Land sharks, autumn, and armpits

We were driving home from our walk at the lake and I told Dylan that we were going to grill some burgers for lunch. From the backseat I heard:

"We're going to cook Bubba burgers. With barbeGue and extra cheeeeeeese. We have to make sure big chubby Sammy don't go into the kitchen and eat our burgers. He is a land shark."

Quite true. Sam is a scavenger and he'd totally eat our lunch.

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Sean was exhausted after staying up late for the Red Sox game last night so I packed up the kids and the double stroller and we went for a photo hike. And photo we did. I took 1,888 photos in those two hours. To be fair, I put the camera on the tripod and attached the remote and it takes continuous shots so I didn't reeeeeally take that many photos. My BFF who now lives in England is a bit homesick for New England autumns and so I decided that today we would go out and photograph the leaves for her.




*

In the bathtub after dinner I told Dylan that we had to check everyone for ticks because we had been playing in the woods. He said, "I have ticks!" and pointed to his underarm.

"Those are ARMPITS", I said as I laughed.

"We need to tell Daddy that these are my armpits!"

Thunderbolt

I took the kids to Walmart this afternoon because I ran out of glue sticks for my glue gun and as we were leaving the house Dylan proclaimed, "Goodbye ants! Goodbye dogs! We'll be right back! Goodbye Eli (his fish)! Goodbye air conditioners! We'll see you soon!"

Yes, see you later air conditioners.

*

Sean's dad came over this morning to mow our lawn--he likes to do that even though we tell him he shouldn't--and to visit. He comes over almost everyday during the week or takes Dylan shopping or to the library. I love his visits. I'm really quite fortunate to love my father-in-law as much as I do, I feel like something is missing if we don't talk on the phone everyday.

We were all sitting outside on the front steps when suddenly Dylan and I were covered in ants. He had disturbed a nest when he was playing in the sand and hundreds of tiny ants blasted out in all directions like tiny crawling fireworks. They started biting at our feet and Dylan had them all the way up in his shirt so I rushed him inside and took off all of his clothes. Poor kid had bites on his back. He said, "I need to go see the doctor" and so I was a bit shocked that he felt the need to say goodbye to the ants as we left for the store.

"But don't you dislike the ants because they bit you?" I asked.
"No, Mama. I love the ants. Even when they bite." He replied.

*

The picture above is of some weird space fort hut Sean and I came upon while hiking. It reminds me of Patrick Park's song Thunderbolt:

God knows that it gets so hard
to keep out the cold
when you're living in a house
full of holes.

And speaking of houses, I'd better go clean mine.

He loves Cars

Dylan: "I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, MOM!"
Me: "Do you only love me because I'm letting you watch TV a bunch today?"
Dylan: "YEAAAAAAH!"


Dylan: "Is that Cars, Mama? I love Cars so much!!!!"

(Puts Matchbox cars in a sleeping bag)
"Here you go, carsies. Here you go. You take a nap little carsies."

"Oh hey, garbage truck! You so cute, garbage truck! Oh mah gawd! You so cute!"

Dylan lately

*Wants to hold his baby sister all of the time

*Knows how to unlock the back slider door and sneaks outside, but only if he is wearing shoes. We bought a special bar lock to fix his "exploring" habit

*Takes his step stool from the bathroom and drags it around the upstairs to turn on lights. We find him asleep on our floor with all of the lights on when he is supposed to be sleeping

*Speaking of sleeping: he suddenly doesn't. Almost no naps, six hour nights, and climbs in bed with us in the middle of the night

*Still loves trucks and cars and everything with wheels. His favorites are garbage trucks and busses.

Favorite Dylan quotes lately:

"That's baby sissy. She likes you, Mama."
"I'm tired of waiting for you"
"It's not a game!"

And he sings everything, even if he doesn't know the song.

Little ham

Dylan quotes from today:

- "You got it, Mama!"
- "That was awesome!"
- "I'm so proud of you, Mama!"
- "I love you so much, Mom! Thank you!"
- "You look so nice!"
- (Stubs toe) "Jesus Christ! Amen."
- "Where's the bunny with my chocolate?"
- "You're a good boy, Mama."

He knows how to charm

Dylan: "Are you ready to go to the park?"
Me: "No. You did not take a nap."
Dylan: "I did it!"
Me: "No. You did not nap. You need to take a nap."
Dylan: "I didn't nap?"
Me: "No, you didn't."
Dylan: (in a high pitch) "I'm so proud of you, Mama!"

Dylan quotes of the day

"Hey, Mama! You look neat!"

*

"Where'd you go? Oh, to check the mail? I'm so proud of you, Mama!"

*

Dylan: "Where's my Chuggington?"
Me: "We can watch Chuggington one time and then it's time for you to take a nap."
Dylan: "Ooh, I like Chuggington! Good idea, Peach!"

One of my favorites

From The Pretender, Jackson Browne:

Dylan:

"Mama, my butt hurts. I think there's a wizard in there."

Dylan quotes of the day

"That's not a duck, that's a fart!"

"Mama, here you go! Some medicine! (Hands me pretend medicine) Your boo boo is all better!"

Dylan: "Mama, can I watch Mickey?"
Me: "No bud, this is football. This is the biggest game of the year."
Dylan: "Mama? I don't like-a the football."

Typical conversation.

