Cooley Christmas (Christmas, Act III)

And for the final act, we spent Christmas Day with my family. We really had an awesome time! The food was great (thanks, Mom!), and everyone was just in such a great mood. James and Samantha are ALWAYS thrilled to see one another. James fell asleep on the way down, as he is wont to do, and we had to wake him up when we got there.. he was sleeping HARD! He saw Samantha, though, and it was like a half a pot of coffee for him.. BOING! He was wide awake and ready to roll! They immediately went to tearing around the house like banshees.
Mom took a turn for the mushy by getting Dad a "Love Is..." book. They used to clip these comic strips for each other when they were dating and when we were little kids.. I remember seeing them on the dresser mirror in their room. Awwww.
Mark threw out the first pitch for the annual Wrapping Paper Battle (wherein, everyone takes their discarded paper, wads it up as tightly as they can, and tried to peg each other in the head when they're not paying attention.. very Christmasy, eh?). Subsequently, we all took turns trying to ambush him for the remainder of the afternoon. As is HIS wont, Mark mouthed off to Sterling again (I have no idea why he always thinks he'll get away with this!), and they started wrestling in the kitchen.
As a sweet ending to the day, James FINALLY got to dig into the gingerbread house he'd been eyeing all week, as did Samantha. This mainly involved scraping off icing with their fingers and eating that.. much to the chagrin of anyone who wanted some after them!
All-in-all, a pretty great way to cap off Christmas! Photos of this are posted under "Cooley Christmas".

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Oh yeah.. almost forgot about the funniest gift of all. We gave Mark and Dominic a 3-piece grill brush set.. but we ripped one out of the package before we wrapped it. If you understand the significance of this, I guarantee you're rolling on the floor right now.

Christmas, Act II (our little family)

Christmas morning arrived, along with a crabby little boy. Who can be crabby on Christmas morning? James was... he was sOOOOO bummed because, because "I wanted to SEE Santa Claus! I thought I was going to see Santa!?". Poor little pumpkin, we had to explain that Santa only comes if you're asleep! We finally got him over his disappointment using diversion... "Let's go see what Santa LEFT!!!". So we went downstairs, and he walked right past the presents, up to Becky and said, "Merry Christmas, Becky!" and gave her a big hug! We showed him that the eggnog and cookies were gone, and asked if he wanted to open some presents (of course!). When he finally got to the big one, instead of tearing into it, he rubbed his little cheek on it and said in this voice filled with awe, "wow... this is the biggest present I ever saw!". He was even happier when he opened it!

Woodruff Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve with the Woodruffs / McMellons, at E and Jim's new house (newest baby = host). It was so nice! Little Miss Virginia is just the most well-behaved baby ever, and mostly slept through her first Christmas. The food was great, everyone had a wonderful time, and as always, did way more than they should have! Auntie E and Uncle Jimmy got James his first go-cart, which... careful, this may be shocking.. he LOVED!!! We all piled outside and hung out for about 30 mins while James drove around the cul-de-sac with the biggest grin plastered across his cute little cheeks. It was a wonderful Christmas, act I. Pics are posted in the photo album under "07-12 W. Xmas".

The ones that look like they were taken from waist-height were taken by James. He's become fascinated with the camera as of late, and always wants to take some pics himself. I think there's even a self-portrait!

It's beginning to feel alot like Christmas...

What a fun time of year! Two big things to share today (okay, 3.. and the third is either funny or scary):

1. James officially wrote his entire name last night! He was so excited he nearly fell over! We pasted it to some cardstock and proudly posted it on the fridge! Does he look proud or what?
2. We made our first gingerbread house today. Homemade gingerbread is yummy! James loved decorating and EATING the decorations the most. ... and licking frosting off of the house. Not too shabby, eh?


3. Ok, this is probably funny for you, a little scary for me. This morning, James came up to me and said, "Mommy, may I have a towel?", and of course my first question was "what did you spill?". He told me nothing, that he just wanted to throw it on the ceiling fan. I informed him that it was not acceptable to throw towels on the fan, and he asked, "may I throw Newkie on the fan?". (I know, everyone reading this is saying, "YES!!!!"). I told him no, we don't throw our animals on the fan, either! He paused, then asked, "Mommy, do you think peanut butter would melt on the fan?". WTF is this kid thinking??? I'm afraid to leave him in any room now with a fan, which is pretty much every room in the house! I guess it won't be long before I find something inappropriate circling my ceiling...

Digiscrapper!

I have gone digital, baby! For my birthday, Karey bought me some already much-enjoyed scrapbooking magazines, including one all about digital scrapbooking. WOW. I had no idea you could buy and download stuff online like backgrounds, brads, ribbons, embelishments, chipboard... all the cool stuff (and expensive!) you'd buy in the store, but in digital form! And it looks sooo cool! Here's my first attempt. Man, if I'd known about this 2 wks ago, you can be darned sure you'd have gotten an even better looking card than the ones we sent! Click on the image to see it larger, and to truly enjoy my masterpiece!

So what's new?

Not much... things are starting to settle down... finally! We had our first official Beer Wed Now Appearing on Sunday this week, and it was pretty fab! A smattering of Christmas gifts were exchanged, including a super-cool game that the Smiths got for James. It's like Jenga, but with little safari animals (AND, not made in China!... Lead-free!). We played it last night... family game night, if you will. It was oodles of fun, and here are some pics. BTW, Jim McMellon, our brother-in-law and a DOT engineer, believed that you could not stack all pieces, especially not as shown on the box.... typically DOT, right? We did it, here are the pics.


Also, we had our first Parent/Teacher conference today, and get this: they find him very active. Can you believe it? LOL! We kinda knew THAT adjective would work its way into the conversation! Semi-related, he can nearly write his entire name, too.. we assumed he'd learned at school, but they said they found him writing his name on the whiteboard the other day and were surprised.. they hadn't taught him that, either!

Finally, just some funny stuff: we were riding home from the conf when James said "I'm a mad boy". We asked why, and he said, "I'm mad at Daddy. Sometimes little boys just get mad at big boys", to which our big boy replied, "well, sometimes big boys send little boys to their rooms if they're going to be grouchy"... and that, as they say, was that.

Look who's been Elfed

So this is apparently all the rage this season.. it's going around work, and around our friends.. here's our elfing:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1487079004

enjoy!

