Mother's Day

Jonathan and Matthew really planned out a nice Mother's Day this year. On Saturday, Jonathan took Matthew to a nursery where they had "marigolds for mom" so he could pot a flower for me. He was so excited to give it to me that he couldn't wait till Sunday. As soon as he saw me he shouted, "Happy Mother's Day!!! Look! I made dis for you!" They also picked up some chocolates and dinner at a restaurant for the next day.

Melissa gifted me with hardwood floors for our bedroom. (Well, more accurately she created the need for new flooring after an unfortunate run-in with my makeup and the carpet.) Still, I'm not complaining- I love hardwood.

Saturday afternoon I got a call from someone in the primary presidency. "Can you teach Matthew's class tomorrow?" Clearly the woman was desperate, so I couldn't say no. Jonathan (the weasel) just laughed and said no way was he going to teach the class for me.

"Hey, you're the one who said yes."
"Well, yeah, but really she would have asked anyone who answered the phone. Besides, it's Mother's Day tomorrow*," I pleaded. The man wouldn't budge. Grrr.

Sunday Matthew came bounding in with eggs and toast. (His Daddy helped- thank goodness!) Matthew was soo excited to make breakfast in bed for his mama. It was very sweet. Jonathan's conscience must have pricked him becaused he offered to teach Matthew's sunday school class. Pride had the better of me though and I turned him down, besides, I'd planned it out already. He did get things printed for the lesson, (for some reason the printer doesn't recognize my laptop over the wireless network...or something like that).

The kids were good in Matthew's class and we made cards for their moms.

After church, Jonathan set up my Mother's Day gift. He gave me a Wii ;) He also "cooked" a delicious dinner picked up the previous day. Mmm! Italian pasta!

Throughout the day Matthew would shout, "Happy Mother's Day! Are you having a good day?" Melissa would chime in by throwing her arms in the air and yelling "Hooray!"

We both called our moms. From the sounds of it, they were having lovely Mother's Days as well. All in all a great day.


* I must have grown up in a more enlightened ward. On Mother's Day, the women didn't do anything except enjoy a nice lesson. The men and boys subsituted in nursery, taught primary, and took over all the jobs the women had on that particular day.

Hippos

While bathing Matthew, he pointed his body and asked "What these?"

"Those are nipples."

"Oh, hippos." He thought for a minute and asked, "what they for?"

"Well, on Mamas they are for nursing babies, but on boys and Daddies they are for decoration."

"Why hippos for decoration?"

"I don't know son. That's just the way God made you."

For once he accepted that explanation without launching into 20 questions.

I am not really looking forward to discussing "the birds and the bees." I'm sure that's coming up soon...

A pleasant surprise

Rachel's sister got me a RC corvette for Christmas. The kids, of course, immediately claimed it as theirs, and shortly thereafter it stopped working. The battery still had a charge, and so did the controller. It just didn't work anymore.

Sadly, I consigned it to my office, AKA my room of half-finished projects, AKA the room my wife swore never to enter let alone clean, AKA the room she is cleaning at this moment. (Something about a cluttered room just gets under her skin like you wouldn't believe. Unless you are married, in which case you probably understand perfectly.)

Anyway, while she was cleaning, Melissa got in, and saw the vette. "Car!" she exclaimed. I picked it and the controller up so she wouldn't break it. Sure, it was already broken, but Dad habits die hard. I noticed for the first time that the controller had a channel selector, and it was on 4. Could this be the source of the problem? Sure enough, the car was on channel 1.

I think I've mentioned before that Rachel is the mechanically inclined one of the family.

Pretty!

For someone so small, Melissa has strong opinions on her clothing. I have to coax and cajole her into wearing something appropriate to the weather and occasion.

"No dear, we don't wear swimming suits to the grocery store," for example.

Every morning we go through this-

"How about this shirt?" NO!

"Oh look! This one is a pretty one!" NO!

At some point we'll either settle on a shirt, or run out of options, and I will have to wrestle her into rejected attire.

Just yesterday we passed a teen clothing shop in the mall. The shirts on display were loaded with rhinestones and glitter. "Preetty!" "OOohh, Preeetty, pretty!!!" Melissa toddled into the store in awe. Much to her disappointment I had to tear her away without purchasing a gaudy, strappy number.

Is this just foreshadowing the future?

Day of defeat

Both the kids like playing hide and seek. Melissa just likes being chased. Matthew's gotten more sophisticated; for the last couple weeks he's really gotten tough to find. He used to make too much noise to stay effectively hidden, but no longer. Last time I had to give up and call out the All's Clear -- turns out he was hiding behind the master bath shower curtain. He was very pleased with himself for having outsmarted Dad.

Is she trained?

Yesterday and the day before were entirely accident-free. Today Melissa clutched her pants and said, "uh-oh, wet!" She made a break for the toilet where she finished her business. We inspected her pants and they had only a few drops on them- so she managed to catch herself in time. I'm cautiously optimistic.

I've spared our gentle readers all the messy details the past few weeks. Suffice it to say that I will be having our carpets cleaned...soon!

(I feel like breaking out into a happy potty-trained dance. YEESSsss!)