Bein’ Franklin

Posted by mommyfranklin at June 28th, 2008

Zachary is at a rough age. It’s that age when he still needs an afternoon nap but he really doesn’t want one. Our summer schedule is pretty loose, so we don’t enforce bedtime and naptime as much as we should. The result is a pretty cranky little boy.

He had a hard day today. Some friends came to visit, so he chose to play instead of crashing on the sofa like he generally does in the late afternoon. So, in an effort to cheer him up before bedtime, he, Timothy, and I were playing This Little Piggy with his toes. After a few minutes, he decided to play it with my toes. He didn’t quite get the words right though.

Here’s his version:
I don’t know what this piggy doos
I don’t know what this piggy doos
I don’t know what this piggy doos
I know what this piggy doos!
This piggy goes wee-weee-wee all the way home.

Close…

Posted by mommyfranklin at March 13th, 2008

Every night during bedtime prayers, we all go around and say what we are thankful for. Sometimes we’ll be creative, but friends and family generally top the list.

Tonight, Zachary provided his take on how to know if someone is friend or family.

He said, “family sits at the table and dines, but friends play hide-and-seek and have parties.”

I think we’ve been to too many parties for friends over the last week. Or, maybe it’s time for a family party. It’s a good thing Easter will be here soon.

Posted by mommyfranklin at January 22nd, 2008

Today, one of the little girls in my class informed me that big girls don’t poop. How’s that for an opening line for a blog? Anyway, her statement reminded me that I had been meaning to blog about Zachary’s definition of a big boy.

He’s been pretty set on gender recognition lately. At the table, he’ll tell us there are two girls and three boys. Or when all his friends have been picked up from class at the end of the schoolday, he’ll tell his teacher that there is just one boy left.

As of late, he has started making fairly random statements about what big boys do and don’t do.

Big boys don’t wear skirts.
You might assume that this comes from not being allowed to dress up in Emily’s princess dresses. While I am sure he heard it in that context, it actually came from a time when Scott was teaching him how to tell which bathroom he uses at restaurants.

Big boys aren’t cold.
This is Zachary’s reason for not wanting to put his coat on at the end of the day. I believe this one to an extent, considering that Scott keeps the temperature pretty low and runs the ceiling fan all night.

Big boys don’t break it.
This one came as a admonishment to Scott one night when we’d gone out to eat. The plastic lid to one of the drink cups had broken, and Scott proceded to tear it up the rest of the way. Zachary’s response was to tell him not to do that.

He’s pretty set on being a big boy. Even though he’s only been three for about 6 weeks, he’s already telling us that he’ll soon be four just like Timo. I hate to tell the guy that he’ll never be the same age as Timotihy.

Posted by mommyfranklin at December 14th, 2007

I usually save these types of posts for Scott and his family dictionary, but I am trying to blog more so I am going to take these.

Christmas has brought some new phrases to our house. We expect Zachary to say odd ball things every once in a while, but these came from Timothy and Emily.

Timothy’s favorite song right now is the Twelve Days of Christmas. He spends a lot of time singing it and even does some motions to the various gifts received from his “true love.” He’s got most of the words right, but has one noticable error on the first day of Christmas. Instead of a “a partridge in a pear tree,” he gets “a partridge in the pantry.” I guess that makes more sense to him.

Emily has added a new member to the Christmas story. Most people know of the angel Gabriel. Well, Emily recently informed us that there was another angel there. This one is named, “Lo.” We’ve determined that this came from Luke 2:9 “And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.” I tried to tell her that “Lo” was short for “Lori,” but she wouldn’t buy it.

Posted by mommyfranklin at November 16th, 2007

As we were driving across town to meet Scott for lunch today, Timothy told me to slow down because there was a dip ahead. When I asked him how he knew, his response was…

“I read it on that sign, mama.”

Well, duh, Mom!

We spent the rest of the trip reading road signs.

Sigh….

Posted by mommyfranklin at November 7th, 2007

Zachary’s third birthday is a month away. I commented on this on the way to school this morning, and mentioned that we need to start planning for his party. Then, Timothy asked me how long it was to his birthday. It told him that his birthday is in 6 months, and that today is his half birthday. This got his attention. He asked me what half birthday meant, and I explained to him that it meant that he was now closer to being 5 than being 4. He asked if that meant he was almost 5, and I told him that 5 is astill a ways off but he is now 4 1/2 instead of 4. He thought about that the rest of the way to school.

When we got to school, the first thing we did was go down to the basement to Timothy’s classroom. We generally get to school about 30 minutes to an hour early, and have gotten into the routine of going to his classroom first to hang up his bag, jacket, and lunch box. Then, we head back to my classroom on the first floor so I can get set up for the day. Today was no different.

When we got to his classroom, his teacher had already arrived. Timothy walked up to her and announced that today was his half birthday. She looked a little puzzled and asked him whose birthday it was. He again said it was his half birthday, emphasizing the half a little more this time. So she told him happy half birthday and said they would have ice cream to celebrate on Friday. They’ve been learning the letter “I” this week, so the ice cream had been in the plans all week. He then ran over to the classroom next to his (they share a temporary wall) and told their teacher that it was his half birthday. He pretty much told everyone in the basement and the first floor that it is his half birthday. While this was going on, Zachary was informing everyone that it was his birthday and that he was going to his Dora & Diego party. He was a little mixed up on his facts, so I had lots of explaining to do about what the two boys were saying. It’s a wonder I got my room ready by the time school started.

