Yes, I'm Sensitive!

It's Spring. Flowers are blooming. The wind is blowing. And my nose is dripping. Ah, sniff, sniff, spring. If only I could smell your fragrant flowers.

Last night, the family took an hour long walk around the neighborhood. Yes, an hour. Actually, it was two half-hour walks. The first one involved Little Dude riding his bike while I took Furry Dude for a walk. The three of us venture out into the neighborhood a few times a week for a post-dinner stroll/run/skip/hop. And I love it because our neighborhood is actually very active in the evenings. We have neighbors who hang out on their front lawns chatting it up with whoever passes by, people walking their dogs, kids on bikes and a few sweaty joggers.

Of course, last night, the wind was blowing. And blowing. And blowing. I'll admit I didn't really want to go for a walk because I knew the wind would start the evil cycle of allergies. But my boy had some energy to burn, so I squirted Afrin up my nostrils, and sacrificed my ability to breath for my son's happiness. Oh, the things we mothers do for our kids.

By the time we got home, my nose was running like Niagara Falls. I grabbed a box of tissue and proceeded to build a crafty pile of snot rags shaped into the Statue of Liberty. Through my puffy, barely opened eyes, I saw my husband putting on his tennis shoes.

"What are you doing?"

Little Dude intervened. "I want Daddy to go on a walk with us."

"Just Daddy?"

"No, I want you too."

Nuts! So Big Dude, Little Dude, Furry Dude, and I headed out the door. When we returned, I could no longer breath through my nose, my eyes were practically swelled shut, my body hurt from sneezing a thousand times, and I'm pretty sure I had snot and drool all over the front of my shirt.

My wonderful, loving Hubby - who sneezes only a few times a year - thought he was being helpful when he said, "You should take something for that."

I almost pummeled him to death with the Zyrtec bottle I had just swallowed a pill from.

Dog & Driver's License

I love how kids just notice everything around them. My son noticed this rather unusual vehicle the other night and said, "Look! The dog's driving!"

The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants

A few weeks ago, Little Dude made a new best friend at Preschool. And while I regarded this little vixen with great suspicion at first, she has finally won over my heart.

It all started early last week when Hubby was picking up our son from preschool. He called to tell me that he had met Lily and she and Little Dude were walking around holding hands. "It was so cute," he said.

The next morning as I was chatting with one of the teachers, the subject of best friends coincidentally came up. (And by "coincidentally" I mean I steered the conversation in a direction that naturally led to such a discussion, of course.) So I took the opportunity to ask about my boy's new best friend.

Miss Nikki told me that the two of them were "totally cute" together. She said that they probably liked each other because they were both smart and both were on the same level with their speech (advanced, talking clearly, using big words and long sentences). Then I found out that - gasp! - Lily's an older woman. Yes, she's 4. Oh, the scandal! I'm guessing that Little Dude must have met her on one of the rare occasions when he got to hang out in the 4-year-olds class. (That's a whole other story. The 4-year-olds teacher can't wait to have him in her class but the 3-year-olds teachers don't want him to go!)

Somehow Little Dude and Lily have managed to convince all the teachers to let her stay in the 3s class with him. They sit together. They play together. They eat together. They nap together. They play Power Rangers and Husband-and-Wife together. They have fun together.

Then last Friday I actually got to spend some time with the two of them together. The school was having their annual Easter party complete with a visit from the Easter Bunny. Since I have Good Friday off, I decided to spend a few hours in Little Dude's class.

As soon as I walked in, I spotted my little guy sitting at one of the tables with an adorable little brunette dressed up in a cute little sundress. As soon as she looked up at me and smile, my heart melted.

Little Dude wanted me to sit with him. Lily wanted me to sit with them. Little Dude said he wanted me to stay all day with him. Lily said she wanted me to stay all day with them. When I asked Lily why she wanted me to stay, she said, "Because he [Little Dude] wants you to stay and you're his mom." Wow. The girl knows how to win over a boy's mom.

Lily, Little Dude and Heather

We painted eggs and then it was time to meet the Easter bunny. When Lily saw I had my camera, she quickly put her arm around Little Dude, and they both smiled for the camera. Another point for Lily! After the Easter Bunny visit, we all headed outside for the Easter egg hunt. While all the other kids turned into little Tasmanian Devils and ran off in a hundred different directions (even through I was sure there were less than 20 kids), Little Dude and his best friend hunted for eggs together.

The kids all went back inside to decorate their eggs and I watched as my little guy raced to make sure he got a seat next to Lily. He got really upset when another kid tried to take his chair. Later, during recess, the best friends played with other kids, but they would still call to each other from across the yard: "Red Ranger! Red Ranger!" "Pink Ranger, over here!" (Little Dude has decided that he is the Red Power Ranger and Lily is the Pink Power Ranger.) Adorable. And another point for not excluding other kids!

Lining up to hunt Easter eggs. Notice that Little Dude and Lily are holding hands. Sweet!

When we went back inside for lunch, Lily waited for Little Dude to take his turn washing his hands so that they could sit next to each other at the lunch tables. Sweet! Another point for her thoughtfulness.

