Buttons and Muffins

A new favorite picture I recently took.

Mason loves buttons. I loved buttons when I was little. I loved the way they sounded, loved pushing them. It apparently runs in the genes. He was asking me to push all the buttons in the car on the way home. He then asked me if I had a button to make the clouds go away. If only.

I asked him what the clouds look like. "Well, they not circles...they not triangles...not ovals. They are clouds!!!"

A little later down the road:
Mason: "Mommy, do we have ear muffins at home?"
Me: "What are ear muffins?"
Mason: blah blah blah...I had no idea what he said.
He continued to ask me for ear muffins. He told me that they were the only thing that could make him feel better. Finally it clicked.
Me: "Do you mean English muffins?"
Mason: "Yeah, ear muffins!!"

Who is God?

Yup...mark the day. April 25, 2010...over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Mason asked me "Who is God?" I'll admit. I wasn't sure where to begin. How do you boil a huge yet simple concept into something that a two year old can understand?

To back up a bit, Mason was commenting that it was raining. His follow up question to my response of, "yes it is" was "why?" Mason has been asking WHY a lot in the past few days. So, I responded, "because God made it a rainy day." I really did think this would end the discussion. Nope. Instead I got, "Who is God?"

After a long pause and a glance at Caleb I said, "God made the world. He made you, and me and Daddy." Mason then quickly added, "And Stella!" Yes, Stella too. He smiled and seemed very happy and satisfied with that response, and he moved on. So, now to prepare myself more. I desperately want him to know and love God, therefore, my job as his parent is to have as many answers to his questions as I can.

I will be ready next time. I hope.

Grrr

Mason was super excited to get the jogging stroller out of the box. For days he has been asking to go on a run...he OBVIOUSLY doesn't know me that well. Ha. We did go today and he did really like it. He wanted to go faster than my walk speed, but hey, you'll take what you get.

Mason went to bed tonight a very sleepy boy. I naively thought that this would mean that he would conk out right away. About an hour after I put him to bed he walks down stairs, chattering away, like it was no big deal that he came walking down stairs by himself after I put him to bed. What was he chattering about you ask? Well, apparently, "bear eats a lot of pancakes." "You know mommy, all the time" Then he started laughing, like it was the funniest thing he said.

The fun ended for him as soon as he realized that I did not think the dialogue on bear was very funny. Back to bed he went!

Yesterday I had to practically shake Mason to wake him up in the morning. (As a side note I would like to apologize to my parents for being such a terrible person to wake up. I am sure you wanted to kill me on most school mornings!) Today, I went in to wake him and when I opened the door to his room he was sitting up in bed, wide awake mind you, with his book in his lap. I asked him what he was doing and he replied, "just readin." See picture.



At lunch today Trisha texted me to tell me that "my son was being hilarious today" I was so excited to find out what he did to be so funny. At lunch he was done eating but was hanging out at the table while the other kids finished. All of a sudden he said "What was that?"
Trisha: "I don't know,what?"
Mason: "It was my tummy! It said bank you for the b-nana!!
A few mintues when by and...
Mason: "What was that?"
Trisha: again, "I don't know, what?"
Mason: "It was my tummy! It said it wants corn"!

This evening he had been in bed a while, and pretty quiet so I thought he was falling asleep. It had been over an hour since he went to bed and I went up to check on him. He was sitting up in bed with several stuffed animals, a book, his laser sword (lighted up and flashing) and his train and train track. I was pretty mad at him and he knew it. The bad part was he felt so horrible. He was instatnly sad, asked me if he could get out of bed to put the toys back, and then...he did it. I couldn't help but laugh under my breath. He is really an amazing child. He is sensitive and sweet and tells us he loves us all the time. If a ripped book is the worst problem we have, we'll take it.

Busy Weekend

Mason had a VERY busy weekend. We went to Ohio to visit Grandpa and Grandma Hanna. This weekend included Mason catching his first fish, a whole lot of animals and Caleb being able to try on the 2002 Ohio State National Title ring. That was probably the most exciting the Caleb but hey, I thought I should include it.

We went to the Benson's house...which is pretty much a zoo. I was just as excited as Mason was. We got to see Llama's, which Mason asked "they are in red p-jama's". (FYI-His favorite book is Llama Llama Red Pajama) We also got to see chickens, turkeys, geese, fainting goats, and peacocks. Mason was actually more excited about the eight wheeled ATV and the zero turn mower. I could attach more pictures but I had to stop the madness at some point.

I thought the cutest thing was Mason and his little friend Dominick collecting the eggs from the hen house. It was adorable to see them "work" collecting the eggs. Dave, Lauren and I learned a lot about the farm in the process. It was a good time!













Mason came bounding up the stairs so excited about his "big catch".
Me: Did you catch a fish.
Mason: Yeah! I did!!
Me: How big was it?
Mason: (With his finger pointed up in the air for expression-explained) It was TINY!



Mason had a great time discovering all of the fun things Grandma Hanna has in the closets at her house. Mason is really nosey. His favorite discovery was an old Buzz Lightyear, circa Uncle Andrew's younger days. Unfortunatley for all of the adults in the house, Buzz still worked. He had a motion senser so he talked, really loud, all the time. By the end of the weekend I had to hide Buzz in the closet because I couldn't take it anymore.

And Finally-the ring. Caleb's family is friends with the guy who is the chaplin for the Ohio State Buckeye's among other things. He got a ring from the 2002 National Title game. Caleb got to put it on for a picture.

