Mac is 4 today!!!

My big boy just got bigger today! Nathan went into his room this morning and said "Happy Birthday Mac. You are 4 today!" Mac shot straight up out of bed like he had just missed Santa Claus. He has been anticipating this day for over a week. Last night, he told Nathan that he couldn't wait to be 4 so he could run faster than Evi. This morning after he walked out into the kitchen, he was holding his night night and sucking his fingers (as usual) and suddenly said to himself, "Let me see..." Then he took off running through the house, into the office, back into the kitchen. "Yep. I'm 4." I said, "How do you know you're 4?" "Because I am faster Mommy." I love the logic! Tonight we have a big pool party planned at the clubhouse with 70 of our closest friends and neighbors to celebrate with Mac! YIKES!

He started his pre-K school this week on Monday, and being the youngest in his class, his nerves got the best of him. The first 2 days were pretty rough. Sunday night, I told him he could have any breakfast that he wanted on Monday morning. After I steered him away from his first choice of McDonalds (In the restaurant), he picked pancakes. At 4:30am, Monday morning, Mac was standing beside my bed. "Mom, can we make pancakes now?" "Uh...No. It is still the middle of the night. Let's wait a few more hours." Then when he did wake up at the right time, he helped me make the pancakes which then sat on his plate untouched. I noticed him walk quietly into his room. When I went in to check on him, he was lying in his bed very pensive. I asked him what was wrong, and he said he didn't want to go to school. We had had a few tears about it the night before, but I was hoping the pancakes would smooth things over. Not so much. More tears. When we finally got to school, it started again. I had to have the teacher's aid physically take him from me. OY! Rip my heart out. But, when I got back to school at 11:00am, he was playing cheerfully outside with his buddies Evi and Elle.

Tuesday, was similar to Monday. Lots of tears. "I don't want to go." Actually, that was the day he came out of his room and said "Mom, I already went to school today." ; ) Tricky little guy. Then when I said, "No you haven't." He said, "Mom, I think I will skip school today." Huh??!! "Where did you hear 'skip school'?" "Papaw told me that if I didn't want to go to school, I could just skip it." "Really?" Papaw has sinced denied this conversation, but stated that it sounded like the advise he would have rendered had he been asked about what to do if you didn't want to go to school. Thanks Papaw!

Wednesday, Mac woke up and said "Mom, I'm not going to cry at school today." "OK" I said. "Sounds good to me." And Vois la, NO TEARS!!! The teacher, Miss Rachael, came and wisked him away and got him occupied with some blocks. Then yesterday, we were a little early and his teacher wasn't in the class room yet, but the aid was. Mac said, "Where's the other teacher?" I think he loves Miss Rachael!!!

Today, school drop off was a breeze! Birthday boys get lots of special attention in Miss Rachael's class! Plus, he loves having his friends in his class and making new friends like Lily (another Lily!) and Nicholas.

Time to get ready for the big party tonight!

Growing Up With A Village

I have vivid memories of growing up with a "Village" of family members throughout our town. My parents' friends and their kids were a vital part of my upbringing. I am sure my sisters feel the same way. I liked having older and "other" siblings in my extended family. I hoped that when we moved to our new home that we would be able to provide that for our boys. After last night, I saw that we had.

I have previously commented about how great our neighbors and their kids are. We are so fortunate to have such a warm and friendly neighborhood. My boys don't feel the slightest bit shy about walking right into our neighbors garage and punching the punching bags or knocking on their door to see if they are home to solicit a special snack. Mac even has a secret hiding place in their pantry for his own treats!!! And Eli...I have to really watch him so that he doesn't just walk right across the street to our other neighbor's house when they come outside with their girls.

Last night, during our weekly "Aloha Friday" festivities, we headed to the pool for a cookout. It was a great and new experience, because there were new friends there who aren't normally here on Friday evenings. What is so great about having these get-togethers is, it seems like their are always new people there, and everyone brings with them their own "flavor." The kids, subsequently, get new friends to get to know.

