Thanks for noticing

I love to see Carson get wrapped up with things that he is doing because he becomes very observant. Yesterday we were taking a trip to Michigan City and I was sitting in the back seat with Carson keeping him company. We decided to play the counting game. We counted the tires on his matchbox car, the dots on a toy lady bug, our ears, eyes, fingers, etc. Then Carson stopped and looked at my face very closely. He said, "and you have one, two moles Mom." Thanks Carson for pointing that out sweetheart!

Last week Carson and I were sitting at the table having our breakfast and Jason comes out from just getting cleaned up for the day. Carson looks at his dad and says, "You're hair looks nice today Daddy." That was something we didn't expect to hear, but how nice!

Back on September 8, 2005 Taylor and I were searching around the house for a particular toy that was lost. Carson actually found it and came up to me and says, "Give me a high five!"

On February 3, 2006 I was in the kitchen making lunch and Carson was in the front room watching TV. He comes into the kitchen and says, "there's something wrong with the TV Mom." So I go out to see what the problem is. He had turned it on the Spanish speaking channel. No wonder!

Something about coffee

I am a coffee lover. I think I am turning Carson into one too. Just the other day I accidentally left the refrigerator open and I turn around to see Carson getting into something. I went over to see what he was doing and he turns around to look at me with a mouth full of Folgers coffee grounds coming out of his mouth. He says, "Mmmm coffee." So gross! Yesterday I asked what he would like to drink and his reply was coffee. So I played along with it and asked what he would like in his coffee. He said, "candy." I think he is turning into a caffeine and sugaraholic!

I leave you with a few pictures I took of the boys this afternoon.

Mr. Luke

Mr. Carson - the coffee man!

Mr. Taylor-bug!

Wrong word

Yeah - so I've been slacking! There's just been more to do around here and not enough drive to do it all. So I thought I'd share with you all today some cute and funny "wrong word" stories from the last 5 years of Taylor's life and the start of Carson's. I have been keeping a "journal" which started off being milestones of Taylor as a baby, and has now turned into funny things my kids have done or said. I highly recommend doing this if you have small kids at home. You think you'll remember what they said, but unless you write it down chances are you'll forget. It makes for a good read and a good laugh later on in life. So here are some cute entry's from when Taylor (who is my oldest son) was between the ages of 3 and 8. Enjoy.

Taylor - age 3
May 4, 2001
I asked Taylor if he was hungry and his reply was, “Yeah – I’m roasting like a chicken!”

Taylor - age 4
July 27, 2001
We were at a restaurant in Bloomington and the waiter asked Taylor what he would like. He replied, “Popcorn chicken seafood.” translation = popcorn shrimp

August 20, 2001
Taylor was helping me with the 5/3 Bank float that we constructed for the Popcorn Festival. He stood with his back against the concrete pillar and said, “Look how much I weigh.” (Slight confusion with weight and height.)

September 1, 2001
Taylor saw a daddy long leg spider and called it a gran-daddy spider.

September 4, 2001
Taylor and I were in the car and he asked why our dog Sasha killed a rabbit. I told him that dogs like to hunt smaller animals that it’s just their instinct. Taylor responds, “Yeah, they stink.”

September 21, 2001
There is a bakery in town called Chuck’s Bakery, but Taylor thinks it’s called Charlie Brown Bakery.

September 21, 2001
We went hiking at Deep River and were talking about going to Turkey Run state park. A little while later Taylor mentioned the park again, but instead of referring to it as Turkey Run Park he called it Chicken Hike Park.

June 2002
Taylor’s word interpretations:
raccoons = ratcoons
gazebo = koziko
copy cat = coffee cat
dachshund dog a.k.a. “wiener dog” = banana dog

June 17, 2002
Taylor and I were sitting outside and I got the chills. Taylor asked, “Do you have the chicken pops?” I think he meant to ask if I had goose bumps.

Taylor - age 5
November 20, 2002
Taylor was at his grandparent’s house and wanted to play the hopscotch game, but he referred to it as hotchscŏp.

