I did it!

Lil Man got a deck of Aof F cards for Christmas. He has been wanting/trying to learn them all by heart, especially after learning his cousins have already done just that and each got a MASSIVE chocolate bar as a result (thanks for setting the standard guys). Last Sunday he got the deck out while I was getting ready for church and then he suddenly burst into the bathroom, grabbed my hand and dragged me downstairs.
He was soooo proud, he'd put them each together in order and arranged them from 1 to 13!!! :) He even left them out all day long for us to enjoy, and kept lying next to them to gaze at his masterpiece. It was a little tricky to maneuver around since it took up most of the living room, but totally worth it!

American Idol Dr edition....

So I'll admit it...I love me some American Idol. In the beginning the disaster auditions are AmaZing for my self esteem and then I love watching the contestants pick completely random songs and either mutilate them or knock them out of the park. Add to that the totally medicated Paula Abdul and you've got some really great TV! Sterling however is not so much a fan. He gets bored with it almost instantly and ends up with his earphones in while surfing the internet or grading papers. He does try to support my addiction by staying updated on the who's and what's of it all. This week was no exception.

Sterling was up in Northern VA from early Wednesday morning until about 7:30 last night so he didn't have to suffer through the pain of actually watching AI with me, but he did make a point of looking up who was eliminated so he could talk with me about it. Sweet of him right? But there was a slight mix-up. This was our exchange:

Sterling--"So are you glad that Sanjay got sent home?"

"What?"

"Are you glad that Sanjay was eliminated, I know you don't like him"

"Sanjay?"

"Yeah, I saw online that Sanjay Gupta was eliminated from AI this week"

I about died laughing!! I had no idea that the CNN Medical Expert and previous candidate for Surgeon General with the new administration was not only a good singer but he was good enough to be in the top 7 of AI!! :)

In reality this week Anoop was eliminated, but he got Anoop and Sanjaya from LAST year confused. Apparently when you mix the two you get Sanjay Gupta! I'm sure none of you will find this as amusing as I did but I had to document it for posterity (really myself) so that next time I am feeling like a kindergartner next to my bio-informatics whiz of a hubby I can feel a little bit better. :)

seCret cOdes in oUr schooL sysTEms...Right?

So we did it. There was kicking and screaming and tears, but after about 15 minutes I calmed down and was ok with it. After all it was only Kindergarten registration, C'mon mom's you know you feel my pain...*sigh* Yup, my Lil Man is officially joining the ranks of mini people in the cogs of the public school system. He is SOOOOO dang excited so I hope that lasts for another 13 years or so. :)

So, here in Chesterfield they do an intake assessment on each child. You know "point to the square" and "Where is your hips?" and "Stand on one foot with your eyes closed" (no really, he had to do that), all the things that deem a child "Kindergarten Ready" (which I don't really get, isn't Kindergarten supposed to help MAKE you ready???). At the end of his assessment Lil Man was bouncy and even more excited, except for one small thing. The conversation was as follows:

"So Lil Man how was it?"

"Fine, but I had to tell her she didn't make any sense" (Uh-Oh, talking back before even the first day of class

"What do you mean?"

"I had to tell her that her test didn't make any sense because I couldn't figure out her secret code" (WhAT?!?!?)

"What code? What didn't make sense?"

"She had a bunch of letters mom, but none of it made words...so it had to be a secret code. But I couldn't figure it out in time, so she told me to just tell her which letters they were"

Now don't worry all of you conspiracy theorists, our government is not teaching our youth secret codes on the sly in order to recruit. Turns out they have a section on ABC recognition where there's a few lines of random letters that they are asked to identify. Lil Man was asked to "read" the letters to her and was trying to make words that weren't there. Phew...that was a tough intro to school!

Child of the 80's

So I think my Lil Man missed his decade...by about 20 years. First of all check out these slammin' (his word) shades that he sports these days, only a playah from 1985 would rock them:

Next his love of music. Sterling and I went on iTunes with him so that he could make a mix of his very own. His first choice? Eye of the Tiger...followed by The Final Countdown. Really?? Wow.

Then we come to our choices of movies/TV shows...Star Wars (not just a movie but a way of life), He-Man (as we all remeber from our first post), the Smurfs, the Snorks, the list goes on and on. In this area I have no complaints. I'd much rather he like the little blue freaky things, than Sponge Bob (HATE him), or Pokemon (Ugh) and such. Schoolhouse Rock is another recent find, "Lolly,Lolly, Lolly, get your adverbs here"...thank goodness for Library Rentals.

SO, I guess I'm just waiting for him to come home asking for neon yellow high-tops, while rapping the Fresh Prince theme song, doing the moon walk, and secretly having a crush on Molly Ringwald.

Until then I will just enjoy watching this over and over:

Doodles and drooling...

Wow!! I really stink at this blog thing...keeping up with it that is. So...sorry (to both of you) :)

Anyway, well I'll give you five bucks if you can tell me what this is (and don't be all literal, try and think by way of Lil Man's brain if you dare!):




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Yup, you got it....it's a page in reverse Braille! HA! Lil Man brought this to me and said that he made me a note in reverse braille because he doesn't know how to make the bumps. It says "My mom is the best mom in the whole wide universe" You can say alot with just a few holes I guess... :)


Next he made this for my lil sis that came to visit this past weekend (just as a clue, the note actually starts on the second line, the top is his signature line since he ran out of space at the bottom):




It reads "Der Gnel doo you want too cum too see monstrs vs alens (go to top of page) frum coul (go to letters in front of frum)ter." I love him! It was a note inviting Janelle (now forever to be known as Gnel) to go on a date with him to see the movie Monsters Vs Aliens. He left it on her pillow before going to bed. I had to steal a pic before she took it!


Lastly...I have been putting together a b-day present for my MIL (a little late I know) so I am feeling VERY nostalgic about Lil Man. He is soooo dang big it's hard to remember that he used to be small and fragile and depend on me for everything. Now I am lucky if he lets me make him breakfast. I miss holding him without popping something inside, hearing his baby belly laugh, him gumming my chin, poopy diapers that smell/look like you need a hazmat suit to approach, bouncing for hours on the bed to help him sleep and then sleeping upright all night just to keep him asleep on my shoulder, and I even miss waking up in the night to feed/change him instead of just waking up in the night. Do I sound desperate or what?!?!? But, despite me missing him being small, and in absence of a time machine, I am AmaZed at everything about him. I am so lucky to have such a great kid. So, despite wallowing in my own self pity here and there and complaining about little things he does that make me nuts, I know how great I have it! :) Here's mini-Lil-man for ya, see he really did used to be small! *click the pic to see it a little bigger*