Tiger Cub Scout

Robert recently joined the cub scouts.

 

 He really enjoys it and several of his classmates are in his den.

 

 

Tonight, I took him to our first den meeting.  The theme was communication, so we started off by playing a version of the game telephone.  You know, where the first child whispers something to the next, who it turn whispers it to the next child, etc... until you reach the end and find out the message has changed.

For the first round, the message was "Thomas the turtle turns 29 this Tuesday".  The boys excitedly shared the secret message until it finally reached the last boy.  When the last boy was asked what the message was, he replied "Doody Head".  Tried it again with a second secret message and we got the same result.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this is what happens when you get a group of 6 year old boys together.

Sunday morning treat

My church offers cookies and juice after the mass each Sunday, which is great because it helps my boys behave in mass.  I am constantly whispering in their ears during mass: "Knock it off or you won't get a cookie and juice afterwards." It usually works.

This morning, 3 yr old Jack had trouble behaving and lost his juice privilege but was allowed a cookie.

After mass, we were outside with our cookies when Robert took Jack's cookie, thinking he wasn't allowed to have it.  Of course, this resulted in tears and screams.  The priest came over and asked Jack what was wrong.  He walked Jack back over to the cookies and gave him four.  Then he led him to the church office where they have a huge basket of lollipops.  Jack silently followed him and picked one out. 

When we got back outside, Grandma Maureen asked him who gave him the lollipop.

Jack looked at her with big eyes, in awe, and said "God!"

Happy 4th of July

We started the day off with Robert's swim practice....

Then we got the kids dressed for the 4th of July parade

Robert rode in the swim team's truck, filled with water. 

They threw candy to the kids and splashed water on everyone.

And Jack rode his bike behind the truck, with me and Alex.

After spending the rest of the day at the pool, we had a fun evening of shooting

off fireworks with our neighbors.  Happy 4th of July!

I'm hiding my car keys

Being the little brother, Jack seems to think he can do anything his big brother can do.  For example, Jack is now jumping off the high dive at our pool.  At age 3.

His daddy was jumping off the high dive during break with another dad, trying to splash the kids on the side of the pool.  Somehow, Jack climbed up the high dive unnoticed until he was standing at the end of the board.  All the kids at the pool cheered him on and so Jack jumped.  It was only 2 weeks ago where he refused to get his face in the water.  Now he is jumping off the diving boards and dog paddling to the side.

Jack also tries to sneak sips of my Coke when I'm not looking.  He is constantly asking me for his own soda.  The other day we had this conversation (oh, and Jack now INSISTS that everyone call him Big Boy):

ME:  How old are you?

BIG BOY: I'm three!

ME: Well, I'm sorry, but three year olds cannot drink soda.

BIG BOY:  I'M NOT THREE!  I'M SIXTEEN!  I can also drive.  I just have to put your keys in the ignition and turn them.


OK, now that worries me.  I think we are going to have to hide the car keys from now on so I won't find my minivan driven into the front of my house.

California

Jack and I flew to California to spend time with cousins Ryan and Ellie while my sister gave birth in the hospital.  She gave birth to a beautiful, perfect little girl named Lauren.

We had lots of fun.  First, we headed to Hermosa Beach:

Ryan and Jack loved to run from the waves.

Then, we played with rocket balloons and Ryan's favorite, the stomp rocket

Jack was very excited to meet baby Lauren.  He insisted that he was going to take Lauren home with us.  I guess I didn't explain our purpose of coming to CA and he assumed it was to get a baby.

 A kiss for cousin Lauren

Baby Lauren with her Aunt Colleen

Not only did we have fun visiting family and meeting the new baby, Jack also became potty trained.  Finally. When we got to CA, I took his pullups off and told him that nobody wears them in CA.  Surprisingly, it worked and he remained potty trained even after we left CA.



Ladies Man

Last week, a friend emailed to tell me that Robert told her daughter that he wanted to marry her (they are in the same kindergarten class).  Very cute, I know. 

However, I didn't have the heart to tell her that it is just his line he uses on all the girls.  He tells them what they want to hear, and apparently 5 year old girls want a proposal.  Robert has agreed to marry most of the little girls in our neighborhood and a handful of other girls in his class.

The first time this happened, he was about 3 1/2 yrs old.  He was over at his friend Tess's house for dinner.

ROBERT:  Tess, I'm going to marry you one day

TESS:  Ummmmmmm

ROBERT:  We're going to get married!

TESS:  Well, I'm not sure...

ROBERT:  Yes, we are!

TESS:  I'm not sure if you're the one.

ROBERT (getting agitated):  Yes, Tess, we will get married and you are going to have a baby in your belly!


He has since moved on to wanting to marry Tess's older sister.  I can tell we're going to have a lot of problems when Robert is old enough to date.

Monkey Butt

Monkey Butt is a new word in our house these days. 

To encourage Jack with potty training, we bought some cute monkey underwear from Target.  He loves pulling his pants down, sticking his butt out and yelling Monkey Butt.  He also likes to stick his rear end in my face and insist I take another picture of him with my iphone.

Not only that, he is insisting I call him Monkey Butt instead of his usual nickname, Baby Jack.

Normally, Monkey Butt is the kind of word that I would not allow my boys to use in our house.  But, Jack is 3 and I am so desperate for him to finish potty training.  So, I think I'll let it slide for now.

I feel like I need to document this so when Jack is a teenager and wondering why his nickname is Monkey Butt, he'll be able to see that he gave himself the nickname.

(I'm not sure why blogger is displaying my photo sideways.)