Oh James

"I ready a go look with bugs with you!"

"I got no pants!"

me: There's bugs at Jukie's house too

James: There IS?!?

"It's a box-ell bug!" (box elder bug)

"I danced on mine bed!"

me: It's Mommy's list

James: No, it's Mommy's not-list!

"I kinda really want to!"

"We are done cleaning...we are done cleaning....we are done cleaning, Mommy.

WE. ARE. DONE. CLEANING!"

"Don't see me!"

"I not sleepy! I not sleepy!!"

And my favorite - James said this after I asked him to clean up his toys. Instead he climbed up on the couch, covering himself with his blanket, and said:

"I just gonna have quiet time.
I gonna watch you clean up!"

Laundry Day

"Mommy, please don't wash my monster shirt!"

sprinkles

"Look, it's love!!"

Things heard in our home.

James is quite the conversationalist. For example:

that soun uh-dea! (that sounds like a good idea!)

spexxors a watt (I took pictures of my friend's son, Wyatt)

in the chicken (the kitchen)

liza-phone (xylophone)

no, that's mine mommy!! (yes he is sometimes a bit jealous)

You look like a dinosaur! (he said this to my mom...he was pretending to put crackers in her mouth, then would pull them away at the last second - so she was opening her mouth trying to grab them.)

Go fast, clock!!

Me used to sit here! (while visiting my Grandma's house, where we used to live)

I blowing in the wind! (I love this one. He was holding hands with me and Jonathan and would lift up his legs and swing between us.)

Those are french fries. (the dotted yellow line on a toy road for his cars)

I build clippers with Benj. (now this is a strange one. He has some wooden train tracks, and there are a few pieces that fork into two tracks. For some reason, he calls these pieces "clippers." Uncle Benjamin came over and built a train track with him.)

Clip a cracker (when you break a graham cracker into smaller pieces)

I do this trick Grandy show me. (His Grandy showed him how to pull his arms inside his shirt and pretend like his arms were missing. He got a big kick out of it!)

Telephone poles, Mommy! (who knew he knew what telephone poles were called?!)

Sleeve foots (my child is pretty clever - this means pant legs)

James: Someone coming today?
Me: Nope, I don't think anyone is coming over today.
long pause.....
James: Plano students?
Me: No, not today! Today I am just going to hang out with James!
another pause....
James: No, hang out with plano!

Teach me piano, teach me piano! (This was so cute. Read more here.)

Me: Eat your chicken - it'll make you big! It's yummy.
James: No, it's not. It make me litterer!

No want chickenrole. (suspicious of my chicken casserole...)

Me: James, take a bite of your banana.
James: No, it's creepsy.

James: I want juice.
Me: We're drinking milk this time - milk goes better with ems anyway! (m&m's)
James: No, it goes with a cookie.

Me have tears in my room! (he was crying in his room)

There's Pooh in the chapter book! (he LOVES chapter books! I read Winnie the Pooh to him and he was RIVETED for 45 pages. He would have listened to more but I stopped reading!)

overheard

This is something I overheard James saying as he played by himself the other day - pretty funny!

we have no diapers in our house
there's diapers in the dirt
we drive on some
our wheels on some
the dirt...the dirt...oh, the dirt!
we goin' to sleep in this. go to sleep go in this. ohh...naps. two naps. two naps, mommy!
I so tired! I too so tired! I go a sleep sometime, was I sleepy

yoga

This weekend we had a houseful of family visiting from out of state...aww I love family! We were downstairs playing the Wii when I realized James had been upstairs by himself for awhile. I went upstairs to check on him and here is what I found:

my yoga mat spread out across the air mattress in our room, and
my little buddy in a cute little "tree" pose

"I do wigga, Mommy!"

What a cute kid. He is my favorite.

And he sure loved having lots of aunts and uncles around!

counting

We just got our Easter baskets and plastic eggs out of storage. James was so excited he was jumping up and down. He proceeded to dump out all the eggs, and put them one by one in a basket and count them:

three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
twelve
thirteen
sixteen
seventeen
eighteen
nineteen

.......pause.......

twenty-teen

My James.

