Mommy's Hair

Short hair is fun. Short hair is easy. However, I have some men in my life, who think that princesses only have long hair. Leif and I had this interaction regarding my hair as he was swinging on the swing set.

Leif: Mommy, how old will you be when I’m all grown up?
Me: Well, when you’re 20, I’ll be 49.
Leif: Okay, when you’re that old, you can have short hair.
Me: Oh, Leif, do you miss mommy’s long hair?
Leif (with tears starting to well up in his eyes): I do.

Leif (age 2)

And in order to understand this, you must know the
TALE OF THE “MOMMY HAIR”

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Leifkin,
And when he was tired or a little afraid,
He would suck his thumb.
And at night, just before bed, he would ask his mommy
for one hair from her head.

He would take the hair, wrap it around his thumb
and clasp the rest in his fingers,
and would suck his thumb and go to sleep.

And, if that hair was not quite long enough
(like after his mommy got a haircut,
which he did not like in the least)
he would ask for a longer mommy hair.

And if he could find a stray hair for his other hand,
he would wrap it around his thumb, and clasp the rest in his fingers,
just in case he happened to turn in the night, and need to suck the other thumb.

Now that he is not such a little boy,
Leifkin no longer receives a mommy hair from his mommy.
But still, when he is sleepy, his thumb finds its way into his mouth.

The End.

CHEESE! (Some pictures of the kiddos)

Owen, Leif & I created Owen's letters!

Leif & his "best buddy" Will made his letters.

Leif & our neighbor Oscar playing with paper airplanes!

Leif on our swingset.

Owen swinging.

Cheesing it up in the studio!

Little poser in the studio.

Pretending to be airplanes to celebrate "Pop the Pilot". (My dad just got his pilot's license!)

 The boys always seem to have a stick outside!

Owen loves to swing on his belly.

Leif is always looking for a tree to climb.

Leif was the black Angry Bird for Halloween!

Owen was a Monkey. (of course!)

We enjoyed a visit from Nana (my mom) for Halloween.

Bad Guy Face

I noticed Leif making this face a lot today. It was mostly when he was fighting off pretend bad guys in the yard. So, I followed him around and got him to show me his "bad guy face".
Me: "Wow, that face would scare away some bad guys."
Leif: "Oh, that's not how I would scare away the bad guys."
Me: "Oh really, how would you?"
Leif: "Well, I'd just kill the first one, and the rest would just run away."

Oh Brother: Toddler Language

Our 2 year old Owen (who has not yet been mentioned on this blog- welcome Owen!) has been adding an "ee" to the end of lots of words lately. Charles thinks he's afraid he's losing his baby cute factor, so he's trying to talk cute. Just before dinner tonight he spots some animal crackers and looks at me and says, "Cracker time!", which is cute enough, but when I said no, it's dinner time, he tried, "Cracky timey?"

He calls himself "Owie", but every once in a while, I'll ask him if he's my Owie, and he'll say, "I Owen Warren" just to spite me. He calls Leif "Leify", which Leif likes, but will not allow anyone else to call him.

Owen is also in the stage where he repeats everything that is said. This was especially frustrating for Leif the other night as they raced in the house. Leif was faster than Owen would shout, "I WIN!" as he would run into the couch. Owen would repeat, "I WIN!", and Leif looked at him and said, "No, you lost!", to which Owen replied, "No, you lost!" So, Leif tried again, "No, I WON", and like a perfect parrot, Owen shouts with intensity, "NO! I WON!"...and so on...oh brothers! 

Hippo Logic

So, this morning I'm driving Leif to school and he says to me:
"Mommy, do you ever lie to me?"
Me (slightly startled): "No, Leif, I try not to....why?"
Leif: "Because I just think it would be really cute to see you hugging a baby hippo...(long pause where I say something like "oh")...It's just, I'm trying to steer my mind to the cute stuff."

