Painting to the White Stripes

Today Benjamin and I had a grand old time finger painting and listening to the crunchy rock'n'roll of The White Stripes. We sat at the dining table and basked in the blinding sunlight while we both smeared paint around with sponges, brushes and best of all, our hands. At first Ben was trying to avoid getting his hands gloopy. He kept saying "messy, messy." Eventually, he went in for the kill and stuck his hand in a blob of red paint.

I painted a rocket ship in space and Ben decided to copy me. His first piece was titled "rocket." His second piece was titled "banana muffin cupcake." The first picture actually looked like he was trying to copy mine it was pretty neat. Maybe he'll be an artist someday.

After Ben had lunch, threw a fit because there was no more paint, and then went upstairs for his nap wile proclaiming loudly, "rock on!" I decided to write a blog about it all.

While uploading my pictures, I was nursing Gemma at the computer and she got inspired by Ben's works of art. She attempted to create a very abstract painting of a mom. It was me sitting in a chair with vomit covering my arm, leg and crotch. She was very thorough in covering her canvas. Obviously spit-up was her medium and I was the unassuming canvas. She titled her piece "vommy mommy." I got to go express my artistic feelings with the washing machine. I really poured that soap with flare. Too bad it got washed away. Honestly, I had a great afternoon. Rock on!

Chatter box

Ben is such a little chatter box! When he is around people that he is comfortable with, he will not stop talking! I'm just going to record a few funny things that he has said recently so that I don't forget them.

At my parents house, we were having dinner and Ben was asked if the thought Gemma was pretty. He replied matter of factly "she's sick."

That same night while eating he refused to eat his lasagna which he usually loves. We asked if he wanted to eat his dinner and he shifted his gaze to the full plate of food and slowly shook his head while saying "I don't like it" with much disgust.

Ben heard me saying "Oh Gemma Gemma" and "Oh Gemma Lou." He now walks around the house when hears Gemma crying saying "Oooh Gemma Gemma Gemma, oooh Gemma Wooo" (he can't say L's).

Last night at Colin's parent's house we were all being chattered at by Ben during dinner. He decided to give a full narrative of the movie 'Finding Nemo' which he watched in it's entirety while perched atop his "ginger horsey." It went something like this:
"Nemo, Dowee (Dory)"
"Scary shrap (shark), water, mine, mine, mine"
"Finding...Nemo, Goot...movie"
"Goot...movie"
"Happened? Finding...Nemo"
"Swim Down, Fish, Bad, Arr Arr"
"Yeah! happened?"
"Goot movie."
"watch it, show, goot...movie"
"Oh baby"

Repeat five times. I have no idea where the "oh baby" came from.

Ben was given a Curious George jack-in-the-box by his Grandma patty and Grandpa Stan. He enjoyed watching us turn the crank for him, but was frustrated when he tried to do it himself. He soon figured out that he could make the monkey pop by pressing the little release on the lid. I tried to show him how fun it was to wait for the monkey but as I was helping him turn the crank he got impatient and clenched his teeth and glared at the box. He then growled "Hey! You! Monkeeeey!." It had us all in stitches.

Ben loves to listen to music. He will often request to listen to "Harray Connuck" and "Johnny...pause...Cashhh"

Of course, if you ask Ben to repeat any of this he will just look at you, smile, and say "Noooo" in a very agreeable and high pitched tone.

Mommy time a la book club

Over the past two years, I haven't taken much time for myself. I can remember very few days when I was able to enjoy time all alone. that is one of the hardest things for me to deal with as a mom. I can take a lot of crap (literally) from my kids. I love watching them grow and knowing that I helped make them who they are. However, it can be a bit draining for this mommy to not have alone time. I LOVE alone time.

So, in order to give myself a little break, I joined my playgroup's book club. I felt so good about myself when I actually finished a WHOLE book (Water For Elephants by Sarah Gruen). The kicker was that I got to go and have a girls night and talk with my friends about what we read. I know that lots of people have been in book clubs, but this is my first and I am loving it.

Of course we talked about the book but we also spent a good amount of time laughing. We heard stories about a deranged ex-boy friend who still sucked his thumb, moms who nursed their kids to age five and older, and of course we all shared stories and asked for advice about our own kiddos. I had a great time. Colin, if you read this, thanks so much for letting me abandon you for a night! I owe you one.

The Smith children's inheritance.

I am proud to announce that my children have already received their inheritance from Colin and me. However, it's not money. They have been given our eczema, my big cheeks, Colin's beautiful eyes, and a treasure trove of odd personality quirks. I feel bad for our kids that they have to have some of these traits but I guess that in order to get the good stuff like musical ability and long skinny fingers, you have to take the eczema and in-grown toenails with grace.

I am really awestruck every day when I wake up and see myself and the person that I love the most in the world (Colin) manifested in two amazing children. However, I feel guilty when I see poor little Gemma with a crusty rash all over her face that is the fault of both me and Colin since we both have eczema. Then I remember that she also has my thick hair. It took me a while to like my hair, but now I love it. Ben has Colin's sturdy frame, which makes it hard to lift him, but he also has his sweet and mellow disposition. Of course they aren't exactly like us, but it is just so neat to see what they did inherit.

Anyhow, I'm not sure where I wanted to go with this, but I wanted to put up a couple pictures to show how Ben inherited my "squink eye."