Bein’ Franklin

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 27th, 2007

The ride home from swimming lessons today was marked with the children telling about the things they had done at swimming lessons.

Z — Hold wall all by myself!

Today I got a little break from holding him through the entire class. He discovered that he can hold his head up by holding onto the wall. He discovered this near the end of class when the kids were jumping off the edge. He really likes jumping and I was trying to show him how to climb out. I moved him over to the wall and helped him get his leg up on the edge so he could climb the rest of the way. One of the times that we did this, he decided he didn’t want to climb out. He just wanted to hold onto the wall all by himself. He turned, looked at me, and said in true two-year-old style, “don’t want you to hold me mama, do all by myself.”

T — My teacher tied a orange noodle around me and I swimmed all by myself!

I had been a little surprised when Timothy’s teacher had told me that we didn’t need to buy floaties for swimming lessons. Now I know why. Unless you knew what was going on, it would be surprising to see three and four year olds “swimming” around the pool with a noodle tied around them. But that’s what they did. It worked great. Timothy did a great job.

E — I dived through a hula hoop in the deep end all by myself! And I wasnt scared!

Yesterday was the first time Emily was excited to go to swimming lessons. She got a little scared when her class moved down to the 10 foot deep water, but she quickly got over her fear. Her teacher is really good with her, and I do believe that Emily has turned a corner as far as her fear is concerned. It’s too bad we couldn’t take lessons at the beginning of the summer. She may have been confident enough to take the swimming test at GA camp so she could jump off the diving board. Today, they spent most of the classtime in the deep end and she wasn’t scared at all.

Good job kids!

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 25th, 2007

Zachary just woke up from his nap. So, I went upstairs to change his diaper and to have him sit on the potty before I put his underwear back on him. I said, “sit down, please.” He sat down and said, “i not Jesus.”

Good to know.

While I am certain that he just misunderstood me when I said please, he did make me wonder if he thinks my expectations are a bit too high.

Posted by mommyfranklin at June 30th, 2007

Remember the post when I explained that Timothy had announced that he wanted to be called Timothy Reagan Franklin?

Well, it seems that Zachary is following in his brother’s footsteps. No, he’s not insisting on being called Zachary Douglas Franklin or Timothy Reagan Franklin, for that matter. He is Zachee. I really don’t think this is going to last just real long, but it sure has led to some fun conversations.

As the newness of having a two-story house has not worn off yet, the kids and I often spend at least 15 minutes each day sitting on the stairs talking about various things. This is generally when we are waiting for Scott to come home. The stairs are right by the front door, so it is a good place to sit and wait for him. The other day, Timothy thought it’d be fun to slide down the stairs on his tummy. As I reached down and grabbed his hand to pull him back up I accidentally called him Zachary, something I do several times a day. He quickly corrected me, telling me that his name is Timothy Reagan Franklin and then pointed at Zachary while he told me that he is Zachary. As is usually the case, Zachary chimed in pointing to himself saying, “I Zachee.” I responded to Zachary saying, “you’re not Zachee, you’re Timothy.” Zachary explained in his two-year-old way that he was not Timothy. Timothy was on the stairs. His actual words were, “no, I not Timo, I Zachee, Timo on stairs.” So, I started naming other people and Zachary would explain to me he is Zachary and would tell me where that person was. I learned that ANYONE that was not in our house at that moment was at work. And, yes, I mean anyone — Scott, Grandmama, Grandmother, Granddad, Granddaddy, Gran, Ol’ Granddad, Daisy, LD, Drake, Nicole, Mindy, Jonathan, Karissa. Apparently, Zachary is not any of those people. He’s Zachee. And, I learned that Zachary knows that I mean Daddy when I say Scott. Maybe that kid’s catching on.

This was not the only time Zachary has insisted that he is Zachee. For instance, if I ask him if he’s messed his diaper. His response is, “I not biper, I Zachee.” Or if I tell him that his bread is in his tummy, he’ll say, “I not tummy, I Zachee.” You get the idea. If you are talking to him and say the word “your” or “you’re” followed by anything besides Zachary, prepare to be corrected. Just so you know, he is not a big boy or a baby. He is Zachee.

