First Crush

Bentley's got a girlfriend.

My little boy has a crush on a really cute girl. She gave him a picture of the two of them together, and for hours he carried it around the house smiling at her in it. When she comes over he thinks he should be able to leave with her.

And when he can't he cries big crocodile tears.

The only problem?
She's 17 years his senior and, well, she's his aunt.

He is convinced that Tameka's car is a direct trip to Papa's house-and for him it always has been. They are traveling buddies and the last couple of times she has gone home, he has hitched a ride.

Friday, she came over to pick up stuff to take home and when she got in her car and drove away without him he bawled for 15 minutes.

She said it broke her heart.

Yesterday she stopped on her way out of town and asked, "Hey B, you coming with me?"

"K!"

He had no idea where she was going, just that he was going to be with her. He grabbed his frog and headed out the door.

He did say bye to his mom, but didn't stop long enough to give me a kiss.

It is pretty obvious he prefers Tameka over me.

Please bless...

Bentley was getting to bed later than usual tonight, and Chod was helping him say his prayers.

"....bless that I can wake up early in the morning..."

"EARLY!?!"

I completely interrupted, but seriously who prays for their two year old to wake up early?

Grandpa Stephens

Chod's Grandpa Stephens passed away last night. He was the third great-grandpa Bentley has lost.

Grandpa had a stroke years ago and never said more than a few words on our visits. He loved horses and our last visit with him happened to be on race day of the Kentucky Derby. He picked Big Brown to win it from the beginning.
Somehow, Bentley sensed Grandpa's love of horses and would find horses all over the house and fill Grandpa's lap with them on every visit. I think this endeared Bentley to Grandpa. Before we left the last time Grandpa tried to get Bentley to give him a kiss bye. But that mustache was just too scary!

Deep Breaths

Last week at my doctor's appointment my blood pressure was high. Not alarmingly high, just higher than it should be. This worried me because at my last appointment while pregnant with Bentley, my blood pressure suddenly shot up and they induced me the next day (3 weeks early).

This is not an option. This baby is not ready to be born.

So today I went to have it checked. And of course Bentley was so naughty on the way to the office. I kept saying "Bentley, please don't make me upset." And "Mom needs to be really calm right now." As he was kicking and screaming his little head off.

On our way into the office he ran out in front of a car and was almost smashed.

Deep breath. Deep breath.

I knew my blood pressure was going to be sky high and I would end up on bed rest.

Deep breath.

But it wasn't. It was perfect.

Keep cooking little dude.

Boats and Bubbles

Tonight we had an almost perfect Family Home Evening. Amy sent me their primary's summer reading program, which we have implemented as FHE for the summer. It is working out really well, because it takes care of most of the work for us!

Our lesson tonight was on righteousness and Nephi building the ship.

We set off to build ourselves some boats.
Before launching them, Bentley spent some time on the swing. I think the bubbles mean he is happy, well that and he kept saying "This is fun!"

Then the true test, to see if our boats would float. Luckily, they were bottom heavy because Bentley was in charge of launching them. Basically he would throw them as hard as he could and watch them sail away.
I think Chod had fun too.

Once home we had backyard s'mores. Bentley was too impatient to wait for his mallows to toast.
But he liked his s'more once we convinced him that gooey was better.Aside from the tantrum on the way home and another when Chod stole a s'more, things went really well.

It's what fun is!

There are a few roads in town that Bentley gets excited for. When he sees that we will be going up (or down) them he raises his hands above his head and yells "WEEEEE!"

Who needs Lagoon?

For future reference

Note to self:

When trying to convince Chod that life as a stay home mom is hard--focus more on laundry, diapers, and tantrums.

Leave out details such as frequency of visits to the pool (2 x already this week with another on schedule), trips to the library, and popsicle breaks.

He's not buying it.

Genius Gene and Colorblindness

The story of the genius gene.

After the ultrasound telling us that Bentley was going to be a boy Chod and I were talking, and I mentioned that I could be a carrier of the colorblind gene. I have uncles and cousins who are colorblind and so if my mom passed it on to me, I could pass it on to our boys.

Not to be outdone, Chod replied with, "Well I'm the carrier of the genius gene."

We may never know if Chod is actually a carrier of the genius gene, but Bentley is on track to prove me a carrier of colorblindness. He can't tell red and green or even orange apart.

But maybe he is just waiting for that genius gene to kick in...you never know.

Puddle Drinker

While holding a water bottle, Bentley got down on all fours and started lapping water out of a puddle on the sidewalk at the pool.

"Bentley stop that."

"I a puppy."

"No, you're a little boy, stop."

"I a puppy."

"No you're not."

"Rrrufff."

And from then on, every time I would tell him to stop he would bark at me.

My little puppy has attitude.

Reverence is more than just quietly sitting

Chod and I teach CTR 6. On Sunday we were teaching the lesson on being reverent, and one particular girl could not keep her hands to herself.

She was constantly touching those around her and was a huge distraction. Finally I had had enough and I very firmly (no yelling, just firm) said, "You need to keep your hands to yourself."

She immediately broke out in tears.

Does this make me a bad teacher?

For what it is worth, she was very good for the rest of class (after she had regained her composure).

Splish Splash

Bentley's bath time has been Chod's responsibility for, well, as long as I can remember.