April 1, 2003
Taylor was out in the back yard and spotted a sticker bush and yelled, “Mom! Watch out for that splinter bush!”

May 15, 2003
I asked Taylor if he wanted a fried egg sandwich for lunch. He replied, “Yeah, OK. But, it’s not Friday.” He must have thought I said a Friday sandwich.

Taylor - age 6
November 9, 2003
Taylor and I were playing brain quest and one question asked the name of the animal that lives in the desert. Taylor’s answer, “Canimal.” (I think he meant camel!)

January 15, 2004
I was pumping gas in the van and Taylor asked, “How many meters of gas are you getting?”

Taylor - age 7
August 24, 2004
Carson had a diaper rash so I told Jason that when he changes his diaper he would need to put some A&W ointment on. I really meant to say A&D ointment. (A&W is a brand of root beer!)

November 25, 2004
I asked Taylor who Mark Twain was and he replied, “He’s an arthur.”

January 13, 2005
Taylor wanted me to guess which pair of socks he put on without looking so I said, “a white pair.” He asked what kind and I said I didn’t know. He showed me them and said (using a two-syllable pronunciation) “Hān-es.” I think he meant Hănes.

April 1, 2005
I was pregnant at the time with Luke and I mentioned to Taylor how my belly looks like I have a basketball in it. Taylor replies, “It sure Luke’s like it.”

June 19, 2005
Jason and I were talking about an upcoming wedding we are going to and Taylor asks, “Am I going to be the ring barrier?”

Taylor – age 8
December 5, 2005
Our city has a Live Nativity scene each year and other activities downtown during the Christmas season. Taylor asks, “Are we going downtown to see the Native Activity?”

Carson - age 3
January 25, 2006

Carson was eating graham crackers and he asked, “Can I have another graham crapper?”

Sick kid

Literally, I have a sick kid. Poor Carson is battling a cold and has been on and off for a few weeks now. His symptoms don't seem to interrupt his usual behavior or slow him down any (darn it!) But he does seem extra crabby which is SO much fun to deal with. NOT! We took him in last Wednesday for his 3 year physical (almost a month past his actual birthday). Everything seemed to check out okay until the doctor looked in his ears. Up to this point Carson has never had an ear infection, but this day was different. The doctor asked if Carson had been complaining about his ear at all and I said no. Well, he has an ear infection so we have him on antibiotics. Baby Luke has a double ear infection at the same time so he's on antibiotic. And myself, well I am also on antibiotics for what my doctor believes to be extra fluid in my ears. So needless to say we've got some health issues going on right now. But back to Carson's symptoms. This is his first time on antibiotics and I wasn't too sure how he'd act having to drink this pink looking medicine. He took the cup and sipped it down and said, "This is delicious!" I wasn't expecting that good of a reaction, but heck I'll take it! Carson has had a runny nose for awhile too and it seems I am always chasing after him to blow his nose. Well, just the other day he comes running into my room with a kleenax and says in a very excited voice, "Mom I wiped my nose off!" Well, the wording got a little backwards, but it was cute to see how excited he was to be able to wipe his own nose for a change without having to be chased around or told to go do it.

Observant little guy

I have discovered that kids, whether or not you think they are paying attention, absorb everything around them and can retain that information better than most adults. Carson is no exception to this discovery. He is a sponge. And he also has selective hearing. I had to test him the other day to see if he really was having hearing issues or not. It seemed as if all day (and most every day) I have to constantly repeat myself and the things I want Carson to do or not do. He is testing his limits and my patience and I am not sure at this point who is winning. Some days I feel defeated. So I figured I would see if he really could hear me. After telling him repeatedly to come into the kitchen and find his shoes (probably 5 times) he would just stare at me and not move. Then he'd go back to whatever it was that he was doing. So I barely whispered, "do you want a cookie?" Guess what? He comes running down the hallway yelling, "Yeah, I want a cookie mommy." What a stinker! So I now know that his hearing is perfectly normal if not better than normal.

