What's going on here?

When I came home Friday afternoon Jairus was running around without a shirt on. An hour or so later, I found him like this:

And a bit later like this:

Is this just his way to welcome summer or is he protesting that our brand new (since Dec) AC is NOT working?!?!?!

Cotton Candy

We purchased a Flip Video camera a couple weeks ago. I have taped a few small clips in the last week but today I finally had time to try to get them on the computer. Now, this is the test to see if I can get them onto the blog. Here we go...

From a Ranger's Game last week....

A Southern Boy

** So, I wrote this and copied it into a blog on April 21, but didn't post it b/c I was going to put in one picture. Why it took me almost a month to add one picture, I don't know. Alas...without further ado....

I suppose it is inevitable…Jairus is a southerner. After all, he was born and is being raised in Texas. He is surrounded by southerners day in and day out. What else did I expect? Being a southerner isn’t good or bad…it just is.

At least he can pick up some good southern traits. We are being purposeful in training him to use Ma’am and Sir. I have always appreciated the polite respect southerners exhibit with their Yes Ma’ams. I wasn’t raised to talk that way (no one in Wyoming was) but since being in Texas and married to a good southerner, I have been working on being more polite. Jairus is really getting better at responding with Sir and Ma’am with decreasing reminders.

Now I will admit that being a western/northern girl, I was hoping Jairus wouldn’t pick up a heavy southern accent. But who am I kidding? I have lived in Texas 9 years…even I have a bit of an accent now. It is just the reality of life – Jairus will have a southern accent. But sometimes I just have to laugh at his strong, thick accent. Several weeks ago, while taking a bath, Jairus was singing to his ducks the hymn “I have decided to follow Jesus.” But it wasn’t a simple, clear Jesus. It was Gee-zzus. And since our trip to Alabama for Catherine’s wedding, Jairus has been obsessed with hotels. And when I say obsessed…I mean OBSESSED. He points them out on all of our around town travels. Even apartments get labeled as hotels. And he wants to know when we can go to a hotel again. A couple Sundays ago I told him that I didn’t know when we would go on a trip again. Without missing a beat, he just asked “how about Thursday?” :) I don’t think so kid. Anyway – back to my point. When he says “hotel” several times a day, it comes out “hoe Teelllll” (nice and long!) I can’t help but smile at my little Texan.

But I admit that I beam with pride when he says “you guys.” That’s my boy! :)

S.T.O.P

This is a pretty selfish blog site. I honestly don’t write blogs because people read them. If that was the case, I would be pretty disappointed because only 2 or 3 people read my blogs. Plus, I am a blog reader and so I readily realize that mine is lacking in photo quality and writing. I blog because I want to remember. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that life passes too quickly and human memory is weak. I want to treasure Jairus growing up. So really, this is just a public journal.

Anyway – tonight’s blog is really something that I want to remember. It isn’t very unique, cute or funny. Sorry Mom.

Right now I just want to remember that “Stop” is the first word that Jairus can “read.” Now I know that “reading” is actually hard to identify. But, stop is the first word he has been able to identify on his own and in multiple situations. He has noticed it on stop signs for quite awhile. But a couple times in the last week and again just this afternoon, we have been behind a school bus on our drive home from school. On three different occasions, without being prompted by me because I was just in my own little world driving home, Jairus said “the bus says Stop.” Sure enough, on the back door is the word "stop." Not in a red octagon either. But what really convinced me that Jairus can “read” or sight recognize the word “stop” was last night walking into Chick-fil-a. We had to cross the end of the drive-thru lane to enter the restaurant. Joe was carrying Jairus to save us time. As soon as we got on the sidewalk Jairus pointed back down and said “that says ‘stop.’” Yes sir, painted in yellow on the lane is the word “stop.” I promise, we had never pointed that out to Jairus before. Both Joe and I were impressed. So, in my mind and now forever in my memory (thanks to this blog) Jairus’ first reading word is “stop.”

