Funny Benny

Little man Ben is a hilarious kid.

This morning when I woke up I came out into the office to find Ben laying on his tummy with his legs kicking in the air, scoping out the Christmas catalog and eating a Dove chocolate.  "Hi Mom," he said. 

"Well, hello, Ben."

"I went pee in the potty.  So I got myself a potty treat.  You can get me my lego later."

Well, OK then.

Later this morning, Ben was showing Ryan all the toys he wants.  He pointed to one and said, "I want that one."

I don't even know what it was, but Ryan said, "I think not."

Picture Ben with his little expressive eyebrows, tilting his head to one side,  "Oh, I think so."

He's such a little spunky chap.

The video is just a funny little random movie that Todd made the other day.  

Springs Preserve

So, we're kind of a family of homebodies. Ryan spends a lot of time away from home lately. Todd just likes to be home in general. Ben and I are probably the most willing to go and do, but we even enjoy just being home.

Also, we're just cheap, as Todd likes to point out. We've had some very specific financial goals in the last few years, so we've lived within a tight budget (but we're happy about it, so it's OK).

Anyway, with all that said, we also realize that we need to take greater advantage of the amazing things we live around. We've lived some great places and haven't taken as many opportunities as we should have to see what's here. So, we're trying to do better. We visited Springs Preserve on Saturday, a local park/center that recently opened here. It focuses on desert landscaping and preserving water and natural resources. It was a fun couple of hours.

New Background

So I finally broke down and tried to figure out how to cutify my blog.  All I ended up doing was erasing my nifty contact list and the time index for when blogs were last updated and choosing a blog background that was difficult to read.  And now I don't want to mess around with it anymore, so it will just have to be that way until I'm not frustrated.  So, if any of you are techno whizzes and have advice for a novice, I'd like a cute background, but I don't want it to erase my contact list widget.  Period.

Humor in prayer

Not to be sacrilegious, but here are a few funny prayer moments from the weekend (ironically enough, they did not come from our children).  Sunday night I was saying our family prayer and mentioned something about being grateful for "a day of rest."  Ryan literally broke down laughing in the middle of the prayer.  Something about being gone from 7:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. didn't  feel restful to him, I guess.

This morning, Ryan was saying our family prayer and prayed, Please bless Todd that he will have no desire to torture."--not kidding.  Those were the exact words.  My laughter must have been a sign of a lack of faith, because we did not have a torture free day.  But maybe it was a bit better than usual?

Picture Tag

This is what you do:

1. Open up your picture file

2. Go to the fourth folder

3. Open the fourth picture

4. Post the picture on your blog and write about it

This picture was taken in 2003 when Todd was two.  He's sitting on his Grandpa Kevin's lap in the basement at my Aunt Shelli's in Dillon.  I'm not sure if it's Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Dad has always been such a fun grandpa, willing to build and play with our kids.  They all love him.  My kids are so lucky to have such good grandparents!

If you're reading this, and you want to be tagged, go ahead!  It was kind of fun.

Sharing

I sat down at the dinner table tonight and there on my plate was a pulverized biscuit, ripped into several pieces and a bit smashed.  I looked at Todd and Ben, who both had beautiful round biscuits on their plates.  Ryan's was empty.  

"What's up with this, guys?  Were you helping me out?"

Ben looked over and said simply, "That one wasn't working.  So I gave it to you."

The Negotiator

I write this entry regarding potty training not becaue I am obsessed with potty training (OK, so I am obsessed with potty training, but that's beside the point).  I write this entry just to show you Todd's skills.

The other day, I was trying to figure out what Ben's currency is right now, what I could use to bribe his stubborn little self to poop on the potty.  I realized that aside from candy, which doesn't work well for me as a currency, Legos are the big thing at our house right now.  So, I asked Ben how he would feel about me buying a Lego set and him earning pieces for using the potty, with a strong emphasis on me not scrubbing any more nasty stuff out of his undies.  He liked the idea. 

Todd, who had been listening in on our conversation, promptly piped up and said, "Maybe we could do an incentive program for me for teasing Ben.  You could give me Legos when I don't tease him and am nice and stuff."  (I'm thinking, "maybe you could just be nice, since you obviously recognize it as a problem.")

But I do have to admit the kid is quick.  Now if we can only steer his negotiating in the right direction. . .

More warrior

We didn't get many great shots last night.  The trunk-or-treat was calling our name and the boys just couldn't wait for the camera.  So I made them dress up for a little shoot today.  

Tantrum--his or mine?

So I had a not-so-amazing mothering moment yesterday.  We were finishing up our costumes (so they were a bit more work than I had anticipated, again).  Ben had already had treats that day because it was Halloween, because I am trying so hard to potty train him, because I was trying to get stuff done, because I was trying to be a good mom, for Pete's sake.  

So, to get to the point, he had just asked for more candy and was denied.  "But," I said, "you can have a healthy snack.  Apples, cashews, peanut butter spoon, cheese, milk.  What would you like?"

His response was to leave the room.  Which, at that point was OK by me.  

However, he soon returned with a bag of Cheetos, to which I responded, "Nope.  I said healthy snack."

"Cheetos are not candy," he informed me.

"But they're not healthy, " I explained, as I took them away and put them on a high shelf.

He proceeded to have a knock-down, drag-out tantrum on the floor.  I repeated my offer for healthy, delicious foods.  He kept screaming.  I kept ignoring.  Then he climbed up to get the Cheetos off the shelf.  

I don't know what snapped in my crazy mommy brain, but I grabbed the bag of Cheetos, held them up to his face and smashed them into little bits.  The screaming escalated.  "I want them, I want them.  Give them to me."

"No." I repeated.

It doesn't seem possible that it could have escalated more, but it did.  "Give them to me."

So I did what any reasonable mother would do.  I walked to the bathroom, opened the lid, poured the crumbs into the toilet,  and flushed the entire snack size bag of Cheetos down.

Why I thought this would stop the tantrum, I'm not sure.  It only served to turn the screams into gasping sobs.  

"I want my Cheetos."

I wish now that I could say I didn't say the next line, but Todd could confirm that I then said, "Then go lick the toilet bowl, because that's as close as you're going to get."

It wasn't my best moment.  I don't actually recommend trying to end a tantrum by flushing anything down a toilet.  Now you know.  

Is knowing half the battle?