back down, if you picked a fight with him, so in some ways I do hope you end up teaching him a healthy sense of self-defense. But more than that, I hope you go easy on him.
~that you enjoy second-hand clothes, because kid, that's just about all you'll get if you are a boy! And why not, when there are a dozen storage bins full of baby boy clothes just waiting for you. I promise they're all pretty damn cute. And your bro was/is not the type to go digging for diamonds in the yard, so they're in pristine condition!
~that you go easy on me. People have said that I'll be getting a polar opposite of Andrew, and that terrifies me because Andrew is a pretty chill little dude. I think raising a couch-diver could bring me some hard-earned life experience, but really, I am as scared of head injury as the next mom.

~that you potty-train at a reasonable age. It's rumored that girls are much easier to train than boys, and I completely lucked out with Andrew, so my hope is that you go just as smoothly. Don't worry, I've dealt with endless poop-filled underwear episodes, I have a very tough stomach by now.
~that you catch on quickly that I am not a mom who is ok with touching reptiles or insects. Sure, if it's you & dad flying solo, go to town! But when it's just me, as it often will be, there will be much distraction and redirection.
~that years from now, you don't ever spend too much time investing in a romantic relationship with someone who doesn't treat you right. Life is just too short.
~that even though 99% of people I know are telling me they are hoping it's a girl, because that's apparently just what you do when someone already has one boy, you are exactly what I prayed for. 


If you are a girl, I hope:
~that you are an excellent little sister to Andrew. As sassy as you might turn out (genetics), I hope that you remember that he's your only big brother and that he loves you very much. Don't verbally abuse him too much, he's a sensitive soul.
~that you try to remember, when you are a teen, that I BIRTHED YOU. Don't forget the 10 months (plus years of getting back to square one) of sacrificing my body (and mind), either. I know you will inevitably hate me, for no other reason than I am your mother, but I pray that you remember this time, before you were born!
~that we can someday be best friends. I had that bond with my mother, and as complicated as it was on some days, it was something so amazing I can't even describe it. If I told someone I wanted a girl, it's not because of the outfits and bows, it's because of the potential for this relationship someday.
~that you try to rise above the girl-drama of your later years. There will be many many girls who try to bring you down and make you feel less-than, and I urge you to go the other way.
~that you understand that as of right now, I have no clue how to dress a little girl. I see baby girl leggings sold, but I have no idea what the purpose of them is. As a pants replacement? No clue. We can learn all this together. It'll be ok.
~that you know right now, your first car will not, under any circumstances, be a mini-van.
~that you try your hardest to not get caught up in the food/weight obsession. I hope you enjoy good food and enjoy a good sweat, don't hold yourself up to any standard but your own.
~that you treat boys kindly, when you start dating. I wasn't always so great at this, but I never had a brother for a different kind of male perspective either, so I hope you can use yours to better yourself.
~that, if you are ever treated poorly by a boy, you remember that they're like buses. A new one every 10 minutes or so. And please don't misinterpret that. 
~that you know that, even though the thought of a girl actually kind of petrifies me a little, for complicated-girl-reasons, you are exactly what I prayed for.

32 months

Today you are 32 months old. Yeah, that's right. No half-month posting today! Who's unnaturally on the ball... ME! Woo!
So many things..  good AND bad. Let's get the bad out of the way first, shall we? I say bad, but it's more like par for the course stage of toddler development. Annoying and highly frustrating. But not bad.  It's your mouth, child! Hoooo boy, do you have a mouth on you. I have no idea where you get that, as I am sure that I, for one, almost never smarted off or tested my parents' patience levels to the point of insanity. I certainly wasn't known for this quality. So, it's anyone's guess. Your propensity for the word NO is becoming more and more.. disturbing. You have no remorse whatsoever as you look me straight in the eye and tell it to me, when I ask you to do something - usually mundane, like put your shoes up, please. And when I respond with 'we don't talk to mommy that way' - your response is 99% of the time: 'yes, we do.' Cue the time-out chair. There is counting..  and when the counting stops (usually when a normal child is eager to be finished with time-out) you bellow from the chair 'keep counting!' The act of me choosing to do something (stop counting), prompts you to make an opposite response to my decision. I am growing leery of what older, wiser mothers have been known to say - that the terrible twos are nothing compared to the horrendous threes. I am beyond grateful for your advanced vocabulary - but I also know this will be your undoing. It should be an interesting next few years, to say the least!