Sean: "If we mistakenly have a number three in a few years I wouldn't be opposed to it"

Me: "Aw, you sap. You love having little wee babies around."

Sean: "Well that. Plus it's a tax deduction."

Lake

The wind has been unreal since last night. Awake at four listening to its power rattle our windows, even the dog who is petrified of storms slept through it; because there was no thunder.

Despite the wind the sky turned blue for a bit so Dylan and I got on our puddle jumping boots and headed to the lake down the street.

We were the only two there until a middle aged man ran by us in khaki pants, pausing his run briefly to talk about how beautiful the sky was and how powerful the wind.

After, Dylan and I ran errands.

On the way to the dump he started screaming:

"MAMA!!!!!!! I SEE THE BABY!!!! SHE'S WAY UP THERE!! SEE HER? SEE BABY KATIE??!!!!!"

Confused I turned to look at what he was pointing at and saw a seagull or a pigeon flying high above us. It took me a few minutes to understand what the heck he was talking about. A bird? A baby bird maybe?

"LIKE DUMBO!" He yells, still very ecstatic, "THERE IS BABY SISTER!!"

Oh I just about melted. He thinks that seagull is a stork bringing his sister to us.

Little singer, Little Chef

Dylan has been absolutely hilarious lately. He makes me laugh all day long with the things he comes up with. My favorite quote of the day was this:

Me: "I'm going to go feed the dogs, bud."
Dylan: "Well, I don't see why not, Mama!"


And later when I came out of the bathroom he had my phone in his hand and had dialed up Siri. I heard him say, "Text mobile". Thankfully, Siri doesn't understand his two-year old accent so he didn't end up sending any text messages but I couldn't help but be proud that he is such a sponge. We watched a kitchen show and he was calling out orders like the chefs on the line did. Sean and I had to hide our laughter.

Sean and Dylan cook dinner occasionally and they love to do the dishes together. Sean calls Dylan Little Chef.

Here's a video of them from tonight:


He's also killing me with cuteness. Suddenly he says that he wants to cuddle with me about twenty times a day and he squishes his little cheeks against mine and gives me a giant squeeze. He begs for me to lie in bed with him and when I give in he falls asleep with his face in mine and his little arms around me. I'm literally melting from the sweetness.

I told him today that when Katie is born I will have to go away for a day or two and he said, "I come with you?" Oh man.

At this point I am just pushing (ha!) for a healthy, normal, quick, labor so that I can get out of that hospital as soon as possible. I'm praying I don't need a c-section should something unexpected come up because I don't think I could handle being away from Dylan for another four days again.

But I know I'll look back on these videos from today and smile hard. Here we are singing together this afternoon. Dylan didn't nap today and you can see he's barely awake. I love that he sings Dolly Parton. He sings this song in bed when he can't fall asleep and he only knows two lines so he sings them on repeat.


When he went up to bed tonight I took the most invigorating bath. I washed my hair and scrubbed my belly with lovely-smelling body wash. Most importantly I took deep breaths and let the heat soak into my lungs and it was absolute heaven. Heaven.

Confession: I totally shoveled the driveway tonight. I wanted to have it done for Sean before he came home from work because he just works so hard and deserves to come home and relax. So far I feel just fine and didn't break my water or put myself into labor. Yet. The snow was light anyway.

Favorite Dylan quotes of the week

Me: Are you jumping on the couch?

Dylan: No, Mama, I'm not jumping. I'm bouncing.

*

Me: Do you know what day it is?!

Dylan: It's Friday!!

Me: Yesterday was Friday, remember? Today is Saturday!

Dylan: Oh yes! I think you're right, Mama!

*

(When yelling from his room while not napping)

Dylan: MAMA!!!!!!!! BUT I NEED TO CUDDLE WIFF YOU!!!

*

Dylan: COME HERE!!!! Turn the TV off, Mama! I'm calling you, let's go! (Still not napping)

*

Me: You're a good boy, Dylan.

Dylan: No, I'm not a good boy, I'm a good puppy.

"I'm going to work!!!"

He's been feeling sad when Sean leaves for work in the mornings lately. He yells, "No going to work, Dad!" and Sean tells him, "I have to go to work, buddy."

He's now clopping around the living room in Sean's shoes yelling, "Goodbye dogs!!! I have to go to work! It is a busy day!!"

Do not crack the glass!

Sean to Dylan: I'm sorry Muggy, we can't have you cracking the fish tank with that, we'll have 55 gallons of water all over the place and dead fish with teeth!

Me: Well they'll be dead so it doesn't matter if they have teeth.

Sean: They'll still have teeth!

Romance

Me: Did you have a great Christmas? You got everything you ever wanted!
Sean: I already had everything I ever wanted, Peach.

David

Me: Would you like a mint?
My brother: Sure. Why, do I need one?
Me: Oh, I dunno. But you're always supposed to say yes if someone offers you a mint.
My brother: Would you like a mint?

How we roll

Dylan: "Dat?" (points to TV)
Me: "Piers Morgan."
Dylan: "Dat?"
Me: "Piers Morgan."
Dylan: "Dat?"
Me: "Piers Morgan."
Dylan: "Dat?"
Me: "Piers Morgan."

Larry Crowne

Me: Love, if Julia Roberts wanted to kiss you, I'd be okay with it.
Sean: I think I'm all set, she's a horse face.