typically speaking, john's favorite place on the couch is the far left side (as you look at it). that's where he snuggles up to watch his movies, eat a snack, or snuggle under the blanket.
except, of course, when mommy sits at the far end. then john stops one micro-inch away from sitting on me, as close as he can possibly get to me. and leaves the whoooooole rest of the couch unused. a boy can't get close enough to his mommy, apparently! (and i love it. although, i DO look forward to a time when i get to go to the bathroom by myself. that doesn't happen often these days!)
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i have never been a whiz in the kitchen. i don't really even like to cook, though of course i have learned and can get by well enough to feed my family. (though thank goodness my husband is a better and more adept cook than i, and he does far more than his fair share of the cooking chez john.)
but on sunday afternoon, i needed to bake some muffins for us to eat for breakfasts throughout the week, so i plopped john up on the counter so he could watch. and you know what? it was great. we had a blast! he counted the eggs as i broke them, laughed while i made "yukky milk" (impromptu buttermilk from whole milk and vinegar), and even took turns stirring. "i make, mommy! i make muffins!" he said, happily whisking the ingredients together. if cooking were always that fun, i'd do a lot more of it.
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when i was growing up, birthdays were a big deal. not in a spectacle sort of way - just, that was YOUR day. whatever you wanted for dinner, dad would cook up. mom baked some sort of awesome birthday cake in the shape of some whimsical thing or another (cat, tropical fish, violin, you name it). just sort of fun and exciting.
i've always wanted birthdays to be like that at our house - not just for the kiddos, but for my husband too. and sunday was his 35th birthday, so that would have been an awesome opportunity, no? except no. i really fell down on the job for this birthday. we did have some cupcakes (from a local bakery, not creatively home-made) and john did go visit with his mal-mal and uncle brother ben (see mal's awesome pic of john coming down the slide above) so that daddy and i could go out for a nice dinner together. and it WAS nice. but - are you listening, hunny? - next year i will do better. he's a great dude and deserves to feel really special on his day.
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and then it's monday again. and with monday comes all the frazzledness of completely forgetting how to get ready to leave the house. (don't worry, i'll get it down by friday ...)
so as i was putting on my makeup in my bathroom (three minutes after we should have left the house), i heard from the laundry room, "i up there, mommy! i up there!"
heart thumping, picturing john hanging from the light fixture after climbing on the washing machine and leaping, i raced to the laundry room.
where instead, i found him sitting gleefully on top of buddy's fort knox kennel. pleased as punch.
and when i asked how he got there, he said, "i use hands on ladder, mommy!"
so determined ...
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