I don't like him....I

Daddy and Cash had a sweet moment before he had to leave town....

Today dear daddy had to go out of town on a business trip, Cash went to find his airplane and played with it all night. He brought the plane in the bathtub and afterwards while putting on his pajamas he was talking to the plane, saying something like are you in there? And I said yeah - daddy flew on a plane today to California and he said "I don't like daddy" (he paused, I held my breath not knowing what to say - I thought maybe he was going to say - I don't like daddy going away on a plane) but he said "I love him". How sweet was that? I don't like daddy, I love him!

Can't like Mommy

We have a baby sitter that Cash has become particularly fond of. I went shopping today with Grandma and while we were gone, Shawn told Cash that the sitter was coming over. He was very excited to hear this news. I am so glad he likes her! Unfortunately, when I got home and Shawn told him I was home, he said "nooooo, can't like mom.... want Jessica". I told Shawn he should have kept that story to himself. It made me sad. But I am glad at the same time because I guess whatever she does do to care for him while we are away, it works!

Cash and Delilah

Cash loves to ask his daddy to pick up the ever-eluding Delilah. Today, he finally got to actually get close to Delilah while she was in daddy's arms. And he got to kiss her. He was very happy. He loves cats, all kinds. I feel fortunate to have actually captured the precious moment.

God Bless You Daddy

Ok so every night before we go to bed, we check in on Cash. We also check to see how wet his diaper is. If it is pretty wet, we will change him, right there. He barely ever wakes up and sometimes will turn over while we are in the middle of changing him. But we have done this since he was little. Tonight I heard Shawn sneeze while he was changing Cash. He said that after he sneezed, Cash said " God bless you Daddy". In his sleep.

no nap but a #2

I left Cash in his room for his nap. Soon I hear the toilet flush. I go up to see what happened. He had the door open a crack and I went BOO! He said Mom you Scared Me! I said I know honey. I am sorry. And then noticed he was standing there with his pants and underwear in hand. And I asked- did you go potty? And I was all excited. Then he said mom- are you listening to me? I said yes- what? He said again, you scared me. I said I know. I am sorry and then asked about his pants being off and there was a #2 in the toilet. We high-fived, and he got stickers and jelly beans. Monumental moment... My child went potty on his own. And he hears me when I ask him if he is listening. And I need to be careful not to scare my child anymore.

More on Uncle Jarrod

Cash has recently brought up his Uncle Jarrod to both his dad and me. We have explained to him Uncle Jarrod is on a boat in Africa. Cash was playing with a boat today and asked me if Uncle Jarrod was on the boat. I confirmed. He asked his dad today if Uncle Jarrod was on a boat in South America with Charles Muntz. That part cracked me up! Charles Muntz is a character in the movie UP who lives in South America. He then preciously asked, "is uncle Jarrod going to come visit me after he gets off the boat?" We told him yes.

Cash Singing "Jesus Loves Me"

Tai Lung

Hey- just thought I would introduce Tai Lung. One day back in October, Tai Lung (snow leaopard), Kit (lion) and Shadow (panther) joined Cash and myself for a train ride at the zoo. They had a great time and loved seeing their distant relatives at the zoo. Yes, most of Cash's animals have names. I just found out his giraffe is named Comet. And his digger toy is named Twinkle Toes. Who knew?

screaming cash

One of Cash's favorite things to do is open his mouth and scream! And just get it out. Mostly we reserve it for the park. But this time he let me catch it on camera!

Picture of Cash

Obey or Disobey

Today I was talking to my friend who was explaining to me how her son (3 year old) seems to understand the consequences. She had said when her son was defiant about something she would give him the choice and ask him whether he wanted to obey or disobey? She said he never once said he wanted to disobey and that it seemed to be working. I thought to myself, wow, I should try this because I try to give Cash choices on things so that he understands if this, then that. etc...
This afternoon we were out on our walk and I stopped to talk to some neighbors. Cash on the other hand decided he wanted to keep walking. By the time he got to the 2nd house and after asking him numerous times to turn around and come back, I had to catch him. Then I explained to him how he was not obeying his mother and he would get a spanking if he didn't listen and come when I asked him to and that I needed him to stay close for his own safety, etc..... So I finally ask him if he is going to obey me and stay close or disobey and he said "disobey". Similar scenario, at a friends house and he kept going too close to the pool. I asked him if he will obey or disobey and he said "disobey".
Moral: To obey or disobey - that question is not working for me.

It does remind me however, of how God asks for my obedience and so often I don't obey.

Dinner

Yesterday I took Cash to the grocery store. I told him we needed to go to the grocery store to get dinner for Daddy. When Shawn came home, Cash ran outside to greet his dad. He said daddy, mommy got something for you. Shawn and I both looked at each other having no idea what he would say.... He said mommy got you dinner.

Just saying that

Yesterday we had the pleasure of joining some friends at Candlelight Park. It is a fun park. However the last time we went to that park, Cash got sick. I mean really sick. He had never thrown up, before that day. I think it was about 6 months ago.

Picture this, Cash is on top of the slide. The platform at the top of the slide is made of metal with lots of holes. Probably good for drainage when it rains. All of the sudden I see him standing on top of that slide and he is just dazed, not moving and kids are going around him trying to go down the spiral slide.

I yell at him, Cash are you all right? And the next thing I know he is vomiting. Poor little guy, has no idea what is going on. However, I don't run to help him, I run to the bottom of the spiral slide to pull the 5 or so kids away that happen to be piled up underneath the shower of vomit from poor Cash.

It was awful. But in hindsight, so comedic. It couldn't have been a funnier setting.and scene. The kids were laughing and playing and then this major party foul. I felt like a leper. One lady helped get Cash down which was great and I was feeling awful about the poor kids that truly were drenched. Needless to say, we left and I immediately gave Cash a bath and he took a nap.