Ok, so Lovely Lily has won me over. What a sweetheart. I can see why my little guy thinks the world of her. I'm sure he'll have his heart broken when she leaves for Kindergarten next year while he's still in Pre-K. But that's still months away. In the meantime, he's enjoying his new best friend.

Of course, I wonder what her parents must think of all this?

"God Made Poop!"

Most people never have the opportunity to combine theology with gastrointestinal issues. But nothing is off-limits in our family! So when I found myself telling my son last night that "God made poop," I realized our family had yet again wandered into exotic dialogue.

I haven’t seen an official poll, but I’m pretty sure that conversations about poop are not uncommon for households with little children. Of course, our household probably has an above-average amount of poo-related chats. Since he started eating solids at six months old, Little Dude has had an uncomfortably chronic digestive issue. So yes, we talk crap. And now that he’s almost four-years-old, the bathroom banter has become a little too common. There have even been a few times where I’ve had to stop the little guy – or even myself – from sharing too much information with people outside our family.

Another frequent discussion in our house is much more sacred. Little Dude loves going to church and prays to Jesus every night. He has a question about God almost every day. Where is God? Where does He live? Can I go visit Him in heaven?

It was inevitable that two of the most common conversations in our home would eventually collide and create a divine comedy!

It finally happened last night. Little Dude and I were having a lavatorial tête-à-tête on our way home from his cousin’s house. During the play date, my precious little boy thought he needed to use the potty. However, after an unsuccessful attempt, he informed us all, “I can only go poopy at home.”

Yes, this was going to be a problem.

So in the car, I was trying to reassure my son that it’s ok to use the potty at Auntie’s house or school or church or anywhere for Numero Dos. That led to a discussion about why he needs to go #2 (i.e. so his tummy doesn’t hurt, so he can have more room in his tummy for all the yummy food he likes, etc.). After a lengthy Why?inquisition from the back seat, I found myself falling on the crutch of “because that’s how God made you.” (“Because I said so” didn’t really fit here.)

“God made me poop?”

“Yes, hon, God made poop.”

So there you have it. Giant theological revelation: God made poop. I’m sure some it won’t make it into Max Lucado’s next book or even Rick Warren’s, but maybe it will at least help alleviate my son’s new concern over public pooping.

Preschool Soap Opera

Monday night, as soon as I walked in the door returning home from another long day at the office, I heard my loving hubby say to my son, “Tell Mommy who you played with at school today.”

Hmm… since Little Dude seems to have a new “Best Friend” everyday, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Ryder? Jordan? Keegan? Jaada? Heather? Nope, none of those. He happily replied, “Lily.”

I only recently learned about “Lily” when I had to pick up Little Dude early from school one day. It was the end of nap time, and he was still curled up on his mat with his blanket. A cute little brunette next to him informed me that Little Dude was still sleeping. Then she proceeded to tell me how she and Little Dude had played “Power Rangers” all morning (clearly her idea since my son has never seen the show) and how she made sure that his nap mat was close to hers.

I thought it was sweet that our boy had found yet another friend to play with at school. And I really didn’t think about this fling with Lily again until that night as my husband kept the conversation rolling.

“Tell Mommy what you played,” he instructed.

“Husband and Wife.”

So now Lily was on my radar. Who was this girl really? Is it too early to have little boyfriends and girlfriends? What are the rules for dating in preschool? I managed to push aside all crazy thoughts and consoled myself with the knowledge that little kids play different games every day with different kids.

But that was before last night’s déjà vu when Little Dude informed me that once again he played “Husband and Wife” with this Lily kid. Two days in a row!

OK. Now I was a little concerned. As a woman, I was quite impressed with Lily’s girlish assertiveness. Somehow, she had gotten my wild child to forgo his normal rough and tumble play for the more mellow “husband and wife” role-play. But as a mother, I was a little weary of my sweet little boy falling prey to some potentially overbearing chick. Did she lure him in with superheroes (which he’s totally into right now) only to pull a bait and switch for her domestic agenda? Has she done this to other boys? Where will this all lead?

Yes, I realize that I have become that mother. All this time, I had teased me husband for being a self-proclaimed helicopter parent. But now I must acknowledge that I have become the hovering mom… at least where girls are involved.

There is still plenty of time before I really have to start worrying about girlfriends. Seriously, our little man is just a popular guy. So why wouldn’t Lily want to play with him too? And Little Dude is willing to play with anyone – boy or girl – as long as it’s fun. So he must be having fun if he’s willing to play “Husband and Wife” two days in a row. I'm sure he enjoys pretending to be just like his Daddy. He does like role-playing. After all, one of his friends used to be called “Buzz Lightyear” because he wore his Halloween costume everyday for a month straight. And Little Dude loved putting on a Superman cape or Batman mask and pretending to fight crime with him.

So I don’t need to get my panties in a bunch just because my precious little boy is playing “Husband and Wife” with his new friend. Who knows… maybe today they’ll go back to pretending to be Power Rangers. And if they don’t, that’s ok today. Of course, I never asked Little Dude if he was pretending to be the husband or the wife…