Today my sanity slowly slipped away as James held up M&M after M&M, saying, "What's dat?? He asked with each one.

He wonders "what's dat" all the time. Constantly. And he loves to do things by himself. "Self!" he says.

In fact he climbed into his high chair by himself, while I was on the phone, and when I heard little yelps I ran into the kitchen, and there he was, feet barely touching the ground, his little white t-shirt stuck way up high on the high chair. As sad as it was I couldn't help but laugh out loud, it was pretty funny. I asked him afterwards "where does it hurt?" to which he responded by poking out his round little belly as far as it would go. I kissed his tummy and all was well.

Seriously though, this kid is a keeper. He's all about being happy lately. He constantly says "I happy!" or "Daddy happy!" The past two days, though, if I exhibit any sign of any emotion other than happiness (be it frustration, exhaustion, determination or just plain being bugged), he gets a major pouty face and says, "Mommy? Happy?!?" I have been working on keeping a happy face, despite my inner feelings. If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy....am I right?

Here's a fun conversation:
me: "James, do you feel sick?"
James: "No. I happy."

Today James was a hyper little doggie who wouldn't take a nap, crawling all around the house licking things. "Dog food!" he said. Of course.

He wanted to go somewhere really badly today..."Go sumpin'! a-Go sumpin', Mama!"

It was quite the day and I am quite the exhausted Mama...but I wouldn't trade it for anything :)

should be sleeping...

...but instead James is up in his bed happily yelling words that he knows. Kind of cute, really.

LELLO!!
GREEN!!
DOOR!!
BANKEEK!!
YEAH!!
CARS!!
HOUSES!!
BOOK!!
MAMA!!
DOGGIE!!
BOOK!!
BANKEEK!!
BED!!
FOOT!!
MINE FOOT!!
ouchies!
mmmmmmmmmMUAH! (apparently he kissed his foot)
TRAIN!!
BALL!!
BOOKS!!
TRAIN!!
TRAIN TRACKS!!
BED!!
RED CAR!
RED BOOK!
BROWN!!
WHITE!!
BED! BED!
BOOK!
DOGGIE! MINE DOGGIE!!

hiding

Yesterday evening I was doing the dishes. James played with cars on the floor while his Daddy played some Bach preludes & fugues on the piano (I love my husband!). After a few minutes I looked up and realized James was gone. Where was he?

I started looking around the house and couldn't find him anywhere. I knew he had to be in the house somewhere, but since I couldn't find him I started to get worried. (Have any other mommies noticed that it is so hard not to worry about your kid? It's like you become a mommy and your worry switch immediately turns on. I often still go into James' room while he's sleeping at night to check if he's breathing, like I used to do when he was a little baby - anyone else do that?)

Jonathan helped me and we started searching, and we searched pretty much everywhere, and no James! We were calling to him, saying, "James! Where are you?" No answer.

Suddenly we heard a faint little voice, so we again said, "Where are you?"

Daddy opened the door to our walk-in closet, and there was our little guy, grinning ear to ear and holding a giant red ball. It was actually hilarious, I wish I had had my camera with me to take his picture, standing there with a huge red ball, waiting for us to find him.

He said, "In da door! Holding da ball!!"

Phew. I told James that he scared me, and he smiled and said, "Yeah......I happy."

What a silly billy.

overheard

I just told James he had 5 minutes to play before nap time...and as he played with his cars on his Radiator Springs rug and narrated everything that went on, I couldn't help but write it down because it was so entertaining. My family will especially get a kick out of this:


Go down a-Bapa's car...down a-Bapa's car...go down a-Bapa's car....

A-go down a-Annie's car...down a-Annie's car...down a-Annie's car...

Hounk hounk! Hounk hounk!

Go down a-Annie's car....and dis way....and dis way....

Go backwards! a-Carrrrs

Red light....red light! Red light a-Annie's car.

Go down a-Annie's car. A-park. A-park-a right there. I home!! I home a-Annie's car a-Giki's car!

