Favorite Things

I have recently looked back on some of this blog...first of all, I am in serious shock that I have been blogging for nearly four years, second....I am in serious shock that McKinley is nearly four years old.

Hello.

Anyway, in my little emotion-sparking time travel back in to McKinley's babyhood I realized I posted a lot of updates on things McKinley had learned to do (smile --- oh that one really did make me cry, wave at 10 months, first word around that same time: Mama!). I've highlighted so much but have kind of neglected to do that lately. I guess he just continues to learn new things at break-neck speed and by the time I would get to blog it he would have moved on to the next three new things.

So I decided to highlight some of our favorite things he has learned or picked up for the sake of family history - because some day his children WILL want to know the first time he...whatever. Right? Okay, well, anyway here are some faves:

Whistling!

McKinley has heard Cary and I whistle since birth. One day last summer he asked how to do it. He said, "Mommy teach me how to whistle!" That is harder than one might think, I remember my Dad teaching me and it wasn't easy - and I was a LOT older than McKinley. But ever the persistent child, he worked at it for a little while (and by a little while I mean like an hour - if that) and he had it!

He was 'caught' whistling one day in class while he helped pass out snacks. The kids could NOT figure out where the noise came from...then neither could the teachers...until it hit them, it was McKinley whistling! Suffice it to say that they were all impressed and made a HUGE deal of his quirky ability. He never told us this story though, call him humble. His teachers told us!

Now, almost everywhere we go he makes a friend (employee of a store, restaurant, office, etc) and asks their name and if they can whistle. It's hilarious. Some people - strike that - MOST people are so completely caught off guard by the fact that the three year old child in front of them CAN WHISTLE and has asked them to whistle too, but most comply...unless they cannot whistle and then they just make them selves look silly all for the sake of our inquiring boy who never met a stranger he couldn't befriend. I love it when he asks some stiff, goody-two-shoes or snob...those are the best. It's nice to see people loosen up a bit every now and then...especially when they are serving your lemonade......

Lasterday (translation: sometime in the past, usually fairly recent)

As with most children (and some adults who shall remain nameless), time is a hard concept to 'get'. McKinley does pretty well but gets tripped up when describing a past event or occurance. Almost always whatever he is describing is dubbed 'LASTERDAY'. Never was a cuter 'made-up-word' uttered. It is my favorite of his made-up words. I have to hide my smile when we are talking, unless we are in the car...where he won't see me. It is a very good thing we have good memories, Cary and me...otherwise, Lasterday could be lost.

Peace Office-offer (translation: Police Officer)...this one is so old! Sadly, the peace office-offer days are long gone, but I still needed to archive it...for posterity. When we would pass a police car he would exclaim this precious phrase that made us giggle out loud. "Mommy! Peace Office-offer!" Oh, that gives me the warm fuzzies just thinking of it.

McKinley definitely comes up with some funny things! He has a great sense of humor an is always laughing or making us laugh. He has grown so much!

Lynn

Wishy-Washy

It would appear that our dear Mother Nature is slightly confused...last week alone we all wore a myriad of apparel - capris, shorts, flip flops, winter coats and hats - but nothing compares to the last 24 hours.

Yesterday we began the day with the windows wide open and the sun shining its glory down on us as we worked on our landscaping project. We were even forced to turn on the AIR CONDITIONER when the temps reached 80 degrees.

In the middle of the night, the tune changed JUST a BIT with MAJOR winds and rain, thunderstorms and hail. We awoke to dreary cloudiness, more thunderstorms and rain nearly constant all.day.long. And did I mention that we had to turn the heat back on? It was downright frigid inside this evening.

What is UP???

Oh well, make the best of it, I say. So, if you can't beat 'em ('em being Mother Nature) JOIN 'EM!

Way to make a dreary day a blast, McKinley!

After our puddle jumping excursion we ventured to a nearby farm store to see the chickies (which have all been sold, but we did see turkeys!) and to pick up new umbrella for McKinley. Apparently, one cannot be too prepared this year...