Reindeer Games

Just a quick post for two things:
First: Congrats Liz, Jim, and baby Virginia! Our new niece was born 1amish Dec 1, and she's just as cute as can be. We couldn't be happier for the new family!

Second, just a few pics from an impromptu photo shoot from this weekend when James and I were putting up Christmas decorations... what a ham! (albeit a very cute one!).

Status (no, we're not dead) and quick blurb

... not dead, but somedays I feel close! We have fought through 3 separate rotten colds in the last two months, the latest of which resulted in antibiotics for me and James (tonsillitus and sinusitus!). Crud. I figured I'd fought mine off with the antibiotics, but now it seems that the virus has said, "ahHA.. that infection isn't using the body anymore, now *I* can finish up!"... and now I have a head cold. GEEEEZ!!! One more this year and I'm ripping my sinuses right out of my head.

So plenty has been happening. James is (I know, I say this every other month) getting so well-spoken, and I just love to chit chat with him.. he's such a cool little dude! He's getting SUPER excited about Christmas, and if you ask him what Santa is bringing, he'll tell you "lots of stuff!". Greeeaaat. I'm pushing really hard to get across the finer points of Christmas by having him pick out and drop off the Toys for Tots, but I'm just not sure he gets it yet. *sigh*... all in time, I guess.

Completely unrelated, this morning he was sitting at the table and he picked up a picture of me. He said, "mommy, is that cute?", and I said, "oh, honey, not really... mommy's not cute". He said, "yes you are! you're cute! You're a nice, pretty mommy, and you're nice and warm!". Awwww... what woman wouldn't like to hear that?

Craft girl

Also, if I may take a moment to write about ME vs. the Center of the Universe, aka "James"...

I am featured this month on Inkadinkadoo.com! If you look down on the left and click on "Have you tried Stamping and Decoupage?", it's a link to their feature project. It has one of my projects pictured, and credits me with the idea! I sent it in about 2 mths ago (back when I was on Decopatch.com), and they scheduled me in for the Nov project. YAY!

Rewarding the rewards

Last night it was time for the nightly Agonizing Over Dinner (ie: WTF to make?). I finally settled on a chicken sandwich for James and salad for Mommy. James insisted that he wanted a sandwich AND a poptart (his new ABSOLUTE favorite). I told him, "sandwich first, THEN poptart if you finish it". The Negotiator tried again to convince me that he needed them at the same time, but Mommy held firm. So, he picked at his sandwich, at least ate all of the filling (he likes to dissect his food.. just like Auntie E), and then announced that he was ready for his poptart. So, I gave it to him, he wolfed it down, and THEN announced that now he gets candy! "Mommy, I ate all my poptart, now I get some candy?". Seriously! I reminded him that candy was for going potty by yourself (and announcing that you need to go vs. being told), NOT as a reward for eating a freakin' POPTART (which was already the reward for finishing the sandwich)! *sigh*

Why do I love thee?

As we rode home from school today, I had a little sniffle. Normally, I keep a box of tissues in the backseat to counteract the accursed sinuses that my mom's side of the family is blessed with. I asked James for one, and typically he reaches over and passes one up to me. Today he said, "I don't see them". I glanced back and noticed that neither did I! I asked, "did Daddy move my tissues?" and James confirmed. So I said (not thinking), "oh that bad Daddy, he makes me so made moving my stuff!". James said, "me too, Daddy makes me so mad, too". I immediately realized the error of having said that out loud, and corrected myself. "Honey, Daddy doesn't really make me mad, I was just teasing". James said, "I like Daddy", and I replied, "Me, too.. in fact, when he comes home today, I'm going to give him a biiiiig kiss!". And James asked, "because he moves stuff?".

Hoooookay, then!

I FINALLY have like 5 mins to sit down and put fingers to keyboard. GRACIOUS, where to begin? James has been soooo excited about Halloween Time! He practiced his Twick o Tweat for days on end, and told anyone who would listen that he was going to be a Fireman, just like Unca Thawn. On a semi-related note, getting him to take potty breaks has actually been a smidge easier, as we've told him "it's time to put out the fire", and he's more than happy to do that!
Well, Misfortune tried to throw us a curveball this week! Sterling was taking James to his Dr's appt with him on Monday (1 hr away, mind you) when James decided to redecorate the interior of Daddy's truck... with lunch. Poor little man yacked twice in the truck, and Sterling had to drive an HOUR home with a sick and messy little boy. Fortunately, he shook that off, and we thought we'd seen the worst (although WE were both petrified that we were going to get it, too. Man, once bitten, a million times shy.. we don't EVER want a stomach bug again!). He started with sniffles the next day, and into Wed. Although he stayed home from school, we did make it over there briefly for their costume parade. We heard that his bug was going around, so par for the course, I guess. Anyway, he had an awesome time, got to see his best girl, Ally (who grabbed his hand and led him around during their parade! Those two are smitten!), and his other buddies, too. We came home to rest, and then made it for Trick or Treating that night. LOTS of pics to be posted. We hit pretty much the whole block, and the handle on his plastic pumpkin snapped off twice from the weight of his loot! Sufficed to say, a good time was had by all, in spite of pesky viruses, bacteria, or whatever the heck it is.

Gotta love a man in uniform!

Just a quick post to show off some pics from this morning's Halloween parade at school... the little lady in the pics is Ally... James' girlfriend! ;-)

New pics!

No real time for chit chat, just wanted to let you know that we posted the pics from our trip up North. Enjoy!

Aren't we proud?

Ya know, we've been having such a great go of the whole potty training thing, but then every now and again I guess you have to expect a little slip. Last night there were 2 slips. We got home from school, and James told me "Mommy, I need to go potty!". So in he went, and about 5 seconds later I heard "oh no, Mommy, I had an accident". So I poke my head in, and he's standing in a puddle about 1 ft in diameter. I asked what happened, did he just not get his pants down in time? He said no, so I told him it was ok and cleaned it up. About THIRTY MINUTES LATER... he told me again, "Mommy, I need to go potty!". I said, "great, let's go right now!" and I turned on the light, turned my back for a sec while I heard the toilet lid get opened, and then... "Mommy... I did it again". Seriously! And he was wearing pajama pants, so how hard was it to just yank 'em down!?!?
So we cleaned up again.
Not 20 mins later, I hear the bathroom door shut. I walk over and ask what he's doing, and he says, "I'm going poop". Didn't even have to ask / tell! It totally made up for the two accidents (or WERE they?). Anyhoo, I tell James to let me know when he's done, and I go back to the kitchen. A minute or two later I hear, "Mommy! Come look at THIS!". He wants me to see the volume of his production. Niiiiiice. Then when he's done, he says, "I need some air". I asked if he wanted to open the bathroom door, and he said, "no, I want to turn on the fan". THANK GOD!!! He's been anti-fan for a little while now, and when he's taking care of business, he does NOT need to be anti-fan... we need to be very pro-fan! Because... look at what he did!