Well...as I watched the kids swimming in the pool, I see Eli playing with Ella, Mac on Drew's shoulders playing a game of Chicken with some other boys. The girls are getting to know each other and prancing around the pool. Suddenly, a group of kids run over to the pond to check out the gator. And then it hit me...This is how I grew up. All different ages of kids hanging out. The older ones leading the way, the younger ones trying to vy for the attention of the older ones. It was great! I had flashbacks of vacations to Kentucky Lake, Fourth of July parties, Halloween gatherings in our basement, and Caroling parties at the Dwyers'. And this neighborhood is reminding me of my neighborhood growing up.

How blessed are we to have such a wonderful group of friends. In fact, tonight, I am heading out with all the ladies of last night, plus another 10 or so from another street for a Girls' Night Out, while the boys hang out here at our house for a Fish Fry.

Too FUN!!!

"The Golfball Show"

Of course it would make sense to a 3.5 year old that if you have "basketBALL" and "footBALL" and "baseBALL", that you would have "golfBALL" too.

Nathan came home from work last night and asked Mac if he wanted to go use his putter at the golf course. On the way over, Mac asked Nathan, "Daddy, when are you going to be on the golfball show?"
N: "What do you mean Mac?"
M: "You know. The one with Tiger Woods. When are you going to be on that show?" (Meaning tournaments like the Open and the Players' Championship."
N: "Oh....well...It will take Daddy a while to get on that show. I would need to practice a lot more to be on it."
M: "Oh."
N: "...but if YOU start practicing now, and you play golf a whole bunch, then you could be on the golfball show like Tiger."

I fear the Earl Woods Complex.

Last week, Larry's family was here celebrating Grandma's 80th birthday! So much fun!! Lots of beach and pool time. Found my first shark's tooth. It was blazing hot, but by the ocean, if felt great! One evening we were at dinner and Mac was trying to say something to or about Laura, Larry's niece. Now Laura is in her early 20's, not yet married and enjoying single life. That said, while Mac was trying to figure out what to call her, because he clearly had forgotten her name, he referred to her as the "Mom in the blue shirt." I cracked up!!! So Laura, for the rest of the trip, and possible for the rest of her single life, was the referred to as the "Mom in the blue shirt." I wonder if that is anything like the "Devil with the blue dress, blue dress on. Devil with the blue dress on." (Laura, you may be too young for that musical reference."

Christmas is May

It is May and Mac woke up this morning and said he wanted to watch "Rudolph, the Red Nosed ReinMoose." :)

"...it's soup corn..."

At lunch time today, I put the boys at the table with their food and went around putting away laundry. I heard Mac say "Do you want some? It's soup-corn (creamed corn). Do you yike it? You do. I'll give you more."
Eli has started using a spoon. He is having fun trying to figure out how to keep the food on it! ;)
He is also getting really funny with his facial expressions and communication. I swear he yelled "hi" to our neighbor when he saw her, and I think he said 'hi' to the checkout girl at Publix today after she said "hi" to him.

Mac is riding his bike with training wheels and still climbing to unknown heights around the house. (YIKES) Pictures to come. There was a red paint incident! He is also very much looking forward to going back to IN in a few days. He really wanted to go the airport and get on a plane this past Tues. There were tears involved.

Eli's allergies

About a month ago, Eli broke out in a full body rash. His eyes were pink and swollen and he was covered in hives. I had had his 15 months shots recently and lots of things were blooming. So I was worried that he had a reaction to the vaccines, but I was hoping it was an environmental allergy. After a round of Prednilosone and a return of the hives, we went in for a blood draw to test for food and environmental allergies. We found that he is allergic to egg whites, peanuts, shrimp and cockroaches. (Good thing I have my friend Victor from Bug Out!) :) The egg and peanut allergy is mild-moderate. But the shrimp allergy is considered High (Only by a few points though.) I am hoping he will outgrow these, but we are being cautious until he does.

creepy crawlies!

