The "Baby Deer"

Cody brought his first imaginary friend home from school today. When I picked him up this afternoon, he ran to me, holding out his cupped (empty) hands, and exclaimed, " Mommy, look at my baby deer." For the life of me I did not know how to respond. I just stood there dumbstruck for a few moments while he prattled on about how he and Lily Marie had found the baby deer out on the playground by the swings. He then grabbed my arm, said goodbye to his teacher, and dragged me out to the swings to see where the baby deer came from. At this point I found my tongue and began asking questions about the baby deer and pretending that this whole thing was completely normal. (It is right?) We then left school and walked to the car. Here, Cody politely asked me if I would hold the baby deer while he climbed up into his seat. I did. (It was very strange.) At numerous times throughout the evening I have been given instructions relating to the baby deer - for example: "Mom, my baby deer needs to take a bath too," and "Mom, you have to whisper or you'll wake up my baby deer." Once, I was even reprimanded for sitting on the baby deer. I did not have any imaginary friends growing up, but I know some children do - but again I have to ask - this is normal, right?

Our very opinionated child...

On Friday Jay took Tootsie in to get fixed. She is fine, though a little tired and apparently itchy at the incision sight. Because she kept trying to lick her incision, we had to get her one of those funny lampshade-like cones to wear around her neck. Last night Cody asked why she had to wear the cone and we explained to him that we didn't want her to get an infection. Then he asked why she had to go to the doctor and we explained that we didn't want her to have any puppies, so we had to have her fixed. Fast-forward to this morning... Cody and I are making french toast when he says to me, "Mommy, remember when you said Tootsie has to wear her cone so she won't have any babies? Well, I don't want you to have any more babies either."
I guess it's a good thing that Jay and I have already decided against having more children, but now I keep waiting for Cody to suggest that I need to wear a cone around my head.

4 months old!

Emma is 4 months old today! She is getting sooo big. In the last month she has learned to laugh, and has continued to master the art of manipulating her brother and her parents. She is already a pro at knowing just when those cute little smiles will benefit her most. We are all quite enamored with her and have each been known to do strange things just to see that beautiful smile.

Camping Out

As I write, Jay and Cody are out in the backyard "camping." They set up the big tent (Cody's shark tent just wasn't big enough for Daddy), got sleeping bags, flashlights, and marshmallows, and set off for the "wilderness" at around 7:00 pm.

Though I'm not an official camper, I was invited out to eat smores (made over the BBQ), and to sit in the tent for a while. When I left to come back inside, Cody was soooo excited about camping out that I fear he may not actually sleep tonight. (hee,hee)

A new kind of superhero...

Cody is seriously into superheros right now. He is constantly running around the house, the yard, and the neighborhood fighting crime and catching bad guys. He often will tell us not to call him Cody, but Spiderman, Batman, or Superman instead. This morning the superhero theme took a strange turn... I had asked Cody to go get ready for his shower, while I changed Emma's diaper. As I was walking out of Emma's room I heard Cody in the bathroom. This is what he was saying, " Da,Da, Da, Da! I am Penisman! Penisman the superhero! Penisman will save you!" I tried really hard not to laugh right out loud. Instead, I said simply, "Penisman, are you ready for your shower?" Cody's face turned bright red, and we both burst into laughter. What an imagination!

Watch Me Grow!

My friend Shannon gave me a great idea. She suggested that I take Emma's picture with her baby each month in order to show y'all how she is growing. I loved the idea so here she is in September.

Look how much she's grown just since August. I love that she is growing up right before my eyes and I truly appreciate each small miracle that I am priveleged to witness, but for goodness sake sweet Emma - slow down already - Mommy's not ready!

PS - If anyone can tell me how to link to my own past postings I'd love to hear from you.

The Stall Tactic

Cody is becoming more and more creative in his attempt to push back his bedtime. We are way beyond the usual, "I have to go potty," and "Can I have some water." Tonight, 1 hour after we put him to bed, he came out to tell me, " You forgot to ask me what was for lunch at school today mommy." Admittedly, I did forget to ask this specific question while asking him about his day. But really, he can't sleep until he tells me what was for lunch? - that's really a stretch, even for my kid.

By the way, in case you're dying to know...lunch consisted of "bazogna, fruit and green beans." Bazogna?

This is AWESOME!!!!