Which has worked out really well for me.

And for Bentley--Chod lets the tub fill up to Bentley's armpits. It is like his own little swimming pool every night. And in recent weeks he has figured out how to climb out of the tub, run into his room, grab a toy and jump back in the tub. And I seriously mean jump. He stands on the side of the tub, tucks his legs up, and cannon balls in.

Splashing water everywhere.

Guess who has clean up duty?

Not Dad.

Deep Thoughts by Chod

Chod: So I've been thinking. We've been married for longer than Bentley has been alive.

Me: ...Ya think?

The early bird pays more...

Now that it looks like summer may be here I ventured out and bought flowers for my planters. Because of my procrastination I scored at the OH Greenhouse with 80% off my entire purchase. I filled 3 planters for $5.37.

Granted the selection was limited and the plants look a little sad--but nothing a bigger pot won't take care of!

See How He Runs

Chod has been training for the Top of Utah 1/2 Marathon for a while now, with potential of the full depending on how he feels at the time.

Which means he has had to get new shoes, new running clothes, and his latest acquisition is a Nike Sport+. He is a huge fan of the Nike Sport+ and I think the only reason he goes running is so he can watch his miles add up online. He is working towards a full trophy case.

This morning as he was getting ready for his run he looked out the window and exclaimed, "She has a DiscMan!"

Sure enough, there was a lady out walking carrying her DiscMan carefully in one hand.

He sounded envious...which makes me wonder why he needed all this other stuff.

Do you have a DiscMan?

Mine?

I'm beginning to feel like my body isn't my body.

It's not like I am having an out of body experience or anything. But with the baby beginning to perform regular trampoline routines inside and the big brother using this new hilly terrain to farm and race cars over I'm starting to feel like a playground instead of a person.

Monkey Grooming

Last week as we were talking about monkeys I, so wisely, taught Bentley how they groom each other. We would pick "bugs" off one another and eat them. We both thought we were funny.

Chod just rolled his eyes.

Yesterday, in the middle of sacrament meeting, Bentley stood up and started picking and eating "bugs" out of my hair.

I'm sure those behind us were very impressed.

I Love This Boy

The calender may say it is June--but Bentley knows better. For the last week he has insisted on taking this hat to bed with him. Today when I went to get him up from his nap I found him, sporting the hat, marching back and forth in the crib to a song he was singing.

Peppy Weppy

Today is my dad's birthday.

Here are a few of the reasons we love him:

• He has acres of "media" that none of us understand why it is hanging around, but we are sure glad it is there when we need it.

• He raised 4 daughters as tomboys, and in the process a little of the girliness rubbed off on him. He does pilates and watches Martha and Rachel Ray. He finished a dance dress at the last minute when Mom wasn't home, and knows it is "all about the presentation". You should have seen the lime twists he created at the last Iron Chef competition.

• He likes to brag about his girl's welding skills. It has created a complex in some of the son-in-laws.

• He is the ambassador of blogging. He loves being able to see what his family is up to and will let you know when you have been slacking in your posting (uhhhmmmm...Yard of Junk could use a little update).

• He has had the same best friend since grade school. That's a long time!

• When the grandkids come to town he abandons the shop and spends time showing them the animals and chasing them around the house--usually as they are supposed to be getting ready for bed.

• He has never met a stranger.

• You can always find candy in his suit pockets, LifeSavers or cinnamon bears are the most common.

• He is a fantastic boat driver. And even more entertaining when he is behind the boat--he doesn't know when to let go.

• My dad can fix anything.
  

• He lets me out fish him. And even let me beat him at ping pong a time or two.

• He is a 12 year old boy in a 57 year old's body.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Coming your way

Bentley loves his Papa. Yesterday, we were looking at a picture with chickens in it and Bentley kept shaking his head and saying "Papa, Papa."

"Does Papa have chickens?"

A nod of the head.

"Do you want to go to Papa's?"

"Okay."

And with that he headed to the front door, opened it and walked out.

Twinners

Last week Bentley and Chod both happened to wear their Wilkins Reunion 2007 shirts on the same day. Throughout the day Bentley would grab his shirt and say "Dad". It wasn't until Chod came home that night that I realized all day Bentley had been telling me that he and Chod were dressed alike.

Yesterday, as we were getting ready for church Bentley insisted on wearing a white shirt and khakis. I tried to put a little sweater vest on but no go--Dad doesn't have a vest. So a tie it was. He even let me know they were wearing matching shoes.

This morning Chod was getting Bentley dressed and he came out and said, "He wants to wear a puppy shirt."

"He doesn't have a puppy shirt."

"Tell him that."

So for 2 1/2 hours this morning Bentley insisted he wear a puppy shirt and I showed him dinosaur shirts, truck shirts, car shirts, tiger shirts, and bike shirts. But none of those were puppy shirts.

At the end of the 2 1/2 hours I was folding laundry and Bentley saw his puppy jammies. Close enough! They sufficed.

I was talking to my mom this afternoon telling her my troubles of the day including my potty training dropout and our woes of no puppy shirt. Later in the conversation as I was telling her about my dress alikes she asked, almost jokingly, "Is Chod wearing a puppy shirt today?"


"Oh my heck! Yes! He is wearing his Li'l Brudder shirt."

Case closed.