You are very testy when it comes to sharing the spotlight when both your father and I are together. If I have something I want to tell him, in your presence, you will usually find some way to make yourself be heard - yelling or otherwise. We have had to teach you that when one of us is talking to the other, that you are to be patient and let us talk til we are done. This goes well maybe 40% of the time. And when it does, and you are a sweet patient quiet boy, you look at us the SECOND we wrap our conversation and say 'thank you for being so quiet.....' SO desperate for praise! Related to this need to intervene, is how you really keep me in check with my tone of voice, concerning your father. If I am trying to get a point across in a harsh tone, you will YELL at me - 'mommy, don't talk like that!' - Thanks son, now I try to save my harsh tone for when you are not around! ;)
This sharing of the spotlight thing is surely going to come into play in the spring-time, when you welcome your forever-spotlight-stealing little sibling! I'll certainly be able to empathize with you, but it'll be your new life as you know it.
You are very much into counting. Counting items, anywhere, and counting out loud before you start something. You'll perch yourself on your little indoor-scooter we have, and say 'ok mommy, I'm gonna count to three, then I'm gonna ride my scooter! ok?? ok? one.. two.. three!!' You are so into counting, that you countdown to count. That's right, you say 'I'm gonna count to five, then I'm gonna count these beads!!' - and you count out loud, before you.. count. You love to put up 1 finger on each hand and proudly say 'how many is this?' and you count your fingers to total two - and you smile like a crazy little genius. You count before I flush the toilet in public restrooms. You count cars as they pass by out front. You count rocks and sticks. You count planes as they fly by.

You crack us up with the random things you say sometimes. You went through a short phase (a few weeks) of totally randomly saying (as you pointed at us) 'mommy! you have a nipple! daddy! you have a nipple!' Strange, but funny. Or very emphatically saying 'oh mommy, you're so handsome!' You cracked yourself up over that one. And when you see a car back up in the middle of the road (doing a two point turn or something) - you will yell at it 'what is that car doing???!' laughing maniacally.
You have a definite sense of good and bad.. scary and not scary. There's very little gray in your world right now. You make bold statements of 'spiders are not good.. doodlebug are good.. ants are not good.. butterflies are good though' (*I think this stems from what you have seen me 'take care of' -kill- and what you haven't!) When your father does his dinosaur impression, which you used to love but are now scared of, you'll say that dinosaurs are not good - but monkeys are okay. You somehow picked up the word 'excellent' -so that is usually what you say now instead of good - things are either excellent or NOT excellent.
Preschool is wonderful. And not just for the time it gives me while you are there! You have made some great friends, which you talk about all the time, and you now love to do crafts and color. You sing songs out of the blue that we've never heard of, that you apparently sing at school. One of which you call 'the bible song' - and goes to the tune of 'the bible book is a gift God made me'... you repeat this line over and over. You started singing the days of the week song, which I certainly never taught you. You sing the clean-up song, which helps immensely. And one day, you told me it was November. I just looked at you, stunned. But you are used to this.
Halloween went very very well. About a trillion times better than last year, the year of the Mad Cow. Your costume was very airy and comfortable - and it represented something you were obsessed with. You got candy, something you really didn't know existed last year (and sadly, are very aware of this year!). It was a success all around.

You tell us stories now. We've been telling you stories for so long, we decided to kick back and have you attempt the story-telling. You come up with some great (and very random) plots. Always starting with 'once upon a time' and usually involving an elephant named Lulu and a dust storm and something getting splashed by a lake. You do some pretty cute hand gestures along the way, too. You raise your hand towards the sky, in increments, to convey how big something is. And the pitch of your voice gets pretty darn high, too - the more excited you make yourself.
I think you are known as the welcome-wagon on our street. No car passes by without you stopping to give it your full attention, as you wave to it. When it's passed on by, you'll turn to me and either tell me that they didn't wave or 'didja see that??! they waved!'. I've noticed quite a few cars that pass by daily around the same time, that wave to you way sooner than you do to them, as they are very used to seeing your smiling face and anticipating your friendliness.If people are on foot. you'll wave til I think your arm is going to fall off, not calling out to them. I had to teach you to say something like hello, very loudly, if they don't see you - but I've had to witness maaany way-too-cool teenagers in our neighborhood give you the cold shoulder. Five feet away. And this makes me want to say very bad things to them. I am pretty surprised I haven't, given my level of pregnancy hormones.