Well our new home is not immune to crawling things, like our apartment. I went outside 2 nights ago and found a suspicious looking spider (Black with a red dot on it) in a sticky web. I called our pest control company (You have to have one on contract here in FL b/c bugs are crazy around here.) My friend Victor came over, and after he saw the web and I described it, he immediately said "Black Widow." YIKES!!!! What!!!!! With my babies around...I don't think so! Spray, spray, spray!!! He then told me that his spray only works on spiders when it hits them directly. Walking over it will do NOTHING to them! So next time I see ol' Charlotte, she's gonna meet the bottom of my shoe!

Did I mention that after I saw her, I looked up on top of our outside fridge and saw dozens and dozens of babies crawling over our bubble refill container. ICK.

Oh yeah, AND, I showed Victor my recycling container which had some of the silky, sticky web on it. He was a little...concerned. "Yeah....I would really be careful when you're picking those up to take them out. I would check underneath the handle before I grabbed there." HOLY COW!

Eli's first deliberate steps.

More steps.

Mac's "chapstick"

Mac'isms

A few funny things Mac has been saying lately:



He has made up a new conjunction. Instead of saying "I'm not." He says "I amn't" Am + Not = amn't.

When Nathan is in charge of putting him to bed, sometimes he'll cop out and say "I'll make you a deal. One more show, but no books." or something like that. The other night, Mac was on the verge of a fit, Nathan was in charge, and Mac (hysterically) yells out, "Can you make a deal?"

Instead of saying "actually" Mac will use the word "exactly." i.e. "Exactly, I want the red one."

He seems to be carrying a lot of things, pretend of course, in his back pocket. "Oh, I have a screwdriver in my back pocket." This morning, Mac had a newspaper and a lasso in his back pocket.

His imaginary friends are "Frankie" and "Anchor." ? ? ?

He negotiates and explains things very dramatically. Imagine him bobbing him head up and down and holding his hands out in front of him saying, "Well, (lip smack -l.s.), you see, (l.s.) you could just give me a treat now and then, (l.s.) I would just..." "But Mac I am offering you some Cheezits." "But Mommy (l.s.), Cheezits are not a treat." "Why aren't they a treat Mac." "Because, (l.s.) Mommy treats have sugar in them. So, I need a treat. OK?"

"member"...Mac will say, "Mom, Mom. I want to watch Scooby Doo. The one Daddy let me watch last night. ...member, the one Daddy let me watch. Member, Mom?" Member = remember.

There are more, I just can't remember them right now.

Eli's-a-walkin'

On Sunday, April 5th, 2009, Eli started walking. Of course it was AFTER GhiGhi and Papaw left! Oh sure, he has taken a few "lucky" steps before, but these were deliberate and intentional steps! I am trying to upload video but having no luck. I will keep trying.

A few pictures from the last few months

Eli with the "buck-teeth" pacifier.

Freezing at Disney in Feb.

Playing in a box!

With MeMe and Poppy at the Fort in St. Augustine.

Watching the shuttle launch in March

....when we're Team Headley

This morning, I told Mac that when Eli woke up, we would go to the Alligator Farm and to the park with the carousel. He was SO excited then he said, "we do lots of things when we're Team Headley." I LOVE THAT! I say to him all the time, that we are a Team and we have to take care of each other like teammates do. So...no hitting, being respectful, etc. It might be sinking in.