Just too funny

There is a fundamental difference between the child-rearing techniques of a Mommy vs. a Daddy. This was glaringly evident when I read one of the comments on Linda Loveland's Babyology blog (one of my favs, btw.. it all sounds so familiar!)...

The topic was the little grab bag you get when you pick up your kid from daycare.. and you know WHY the clothes are sealed up...

"

Kids get dirty at daycare? To be sure?

I got one suggestion - CONSIGNMENT CLOTHING ONLY WORN TO DAYCARE! Then, when you get the "Surprise Sack" you drop it in daycare's trash can on the way out with no guilt!

HELLO! Come on ladies - this is coming from a Dad!

Mr. Keeping It Real"

nice, eh?

Little Mister Contrary

James is mastering the use of the word "but" (not "butt"... I'm sure he'll master THAT in about another year, as he IS a boy!). He likes to use it ALOT. I'll ask him to do something or not to, and he'll ask, "but, WHY?". Or, "I can't do this, but I can do THAT?". He's too much. This morning we were getting dressed and I loosened up his sandals for him, and he told me, "You're a good mommy, but you don't have to do that. See, I can just push my feet in.". Nice try, Mom, but you're not needed here.. move on!

Clearing some hurdles

Sorry for the long hiatus, but one of said hurdles was a wicked cold that James and I have been trying to shake for about 2 weeks now. Criminey, I'm still coughing and clearing my throat.. can't wait for this to be completely gone!
The more important hurdle, however, is POTTY TRAINING!!!! As you know, we've been fighting this uphill battle for about the last year, and little mister man has simply not been interested. It just goes to show you, they really do just have to be ready.. you can't make them do it if they don't want to. When I think about how much we stressed ourselves out over this at the beach when it was CLEAR he did not care.... argh.
Yet I digress. The fact is, we're there. He comes home from school in the same little undies I send him in, and with the exception of the occasional accident, he is gung ho! He's so excited when he lets you know, "Mommy, I need to go POTTY", like he's reporting on a very big event (which he is!). He's excited about his M uh Ms, and I am just to elated. I feel like this huge weight has been lifted off of my chest!
Why in the world do moms stress out about this so much? I'll tell you why, I kept thinking that I must be doing something wrong. Other kids his age were potty trained, so it much be us, we weren't doing it right, or we were slackers, and I just knew that everyone was looking at that pull up peeking out of his waistband and thinking "wow, what's his problem?". Well ya know what? NOTHING, that's what his problem was, and ours too. There's no problem, he's smart, fun, he's not a picky eater, he's social, that was just last on his priority list. We all have different priorities, and I guess you just need to learn to accept that yours and those of your kiddo might be very different! Another lesson learned for Mommy.

Yet another preview of the teenage years (or, "a continuation of 3 going on 13")

Man, is little Mister Man getting sassy these days! First there was the whole "whatever" comment in the Teeter, but now we have two more instances to add:

We were picking out jammies tonight, and James grabbed a pair of his winter jammy bottoms, with which we normally pair a plain white t-shirt (the undershirt kind). He didn't want that. Put his little foot down. So I said, "fine, pick out a different pair of jammies". So he reached in, grabbed another set, and said, "fine... I guess I'll wear these" in this snotty little whatevery-kind of voice!

Then Sterling came home, and caught us in the middle of The Lorax, at which point my voice was giving out (I'd forgotten how long that book is!). I should also mention that my throat has actually started to hurt within the last hour, I think I've caught a cold. Anyhoo, Sterling tags in, ready to read, and James tells him, "no, I want Mommy". Daddy says, "James, Daddy likes books, too", to which James sasses back, "Yes, Daddy, you like books, but I still want Mommy". And Daddy tried very hard to hide his smirk!

3 going on 13

While in the Teeter last night, James pointed out that he wanted some soda while we were on that aisle. I said, no, that's yucky, we're not buying that. To which he replied "pshhh. whatever". He even did it in that mumbly-teenagerey voice! I almost fell on the floor! I asked him, "where did you hear that?!?!". To which he replied, "Daddy". How do we feel about watching what we say in front our little mawcaw? Pshhh... whatever.

Boys are nasty

I guess it's just a fact. I've confirmed this with fellow mom Jamye, who didn't even bat an audible eye over this when I shared it with her (over the phone).
First, before we leave school, we've been making it routine to make a potty pitstop. Typically, the kids are all running around on the playground like wild animals when I pick him up, so we stop off in the empty classroom to grab his stuff, deposit any output, then go on our way. Well, I asked him to try a poop before we left, and he forgot to tuck things down while sitting and ended up peeing on the floor, and saturating his shorts. So, we changed shorts, Mommy cleaned the floor, and on we went.
Don't keep reading if you're eating or have a weak stomach.
Back at home, I noticed the telltale sign of needing to make another pitstop, so I directed him into the bathroom. I went back to putting away groceries and told him to let me know when he was ready. He let me know by opening the door himself, which told me he was no longer ON the potty... which is cause for concern. "Why?", you may ask? Because he doesn't always LIFT off of the seat, he sliiiides off of the seat. You know where this is going, don't you? Not only was there a huge skidmark. AND, he'd apparently tried to clean this himself, as evidenced by the toilet paper stuck in various places around the seat. Then he pointed out that he had poop on his hands. I told him not to touch ANYTHING, and he bent over to let me wipe. Then he realized that bent over, his hands were really close to the rug, which made a great place to wipe off his hands. ARGGGH!!!! Did I mention this was in our smalled bathroom, the one downstairs? And the CAT was in there, too? And it was HOT? And I'm a smidge claustrophobic? Good times.
Finally I got him cleaned up, we washed our hands twice, and I shooed him out to deal with the mess. Then I realized the stool he'd been resting his feet on was wet. And I realized that he'd tried to dunk the toilet paper into the toilet to CLEAN the seat... which I immediately bleached.