Summing up this novel of a post, you do something everyday that blows my mind - in awe at your sheer brilliance and sometimes in awe at your advanced manipulation skills. Either way, I am one lucky momma. Thank you for every day. 

Littlest Lopez

Check the pickle baggy.

Yes, I am pregnant! I feel very very blessed and very very tired! It's already begun though - the balancing game. I want to write so many cute things my toddler-child is doing lately, but I want to devote some special time to talk about my.. uterine-child, too! I am 11 weeks (almost), and thus far NO belly pics have been taken. But I hope to sometime soon, when it looks like a belly bump and not just eye-popping bloat. See, I documented every week with pregnancy #1 with a bare-belly pic. That ain't gonna happen this time around. I don't care how much weight you lose after having a baby, your body will NEVER look as good as it does pre-pregnancy. Same holds true for your bank account and your living room. And the inside of your car, while we're at it. 

I suppose I should explain the pickle baggy, right? 

I wanted to tell Pablo in a special way - not just holding up the pee stick and squealing, though that would have been my preferred way, as it requires such little effort! But no, my sometimes-high-maintenance husband told me well in advance that it BETTER! BE! SPECIAL! So, on Friday morning (Aug 27), I took the test and there it was! The two lines... then the digital one with the life-altering word on it: pregnant. He was about to leave for work, and I really hadn't planned anything in advance...... so I took a ziploc containing a large heinous pickle that he sometimes buys from Home Depot (the vendors outside the doors) and wrote I'm Pregnant on it. Then, when he came in the kitchen I said (something I have said many many times before) that his pickle looked revolting and maybe he should think about throwing it away, to which he screamed at me in a very normal-for-him high pitched tone, 'you better not throw my pickle away!'.. and I told him to check it out anyways.. so he did. And the immediately saw it and went a little pale and ran to me..  there was much hugging.. maybe something got in his eye, too. He was very very surprised (though, he shouldn't have been, if ya know what I'm sayin') and very overjoyed.

This time around has been QUITE different, in many ways....  

I haven't been even remotely as nauseated as I was with Andrew. I have a few theories about this: *I have toughened up. Pre-Andrew, I could not be in the same room as a vomiter (and I had never been vomited ON pre-child), much less handled poop-situations, snot on my person, boogers, other various bodily fluids, and spaghetti nights. I am now completely unaffected by them, and maybe this lends to an overall more 'toughness'. Maybe? I sometimes gag over certain things, and I honestly think to myself that whatever it was that made me just gag would have CERTAINLY made me vomit with my first pregnancy. See, I've gotten tough! *I haven't the time for leisurely vomit sessions. Yeah, sure, I could vomit at will during nap-times, but I have much more fun and relaxing things to do during that time. *Maybe I am having a... girl??! God help me. But maybe there's an ounce of truth to how your body handles babies of differing genders. *And more rationally speaking, it's simply the old 'every baby and every pregnancy is different.' Not much else to say than that!

I am still absolutely exhausted. THAT has not changed from pregnancy to pregnancy. It's amazing to me how your body goes into overdrive with pregnancies and literally FORCES you to slow down and give it the rest it needs. Unfortunately, this time around, uhhh... HAHAHA! Rest and toddlers just don't go together. So, thank the Lord for preschool days. And even on those days I am usually running around getting things done or meeting friends, so I am still exhausted when I pick him up from preschool. Oh, how I envy the days of my first pregnancy, when weekends meant nonstop lounging and general sloth-like behavior. Those days are so long over.

