Enforcing the Rules

My little boy is getting to that age where he says the funniest things. Tonight while driving home from my parents' house, Kris reached over and rested his hand on my leg. Kyson immediately piped up and said, "Daddy, hands to self! Don't touch Mommy!" Both of us busted up laughing. I love it when our kids use the rules against us. I've gotten in trouble for throwing when I tossed garbage into the garbage can, for "saying no to Daddy" when he asked me a question and the answer was legitimately no, for yelling when I was trying to relay a message to Daddy upstairs, and the list goes on. I love it how children know the rules, love to have others enforce them, but don't follow them themselves.

Moulin Rouge - My New Secret Weapon

I love the movie Moulin Rouge with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. The first time you watch it, it's a little overwhelming and chaotic, but once you get the storyline, the movie is mesmerizing. A week or so ago, I put the film on so I could do some work with a great soundtrack on in the background. Unfortunately, I ended up being glued to the movie and didn't get anything done. Then the next day I wanted to hear the songs again, so I put it on and fast forwarded to the songs. I learned something very important that day - Moulin Rouge can settle down my children. They were just as enticed as I was to the movie and they sat and stared. Still, a week later, they still watch the movie without noticing anything else going on around them. Kyson is so funny too because when a song finishes he'll say, "Again." Or when I fast forward through parts, he gets upset because he wants to watch the whole thing.

Tonight, Kyson was having an ADHD moment and was crazy hyper. He was making piles with blankets, diving off the couches and tossing papers about. Kodi was following her brother's example by trying to climb on the coffee table, playing with the remotes and telephones and both were driving me crazy. I decided to put on Moulin Rouge and suddenly, they were sitting together on the chair watching it contently. I think I've found my new secret weapon - the music to Moulin Rouge.

Kyson's Creations

For a long time Kyson has been into building and creating things. He has a few sets of Mag- formers that his Grandma and Grandpa Bodily gave him, which he plays with on a regular basis. He builds these elaborate buildings, castles, and has even made bridges and extra large candy canes without any help. I don't know what is normal for a three-year-old as far as ability to build, but I''m quite impressed with his constructions. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of his great ones.

Along with creating castles and buildings, he also likes to build towers. Anytime he sees a small collection of things that he can stack, he does. It makes me nervous sometimes, but we haven't had any accidents yet. He likes to stack things he finds in my bathroom like perfume and moisturizer, etc, and at the table he likes to get all the condiments and make a huge condiment tower.

One night I came home from work and Kyson came and grabbed me to tell me he'd made me a present. I wasn't sure what it could be, but I was excited. He led me to a section of the floor in the family room where he'd made this huge design on the floor with his Magformers. It was rather large, and I think it might have been difficult to do, only because they're magnets and latch onto each other easily if they get too close. I noticed that he seemed to evenly split all the pieces so he could make his design on the floor. To some it may look like a mess, but I thought it was wonderful.

While grouping cars isn't exactly a creation or even a talent, Kyson has started lining up his cars into small lines. He loves to do it and we find his toys, most always cars, in little piles and lines all over the floor. It's strange, but I think it's normal for a little boy who loves cars.

Most recently, he's been into trains. He's a huge fan of Dinosaur Train on PBS and he knows the songs and dinosaurs. This television show has not only peaked his interest in dinosaurs, but trains as well. His newest pastime is to build trains around the house with whatever he can find. He typically uses pillows blankets, cars and extra large Legos to make his trains, but one night he

built a train so big and so elaborate, I had to get a picture. I was laughing when I saw that he'd grabbed everything he could find including the shoes by the back door and even his work bench and kitchen out of his playroom. One thing I can say about Kyson is . . . he always keeps me guessing.

Shimmy, Shimmy, Shimmy

Kodi is an interesting little girl and she cracks me up so much. One of the things she does that is so funny is she'll shimmy on command. All you have to say is "shimmy, shimmy, shimmy" while shimmying yourself, and she'll start doing it. She started doing it on her own quite a few months ago, but we thought it was so cute that we started trying to get her to do it. She does it automatically when she gets her favorite food - tuna casserole.

Takes 2 and 3

None of the pictures were fabulous that I took the other day, so I tried again yesterday and today. There are a few more semi-cute pictures, but nothing that talks to me. I'm still trying to decide which one to send to the grandparents. It would be much easier to get a good picture if she's stay put and look at the camera. I guess I shouldn't expect too much from a 16 month old.

Home-Made Photo Shoot

I've been wanting to get Kyson and Kodi in to get their pictures done, but finances have been tight lately, and I never pencil it to make time. I decided that before church I'd hurry and snap a few shots and hope that I could get a good one I could use. I was hoping that I could get some cute pictures of the two of them together, but that didn't happen. I got one cute picture of Kyson, but he has a cut lip. I got a couple of cute pictures of Kodi, but boys he was being EXTREMELY difficult. I'm surprised I got any.

Our Little VIP

At one of Kyson's preschools this week, he was the Very Important Person (VIP). This entire week, Kyson was recognized and was supposed to wear a special crown - he refused. Kris was to come in and talk to the class for about 10 minutes. Kris called me the morning he was going to talk to them, and he told me he was nervous. I thought it was cute that he was scared to talk to a group of 3-year-olds. After it was all over, he called me and it sounded like Kris was a hit. He said that the kids kept scooting closer and closer, and they loved looking at all the pictures. I figured the kids would love hearing from Kris, simply because it was the dad that came, and not the mom like probably all the other kids.

It's nice that the preschool gives every child a week to be recognized. And parents love to talk about their children.