So, there's my clue to following the Leif rabbit trail- that and the hippos. You see, last night, Leif was having trouble falling asleep.
I could tell he was legitimately troubled, so I agreed to cuddle with him.
Our conversation went something like this:
Leif: "Mom, are monsters real?"
Me: "No."
Leif: "What about big animals? Do they eat people?"
Me: "Yes, there are big animals who can eat people."
Leif: "Like Hippos? What if a giant hippo was trying to get me-"
At this point I interrupt: "Leif, you can't let your brain do this. At night especially, your imagination is going to take you to some pretty scary places if you let it. While you're still awake, you need to think of a happy story: something that made you laugh, or something you enjoyed. Think about that, and then if your mind starts to wander to the scary thoughts, you bring it back to that story, and soon you'll be fast asleep and dreaming."

After saying something like this, I answered a few more questions about hippos, including the fact that we don't have any hippos in Georgia for him to fear. I then made up a short story about his stuffed animals playing Angry Birds, and he fell asleep.

And so, you see, if I was telling the truth about having no hippos in Georgia, then he can't see me hug a baby hippo, and that would be sad.
And that folks, is Toddler Logic. 

DID YOU LOSE YOUR CHICKENS?

Roosters in our yard.

While the boys were playing in the yard with Charles the other day, I look out the front window and see two roosters wandering around the yard, right by the kids. The roosters didn't seem to mind the kids, in fact, they were munching in the grass and seemed totally comfortable by them. Roosters? So, I got my camera. How often do you see roosters wandering in your yard?
That evening, our yard bunny joined them. It was kind of like living on a farm. I figured they'd be gone by the next day or, I'd call animal control if they decided to crow in the wee hours of the morning; but, neither happened. They were still around in the neighbor's yard, but had not woken us early with their crowing. So, I ignored them. They came over by our yard when we were outside playing, and were quiet in the morning. So, they stayed.

Boo-Boo Chicken

Leif and I had a lot of conversations about the roosters. From the first day they arrived, he loved them. He had come up to me and said, "These roosters have no one to take care of them....(long pause)...maybe we should take care of them?!"...as if that idea had just dawned on him.

He also was a little incredulous to find out that roosters were male chickens. "Mom." he said with some obvious disbelief, "Are they really male chickens? Do they bring people mail when they come by their houses?"

After dinner we went up the block for a walk. A man was grilling in his driveway, in front of one of the most disheveled houses on our block- broken down car in the driveway, weeds and randomly planted bushes in the front yard, garbage piled in the side yard, etc.
Leif shouts up to the guy: “Did you lose your chickens?”
The guy can’t hear or understand Leif, and says, “What?”
Leif shouts again, much louder, “DID YOU LOSE YOUR CHICKENS?”
The guy puts his hands to his ear and says, “I can’t hear him- what did he say?”
I decide to explain, “He wants to know if you lost any roosters- there have been some in our cul-de-sac today.”
“Oh, no, I  don’t have any roosters. I have dogs- I don’t think they’d get along very well.”
“Roosters eat dogs, you know.” Leif informs him. “So watch out for your dogs!”
“Oh, okay.” The guy goes along with Leif.
We continue to walk a few paces. “I LOVE YOUR HOUSE, BY THE WAY!” Leif shouts at up to the guy.
“Thanks!” The guy responds.
At this point I’m just laughing, but I’m very curious about what he likes about this totally disheveled house, so I ask him.
“The flag, mom. I like their flag. Can we get an American flag for our house?”
“Yes, Leif, I think we should.”

Bringing Boo-Boo to the Yellow River Game Ranch

So, to make a terribly long rooster story short: one rooster wandered off, and a neighbor called animal control who apparently found a home for him. The other rooster we named Boo-Boo Chicken and let him hang out for a few more days and then brought him to the Yellow River Game Ranch for his permanent home. And...we got an American Flag for our house, and put it up on the 4th of July! And that's what roosters have to do with American Flags, at least, at our house! 

Hanging our American Flag.

Straight from the source

I usually post stories about Leif on this blog, but yesterday at snack time, Leif started to talk about his plans for the future, and I decided to just record him. At the beginning of the video I am catching up on the info he has already shared, then he takes over...enjoy!