Blarging

Counter clock wise ...

1. Swimming solo! We've been frequenting the pool often these days. Taken about a week apart. Went from not letting go of the side so swimming in the deep end. Woo go Sully!

2. Good morning lovey! Breakfast with my favorite little. Never tire of that face. Seriously. 

3. Breakfast with the fam for my mom's birthday at our fave breakfast joint, ready for school, riding a pony at "Summer Camp" at school, his train collection 

4. Obviously, I'm a very sensitive wife.

5. Beach Day with Yaya! I asked him to smile and that's what I got. Well don't we just think we're hilarious. Crap! He totally is and I totally laughed for hours after every time I looked at it.

6. Ice cream date on my birthday

7. What my sister gets for trying to ask me a serious question.

8. My sister's bridal shower, face-timing as the Kings won the Stanley Cup! (After losing almost every time we all frequented bars together to watch the games, we finally decided to split apart to break up the bad juju and it worked because they won! Yes, yes we legitimately believe that's the reason they won.), the random self pictures of Sully I love that pop up on my phone after he takes it, and my goalie man Sully makes me draw and draw and draw. Stop judging.

9. It ain't a party up in our house til someones underoos end up on their head.

10. Drawing a picture for Daddy, everyday is a great day to be a pirate, cooking in the dark (flash) and apparently the same self picture again, so obviously I must really love when he takes them of himself.

11. Hanging out in the bar watching the playoffs (Yeh, we're totally responsible parents. Don't let the milk fool you. This kid gets crazy drunk on the white juice and talks some serious smack talk during the game), tan lines and shoe shopping in Santa Barbara 

12. 4th of July fireworks on the cliff by our house on his Daddy's shoulders, a Dark Dance Party (We broke out the glow sticks and danced like maniacs in the dark to the Madagascar soundtrack), the best $2 spent all summer on a hand held ice cream maker critter and our fave place - the Santa Barbara zoo.

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Desire

"A person shows what he is 

by what he does with what he has."

"Real" hockey classes, with the real hockey coaches.

Other than our neighbor's son, who is the same age, they are the smallest guys out there.

Three years old up against 10, 11, 12 year olds.

They're holding their own just fine.

The coaches don't slow down or dumb down anything for them, even though its straight up Bad News Bears status out there.

Legit crash courses in life happening right now -

if you want it  bad enough you make it happen.

You pay attention.

You listen.

You play as a team. 

This is real work for him up against those big boys.

He's learning. He's trying.

He's the smallest.

He hasn't given up.

He comes off the ice the sweatiest ball of mess with the biggest smile plastered on his face.

I think these two littles are going to be forces to be reckoned with in the near future.

I'm extremely proud of how hard you work out there Sully.

That hard head of yours is serving you well. 

True to you, when you do something, you really do it.

And when you don't want to, you simply won't.

You've been that way, always. 

I don't think you know how to fail.

Stick with it, and when you look back on these days if you make it big, always remember these words of wisdom ...

"Mama needs a new sports car when she's 60!"

(The second frame, middle picture he's playing goalie. He was in heaven.)

Addiction to CAMP

I'm pretty sure my kid is hooked on camp.

As I speak his camping gears sits completely assembled in his play room. I actually had to take stuff out to fit it. His mini tent even has his sleeping bag inside of it and he had me pull out his camping chair. I was also instructed to make him a camp fire. He's lucky I'm crafty! I took a plastic bin, found some old Christmas lights with the switch box we weren't using and threw them inside and then taped construction paper cut into the shape of flames along the outside. He uses empty toilet paper rolls as his "fire logs."

He even "roasts" marshmallows on a tiny skewer and seriously tells us to mind the fire, that its hot and we need to blow on them before we eat them. The other night we turned every light in the house off except for his "fire" and I had folk music streaming from pandora and brought my own camp chair into the living room. It was kind of hilarious. 

He hasn't stopped asking me for nearly two weeks when we go camping next. I think I may just have to oblige. 

Let me see your sparkle

Sparkle is our code for smile after he has brushed his teeth

Sometimes, he brushes them so good, his sparkle is blinding.

And we have proof!

New dentist.

He was a little nervous at first, but he rocked it.

And I love where he goes now. They are amazing and specialize in kids.

Last time I had to sit in the chair with him on my lap.

This time was a MUCH different story.

And he got a 1 which is the best on a scale of one to five, so great job Sully! You have perfect, cavity free teeth! Yay! If he gets 9 more 1's they give him a free ticket to Disneyland. 

How awesome is that?! I want to go here.

Getting ready to meet his new dentist while watching Finding Nemo 

Getting his teeth polished 

You got a lil somethin', somethin' on your face

Blueberry chapstick.

Maybe you could get some on your lips next time.

I'm sure your face appreciates no longer being chapped.

Whiz Kid

Let this be known as the day I almost put you up for adoption. 

I had planned a post, a post about how it was unfair to call this "potty training" because really -

one day you just did it. No training really involved.

And we haven't looked back since.

No anticipation. 

