Happy Mothers Day!

I remember my first Mother's Day. The entire week before, I wondered what kind of corsage Nathan would get for me to sport to church. As Friday slipped into Saturday, I realized that he was not aware of this tradition and on further contemplation, I realized no mothers at our church wore corsages. I wasn't disappointed or sad, but just curious how that tradition fell from popularity. My father still gets my mother her "blossom" every year. I noticed yesterday a lone mother with a beautiful corsage and smiled. She has five kids.

Instead of a corsage, I was showered with affection and two fabulous meals. Which is so much better. Carter labored for some time with his dad on some coupons for me to cash in this year. Four hours of girl time. Hugs and kisses - more kisses because Carter thinks kisses are better. One coupon was for picking up all the toys from the floor. I beamed at Nathan and said "If I turn in this coupon, I get to pick up all the toys from the floor??!!" Note to self: A sense of humor is not allowed on Mother's Day. I tried my oddball humor all day with mixed reviews. The best part was capping off the day by watching "Star Wars" on tv with Carter and Will. Carter's been playing "stoom trooper" all morning with the exception when he was "Sky Luker." I could be whomever I wanted, even a boy, except that when I tried to be Obi Wan Kenobi, I was told I should be the Han Solo. Though I protested that I wanted to be a Jedi, I was firmly relegated to the role of "that rocket driver."

Saturday's soccer game was more eventful than usual. Our team has some good players and we normally win convincingly. But Saturday's opponent was a rematch versus the only team who has beaten us. The Omegas. It was the most competitive match we played this season. But that is not where the action lie. No, Carter, who is spotty in the attention he can give to soccer, said something to one of his female teammates. The next thing I know, she shoulder flips him to the ground in one smooth motion. She obviously had practice at this move. Carter was indignant, and if I were a better mother I wouldn't have laughed as hard as I did. Carter insisted that she hurt his arm, though he didn't act like his arm was injured. He was unable to speak of the event for the rest of the day without being overcome by the sting of the original insult. Finally, on Sunday, I was able to get him to calmly tell me what happened. Here's his version: "I just said to her 'I've wrestled before.' and her wrestled me right to the ground. She's stronger than you, Daddy!" Good move, because Nathan's masculinity was thusly challenged and he responded "We'll see about that!" We'll never know what really happened but here's a picture of the two of them before it happened.

Moving on to Will. What a sweet cutie he is. Okay, okay. He's not sweet and cute all the time. In fact, he drives me crazy at least once a day. But God made him so beautiful that I normally can't even remember that when he is sitting in my lap and cuddling. He wore his big brother's "Fastest Kid in Town" t-shirt and I was astounded at how old he looks now. I guess he's making his move out of the baby stage and into full toddlerhood. I have so much fun watching as he tries to figure out the world. And I'm fully enjoying his mohawk mullet.

Dogs and Cats

Nathan finally requested the web address for this electronic diary and read some. He looked up alpha male and came up with the word "domineering." That isn't my definition of an alpha male. I didn't want to throw words around carelessly, so I did some research of my own. What I found was more my take on the subject. So, I want to clarify that my three fellows are not domineering. Not at all. They all want to be the leader. They all are confident, assertive, and determined. Are they all this way all the time? No. Are they all this way at the same time? Well, sometimes. Do they like to wrestle on the floor like a pack of pups? Yes! So now that we are operating on my definition, let's move on.

