Why did I ask?

Me: "Fischer, do you think I'm beautiful?"

Fischer: "When you are wearing earrings, you look beautiful."

Me: "What's the most beautiful thing about me?"

Fischer: "Your earrings. You really should've worn earring's today."

Seriously! Why would I ask such a loaded question?????

Overheard

Fischer and BFF were sitting at the kitchen table having lunch and discussing who BFF's little brother, X-man, should marry...

Fischer: "Maybe X-man will marry Maddie."

BFF: "Maybe he'll marry Baby Evelyn".

Fischer: "Maybe he'll marry me."

BFF: "No, I'm going to marry you, remember!"

Fischer: "Two boys can get married."

BFF: "No, because you need a mom and a dad."

Fischer: "Or you could have two moms or two dads."

(I absolutely LOVE listening to them talk to each other.)

Fischy questions

Lately Fischer has been asking a lot of questions about EVERYTHING!

• "Do fireman wear pajamas when they sleep at the firestation?"
• "How do spiders make webs?"
• "Does God have a wand?"
• "Well then how does He make people? Does He have a machine to make the people?"
• "Does God wear pajamas?"
• "How do babies go pee?" .... (later I realized that he thought Maddie maybe hadn't grown all of her parts yet. ;) )
• "How old will Maddie be when I am 69?"
• "When will Maddie be 3 1/2 like me?"..... and about a million other age related questions.
• "When do the space shuttles take off?"
• "Did Uncle Dick invent the telephone?"
• "Does Elvis live with Jesus now?"
• "Does Ursula (from the Little Mermaid) live with Jesus now?"
• ..... and on and on.... he is definitely curious!

Fischism

Maddison was wrapped in a white blanket with an embroidered saying on it...

Mom: "Fischer, this used to be your blanket."

Fischer: "What does it say?"

Mom: "Thank Heaven for Little Boys"

Fischer: (genuinely moved, and with a look of deep appreciation) "Awww, that was so nice of God to give that to me!"

Fischisms

• Fischer: "Daddy, when I was downstairs, I ate one piece of dog food... and it wasn't yucky!"

• Fischer, standing normally...

Fischer: "Daddy, will you take my shoes off of me, cuz why - my arms are way up here!"

• While eating ice cream at the parlor...

Fischer: "I wish this arm (points to the right arm) was on this side (points to the left) and this arm (pointing at the left arm) was on this side!"

Mommy: "Well, when we get home I'll cut them off and try to figure out a way to glue them on the opposite shoulders."

Fischer: Inquisitively, "How will you do it?"

Fischism

Fischer is in the bathroom too long, supposedly washing his hands.

Mommy: Fischer, what are you doing?

Fischer: I'm combing my hair with soap (hand soap). It works really really well. How do I look?

Fischism

• Fischer wants us to sell our house so that we can go live with Jesus.

• At the grocery store, Fischer kept pointing to my breasts and asking me: "Are these out of milk?" I don't know what he and Andy were talking about to make him ask me about that later, but...

I guess we have a few little conversations in our future.

Fischer is THREE!

Well, my little baby is THREE now! He is so BIG! He had a great birthday and two parties! He started off birthday morning by telling me that all he'd like to do is stay home, play toys and jump on the bed. "Nothin' else". No amount of prodding would get him to go to a restaurant or play place... he wanted to spend his day at home! So we did. Then that afternoon when Andy came home, he opened his present from us (the space shuttle and rockets that he wanted and of course a bunch of books on space!). Then we went to Grandma Betsy's (my MIL) house to have a family party with Fischer's other grandparents (my parents) and his great-grandmother (Andy's Grandma) and his Uncle David (Andy's bro). He got lots and lots of great presents there, and Betsy had made him the specific feen (green) cake with a feen _uck on top (green truck - you fill in the other F), he loved it! She let him cut it and do whatever he wanted with it... the rest of us had pie.

That night, after talking to His Granddad (Andy's dad) and his Aunt Jana and Uncle Matt (My SIL nad Bro) on the phone, he fell fast asleep... a very happy boy!

The next morning was the Lego Mania Birthday Party with all of his friends. BFF arrived first and that sounded like this:

Fisch: Hi BFF!

BFF: Hi ya GOOFBALL!

