Tanner Tanner Tanner…..
You my little man have been hysterical this week. What will you think someday of all that I have posted about you? When you are old enough to care, I will get your approval:), but for now, just be glad I am keeping such a good record for you. Your wife will LOVE this someday! I keep a list through out the week of the things I want to write about and your list is a LONG one! Here it goes:
Monster Rings
Son, you are turning into a sci fi/fantasy fan just like your parents! We love it when you say “watch a wee dee” (watch a movie). In the last week you were begging every day to watch “Monster Rings”. At first I had no idea what you were talking about but then Daddy told me you had seen a Lord of the Rings commercial and had been begging to see it ever since. Your Dad and I LOVE Lord of the Rings and of course own the trilogy but we thought it would be too scary for you so we said no. You persisted with your pleading daily until finally mommy caved. Of course…you LOVED it. To my knowledge, you have watched the entire show 6 times in the last week. You don’t seem a bit scared by it and love all the monsters (just like your mom). When I was little, Uncle Dave let me stay up late one night and watch “The Beastmaster” with him. I knew that only a cool uncle would have let me do that:) LOL. That was the start of my love of fantasy and I have always loved monsters (and alien stuff too). So I guess I am not that surprised by your fascination. My taste is very ecclectic though. I got tears in my eyes when Grandma Sarah bought me “When a Man Answers” for Christmas (Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin). I had looked for this movie for YEARS. I am teaching you to be a Sandra Dee fan too (LOL) and I already have you wanting to learn to surf after we watched “Gidget” together. Daddy thinks I am crazy. Your Uncle Daniel understands though….he loves Sandra Dee too and can’t wait for me to pass the “wee dee” on to him!
Back to my story…(FYI…if you have not seen Lord of the Rings this little story will be utterly insignificant to you).
Apparently after your 6 viewings of this “wee dee”, you had a good grasp of the script:). You were sitting next to your brother on the floor last week and you were playing with a ball. Ty kept trying to take the ball away from you and you were getting aggravated. Mommy happened to have the camara out and I snapped off a shot right as I heard you say:
“It’s my precious! It wants it!!!!”
(You were telling your brother that the ball is your “precious” and then you referred to Ty as the “it” that wanted it). Daddy and I laughed and laughed over that one. Of course, you mimicked Gollum well too. Any Lord of the Rings fan would have guessed your charade instantly!
Like Poppy
Poppy’s birthday was December 25th. This was the second Christmas without him and I missed him. The week before Christmas you did something cute that reminded me of him. When you woke up one morning you said:
“Mommy! Make my shake. Let’s do it!”
Poppy always used to say “let’s do it” when he meant “YOU do it!” That is exactly what you meant when you said it too!
Sheeling Bad
Last week you pinched your finger. You have gotten excessive mileage out of this injury. Anytime you need extra attention you simply hold up your index finger and say:
“I don’t sheel good. My shinger!”
And sometimes you add:
“Buddies no can touch” (nobody can touch my finger)
The Great Santa Debate (Warning! Not appropriate for children under 12!)
Auntie Brooke, Aunt Jodi, and Aunt Meme had a long discussion with mommy on the topic of Santa. I am totally outnumbered here. All three of your aunts have very warm memories of Santa growing up and intend to extend the tradition in their family. Problem. Mommy hates Santa. Okay…hates may be a strong word. I have just never been enamored with the guy and he doesn’t have a place in my Christmas. When I was a child I refused to believe in him. I pointed out to my mother at a very tiny age that Santa couldn’t be real because he was in every department store and that had to be fake. Mom just agreed and didn’t try to argue with her very practical daughter. I, then, ruined it for my brothers because I was never one to let others believe something that was not true LOL! My SIL’s, realizing this, are doing there best to persuade me to find a place in my heart for Santa. (This is not for my benefit of course, they are simply afraid that my kids will ruin it for their kids…that is a risk I have to admit). So….sigh…what to do. It isn’t that I am a “legalist” about Santa. I don’t have a problem with anyone else celebrating him, I just have no interest. It isn’t fun for me. Also, (and now I pull the “spiritual” card LOL) I want Christmas to be about Jesus and don’t want to divert attention.
On the other hand, I love Miracle on 34th street and I always thought it was over the top when mother and daughter had their santa conversation. Little Miss Susan wanted with her whole heart to believe in Santa….sigh…what if I have a kid like that? So the “gang up” finally gained some ground and I conceded on one point. IF my children demonstrate to me that I would absolutely ruin their childhood if I don’t affirm the reality of Santa, then I just might have to keep my mouth shut about it temporarily until they are emotionally stable enough for the truth LOL. (Sidenote: If I had to actually buy presentes FROM Santa though it would just about do me in…please don’t let it go that far!!! LOL). By the end of the conversation, we agreed to wait and watch Tanner. Will he be a believer without influence one way or the other?
