Kisses

It's nice that Charlie is still so small and cuddly -- we're in no hurry for him to get big!

We love the Hampton Inn West Bend!

Charlie with his aunt and uncle about a month ago.

Napping

How old is this kid? Fifteen?

Where you going with that finger Charlie?

Will has taught his younger brother so much already.

Nope, I don't got it

"Mommy, how's this sound?"

Will piped up from the back of the van on the way to school with another one of his plans to change his world.

"OK. This is how it's going to go ... I won't watch TV one week and then I will watch TV the next week, then I won't watch the next week, then I will watch. What do you think about that? Doesn't that sound like a good idea?"

"Well," I responded, impressed by his ever-growing negotiation skills. "I'm not sure. How much TV are you talking about?"

"None! I wouldn't watch ANY TV that week."

"Right. I get that, but what about the weeks that you DO get to watch TV?"

"No. Mommy. Listen. I wouldn't watch ANY TV one week, then I would the next week, and then I wouldn't again the next week ... do you see the patt-ren?"

"Yes. I see the pattern. But I'm asking if on the weeks that you DO get to watch TV if you're going to watch TV all the time or just in the mornings and on weekends or what?"

"AAAARGGGHHH! You just don't get it! I wouldn't watch at all one week, then I would the next!"

We continued on like that for awhile and, when I was exhausted and feeling like I'd just been cross-examined by Johnny Cochran, I finally gave up.

"No. I don't like that plan, Will."

"What?? Why??"

"Because I said so."

I don't like to lean on that old standby, but, gosh, that felt so good.

Problems

This afternoon we were at our friend Katy's house, where Katy and her parents had watched the boys while we attended a church function for Jana. I noticed Charlie pooping, and moved quickly to change his diaper to prevent leakage.

Charlie, as you know if you've been around him lately, doesn't sit still when getting his diaper changed. I asked Will, who was doing nothing in particular nearby, for some help.

"Can't, I have to go poop myself," he said.

"Daddy, I've got my own problems."

I'm sort of curious about what those are, but didn't have time to ask him as he disappeared into the bathroom.

Let this be a lesson

Scott was singing along to Whitney Houston's, "How Will I Know?" tonight in the car.

I was silent ... but desperate to change the station.

"I'm wondering if my dad is the one who turned me on to Whitney Houston?" he says, taking a break when Whitney hit one of those annoying high notes.

"No, he didn't. Your dad likes good music ... he likes Tom Petty, not Whitney Houston!"

"What? You don't like Whitney Houston? This is an awesome song!""

"No, it's not. It's horrible and repetitive and these are completely vapid lyrics."

Will, previously so silent I suspected him of sleeping, pipes up with this gem:

"Mommy! Let this be a lesson to you ... don't EVER say the word 'stupid.'"

I couldn't see him because it was dark in the van, but I'm pretty certain his little four-year-old finger was shaking in my direction.

"She didn't say 'stupid', she said 'vapid.'" Scott said in my defense.

"Well, then, let this be a lesson to you ... don't EVER say the words 'stupid' or 'vapid'."

When I had kids, I knew that I'd have to curb some of the more colorful words in my vocabulary, but those were not the words that I thought I'd get in trouble for saying. Another lesson learned.

Showing some poise

"Mommy! Mommy! Mom-Meeee!"

I barely hear Will yelling for me — partly out of practice and partly because I'm concentrating too hard on picking out the least-disgusting baby food options for Charlie.

"Mommy! I have something important to show you! Mommy! Look. Look. Look!"

"Will! Just a second, Mommy's looking at her baby food coupons."

I've decided to just go for what I have a coupon for — even if it is Apples & Chicken all ground up in a jar. Why do we do this to babies?

"Mommy! It's very important. Please come over here!"

"Will. Please be patient, I'll be right with you."

"OK. But I know you're definitely going to want to see this.""

I finally just give up, planning to give Charlie a grilled cheese sandwich and fruit.

"What is it, Will?"

Triumphant, Will holds up an extra large pack of Poise pads.

Scott and I give each other a look.

"Do you know what those are?" Scott says to Will.

"Do you think Mommy has bladder-control issues?" I say to myself.


Still triumphant, Will beams and points to the bright pink Box Tops coupon on the package.

"Look! For my school."

Needless to say, we did not buy the Poise pads ... despite the potential 10 cents for the T-Birds.

Rock 'n Roll All Night!

Saturday morning Will and I were driving to the dump to drop off our recycling, when "Rock 'n Roll All Night" from KISS came on 105.7 FM. I sang along for awhile, then noticed Will jamming in the backseat.

When we got back in the car Will asked if I could turn the song on again, and when I couldn't, asked that I sing it with him. He joined in, and even though his timing was a little off, it was still a lot of fun.

Will seemed impressed that my friends and I had dressed up as KISS for Halloween once. It was by far my best Halloween costume ever; I was Paul Stanley, the guy in the middle center on the picture.

We got home and I told Jana about Will's singing, and he responded with an encore. Jana got a brief bit of it on video:

Arithmetic plus one

This morning at Pick 'n Save I decided to try Will on this addition thing he broke out for me Friday at breakfast. Led off by having Will reiterate that adding the Badgers' two Big Ten winning streaks -- three and five games long -- made eight conference basketball wins.

Then I got out my BlackBerry and turned it to the calculator function, and asked Will to start naming numbers to add, trying to figure the answer out himself, then confirming it with the calculator. He was really digging the calculator. It reminded me of the Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Fred Armisen and John Malkovich as kids who are really excited about getting a calculator for Christmas. Give it a watch, especially the last minute, really funny stuff.

Link

Will really stunned me by rattling off two plus two equals four, four plus four equals eight, and eight plus eight equals sixteen. Asked him where he learned it, and it turns out it was either from a DVD or a song we've played in the car. Hey, whatever works, right? The experience has really made us excited to keep feeding him more math-related material.