The Circle of Life

Maybe I introduced the "circle of life" to Gordon too early, via an Animal Planet episode on the life of cheetahs. He was quite stunned when they caught & ate a Thompsons Gazelle. Since then on a daily basis he asks me what any animal that crosses his mind eats, in some cases I've had to look it up (kangaroos??)

This morning he proudly showed me something he made for the cheetahs

He calls it a Deer Sandwich.

Gordonism Time

At a restaurant Gordon saw a USA flag and commented on it, we asked him about the colors and such, then Shannon asked what kind of flag it was - Gordon replied without hesitation "an Emergency Obama Flag!!" We had a great laugh and it was too cute to correct.

Goodbye to Dayschool and Hello to Homeschool

Back on March 20th G had his last day of dayschool thanks to S and I both being laid off.
Saying goodbye to Ms. S
And to Ms K

He got up too early, and fell back asleep on the sofa, one of the perks of not having to rush off to school

Goofball! This was at the beginning of potty training after his last day of school - it took less than a week once we had him home with us and within 2 weeks he was totally potty trained, no accidents, now he even goes on the regular potty for everything - and here I was stressed because potty training was off to such a late start - he took to it so fast once Mommy & Daddy had time to focus on it!

My wild child has discovered the joy of getting the beater with the cookie dough!

Pictures - Catching Up Finally!

When last I posted pictures...we'd just begun "serious" potty training...

With a "big" success that weekend in January, we had a balloon party (Gordon's idea)

But Gordon was really more interested in his trains...he has become a full fledged Thomas the Train addict. This series of pictures (and I know there are quite a few!) just cracked me up...

He's just minding his own business, watching a Thomas DVD...

Looking adorable as he bites on his lip...

then realizes mom has the camera...

ooohhh Look Out Thomas! (Momentarily distracted by the DVD...)

zooming in...

biting that poor lip!

Ok Mom...are you close enough yet???
This is getting rediculous mom.

Maybe I'll ignore her and she'll go away...

but she's not leaving?!?!
Moooooommm, really...leave me alone.

Geez what I have to put up with...oh man, that was a bad train wreck, poor Thomas.

Ok Mom. Really. Enough now.

UUUGGGHHHHH.

Ok. New tactic here. I'll give her what she wants and then maybe she'll finally put that thing away and let me watch my show in peace.
Was that good enough mom?

Fine! Here.

How about this one?

No?? Ok, this is the LAST ONE. Now go away.
Later...back to setting up train tracks...

Until he's practically asleep on them.
This was right before we left for Florida...he ASKED me to take this one "Take a picture of my belly!"

Ok, that is all the catching up I can do tonight. Yet to come, maybe tomorrow: Florida beach, grandparents & Disney!

We're having a Pah-ttay!

as in POTTY party :)

The day has finally come when he used the potty - and for #2 no less!!! It brought tears to my eyes - I seriously never thought such a moment in life could "move" me so much (pun intended). I had promised him a party with balloons and cake if he went on the potty. Maybe that sounds a bit overboard - but it has been many months of trying to get his cooperation to even try going on the potty, so I promised him something rather big. And after he got up and turned around and saw his "accomplishment" he was so excited he was clapping and jumping and so happy with himself, so I am happy to throw a party for such a milestone! And this morning we had success #2...for #1 - so I think he's finally starting to take some small steps towards potty training. Now mommy and daddy need to be vigilant and keep asking/encouraging/putting him on it until he realizes this is the way to go. The rewards going forward will be less "grand" but we will still come up with some rewards to encourage - like if he goes a whole day with going on the potty we'll get to watch his favorite DVD, or have a piece of candy, or something like that. I'm not above bribery. Boy would it be great to not have to buy all those pull ups - those suckers are expensive. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I think my plan is to keep putting him on the potty, keep reminding him to remember to try to go - and after a week or so we'll try putting on big boy underwear - and that might be a mess, but it might really show him that his days of pull ups are ending soon. I'm excited! I'm proud!

Now I need to run out and get the balloons :) I'll post more pictures soon! (Of the party, not the potty!)