Then, the rest of the guests started to arrive, I think there ended up being 14 kids in all (5 friends were sick at home). They had a great time playing toys, cars, trains, playing in the tents and ball pit, playing in the backyard (the day turned out beautiful)... and NOT ONE kid even touched a Lego! Go figure! Although, I have to say that I was a bit relieved because I wasn't sure how that was all going to go down. Fischer LOVES his Lego's and seems to find them to be quite the personal item... it is the only real thing that he has had a hard time sharing... I mean he bursts into tears if anyone touches them... and he doesn't do that with anything else. However, I'd been prepping him and I'd bought LOTS more Lego Duplos so that we'd have plenty. But I still wasn't sure because he kept wavering back and forth about whether he liked the idea of sharing. In fact our last exchange sounded like this:

Mommy: Do you think it would be OK if all of your friends came over to play and share your Legos with you on your birthday? Then the kids will go home and NO ONE will take any home with them, they will all still be yours to play with by yourself?

Fischer: I think I might freak out.

So, luckily, we never had to go find out! Anyway the rest of the party went well. The pictures were pretty terrible (no offense, Mom), but my Dad took video, so I'll share that when I can get it from him.
The cake turned out OK.... especially if you don't go back and compare mine with Betty's! I also made about 72 mini-cupcakes and put the little Lego candies on top (which, by the way, turned out to be the consistency of Sweet Tarts). Then I gave the rest of the candies to the kids in little goody bags. Oh... and you CAN actually build with the candies! I don't think you could walk around with your creation, but they do stack if you leave it on the table. Here is a picture of the cake and a bad one with the cupcakes in view. We also had a TON of food, but Andy said that we could probably have just dumped out a giant bag of Cheetos and called it good! That was definitely the fave!

The party turned out great thanks to all of our wonderful friends and family! I was exhausted afterward, but Andy did all of the clean-up... so that was totally fabulous! Thanks, Babe!

What does Fischer LOVE right now... now that he is big and three (for the babybook I'll finish someday):

He loves fire men and fire trucks and wants to be a fireman when he grows up. He loves to play games: board games, card games, ANY games... he even has tried some Wii Fit games. He loves vehicles of all types to play with, read about, or talk about. He LOVES Legos... especially the Duplo size and even calls the little ones with four studs on top, his little buddies. He loves to look at books and be read to. He is very interested in letters and letter sounds and likes to play with them, try to write them, and talk about them. He loves his parents and wants to marry us. He thinks his grandparents are all beautiful, but Mommy is not... apparently my toes are "mostly pretty". He loves his friends and BFF is still his forever favorite, even though she is not always the most kind and cooperative of friends. He has been going to the Little Gym since he was 5 months old, and hates it now because it is an independent class (without Mommy). He is very interested in rockets and space. He loves words like "fabulous", "disgusting", "amazing", "terrible", "annoying", actually", and "realize". He loves to be outside playing with sticks, rocks and dirt. He loves to play hockey with his Daddy. He loves numbers and addition and is constantly quizzing me "what's eight plus eight?". He loves fruit, pasta (especially macaroni and cheese), peanut butter and jelly, bread, carrots, grape tomatoes, pickles and treats... not much else. He is my favorite person in the whole world and I love him to bits and pieces! I am so very blessed and grateful to God for my amazing husband and our supremely fabulous son!

Book of the Day

Fischer is soooo into Goldilocks. He loves me to read the book or just to just tell him the story. He also loves to retell the story to Andy and I. In fact, he loves it so much... that for weeks he was insisting that he wanted Goldilocks shoes for his birthday! When I asked him what they were... he drew me a picture. I wish I would have saved it to show you. Basically two oval squiggles. When I asked him to describe what they looked like he said, "I drew you a picture!"
Ok, silly me. When I asked what color they were (he had drawn them in pencil)... he started to get annoyed with me because they were obviously yellow since he drew them on a yellow steno pad! OK... getting nowhere. So... I said that Goldilocks shoes are girl shoes. Well, he wants them in white, so ... apparently they are now boy shoes. Now what? I searched the Internet, couldn't find a thing! So I did what (I hope) any good mother would do... hoped he would forget about them. AND, he finally has (at least I think he has, I don't dare bring them up again!).
Anyway, our Goldilocks and the Three bears is retold and illustrated by Jan Brett... and true to her form... the pictures are fantastic.... so much great detail. We love it.

"It was so easy!"

The other day I was rushing Fischer and I out the door to meet up with friends for a playdate. I had our stuff together, I had him buckled into the car in the garage, I had... lost my keys.... grrr!