"This is awesome." This was the catch phrase at Cody's birthday party yesterday. After each child arrived, after each present was opened, and after each swing of the bat at the pinata, "this is awesome" was what Cody (and some of his little friends) would say. Needless to say, Cody had a blast at his party. The kids decorated visors with stickers, swam, ate hot dogs and cake, broke open a pinata and collected all the goodies, and opened presents. It was a whirlwind of activity. I completely lost control - the 4 year-olds totally won...all of my careful plans and my timeline were thrown out the window about 5 minutes after the party began. Oh well, it didn't go according to my plan, and I didn't really have fun, but it totally went according to Cody's plan and he thought it was "AWESOME!" I guess that is what it is all about!

Four going on...

Today is Cody's 4th birthday. Bright and early this morning (6:00 am) Cody came in to announce that, "I'm 4 today mommy!" After lots of Happy Birthday kisses and cuddles, we got to talking about how exciting it is to be 4. Cody's favorite part..."That means I'm almost 5 mom!" Whoa there cowboy - mommy can barely grasp the fact that you're 4, let's hold off on the countdown to 5 please.

In other birthday news, we are having a few of Cody's friends over this afternoon to celebrate with some swimming, cake eating, and pinata smacking. I hope it lives up to Cody's expectations and brings him lots of smiles.

The Annual Letter

Beginning on the day of his birth, and every year since then on his birthday, I write Cody (and now Emma) a letter. Someday, when he is old enough to appreciate them, I will give him his letters to read and enjoy. In each letter I reminisce about the year that has passed and talk about the changes that have taken place in our family, the fun we've had, and the new tricks he has mastered. I, of course, also spend lots of time telling him how much I love him and how proud I am of his achievements both large and small, and about some of my favorite memories, activities, and moments that we've spent together. So tonight I'm looking through pictures and thinking back on the year in preparation for writing this years' letter.

Here are a few of my favorite memories, in picture form, from this, the 4th year of Cody's life...

Happy Birthday Jay!

Though he has been celebrating all week long, today was Jay's birthday. On Monday he went to the Raiders' game with some friends. The Raiders lost, but the boys had fun. On Tuesday he took the day off to "recover" from the Raiders game (rough life). Today we went out to dinner to get Jay some meat. The man requests a big steak every year for his birthday dinner, so we went to Cattlemens and had a ridiculous amount of food (meat included). Tomorrow Jay and some buddies are going "work fishing." Work fishing is when Jay takes the work boat and some of his friends out to the delta to catch fish for various work related functions - no wonder he loves his job! It has been a long week of celebration for Jay, and he deserves every bit of it. He has worked hard at his job and for his family all year, and we love him for it!

Here are the birthday boys at dinner.

football

For the past few months, on Saturday mornings, Cody has been participating in the local park and rec sports programs. He did basketball for the first three sessions. He has playing basketball practically since birth, and is quite good at it, which is part of the reason that he chose it. This last session, he decided to venture out and try something different - FOOTBALL. It is soooo cute. All these 3-4 year old boys put on their flags and chase each other around the field (rarely staying in bounds) trying to catch the ball and pull flags off of each other. Cody is having a blast and Jay and I are exhausted from laughing after each session.

worn out

After her first day in her new home, Tootsie is exhausted. At 7:30 Jay went in to read bedtime stories with Cody and put him down, while I got Emma dressed, fed and settled for the night. When we came back out into the living room, this is what we found...

Just as we thought...A perfect match for our family. Around here anyone under 30 goes to bed at by 8:00 (and anyone over 30 at around 8:30.)

Tootsie!

We passed our home inspection and now we are on to the next step - the two week trial. Basically, we are now dog owners, but we do have two weeks to change our mind and still get our money back. We won't be changing our minds.



Meet Tootsie. (She was already named and she is 11 months old, so we thought it would be weird to change it - even though it's kind of lame. Oh, well.) She is very sweet - we are already in love. Cody has been showing her off to his neighborhood friends all day, as well as reading her books, and playing fetch. Emma thoroughly enjoy doggie kisses and squeals with laughter each time Tootsie comes into her line of sight. I know I said that we were prepared to wait for the right dog for us, but I'm sure glad that we didn't have to wait too long. (Patience is not a Rowan family virtue.) Welcome to the family Toots!