A week ago, when I was in the pick-up line at Mac's school, his pre-school teacher's asst. brought him to the truck. She said that Mac "bloomed" today. He was playing with all the other kids, and he had SO much to say! She said theat he had a "Great Day!" I felt proud as a peacock, or pea-hen I guess! :) My Mom always says that parents are the most vulnerable through their kids. I suppose that a parent is also most proud and fulfilled through their kids too. Something must have devolopmentally "clicked" with him, because 2 weeks ago, he couldn't stop talking about his friend Brady and nearly demanded that I call his Mom and set up a playdate! So I DID! Then, we had another playdate with a neighbor boy this past Saturday. He was great at both of them. It's not that Mac misbehaved or was mean with other kids, he was the opposite. He was aloof and stand offish and only played by himself. Seems like things are different now. I am not sure if it is the big boys in the neighborhood or the fact that I have kind of forced him to join and/or try some new things like karate and soccer. Whatever it is, it is different.

Eli is on the verge of walking. He has taking a few unbalanced steps from a chair to a coffee table but not much more. And, he is babbling A LOT. I think when he starts walking, words will start flying out of his mouth! He is devoloping lots of opinions and he wants what he WANTS!!! And, he will tell me about it! In his frustration now, he will bang his head a few times...just to get his point across!

"Can you yaff about it?"

I walked into Mac's room after he was supposed to have been asleep for his PM nap (It seems I start a lot of entries this way), and gasped at what I saw...an EMPTY marshmallow bag!!! Then Mac said "Mom, Mom...Can you yaff about it?"

OF COURSE I CAN. That was freakin' hysterical.

BTW, he had saved a baseball sized clump of marshmallows in his bed "for yater."

The Blue Icee at 10:20pm

I was in brushing my teeth, while Nathan lay in bed watching TV. Then I heard it. A loud thump. I leaned back to look at Nathan and he was leaning forward to look at me. "What was that?" We sat in silence for a few seconds, then Nathan said, "The icee." Rewind to earlier this afternoon at the playground in our neighborhood. Our friend Hudson came to the playground with an Icee his Mom got for him at the local convenient store. Mac had a sip (or ten) of it and was hooked! I told him, if he took a good nap, we would go get him one when we woke up. I had it...my leverage for the day! Everything revolved around the Icee. Sure enough, when Mac woke up, the first thing his groggy little voice said was "Icee." I obliged. He didn't drink the entire thing, so we put it in the freezer for tomorrow...lasting leverage. Love it! However, it became a bit of a nuciance as bed time drew nearer. Even after brushing teeth, Mac wanted a sip of the now frozen Icee. Mac was put to bed around 8pm, and at 10pm, he was still awake. Now it was time for Nathan and me to go to bed too. Lights out throughout the entire house. I can just hear Mac's mind working when he realized all the lights were out. "Now's my chance. They'll never know I went for the Icee." Back to the present time...we hear the thump, realize what it is, then sneak to Mac's room. He is poking his finger as far down into the cup as he can to try to break up the now-frozen Icee, then trying to suck it through the straw. He isn't having much luck. So, now is our time to "break up this little charade." Nathan walks in and says "Whatcha doin' Mac?" Mac jumped about 4 feet off the floor with a start. Then he feverishly started sucking on the straw to get out any of the Icee he can, because he knows that he has been caught and the Icee is a goner. I haven't laughed that hard since...well I guess since he covered himself in toothpaste! He is a sneaky little dude!!

What a day!!!

I became a Great Aunt today! Hadlee McClarren was born today to my niece Courtney. She was 8#10oz. And...1.5 weeks EARLY!!! Thank God she came early! I truly wish I were there with her and the family, but I know she is in Good Hands (no pun intended.) :) Her last name is Hand.

We also got a package today from Gr'ma and Gr'pa Carpenter. And the boys were loving the IU footballs and especially the chocolate/marshmallow hearts.

I have lots of pix to upload from MeMe and Poppy's visit. I will post them soon!