Zachary seemed to have it all figured out by the time school got out, but Timothy was still pretty determined that everyone know it is his half birthday. We had an appointment after school, and he told anyone we saw that he is now 4 1/2 NOT 4.

Posted by mommyfranklin at September 5th, 2007

Timothy said two things that really made me smile today.

The first occurred this morning on our way to school. We had just dropped Emily off at school and were waiting in line to get out of the parking lot. From the back, Timothy said, “Mama, that red submarine needs to get out of our way so we can go to our school.” We finally made it out of the parking lot and were headed to Calvary when he said, “look mom! a gray submarine!” I was at a red light, so I looked over at the vehicle he was referring to.

Can you guess what it was?

That’s right, it was a suburban. Lubbock doesn’t have need for submarines, but there are more than just a few suburbans around. I explained the difference to Timothy and he asked if there are different colors of submarines like there are of suburbans. By the time we pulled into the parking lot at Calvary, Timothy, Zachary, and I were all singing “We all live in a Yellow Submarine.”

The other occurred at dinner. Scott decided he wanted to make donuts for a special after-dinner treat. Zachary didn’t eat real well today because of a toothache, but he sure perked up at the idea of donuts. He declared that he wanted to go get in the van for donuts. I told him we were going to make them. To this, Timothy said, “mama, are you gonna wear Jamaican clothes there?”

Where is he picking up these words?

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 21st, 2007

This past weekend was tax-free weekend. We took advantage of the tax break and sales and bought new clothes for everyone on Saturday. We have a friend who gives us clothes after her son outgrows it, so the boys didn’t really need much. Mainly just jeans for them. Emily seems to have grown another foot since the last time we bought her clothes, so she has 2 new dresses, 3 new pair of jeans in various colors, a pair of capris, 4 new shirts, 2 pair of long shorts, 2 pair of gauchos, socks, and 3 new pair of shoes. Scott and I were in need of some new clothes as well, so it was a big day of shopping. So we could mix in some time visiting with family, we decided to go to Amarillo to do our shopping. We left at 9:00 Saturday morning and returned home at 10:00pm. It was a good day.

When Zachary woke up from his nap, he seemed to be doing okay so we gave him some lunch. He was in pretty good spirits then, and I needed to go grocery shopping. So, Zachary and I went to the grocery store. We stopped by Payless first to see if they had any dress shoes for him. He’s been wearing a pair of Timothy’s old boots, and they were worse for wear. I had run to the Shoe Dept while Zachary napped to get tennis shoes for me, but had not found any dress shoes for Zachary that were less than $30. I just can’t justify paying that much for kids shoes. Payless had one pair. They were around $20, so I decided we would look at Wal-Mart first and come back if they didn’t have what we wanted. After a quick trip to the bathroom at Wal-Mart, we went to the shoe aisle. We found two pair in his size. One pair were penny loafers and the other were lace up shoes exactly like Timothy’s. I asked Zachary which ones he wanted and said “Like Timo!” So, we go those, did our grocery shopping, and headed home. As I was unpacking the groceries, Zachary got his shoes and started showing them to everyone who would look. He explained to everyone that they were just like Timo’s.

Zachary has always been one to do something just because Timothy does it. Even to the point of crying because his head hurts when Timothy is the one that bumped his head on the wall or something. Having matching dress shoes has added a new spin to this though. If Timothy puts on denim shorts and a red shirt, Zachary insists on having clothes “like Timo!.” Or if I dress Zachary first, then Timothy quickly finds an outfit with the same color shirt and shorts as Zachary. They haven’t even worn their matching shoes yet. That will wait until Sunday.

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 17th, 2007

We have started going on walks in the evenings. The boys travel in the red wagon we received for Christmas. Emily walks / run part of the way and climbs in the wagon when she gets tired.

Where do we go?

We usually go to Emily’s school. It is about 3/4 of mile from here. We’ll walk over there, let the kids play on the playground for a bit, and then walk back. It’s fun. When we were deciding where to go the first time, Scott and I were speaking code. We can’t spell anymore since Emily’s such a great reader, so we just use cryptic messages. So, the kids started guessing where we were going to go. Emily’s first guess — are we going to the banana? It was so off the wall that we indulged her and said that was where we were going. Now anytime we drive by or walk to the school, the boys will get very excited that they see the banana. Emily is less than pleased that they call her school the banana, but there’s nothing she can do about it since she started it.

Emily has recently started learning to ride her bike. A friend gave it to us when their daughter outgrew it. She’s had it for a couple years, but it was a little big for her. The old training wheels were starting to buckle, so got some new ones. When she wants to ride instead of walk, we go for a short walk around the block. She’s doing pretty good so far.

There is life after TV.

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 2nd, 2007

* I was not in Mommy’s tummy, I was in her shirt. — Timothy (said to Emily when she was talking about a time when I was pregnant with Timothy)

* If I don’t get candy for going potty, then I don’t want to be potty trained. — Timothy (after we explained that the treats were rewards for Zachary going potty. Timothy is already potty trained, so he doesn’t get treats anymore)

* I didn’t know the words, so I just made some up. — Emily (singing the “I’m a Barbie Girl” song)

* Daddy not in a meeting, Daddy at work. — Zachary (after I explained to Timothy why Scott couldn’t come sit with him at swimming lessons today)

* Can I still read before I go to bed? — Emily (talking about the end of the reading contest)

* Why are we at our old Wal-Mart? — Timothy (when we pulled up to a different Wal-Mart from the one we usually shop at in Lubbock. It is the same color as the one in Plainview)