I search the car, search my purse, search my coat pocket... nothing. I run back in the house (don't worry the garage door was closed and Fisch was belted in) and scanned the kitchen, the bedroom, the office, the bathroom,... nothing. Back to the car, searching between the seats, dump out my purse... nothing.

Mommy: "Fischer, do you know where my keys are?"
Fischer: "No."
M: "Did you play with Mommy's keys? It is ok if you did, that will just help me to know where they are."
F: "No"

Back in the house, search the junk drawer another bathroom, the floor of the closet, the pants I wore yesterday, check another coat... nothing. Back to the car, search under the seats... nothing. Back in the house, search the toys, call friends and say we may not make it, search the train table, under the couch... weird thought...

Check the fridge... Ah HA!

Back in the car...

M: "Fischer, did you put my keys in the fridge?"
F: silence
M: "Fischer, you have been watching me run around like a crazy person for twenty minutes! Why didn't you just tell me that you put my keys in the fridge?"

F: "It was so easy!"
M: "What? What was so easy?"
F: "You just go in the kitchen, open the fridge and there they are. Easy!"

sigh

Ummm.... What to say?

It is 8:20 in the morning, I'm sitting in my nice warm bed listening to Fischer play and sing in the other room. I am desperately trying to think of some fantastic and interesting thing to blog about. You may have noticed that I've lost my blogging momentum. Andy was home for two weeks over the holidays and we enjoyed being lazy and hanging out as a family. I am off routine and am trying to get back together. Somehow, though, after all of that rest and relaxation, I am feeling uninspired to write.

Hmmm...

I could tell you about a few new philanthropic organizations that have recently caught my interest, but it feels like after a long stint of no blogging, I should write about something more personal.

I could tell you about how Kaia is emitting the most horrific smell on a fairly regularly basis and it makes me want to throw up. I've lost all patience with her and am constantly trying to get her to stop following me around... so now she seems depressed and I feel guilty... But talking about dog gas isn't very classy and why would anyone want to read about it?

I could tell you about how the other night when I was giving Fischer a bath, he said "You have good energy, Mom!" But then you'd probably start wondering about what we talk about at our house... Seriously I don't know where he got that.

If I wrote about that then I would start to get on a roll talking about of all of the Fischisms of late. Such as, before Christmas when we were talking about Christmas being Jesus' birthday, and Fischer wanted to bake Him a birthday cake. I said that'd be a good idea, but then he wanted to TAKE it to Him. I tried to explain that Jesus is in our hearts and if we celebrate His birthday and eat His cake, that will make Him happy. Then, after a really long pause.... he gets this worried look and asks me, "How did Jesus get in my tummy?"

But if I told you all of that then I'd have to tell you about the bumbling answer I gave about God creating us and putting a piece of himself into us and while I was talking I realized that to Fischer this might sound like God put His toe inside of him and an His elbow in me and and his eyeball inside Daddy... which sounded scary and then I just kept talking and talking until I felt that I'd been totally clear and insightful... and he had no comment.

OR I could tell you after this long saga of home repairs the work men should be done today. Hopefully the bill will come close to the original quote.

I could tell you that we are in the final stages of potty training, and Fischer has given up the night time pull-up for underwear at night. Which means we made it through with only having to buy one case. It also means that he wakes up twice a night to go potty...and so do we.

I could make a little announcement about being pregnant. That is kind of an exciting thing to talk about but maybe not as exciting of a thing to read about. Plus maybe you already knew. AND I have had the realization that I may not be able to sleep through the night without interruptions for FOUR more years!

So as you can see, I'm at a loss for words today. So I think I won't write about anything, and I'll just get ready for the day and go pick up BFF for a playdate.

Have a great day!

"Mommy, don't see me writing!"

I walked upstairs after switching the laundry, to find Fischer standing in the family room with his hand under his shirt...

Fischer: "Don't see me writing, Mommy."
Mommy: "What?"
F: "Don't see me writing."
M: (there is no paper in sight, just a few broken crayons) "Give me the crayon from under your shirt. What did you write on?"
F: "Nothing."
M: "Show me what you wrote on."
F: Points to a toy (of BFF's) with crayon on it.
M: "What else did you write on?"
F: "Nothing."
M: "Show me what you drew on."
F: "You mean give it to you?"
M: "Yes, give me whatever you drew on."
F: "Well... the couch is really heavy!"

Sigh, thank heaven for leather couches and Magic Erasers!

Butt first...