WOW that's some funny stuff

I no sooner hit "publish" than James came out of his room and told Sterling, "Daddy, 1 minute over". He's clearly a man of his word.

10 minutes!

I guess James is wrapping his little brain around the concept of time, to include days of the week, minutes, and today vs. tomorrow. Lately he likes to tell you when or for how long he'll do something. We were walking to the playground today, and he said "first I'm going to slide for 10 minutes, then I"m going to swing for 10 minutes". While we were at the beach, we asked him if he wanted to go potty before we went into a museum, and he said, "I'll poop on Sunday". His estimations are just so random that it's pretty funny.

Tonight Sterling was putting him to bed (mainly because he kneed mommy in the gut and daddy wisely thought it would be good to give mommy a moment). So they're hanging out in James' room, and the conversation goes like this:
J: Daddy, want to go in your room?
D: You don't want me in here?
J: No
D: That makes me sad (this is James' big catch phrase these days... he normally uses it with this pitiful little puppy dog tone in his voice!)
J: You can come back in 10 minutes
D: You'll be asleep
J: It's OK.

And that was that.

Just kinda funny

I've set our screensaver at home to slideshow, and it flips through a handful of pics that I really like, mainly those of main little man. Totally at random, these are the two that happen to come up one after another... somewhat of a contrast. It gives me a chuckle. The latter is our new favorite.. it's just so funny.

Beach photos!

Man! I think this was the busiest beach trip yet. So busy, that I'm still too tired to write it all up yet, but I did scrounge up the energy to post the pics...
http://woodruffblog.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AZN2LNs4bNmPK&notag=1

Hittin' the ol' nail on the head!

Each morning, I spend about 5 mins perusing WRAL.com to check out the daily news. There's a blog that one of the reporters, Linda Loveland, maintains, which I've added to my links down below. I saw today that Amanda Lamb also has a blog, but it's not typically baby-centric (which is why I probably haven't noticed it much before). Today, however, she announced her new book, "Smotherhood", which you can read more about here. I read a few pages of the excerpt (it's a very generious excerpt! Several pages!), and realized that a) I would quickly spend way more time here than I wanted to if I kept reading, and b) I really wanted to keep reading! It's supposed to be available in local bookstores, and I am totally going on the hunt for this. I loved what I read, and can't wait to read the whole thing. Check it out, and support a local author!

Feeeeeellliiiingggs! Whoawhoawhoa Feelings...

You sure know where you stand these days with James, and he will make sure he knows where he stands, too. We're all about the feelings these days. James is constantly probing, "are you happy? are you sad? are you angry?". In addition to getting the lowdown on everyone else, he likes to inform you of your impact on HIS emotions. He often asks during the day when I take a break, "Mommy, and you finished with work?" and if I tell him no, he says, "that makes me sad". Wow.. rip out my heart and throw it on the floor whydon'tcha?

He's also started to employ The BooBoo Lip. If something has ticked him off, he shoves that bottom lip out so far I'm surprised it doesn't throw off his center of gravity. The funny thing about this, though, is if you call him out on it, it makes him giggle, and it's hard to maintain a BBL when you're smiling.

Speaking of feelings, Mommy was feeling ANGRY yesterday morning. I have not been sleeping worth a pickle these days, and the night before last was no exception. At 6am, my little sunshine bounded into the room to climb into bed with us, and proceeded to pull his normal routine of shoving, prodding, rolling, squirming, etc. I threatened him several times with expulsion from the bed, and informed my little wiggle worm that he'd better settle down or get out. FINALLY, he started to settle down a bit, I started to drift off, when Sterling (who left bed the minute James climbed in.. smart man!) walked in, pulled Lion's arm out of James' mouth and said, "no chewing!". Well, that set James off in a deluge of tears, and I was just so pissed at being woken up AGAIN that I threw my pillow across the room and stomped out of bed screaming "I GIVE UP!!!". Sterling pointed out that he was going to grab James and take him WITH him, but ya know, once you've had a siren go off in your ear, your morning is pretty much shot. What do you think my answer was when James asked me shortly after if I was happy?

This ain't the South of France

You always know you're in for a chuckle when a sentence starts with "look what I found"... in this case, it was what Sterling discovered in the front year.. a little boy, in a state of undress!

Sterling was edging and doing yard work, and James was hanging out, riding his trike, just keeping busy as he is wont to do. Sterling had his back turned to James when he started asking, "ready to go to the beach, Daddy?", a pause, and then again, "ready to go to the beach? Daddy, I'm ready for the beach". Apparently, after each query, he'd shed an article of clothing! He had dragged his little playmat down onto the lawn, pulled off his sandals, pants, pull-up, and was riding that mat bare-back. What kind of beach does he think he's going to?

Doh!

So here's what I would look like if I were on the Simpsons! One of my coworkers has his Simpsonized image in our company directory.. too funny! For a chuckle, check out Simpsonizeme.com.

The interweb... is there anything it can't do?

Goooooood looookin'!

Just wanted to share my new favorite pic of my perpetually favorite subject. It's my new PC background, and it just makes me smile.

Oh yeah....

I nearly forgot about "The Butter Incident". James is an admitted butterholic. He LOVES butter (and has gone so far as to tell Sterling "butter makes me so happy"). So we shouldn't have been surprised when the Butter Bandit struck while we were at the lake. It was Sunday morning, and we were all enjoying breakfast on the porch (pancakes..mmm). James had finished and excused himself, and the rest of us were still sitting at the table.. when he STRUCK.
I think Bethany was the one who first noticed James standing just inside the house, holding an entire stick of butter and licking it like a Push-Up pop. I jumped up to chase, he took off, and ran down the hallway. He stopped at the end for half a second, took one more lick (as if to taunt me), giggled like a maniac and kept going into the bedroom where I finally caught him. I like butter, too, but really?