A letter to Aunt Karen (9 days ago)

Hi Karen,
We are all doing great. The boys are changing so fast. Mac is really getting funny. He says some of the most hysterical things. He slays me most days. We are STILL working on potty training. Today was a big break- through though. He pooped twice on the potty. HUGE!!! Of course, he then immediately wants candy for his acocmplishment. Ugh! He loves school, and his teacher is very complementary of him. I sometimes wonder if she is really talking about Mac. ;) Oh..I joke...but I do think he acts differently around other adults than he does around me. Right now, we are working on riding a two wheeled bike. THe problem is, he is scared of the training wheels. Nathan let him fall a few times, and now he wants nothing to do with them. \We actually have had 2 bikes given to us. One with training wheels, and one without. He prefers the one without. So that means, Mommy is breaking her back to keep a hold of him as he tries to ride up and down the sidewalk. I can't wait for him to "get it" so he can ride along side of me while I run.
Eli is getting so big. Tonight he was in the bathtub and stretched his body out while lying on his belly. He almost took up the entire tub! I couldn't believe it. My baby! He is doing a little sign language. Very little at this point, but he really knows "more". :) He also did "duck" tonight too. I thought that was pretty cool. When we were at Larry and Cindy's over T"giving, Cindy has this musical toy that plays the "Chicken Dance" song. So now EVERY time he hears any song, he starts flapping his wings. It is really funny. He is not walking yet. Actually, he is not even standing on his own yet, but he does like to push around this little "walk and ride" toy he has. He looks like he is pushing a walker!! I guess we start with a walker and then end with a walker (as life goes). Right now, we don't have a big birthday party planned for him. If we were in Indiana, we'd probably do something...more so that family could get together, but here...it just isn't necessary. We'll have a cake, and if it is warm, we might grill out and see if neighbors stop by, but I don't plan on planning anything big. Poor kid. :)
We had a really nice New Year's Eve dinner here at our house with our neighbors and Larry and Cindy. THere were 10 of us for dinner and 4 kiddos running around. We invited 14 adults. Everyone brought something. We actually had TOO much food. We had appetizers, Lobster bisque, mushroom lasagna, beef tenderloin, a turkey, stuffing, rice, black eyed peas, sweet potatoes and dessert. It was insane. There was plenty of food to go around and enough for sandwiches the next day, and for people to take home a little bit of left overs. We had fun with the Wii and laughing at funny videos on YouTube! Then we watched the ball drop.
I should go. Part of my New Year's Resolution is to get to bed at descent times. If I start now (9pm) I might make it to sleep by 11. :)

hmm...I just went back and re-read this letter. It is a pretty good "blog entry". I think I will cut and paste it into the blog. So you will see it again! :)
Em

Eli - 1 year old

From now to then...
Looking into the future.

Playing in my new sand/water table.

A Halloween monkey

High Five!

I have lost most of my hair, but now it is growing back.

In Ponte Vedra Beach at our interview. 7weeks old

Little Toad (in b'ton)

All are happy and healthy

His first moments

My baby boy is one year old! This time last year, I was lying in my bed in Bloomington, IN trying to go to sleep. I was anxious, because my second son was to be born the next morning. We planned a c-section, and I think I was more nervous about the epideral than the actual surgery. I always seem to do fine during the actual procedure, but I did dread the needle. As usual, it was no big deal. My anesthesiologist and my OB were golfing buddies, so I knew the atmosphere would be light. I told them "Don't let Nathan see ANYTHING! and distract with golf talk." I did not want him passing out because he caught a glimpse of the surgery. After the epi., they started the surgery before Nathan actually was in the room, so he had to walk right by my feet to get to my head! YIKES! He did great as usual. The pillar of strength with a few nervous banners waving from it. He always keeps it together under pressure. I hope Eli will be like him in that regard. Eli was born with a FULL head of blonde hair. I, of course, ordered Nathan (yes, I still boss him around even when pumped full of drugs - "who's married to the demanding wife" - inside joke)...I ordered him to start taking pictures, as we didn't have the doula like we did with Mac. He was beautiful and still is. He was a pretty good nurser from the start, even though I am not the best supply. He stuck by me the whole way. In fact, I nursed him for 10.5 months. He's a faithful little guy. A mama's boy, for sure. Like Mac, is was and is perfect in every way (even though he JUST started sleeping through the night last month!) :) How blessed I am to have such a warm, yet fiesty little guy. He is always good for a hug and a bright smile. And when he twinkles those baby blues at me...forget about it! When he was born, it wasn't even a remote possibility that we would be moving to FL. But now, an entire year later, here we are. We arrived here when he was just 2.5 months old. Hard to believe he was so young. I think it was difficult for him to adjust to his new surroundings at first, and that is why he became so attached to me. There was no family around to sweep him away and love on him, no neighbors to dote over him and babysit for him. He just had me. I am tickled pink to be his "one and only." At least for now, anyway. He learned to sit up, crawl and cruise here. He got his first tooth and said his first word here. He first giggled and coo'd here. And I was here to see it all first hand. How blessed am I?

