another brick in the wall

as indicated in a previous post, anth loves to learn. 
from what i have seen, i think he enjoys both the process of learning and the knowledge gained in the end. 
on Tuesdays, an OSU faculty member comes in to engage the kindergarteners in activities designed to get them excited about math and science early in life. 
recently, we were processing his day at school and if there were any subjects that he was finding particularly interesting. 
to which he responded, "well...i like the science, and the numbers...and all of the creating and stuff...but there are just SO MANY rules to remember." 


yes, dear, there are. 
and they only get more nuanced. 

while you can still get away with it . . .

at bedtime tonight, benny and i were reading a Winnie the Pooh Book about Friendship Day. 
i asked benny if he had a best friend. 
he sweetly responded, "i be your brest friend, momma."
normally, i might have not noticed the extra consonant thrown into this word. 
except, at that particular moment, he was unknowingly copping a feel. 

other duties as assigned

• Scene: anth was sitting in the living room watching a cartoon involving SCUBA diving, while i (half-heartedly) worked on folding some laundry
• Anth: hey, mom? have you ever been diving?
• Me: no, hon. have you? 
• Anth: oh, mom. why would you even ask me that? i'm just a kid! 
• (pause...)
• Anth: and since you're my mom, isn't kind of YOUR job to know those things about me? 
• 
  

brownies, part 2

anthony has become an expert stirrer. 
a word normally used to describe humans? 
not really. 
but you find a better one and i'll happily use it. 
typically, anth stirs the brownies (same ones from last week's post) for a bit and mom comes in to do the final job of making sure there aren't pockets of brownie mix. 
assuming this usual role, i realized that anthony had done it. 
he had stirred the perfect bowl of batter. 
thrilled with this bit of progress (those of you familiar with StrengthsQuest, Developer is my 6th strength...), i clapped and asked him, "anth, when did you become a perfect stirrer?"
he nonchalantly shrugged and responded, "mom, you know, when you're 5, it all just kind of comes together." 

questionably happy holidays - (fail photo 15)

my husband and i are attending a holiday party tonight.
the boys are heading over to Baker Hall West to have a fun little adventure involving hot chocolate and the movie The Polar Express with a lovely woman named Beth.
i, shortly, will throw on a dress and heels and play the part of girl tonight for the event.
(*note: dress was selected after a ridiculous week-long text and email exchange with another gem of a woman named Heather...we had to decide whether our choices were considered "festive attire" as noted on the invitation.)
(*note duex: we had the SAME email/text exchange for the same event last year.)
(*note tres: those who know me well know that heels and dresses don't often actually get to take adventures outside of the walls of my closet)
as a result of all above statements, and the fact that i need to quickly enter my office-shaped telephone booth to change into this dress before getting the boys to Beth, i prepped a little post last night for easy delivery today...

in celebration of the first Fail Photo post of December, i offer up one of the many shots we ended up with from our 2009 epically proportioned failure of a christmas card photo shoot.  
i mean, bless my friend Kelly (of http://www.kelarious.blogspot.com/) who volunteered to take the photos...and her patient heart...but the boys were, kindly put, not in the mood. 
well, anth tried. 
ben...just...showed up. 
mainly because we strapped him in the car and drove him there. 
and his legs are shorter than ours so running away always produces the same outcome. 
but, per usual, i digress. 


anyway, in wading through the pictures from the photo shoot i realized that i could essentially post a fail-photo daily between now and Christmas. 
for real. 
that's not even including the gems from many other holiday related camera sprees. 
yet, even i'm thinking that would get old. 


but for now, happy december to you and yours...

two little boys.
two little benches.
two little trash cans.
too little smiles.

self preservation

i went in for another haircut yesterday. 
clearly, nothing as drastic as last time. 
there's not enough left for that. 
but, it is still even shorter. 
so i picked up anth and because he is nothing if not honest, i asked him what he thought. 
"oh, you got your hair cut? i didn't even notic- i mean, you look GREAT, mom." 


haha. 
apparently 5-year-olds now come standard issue with auto-correct. 

100 Days of Savvy

well, folks, this is officially My Savvy Boy's 100th post. 
i have to give myself a that's-not-too-shabby for something i didn't know if i, or anyone else, would actually find interesting.


in honor of this not-actually-momentous occasion, i decided to post something i find 100% endearing. 
this is one more song from benny. 
and, no worries, i promise recordings of the kids will not be a regular thing. :)


this was also in his room in the dark. 
i was lying down on the floor next to his bed, as he often asks that we do after putting him in his crib. 
this time, he was not aware that i was recording his preciousness.
here is my sweet benjamin doing what i find to be the world's cutest call and response rendition of You Are My Sunshine. 
this is a song i remember my mother singing to me when i was a wee one. 
so it is a big ol' bucket of heartwarming, fun, full-circle nostalgia for me. 
deal.

the only things to make fun of here are the first three notes and the embarrassment of a "sentence" i used to praise benny's singing at the end of the recording. 

and to that i say, mock away. 

i know i would.