College

Brody likes talking about all of the schools he'll attend. Today, as we drove past his elementary school, he started telling me about college. When he goes to college, he's going to sleep there, he tells me. He'll have his own bookshelf full of books and it'll have his name on it. If it's far away and he wants to read a book, he'll just walk over and quietly get a book and take it back to his seat to read. He isn't going to get to see Dada and me every day, but we can come to his school on "special days" like when there is a party in his classroom. :) I'll have to remind him of this conversation later in life. What college kid wouldn't want to have his mom visit for parties?

When I'm seventy-five...

I asked Logan what he wanted to be when he was grown up. Apparently "grown up" is something Logan doesn't plan to be for a very long time. He told me "when I'm seventy-five, I want to be a teacher." I asked why he wanted to be a teacher and he said "so I can give out snacks." Everything this kid says and does can be traced back to food.

Mama's at work

There are times when being a working mom sucks. I try to be involved in the kids' classrooms and activities but I simply can't be as involved as stay at home moms. The kids don't seem to mind because they don't know better, but sometimes things happen that just sting.

Like Mother's Day this year. Brody's teacher asked if I'd be able to make it to their class party and I said yes, I'd be there. She didn't tell me at the time, but she'd given Brody a special speaking part in their presentation and wanted to make sure I'd be there to see it. I ended up in a customer meeting downtown that day and although I raced as fast as I could from the meeting, I arrived after the presentation when all of the kids were sharing their special cookies with their Moms. I found Brody sitting at the table with a friend and his Mom. I sat with them and apologized for being late but Brody didn't care. He was happy to see me, he loved singing and eating his cookie. He didn't seem to notice that I should have been there earlier, or if he did notice, he just didn't care. One of the other moms came over and said "I made sure to get Brody in my video since I wasn't sure you'd make it." Sigh, the other parents have learned to compensate for my work schedule. That hurts.

Then a few days ago I overheard Brody and Logan playing pretend. They had created a family of Spidermen and Brody asked Logan, is Spider-Man's Mommy going to come get him? Logan responded, no, his Mommy's at work.

I'm very lucky. My boys are happy. They are well-cared for and they like their teachers. I get to do two things I love, work and be a mom. I know I should look at it that way, but sometimes, it still sucks.

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is tearing through our area bringing strong winds and rain through mid-afternoon tomorrow. Schools, governments, and stores are closed and everyone is staying close to home. Power is out in pockets around the neighborhood, but so far, we're lucky. As we get ready for bed tonight, we are setting up camp in the toy room, away from the big trees out front. The boys are excited to have a sleepover in their tents and have no idea there is anything unsafe outside.

After blowing up the air bed for Jacob and me, we all laid down on together and did the "Goodnight Jim Bob" thing. Logan pointed out that Mama's feet hung over the edge... Yeah, yeah, I'm tall. He was squeezed into a corner and said "My feet are hanging over too!" I told him he was just like Mama and he laughed and said, "so I guess I'm OLD." Yeah, yeah... sigh.

Her highness

Brody was walking through all of our full names: Broderick James Weaver, Logan Philip Weaver, and Becca. I asked him if he knew my full name too, and he said Becca Weaver. Just as I was about to tell him that Becca was a nickname like Brody, he said oh, I know, 'YOUR MAJESTY'.

There was no sarcasm in his voice and to fill my silence he said, what? Some people are called that!

World Travelers

I'm introducing the boys to maps.  I brought home two maps from Jacob and my trip to Boston this summer- one of the US and another of the world, planning to hang them in Brody's room.  I also recently bought another, larger map of the world that we hung in my craft room to "pin" places we want to visit and plan future vacations.  Brody was enthralled with the map, asking me where all sorts of places were located, starting with Jamaica, then Mexico, Australia, Tokyo, and Africa.  Logan was looking at it too while listening to our discussion and then asked me "Where's Red Robin?"

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As Logan and I were driving home from Home Depot yesterday, we passed another car on the road and Logan shouted out "hey! That's like Uncle Rick's car!"  I asked why it was like Uncle Rick's car and he said "because it was red."  Well, that impressed me immensely (until Jacob explained later that Logan wasn't thinking of Rick's red Corvette, but the red toy car that Logan brought home from his house) and I told Logan "Logan! You're so smart!!"  He shot back, "I know, I know everything."  Smart and confident.  :)

Some things are even too hard for Superman

Logan is learning independence. We're teaching him to dress himself, choose his outfits, and get his own yogurt in the morning. This morning he was doing great, but struggled when it came time to open his yogurt. He called over to me and said "Mama, can you open this? It's too hard for Superman." Sometimes even Superman needs to ask his Mama for help.