The things he says

Lately Max & I have been having some funny conversations.  He is really "thinking" about things and frankly, the way he says them is pretty funny.  I know everyone is amused by their own children but some of these I'm just going to have to share with y'all.

Yesterday on the way home from church:

Max: Why didn't you name me Jack?

Me: Because I like the name Max better.

Max: Well, I like Jack better.

Me: Well, when you have a son, you can name him Jack.

Max: What would my name be then?

Me: Your name would still be Max.

Max: (Outraged) WHY WOULD'NT HE CALL ME DAD?!?!?!

I don't know how I'm supposed to keep a straight face. He's completely serious!  Yes, Honey, He'll probably call you Dad, but your name will still be Max!

Earlier in the week, he was dancing around the living room naked.

Me: Max go put some clothes on. You are too old to run around the house naked.

Max: I'm not naked. I'm wearing socks!!

Again. He's not being sarcastic. He's dead serious. And he was wearing socks.  How am I supposed to argue with that?

And one of my all time favorites...

After telling him to do something that he didn't want to do.

Max: You'd better be nicer to me or I'm going to tell my (stuffed) dog not to protect you when the aliens come.

No more babies!

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic about Max's birthday.  He turned 5 yesterday.  The party was great.  Most of the little boys from his class at church were able to attend.  Everyone had a good time.  No tears, no fighting.

But throughout the party I just kept thinking "they are little boys."  Somewhere between the last birthday and this one, my baby disappeared.  He started kindergarten, he can ride a two wheeler, he can write his name (and everyone else's and lots of other words), he knows his address, he can swim the length of the pool. The chubby cheeks have melted away and he's got abs I would be thrilled with!

I am enjoying all of his new discoveries and I love watching him grow.  But it hit me yesterday, our time with babies is over.  With the first two, when they turned 5 the next one was on the way or had just arrived.  This time there is no newer model.  The baby days are over.

Happy Birthday Max!

So it begins... again

Max took his first dance class yesterday. He loved it. I talked to him on my way home from work and he kept saying "It was so much fun!!!" The summer session is 5 weeks. If he continues to love it we'll enroll him in the fall too. Maybe next year's AAOD recital will have 2 Dexter kids in it!

awwww....

Max had his first big bike crash tonight. He's got a new 16 inch Cars bike, that he's riding "super fast" with no training wheels. He's been riding the new bike just over a week and he's gotten faster & faster every day. Today, while we were going around the block as a family Derek said, he's going to crash sooner or later. Sure enough about 10 minutes later, Max tried to turn around in the neighbor's driveway and turned his wheel too sharply. He's got scraps on his forehead, nose & knee and a pretty big fat lip. A few minutes ago I heard him tell Derek... "Ya know what I wish? That I'd wake up and this crash was just a dream!" Awwww, melt a Momma's heart. But I know that tomorrow he'll be back out there on his bike riding like the Danger Boy Jr. that he is.

Happy Mother's Day

Boston Bound

I haven't forgot that I have a blog, I've just been too busy living life to write about it. LOL!

We've got the first Dance Competition under our belt. Like a Prayer (Group Open) received High Gold, Everyone Needs a Little (Lyrical Solo)took a disappointing Gold but was only 2 points from High Gold.

Tonight is Nate's Swim Team Banquet. Even though he's been done swimming for a few weeks, the older swimmers have a longer season. Our team did really well in the State Championships, Zone Championships and Nationals. It's fun to get back together and celebrate with the whole team.

Tomorrow Derek & I leave for Boston. I am so excited to watch him run this marathon. It's the culmination of several years of training and persistance. I am so proud of him for what he has already accomplished, this is just the icing on the cake.

Please pray for safe travels and injury free running.

I'll update the Blog with results when we get back and then there will be Easter pictures and more dance competition, and the rest of life stuff. (Maybe even a video of Max riding around the block with no training wheels if I can figure out how to get it from Derek's phone to my blog.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

With a name like Kelli Green*, you know I've always had a special place in my heart for St. Patrick's Day. I never forgot to wear my green clothes. I even had a special St. Patrick's Day shirt that I wore several years in a row.

So it's been kind of fun for me that everyday for a week, Max has asked me if its Green day yet. I'm not sure where he heard the concept, but he's been somewhat obsessed about wearing green. In fact, he's worn green several days just for practice.

This morning when he woke up I asked him: "Do you know what today is?" And with a big grin he responded: "I already knowed! IT'S GREEN DAY!!!"

So Happy Green Day everyone, whether you are irish or not.



*Yes, my maiden name really was Kelli Green. What can I say, it was the 70's. Ironically, we aren't actually irish- that I know of.

I have a surprise for you!

Max and I are playing a fun game right now. The game involves a cardboard box, tape and webkinz.