Today I'm prepping for Thanksgiving as I'm sure many of you are too! I wish you could see my clean house... in never lasts long. Don't try to come over now, it isn't clean yet! Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

3:34 AM as I'm helping Fischer back into his one-piece footy pajamas after going potty:

Me: "Put your arms in first."
Fisch: "Daddy says put your feet in first."
Me: (yawn)
Fisch: "I say, put your butt in first!"

Will this Thanksgiving be a horror story for Fischer?

Because of books like Eve Bunting's A Turkey for Thanksgiving and a few other similar stories on our shelf, Fischer is just absolutely positive that we'll be having a turkey for dinner on Thanksgiving. No... not on a platter, but on a chair... as a guest. We've gone many a round with this one. He thinks it is hilarious when I say that we are going to eat the turkey. He "knows" I'm pretending. Because how would the turkey fit into our mouths? ... Obviously it would be too big. I've tried to explain that the turkey will be dead and cooked... but he doesn't get it. Luckily I stopped myself tonight from telling him that we'll "just cut him up with a knife so he'll fit in our mouths". I think that may have been a traumatizing image for bedtime. Sooo, I have no idea what horror may occur at our house on Thursday when there is no big colorful bird sitting at the head of the table... only the gnashing of teeth and people mumbling... "the turkey is delicious". Yikes.

The hottest new toy in town: hot glue sticks!?

I've started thinking about what to get Fischer for Christmas. But what do you get someone whose favorite "toys" are:

5 no-slip mats that go on the bottom of the tub, 4 sticky, dirty hot glue sticks, and 3 little men. At any given time you can find Fischer walking around with one of these ...collections. The collections rarely inter-mingle with each other, but all of them can be transformed into vehicles, people, places, animals, etc. By the way, those three little men from left to right are: Johnny Appleseed, James and Fischer.

So I guess I can definitely say he likes collections of things. I'm seriously thinking of getting him a bag of hot glue sticks to replace the disgusting ones he loves so much. Write that in the baby book! For your third Christmas, Mommy and Daddy bought you a bag of glue sticks! You deserved it!!

Today's collection of choice was 4 baby pop beads. Now these were extra exciting because one of them contained something that could have been cheese or could have been a carrot! We had to wait quite awhile for the thing to shrivel enough to fall out and be labeled. (it was a carrot).

Yesterday morning Fischer busiest himself in the living room with zillions of little tiny pie tins. He stacked and sorted and displayed them in a variety of designs. When I walked into the room he stood up ... beaming ... and proudly announced "Mommy, look at all this crap! I've been doin' this for hours!" (Crap??)

Anyway, the top 3 pictures, along with Legos are his most prized possessions. He has lots of toys but these are the favorites.

The author of Rocks in my Dryer posts a weekly group blogging thing called Works for Me Wednesday. She chooses a topic then everyone blogs about it and she links to their sites. Well the other day the topic was toys. Works For Me: Toys Worth Buying (Subtitled: I DO NOT WANT ANY MORE JUNK IN MY HOUSE).

The great thing is that under her post is a list of 250 links to other moms telling their kids favorite toys, and there are even more ideas in the comments! So... I spent a few minutes perusing them and found some really great ideas, for toys that kids actually play with for more than a minute. There were many frugal and unique ideas too, like buying Halloween costumes after Halloween and making a "dress-up box". So fun!

I'm pretty sure I'm going with games this year. We recently bought a few and he is having a blast! We play them everyday. Now that he is almost 3, there are plenty of games that he can play... so we're into it. Not to mention, all of his games I foresee ending up in my classroom someday when I'm back at work and he has grown out of them. OK let's be honest, that's where I see all of his books going and a number of his other belongings. I really do try to get him things HE likes and not just what I like, but...

Patience Lost

Tuesday, as I was trying to sort and fold laundry on my kitchen table, Fischer wanted to "help". He was climbing on and off the chair with an armful of small toys that kept making him slip. The toys were getting in the way of my folded piles as Fischer was quickly pulling item after item out of the basket. So, I tossed the toys across the room onto the couch in frustration. They were in my way. Suddenly, Fischer bursts into tears. "I didn't want you to throw my toys.." sob, then he stops abruptly and very seriously looks at me and says

"Mom, I need you to be patient with my toys."

Ummm. He pretty much put me in my place. All I could do was take a deep breath to calm the frustrations, and pick up his toys. We found a better place for them to wait while he was actually really helpful sorting socks.
Why is it so easy to fly off the handle? To snap at a loves one, get frustrated with a child, or yell at the dog? I really felt like God was speaking to me through Fischer just then. I believe he was telling me to cool it, step back and make a better choice. Breathe! In that one sentence, I felt I was being reminded to exercise great patience and to approach my ridiculous frustrations in another way. When I told Andy about the incident he said, "Remember, he is an old soul and that will come through more and more the older he gets. That is why it will be a challenge and privilege to raise him."
A 'privilege'? I had forgotten.