The amount that people ask and care about how you are doing goes waaaay down with subsequent pregnancies. I suppose they figure that I know what I am doing now, or the novelty has just completely worn off. And yeah, this also applies to spouses. The pedestal I was on with my first pregnancy was a mile or two higher than where I sit now! There was a fair amount of just awed basking in how I was growing life at that very moment in time - now it's more like "can you go wipe his butt please while I back the car out and don't forget to refill his water and give him ice if he wants some and make sure we locked the back door and hurry up cuz we're already late!!"...  Life now affords no time for basking.

I have food aversions, just like last time. Though, I can't really remember what I loathed last time.. it's a great many things this time around! I have no taste for sweet things - no ice cream or cake, which is quite the blessing in disguise, no? I really don't have much taste for anything - I just want to fill my belly when it calls for it. Maybe I'll enjoy food in a few months.Perhaps a little too much.

To sum up - I am so so so excited to expand our family. I am beyond words thrilled to give Andrew the lifelong gift of a sibling. I know what a gift it is, because I have my sister who I love so much and can't imagine life without. I know there will be hair pulling and pinching and much squabling, but I know we'll get through all that. May take years, sure!, but I know Andrew will someday be as grateful as I am for a lifelong best friend. I am so thrilled to be able to give them both a live-in playmate and someone to share all their life with.

30.5 months

Oh man. It's been a while! So much happens every day that it would take up way too much time I do not have to stop and write it all down. As usual, I'll be winging it.
You really really love music these days. And your 'favorite song' changes weekly... and it's always up to me/us to know what your current 'favorite' is - because that is how you request it. PLAY MY FAVORITE! Right now, it's a song from a random cd your cool Aunt Kelly burned. Not at all a toddler song - but you dig the beat. It eventually morphs into a slow version of the song, and you are convinced that the song it OVER at this point and you always belt out 'start it over!!' and I sometimes say that it's still your favorite song, and you say NO it's not! Who's dumb enough to argue with a 2 year old anyways? This lady.
You thoroughly enjoy our evening routine of doing Rock Band with daddy, after playing outside after dinner. You get cozy on the couch and you request your fave Beatles songs - lately it's a rotation of 3 or 4: Buy me some love (Can't buy me love), In my life, Paperback Writer, and Yellow Submarine. I usually give you a pre-bedtime snack while you bop and sing (while daddy plays the guitar or drums), and if I happen to forget, you scream across the house to me (where I am usually relaxing for a rare 15 minutes) - Mommy! being me my snack pleeeease!
You currently LOVE pumpkins. Which is quite timely, given the season we are entering. You love reading this one book I had for you last year, a home-made (etsy) book about carving pumpkins, and you absolutely love the page that says VOILA! A pumpkin face! You go around saying voila all day now. And you flip whenever we see a pumpkin out and about. We plan to take you to the pumpkin patch this month, so it's safe to say your mind will be sufficiently blown then.
Speaking of fall, I ordered your Halloween costume the other day. You will be a UPS delivery-man. You live for the UPS trucks (and yes, FedEx too), so I thought this was an appropriate costume this year. But mostly, the ensemble looks comfortable, which is paramount considering our costume debacles last year. Your cow costume quickly became a Mad Cow costume, as you were not so pleased with how itchy and uncomfortable it was. Considering how highly..communicative you are and how your rages this year put last years' fits to shame, we went with comfort this time around!
We sometimes call you The Puppetmaster. This stems from your very typical toddler way of bossing us around. If a song is playing, you'll point to me and say Dance Mommy! then point to your father and say Now you dance Daddy! And just general bossiness. It's something we have to work on though, how rarely you say PLEASE right off the bat. You say it instnatly when prompted in the slightest (and very sweetly, too), but it's rare that you say it the first time around.
Preschool has been going very well. I come to pick you up right after you're woken up from your nap there, and (just like at home) you're always pretty zonked. Trying to get any details of your day is pointless because all you want to do is NOT TALK and get home. I always end up getting bits & pieces of details as the day goes on (and the days to follow). It's interesting sometimes..  I learned the last name of one of your fave friends today - you said Jaden Edwards in conversation, and then I asked you what your other friend, Dylan's, last name was... and you pondered this for a few seconds and went 'pizza!!' and you had a good chuckle about that. Silly.
You love to go look at yourself in the bathroom mirror (using a little stool we have), when you know you look funny. Specifically, when you're taking your shirt off and it gets stuck over your huge head, so it looks like a shirt-turban. You could stare and giggle and make faces at yourself in the mirror for half an hour if I let you. 

