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Sunday, July 22, 2012

A James Post: In Which I Brag About My Kid

So, it's been a really long time since I did an update on James so I figured I should change that. 




He's about 35 pounds (feels like fifty), 38 inches tall and has a seriously huge head (we had to buy him a helmet for 8 year old's).


He's a mama's boy. Majorly. It's ok with me. I love that my 3 year old asks me if I'll snuggle him multiple times a day. I know this won't last forever so I take advantage of it. It's nice to take breaks from housework to just sit on the couch holding my big boy while he chats away. He randomly says that he loves all day long. He's made up a little jingle that he frequently sings:
I love Mommy, I love Daddy, I love James....over and over and over. He's one of the sweetest kids I know. He really cares about people and their feelings and is extraordinarily well-behaved.

James knows most of his alphabet by sight and can count to thirty. He can spell his name (verbally, and recognizes it visually) and is learning to spell simple three letter words. He's doing such a great job and I'm so proud of him. He is struggling with drawing/writing. We can't tell if he's left or right handed or both. I've tried to just step back and let him use whichever hand he wants, but I feel like he's a little confused sometimes. He eats and brushes his teeth with his left hand, which leads me to believe that it's his dominant hand, but then he'll throw and draw with his right. I really have no clue! Hopefully we can figure it out before he goes to school. Until then, his drawing skills are pretty limited..but, he's only 3, so we have some time.

We finally ditched the pull-up once and for all. I was using it at night because he kept falling off of his toddler bed and crawling into our bed in the wee small hours and I really didn't want him accidentally peeing in MY bed.  My sister just got married and my parents gave us her bed. It's perfect because it was a top bunk so it has rails on both sides! He LOVES his new bed. He can sleep in all the weird positions he wants and loves having all that space to himself...in underpants. Yay!


He really wants to be a big kid. He talks about how he's going to grow up all the time. His current dream is to play soccer. He REALLY wants to play games with older kids. He gets so excited when the opportunity presents itself that he mostly just runs around like crazy with bouts of insane laughter. Every time he eats he informs us that the food is traveling down his throat, into his tummy, down his legs, and into his toes (which he calls turtles...why I don't know) and because of this process he states that he is getting bigger.

His favorite person right now is his Peepaw (Grandpa Willardson).  He loves to terrorize him by blowing bubbles at him with his bubble gun, talking his ear off, and just chasing him around.

He plays very well on his own. His imagination just astounds me. I'm so glad that he can sit down and entertain himself for hours on end...because the other hours on end are spent asking me millions of questions. And questions are great! Really! But after hours of questioning your nerves sort of...yeah.


He is super friendly, unlike me. I'm a major introvert and that kid is really pushing me out of my comfort zone. He says hello to everyone he meets in this loud, obnoxious little voice; he waves and smiles and draws a lot of unwanted attention. BUT, I'm glad that he's not shy. Being shy really sucks. They call it "painful" for a reason. No, really. It is. So I'm glad that he's not like that because I think he'll have an easier time at life.  He loves people so much. As an introvert, I recharge by being alone. Being around people excessively is very draining and quiet, alone time is my recovery. James is just. the. opposite.  If we don't go out enough he starts getting really grouchy. He NEEDS people, which is just weird to me. I have to work really hard to find a happy balance between our different personalities and needs. He's always teaching me something or another.

He loves church and is so great about saying prayers (although he currently thinks that it's hilarious to begin his prayer (Dear...) and end it right afterwards (In the name...).  He is a great helper in FHE and loves to sing primary songs before bed. He finds scripture study to be boring and struggles to stay reverent, but he at least tries. We get compliments for his good behavior constantly.

He loves to make people laugh. He loves making up knock-knock jokes that make no sense. His punch lines are often missing, but his laughter is so contagious that it doesn't really matter.  He loves helping in the kitchen. He has his own apron and helps prepare dinner every night (adding at least a half hour to prep time, but he loves it). He sets the table all by himself and is a really great cleaner around the house. He will clean any given room if asked and will do so almost perfectly. It's quite impressive.

He is my practically perfect child. I have very little problems with him and feel really lucky to have him.




Friday, July 20, 2012

California Trip

On July 5th we woke up early and loaded our stuff into my grandma's van and headed to California.
She can't really take care of herself anymore and so my parents have been slowly moving her to Utah.
We decided to go with them. My dad PROMISED that there wasn't much left to do and we could go see the "sites." ha ha.

Paul and my dad took turns driving the truck and my mom and I switched off driving the van.
James was amazingly good. He didn't have an accident (pants) the whole way. I was so proud of him! Granted, my grandma had to go to the bathroom every  2 miles so...