A few days after this discussion I think I got my answer. I was watching Miracle on 34th Stree (new version) and Tanner walks into the room and says to his daddy:
“Him no be Santa! He Jurassic Park!”
(The actor who plays Santa is also the actor in Tanner’s favorite movie and that did NOT escape his attention).
LOL! Like mother like son! Score 2 points for the home team!!!
Beyond Obedience
Sometimes I watch my kids and wonder how on this green earth I was blessed to have children that are so AMAZINGLY low maintenance by personality. They are both sooooooo good. Tanner is an easy child and Ty an easy baby. By temperment, Ty may give me a run for my money later (still yet to be seen) but at the moment, he is just an angel baby.
Tanner at times can be downright scary though. Not that he is a perfect child of course, but his submissive nature is truly astounding. I rarely have to say anything more than once. He is ADORABLE when he say’s “NO I don’t want do DAT!” affirming his obedience. (Example: I say “Tanner, don’t get the play dough on the carpet or you will be in trouble”. He then say’s “No, I don want do DAT”.) Ohhhh…if you could only hear it! It would steal your heart for sure.
Last week though he did something that left me a little dumbfounded. I was at my mom’s and everyone (SIL’s, Grammy, Aunts, Cousins….) was over preparing for Christmas. Tanner and Noah were “shighting”. I wanted to nix that behavior quickly so I walked Tanner over to my mom’s wooden cabinet and told him to put his nose on the cabinet until I told him time was up. I walked away and sat down. For the record, I don’t believe in abusing time out:), so it rarely lasts but a couple of minutes. It doesn’t need to last longer than that for Tanner to be effective and I like to use the minimum of what will work and just rejoice that it worked!
Next thing I know, Sweetie is having a fit demanding that I release her grandchild from this torture. (I had barely sat down by the way). At first I paid little attention because Sweetie is a big softie and doesn’t believe her grandkids are ever deserving of discipline. (What happens to women when they become grandparents anyhow? It is UNREAL! I just stare at her in awe sometimes wondering where my mother went). Anyhow, she was relentless in her pleading so I glanced back at Tanner.
Before going any further with this I want to make one point. When I said “put your nose on the cabinet”, I wasn’t being literal. I only intended he face the cabinet and added that bit about the nose for effect LOL. When I glanced back at him, not only was his nose literally against the cabinet but he was also trying desperately to remain on his tippy toes. Apparently I indicated the spot where his nose should go a little too high!
Absolutely incredible! What did I do to deserve such a darling? I sat there reveling in that kind of obedience and your Sweetie nearly cried at the horror of it!
(And to my little Ty…if these aren’t exactly the kinds of stories I tell about you…if getting you within 2 feet of the cabinet has to be good enough LOL…you can bet your mommy will still say of you “what did I do to deserve such a darling?. And I’ll meant it:)
Messes
Tanner spilled his coke in the kitchen and came in to the bedroom to tell his daddy and I about it. Jim said “Mommy won’t like having to clean that.” Tanner said
“Mommy. Be happy.” LOL!
Shries
Today I went to Arby’s to pick up lunch with Tanner in the back seat. On the way home he asked for “shries” and I told him he needed to wait until we got home. I, was of course, happily munching away in the front seat. Tanner then said:
“Mommy? Are you eating MY shries?” I wasn’t! LOL.
Two Ways
On Sunday, we took a mini trip to Tucson with Grandpa and Grandma to see family for Christmas. How exciting for us as we have had very few trips this year. We haven’t been on an overnight vacation in about 18 months either and I am in desperate need of that! Anyhow, the directions were a bit sketchy and Grandpa and Grandma were trying to work this out…I’ll just leave it at that LOL. We were approaching the end of our journey and were at that point where we were all desperate for a potty break. We were going the wrong way and Jim turned around. Tanner looked at me and said:
“Mommy? Are we going 2 ways?” (By the end of the trip, we had gone about 6 and Tanner noticed every time!)
Cute
I told Tanner I loved him the other day (I say it many times every day, I am just siting one particular incident LOL). He responded with:
“Yep. I a cute boy.”
All said very matter of factly. I affirmed that was quite true…yep…quite true.
Babysittin
I was brushing my teeth the other night and Ty was laying on my bed. This is no longer safe with my rolly polly baby. My bathroom is feet off my bed though and I could see Ty in the mirror so all was under control. I asked Tanner if he could please babysit his brother and make sure he didn’t roll towards the side of the bed. (No, I was not expecting Tanner to actually do it…just trying to teach him to help me watch Ty). Tanner placed himself over the top of Ty blocking Ty from rolling. Ty was not pleased and started pushing and kicking Tanner. Tanner said very loudly:
“This little guy’s pushin me!! He wants his mama!”
You light up my life my little sunshine boy!
P.S. Yes I did notice upon review that I switched narration about 100 times in this posting. I am too tired to edit it so just reinterpret in your head okay?