When we got home, the three of us did a little pine cone bird feeder project before dinner. Fun little rainy day project!

Had a great day with you today, McKinley! Too fun!

Love,

Mommy

Find the Good...find the good...find the good - POINT!

As I sat and attempted to collect my thoughts and plan of action, stranded with my son after our Murano suddenly died in the middle of a busy street behind the Indianapolis Airport, I thought this must surely be a joke. Matter of fact, I spoke those very words and McKinley replied, "What's a joke, Mommy? What's funny?"
Well, pretty much nothing about this is funny.
I immediately called my Mother - whom I was picking up from the airport - and informed her of what had happened. She had to take a cab to meet us, obviously NOT the original plan. After calling Mom, I began calling our dealership, the local dealership in Indianapolis, the warranty company and then Cary. I felt bad for calling him last, but I knew we were getting close to a Saturday closing time with ALL of the places that could help me. Cary was getting off work and left for Indianapolis right away.
Mom arrived at our car and after way too many close calls of idiot drivers (seriously, there are people out there who have NO business being behind the wheel), I called 911. Within just a few minutes TWO Plainfield police cars pulled behind us - lights blazing. They were BEYOND nice. Words cannot express what a huge relief they were to me as, internally, I neared panic with cars dangerously wizzing by nearly rear-ending us many times.
Not only did these officers offer to check out my car, they actually called ANOTHER police officer from the station to bring a charger for my battery (which was now dead...and after a valiant effort, didn't work). Two of the officers were called out and left, but the one lone officer vowed not to leave until Cary arrived or the wrecker arrived - or both if he could. He made good on his word. Over two hours he stayed with us, offering to put us in the police car to stay warm, because as with crazy Indiana weather, it had begun to SNOW. In early March. Super. We passed on the police car ride - never done that and hope to keep it that way at all costs! But the offer was much appreciated.
Cary arrived, I stepped out of the car and allowed myself to let a little stress go with him.
We all moved the car further out of the way and to make more room for the flat bed wrecker who was on the way after what seemed like a thousand calls to warranty companies, dealerships and more. By now we had three cars in this little area and it was freezing. The wrecker driver called and was behind due to traffic and the police officer was at the end of his shift, so we were left to wait a few minutes by ourselves. We bid the office farewell and thanked him over and over for his courtesy. I told him before I called I watched 2 state troopers and 2 county officers drive by my car without stopping and that I was so very grateful to him. He said he thought of his own wife and child at home and would hope someone would stop for them, that's why he does what he does. Nice!!!!!!
Finally, the wrecker arrived to tow us back to the Haute. He was so kind. When I explained that McKinley and I had never gotten lunch and had been stranded like this for over 3 hours he told us all to go sit down, relax, eat and take our time. He would wait for us at the dealership. I was so thankful for that...
When we arrived home, exhausted, I reflected on several things and was reminded of this funny book of McKinley's featuring 'Dug' from the movie "Up". In the book 'Dug', the dog, sniffs his way around to find 'the BIRD', repeating "Find the bird...find the bird...find the bird! Point!" many times. I sort of felt like 'Dug' at that moment, sniffing out to "find the good...find the good...find the good! Point!"
Well, after much consideration (and perhaps a tiny little pity party, with me as host), I was able to determine this:
Yes, it really stunk to be stranded so close to picking up my Mom (the ENTIRE reason for our trip), and yes it was cold, stressful and frustrating...not to mention expensive (hello, tow bill!). However, I found a lot of good in a bad situation. I got to spend the morning with my son, toodling around aimlessly at his very favorite store (Dick's) where he putted to his heart's content and got some new junior golf balls. We had a lovely drive, a fun shopping trip and spent quality time together.
Also, we got to see my Mom after 2 weeks away on vacation. She manned a napless McKinley while I tended to the car, police officer, many phone calls and traffic - she was a huge help to me.
As usual, I schleped a blanket, water, snacks and fruit, so we were covered as far as food, drink and warmth.
Our warranty company was able to schedule the wrecker and arrange delivery of our car and cover some of the cost of the tow.
Cary was able to come to our rescue and pick us up.
There's a lot of good in what happened. I'm thankful to have found it.