The Lake House

Ah, I've been quite remiss in posting entries, but we've soo busy, and I really wanted to do this one justice! A few weeks ago, we were invited to the Smiths' family lake house up on Lake Gaston. Those of you who know them, know that they have a little 'un themselves, so it promised to be a nice quiet relaxing weekend... until destiny played it's hand!!!
Hahaha.. doesn't that sound like the lead-in to a preview for a Summer Blockbuster? All too appropriate, I think you'll soon agree!
So we start with the drive up, which while uneventful, was also un-cruise-controley. Many of us *don't* use cruise control, it's just not that big a deal.. unless you are my husband. Sterling believes quite firmly that not only should every vehicle come equipped with this, but failure to use it should be punishable by law. It drives him INSANE! So the Smiths are like the other 90% of the population who doesn't bother to use it, and Sterling could not maintain the perfect cruise. When we finally got to hwy 85 where he could scootch in front, his relaxing weekend *really* begn (I know, seriously!).
So not far down this stretch, we took the exit for the lake and began winding our way through many country roads (gorgeous day, btw!). It seems that there's a certain combination of roads one must follow to get to the house, and any deviation throws a wrench in the works.... like the detour! At the point Brent intended to turn left, there was a huge sign indicating "road closed to thru traffic".. so we went right, following the detour. We got about a mile down the road when we pulled over and agreed that this really seemed to be going out of the way, and maybe we should try to go down that road.. maybe we'd have to turn off before we got to the part that was closed? So we did... and about another mile down the road there was some orange barrels. Brent was in front, and started to ease through them (there was just about a Highlander's worth of space between the two on our side), when for some reason he sped up, hit the barrels at FULL FREAKIN' SPEED, and Sterling and nearly ran off the road laughing so hard. To be fair, at first we just kinda sat there with out mouths hanging open, then lost it. It was like watching "Die Hard", and if Bethany had just hung out the window with an Uzi, that would have completed the picture. The best part is that when he hit them, they went "Phhoooooomp!" (only really loud), and one of them actually SMUSHED! I did not know how fragile these things are, but he CRUSHED IT. It was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.
Oh yeah, bridge was really missing, detour really did work, and the rest of the weekend was very uneventful.

Two peas in a pod

We have some new pics of James (yes, family, you'll get some!!), and he looks soooo grown up! But that's not the funny part. The funny part is that I stuck in on the bulletin board on my desk so that I could see it, and I realized as I tucked it up there what the pic next to it looked like....

The little things...

While James and I sat eating at the table last night, Newkie came over to post watch, and decided to sit on James school bag while he hung out. James said, "Newkie! Get. off. my. SchoolBAG!". I told him that it wasn't a big deal, but he wouldn't eat! He threatened a hunger strike if Newkie didn't get off that bag! So I pulled the bag out from under him, and James said, "Thank you, Monny, that makes me so happy". It really is the little victories, I guess.

work/life imbalance

These are the days that drive us to drink. So it's 7 o'clock, I'm finishing up a conference call, and I'm so beat. No time for laundry (need DESPERATELY to wash both lions.. James has taken to chewing them alot.. ew), haven't had dinner (hellloooo, cheeseburgers!), barely managed to pop away for 2 mins to situate son on the potty, after bribing him with a handful of M&Ms to play in his room rather than talking over my conference call. This is not healthy, is it? bad mommy.

The darnedest things... (sp?)

James just cracks me up. He's actually funnier than alot of grown-ups I know. Mainly, because he just says exactly what he's thinking, and he had such an imagination that what he's thinking is typically off the wall. I submit for your consideration:

"Monny, I found the treasure!" ("digging" for buried treasure in the hallway). I say," oh wow, what kind of treasure is it?", to which he replies excitedly, "BLUE!"

We decided today to have dinner on the back porch ala picnic. He grabbed the juice boxes while I made grilled cheese sandwiches. While he was waiting, he chewed the straw from his juicebox until it was pretty much flat. So I gave him mine, and just slurped mine out of the hole. He asked, "Monny, where your straw go?", and I said, "somebody chewed his up, so I gave him mine.. do you know who that somebody was?".. he answered, honestly, "a bumblebee?"

Zoo Review Part Two (isn't that fun to say? try it!)

Pics are posted! Wow, there were alot! Rather than any more blogging, I'll just tell you that there are comments under each pic and that's just going to have to be good enough fer now! Click on "Woodruff Photo Collection" on the left.

Zoo review

Right now I'm too tired and too busy to give you a huge rundown, but I will say this... the Zoo was AAWWEEESOOMMMMMEEE! We had fabulous weather, got to see a great selection of the park, had a faboo picnic lunch, and got some amazing pics. My camera battery died towards the end so I can't even show you my pics until it recharges, but Brent was kind enough to send over a few samples of his shots this morning. This'll have to placate for the time being! It was James hands-down FAVORITE animal.

All aboard for a dirty afternoon!

James got to see his first real train yesterday at the New Hope Valley Railway. This is a very cool old railway that's maintained by a group of volunteers, and runs about once a month. There are two locomotives, one on each end (they don't have a turntable so one pulls one way, the other pulls back home!), and a buncha cars in between. It was a beautiful day, and we thought we'd enjoy sitting in the open car next to the oil-burning steam locomotive.
If you know anything about trains, you're already laughing your ass off. If you don't, let me tell you why that other group is laughing so hard. When a locomotive is building up steam, you can see the steam pouring out of the top... and some of it falls down in little sprinkles like when you point the hose up on a hot day and feel that fine mist fall down. ... except that *this* mist is mixing with the carbon-y smoke being thrown up from the burnt oil... and it's pulling it down with it. So it's like taking a carbon shower! If you look closely at the last few pictures in the photo album, you'll notice that we all have black freckles... EVERYWHERE! *cough* *cough*.. I think I got the black lung, pop!
The other thing that was kinda funny was how many kids around James' age were there, and how many kids, just like James, had never seen a real train in person before... and were freaked the f- out!. When that thing started up, it was LOUD! The steam itself was pretty loud, but whenever we crossed a road, that whistle would blow, and MAN. Every kid in our car was holding their ears, or holding onto their moms.. we had a few that cried for a while! Poor little things. I think they all got used to it, though (just in time to hit the first hill and get a carbon shower). And of course, on the ride back, the locomotive was at the other end of the train, so it was relatively quiet... like ending on a high note!
They also had a G-scale train out there, completely with - yes, you guessed it: Thomas. James told us this was his favorite part. Forget the real train, forget that we got to check out a real caboose, the toy that he couldn't even touch was his favorite part. No accounting for taste, I guess!

