Grandma's coming

Written last week (Tuesday, June 22). Posted today because it was a busy week with Grandma here.

As I was helping Jairus get dressed this morning, he told me we needed to hurry because Grandma was coming today! I explained that she wouldn’t be here until after lunch. Then 20 minutes later I hear the front door open.

Me: Jairus, don’t open the door unless Mommy or Daddy are with you! Did you hear something?

Jairus: No, I was looking for Grandma.

We have to go pick her up at the airport

She is too heavy to pick up.

No, I mean we have to go get her at the airport.

Let’s go NOW.

But her plane isn't here yet.

I have planes here.

Oh Jairus…trust me. We will go get her after lunch! *hug*

Finally -- she is here!

An Alarm System

I am copying an email Joe sent to me yesterday while I was at school for an in-service class. It made me laugh. Let me preface it with a brief explanation. For the last couple of years, we have used the alarms on our cell phones to help Jairus with transitions. For example: When the alarm goes off, it is time to leave the park. When the alarm goes off, it is time for bed. When the alarm goes off, your rest time is over. He tends to respond well to this. Now onto yesterdays interaction with Joe.

Jairus: “Daddy can you remind me while you are in the kitchen and I am on the computer?”

Joe: "What?" (not understanding)

Jairus repeated himself a couple of times.

Joe: "When?"

Jairus: (looking at the clock and using both hands to show 10) "10 min."

When the alarm rang, he didn’t stop using the computer, he changed activities on the computer!

Hide-N-Seek

Recently Jairus has decided he wants to play the game Hide-n-Seek. He has the basic concept down...someone hides and someone else seeks.

But the fine skills of the game he has yet to master.
* He basically hides in the same spot -- time and time again. (usually under his bed)
* When hiding he responds to the person seeking
* He doesn't look for the hiding person very hard. But he sure does have fun!

Here is a video (can you tell I like my new toy?) of me playing with him.

The proof

We stayed at a hotel this weekend. I wish I would have video taped his initial reaction. But this is still cute. And you can hear him say "hotel."

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! :)