jabber box

Brooks has been so talkative lately.  Well, I suppose I should clarify.  Although he's starting to actually "verbalize" some words, he uses a lot of sign language still.  But to me that's just as good as talking!  And to show off how brilliantly smart my son is (I'm biased, I know. That's my job!) I've jotted down all his "communications". (more for my record than anything else)

Signing:

More

Daddy

Eat

Sleep

Penguin

(he made this sign up himself.  See? Brilliant!!)

He also knows .....
Please
Puppy
All done
Bath
Mommy
Pray
Fishy
Brush Teeth
Work (as in "Daddy's at work")
Thank you

Verbal Words (and what they mean :)
Da da (of course)
mamamamamamamamamamama (usually said when crying or distressed .... lucky me)
shoe (says it clear as a bell)
baw (ball)
ah-yah (all done)
mah (more)
mow mow (kitty)
sah (sock)
Co (Cole)
na (snack)
too tee (touchie - aka pacifier)
eeeeeeeee (please)
amah (amen)

He also sings Old McDonald with us filling in the animal noises for cow, kitty, puppy, duck, snake, sheep, lion and monkey.  (That's right, this Old McDonald's farm has lions and monkeys!)  And to top off my bragging session, he can effectively point to his nose, ears, mouth, eyes, bellybutton and feet.  And he will gladly show you where yours are too (we've had little fingers shoved in our eyes, ears and up our noses many times)  Yeah, I'm one proud mama!

Finally Booked

So it did it!  I finally applied (and 6 hours was accepted).  My flight is booked and my hotel is reserved.  I'm flying to Dallas in two weeks!!!!  Ok ok, you probably want to know why, right?  Well about a year ago I start tossing around the idea of teaching Bradley.  It's the childbirth class that Chris and I took while we were pregnant and we loved it!  (I'll spare you all my jabbering about why it's the best ... you can just take my word for it)  And I found I was passionate about sharing this information with other people.  But because of poor timing, lack of resources or simply not enough guts I never applied.  That changed Sunday.

I realized while spending time with my pregnant friends over the past few months that I'm just as passionate about childbirth now as I was a year ago.  Chris told me to do it, Carol told me to do it, Bethany told me to do it ... but you know what finally motivated me to apply?  Southwest airlines!  Yep that's right.  They ran an ad on Sunday about their holiday sale on flights and I thought "Hey, I should check this out."  And sure enough, I found I could get a roundtrip flight from Minneapolis to Dallas for about $200!  (6 months ago it was going to cost closer to $400)  We could make this work!

So I downloaded the application Sunday nigtht, filled it out on Monday and faxed it in Tuesday morning.  I made a quick call that morning and left a message saying I was sending it.  (I still couldn't believe this was actually happening.  My hands shook as I watched the fax machine suck in each page and send it to the Bradley guru's in California)  Then I followed up that afternoon to see how long this process would take.  I honestly thought I was too late to get in on this training in Dallas and I'd have to wait until spring.  And everything was happening so fast it didn't quite seem real.  But that afternoon I talked to an actual person (not the machine) and she informed me they not only received my application, but already processed it and approved it!

Um, what?  Really?  That fast?  The other Bradley teacher in town said it took a long time to hear back about her application.  This couldn't be happening.  But it was.  The gal told me what I needed to bring and to go ahead and make arrangements.  Oh wow.  So last night I booked my flight and this morning I reserved my hotel room.  I'm really going to Dallas.  I'm really going to be a Bradley teacher.  No more talk.  I'm doing it.

Of course when I return there's a whole lot more stuff to do.  I have to finish all my other requirements for affiliation (book reports, hospital reports, class observations, etc), then student teaching for two sessions.  Then I have to figure out where I'm going to hold classes and how I'm going to get students.  But I'm really doing this and Chris is behind me 100%.  I love him!

I will keep you posted on how things go, but for now.  I'm flying to Dallas!!!!

In a Nutshell

The weather at the beginning of the month was sooo beautiful.  We spent more days than I thought playing outside (remember, it's November)

This would be Brooks ... eating a rock.

And Charlie eating a rock.

Speaking of Charlie ......

He's a mounted moose!! (insert laughter here)  Our friends Brent & Laura looooooove Charlie and bought this hilarious get-up on a post-halloween sale.  He hated it.  We loved it :)

Ok, back to the nice weather.  We recently received a sandbox for the backyard for free. Yep, FREE!  And lemme tell ya, it's a big hit!

A little sand down the shirt never hurt, right?

November 3rd was my Mom's birthday and Brooks sent her this lovely little picture greeting. 

Amazingly enough, this was the first picture I took.  I realized it turned out so well because 1) My son loves the camera and 2) he had no idea that that piece of paper was even there.  Because as soon as he discovered it, he did this ....

Yeah, that's more like it.

Can you guess the story behind this picture??

I was tired of Brooks dismantling my purse and strewing all the contents of my wallet across the living room so Chris did this for me.  I guess that solves the problem.  Too bad I'm too short to reach it.

Oh and we can't forget Brook's favorite part of the day .... bath time.  Dad has fun during bath time too.  You can see why.

One evening I was giving Brooks his bath while Chris did the dishes and Brooks looked at me and signed "Dad", then followed by the expression that said "You're no fun.  Where's Dad?"  I guess I know my place in the world.

Early Tuesday morning our good friends Ben & Carol Hayzlett welcomed their first baby, Hannah Lily.  I was nervous wreck all Monday night knowing she was in labor and praying like crazy.  But mom and baby are healthy and I made not one, but two trips to the hospital to see them.  I was just so happy for them (and I loved holding that baby :)

Other than that we've been going to story time, the library, the community center and of course, reading lots of books.


So that's November in a nutshell.

my little helper

It was one of those days again.  I was trying to finish putting dinner together, clean up some dishes and get the house in order before Chris came home and Brooks is crying and clinging to my leg .... again.  So instead of hobbling around the kitchen with a toddler attached to my lower extremity, I put him to work.  Well, sort of.  He was my little dishes helper.  This kiddo loves to play in the water!!

Doesn't he look so grown up?  It totally reminds me of standing on my mother's kitchen chairs helping her wash dishes when I was a little girl.  There must be a picture of it somewhere.

He was lovin' that wire whisk!  He even grabbed the sponge and attemped to "wash" the dishes.  'Cause you know ... mom was doing it.  I love getting my kiddos involved in chores around the house.  (Because Drew and Cole feel like they're part of the family most days)  Today Cole helped match socks while I folded laundry.  Then we made granola where he measured tablespoons of cinnamon, counted cups of oatmeal, and used those muscles to stir it all together.  Did we have fun?  Oh yeah!  Was he learning?  You betcha!  (we need 5 cups of oatmeal and we already put in 3.  How many more do we need to add?)  Did he know he was learning stuff?  Not at all!  Hehe, I feel so sneaky.  Like when I put cauliflower in the mashed potatoes but no one knows and eats it anyway!

Ah, I'm so in love with that little boy! 

So while Brooks may not be able to help with many chores around the house, he certainly can play in the water while I do dishes.  And it definitely keeps him from crying at my feet!