I find myself lately basking in your cuteness and toddlerhood, when I can. If we're sitting and reading together, I'll burrow my head in your thick hair and just take big whiffs... which yes, makes me sound slightly crazy, but it's just getting so ridiculous, how fast you're growing. Every damn day you do or say something that reminds me how you're on a quick path to being a BIG! KID! and it's pretty emotional for me. I am so fully aware that I will never get these days back with you, and I hope and pray that I am giving you the best toddlerhood I can, because you will never get these days back either. I hope I'm giving you as much love and memories as you are giving me. Sweets!

first day of preschool

Yesterday (Tues) was your very first day of preschool. It was a surreal day for me, one that lived in the farthest corner of my mind, I knew the day would come.. but really, I never truly believed it would. I thought you'd stay some form of baby for all time, and leaving you with strangers and other kids who might bite or steal your toys would never be a worry! HA!
Your preschool happens to be the church we go to weekly (most of the time), so you were 100% used to the classroom and all the things in it. You had a meet-the-teacher last week, and you seemed to really dig your teachers, one in particular, who was the younger of the two ladies. This might be your first crush.

So, yesterday morning, we go about our morning as usual, and I don't say too much about it being your first day of preschool - because if I have learned one thing about you (and toddlers all round the world), it's that they are UNPREDICTABLE. As sure as you are wanting to endlessly discuss the joys of preschool one minute, you will show fiery hatred towards the thought of it the next. So I didn't even chance it! At one point you said 'mmmm... don't wanna go to preschool, wanna stay home instead'... and I actively ignored that statement altogether!
I took some pics of you about 30 minutes before we left, as I didn't want to wait til right before we left - lest I piss you off with endless picture taking. It was pouring rain outside, so we couldn't do any cute outdoor pictures. The damp garage had to do. Your backpack and lunchbag just happened to beautifully coordinate with your first-day outfit. I didn't even plan that! And yes yes, your hair is sticking straight up. But this is it's WAY. And fighting it is futile. We're in an in-between stage of growing out the top so it will lay more flat, so in the meantime, I take passive-aggressive comments from other mothers about the importance of haircuts and just smile.
We left and got there early (surprise surprise) and you lounged in the church couches and chairs for a while. One of our friends came, and I chatted with them, then it was time to sign in..  so we went over, and you were SO impatient to go in. It wasn't quite time yet, but you kept asking me 'wanna go in the room!'...  Eventually it was time, and I dropped your lunchbag/nap mat/backpack off in your own little laundry baskets and you went in. I had to say 'hey, where's my hug and kiss??!' and you came back like a sweet little boy and indulged me with a kiss. :)  Then you went off to your favorite area, the puzzle corner. I saw one of the teacher's 11 year old daughter come over to play with you - then I left. Ok, not really..  I hovered at the door, careful for you to not spot me, but yes, I hovered. Then I realized that you probably had no clue that this was not ACTUALLY church, and were quite content with playing like you always do, til I come back in an hour to get you!