One of the best things was to have found NOTHING (yes, NOTHING) wrong with the car. I'd like to think she just got a little PMS-y with me. No doubt our car is a woman...she's still very young and refuses to show any age, she just didn't feel like doing anything that day. Let's just say that she better rethink doing that again.

Needless to say, we were unable to make it to Reagan's or Braelyn's Birthday Parties, so Round Two of the Birthday Adventures through Indiana has been cancelled. We will resume next March.
What a day!
Lynn

Conversations

It is amazing what a tiny little nugget will inspire in the mind of a child. This evening, after Cary read to McKinley, I rocked him for our usual snuggle time before bed. As he gets older I hold on dearly to this special time and am always amazed by how it has changed over the last 3 and a half years...we have always read, then it would be bottle time while we rocked him to sleep. Then it became reading and water time. As he has become so, shall we say, conversational??? it has become our time to quietly chat about something that won't get him too riled up. So, knowing this, WHY did I say, "Hey, McKinley would you like to make Christmas Cookies tomorrow?"
Yeah, I don't know either.......
I think THAT was about all I said other than, "Uh huh" and "Oh?" and "Yes." for the next 30 minutes. And during that time I heard the following, in what seemed to be said in ONE.GIANT.BREATH.
"Mommy, can we have a bake restaurant? A Bakery? And can I invite Nonna to come help us? And can Daddy come home from work and help too? And can we have customers? In the living room? And can we make some cookies for Mammy & Grandpa & Nonna & Daddy & ME & you and...and...and...Savannah? And Robin & Rick? And Isabella & Emily & Ian? And Amy? (which is only fair that he return the favor and replace some of HER cookies...he loves HER cookies)
And can we make a sign???????!!!!!!!!!!!!
It can say WELCOME TO McKINLEY'S BAKERY!
And we can decorate it with stickers and markers and stickers of stars and sprinkles and trains and with snowflakes going all around and around and it will make people feel all warm and fuzzy? And can we bake in our comfies?
And can we put glitter on the sign? And lots of shapes? And we can make it wood with a string on it, to hang it up!
Oh
My
Gosh
It's like I am hearing my own thoughts when I envision a party, a gathering, any event really...
I literally had to stop him and practically threaten to take all bakery privileges away. It took him quite some time to chill from that conversation...oops.
Oh well, we'll be making some yummy cookies and some wonderful memories in McKinley's bakery tomorrow!
Feel free to stop by...in the living room...you can't miss the giant wood sign, hung by a string with glitter and stickers and snowflakes going all around to make you warm and fuzzy...It says, "WELCOME TO MCKINLEY'S BAKERY".
We'll be there!
Lynn

Awww nuts...

So, today absolutely qualifies as a combination of the most terrifying, yet undeniably hilarious event thus far in the saga of parenthood for Cary and me. As well as the longest and most word-worthy post I've written as a blogger. I feel it is very important that I accurately portray the events of this day so that I may use it for future reference, I mean, you never know! Read on and you shall see just what I mean...

The day started out like any normal day...except that my Mom was leaving for Costa Rica, would be on a plane all day and unlikely to be able to talk again for quite some time. I was worried about her traveling, as I usually am, but my worry was suddenly overridden by a major calamity of...well...nutty proportions.
It's like this: lunch rolled around so I made us a lovely pita with hummus and feta and some yogurt...but I was lacking something 'crunchy' for McKinley. Oooh! Great idea! I had some pecans that needed to be used, why not? I put a few on his plate and voila! LUNCH! When I was finished I simply walked into the kitchen to put my plate in the dishwasher, I may have stopped briefly at the kitchen counter, but returned quickly to find McKinley sneezing...like crazy.
As my eyes quickly scanned what could be causing this abrupt sneeze-fit, I noticed a tiny, wet bit of pecan leave McKinley's fingers. For a brief moment I thought...hmmm, could be a pecan up his nose...nah! Then the tears came. McKinley was quickly overcome with fear and was screaming and crying and obviously scared. I asked several times, what was wrong, but he was too upset to answer. I asked McKinley if he was choking, he was not. I grabbed his face and looked back in his throat, but something else caught my eyes.
It was something up his nose.
OH.MY.GOD.
There is a PECAN up his NOSE.
A PECAN.
I swear, for an instant I truly wondered how the crap it got up there. Then, in the blink of an eye I remembered seeing that little tiny piece of pecan as it flew across the room.
Me, calmly: "McKinley, Honey, is there a nut up your nose?"
McKinley, in a peal of desperation: "YES!!!!!!!"

OHMYGODTHEREISAPECANUPHISNOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This phrase repeated over and over in my head for the next 6 hours.
Thinking back to the 'Vick's Incident' - aka, Greased Lightnin', I remember being strangely calm. Me. Yes. Calm in Crisis. If only it wasn't just me and McKinley in these situations, maybe my family and friends would BELIEVE me. Alas, I'm left with a toddler to vouch for my calm sanity. Instead, it was my poor hubby who was suddenly crowned Drama King.
Back to the moment of realization...I quickly ran for some tweezers, calmly explained to McKinley that I would try to get the pecan out myself. Well, suffice it to say that McKinley was NOT as calm as his mama and was not in the frame of mind to let me give it a whack.
Determined to try again, I reached for the phone, first dialing Cary's cell, knowing he would not have it with him and would have to call back. I called several times, thus giving him a clue that something was, perhaps, a little off. Second, I called our pediatrician's office. God love them, every employee I spoke with tried so hard not to laugh. I told them it was okay...just so long as they did not do so when we got there. The nurse gave me two choices: head to the E.R. or come to the office. Obviously, the answer was NOT to go where McKinley knew no one, with odd noises, smells and strangers...be in the office in a few minutes...literally.
I calmly told McKinley we were going to go visit Dr. Lily to let her take the pecan out of his nose. "Okay", he said in that same desperate voice that makes me sad.
I carried him to his room where I grabbed the bulb syringe (still not sure why...maybe I thought I could suck it out?), a burp cloth - for the constant nose wiping I would be doing over the next few hours, McKinley's coat, hat and gloves...and then I thought this was something Monkey and Elephant really needed to be in on. I offered up his two buddies, exclusively reserved for naps and bedtime, he gladly accepted them and didn't let go for a long time.
As I put McKinley's coat on, he looked at me with those gorgeous chocolate eyes and between tears said, 'Mommy, I have a NUT up my NOSE!'
I nearly peed my pants fighting so hard NOT to laugh. This was SO not the time to laugh...he needed me for comfort. However, I swear that this was the funniest statement McKinley has ever said. I pulled it together and just hugged my son for a long while.
By this time, Cary was calling back. I simply said, "This is one of those days I need you to keep your cell phone on you while on your route."
Cary: "Okay, why?"
Me: "Uhhh, because McKinley just stuck a pecan up his nose."
Cary, really, really, REALLY loud: "WHAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT?"
Me: attempt to repeat sentence above, interrupted by
Cary, even louder: "WHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT? There's a WHAT? A WHAT? A WHAAAAT? UP his NOSE? A PECAN? WHERE THE HELL DID HE GET A PECAN?"
Me: "Cary, I cannot talk loud. I have to be calm, so stop talking so loud and be calm so I can explain."
Cary: "WHAT IS UP HIS NOSE???"
I quickly explained the situation and told Cary we had to go to Dr. Lily's office and I needed him to get out of work as quickly as possible. I knew from experiences of friends in similar situations that there would a possibility for physical restraints, if not general anesthesia. And I knew I couldn't handle THAT on my own. Cary began busting ass...I could HEAR it. He wanted to be there asap.
Quickly, we exit the house. I have McKinley, Monkey, Elephant, handbag, diaper bag and agenda in hand. Agenda in hand, because I did manage to remember that I had a conference call later in the afternoon (which I also managed to pull it together enough to call my boss to let him know I would not be in said conference call - I can promise he had never received a call like that).
I pulled out of the driveway and turned a normal 15 to 20 minute drive into a 3 to 5 minute drive. No joke. Hazard lights on, I blazed - SAFELY - in and out of traffic, all the while talking to my crying son in the calmest voice I have ever uttered. I actually ran a red light...after a very long pause to make sure there was no oncoming traffic...then I was gone! I already had my mind made up that if I were pulled over by police that I wouldn't do any pulling over. Let there be a chase! Thankfully, all was well.
Once inside Dr. Lily tried to 'fish' out the nut, but could not get a good 'grip' on it. It had become too snotty from the runny nose due to crying and the body's natural attempt to get.it.out.
She began calling an E.N.T. and family friend. Unfortunately, he was in surgery.
Hours go by. A total of 2 and a half in Dr. Lily's office.
Finally, we reach an E.N.T. and are sent on our way, thankfully avoiding the E.R.
Cary met us at the door, visibly startled. McKinley, feeling much more calm, walked up to his father and said, 'Daddy! I have a NUT up my NOSE!'
There we go again...almost peed my pants trying not to laugh.
That child has an uncanny ability that I envy - comedic timing! He's a natural, like his Daddy!

