Tell it to the judge.

I went back and read some of my old blogs to Nathan the other night and he was surprised I had written so many. Frankly, I was, too. I was more surprised that it was so painfully obvious that I have been writing them close to midnight. Most of them _almost_ said what I wanted them to say. Maybe close counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and blogs. *smile* When I was first introduced to the cyber world as a sophomore at UK, the professor required us to write essay answers on an old-timey blog for the whole class to read and comment on. She explained that we were not to worry about typos, punctuation, nor grammar too much - just content. That was back in the dark ages of computers, so I can't imagine readers are supposed to be too worried about those things. But, you know I'll go back and edit them. Maybe not until Will gets into school, but I will edit them.
I started writing these to keep track of my boys and how they grow. The problem is that keeping up with them has become so much more hectic, I need a secretary to dictate these to. I feel like I keep neglecting my chronicling duty for sleep. Sleep is much better at seducing me than writing. I've reached the point that I feel I could fall asleep if I'm still for more than 2 minutes. Sometimes I envy Carter's naughty step time because it's 4 minutes of required nothing. Ahhh.
I did, however, get some nice rest this past week. It was the celebration of my birthday. It lasts about a week. This way the pain of the event is minimized and I don't feel sad that it will be another year before I get a special day. Carter has been calling me the "Birthday Girl" which is fun and we all went up to Cincinnati for two nights this weekend to cap it off. We stayed in a hotel that had an indoor water park. Well, okay, it was across the parking lot from the actual hotel with the indoor water park. Nathan went up on Thursday morning for work and the boys and I were to meet him there that evening. It was supposed to be icy and possibly snowy, but it turned out to just be freezing cold. Carter loves staying hotels because he is obsessed with room service. I'm not even sure why, but he really wants to order it. We've explained to him that it's usually not that great of food, but he is unmoved in his desire. The hotel we were staying at was under rennovation and did not offer room service. So, in order to keep peace, Nathan provided the room service, which delighted Carter nonetheless. Will likes staying in hotels because he gets to sleep with Mama and Daddy. It was rather disappointing for him when we returned home and he returned to his crib. C'est la vie.
Friday was spent at the water park and visiting an awesome grocery called Jungle Jim's. It was a fun experience that even Carter speaks fondly of. The best part was finding the allergy free brown cows they were selling individually. We asked a lady if we could just go ahead and eat it now and save the wrapper for checkout and she smiled from ear to ear and said "Oh sure! Go ahead!" Will and I savoured ever bite. Carter and Nathan got a few bites, too, as it was as large as a Dove ice cream bar. Will would get so excited for another bite it reminded me of stories my parents tell of me getting excited when eating the original Mayfield Dairy Brown Cows when I was Will's age. His feet would dance and his hands would reach and he'd smile as wide as the ocean. It was so cold his lips turned red but he still came back for more. We can't find those in Lexington, and its probably a good thing. Then they wouldn't be so special. After this trip, Nathan and Carter returned to the water park to enjoy some more slides and spouts and waterfalls and lazy rivers.
The next day was full of girl stuff for the birthday girl: hair appointment and shopping. It was fabulous. Unfortunately, Will contracted a stomach virus which presented itself on the way home in the car. But, he and Carter were both troopers about it.
Sunday at church is when Carter said so many memorable things, I couldn't keep track of them all. He sat with me at the Nursery check-in table. There he told my friend Suzie, that her family was so lucky because they are "sooo cute." He is fascinated with their little girl (22 months old) and thinks she is the cutest little girl he's ever seen. Bella Clair, the rejector of his proposal, came up to say hi to him and he grunted "what do you want??" I quickly admonished him for his rudeness and he then began joking around with her older brother and her dad. I secretly wondered if he was playing hard to get?! Sometimes, he's a lot more sophisticated than I give him credit for being. Finally, as another friend of ours was signing out his daughters from nursery, Nathan arrived to ask Carter to help him clear the communion cups. This job is famously Carter's at our church. He's known as the junior deacon. However, he was busy coloring and without even looking up said "I'm busy." Our friend, Chris, started snickering which Nathan mumbled "Please don't encourage him." Chris then laughed out-right. He told us, "We still talk about the time at Bible study when you said something to Carter and he said 'Whatever, dad. Tell it to the judge." At this point, tears were literally filling Chris' eyes as he laughed and Nathan said "Oh man, don't encourage him." Chris walked off howling and Carter decided collecting communion cups was more fun than coloring and dashed off to the sanctuary.
After we were home and settled for the afternoon, I said to Carter, "You were very rude and mean to Bella Clair today. I've noticed that you don't talk to her any more and that when she's nice to you, you aren't kind to her." His eyes stared straight at me as though this was not news to him. He responded "I know. She said she wouldn't marry me. I really like her and I really think she's my girlfriend, but she won't marry me!" So, his snub was no mistake. My mother said if she's like a lot of girls, it will only make him more attractive to her. That's probably true. She's such a sweet and beautiful girl. I'm disappointed in Carter's ungentlemanly behavior. I decided that it was time for me to put my foot down. I looked him right in the eye and said "You know what?" He looked like a teenager "that God will help me find a girl?!" "NO." I cut him off, " I don't want to hear about you getting married or wanting to marry or asking someone to marry you for 20 more years. Do you understand? In 20 years, you may bring this subject up but until then, there is to be no talking about or even thinking about marriage from you. Do you understand?" He smiled and tried to make a joke, which let me know that I hadn't scared him too badly but just enough for him to need to lighten the mood. I think my father told me something like that and it worked out great for me!