I then had a wonderfully full day (5 hours) to myself. I grocery shopped - I practically skipped through the aisles - and when the register broke when I went to check out, I was all cool as a cucumber, because child, who I love and adore and cherish, you were not there to let it be known what an inconvenience to you this was! I made oatmeal raisin cookies, so you could have a special snack when I picked you up. I had to go back to the store because I forgot something on the list (not a tragedy at ALL when you are unencumbered!). I bought Gizmo's special food at Petsmart - which is probably the only time this year I've gone to Petmsart without you. It was weird. I did laundry. I washed dishes. I washed and dried my hair - which was seriously pleasant, as I was not forced to sing songs while you sat on the toilet, belting out song requests. I read in my book and some trashy gossip magazine. I watched a few minutes of The View. It was quite blissful!
At 1:50 I went to pick you up and got the surprise of my life when I saw you conked out in your nap mat, by the door. There were kids awake and talking, and things going on, but you were still out like a light! I think my jaw hit the floor because I literally did NOT expect you to nap. You had been having various sleep problems lately, add to the fact that you have never slept around other kids before - much less 11 of them - and I was flabbergasted. She said you slept the entire naptime.
So I kneel by you, and you sleepily open your eyes and see me, and you say 'mommy gonna come pick you up...' I can imagine this was your mantra that day. :)
The teacher said you did so fantastic - she said she would have bet that this was not your first year of preschool. She seemed quite impressed with how well you did! I never had a doubt.
We left and you wolfed down your cookie in the car and told me how you popped bubbles and that Mrs Larkin is preeetty!
I am so very grateful your first day wasn't a traumatic one. I won't get cocky and expect every preschool day to be seamless. I know the novelty might wear off and you might cry and go through phases of this and that. In fact, just today I asked you if you were excited about preschool again tomorrow, and you said 'no, it makes me angry!!' - what the heck??! Each day is a crapshoot. But for now, I will be very grateful that your very first day was a huge success. :)

29.5 months

A few notables for the moment.......

* Sometimes, I will be here on the computer for a minute or two (very true, no more than this or you go NUTS wanting to get on with me) and sometimes during those times, you will build large and small lego towers and bring them to me and ask me to kiss them. You'll ask for LOTS of BIG kisses for the big towers, and leeeeetle kisses for the little towers. One time, I gave the tower a few kisses and then you went to go, but turned and stopped and said 'now how bout some for Andrew?' O, you know I gave you BIG kisses!

* On our way to Grandpa's house one day, your father was trying to remember a funny story from earlier that day - he was saying "so, I asked him if his favorite animal was an elephant, and he said no.. it was a...  and I totally forget what he said, but it was so funny!!!" and you piped in loudly with "Daddy, I said lobster!!!" And we all got a good laugh.

* One day, when we returned home from errands, I had a few bags to bring in so I told you to go on in and wait for me inside. You stood there in the open garage door, VERY impatient-like, and yelled at me 'come on Mommy! You're letting all the flies in!'  I wonder where you heard that??! Surely not ME, every day, at least 12 times a day..........

* You are quite conscientious of clean versus dirty underwear. Sometimes when you'll use the potty, and then go to put your undies back on, you'll see the faintest of skid marks (yes, it all started when you were two!) and you'll hold them out and say 'oh no!!! there's poop in em!!!' And you'll scamper off for fresh clean ones. One day, hopefully more than 2 decades from now, you likely won't even care about the slightest of skid marks...

* Every night we play Rock Band (well, you and your father do, mostly, while I relax for two songs) and you LOVE the Beatles ones. You recognize Beatles songs on the radio now...  the other day Hello Goodbye was on, and you perked up and went 'heeeey, I like this song!'. Your all-time faves are Yellow Submarine, Paperback Writer, and Can't Buy Me Love. However, you call it 'Buy Me Some Love'. So cute.

* We went and rode the mini-train. You looooved riding the train/seeing the train/hearing the train/talking about the train. Though, when we do ride it, cute photo opps are at a premium because you go into a very zen-like trance. Every time we would go over a bridge, or see one, you'd gasp so loud and say 'we're gonna go over a bridge!!!!' It takes so little. And you also looked around and asked 'maybe we will see aunt Kelly...!!!' because last time you rode it, you sat with her. :( That was the highlight of your year!

* We talk about how Jesus is always with you - and things like that. Well, one day, close to naptime (and you had been having some naptime anxiety lately), you randomly said, 'Jesus is always with you...' and I said you are RIGHT! You know why? And you said 'because Jesus lives in your heart!'....  talk about a sweet smart boy!

* You now ride a trike with wild abandon. With a helmet, because you took a spill - so we now enforce it 100% of the time. You love to go fast, and you always announce before you take a turn on a sidewalk that 'there's a biiig turn coming up!' And, you always throw your legs out to stop yourself before you go flying into thr street at the end of a sidewalk. Which is a good thing because sometimes we aren't as fast as you!