We take turns putting a webkinz in the box, tape it shut and then bring it to the other person saying in a sing-songy voice:

"I have a surprise for yoooooou!"
Then the other person excitedly opens the box, takes out the stuffed animal and promptly names the animal something obvious.

I now have a dog named "dirty paws" a cat named "black tail" and a Rhinoceros named "Horny" (heehee!).

Max just announced this is a GREAT game. I am loving it too.

Simple, Sweet, Free.

Staying Little

Several times in the past 2 weeks Max has told me that he's all done growing or that he doesn't want to get any bigger.

I thought it might be in response to my cleaning out his closet of outgrown clothing or maybe in response to us giving away his toddler bed, even though he seemed fine with both of those things.

I thought maybe it was because he just wants to stay my "baby" for a little while longer, even though he's excited about starting his kindergarten program. (He couldn't wait until fall so he started just after the new year.)

But then last night, he climbed into my lap and said,

"I don't want to get any bigger. I'll stay little forever. So will you make me a cup of coffee now?"

It turns out the comments about staying small were in response to my refusal to let him have his own cup of Starbucks! He's heard his Dad frequently say that he doesn't drink coffee because he's not all grown up yet.

A boy after his Mama's own heart! (But no, I didn't make him any coffee.)

Hey, has anyone seen my baby?

He was here just a minute ago. My youngest, my last. The little one. The baby who cried wolf, with several false alarms and trips to the hospital before he finally arrived on November 13, 2006. He looks like this:



Have you seen him?


He's a little cutie. A bit of a copycat of his older brother, but with an independent streak. He loves dogs and cars and bikes. He looks like this:



Have you seen him?

He doesn't mind getting dirty. It's all or nothing in his world. He looks like this:

Have you seen him?

He's earned the nickname "Danger Boy Junior". But he keeps smiling through all the bumps and bruises. He looks like this:

Have you seen him?


Oh, I found him out in the backyard, hanging around.


How'd he get so big? He looks like this:


HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY MAX!! You'll always be my baby.

M-O-M spells

Max is playing with his wooden letters and just put

M O M

on the table. I said: "what does that spell?"

He said:

"M"
"O"
"M"
"says Awesome!"

Then he smiled spelled it again and said "Mom"!

Harvest Party 2010

We always enjoy the church harvest party. Its one of my favorite fall events, but this year I was bit insane during the party. Normally we attend the whole day, usually Derek, Kaylee & I each take a shift as a helper and we alternate who takes the boys on the activities. This year Kaylee was at dance during the morning shift. Derek was setting up for the swim meet. So it was just me & the boys. I planned to meet our friends, the Whitlocks there at 10am, enjoy the party for about 2 hours, then take Nate to the Marlin Meet at noon. Max was going home with Jordan for a sleep-over and he was thrilled about that. Well you know what they say about the best laid plans.



We arrived pretty close to 10am, but our friends were running late. I also found out that Max & Jordan needed to leave by 11:30. So I decided I'd better get them started on the activities. I took several pictures of them at the first activity. Then my camera battery died. Not worried, I pulled out the back-up and took a a couple more pictures. Then the back-up battery died. We continued on through several more activities, then my friends arrived.



After that its all a blur. Between trying to visit with friends and keep track of two little boys, I felt like I wasn't giving anyone enough attention. (I did however, remember I had my new little flip video recorder and got some cute footage of the no-hand donut thingy.)



Thank goodness for understanding friends. The Rumbucs took Max for his sleep-over. Lezlie helped me track down Nate. (Yeah, remember him, I hadn't seen him since we arrived at the party- thus no pictures of him even if the batteries hadn't died!) The Whitlocks assured us they'd have a great time even though we had to go. Then Nate and I took off for the Swim Meet. I didn't get to see any of the Harvest of Talents stuff. Rumor has it that Grandpa & Grandma dropped Kaylee off at the party for the 2nd shift, but our paths never overlapped. Oh well, part of our crazy whirlwind life.

Mommy & Max time

Max & I had a little time to ourselves tonight after we dropped Kaylee off at dance. I gave Max a choice of what he wanted to do and he chose Sonic. I asked him what he wanted and this was the conversation.

Me: "Max what do you want from Sonic?"

Max: "You know that thing that Nate got the last time, after swimming, when he came home and said "ha,ha, look what I have?"

Me: "yeah...."

Max: "well that's what I want. But I'm not going to say 'ha, ha' because that's naughty. Can you tell Nate that's naughty? And that you'll spank his butt if he does it again? But I won't do it, if you get me one."

Me: "so you want a Butterfinger Sonic Blast?"

Max: "I guess if that's what its called."



Derek wants me to update this post to note that while he didn't say "ha, ha, look what I have", Max did say "I got a sonic blast! I got a sonic blast!" The minute that Derek & Nate got home from swim practice.

