More Matthew-isms

Matthew chose to ride the carousel car with Melanie and Aaron

I just LOVE 5 year olds! Matthew has recently said a few things that have just really touched my heart and funny bone. As some of you know, my sister, Melanie and her 7-month old son, Aaron were just here for a visit. The day we brought them to the airport Matthew looked at Melanie and said, "I need to keep you." Aaahhh! She felt so loved.

The day before Melanie and Aaron went home, Aaron was hanging upside down in my arms, then I'd bring him up, then he'd go down, and up, and down and up....you get the picture. While we are doing this Matthew is beside us and starts singing to Aaron his first musical composition, "Upside up, upside down, upside up, upside down, I love you, Aaron. I love you, Aaron. Happy birthday to Aaron. Happy birthday to Aaron. Happy birthday dear Aaron. Happy birthday to Aaron!" Aaron smiled the whole time. I thought that was a wonderful love song.                        

Aaron and Matthew were "wrestling". Can you see the love?

One of Matthew's favorite things to play with are the magnetic letters on the fridge. (Somehow, I don't have a picture of this. :( That will change) Now when he is playing with these he regularly has battles. Our lower case M has gone the way of the trash because it was so demolished the battles get so intense. Anyway, Matthew was playing yesterday with his letters and changed from battle to song. This is what he sang, "My Grandpa Dave, my Grandpa Dave wants to meet people a lot." Then he went back to his normal play. Very random and very cute. I love this boy!

Oh! Just remembered one more. We were going somewhere the other day I said, "Come on, sweetheart." 

He looked at me and in all seriousness said, "I'm not sweetheart." 

I said,"Oh, are you darling?" 

He said, "Yes, I am darling." So, now I call him Darling more often than other such names. I respect what he want to be called even if I don't understand the reasoning. :)

Ceithlinn-isms

A little while back I was making banana bread and realized I was out of baking powder. I tried borrowing some from a neighbor, she too was out of baking powder. So, when Ceithlinn got home from school I let her know that we needed to go across the street to Grocery Outlet and see if they had any. We went and were not successful. They DO NOT sell baking powder. I told the kids I needed to call Josh to see if he would be willing to pick some up on the way home from work. Ceithlinn asked if she could call. I said sure. The message that was left went something like this in a sighing voice..."Hi, Dad. Basically, we ran out of baking powder and went to Grocery Outlet to find some, but they don't have any. So, here we are going home baking powder-less. Can you please pick some up on your way home." Josh did pick up what was needed to finish our delicious banana bread.

My favorite part of this "baking powder-less." I would have said without baking powder, but baking powder-less seems so much better.

A second Ceithlinn-ism that left her PE teacher speechless happened this past Tuesday. According to her teacher, Mrs. Tripp, the kids were filing into the gym with both her and the PE teacher, Mr. Shaw on either side of the door. Now, to get the full impact of this story you must know that Mr. Shaw is very rarely speechless. He has a great report with students and is quick with comebacks. That said, Ceithlinn walked up to Mrs. Tripp and in all seriousness said, "Mrs. Tripp, I think I am going to get breast cancer."

Mrs. Tripp looked to Mr. Shaw for support and nothing was offered. So, she asked Ceithlinn why she thought that.

Ceithlinn replied while holding her left ribs, "Because I have a pain right here."

Mrs. Tripp smiled and said, "I think you will be okay."

Ceithlinn walked off and Mr. Shaw simply said, "How do you respond to that?"

Mrs. Tripp has shared this story with the principal and other teachers. They are quite impressed with Ceithlinn vocabulary and maturity in talking. Apparently, the principal asked, "Is that the same girl that came and asked if she could have an appointment with me." I didn't know Ceithlinn had asked for an appointment with Mrs. Miller. I will ask her about this when she gets home.

All I can say when I hear stories like this is, "That's our Ceithlinn." There is no one else like her. She brings so much joy and laughter into our lives. We are so very blessed.

On another note: I think the reason Ceithlinn was mentioning the stitch in her side is because she thinks she isn't a good runner because she is the youngest in her class. I think she may have been hoping for a way out of running that day.

Natural Mother

So, I have had a couple of interesting conversations this past week about and to a couple of new mommy's... baby's are under 1 year old. It seems to me that these two mommy's are doing what many of us have done and do. We/They expect that with the birth of a child comes all "motherly" knowledge. The baby is born and all of the sudden we should know what is wrong and how to fix it. Then, somehow if we don't have this, we must not be a "natural" at mothering. Really, thinking like this can drive a woman crazy and/or to tears. Believe me, I have been there, done that and occasionally still do that.

I have come to the conclusion that along with a beautiful new baby to love, a mother is given one great "natural" motherly trait. What is that you ask? A mother's kiss. A mother's kiss can make anything better. When a child is crying or hurt what do we do? We give it kisses and loves.

Now, let me clarify a little, making it better DOES NOT mean making everything all healed and well. It doesn't even mean that the child will stop crying and start laughing. Making it better means giving your child (or someone else's child) the security of not being alone and being loved. This knowledge makes whatever sad, bad, mad or hard thing "better" (easier) to deal with for the child.

A little story that happened recently. Will you indulge me? As many of you know our oldest, Ceithlinn recently had her tonsils and adenoids removed (blog about this will be coming this week). We were in recovery for a couple of hours. The first hour was the worst as she was literally sick. She couldn't keep a sip of apple juice down, was in pain and refused to go to sleep. Toward the end of the two hours, Ceithlinn felt better and was able to eat and keep down half a Popsicle and get up and move around with assistance (she was still a bit wobbly from the meds). I think I had just helped her get back in bed when she sat straight up and gave me a big hug. She didn't say anything, but the look in her eye and feel of the hug was said, "Thank you for being here, Mom." Though she still hurt and would for a while, the kisses and love I was able to give as her mother "made it all better."