The testing of the patience

Gracious, that boy sure does test a mom's patience. The day started off (as they all do) nice. We hung out, ran some errands, made muffins.... all baseball and apple pie Mom and her Little Man. Then the afternoon rolled around, and Mr. Hyde made a call. Naps are totally hit or miss, but the days he doesn't take them, you can sure tell! He's going through this VERY whiney phase, where he just... gaw! I can't even describe it, but it's the most obnoxious, whiney bratty little noise and it makes you want to jam ice picks into your ears to make it stop. He likes to accessorize this cacophonous sound with flailing arms, that typically hit something (because he's not paying attention), which hurts, which sets off another round.

Bathroom visits kinda suck. I'm a tad on the claustrophobic side to begin with, and when you're maneuvering a 3yr old and yourself, there's not always a ton of room. Sadly (for me), James does not share this aversion, and actually likes being in close quarters with me, and finds this an opportune time for games and general chicanery. This includes grabbing my face (in spite of numerous lectures regarding touching other people's faces with "pee pee hands" prior to washing!), screeching in my face, wiggling around when we're trying to get cleaned up... just anything you can think of. If we're in a public restroom, there's also a lot of hootin' an' hollerin', because he likes the echo (the other bathroom patrons.. not so much!). So today he was screaming in face, and I'd just had it, I screeched right back in his face with loudest, shrillest noise I could stand in such a small space. He just looked absolutely stunned and scrambled to cover his ears! Then he said, "monny, like this? aaaaahhhh!" and did little whisper/yells. I said, "yes, like that.. that's fine". And ya know, he hasn't done that since!

Farewell, Friends! (or should we say, "see you later"?)

Well, with heavy hearts, we bade farewell to the Kleys last night. They've packed up house, and should be on the road right now, enroute to Colorado. James and Keatey played like the always do, ran around like maniacs, wrestled, got mad, and then went back to hugging and running. I'm about to cry again just thinking about it... I sobbed all the way home. How fortunate we've been to have such good friends, and for our little boys to have such a buddy. We wish them a safe trip, good luck in their house hunt, and a speedy return so that we don't have to miss them for too long!

What a miserable kid...

...nothing makes him happy. He's just such a downer.

Awesome day at the museum

Yesterday we went to the Museum of Natural Science... other than the giant mutant bees, it was pretty good...

What not to wear

Today was hot, AND I need to do laundry... so I wore a skirt. Mind you, a simple linen casual skirt, along with a t-shirt and flip flops (so 2/3 of my usual wardrobe). I guess I wear skirts much less frequently than I realized, because when James saw me, he rubbed my leg like he wasn't sure what it was, and said "Monny, what's THAT? Why are you wearing a costume?". I explained that it wasn't a costume, it was a skirt. He said, "you don't need a skirt". So then I explained that I did need a skirt because I wasn't wearing pants, and he asked, "where's your pants? You need pants". Sheesh.. forget it, I just won't wear the skirt again!

A bit of privacy, please?

Without going into too much detail, I'm happy to report that potty training is going really great! I don't know if it's being in school with so many other kids, or just his time. I guess you really do have to just wait until they're ready! Well, my little trooper is ready like nobody's business. He is excited about using the potty! He doesn't even want to use his little seat anymore, he wants to sit on the normal seat like a big boy. AND, he doesn't want help. AND, he doesn't want company! Once I make sure he's situated, he'll say, "Monny, wanna leave me alone?", and I have to leave and shut the door all the way. This happened in a restaurant the other day, and I had to put my foot down there (way too much stuff to get into / dirty stuff I don't want him touching), so I said, "I'll pretend to leave" and turned around. Apparently, this was fine. Sometimes he must be in the mood for company, because he'll suggest, "Monny, wanna pretend to leave?". A few times he's even gone off into the bathroom, taken care of business, and washed his hands by himself and everything. It's such a drastic improvement in such a short period of time, that I really am now a firm believer that you just have to wait it out. And we did. And it's here... yay!

Slip'n and Slidin'

James has been introduced to the time-tested.. holy crap! I just went to the website for Wham-O to grab the link to the Slip 'n' Slide, but there's no longer a simple Slip 'n' Slide. Now there are character variations (Superman, Spiderman, Batman...), there are tandem slides, those huge inflatable jammies, you name it! Anyhoo, we got the slight-ritzier than the original one with sprinklers along it and a little pillow at the end to stop your slide (hehehe.. remember when you used to shoot off the end into the grass and it HURT?!?! LOL). So Sterling and Shawn, who were having a Daddy playdate, laid it out and Shawn hurled the kids down it. It was hilarious, and we got some awesome pics!

Happy Father's Day!

First, a Happy Father's Day to all of the dads we know! HFD to Dads W and C and Poppa Cooley! HFD to new dads Brent and Dave! To Dad-now-to-a-brood-of-THREE, Mike! To soon-to-be-dad Jim! Hope your day was awesome!

Ours was! We spent it at my family's, and just pretty much had a blast hanging out, grilling out, and watching the kids splash around in the pool. Pics posted to the collection. HAPPY HAPPY! (wow, you'd think *I* was the one drinking!!)

Higher volumes, better performance!

Whew, what a ROTTEN morning! We are dealing with some major preschool angst. I guess James is not transitioning as perfectly as we thought, and the fact that he didn't get enough sleep last night really didn't help matters much (what are we going to do? duct tape him to the bed?!?!). So he SOBBED brokenheartedly when it was time to go to school.. all. the. way. there. Naturally, I feel like the worst mother in the world because I'd snapped at him for going through 2 sets of clothes before he even left the house this morning... sobbing all around!
We touched base w/ the school 2 or 3 x this morning to see how he was doing, and he gradually improved. Darling Daddy took a 1/2 day, and swung by to pick James up a little early, only to find that he was sacked out! He said, "I walked in there and every kid in there is asleep! How the (*& do they get like a dozen kids to take a nap, I can't get ONE! I'm not kidding, it looked like someone shook up a handful of jelly beans, tossed them all over the place, and they just fell asleep wherever they landed! What do they DO?!?!"
Whatever it is, we need some... because sleep is NOT something that's happening around the Woodruff House.

Ever vigilant!

If your 3-yr old has been very quiet for quite some time, you should question it... I don't think I need to say any more...

School is GOOD

The preschool update: So there was a smidge of sniffles when Daddy dropped off James this morning, but the teacher took him over to play with some puzzles, and it seemed like it was going to be ok. I was nervous all day, worrying about my poor sad little man!
I arrived to find James sitting in one of those cute little chairs at a table with 2 other kids, playing just as happily as a clam. He didn't want to leave, barely said "hi", and I had to drag him home! So much for worrying!
His teacher also reported that he had a GREAT day, and did great with the potty! Apparently, he impressed even himself, as he called over to her, "look at my HUGE poop!" Wow, that line is going to REALLY score with the ladies in a few years, eh?