So, we quickly head off to the E.N.T.'s office where more chaos ensues. We arrive, having confirmed that Dr. Lily's office already gave the E.N.T.'s office ALL the info they needed. We only needed to pay our copay and give them a copy of our insurance card.
Wrong. No one at the E.N.T.'s office could locate our information, despite the fact that I personally overheard the transfer of said info. Whatever.
THIRTY minutes later, we finally sat down in the waiting room to do just that...WAIT.
TWO HOURS LATER, Cary and I blew a gasket. The receptionist took a look around the now empty room and asked who we were and why were we here. Oh, so not the thing to ask us. We exploded, she didn't say a word, but instead went home for the day. Nice. About 15 minutes later a nurse came in and said it would be a few minutes. Really? The woman got an earful, but we were finally taken back to see the doctor who would evidently be worth waiting over 2 hours with a child who had a hazardous pecan up his nose.
In literally 5 minutes the nut was removed and all was well. It was not without many tears (mine and McKinley's), a papoose, a LOOOONG set of tweezers and an apparatus that 'separates' things, but at least it was brief. When the pecan made its first appearance in hours, there was a ripple of "oohs, owws, and wow's" through the room. Said pecan was HUGE! HUGE!
We were offered the rights to our precious pecan, but we denied it. In hind sight, we should have at the very least photographed the snotty little pecan for posterity and historical purposes, but we were entirely too busy trying to comfort our boy.
I'm pleased to report that the rest of the day went off without a hitch.
Having had no nap, and very little lunch, McKinley was exhausted. Once in bed, Cary and I rehashed the day...where Cary, revealing that comedic timing he shares with our son, suddenly had a hilarious epiphany! We would award McKinley with a GIANT bag of pecans and serve pecan pie at his wedding!
Cary, I'm holding you to it. Love experiencing parenthood with you!
McKinley, may your future family thoroughly enjoy this story. I am so thankful that you are in my life to school me on all things boy.
God, thank you for being with us today, keeping Mommy calm, and most of all...for a safe, pain free pecan removal.
Whew!

Lynn

Those 'Little' Moments...

Gosh, those little tiny moments get me every time. We've had a lot of those lately. Not sure if it's the time of year, the fact that I'm headed back to work, or the fact that our son is just so stinkin' sweet. Maybe a combination of all of the above! Lately these moments have rendered me pretty speechless as McKinley's speech expands further into full, recognizable conversations and thus making for some cute sayings and sweet little things he does that just make us smile.

