(Billy?) Joel's Sweetness

My sweet boy was snuggling me at naptime the other day. I've been dieting and told him, "Guess what? I've lost seven pounds already!"

"No!" he said. "Don't lose weight. I love you just the way you are."

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Then I said, "Aww, honey, you're so sweet, but I need to lose weight. I'm happy I've lost 7 so far."

He stroked my side kind of analytically. "Yep, you feel 7-ish," he said.

Oh, She's Such a Bad Sister

Sarah came in from shopping for a few family members, Joel included.
He asked, "What did you get me?"
She: Can't tell ya.
He: Tell me!
She: A Barbie in a bikini.
He: (clenching his jaw) I won't appreciate that.
She: A baby doll.
He: Nuh-uh. I won't like that. Now, tell me the truth.
She: Okay......(singing) "My Little Pony, My Little Pony..."
He: Errrgh! Take it back!
She: All right, but you won't have anything from me.
He: Uh-huh! I think you'll get me Lego Star Wars.
She: If I do, do you think I'll tell you?
He: Yes, you will.

The Kind of Family we Aren't

I don't think she meant to be, but Sarah's description of our family is funny to me. Especially the line, "we're not the kind of family that makes other families jealous."



My childhood dream to grow up and be the matriarch of the new Waltons has just been crushed.



Read her blog post here, on Nov 22 "Giving Thanks," where she also refers to our home as sometimes "more of a war zone than a shelter." Tis true, we ain't the Cleavers, she adds, but rather the kind other people can look at and say of their own, "guess we aren't so bad after all."

I doubt we'll be making our debut on NBC anytime soon as the Ideal Family. Sniff, sniff .

Side Effects

Joel's been sick for a week, with terrible nasal congestion, fever, headache, and cough.

Saturday morning I gave him Tylenol and said, "Honey, can I pray for your pain?"

"I don't have pain," he said. "I have side effects." Then he blew his nose, very productively.

"Side effects?" I asked. "You mean a sinus infection?"

"Yeh, sinus affection."

Making Me Feel the Way He Sees Me

Joel and I were taking an online quiz this morning to determine what kind of superhero we each are. There are about 30 yes/no questions.

One of them is, "Are you beautiful?"

I clicked on "No."

He said, "Yes, you are! You're beautiful." Then he took the mouse from me and changed the
answer.

I melted.

The Amazing Spider-Man and his Patient Superdog

For Halloween this year, Joel was Spider-Man.

I bought the costume about 2 weeks earlier and he dressed up in it every day. He used last year's costume (Superman pj's) to torture the dog.

One of the houses we were approaching while trick-or-treating, had a little dog dressed up in a cape, sitting so still we couldn't tell if he was fake or real. Joel tiptoes and looked over his shoulder at me, "I have a bad feeling about this."

The dog was real. Real harmless.

Being Sick isn't Funny, but ...

Joel is funny even when he isn't feeling well. He's been congested since Sunday, had a cough, fever and fatique, with occasional bouts of puking.

1) Last night he felll asleep in bed next to his daddy. When I came to bed, Joel stirred a bit ,

I said, "Let me blow your nose, honey. Sit up a minute."

He sat up but shook his head and protested hoarsely, "Nooooo, nooooo! Dad does it better than you." I agreed, but made him blow his nose for me anyway.

2) This morning he came down the steps and I heard him crying. He looked so pathetic. I said, "What's wrong, buddy?" He pointed to his nose and said, "Snot!"

3) Ben cleaned his own room thoroughly yesterday. NOthing out of place, everything sanitized, wiped down, vacuumed. However, when I peeked in and saw Joel sprawled out on the bed playing a video game, I glanced at the window sill. There, lined up as neat as a row of soldiers, were about ten dirty kleenexes.

What's a Dinosaur Made of, Anyway?

In co-op art class today, our lesson was on texture. We had quite a variety of cut up pieces of things highly textured. They were to use whatever they wanted to make a paper bag puppet.

But little Matthew (in Joel's class) didn't want anything but red bumpy triangles of paper for his Tyrannosaurus Rex. Oh, and a tad bit of foil.

When I OFfered him fuzzy yars, he looked at me as if to educate me and said seriously, "Dinosaurs don't have fur."