Oh, harder......aaaaahhh, oohhhhh (apparently a car was trying to get over a bump)

A bump! A bump! Annie's car a-bump! a-wheels too! 3......4......5.....Go!! Bapa's car right there. Home! Home, Bapa's car! Bapa? A-go-a-Giki's car. I home too! Yay! Sump sump sump! (which means "jump")

Bapa's car! Bapa's car red! Oh, a-Bapa's car red! Ahhh!! A-on top a-Bapa's car! Uh-oh....inside! Inside....look inside!

Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep Bapa's car!
Beep beep beep Annie's car! Beep beep Annie's car!

Go down, cars! Go down, cars! Go down cars!
Go up, car!

Bump!
A-bump! A-bump! Down a-bump!

A-stop-a red light.


Ahh, I love it. Life with a little boy is great. Now to get him to bed so I can finally take a shower and get dressed for the day!

when he should have been sleeping...

...James was up in his bed saying this:

a-Go a-Giki's house!
a-Go a-Giki's house!
...
I ready!
...
Yeah!
...
Mommy, a-go a-Giki's house!
a-Put a-coat on!

enough pictures, mama!

sometimes you are just done.

whose turn is it?

Lately James is really good at telling us whose turn it is to do certain things. For example, if I ask him to clean up his cars, he puts a few away in the box then says, "Mommy's turn!" uh-uh, nice try bud.

Or, if he is tired and grumpy and is being a little mama's boy and Daddy tries to help him with something, he'll completely refuse and say, "Mommy's turn!" (kind of cute, really.)

But my absolute favorite is when he needs a diaper change, and I ask him, "whose turn is it to change you?" and he thinks for a few seconds, then says with a big smile, "Daddy's turn!!"

I love that. :)

p.s. speaking of diaper changes, the other day I was changing his diaper when he said in the sweetest little voice, "Thank you!!" (really it's more like "gank-gu") and it made all the hundreds and thousands of diaper changes SO worth it.

phew.

That is my sigh of relief that James is in bed. And quiet. [I take that back, he just sneezed...crossing fingers that he falls asleep soon!]

This week he has been awful with his naps, and it's making me crazy! I don't know about any of you, but I can never really completely relax until I know he's actually asleep. I can only get so much done when he's up there calling my name!

Any mommy knows that nap time is glorious. Not that we don't love our children and want to play with them and hug them and read to them, but you cannot stay sane without some amount of time to yourself during the day, am I right? Even if it's taking a hot bath or reading a magazine OR, better yet, leaving the child with your husband and getting out and going somewhere (even if it's just to the grocery store) by yourself (it's always nice when you can pick the tiny shopping cart and not the HUGE one with the car on the front that is impossible to maneuver through the aisles and you get in everybody's way and your child is hanging his head out the side).

I think that yesterday was particularly exhausting. James is usually pretty good about playing by himself while I do the dishes and get a few things done around the house. But yesterday he wanted my FULL attention. I'd leave the room and he'd start calling, "Mommy?? Mommy??" He wanted me to "make his toys talk" over and over and over again. There is only so much you can make a little wooden person say to his wooden buddy, or a car say to another car (unless you are my husband or my dad, in which case you can go on and on for hours and never seem to get tired of it).

After he'd been in his bed yesterday for an hour or so of "quiet time" (since he never fell asleep), I went in there and we had this conversation:

me: "why didn't you go to sleep?"
James: "awake!"
me: "well, did you try closing your eyes?"
James: "no. eyes open!"
we then had a sort of stare down and he started to grin.
James: "out? met? one met?" (one minute)
me: "you want to get out?"
James: long pause........................"ok!"

sigh.
Calling all mommies: What do you like to do during your "alone time" while your kiddies are sleeping or with daddy? How do you recharge your battery so you remain pleasant and patient? :)

never posted

I was just going through some old posts and found this that I never posted - a list of cute/funny things that James said. I'm glad I wrote these down because (even though it was only a few weeks ago that he said them) I completely forgot about some of these! (Ah, the memory of a mommy - you swear you'll never forget each little moment, but you always do.)

cokes on (coats on)

move dose! (move those)

suck (he still uses this one, this is his word for truck - love it. I should also note that his word for jump is "sump")

man-a-walking (this is a game my Dad played with me when I was little, and James likes to play it; it involves making a little man with your fingers and making him walk up your arm and up over your head - sometimes we have to do this over and over and over again!)