Oh - and Gordon has a new BEST EVER FAVORITE (his words) book - it is funny because I remember the same book when I was a child and I loved it too - and so I love reading it to him, and now he has so much of it memorized he can read along with me - it is:

Gordonisms III

Happy New Year!!!

I was sitting at the dining room table, paging through a magazine that had just come in the mail while Gordon and I were eating lunch. "Mommmmmmeeeee, those are for reading while you poop!" This was said in a tone that says - I can't believe you don't know any better! It took me a few seconds to realize that because we have a magazine rack on the bathroom wall that we keep "stocked" for bathroom reading - he concluded that magazines are "bathroom only" reading material.



Since mid November Gordon has frequently taken on the role of "Little Puppy". He loves to pretend to be a puppy, often down on all fours, barking, panting, begging to be pet, given a treat, have a little scratching behind the ears. He even tried to lick my cheek once. That was a bit too far for me. He has decided that if he is Little Puppy, then I must be Big Puppy. I love the way he says it too - I need to get it recorded on video - he'll say "Hey Big Puppy!" (kind of like "hey good lookin' whatcha got cookin' style!) and I can't help but smile. And bonus - I've found that when Gordon digs his heels in and is determined to be disagreeable about something (like getting dressed or eating breakfast) if I start treating him and addressing him as "Little Puppy" he is much more likely to cooperate - life is fun with my Little Puppy!

Gordon-isms II

When eating Rice Krispies cereal he now says they go: "snap, crapple, pop!"

Saturday we went to the grocery store, a long ordeal since when we finished I put everything in the trunk, including my purse, which contained my car keys...thankfully AAA got someone there within 45 minutes, before my frozen shrimp thawed LOL. Gordon had picked a balloon - a yellow one. He cherishes his grocery store balloons. They give them away - he knows which grocery stores don't give away balloons...he tells me every time we pass one "that one doesn't have balloons mommy." We've never lost one until Saturday, I always tell him to hang on tight - and he once witnessed a kid lose his and was quite careful to hang on to his string after that. After the fiasco with the keys and we were both tired and hungry, I had Gordon get in the house with his balloon while I was hauling stuff from the car to the house. I turned around to the sound of the front door opening to hear "look mommy" and then he let go of the string, it bounced against the eaves, I dashed to try to grab the string but it bounced past that and went up into some trees and we watched it float up into the blue sky. Gordon looked at me and said "what happened?" I said it is gone, we can't get it back (which he proceeded to tell me we needed to go get another one.) He asked a hundred questions about the balloon, then finally I said "it went to the moon." Well now every night when the moon comes out he has to look for it, when he spots the moon he says "I see the moon! It has my balloon!" I think I need to write a children's book about a balloon going to the moon :) Don't anyone steal my idea now!

Gordon-isms I

I should have done this ages ago, I'm sure I've already forgotten lots of things and will forget even more as the months go by - so I'm going to start making "quickie posts" and call them Gordonisms - little funny things he says or does.

Noodles are always pronounced New-News - I asked him to say noodle today, the way Mommy says it - and he did say "new-dols", so he CAN say it right, he just chooses to say it the other way, I don't mind, I say it that way now too half the time.

Our neighbor Sharon popped over for a few minutes to chat - he was very good about not trying to talk while we were talking, but before she left he made sure he told her "I did a good job with the shots yesterday!"

I continue to wrestle with the thought of having another child and today - seeing how behind I'm getting at work and things, I am leaning heavily towards the "we're done" side, but as I sat with Gordon watching Max and Ruby for the umpteenth time I blurted out to Gordon "would you be upset if you didn't have a brother or sister?" He said no, he wouldn't be upset (I'm quite sure he had no idea what I'd asked him - in any meaningful way). Then I said, "would you want a brother or a sister?" He looked at me and paused, as if to think about it, and said "I want a sister". I just said "oh". About 20 minutes later, after my mind was on getting him lunch and to his nap so I could get busy working, I asked if he wanted his pizza, he said "no, I just want a sister". LOL!