On that Black Friday jaunt (see Thanksgiving post), Cary and I purchased a beautiful Christmas Train with TWENTY feet of track. This thing truly is huge, but it's intended purpose was to adorn the bottom of our Christmas tree for years and years to come. We knew when we opened it that McKinley would be beside himself, and he did not disappoint! McKinley ran around the house saying, "There's the TRAIN!!! There's the CHRISTMAS TRAIN!!!!!!". Once it was set up beneath the tree, I walked into the living room to find McKinley sprawled on his belly watching the train go round and round, Christmas Carols and Train noises to boot. He was in complete awe. Cary had the lights turned down so only the tree lights and the big train headlight were seen. I love this picture.

Below are a few more that 'get me'...baking cookies together, our holiday tradition of 'The Ugly Ornament Throw', and our boy sporting Mommy's boots and looking like a pirate! Special times!

Lynn

Thanksgiving & Black Friday Recap

WHEW! We are E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D.

What a week it has been! Cary has been on vacation and we stayed really busy. Thanksgiving came up on us quickly. We celebrated at my Godparents' gathering with my Mom and lots of other friends and extended family. It was a lovely day with delicious food and great company. McKinley had an awesome time with all the older children (ranging from 12 to 2 1/2), and he ran right with 'em!

As the day came to a close there were visions of craziness in my head. We had big plans. Involving long lines and crazy people --- ourselves included. Earlier in the week we booked a hotel room in Indy so we could hit Black Friday in a big way. Thankfully, Mom offered to stay with McKinley because there was simply NO WAY we would ever consider keeping him out all night long to shop. So, off to bed they went...off to Toys R Us went Cary & Lynn.

I kept calling Cary my little Black Friday Virgin, or BFV...well, Black Friday Virgin no more! He quickly got the hang of it and dug in to score lots of goodies for our boy. Some things on the list we must leave for Santa, but we did our best to get plenty from Mommy & Daddy...we know the jolly old elf will not disappoint! I'm most proud of Cary's find at Walmart (yes, we were THOSE people...at Walmart at 5am). He scored the very last Power Wheels Big Jeep in the entire store. He was practically tackled, I believe, but it's ours! Well...um...McKinley's. lol

Cary and I did not sleep on the night of Thanksgiving...not a wink. We sure do have some great war stories though...in our mile-long line at Toys R Us, we were fortunate to stand by some really great people. Dr. Bill, the shrink and his wife, the professor. Lauren, the nurse and Mike, the carpenter. We all shared our stories and for whom we were shopping. We also shared our beloved picnic blanket as we huddled under it, seeking refuge from the frigid and unexpected wind. If I could have found them after we were finished I would have invited them to a celebratory breakfast. We laughed together, shared stories of Terre Haute (where the professor had attended college) and Bloomington (where Dr. Bill had attended college). We talked about our kids, our jobs, the other idiots in line, the complete morons who had an INFANT in a carrier out in this horrible weather. They made it a great experience and think we were all so relieved to not be standing in line with the nutcase wielding a weapon for a zhu zhu pet. We bid farewell and wished one another a Merry Christmas, but not before laughing about sharing that blanket and Mike poor, numb thumb sticking out of the blanket to hold it up while the professor wore her mittens. Good times!

Our schedule was as follows:

Toys R Us - midnight

Stand in line for four hours (two to get in, two to check out --- though I did happen on dumb luck and got right in the check out line as we entered. Cary shopped and I waited in line to pay...for two hours)

Break for coffee and snack

Walmart - 4am

Stand in lines for an hour, split up so that we could have a better chance of getting what we came for (and we did...all but that dang Cars Guitar).

Break for more caffeine
Target - 6:30

Stand in line for about 30 minutes to pay for our purchases

Drive back to Edinburgh, where we were staying, near the outlet mall

Coach and a bevy of other stores that we were far too delirious by then to tally - 8am

By 10 we were back at the hotel, picked up a well-rested Mom & McKinley (jealous!) and headed back to the outlet

Break for lunch

Pack 'er up and head out!

My Mom drove home (obviously by this time we were holding our eyelids open with toothpicks), she was the only one with any room. No one could see out of the back, Cary could barely peer over the luggage to see McKinley sitting next to him...and me...well, let's just say it took me almost 5 minutes to get out of the car on our pee break. Ha haaaa! I was holding smaller purchases that wouldn't fit anywhere else, a coat, a scarf, my purse, our diaper bag, a small piece of luggage, McKinley's drink, my drink and the crystal cake plate that I'd taken my German Chocolate Cake to Thanksgiving. I wish now that we had taken a picture with my camera...but that too was buried somewhere beneath my legs.