Busy week

You would think a holiday week would be calm. People would take the week off or long weekends, not many deadlines, that kind of thing. Last week was insane! Here's how I feel:

Aren't these funny? After adamantly protesting yesterday that he did NOT need a nap, he clearly took a HARD one. When he woke up, I laughed so hard! I took him into the bathroom and said "look at your hair!", to which he replied, "That's CRAZY!". I asked if I could take a pic, and he said, "sure!". So we did... and he even made funny faces upon request! Doesn't he look alot like Calvin? LOL

First Day of School

Today was James' first day at his new school. He's been very excited for the last few weeks! Although we're so sad that he's not pal-ing around with best buddy Keaty, it really is nice for him to start school and begin the transition to big boyhood! We bought him a new backpack (or as he calls it, "packpack") for his lunch, and he's been putting on and walking around the house pretending to go to school! So the day finally came!
... and went off without a hitch! We arrived in the lobby behind a daddy and his little boy, and James cheerily greeted them with "Hi, Kid!". He tore down the hallway as soon as we got there. He's in the "Fantastic Frogs" room, with several other kids his age and a very nice teacher, Ms. Towanda. He plomped his little tush in the chair in front of the computer, grabbed the mouse, and didn't even make eye contact when I said goodbye! I got a quick kiss, a very distracted "bye", and that was that! I think he's going to like it!

Lock your doors!!! (unless you'd like some help with that...)

My mischievous little imp of a child has discovered that doors lock. Granted, he knows how to lock and unlock the exterior doors (also a bit of a gray-hair-sprouter!), but now he's discovered what that little button on the back of the interior doorknobs does.. and he enjoys using them! His new favorite pastime is to lock and close all of the upstairs doors. What a stinker! By the time you respond to the first slam and get upstairs, it's too late, and you're rooting around for something to pop the knobs. For the record, a q-tip with one end broken off works really well.
Well, for some time now, I've shared with you the fact that the Woodruffs obviously have something special in that Roanoke Rapids water, which results in James taking long blissful naps and sleeping in each morning. Hehehehe... payback's a pickle, ain't it? While staying with them this weekend, he first demonstrated his new trick for them the first day he was there. When it *really* got interesting was this morning, apparently. Mom W said she heard him come in the room, and could feel him standing beside the bed looking at her while she feigned sleep. He left the room, seemingly to go back to bed, but WAIT! There was a *snick* a *slam*, and a little boy announcing that he could not get back to bed because the door was shut. So Grandaddy had to get up at 5am (sorry, Dad!!) to let him back in his room, and later that morning he completely removed the locking mechanism! LOL... James will probably figure out how to reassemble it before he comes home tomorrow!

Happy Memorial Day, all!

Don't make me wake up!!!

If this is 3, just imagine what 13 is going to be like on school days!

The price of beauty

When James gets a batch, it involves about 5 mins of actually cleaning him, followed by about 20 mins of him splashing happily to himself and playing with tub toys. So I figured, I'll give myself a face mask while I'm hanging out here in the bathroom. James wasn't quite sure what do with this new look. He kept giving me the strangest looks... "Mony, what's THAAAT?". I explained what it was, and he just kept giving me this amused/grossed out look (see pic). I had to wait for it to dry, so I figured I'd finish him up.. drying off, dressing, cutting nails. So I'm hunched over his little toes, cutting his toenails when he says, "Mony? May I see your face? May I touch it?".. and he says it in this totally fascinated voice, like wow... I"m going to TOUCH that! Then he asked like every 2 mins until I washed it off! Boys, they just don't appreciate what we do for beauty!The look of "what the heck is on your face, lady?"

Nutritional footnote

Oh yeah, and just in case you were concerned.. the gelatanous Krabby Patties are FAT FREE! Because that's what I look for in a gummy confection. Just so ya know...

Best incentive EVAH!

Daddy RULZ! He and James came home from BJ's with a new potty incentive... SpongeBob Gummy Krabby Patties. Frankly, we both think they look revolting, but of course James thinks they are totally poop-worthy. Within 5 mins of getting home, James stripped from the waist down, hopped up on that potty, and produced like a champ. If only we'd found these sooner...

This just made me laugh...

... hope it does you, too

The storm after the calm

Every time James gets sick, we have a re-training period that follows. He has to remember how to go back to sleep soundly, and how Mommy and Daddy are not going to join him at random intervals throughout the night. Last night was that period.
For about a good hour (?) last night, we battled the "I won't go to sleep by myself" monster. Several times, Mommy tucked him in, we threatened the gate in front of the door, we put the gate in front of the door... nothing was working. The really pitiful thing is, when we put the gate there, we're treated to these plaintive little inquiries.. "Monny? I want my Monny... you come lay down wif me?". It's pitiful. But it's also so sweet, and I know that he won't want me to lay down wif him much longer, so that makes me want to even more. What do you do? Do you stick to your guns, knowing that he needs to go to bed on his own, or do you suck it up, and acknowledge that so what if he likes some company while he's winding down for bed.. that means he can count on his parents for comfort?
I'd gone downstairs to walk Becky for the night (Daddy KONKED.. hard!), and walked back in to sobbing (standing at the gate). So, rather than let him see me, I sat at the top of the stairs to wait it out. ... then I noticed that the crying had a bit of a doppler effect to it.. it was getting closer. "Monny? What you doin'?". He'd shimmied under the gate and busted me. The jig was up at this point, so I took him back to bed, laid down with him for a while, and we talked. I finally realized he was thinking that I was supposed to go to bed with him! So I reminded him that Mommy and Daddy sleep in their room (which is boring and has no cool stars or planets), but he gets to sleep in the cool room with his friends: Saturn, Lion, Thomas Pillow, Moon, Planets, etc.. I think we finally made a connection, and we parted ways with the agreement that his little bottom would stay firmly ensconced in his own bed! Whew!

wish us luck tonight...