So, let's be gentler with ourselves. Let's stand firm in the knowledge that we have the best super power EVER... a mother's kiss. The other knowledge comes with time, experience, and asking for and listening to the advice of other mothers. Here's to all the FANTASTIC mother's in my life! Thank you for helping me be a "natural."

Much Love

Deep Thought By Ceithlinn Gates

A couple weeks ago at the breakfast table Ceithlinn asked, "Mom, why is it that in all the princess and fairy movies they don't have toes?"

I asked, "What?" a little uncertain if I had heard her correctly.

She said, "Their feet are all stuck together. They don't have toes." I then silently wondered what she had been dreaming about the night before. I said the only thing I could, "I don't know, honey. Maybe toes are hard to draw (with an uncertain shrug).

We are now doing research to see if princesses and fairies have toes. We have only watched one animated princess movie since this conversation. I am pleased to announce that Pocahontas has toes in at least one scene. Now, on to Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and the others.


(Our own princess, Ceithlinn, in her new favorite dress)

Matthew-isms

I just LOVE 4 year-olds! They say some of the best things. Below are some of my favorites over the last several month's. Many I don't remember when he said them, luckily, I wrote them down so you all can enjoy the whit and wisdom of our son.

At dinner one night we had peas and carrots and soup. I put spoons on the table because I find it easier to eat little rolling veggies with a spoon. Matthew looked at me and almost in tears said, "Mom! I need to kill them. (meaning the veggies)" I asked if he wanted a fork to stab the veggies, to which he said yes. I guess that old caveman instinct is still there.

We were picking up some groceries one morning. I asked him if he wanted to get the turkey. A worker asked Matthew what a turkey said. Matthew didn't acknowledge the man so, I repeated the question. Matthew put his ear up to where the turkey's head would have been, listened and said, "The turkey says nu-fing." He looked a little confused when we began to laugh. He was right, that turkey was done talking. I love how literal he can be at times.

I was looking at photos on Facebook. I pulled up the newest pictures of our niece, Bella. She was sitting next to her family's dog, Angel. Now, you have to understand that when we visited in August, Matthew only acknowledged Bella's existence twice the whole week we were there. So, as the kids looked at this picture Ceithlinn said, "Bella!" and Matthew said, "Angel!!" He loves that good dog Angel, as you can tell.

I know there are other Matthew-isms. I just can't seem to think of the or find where I wrote the rest of them down. If any of you know of one that hasn't been mentioned, let me know please so I can keep track of them for his personal history.

Matthew makes us laugh. He brings so much energy and life into our family. He is such a joy! We just love this boy so much! We can't believe he will be 5 on Friday...5!! Where has time gone? We are so blessed to have him in our family.

Newest, ism, just happened. We were looking at other's blog and looked at Grandma JoAnn's blog. Matthew likes Roxy, their dog. Then we looked at Grandpa Dave's blog. I asked, "Who's this?"

He said, "I don't know."

Ceithlinn responded enthusiastically, "That's Grandpa Dave."

To which Matthew very happily informed us, "Grandpa Dave is our uncle and he loves me very much." Well, he knows the important stuff... Grandpa Dave loves him. We will help him figure out all that family tree stuff later.

Viking SAIL Awards Jan. 28, 2010

Bonney Lake Elementary's mascot is the Viking. The theme the last couple of years for the school has been, "Vikings SAIL!"
SAIL stands for:

Safe with bodies and feelings
Achieving excellence
Include everyone
Leadership - making responsible choice.

The school has 4 assemblies a year. One of the things that is done in these assemblies is students receive awards SAILing.

Ceithlinn was recently given an award for ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE. This was supposed to be a surprise for her, but she read a letter that was address to her parents. She decided that she wanted to look her best. So, she choose a new hair do and her Bonney Lake Elementary Jog-a-thon shirt.

(Josh and I call this her Cindy-Lou Who do)


We are so very proud of her. She is such a kind, loving, creative person. We are so blessed to be her parents. WAY TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE, CEITHLINN!!

Roller Skating Jan. 14, 2010

Every few months the school has a skate night at Auburn Skate Connection. We have been a couple of times. The evening starts out the same.... clinging to the wall and terror in the face.

Once the kids get a little more comfortable it is time to skate a little away from the wall with parental support or closeness. Matthew doesn't like to hold hands when he skates. It slows him down and he can't escape to play arcade games as easily.

Then comes the unaided skating and laughter.

Matthew is skating by the race line. At some point in the evening they hold a contest by age to see who skates the fastest. Auburn Skate Connection also has a speed skating team that practice after the school is done. Matthew thought that he was in a race with every kid there and would actually strong arm and almost knock kids down if they tried to pass him. He is very competitive. It is a good thing I am fairly stable on skates and could catch the kids before they hit the floor. Once I figured out he thought skating was all about racing, I came up with our own race. Something like... let's see if we can make it to the line three times without falling or let's see if we can catch up with Dad and/or Sister. The strong arming ended at this point much the my relief.

I LOVE this picture of Ceithlinn. She is starting to get pretty fast and confident in her own abilities. It is so fun to be a part of this growth.

We all had so much fun skating and are looking forward to going again. Maybe I will remember to bring the camera.