Fast forward to yesterday morning at the park, upon leaving the park Cash says mommy I feel sick. I am stop him to say "What? You are sick?" trying to confirm whether or not he is really sick. I as are you sick or are you just saying that? He says, " I am just saying that". It made me laugh that 1.) even he thought getting sick was funny and 2.) how is it possible a 2.5 year old knows about lying already?

Sometimes I take photos and they are lost forever on my computer or on my backup drives. Today I found this precious picture of Cash I took on September 22, 2009. I had no idea I had it or why I lost in on my computer but here it is. Of course I recall he was smiling up at his dad while we were trying to potty train him.

And this is my skater boy on the same day with his little friend his snow leopard Tai Lung.

Delilah

Cash loves Delilah and she eludes Cash. This is how the conversation went...Cash says "there she is, there's Delilah", I say- yes there she is. He says "is Cash going to chase Delilah? " and I say you often do. He says "is Cash going to eat her up? " I say, no... you don't want to eat her up, and he says "is Delilah nasty?"... need we say more? Yeah I imagine Delilah is nasty to eat.

I can't

"I can't..." seems to be Cash's preferred saying when he doesn't like, doesn't want, etc... For instance today I told him he needed to do something and he was defiant and I said if he is going to be defiant I was going to give him a spanking. In response: I can't like a spanking. (I don't blame him).

It's delicious

Cash's favorite thing to say when he likes it. For instance today, he was eating yogurt and I said, isn't this vanilla yogurt yummy? And he said... yeah, it is delicious!

paint

I bought Cash some paint brushes. I decided painting would be something we would do today since Cash is home for MLK day. Of course Cash wanted to paint, asap. I got his paint ready, we have a set of paint with red, yellow, green and blue. He painted a picture but then he asked "where is the orange?" He was right there was no orange, I made him some.

I love this little picture of my little painter. Looks like he is finishing up with a flourish.

Our paint palette before and then the orange we made.

rest

When Cash awakes and I go in the room. He now freely tells me...." I had a good night rest". He said so, just this morning. Always words a mom likes to hear.

There's a dog named Samson in my way!

He hesitated as he went though the doorway and I encouraged him to go on and this was his response: There's a dog named Samson in my way!

chewed up gum balls

When you were a kid did you ever try to roll your gum into a little ball, while it was in your mouth? Well I am proud to say, Cash for the first time today rolled his gum into a ball. It was funny actually, we were driving home from the mall and I heard him say: Hey look, it's a ball! I turned to see what he was talking about and sure enough, in his hand was the gum chewed into a ball. I told him not to swallow it so we could take a picture. Here it is. Lovely.

First Dental Visit & Applebee's

Today Cash had his first dental visit, he did awesome until it came time for the dentist to clean his teeth (with just a toothbrush). He no longer wanted to be in the chair and he jumped into my arms and clung to me so tightly. He cried the whole time she cleaned his teeth, which was like 2 minutes. When she was done, he was his happy self again and said he wanted to go home.

On the way home, we passed Applebee's restaurant and he asked: " Is that Braden's house?" Made me laugh because last year at this time my dear friend Staci and her husband Beau and twins Braden and Madison moved to Uganda. One of our last dinners out together before they left was at Applebee's. I am glad he remembers them!

Uncle Jarrod... Nephew Cash

Back in the fall- for over a week, we had the pleasure of the company of Uncle Jarrod. Shawn's brother, a marine came and visited us. It was so much fun for Cash to get to know his uncle. They developed quite a rapport with each other and would banter back and forth... Cash calling out Uncle Jarrod and in reply Jarrod would say Nephew Cash. They were very fond of each other. So much so that once Jarrod left on his tour of duty, Cash would ask about uncle Jarrod and we would tell him that Jarrod was away on a ship. Cash would simply say, "Tell him to get off the boat and come visit me."

For Christmas, Uncle Jarrod totally blessed his nephew with an amazing sand/water table which has a digger arm and all these cool accessories. Cash loves the digger arm. So much so that we had to bring the huge sand table (sans sand/water) into our family room so that he can continually play with the table while the weather is cold outside. Here he is enjoying his digger.

Big Scary Apple

Cash was playing with a flashlight and said OH NO it is a big scary apple! It registered with me what he was saying and I said where is the big scary apple and he said there and pointed to the Big Scary Apple. I had to take a picture. I love imaginations! Praise the Lord for imagination!

Hang Nails

My son has adopted the habit of picking at his nails or skin around his nails. He is obsessed with hang nails. He will say I've got a hang nail go get the clippers.

SOIL

So last night we were working on potty training and Cash had big boy Lightning McQueen underwear on. He was playing and then I heard him on the stair landing. Then he called down to me.... Mom, I soiled Lightning McQueen!

It's a squid

What's that mamma? I say it is a octopus and he says no it's not it's a squid! And I looked and he was right. It was a squid.

Samson, don't eat that, it's dirty!

The other day for once Cash was concerned for his dog Samson. Normally he doesn't want him to eat his food. Though he will throw it on the ground and ask me to throw out his food and not feed it to Samson, this day he was concerned that Samson not eat the food because it was dirty.

Momma- quit making coffee and come get me!!!

One morning I heard Cash upstairs, he was still in his crib. But I just couldn't wake up until I at least started my coffee. I went into the kitchen and started the coffee grinder. It is so loud. And I heard Cash yelling upstairs. Shawn asked me if I heard what he was saying but with the loud grinder I couldn't tell what he was saying. He was yelling... Momma! Quit making coffee and come get me!!!