Fischisms at 2 1/2

• Fischer sitting in the cart at the grocery store trying to touch everything on the shelves:

Me: "No." ... "Don't." (repeatedly)
Fischer: Don't say 'don't' to me, it is embarrassing. (no one was around)

• Fischer sitting at the counter while I cook dinner.

Fisch: Mommy, I want a drink.
Me: (hands full with four pots and pans on the stove) Just a minute.
Fisch: When you say 'just a minute', it hurts my feelings.

• Fischer and I laying on my bed.

Fisch: Mommy, I love you sooo much.
Me: (fishing for compliments) Why?
Fisch: Because you are cute and a smartie.
Me: What else?
Fischer: (annoyed) That's everything!

• Fischer in the car with mommy and Grandma Barb, talking about someone who is getting married.

Mommy: Fischer, are you going to get married?
Fischer: Yes.
Mommy: Who are you going to marry?
Fischer: You.
Mommy: (heart swelling) Awww, that is so wonderful, I'd love that.
Grandma Barb: Fischer, are you going to marry me too?
Fischer: You can marry your own self.

(Apparently marrying your mom is ok, but marrying your grandma really crosses the line!)

Fischisms

Isn't it funny/annoying how everyone thinks that everything that comes out of their child's mouth is so incredibly hilarious... Of course, it really is hilarious with Fischer ;)

• After watching mommy drop a bottle of grape juice on the floor and seeing it splatter all over the refrigerator, the tile, the wood, the walls, the pantry...

Fischer: "Good job, Mommy. Good job spilling the grape juice."

Is my baby demonstrating his first bit of sarcasm, or did he really think I did an exceptionally good job at spilling the juice?

• Mommy opens the door to Fischer's bedroom, after his time out for not listening (he had been screaming and crying during the entire time out).

Mommy: "Are you ready to listen?"

Fischer: Looooong pause....... "Umm, I don't think so."

Mommy closes the door.

• After looking at a wedding photo of Mommy and Daddy...

Fischer: "Mommy do you wish you were a pretty girl like that (points to picture)?"

• Overheard: Daddy and Fischer looking at a pile of stones. Fischer is asking what they are called... Daddy is listing them off one by one:

Daddy: "Rose quartz, turquoise, pyrite, tiger's eye, hematite, spotty, stripey, brainy..."

• Looking at Mommy fluff the pillows on the couch...

Fischer: "Mommy, what are you doing to our crap?"

Mommy: "This is not crap, this is our couch!"

Fischer: "No, THESE are crap (pointing to the couch pillows)!"

Mommy: "Those are pillows"

Fischer: "They are crap."

Mommy: "They are pillows!" Fischer: "They are crap". Mommy...Fischer...Mommy... Fischer...

Mommy: "Crap is not a very nice word to say. Even though Mommy and Daddy say it sometimes (mostly Mommy), it is not good for little kids to say it."

• Looking out the front window at the neighbor woman getting her mail...

Fischer: "I wish I had long hair like that!"

• While Mommy is baking, Fischer gets on the counter where all of the ingredients are sitting. he starts touching things, and other things start falling off the counter...

Mommy: "Fischer stop touching things or Mommy's going to go CRAZY!!!!"

Fischer: "You sound like Aunt Sheila!"

• Said to Mommy, way to many times lately, after she asks Fischer about something:

Fischer: "Mommy, don't worry about it!"

Fischism

After Mommy dressed him...

Fischer: "Are these clothes clean?"
Mommy: "Of course."
Fischer: "Soon, they will be covered in dog hair!"

Sigh, the truth is sometimes embarrassing!

Fischism

In the car with Grandma Barb...

Fischer: "Mamabarb? Are you old lady?
Grandma: "What?!!! Who told you that I was an old lady?"
Fischer: "I did!"
Grandma: "Do I look like an old lady?"
Fischer: "I don't know."

(Of course my mother was sure that I planted those words into his little head... how else would he have come up with that? To which I replied, "I've never heard him say 'old lady' before, but he does have a brain and he does have eyes!" ... Could I be any sweeter? Sorry Mom!- you know I love you - and of course you are a total babe... for an old lady!)