Turns out there was a LOT of work to do. It's a good thing we came because I don't think my parents would have been able to finish it by themselves. James really loved being able to hang out with his "pee-paw"  for 4 days straight. He told me after we got home that he is "pee-paw's little buddy." Melt my heart.

So we did do a few things while we were there. We went to see my grandfather's grave and we went to see the Sundial Bridge. Paul cleaned off the patio and made a nice space for us to relax while we were there. 


There was plenty of drama to keep us entertained.


On the way home we weren't so lucky with being accident-in-your-pants free. Poor James needed to go about 10 minutes before we got to every stop. Luckily I had him in a pull-up. He was quite distraught. It was when we were in the middle of the Nevada desert that he informed us that he needed to go #2. So we pulled over on the side of the road and James had his first successful roadside experience. 


Later that day we got pulled over by a highway patrolman and miraculously were left with a mere warning. Considering my maternal parental unit was going 90 and my grandma didn't have recent registration or insurance paperwork, it was pretty much a miracle.


Poor Paul had to go to work the next morning and barely had 4 hours of sleep. He is pretty much amazing.

The trailer full of stuff.



My three favorite guys



Watching Disney movies and being awesome

Walking on the Sundial Bridge


Independence Day

July 4th is my second favorite holiday (after Christmas). I love what it stands for.
I love summer, fireworks, and
America.

I need to make more of these!


We started off the celebration on the 3rd by heading over to Colonial Fest. It was a lot of fun and they had some really cool displays/demonstrations.

On the 4th we went over to my parents for the day. We brought James' little pool and let him splash around in the back yard, Paul grilled, and we had fun with sidewalk chalk, bubbles and fireworks.

Need to get me one of these

LOVE this photo

Look, Mom! A canon! It's real, it's real!




The End.

James Turns Three

Can you believe it? THREE years!
I can't.
Feels like yesterday I was bringing him home.
Now he's running around like crazy, talking our ears off, and reminding me more and more of a big kid.
I love him.
For his birthday he originally wanted this waterfall cake. He saw it in the Wilton magazine and has been dreaming of this cake for months.
Big Splash Birthday Bash Cake
There was no way this cake was happening.
I tried convincing him that a costco cake would be ideal.
"No, Mommy. YOU are going to make me a cake"
So I made him pick another cake.
We looked at party ideas on pinterest for hours until he finally decided on a train cake. I got my inspiration from these two cakes:
     

The first cake fell to pieces when I started frosting it. I called my sister, in tears. She brought over cake supplies, cake, frosting and I got back to work. 6 hours later:


All but two pictures from his party are on my dad's camera.
We went to Grandpa's house in Spanish Fork and had a lunch of hot dogs and blue juice (picked by James, of course) before he blew out the candles.



He got lots of presents and had so much fun!

This week he got a belated gift of money so we decided to go use his Toys R Us coupon and get something cool. Because he redeemed the coupon, he got a birthday crown and balloon. He wanted to take the rest of his money to the Disney Store. Because he came in with a birthday crown, they gave him a birthday pin! I'm telling you, it was quite the un-birthday!


Happy Birthday to my boy!

Library Reading Program 2012

I enrolled James in the Provo Library's reading program this summer. He had SO much fun.
Every week we went to the library and made a craft for which he received a sticker to put in his reading "passport." After he filled it up with stickers he got a prize--free admission to the Veteran's Pool in Provo.

He also had a reading log. For every 20 minutes we read together he got to color in a star and when he finished that he got the ultimate prize:
Trick or Treating in July at the Library

Since we already read together an hour + a day, this was easy to fulfill. It was also great getting new books every week instead of every two weeks that we previously went.
It was crazy and surreal for me because I remember taking my two youngest sisters to the library reading program in Hemet like it was yesterday!

Here are some pictures of his Library adventures:

Firecracker Hat

Pizza Craft

Everyone is Having Babies

...except me.

So, this week I was thinking how I'd be 36 weeks and probably be gearing up for an induction next week. I'd have another baby next week had I not lost it.

I can't tell you how hard it is.

In the last two weeks I have had 5 friends give birth to babies (and there are still two more to go!).

This is great for them. Especially some who have struggled with infertility.  My anguish in no way overshadows the happiness of the miracles others are receiving. But it still hurts.

I can't wait for my due date to pass. I feel like it is this big huge horrible thing looming over me. In reality, it'll probably be another day of dishes, laundry, chasing the boy and a few tears.  I just can't wait for that day to be over.  I had really been hoping to be pregnant by then so that it would make the day less horrible.

God has other plans.

I don't know why. I don't pretend to understand it at all.

I feel ridiculous. Pitiful. Helpless.

Barren.

This has come as a surprise to me as I have been doing so well the last few months. Hopefully I can return to that place soon.


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