Mr. Fredricksen

My youngest son, age 4, has changed his name to "Mr. Fredricksen" (he got it from the movie, "UP")...so for the last week and a half, instead of calling him Josh, we call him Mr. Fredricksen.  In fact, he even refers to himself as Mr. Fredricksen...so he will correct me if I make a mistake and call him by his given name.  This makes me laugh, partly because when I was pregnant with Mr. Fredricksen, my daughter (age 4 at the time) wanted me to name him Mr. Whiskers. :)

So, Mr, Fredricksen gave me a present for my birthday last weekend.  He had wrapped the gift in beautiful green leaves and pink flowers he had found in the front yard.  I opened it slowly...wondering what treasure he could have found for me.  Inside, I found a cat food coupon for 50 cents off Whisker Lickin's.  Stifling my giggles, I thanked him immensely and told him how much I loved and appreciated the gift.  Mr. Fredricksen just shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal as he walked away and responded, "I found it in the garage."

Joshy's own song lyrics...Post #1

"Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere! Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is BORED!"

Happy Birthday Bubs!

This weekend we are celebrating our “baby’s” 3rd birthday. I am just feeling so thankful for my little guy I feel the need to write about him. Our older two children were born so close together (14 months apart) and in a way I feel like I didn’t get to enjoy them one-on-one as babies, because they really were both babies at the same time! As they got older, I had that gnawing feeling that I just wasn’t done yet – it sounds weird, but I just knew there was somebody missing from our family. I told my husband that I really felt we were supposed to have another boy named Josh…I know, weird, right? After finally talking him into the idea we decided to give it a go…and what do you know, we had a boy and named him Joshua.:)

The first thing I remember about Joshy was the way he was so alert and looking around the room with wonder from the moment the nurse handed him to me in the hospital. He wasn’t crying…it was like he was just in awe of his surroundings. He looked all around and then his eyes met mine. “Well, there you are,” I told him. “I knew you were supposed to be here.” At that moment, our family finally felt complete…there was no question in my mind. I am done now, I thought, my family is all here. What peace that feeling is, I really can’t describe it.

Every day for the last three years I have been so thankful for my littlest pal. “Thankful” doesn’t even seem like an adequate word to use. I joke that he keeps me young…because there is nothing I love more than to just hang out and be silly with him. Joshy loves animals, especially elephants, and we visit the zoo together at least twice a month. He is a natural entertainer and puts on shows where he sings his heart out and then immediately asks his audience for applause. Josh is always caring about others and when he sees someone always asks how they are doing or how their dog is doing. He makes me belly-laugh every day. His favorite musical artists are Lady Gaga and Johnny Cash. Seriously. He asks me to play “Poker Face” and then “Ring of Fire” on the IPod every single day…then spends the rest of the day calling me “Mama Poker-face, Mamamama” and singing into his microphone “…and it burns, burns, burns…the ring of fire…the ring of fire.” Did I mention he makes me belly-laugh every single day?

So, to God I say thank you. Thank you for giving me this amazing little human being to take care of. To Joshy, I say thank you for being my little Bubba, my sweet friend, for changing me in ways I didn’t know I needed to be changed, for making me laugh, for fish-kisses and head-butts, for your big squeezing hugs and for loving me and making me feel important always. Happy Birthday, my big three-year-old boy. I knew you were supposed to be here.

Potty Mouth!

My youngest son, Josh, has turned into a total potty-mouth. (Not sure WHERE he gets it - no, seriously!) Anyway, he is 2-1/2, so everything about stinky things, or poop, or butts, etc is funny to him. He sings songs about poop, calls people "stinky-piggy-go-to-the-market-head," wiggles his tush and shouts, "butt-crack! butt-crack!" and generally has a full-on potty mouth. Yesterday my father-in-law accidentally bumped into him and Joshy told him to "watch out, fart-knocker!"

I probably should wash his little mouth out with soap or something...but as I mentioned, he is 2-1/2...so I keep thinking if I just ignore it he will stop eventually because it's not fun anymore. The bad part is, it's hard to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing when he says something he isn't supposed to. Because, after all, he is just so darn cute. Even when he calls me a stinky-piggy-go-to-the-market-head:)

My funny little pal

My youngest son, Joshua - age 2-1/2, cracks me up constantly, all day long. The kid is a HOOT, a natural comedian without even trying. The last couple of days have been no exception.

On Sunday we went to church and it was his first time to Sunday School in his "big boy pants"...no more diapers for my little man, (WOO HOOO!) Before we left the house I made a comment that I wanted to be sure and bring an extra pair of undies for him, just in case. He must have heard me say that because when I took him to the restroom at church later that morning, he had not one, but TWO pairs of underwear on under his jeans. Hey, I said he needed an extra pair, right? Apparently he thought he needed to WEAR the extra pair...:)

Yesterday I had the day off work so I took Josh to the zoo. On our way we stopped at Starbucks for coffee (for me) and hot chocolate (for him) and he picked out a little snack bag of nuts and dried fruit to eat in the car. I'm driving along and he is eating his snack, when suddenly he says, "Mommy! I have a strawberry in my nose!" I quickly adjusted the rear view mirror to look at him and sure enough, I can see he has lodged something in his left nostril. He is poking around at it and I say, "Joshy! Why did you stick something in your nose?! Don't touch it! Mommy will have to get it out when we stop the car!" All I could imagine was having to take this child to the ER with some sort of dried berry stuck in his nose (it turned out to be a dried blueberry, by the way, not a strawberry). He says, matter-of-factly, "I put it in my nose for the Oogie-Boogie Man." Um, okay...
Fortunately I was able to retrieve the fruit from his nose without a trip to urgent care.

At the end of our zoo trip, when we were back in the car I said, "I had fun with you at the zoo, Joshy...thank you so much for being my pal today."
Josh: "Huh?"
Me: "Thank you for being my pal today"
Josh: "Huh?"
Me: "Thank you for being my pal today"
Josh: "Huh?"
Me: "Thank you for being my BUDDY today."
Josh: "I'm not your buddy or your pal. I'm your baby."

Yes, yes you are, my love:)

Happy Birthday to "My Tim"

Our youngest son, Josh (age 2-1/2), for some reason never calls my husband "Daddy"...he insists on calling him by his first name. Now, believe me - there is no doubt that this kid is his Daddy's boy...he is a spittin' image of the man, only pint-sized. But, alas, when he calls to him from across the house, it's, "TIM! C'MERE!" or when his Dad gets home he says, "Tim's home!" We don't really know why...and it doesn't seem to bother Tim all that much...or at least he doesn't let on that it bugs him.

So when Joshy found out it was Daddy's birthday today, he has been telling everyone all weekend that "It's my Tim's birthday!" It's been cracking me up for days, and Josh can't seem to figure out why I think it's so funny. After all, that's his NAME, isn't it?

So, to my husband...the coolest guy I know, my best friend, the one who chose me and loves me no matter what (and believe you me I'm not the easiest gal to live with), and the best "Daddy" to our children even when they choose not to call him that...Happy Birthday to MY Tim.:) Thanks for being born, Fishhead!