This morning, he took it one more step. I said, “Good morning, Zachary.”. In response, he said, “I not Zach-a-ree, I Zachee.”

Excuse me, son. I really think you’re wrong on that one.

Posted by mommyfranklin at May 1st, 2007

My brother and his family recently moved to a new house. While we were visiting my parents last weekend, we all went to the new house to visit for a little while. The house is very nice, but we didn’t go just to see the house. This was our first time to meet their precious 5-month old son Drake. Emily and Zachary both just ooed and awed all over him. Timothy really didn’t seem to pay much attention to him.

Well, this morning at the breakfast table we somehow got to talking about Drake. Timothy has a theory about where Drake comes from. Here is our conversation:
Do you remember meeting your cousin, Drake?
Yes, LD and Nicole have a new house and Drake was there so they kept him too.

Hmmmmm….. I sure hope we don’t find any babies at our new house.

Posted by mommyfranklin at April 4th, 2007

Zachary has a new hobby.

The kid LOVES to talk. Most of the time he is just repeating everything Timothy (or whoever he’s with at the time) says, but from time to time he shows some independent thought. These moments can be quite frustrating as we try to figure out what he’s saying.

Tonight, he read the bedtime story. As he was holding a board book about David & Goliath, he would point at the pictures and proceded to tell a story about someone named Mac. We couldn’t catch all the words, but we know it involved a bear, a wizard, and a bat. It was great!

You’ve got to be listening for it, but he really has pretty good manners for a two-year-old. When he bumps into someone, he is usually quick to say, “sorry.” We’re still working on saying “please,” but he has gotten very good about saying “thank you” when he gets what he’s asking for. And, if we say “thank you” to him, he almost always will respond with “your welcome.”

What a charmer.

There have been few quiet moments here the last six years. While the noise level is high, it is changing. Crying has been replaced by conversation. There is still more crying and whining than we’d like, but there are times when we actually have some nice moments when we all just talk to each other.

Our family is growing up. What a great feeling! Next stop — no diapers!!

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 30th, 2006

Just a quick one that I do not want to forget…
I was mailing something to my parents. Timothy was helping me. I told him I needed to look up Granddaddy’s address to be sure I had the right zip code. He didn’t have a clue what that meant, which became very clear when he said “Granddaddy does not have a dress, he has pants.”

Posted by mommyfranklin at June 26th, 2006

As usual on Monday nights, Scott taught his class in Amarillo this evening. Because I was teaching a class at the community classroom this evening, the kids and I were not able to go along with him. The kids stayed with a sitter while I was gone to class.

Not long after I got home, it was time for the kids to go to bed. So, I got the boys into their pajamas and tucked them into bed. Then, as I was tucking Emily in, Timothy got up to use the restroom. This is a fairly regular habit of his. It is a good way to get out of going to bed.

As I was helping him get his pajamas back on, I pulled his pajamas pants up a little too far. As he was pulling them down a bit, he said “my jama pants hurt my tail mama!”
“Your tail?”
“No, not my tail! My …”

You get the idea!

Posted by mommyfranklin at May 12th, 2006

Last night –
Mommy: “Timothy, time to put your pullup and pajamas on and go to bed.”
Timothy: “I a big boy! Don’t want to wear pullup. Want to wear my underwear with my jamas.”
Mommy: “Will you stay dry?”
Timothy: “Yes. I a big boy! I three” (holding up three fingers emphatically)
Mommy: “Ok, but if you need to go potty during the night, please get up and go to the bathroom. Nemo (his blanket) doesn’t want to get wet.” (thinking to myself — he’s a fish, why wouldn’t he want to get wet??)
Timothy: “Ok mommy. I go potty now.”
Mommy: “Ok. Good boy.”

This morning –
Timothy: “I wake up, Mommy”
Mommy: “Good morning. How are you?”
Timothy: “I good. I wake up. I dry. Nemo dry. I big boy.”
Mommy: “Good boy.”