Carter had some portraits made and he was not happy about it. I couldn't believe how uncooperative he was, especially considering he loves to have his picture taken. Well, the photographer wouldn't let him do what he wanted. She wanted him to pose her way. That is, she didn't want him to wear his sunglasses, hold an old gigantic cell phone to his ear, point at the camera and scrunch up the right side of his face like he's winking. See, Alpha 2 had his own agenda and it wasn't matching up with the professional's course of action. She tried to hold out his poses as a reward and probably, she should have just let him get it out of his system. I understand her strategy. Things can easily spiral out of control and the whole session turns into a 5 year old making funny faces. But honestly, giving him instructions like "tilt your head to the right" isn't that effective. It renders a boy who is touching his left ear to his left shoulder. So, then you are left with slowly tweaking it by saying "Not so much. A little higher. Little more. A little more." That is frustrating for any kid. But he rallied when she began playing games with him. Nathan and I went to look at the proofs yesterday and I was astonished. They were gorgeous! We told the manager that the photographer was amazing to get those pictures from such an unhappy and uncooperative guy like Carter was that day. Of course, the best one was the one with the sunglasses, cell phone, and finger-pointing.

Last night, Nathan took the boys off to the grocery to pick up some supper items. Kroger is two short blocks away, but I had no expectation that they would make it back in less than an hour. It seems that every trip they take together turns into some adventure or interesting discovery. I heard them roll into the driveway but no one darkened the doorstep for a while. I began to wonder. Then, Carter enters and hands me a ticket. A real ticket to "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." I looked at the expired ticket and asked "what should I do with this?" He instructed me "Take it outside and give it to Daddy. He'll show you." Okay. I turned to get my shoes on as Carter ran out the back door yelling "her's coming! Her's coming!" I went out the front door and walked around to the back. I had no idea where they were. As I cleared the side of the house, I saw Nathan up in the clubhouse, with Will, and a huge sign that said "CATS." I looked down at my ticket and back to the Cats on the green plastic roof and proceeded to laugh hysterically. I told them that only they could find a huge CATS sign and a ticket for that play on the same trip. Nathan said look what it says on the other side. He flipped it and there was another word completely appropriate for my Kentucky rooting, cat loving, God proclaiming son. I laughed some more and said "we'll have to show Mrs. Barlow. She says Carter will be the next Billy Graham." When we are not cheering the cats on, we can just flip the sign over and have a "REVIVAL."

The Rain in Spain

Talking has to be the most interesting developmental experience for me to witness. Unlike other skills, learning to speak involves years and years. While Will is beginning to put meaning to sounds and stringing some together, Carter, a few years down the road, is fine tuning pronunciation and most appropriate verb tenses. In all honesty, Carter had us worried. We've casually asked a couple speech therapists about him not saying S and some blends, like SL, were distorted.

Will's strides are exciting and fun. Just a couple of days ago, he actually said bear rather than making a growling roar. He said "bur", true to his Harlan County roots. Nathan and I loved how he said it so much that we asked him to repeat it about 15 times. Now, he thinks it's particularly entertaining to say "bur." After all, he says it and everyone laughs and claps. Last night, he recited his entire repertoire to his Mimi on the phone. She asked him to say some words that were kind of unrealistic, but he really tried to say them. Still, though, my favorite is when he's asked "Will, can you say cat?" He stretches his lips wide and says "Neeeeooooow."

Carter's recent strides are more bittersweet. We were driving down the road and he said "I'm kind of sleepy." The realization of what just happened smacked me in the face. I asked him to repeat what he said. Again, "I'm kind of sleepy." For at least two years, it was "squeepy." I began to wonder how long I had missed it. When had he suddenly turned into a little boy from my preschooler? Then, just this morning, he said "I also...." and a tear welled up in my eye. No longer is also - "auswee." At least we still have "skank you" for thank you. Every time he prays, Nathan and I bite our lips so we don't smile too big as Carter starts out, "God, skank you...."

Carter had his kindergarten check up this week. He did great and Dr. Mack declared him to be a delight. I was surprised that his weight was in the 50-75 percentile! I expressed this surprise to the doctor and instructed Carter to show him his muscles. Carter sucked in his belly as far as possible, revealing all his ribs and to the trained eye some internal organs, I'm sure. Dr. Mack said "Wow! Look at those muscles! It's frightening!" That was the perfect response to the sight we all beheld. Skank you, Dr Mack.