Isms

My friend Becca told me that we're all born with OCD, but some of us outgrow it.  Having a Toddler proves that to be true.  Here are some Riverisms.

* He has to stand up, before I pull him out of his crib... or it will be WWIII.

* He prefers sitting in this bucket.

 * He loves doing laundry and runs in our room, grabbing clean clothes off the shelf and takes them to the washing machine.
* He also starts shaking side to side when the agitator starts moving.  He's done that since he was super tiny.
* He won't get out of the tub till every last drop of water is drained.

* He has to put a piece of toilet paper in while the toilet is flushing and if you manage to sneak in there by yourself and he hears the flush, you better have some ear plugs.
* When he does sit in a chair, he is a lounger and kicks one foot over the arm rest.  I used to sit this way all the time as kid... it must be genetic.

* He won't ask you to do something, he just pretends to try and do it himself, while grunting for effect and looking at you like, "What's taking you so long to help?"  This one is hard to explain and I'm still trying to catch it on video.
* He can spot every ball and every balloon and hear every plane flying overhead about 20 seconds before I hear or see them.
* He must hand me my shoes in the morning, before I put them on,or it is melt down city.

* He has a love/hate relationship with stickers and most sticker sessions end in tears of frustration.
* He has always separated things by color and will only carry around the blue balls from his ball pit, the blue crayon, the blue magnets from the fridge and his blue plaid shorts.
* The blue magnets are always either the V's or the W's and always a matching pair.

* He likes to let his food salivate for a minute.  I call it juicing.
* He drinks out of the side of his mouth, just like his Dad, so he won't break eye contact when he needs to take a sip. (This picture isn't the best example, but it's close.)

* To the best of my knowledge, he's never been bitten by anything other than a mosquito, but this little man does not like spiders.  Real ones, fake ones, cartoons ones, it doesn't matter.  He gets the chills whenever he sees one.

* He's into wearing pants on his head.  I don't know?

* He has to hold his bear to say his prayers.
* He always signs Daddy and says Mommy, but never the other way around.
* He also likes to hide my stuff (mostly my drivers license, credit cards, chap stick and tampons... but only the tampons in the blue wrappers... in his dad's work boots.

I'm sure these things will fade with time, but I don't want them to fade from my memory.  I'm sure I've forgotten a dozen things, but bottom line, he is a character.

Q & A

Q-Do you get sick of people buying bear stuff for you, because your last name is Bear?

A-Not when it is this dang cute!

Some past bear favorites...

Keep em coming... keep em coming.

Three Boys

Have you ever noticed that moms with two boys almost always have a third boy if/when they get pregnant again.  Well at least in my life anyway... Jen, Mary and Jodi.  My husband is one of three boys and while that may seem intimidating to some, it does have its advantages.  Take our last trip to Wyoming for example.  All three brothers were able to visit at once.  While the menu would have probably been better if there was a daughter somewhere in the mix (wait is that supposed to be me... FAIL) you usually wouldn't get three girls looking at their mom's deck and randomly deciding to tear it down and build her a new one.  Right there.  On the spot.  No planning, or cost estimation, or even permission... Arlene was at work.  But hey, who needs permission for a new anything.  Word!

I didn't get a before picture, because without warning it was torn down, but this is River and Zander playing on the deck back in March.

Then it quickly became a big giant drop off from her kitchen patio door.  The boys were really upset when they were no longer allowed to go outside.  It is a good thing the brothers decided to build a new deck, because this one came down with one board removed and a tiny push.  Safe... not so much.

Having lived in apartments for the last15 years of my life, home improvement projects aren't really in my vocabulary.  I was a little surprised by how fast the new deck started coming together.  I'm totally the "Don't we need a professional to do that?" person, but hopefully one day I will be reformed.

Nothing speeds up the process like chasing after a toddler and making sure he doesn't pull a superman off the side.

 Oh no Mama... who put these bars back up?

River was great at setting the nails in the holes Bear pre-drilled.  It held his attention forever.

Z getting in on the action... yes he color coordinates with all his tools.  What, you don't?

When we left, it was almost done.  Cody and Arlene just had to put on some side rails for the steps and then stain it.  It is bigger and soooo much sturdier than the original.  Not too shabby.

My personal favorite touch is the latching gate in front of the stairs.  Hmmm... I wonder why?

Here is Arlene with her three boys and their three boys.  Check the ruffles and lace at the door, because it's camo time in these parts.

Yep... all boys can be pretty great, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to change things up a bit.  Can I get an amen!

Angel-Versary

Once again the pictures on my camera are accumulating and I can't seem to keep up with the posts.  One thing I didn't want to miss writing about was my friend Matt's Angel-Versary.  On Sept 21st, we gathered at Utah Veteran's Memorial to honor him.  These gatherings are always bittersweet.  It is nice to be around people who share great memories and stories of the person you lost, but so heartbreaking to see the hole their absence has left in so many lives.  I was grateful to be there.  I am always enriched when I put my day to day life aside for a moment and remember the things that are truly important... family, friends, freedom, love, service, sacrifice, hope, faith and God.

When we got to the cemetery, all the grass had been dug up and the headstones were being moved.  Bad timing, but thankfully they had stopped for the day right before Matt's headstone.  River kept wanting to touch Matt's picture.  Even now, kids still love him.

 River picked orange balloons to release.  We were launching a rainbow of colors to give Matt back a rainbow for all the rainbows he gives us.  His family always gets a rainbow from heaven, no matter the time of year, on the days they need it most.

After some convincing, I finally got River to let go of his balloons.

When you gather to remember someone, you never know if you are going to laugh, or cry, or both.  I thought I would be teary eyed, watching the balloons float away, but instead I was filled with a burst of joy and had a huge smile on my face.  That's the way Matt prefers it, I'm sure.

River may, or may not be a little resentful about letting the balloons go.

Here's Matt's parents in the red.  You know the country song that says, "Some Gave All".  I used to think of the servicemen or women when I'd hear that song, but now I think of their parents, children, wives or husbands. To keep living each day, after you've given everything... they are heroes.

 Hug your children tight, kiss your husband goodnight, have a long conversation with your mom and then even talk to your dad for a minute, pet your cat and consider your day well spent... now that's my kind of to do list.

Magic Dad

This kid loves his Daddy.  He loves me too, but he LUH HUVS his Dad.  How could you not, when he is so funny?

P.S.  I think laughing till you can't breathe is the best exercise in the world.  They need less treadmills at gyms and more best friends that almost make you pee your pants.