What Max did today

They say a pictures worth a thousand words so here are a few pictures of what Max did today.











Did you notice what he's NOT wearing?

The Danger Boys learn new tricks

Swimming is something that seems to come fairly naturally to our family. I don't know if its nature or nurture but either way it makes sense. Derek & I met over water (as lifeguards at summer camp) so we've passed a love of swimming to our kids either through our genes or through our attitudes. This week we've been blessed to be able to spend 2 days at the pool with friends. We have all really enjoyed beating the heat with one of our favorite activities.



On Monday, Max spent most of the day with the life jacket on but did take it off for a few practice strokes. On Friday, as long as he was swimming to an adult, he preferred to have it off. He can swim about a 1/2 length without it. Obviously, he's not ready to swim on his own yet but I bet with some swim lessons this winter, by next summer he'll be ready for the swim team!

On Monday, Max thought he wanted to try jumping from the diving board. He would walk out at far as the hand rails then change his mind and go back. On Friday, Max decided he really wanted to jump from the diving board. His first few trips were quite funny. He was really nervous about that walk. He'd crouch way down and sort of scoot to the end then sit on the end and jump from a sitting position. After a couple times like that he realized he wasn't having as much fun as his brother, and he learned to walk the whole way. It wasn't long before his brother was encouraging him to try twists and cannon balls.




Speaking of Nate, he learned a new trick too. One of the great things about Nate is that he will watch someone doing something, decide he wants to figure it out and he will just keep working at it until he gets it. On Friday there was girl doing all sorts of cool dives. Nate decided he wanted to learn how to do an inward. So he asked her a couple questions and started working on it. In under an hour, he was doing them.



So far this tenacity only applies to physical things- I hope someday it applies to school work!

Father's Day 2010

Father's Day is almost over. whew! It's been a mostly fun day. We attended Church, took a trip to the ER, grilled out with friends, spent the evening lots more friends at the park and ended it with Erma's frozen custard.

Kaylee gave Derek a neat photo frame.



Nate gave Derek a creme brulee set.



Max gave Derek a trip to the ER.



Just as church was ending, Max fell off a chair, and hit the back of his head on the corner of a cabinet. I was the teacher, thank goodness, so I was right there to pick him up to comfort him. But the I took one look at the back of his head and realized we'd be making a trip to the ER. St. John Macomb got us in immediately. 5 staples later we were on our way. Max was a trooper through the whole thing. The Dr. & Nurse couldn't believe how calm he was getting the staples (he did cry but he didn't struggle). We promised him blue gum and a blue slurpee for being so brave.

Next year I'm picking out Max's gift for Derek.

Towels & Gender Confusion

After his shower this morning Max said, "I want the blue towel!"
So I said: "O.k. I'll have the pink one."
Then he said "why do you want the pink one?"
So I said: "Because I'm a girl." Then and I said; "Lucky for you I'm a girl because if I was a boy I wouldn't be your Mom!"
To that he replied: "Or you'd be a funny looking boy-girl."

Gee, thanks, I think.

Another glimpse into Homeschooling

Kaylee just sent me a text:

"I know how to say 'there is an empty box of fruit snacks on my head' in Spanish!"

"hay una caja vacia de bocadillos de fruta en la cabeza".

I responded:

"That might be useful someday."

She responded:

"It's useful right now. Max just put an empty box of fruit snacks on Dad's head."

Udderly Confusing

Max started showing a new interest lately... in cows of all things! I really have no idea where this came from because he's my City Boy.

On Friday night we were all watching High School Musical 3, when all of a sudden he said: "I don't want that girl from Church to touch me."

I said "which girl?"

and he said "THE ONE FROM CHURCH!"
(spoken slowly and loudly like I am a complete moron... I think he learned his from his siblings.)

Then he said "I think I'll marry a cow."

At his point Derek & I looked at each other completely perplexed. We still don't know which girl from church has prompted Max's sudden interest in cows.

Tonight, Derek, Max & I were taking a walk around the block. Max looked at a fire hydrant and started talking about houses being on fire, so we used it as an opportunity to try to talk about fire safety (what to do: leave the house, where to go: the neighbors). Max was mostly focused on the firemen coming with hoses, when all of a sudden he said, the fireman has a bad knee so the policemen will have to come. Then he said "What do you do if you have a bad cow?" Again, we have no idea where this cow talk is coming from.

We are udderly confused. (I know you just groaned. But I couldn't resist)

Stay tuned for mooooo-re cow tales.

Secret Identity

Max asked me to take my glasses off so he could see what I looked like without them.

When I did he said, "Mom, is that you?"

I said "yes"

and he said "I didn't recognize you."

So I said "Am I like a Superhero? What's my other identity?"

and he said "DAD!"