Now, Jairus can of course recognize his own name and has been able to do so for a long time. He started spelling his own name last summer (09). I didn’t think that really counted as a first word. Just for the record. :)

What comes after Z?

I honestly think we have counted to 100 a couple hundred times in the last month. It has been Jairus’ newest obsession. For a long time we have only counted to twenty, but at some point that all changed. We started out with taking turns saying the odds and evens all the way to 100! Yep, it takes some time, but sometimes time is what we are trying to take (like on the 15 hour trip in the car!). But what has helped Jairus the most is seeing the numbers written out (thanks for the flip book grandma!). I honestly think he gets the pattern – we noticed that he used to always skip the “7” numbers, but since seeing them written out, he doesn’t skip them anymore. Now, he only gets stuck on eighty and ninety.

Writing of numbers, we have heard the question “what comes after ________” a lot lately. Jairus seems to enjoy figuring out the sequence. He asks “what comes after (insert any number here),” even though he knows the answer (we sometimes turn it around on him). Every so often he throws in the “what comes before” question too.

So I ran into a snag when Jairus asked me “What comes after Z?” I reminded him that nothing comes after Z because it is the last letter in the alphabet. Maybe, he really wanted to know what comes before Z. No, he asked me again and once again I explained that nothing comes after Z. Jairus responded “Now comes after Z.” Huh….oh yes… QRS, TUV, WXYZ…”now I know my ABC’s, next time won’t you sing with me.”

How to be a millionaire

I know how I could become a millionaire. I just don’t know how make my product and distribute it. Are you curious? Do you think you could help me and get a cut in the profit?

Here it is – I want to bottle pure excitement. Many people mention wanting to bottle little kids’ energy, which would be nice too. But if I could capture one thing from Jairus…the one thing that I wish I could easily add into my life by swallowing a little pill or yummy drink, it would be his excitement. Jairus (as most kids) just loves life…and almost everything is new and exciting. It makes me smile. Just being with him as he enjoys life makes my life better.

I have a few examples that I have noted just in the last week. I know the list could go on and on and on…but here are 3 times that Jairus’ excitement has made me smile and appreciate life a bit more.

1 – Entering a restaurant last Monday the hostess greeted us and Jairus started clapping with a big smile on his face. He was excited to be there. It was also one of those places where you can see them cooking the steaks which Jairus also thought was the greatest thing! How often are the hostesses and cooks applauded? I think he brightened their day too.

2 – Many mornings when we get to school I need to make a few copies for my current events lesson. Jairus gets so excited to make copies. He counts the papers as they come out. He thinks it is great if they change colors in mid-copy job. A task that I find so mundane is super fascinating for him. The excitement makes everyone in the workroom smile.

3 – My favorite Jairus moment these last few months is when I return home from school. As I drive my car into the garage, the house door opens and Jairus stands at the door applauding me saying “Mommy’s home” or “Mommy you’re home!” I feel like a rock star (I guess…I don’t know what rock stars feel like). He is SOOO excited to see me. I love the excitement..love, love, love it.

So anyway, back to my main point. If you come up with a way to capture and sell that pure joy, lets talk! I think we could be really, really rich. But honestly, I am rich already because I have little boy who finds life exciting :)

Yep, it happened!

It was bound to happen. On Sunday (March 27) Jairus asked for Dr. Pepper... by name. Out of his mouth came the words…"I want a Dr. Pepper, Please.” Shocking? Well, not really considering the addiction Joe and I have to Dr. Pepper. We buy gallons of it at a time and have at least one can daily. Even when I was pregnant, I continued to drink Dr Pepper; so Jairus had it in the womb. (and I think he turned out ok.) Now, we were good and didn’t let him drink it in bottles or anything. In the last couple years he has had sips of our Dr. Peppers at restaurants. But we have never ordered him his own or anything. With kids meals he gets milk or juice. At home he doesn’t drink out of our cans. We don’t even call it Dr. Pepper – the code name is mommy’s juice. So, we were surprised when he actually asked for Dr. Pepper. But he is a smart kid afterall and he knows the good stuff! :) :)