Bed Time Snack

Mason was upstairs attempting to go to bed when he started crying and making a really weird sound. I ran upstairs to find him sitting up in bed, holding in his hands the result of the weird sound. Tons of spit/phlegm AND a soggy basketball sticker! I asked him what happened and he simply said, "I ate the sticker". I cleaned him up...took the sticker to throw it away, and went back and asked him what happened. He slapped his hand to his cheek, cocked his head, looked at me like I was stupid and said..."I ate the sticker!"

Well, okay then. I simply told him, "don't eat anymore stickers". He said, "ok" and laid back down.

He's Back

Our Mason has returned. Thanks to a lot of Neosporin with pain killer we are back in business. He has been testing us a little with bedtime. He realized while he was sick that if he cried out we came running and would give him a lot of attention. Therefore, last night and tonight I practiced tough love. It has been working, but it is still hard. Poor Mason, he doesn't realize how stubborn his mother is...I will NOT let him win.

Our car ride home today was back to the usual one sided chatter. He saw a clock somewhere and said, "look mommy, a clock"
me: Oh really wow
Mason: It tells us its time to get up
me: It sure does
Mason: And it tells us its time to eat pancakes. Pancakes with cheese and syrup...nummy!

Mason loves pancakes. It consumes is conversations. Boy after his fathers heart!

Totally Traumatic UPDATE

After a horrible night on Sunday night, we went back to the doctor today. Last night he went in the tub with a faint-ish rash on his stomach and back. He went into bed at 7 and didn't quit screaming or crying until 9:30. It was traumatic x2...I was super stressed out. This was on the tails of a nap that he woke up screaming and seemed like he was is a ton of pain. Mason finally fell asleep, conveniently right as we were about to take him to the ER. He/we made it through the night.

Today, the rash got worse and worse. The doctor took one look at him and knew that it was the Roseola virus. The virus symptoms made us think UTI but once the fever broke the rash came, which tipped off the doctor. The virus, they think, made him not drink or eat, which made his pee really concentrated. The other..."private part issue" is separate, BUT the virus didn't make it better. The doctor really believes that if we slather him in Neosporin with pain reliever so that it doesn't rub up against his diaper, it will heal and look better. We are hoping that he is right. I really can't do another night like last night.

Thank you for all the prayers. This has really been the most stressful medical thing I have had to deal with with Mason. I guess that isn't bad, but yikes...I really hope that he is healthy again soon. We miss our old Mason.

Totally Traumatic

For all you mothers who have had to watch your children be poked and proded and to be put in pain for their own good...kudos to you! I took Mason to the doctor today because he was having a really high fever that Tylenol wouldn't fix. He was having other issues that were just weird enough that on a Friday afternoon I figured I should get him in. After an eventful attempt to get his temperature, (seriously, get a faster thermometer people), and a once over by the doctor, they thought he may have a urinary tract infection. This meant a urine sample. Oh for his sake did I wish that the earlier potty training attempt had worked, but it didn't. This meant that they had to do a catheter in order to get a sample.

IT WAS HORRIBLE! Truth is, it was probably worse for him but, my heart was breaking. I had to help hold him down. He was screaming, "don't do that"..."I don't like that"..."that hurts". It was SO much easier during his immunizations that he couldn't talk. The fact that he was able to clearly communicate how horrible he felt was terrible.

Thankfully, a cuddle session from mommy and a Buzz Lightyear sticker later he was feeling better. The initial result was negative for UTI but they are doing the full test overnight and will let me know in the morning. In one way, I hope it is positive so that he didn't go through all that for nothing...but then again, I hope it is negative.

This was a longer post than I had anticipated BUT it was therapeutic for me.

Wake Up Call

Caleb helped with Mason this morning. He changed his diaper, got him milk, and turned on the tv in our room for him to watch. Mason then started to wander. He found a pen and made sure to give it to me while I slept. I helped him into our bed so he could watch his show while I was half asleep. Next thing I know, Mason leaned over and licked my eyebrow! He then announced, "I licked you!" Okay, okay, I am awake!

Spring Break

After the adventure that was potty training the rest of the week (I still have one precious day left) has been uneventful but fun.

Yesterday I learned that Mason can play outside in the backyard (fenced of course) by himself. If you don't already know, I don't like nature, or outside really. Therefore, this was quite the discovery for me. He wandered around the yard, singing, poking in the dirt, just being a boy. I was able to empty the dishwasher, load the dishwasher, tidy up, start a load of laundry. It was great!

Mason enjoys sweeping out the garage, which is great. It would be better if he actually swept it OUT of the garage rather than just around the garage. What makes this even funnier to me is that he has been sweeping it out with a car scraper. You know, what you scrape the snow off your car with. He uses the tiny brush on one side to "tidy up" our garage.

Some funny Mason sayings from the week:

~that sounds nummy!

~to Caleb and I: "What's the problem guys?"

~I flopped down on the bed and said "I am pooped" (After a shopping trip of course). Mason then crawled up on the bed and asked me, very concerned, "are you poopy Mommy?" I guess you can tell we tried potty training.

~"Really! That's great Mommy!"

We love this boy!

(Sorry for all the pictures of the BACK of Mason's head. If you have every tried to get his face it is next to impossible)

Mommy HATES potty training!

I am not having any fun! I was optimistic yesterday, although I didn't have a really good reason to be. Today...not so much. He officially has gone on the floor more than he has on the potty. This morning he sat there forever, and nothing. So he got up. Then not five minutes later...all over the floor. At least this time it was on the tile floor. He then went upstairs to get a toy and he came down soaked. It was seriously two mintues later. Did he save a reserve? I think that if I don't feel better after today...I quit. We will wait until either this summer OR if I can talk my amazing babysitter into letting me pay her to do it for me;) I would do it...NOT KIDDING!