Can I just say how worth it this was? Awesome. Thrilling....a little scary...loads of fun. I had a serious good time with my husband. We were a great team! Anything for our boy! Anything! Sleep? Who needs it???? Hooray for Thanksgiving & Black Friday!

Lynn

You're a Good Boy, Mommy

Lately we are all noticing rapid changes in McKinley. He's truly come out of his shell, openly asking questions to strangers (yikes, gotta work on that whole 'don't talk to strangers' thing soon...), and chit chatting with EVERYONE. The random elderly woman, seated on a bench at the mall was quite taken aback when McKinley paused as we walked by to announce to her that, "I pushed the elevator button!". She had no idea what to say. Another woman at my Mom's office actually missed her elevator because she was also so caught off guard by McKinley's quizzing, "Do you like elevators? I LOVE elevators. I like to push the button."

Our server at Applebee's the other night was officially GOBSMACKED when McKinley asked him to play the guitar on the wall. The guy dubbed him "one-cool-kid" and wished for him to learn to play guitar someday.

We learned that McKinley's buddy, Savannah was not feeling well. When we mentioned it to McKinley he promptly requested to call Robin (Savannah's Mommy) to check on her. Okay, I did! I left Robin a message (we were all wondering how she was), and when Robin called back, McKinley started pulling on me to get the phone. He took it and said, "Robin? Is Savannah sick? Is she better?" I could have cried! So sweet!

This week, while I was working around the house I heard McKinley padding down the hall saying, "Mommy! LOOK!!!" I turned to find my ham wearing his Easter pail (now used as playroom decor) on his head.

Later that night it was time to take out the trash. McKinley requested to go with Daddy, who obliged. McKinley was literally squealing with joy at the thought of performing a big boy task with Daddy. He even made sure to come tell me, "Bye Mommy, I taking out the tash with Daddy!" Had to snap a picture of it!

The other night, post bedtime stories, while cuddling a bit before bed, McKinley started his usual routine of kissing various facial features (and I in turn kiss his...I will miss this terribly when I am old and gray. He will say, "Kiss eyes?" then kiss my eyes, "Kiss nose?" then kiss my nose, etc. When he has run out of features he puts his hands up and says, "Hmmm! What else?!"). He paused to tell me, "Mommy, my eyebrowns are tired". Eyebrowns being his word for eyebrows...I worked so very hard to not let out that giggle bubbling up. I took him very seriously, especially when he asked if MY eyebrowns were tired.

My favorite goofy saying of McKinley's, as of late, is this; today I was manning a slight fit at Nonna's house (my Mom). I leaned down to correct McKinley and picked him up. He hugged me, started playing with my hair and said, "You're a GOOD BOY, Mommy."

I melted.

My sweet, sweet boy!

Playroom Movie Night...sorta

Tonight was the perfect night to host another Playroom Movie Night with Popcorn and Ratatouille (per McKinley's request)! So, after an early bath McKinley set up camp in the playroom with the cats and Mommy & Daddy.

Suddenly, the DVD player would not work - AT ALL. It made this awful screeching noise like an alien spaceship landing - like in the movies! Cary worked on it for a long time (like 20 minutes or more), then he picked it up and it rattled.

Uh oh.

Cary peered inside the machine and discovered the reasoning behind the rattle and screeching, and thus the recipe for how to stop a DVD player from running properly:

Ingredients:

1 Handful Dried Red Playdoh

1 Play Knife

1 Slice of Play Cheese

2 DVD's of your choice

Open the DVD player door and insert all ingredients, mix well to ensure a trying job for parents and ENJOY with Popcorn!

Movie night has officially been postponed, DVD player has indeed been repaired and is again fully functioning...until next time.

At least the popcorn was good!

Lynn