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!