Carson is a fan of many kid shows, but one in particular is Blue's Clues. He enjoys finding clues that are marked with a paw print. Well, back in July 2005 I had dressed Luke for the day with a cute Carter's outfit that had a dog and paw print on it. Carson points to Luke's outfit and remarks, "Luke's got a clue!" Sure enough, there was a paw print on the shirt even though it was not a Blue's Clues shirt. Another show that Carson has enjoyed is the movie E.T. I thought it might be scary for him at first, but he really liked it. I was on the phone back in August 2005 and I had to give the spelling of my first name. So I said, "L-Y-N-E-T-T-E." Carson, who was in the kitchen with me remarked, "E-T! I want to watch ET."

This past month we had our kitchen floor, hallway and laundry room floors redone. During the process Carson was watching the men put the pieces of the floor together. I could see the observant wheels turning in his head. He asked me, "Are they doing a puzzle and can I help?" I told him it kinda was like a puzzle that they had to fit all of the pieces of the floor together, but I also told him that only older people can put these types of puzzles together. Well, his reply was, "When I get bigger I'm gonna do those puzzles too!" Future career? Maybe.

Our church experiences

Practically ever since Carson was born we have been going to church and he has enjoyed his time in the nursery. For the last two years I have attended a Tuesday morning bible study for women and Carson will go to his version of church pre-school. It's been a good experience for him the majority of the time and some cute observations on his part have come about. For instance, on our way home from bible study one Tuesday Carson and I were talking and I asked him what his favorite part of church was. His reply with a big smile on his face was, "the girls." Uh-oh - watch out! My dad calls him Carsonova! I think that's a fitting nick name. Today we were looking out the window while his big brother Taylor was at the bus stop. Also at the bus stop was Zoe, a girl neighbor who Taylor plays with. Carson watched and looked at me with another big smile and asked, "Is Zoe a sweetheart?" Too funny! But back to the church experience, another cute episode was back on November 20, 2005. I was tucking Carson into bed and asked him to say his prayers as we do every night. Normally he quietly mumbles, so I end up helping say his prayers for him, but tonight was different. His prayer was as follows, "Dear God. Thank you for this day. Thank you for sticks, blocks, dominos and wagons. Amen." He was so sweet and sincere. I love it!

Blue

A little background information to start:
On January 25, 2006 Carson turned 3 and we had a family birthday party to celebrate. Carson wanted to have cars and trucks on his birthday cake and there was also a lot of blue butter cream frosting. Yummy! After everyone ate the cake we all had blue lips, mouths and teeth.

Now the rest of the story...............
Currently we are "fish-sitting" 5 fish for my parents while they are on vacation. Four of them are blue dempsey cichlids and one is a plecostomus. My dad brought them over to our house and Carson was checking them out. He then asked why they were the color blue? He answered his question with his rational thinking saying, "from frosting?" That blue frosting from his birthday party must have really had an impact on him.

What are you afraid of?

Kids can be so funny when it comes to their fears. Carson is a pretty laid back kid and not too many things get to him. But, there are a few things that he just doesn't like. Here are a few instances:

June 18, 2005
I was giving Carson a bath and he kept looking up at the shower head with a frightened look in his eyes. I asked him what was the matter and he replied, "I don't like that guy." He must have thought it resembled a face of some sort is all I can figure out.

July 5, 2005
We frequent our local Wal-Mart at least once a week and lately Carson gets panicked when we get up to the check out lines. At first, I could not understand it, but then it became quite clear. We were in the line that was closest to the nail salon, and in the salon they have a very large black sculpture of a hand with very long nails on it. So after I finished at the check out I thought we'd stroll over to the nail salon and see if he really was afraid of this hand. I thought Carson was going to jump out of his seat belt in the cart. He was very panicked and was squeezing my arm saying, "No, no, no, no - I don't like that creepy hand." So I have found I can somewhat use this fear to my advantage. If Carson is acting up in Wal-Mart I can just ask him if he wants to go see "the hand" and that will usually do the trick. Am I mean or what?!?!? But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

September 24, 2005
We were at a Subway sandwich shop in Illinois and Carson was watching the man make our sandwiches. The man was wearing plastic gloves on his hands and Carson remarked, "That guy has creepy hands."

