The Lone Star State

As Noah & I were leaving the Y this morning, he asked me why we sweat. I gave him a couple reasons, one of which was, "It gets rid of toxins, or the bad stuff in our bodies." He replied, "It gets rid of Texans?"

If only.

Older like me.

Today at BECEP, Noah sat in a rocking chair and when the teacher asked him if he was okay, he sadly replied, "I miss my Mom." But the teacher was able to lure him back into participation by initiating the "skeleton dance" in this season of Halloween. When I picked him up, he said, "Mom! We did the skeleton dance. I really like it. You can see it when you're older. Older when you're 3, like me."

Baby Blues

I don't know how much longer Noah will request this, but I want to write it down so I don't forget that it was a constant at this age.

"I want milk. In a blue cup."

He always wanted to drink from the blue plastic cups. Sometimes it was an all-out tantrum if he didn't get his favorite color choice!

Sweet brothers

On another trip in the van (he has some classic moments as a commuter)...we were on our way to BECEP for preschool. Out of the blue he says, "I wish I could always be with Caleb. Caleb's so sweet." pause "His hair is so soft. It's like a pillow."

Give me a hand.

We went out to eat to celebrate Rachel's 9th birthday. We find Noah's lack of short-term memory to be a bit funny at times as he'll often ask us where we're going as we're in the van or where we just were. So this particular Sunday, as Noah was using the bathroom right before bed, he asked me, "Where'd we go again?"
Me: "Paradiso." Noah: "Oh yeah, I had chicken hands."

I laughed so hard. He had chicken fingers. He wanted chicken nuggets but they only had fingers. That led to a discussion of why they're called fingers and Paul described how they are thin and long like fingers. Apparently that whole image of a hand is what stuck in his brain.

She's so pretty!

Rachel put in a pretty ponytail holder and headband this morning and at breakfast Noah commented how pretty it was. She and Caleb left the table to go brush their teeth and Noah finished his cereal.

Noah: Mom, can you get me a cup of milk? Hurry, because I want to go downstairs.

Me: Why do you want to go downstairs?

Noah: Because Rachel's down there and she's so pretty I want to stand by her all day.

I just called to say I love you...and a few other things.

We're at Mom & Dad's in Carrington this Labor Day weekend, and I asked Noah if he wanted to call Daddy. He leaped for the phone. Then he proceeded to carry on the cutest - and LONG - conversation with his Daddy. He is so articulate! He told Paul about the apples we picked (crabapples) because "the lady said we could." (we went to ask the neighbor first before raiding her tree)

I'm Melting!

Noah put on a sweatshirt and then slid on the hood. He looked up at me and with his hair covered, his brown eyes really flashed at me. I said, "Oh, when you look up at mommy with those big brown eyes, I just melt." About 10 minutes later he put his hood up again and said to me, "Mommy, am I melting?"

Man after my own heart

Today Noah declared, "I'm not going to eat sugar anymore." Then a pause. "I'm only going to eat desserts."

Thinking about being nice

Noah had to spend some time indoors after hitting the neighbor girls and not being nice. After awhile, he wanted to go back out. I said, "You will have to go tell Brooklyn and Ashlyn that you're sorry and then you have to play nice. Will you do that?" He immediately squinted one eye, cocked his head like he was really thinking about it and then jumped with a jubilant, "YES!"

Don't Mess with Me.

This week I began a freelance job in which I need to devote 15 hours a week. So I had to recruit some help. I hired my neighbor down the street to provide childcare for my three darlings. At the end of the week, she told me, "Noah has no trouble telling people off!"

Of course usually that translates to - your kid was chewing out the other kids, or he bullied them, etc. But actually, she was praising him saying he stands up for himself, and that's a good thing. Apparently one of the other kids wanted him to do something and he wasn't going to do it, so he stood up for himself and didn't give into the peer pressure. (Let's hope this holds when he's 14!)

But it got me listening to him a little closer after that - and she's right. He certainly has his own opinion and is quite courageous and sticks to his guns. I admire that. Although it did get him into a bit of trouble today.

He and his older brother were wrestling in the front yard - not fighting, mind you. This is typical 'boy play' at my house. But the neighbor lady across the street felt the need to step in and said, "You boys stop fighting!" They were soon rushing in the house to tell me what she said, how they couldn't believe she said that and that they were "just wrestling, not fighting!"

I didn't think much of it, but then Noah went outside and started in on the neighbor. The report goes like this:

"Why did you say we should stop?"
"Because I didn't want you two to fight."
"We weren't fighting, we were wrestling, and you can't tell us..." my older children say the rest was really just a bunch of jabber that didn't make a lot of sense, but he was letting her have it.

So even though I turned away to laugh, I had to compose myself and scold him a bit for talking like that to an adult. I sent him back to the neighbor to apologize. He did so, and then struck up a pleasant conversation with her.

He means well, I think. He knows when he hasn't done anything wrong, at least. He won't stand for injustice - so maybe someday he'll be a court judge! :)

Introduction to my Noah

I decided to begin a blog for my little Noah man. He's 3-1/2, and makes me chuckle every day. I admire him so much, and because he does some of the craziest, yet wonderful things I decided I better start writing them down. So here's a blog for my brown-eyed babe. I love you.