Loooong weekend

Master James fell ill this weekend to some kind of tummy bug, thus we had a pretty long weekend full of caring for the boy and keeping up with the laundry produced. Anyhoo, it really only affected him ALL of Saturday night, and he was mostly back to normal on Sunday. But no nap, a little grouchy, and we were still keeping an eye on him. So it was assumed he was just still a bit out of sorts when he woke us up again last night... at 1:30am. and 2:00am, and at 2:30 I'd had enough and just went to bed with him to get some sleep (that, and I was struggling to explain to him that no, in spite of what he was telling me, bees were not chasing him in his room at 2:30 in the morning). Now, we both slept just great after that! Until I woke up around 7am with a small finger in my nose. I'm sure it will surprise you to hear that this woke me STRAIGHT up! Naturally, I explained to James that I was not enjoying his finger up my nose, at which point he proceeded to shove it up the other nostril. Firmly, I explained that he'd better stop NOW, to which he replied, "but Mooonnnyyy... it's FUUNNN!". And so it was time to get up.

Video Supahstah!

Check out the Woodruff Video Collection (not those kinds of the videos!) link on the left.. have posted more fun vids of LL Cool J*.

*Bethany has decided that this is James' new moniker. Apparently, it originally stood for "Ladies Love Cool James", which is very true. Our super neighbors, Mike and Steph, just moved this weekend (so sad!!! but good for them), and they had a little going away bash, at which James wooed several little ladies with the awesome allure of his bubble-blowing skills. He's quite the little Romeo.

Just gweat!

James did not nap yesterday, which means that the afternoon was especially trying. So yesterday evening, while Daddy was grilling, we made a potty attempt. James decided to hold out, sitting on the lid of the toilet so i couldn't even open it. Every minute or so, he'd stand up a smidge, lift the lid about an inch, then sit back down hard, as if to make sure you knew that he wasn't going to budge on this. At one point, he stood completely up, and I quickly opened the lid... but then he sat back down again and kept going... up to his pits in the toilet! Seriously, the look on his face was truly priceless! I hauled him out, laughing my ASS off, at which point I think finally started to shake off the shock. Then he *lectured* me! He said, "that's not funny, Monny... I'm soaking wet! That's just gweat... I'm alllll wet. I'm soaking wet, Monny, don't laugh". Then I guess it got the better of him and he started to chuckle too. MAN, I have not laughed that hard in a very long time!

Best Daddy EVAH!

Look what Daddy made for his little man... who now, btw, thinks Daddy is the coolest person on the planet! The last pic is my favorite.. d'ya think he likes it? He's so hard to read...

Whispering not-so-sweet nothings...

As always, James crawled into bed this morning to snuggle. As always "snuggling" with James (or trying to take a nap with him) is very similar to what I imagine it would feel like if you were thrown into a sack full of angry monkeys, and someone were to shake the bag.. vigorously. Seriously, it's part aerobic exercise, part physical torture. Yet I digress..
After some light tossing and turning, he whispers, "Monny.. it's morning time.", and I get my obligatory good morning kiss. He then whispers, "Monny... I'm weawwy hongwy. I want a cereal bar". I reply, "Tell Daddy". He then tells me, "he's sleeping". Guess what, Einstein, so was Monny until she got pummelled awake!

Where can he be?

I heard, "Mooonnnny!! Find me!" .. and this is what I found, "hiding"...

Feels like a hundred bucks!

Toddlers have such an interesting way of interpreting things. As I sit here typing, James walks up and says, "MONNY! I uh thirty saommgublu HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!". To which I naturally reply "hunh?". Sterling interpreted for me.. "he's thirty eight and a half inches tall.. we just measured him". So yeah, like he said.. HUNDRED DOLLARS!

I didn't realize we were on a first name basis...

While making breakfast for His Highness this morning, Sterling burned his hand on the toaster. Naturally, he yelped and gave the impression of having just acquired an owie. James replied, "What's wrong, Sterling?"... and I had to leave the room to go laugh.

And so it begins....

I wondered how long we'd get away with not dealing with the "whys". They've begun. Not so much in a "why is the sky blue?" kind of way, but in a "James, stop doing that", ".. but Why?" kind of way (vs. "pleeeease?!"). The funny thing is, he actually prefaces with "but".. "but, why?".

He's also started to ask, at random intervals, and typically when you're in plain sight, "what are you doing?". As we drove to grab some dinner last night, Sterling and I were each asked about 3 or 4 times each, "Mommy / Daddy, what are you doing?" from the boy in the back seat... who could see us both... as we sat in the same seats in the same care all the way to Jersey Mike's. My new weapon is "what do you think....". James: Mommy, what are you doing? Mommy: James, what do you think Mommy's doing? James: You reading a book. Mommy: That's right, very good! If he's going to ask obvious questions, he's going to work for a response as hard as I am!

Inappropriate requests

James has very good manners. He consistently says "please", "thank you", "may I..", "excuse me".. very nice. Unfortunately, he thinks that manners = getting what you ask for. Like they're some form of currency that can buy you whatever you'd like. Thus he frequently pleads for completely inappropriate things:
Mommy: James, pls stop kicking the back of mommy's seat (in the car)
James: pleeeaase?
WTF!! Who begs for permission to kick a freakin' seat? He does this with all kinds of naughty / mischievous behavior... does it, and when asked to stop simply replies "please?", like we'll say, "oh, alrighty then, my bad... beat mommy over the head with that toy all you want. Don't let me stop you!".

Spelling Champ

James has a little wooden puzzle with the alphabet that he loves to put together then shake to bits. He asked me to help him with it, so naturally I decided to make it an educational opportunity. I started to use the letters to spell short words. I spelled H A T. We said each of the letters, and then their sounds... or tried to
Mommy: What letter is this?
James: H! Huuuh!
Mommy: Good! What's the next letter?
James: A! Ah!
Mommy: Great, this one?
James: T!! Teh!
Mommy: very good, now let's say just the sounds and see what it spells...
James: It spells JAMES! Jumpy James!
Mommy: Sweetie, no, let's do the sounds. *points to H*
James: Huh
*mommy points to A*
James: Ah
*mommy points to T*
James: Teh
Mommy: good, now let's say them faster...
James: Jumpy James! It spells Jumpy James!

the world may not revolve around him, but I"m not sure he's grasped that yet...

AWESOME Weekend

So wow, we had a totally awesome weekend. Gotta work now, so more later, but I couldn't wait to share at least one or two pics. Also, Elizabeth has started a blog! The link is over on the left with my other favorite sites, and it's adorable.. love the template she used! That's all for now! Happy Monday!