January 2006
Carson and I went to the Goodwill store and I let him look in the toy section while I was looking at kids clothes nearby. He was playing quite contently for awhile then he came over to me and said, "Mom there's a hand over there." I went over with him and asked him to show me what he was talking about, but he was very reluctant. He points from a distance and says, "Under there." I look on the bottom shelf and stuck behind the shelf there was a furry brown glove that looked like it was from a gorilla costume of some sort.

February 9, 2006
Carson and I were playing a game called What's That Sound by Discovery Toys where you listen to a CD that contains different sounds and you match the sounds to pictures on a bingo-like card. All was well until he hears the thunderstorm. Boy did he jump in my arms fast. Then a noise came on that was supposed to be an old man snoring. Carson couldn't quite figure out what it was supposed to be so I asked him what it sounded like. He replied, "A monster."

Things you shouldn't do

Carson could be the poster child for things you shouldn't do. Here are a few instances:

June 2005
Carson was playing in the front room with his play kitchen set and seemed to be very content. I came to check on him a few minutes later and noticed all the plastic play food and plates were not in the container or in the kitchen set. Then I hear Carson behing the rocking chair. I look behind the chair and find that he had taken off the vent cover and threw all of the plastic food and plates down the vent opening. I managed to get most of them out luckily.

August 1, 2005
Today Carson had an unusually ornry day. Here are a few of the things he's done to drive me crazy.

• ate Dawn dish soap
• pulled trim off his dresser
• stuck his foot in the toilet
• put food up his nose
• wiped poop on the computer monitor

August 31, 2005
This morning Carson decided to take a 4 oz. container of bubbles (the kind you blow) and drink some and then dumped the rest on Taylor's bed. Not sure if this would pose a health risk to him or not, I called poison control and they said he should be fine other than an upset stomach.

Potty Time Adventures

For the past year ever since Carson turned 2 I have introduced the potty chair and have made many attempts to get Carson out of diapers. It was a long process, but I am happy to say that we've finally made it. Along the journey there have been some funny moments that I have taken note of and would love to share with everyone.

8-30-05
I was getting Carson dressed for the day and was hoping to put underwear on him instead of a pull-up. But I figured I'd give him a choice and asked him, "Carson, would you like to wear underwear or a pull-up today?" His reply was, "No - I wanna be naked."

January 2005
Carson was playing with our dog Sasha and lifted up her tail. He took a look and replied, "Poop!"

10-3-05 Toilet fascination
Being that we've introduced the toilet concept to Carson he has been very interested, but in the wrong way. Today he was playing with my toe separators that I use when I paint my toenails. They have ducks printed on them. He comes up to me after playing in Luke's room or at least where I thought he was playing and said, "the ducks are taking a bath." "Oh, really!" I said. And I asked him to show me. He leads me to the bathroom and points to the toilet. Sure enough, there were the ducks taking a bath in the toilet. YUCK!

10-4-05
The next day after the duck episode we were both in the bathroom as I was putting my make up on and Carson was sitting on his potty chair. He was playing with a bouncy ball and decided to throw it into the big toilet. These balls don't float and I wasn't about to stick my hand down the toilet to find it. So we said our goodbye's to the ball and called Papa over to see if he could rescue it. No luck, it was long gone.

10-7-05
Carson is now successfully pooping on his Elmo potty. He has a very good imagination because he will now observe his excrement and tell me what it looks like. So far he's seen a snake, a seahorse, a big bear, and a spaceship.

Computer savvy

Carson's older brother Taylor likes to play games on the computer and online. Of course Carson wants to be part of the action so I have Taylor help him play games. One of Carson's favorites is the Thomas the Tank Engine site. So the other day Carson comes up to me and asks if we could play Thomas on the computer. And then he also asks, "Is it w w w . com?" I thought that was pretty clever of him to know that much!

Back on August 25, 2005 there was mail sitting on the table. Carson picked up an envelope and replied, "Hey look mom - we got email!" Too cute!

Hungry?