My bed is a little "crunchy"

Mac has been a little devil lately while he is supposed to be sleeping. The day before this video was shot, I caught him red-handed climbing the shelves in the pantry for some crackers/cookies. This particular day, I thought he was asleep, so I went outside to do some work while both boys were asleep. I was talking to my neighbor and telling her how just the day before he had climbed the shelves for the "goods". After the conversation, I went in to check on them and found this...

Hesaid in the beginning that he wad trying to be Swiper the Fox! Like on Dora.

So let's review:

1st we have The Grren Goblin aka toothpaste boy

2nd we have Spiderman, the pantry shelf scaler

Now we have Swiper the Fox!

"Fighting" for your kid

One day, I hope Mac will thank me for the "fighting" I am doing for him right now. It feels like a fight anyway. I am in the middle of trying to figure out what is the best way for Mac to move along his educational path. I am very determined that he should wait to start kindergarten until he is 6. Not because I think he won't be able to handle it academically or socially, but because, simply put, I don't want him to be the very youngest kid in his class!!!! I would much rather him be the oldest. I will figure out, later, how to handle the stress of him being the first one driving in his class and the first one to turn 21. I just don't want him to have to go through the stigma of being the last one to get his license or turn 21. God forbid, he be the youngest in his group of friends who turns 21, and he gets a fake ID. God forbid he get caught and/or arrested for it. That would be on his record forever!.........I realize I am making a big leap from kindergarten to the sports bar, but I HAVE to start thinking of these things now. Why? Because I am trying to figure out how to "sequence" his educaiton. Should I hold him in his 3's class which is only 2 or 3 days a week; put him in the Pre-K class which is 5 days a week and then hold him back and repeat it another year; or put him in Pre-K then on to Kindergarten ( Where I just learned per a conversation with the St. Johns County Public Schools that it is not up to ME as his Mom if he should repeat Kindergarten, rather it will be a Team decision.) OY! Knowing Mac, he will pass K'garten with flying colors and then be sent onto 1st as the youngest in his class!! Then all my worry and toil will be for naught. I am leaning toward the "repeat Pre-K" option and just pay the difference. (I won't get into the financials. It is a big cluster-bleep) ...Now, if I can just figure out how to convince Nathan that he should wait until he is 6 for K'garten...That will be the next fight! :) Thank God we had Eli in January. I don't have to have this inner-turmoil again! BTW, Happy B'day Eli (tomorrow). Love you both!

A new Christmas Tradition

When I was a little girl, every year my sisters and I would add links to an aluminum foil chain we used as our Christmas tree garland. It was cool to see the differences in each other's links in the chain. Mine were usually fat and big because that's how my hands worked. (I was little.) Heather's were pain-stakingly perfect, and Anita's were always smaller than mine from what I can remember. When we got older and moved out, Mom gave us each a section from the chain. Mine definitely was from the links that I made, big and fat. Well, I decided that this year, Mac was old enough to crush aluminum foil into long strands and link it into a chain. So we started his garland this year, and it hung on his Christmas tree that he had up in his room. (I will try to get pictures and post them.)