hold me! this is probably the cutest thing he says lately, and even though at times it can get exhausting, it makes me feel great :) he really started using this a lot after I had a few good friends over (on different days) who brought their children/babies, and James just wasn't so sure about his mommy holding/interacting with other babies and kids.

blah blah blah - ahh, I completely forgot about this one. This was James imitating me talking on the phone. You can see how he feels about his mommy's phone conversations...

house! pants on! house! pants on! Ah yes, crying for me to put his pants on and take him downstairs. Good times.

too much Wii?

A few minutes ago, I was upstairs in our room and Jonathan was downstairs playing his new Super Mario Wii game (SO much fun!), when I realized that James was crying from his bed. I switched on the baby monitor in our room to see what he was saying. As far as I could make out, this is it: "Play game too, please!!"

I had Jonathan turn down the volume, and James immediately went back to sleep. :)

p.s. James needs more votes!! :)

dance moves

Tonight as I was putting James in his pj's we were singing songs - his new favorite is "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam" - he sings along and knows almost every word! Now how did my baby grow up enough to be able to sing a song?? We then started to sing another song, and he was singing along for awhile. Then all of a sudden he just stopped singing, looked up at me, and with a big smile said, "Dancing!" and started to wave his hands in the air and shake his little body around. (He is also known to whip out his "dance moves" during the closing credits of Gilmore Girls whenever his Mama watches it.)

p.s. James needs more votes!! :)

don't let the bed bugs bite...

Conversation with James last night before he went to sleep:

Me: "Love you!"
James: "Wuh-woos!"
Me: "Sleep tight!"
James: "Sleep tight!"
Me: "Sweet dreams!"
James: "Sleet beams!"
Me (trying to keep up this cute conversation by coming up with something else he could repeat): "Don't let the bed bugs bite!"
James: long, long pause, nervous look on his face, then said something like, "Mama, bugs????"

Poor kid thought there were bugs in his bed. Oops. I had to try and explain that it was just an expression, but how do you explain that to a 2-year-old? Way to go, Mama.

Oooh, Mama - I like this!

The other day, James and I were shopping with my Mom. Another toddler, a little girl, rode by in another cart. She pointed at James and said, "Baby!" to which James replied, "Bames!" I'm not a baby, I'm James!!

My aunt and Grandma were at the same store with us, and at one point my Mom and James and I were separated from them. My Mom told James to look for Tracy and Grandma. He totally spotted them when we were about to walk the other way - he pointed and yelled, "There it is!!"

My Mom was reading books to James, and he went and picked one off the shelf that has little lights in it (it's about fireflies). He brought it to my Mom and said, "It lights up!"

After finishing some juice, James asked for more. I gave him a cup of milk and told him he could have more juice after he had some milk. He pushed the cup away and said, "Get away! I don't want dat!"

While we were walking down our stairs the other day, James started lifting his legs up really high. When I asked what he was doing he replied, "Marchin' down."

Overheard while James played with his cars: "oh my oh my oh my."

James is fascinated with bugs lately. When he saw one in the doorway, I closed the door and I said, "bye bye, bug!" James then said, "Bye bye, Doug! Run away, bug!"

Two feet = "Feets"

Swim = "Fwim"

"Hands winkie" = what happens to your hands when you stay in the bath for too long (they get wrinkly!)

My cute aunt Jamie came over today and gave James a birthday gift, which included a cute stuffed doggie. James put the doggie on the couch, then said to it, "Look at you!!"

This morning at work, my sister's boyfriend found a "Mack" truck, and knowing that James LOVES Mack in the movie Cars, he took a picture on his phone and sent it to Abby, who sent it to me. James was so excited when he saw it that he wanted to see more; he said, "Abby, more Mack!!" and "more Macks!"

Tonight James and I were playing in his room, and he opened up a drawer and found a box of bobbies (binkies). He never really used them much at all as a baby. He decided to try one and put it in his mouth. He must have enjoyed it because he said, "Oooh, Mama - I like this!!"