No talk and build up to get us there.

You just had underwear on one day &

kept them on. 

And on. 

So we ditched the diapers that day.

You've stayed dried through naps, through bed time.

You don't have to be reminded to go.

We don't use daytime pullups.

4 weeks on and only 3 accidents which occurred the first 2 days and none since.

You have a cool sticker chart you've been rocking the pants off of.

Until this morning.

When you woke up saying you had pee'd in your bed.

No biggie. It happens.

And then this morning happened.

You protested you wanted to go in the other bathroom upstairs.

I told you to go in the downstairs potty.

You protested, and screamed. So it certainly wasn't happening now.

"Go potty now" I sternly instructed, trying to nip the impending tantrum in the bud.

Maybe you took my words too literally.

You looked at me, defiantly - pouted out lip into an angry frown, eyebrows furrowed ...

and you pissed.

All over yourself.

All over the floor.

The pedestal sink.

The step-stool. 

The base of the toilet.

The wall.

The wood floor.

I stood stunned at first as I watched a wave of yellow rain drench everything within aiming range.

The way I yelled "NOOOOOoooo" must have been a way you never heard.

Like Hulk-Smash kind of yell.

Because you actually startled and turned white.

(I felt bad after)

I actually yelled in the barrage of words flowing from my mouth if you wanted to be put up for adoption.

I was SO mad.

You've never done anything quite that-on-purpose because you were angry.

You're lucky we don't spank, because I seriously would have strangled you.

So I handed you a towel and made you clean it all up.

And then yourself. 

You got no TV.

You were not given a breakfast choice.

You ate it, nervously glancing up at me, not saying a word.

You said you were sorry you pee'd on purpose and you would listen next time.

On your own.

Then you gave up a million kisses and said sorry again & again.

We're friends now. We hugged it out.

No way I could ever drop you off at school mad.

You're lucky we've grown fond of you.

But do it again and I swear to Jeebus you'll find your ass outside of PETCO next time.

“There is always one moment in childhood ...

... when the door opens and lets the future in."

I feel like this afternoon I got a small peak into the window of the kind of person/man that Sully will some day be.You always pray your kid grows up to do the right thing. You hope even more so (or at least I do) that they learn to do the right thing by their own accord. 

There have been so many occasions I've been proud of my son. He's a big kid, with a gentle spirit. He never hits other kids. He shares. He says thank you and bless you and runs to see if you're okay when something falls or breaks. He helps people in the store when they drop something. He thanked our vet for fixing his dog when she was sick, all on his own. I tend to sometimes forget those moments when they seem to get canceled out by the day-to-day power struggles of growing up. Like when he's still up at 10PM, at 2AM or 4AM refusing to sleep, is screaming for candy instead of his dinner, hiding in a closet because he doesn't want to listen or running his mouth and tantruming (is that even a word?!) because we won't let him blow a hockey whistle at 6 AM in the morning. 


And so I'm thankful for moments like this afternoon. They remind me of what sometimes can be so easy to overlook.

After saying goodbye to his teachers and friend's for pickup, we started walking to our truck. As we rounded the sidewalk and I opened the door, he put his head down and mumbled something. I threw our stuff in the car and got down on my knee and asked him what he had said.

"I got a time-out today."


I was a little surprised because one, he's never got a time-out before and two, his teacher never mentioned anything of it when we were just talking. So I replied calmly, "Oh. Well, do you want to tell me what happened?"


"Me-Sully-Me, and J. and S. were playing by the fence and we were playing Mario Bros. and we got a time-out for fighting."


I worked hard to hide the smile that was starting to form.


"Who gave you the time-out? Were you not listening?"


"Teacher J. And no. I had to sit down."


At this point I started to slowly get him into the car and buckle him in. I thought carefully about my next words. I didn't want to scare him or discourage him from telling me things in the future, so I chose carefully.

"I'm really proud that you thought it was a good idea to tell me. If S. or J. are doing something that's naughty, it doesn't mean you have to too. You can just walk away. I'm not mad at you, we all make mistakes. But I don't think its a good idea we get a time-out again because you seem to be sad about it."


He thought for a few minutes as I stood in our car door in the parking lot with his head down and my hand on his legs. "Yeh, I feel bad."


Its what he said next that made my heart smile this time.

"I think I need to go say I'm sorry to Teacher J. Will you come with me?"


I smiled, kissed him and unbuckled him. He marched himself, on his own accord, back into his school and found his teacher. "I'm sorry Teacher J. for getting in the time-out and not listening."


His teacher's eyes started to well up a little bit and she smiled and gave him a huge hug. She admitted that Sully was just an innocent bystander of his older friends play, but he must of thought that he was in trouble too - guilty by association this kid. As we were leaving (and laughing a little about how guilty he felt - I promise not to his face) she told me

"Steph, I'm 'gonna tell you, I have a real soft spot for this one. He's a great kid. You have quite a special boy on your hands here."

"I know Miss. J. I know. It's like getting to look into the future a little bit."

Yesterday morning on our way to school