How To Eat A Fortune Cookie

After a yummy Chinese food dinner we like to eat the fortune cookies.

Traditionally, we break the fortune cookie, take out the fortune, then eat the cookie.

Matthew has shown us a whole new way to eat them. He puts the whole cookie in his mouth, then chews it, and finally swallows the whole cookie----including the fortune!

We tried to get the fortune out of his mouth, but to no avail. I guess a little extra fiber can't hurt, right???

I'm 4!

Most of us measure our years on this earth by our date of birth.

James has decided on a new way of doing things.

Last night Owen took James and Matt to the grocery store. As they were waiting in line the cashier thought they were the cutest little boys ever. So she asked James how old he was. James answered, "I'm 4." Dad corrected saying, "James you're 3." Well, James would have none of this. He loudly told dad, the cashier and everyone else in line that he was four because he'd had lot's of BIG POOPS in the toilet! Owen tried to argue a little more, but it only led to James stretching out his arms to show the cashier how big the poops were. Better to just lower your head and walk out the door.

I'm not sure what I'm more upset at. That he thinks he's four or that he thinks he's had a lot of big poops in the toilet. If only......

Star Gazing

One of the things I love about summer is warm summer nights. On Wednesday night I asked the family if they'd like to sit outside with me and watch the stars. The only taker was little Matthew. So we packed up our blankets and navigated our way around the pool to our new anti-gravity chairs. I got on first, then Matt crawled up on my lap. We reclined the chair as far as it would go and snuggled up in a warm fluffy blanket. Next, we began our star gazing.

When we started the sky was still blue and we could see 3 stars. Actually two stars and a planet--Venus. We patiently waited for the sky to darken, filling our time with chatting and snuggling. Matt began to get so excited as it got darker and the stars multiplied. He was tossing his head back and forth and really enjoying talking about the stars with me. Well--at least that's what I think we were talking about. Matt's a little hard to understand still.

Eventually, as the night became black, he quieted down, his head stopped moving from side to side and he fell asleep peacefully in my arms. It was one of my favorite moments with my chidren so far.

Discipline 101

Today while James and I were playing out in the front yard we ran into our neighbor. She had recently attended a parenting class and as James was kicking her rocks into the street she decided to give me a lesson in parenting skills.

Her instructor had told her that when a child is misbehaving to ask, "Why did you do that?" Then ask, "What could you differently so this doesn't happen again?" Lastly you ask, "What will you do next time?"

So it was cute. He said, "I was kicking rocks into the street." "I did it because it's fun to kick rocks." and finally "I could build a platform over the rocks and I could put netting over the rocks." Pretty clever answers for a 3 year old.

Later, we were outside eating popsicles and I couldn't find where James had put his popsicle stick. I asked him and he told me that he threw it in the pool. We have been telling him for almost 2 years now not to throw ANYTHING in the pool. We've explained it could harm the pool sweep if it swallows up a toy or rock.

Well, I figured this would be a good time to try out my neighbor's new discipline method. Here's how it went...

Debbie "James, what did you just do wrong?"

James "I threw my popsicle stick into the pool."

Debbie "What could you do better next time so this doesn't happen again?"

James "I don't know."

Debbie "What will you do next time to make the pool better?"

James "Pray for it."

At least I'm doing something right!