This past summer on July 26th, 2005 I was still in bed, but I heard a noise out in the kitchen. I figured it was Taylor, but thought I'd better go out to make sure. On the way to the kitchen I peeked in the boys room and noticed that Taylor was still asleep in his bed and Carson's bed was empty. Uh-Oh. I could only imagine what Carson was up to now by himself. So I walk into the kitchen and there sits Carson on the kitchen counter. He had the bread bag open and was stuffing 2 slices of bread in his mouth. "Carson!" I shouted. "What are you doing?" He replied in a muffled voice, "I eating toast." I guess he was so hungry he couldn't wait for Mom to get him breakfast. He's quite the independent spirit.

Just the other day he wanted a snack in the pantry and apparently didn't want to ask for help but it was just out of his reach. He knows he's not supposed to pull the chairs away from the table, so he goes to the kitchen-all-purpose-junk-drawer and takes out a wooden spoon. All this time I am watching from the other room where he doesn't notice me. He walks over to the pantry and reaches up with the spoon and sure enough, he knocks down the box of fruit snacks.

His obsession with food continues. Back in October 2005 he received $5 from his "maga" Becky and Ed. I asked him what he was going to buy with his money and he replied, "Maybe grapes or bananas."

My Little Idol Fan

As a lot of you know I enjoy watching the show American Idol and my kids usually watch it with me. This season has kicked up once again and they have started with the auditions - good and bad. I was sitting on the floor with Carson during last weeks Tuesday night episode and Carson was quietly sitting on my lap intently watching the show. When the contestants came out and did not make the cut some got really mad and had to be censored. I was thankful for that. Next up to try out was a girl with absolutely no talent. She got reamed by the judges and wasn't taking it well. She comes out the door and Ryan Seacrest asked what she felt about the judges and their decision. Her reply was, "they can kiss my butt!" Well, the censoring could have gone a little farther. Carson absorbed that comment like a sponge and was off and running, yelling and giggling, "Kiss My Butt Mom!" Thanks a lot American Idol!

On another Idol moment, back last year on April 4, 2005 I was having a conversation with Carson and asked him what he liked to watch on TV. He said replied, "Thomas the train." I asked what else he liked to watch. Then with a big grin he replied, "Bo Bice!" Oh yeah! That's my boy. I loved Bo Bice from last year's American Idol run. He's awesome! Carson knows good talent.

Not Claustrophobic

This past May 23, 2005 started off as a normal day - nothing out of the ordinary. I was sitting in the front room drinking my Dunkin Donuts coffee and enjoying our new baby boy who was a little over two weeks old. I hear noises coming from the kitchen and yelled out, "Carson, what are you doing?" I think I say that about 100 + times a day. I hear a muffled response that I couldn't quite make out. After a few more moments of clanking I decided to check out the suspicious activity. Much to my surprise I found Carson half way into the microwave. Yes, I did just say microwave! Why or how, I don't think we'll ever know. But thank goodness I had the camera nearby because I don't believe anyone would have ever believed me unless I had proof. So, needless to say, my son Carson (who was 2 at the time) is not afraid of small enclosed spaces. He sure doesn't take after me. After a few pictures I helped Carson out of the microwave and just had to ask him what he thought he was doing. His reply, "I'm cooking!" What were you trying to cook, YOURSELF?!?!?! He sure is something else. I hope you like the pictures!

The Introduction

Well, here I am. Never thought I'd be trying something like this, but thanks to my good friend Beth I am doing something new. I debated on whether or not to start a blog because to be honest I didn't even know what one was or what the purpose was (not even sure if I still do or not!). So my thought processes were on the move and I came up with the idea to share my daily adventures. Some may be yawing right now, but let me tell you something - I have a 3 year old! He is no ordinary 3 year old, he's completely unique. My primary motive was to dedicate this blog to his crazy and funny outtakes on life. So my prediction is that you will be mostly laughing and sometimes crying at all the unbelievable things I have documented on this fun-loving child. So sit back and enjoy the ride because it has just begun!

A little background:
My husband (Jason) and I will have been married 8 years come April. We have 3 beautiful boys: Taylor (8), Carson (3), and Luke (9 months). I am a busy stay-at-home mom.