The day Nixon grew up and approached Mac....like a man!

* You know what's adorable? Listening to your child hum classical music for no reason at all. I don't care what people say about Little Einsteins, Nixon picked up the music they play and he enjoys humming it. Today he was playing with his play dough and humming Beethoven! Awesome, right?  The best part is he was completely ignoring Mac and I being in the room with him and he was just totally all about the humming while he worked.

* If you've been around men for any period of time at all, you've undoubtedly seen the "man hug". Nixon "man hugged" Mac today! Mac called Nixon over, after Nixon did something pretty darned cute, for a hug. Nixon leaned in for the hug, then turned leaving space between Mac's chest and Nixon's upper body.
   I was cracking up! "Holy crap, did you just get "man hugged" by our 4-year old?!"
Mac says "Yep, I'm pretty sure that is exactly what just happened."
I asked Nixon for a hug, and I get a full-on hug and kiss. Yep, it's just Mac! haha

Sleeping, goofy, singing child...much better than the punkass I had in his body this morning.

* Sometimes, you just need to tell your kid to "go the F*^# to sleep, you obviously need the sleep". Today was that day.

   It started with Nixon coming over to me, with his water bottle, and saying "It's empty, this is not right!". I looked right at him and said "Excuse me?", to his credit he quickly changed his tune "May I have more flavor water please?". I told him I'd be happy to get him water, but he needed to apologize first, because his first way of asking for water was rude and very disrespectful to me. He said "I'm not sorry!" and stormed to the stairs. He immediately came back over to me, I'm expecting an apology from my sweet and loving baby boy, instead I get: "I said do it now!"
    Nope, sorry son, it's time for you to go lie down because you have obviously just lost your damned mind!

   We got upstairs and I snuggled with him. I told him I still love him, I'll always love him, but he can't be rude and demanding to me like that. It's just not okay. Sometimes we just need to rest and reset our mood.
   He and I napped together in the spare bedroom, because Mac was still sleeping for the day in our bed. When he woke up....whole new mood!

* Nixon is making up silly songs. He made one up tonight about Daddy.

Days like today just turn me into a big puddle of melted mommy goo!

* Nixon found a Legos Star Wars comic book today at Third Eye Comics. He's watched the Star Wars Legos movies and was totally "MOM LOOK AT THIS!" when he saw the comic books. I told him he could choose one and ask Mac for it. He chose the one with Yoda on it and off to find Mac we went.
Nixon: Dad! Look! Can I have this please? *shows Mac the comic book*
Mac: That's awesome buddy. You really want this?
Nixon: Uh-huh, it's awesome!
Mac: Well, you're going to have to choose: the comic book or the box toy.
Nixon: The book!
Mac: That was really easy.
me: Too easy...wait for it....
Nixon: NO...I really want them both please!
me and Mac: And there it is!
Mac: I'll get you both but you have to be good until we leave.

He got his Star Wars comic book! :)

* Nixon comes up to me while I was relaxing a migraine away. He starts singing "Jingle Bells" to me and then says to me "Guess what, Mommy? Santa will be coming and putting lots of presents under our tree soon! But...we're missing a tree" 

Baby boy, it's only August...slow down on the Santa talk. 

* Nixon saw a commercial for E! Total Divas. He said "MOM it's my favorite show!". I asked him if he liked the show because his "girl" was on it.
He stopped and said "No, Mom. She's not my girl."

I asked why not and he comes over to give me a BIG hug and says "You're my girl!"

   Mac says "I used to say the same thing to my mom. I even told her she needed to leave (stepdad) so I could marry her." 

   Is it okay that I totally melted at both of my boys and their childhood adoration for their moms?

"She makes my face go *jaw drops* she's soooo pretty!", yes, indeed that is something Nixon said today....all on his own.

* No day is complete without Nixon and I making cashiers laugh with us and having a stranger listening to us and rolling her eyes at us. Our conversation today:me: Nixon, please stay over here by me (he was only 5 feet away, but he was too close to the exit to make me comfortable)

Nixon: Okay mom. I don't want to go to jail!
me: I'm happy to hear that, it's very good that staying out of jail is one of your goals in life.
*cashier chuckles*
Nixon: No, Mommy, you need to stay out of jail!
me: Nixon, I have not gone to jail so far in my life and I plan on keeping that streak alive. If I can stay out of jail, I'm sure you can too.
*cashier laughs again* That's a good role model you have son, your mom tells you life like it is.
me: Thanks, I try to keep things honest with him.
Nixon: Yeah, my mom's really great! Can I have my truck now?
me: Yep, when all else fails, bribery...works every time.
*cue the stranger's eye rolling and cashier laughter*

But for real, what mom wouldn't want to take an opportunity and encourage their child's goal to stay out of jail?

* Nixon has never really shown much interest in any woman, beautiful or otherwise, besides myself. It's not at all concerning to me, I don't care and it's not something I'm pushing on him because he is only 4.
   That all changed tonight.
   While watching E! Total Divas, Nixon had his very first jaw dropping moment when he saw a girl. He saw:

Ariane, Nixon's "SOOOOO pretty" girl

Nixon's face when he sees her 

Nixon says "OH MY GOD, Mommy, she's soooooo pretty! She makes my face go *cheeks sucked in, eyebrows go up and jaw goes open wide*. She's super pretty!" I say "Nixon, you think she's really pretty?" Nixon says to me "Duh, Mom, did you see my face?!" and he does it again!
  How adorable is that?!

The haircut that forced even the hairdresser to leave and take a time out...yep, that was my kid today!

(no pictures today....I'm lazy and the stairs are mocking me)
*Nixon woke me up today saying "Good morning, Mommy!", I rolled over and he ran downstairs to Mac and said "Daddy, Mom's not getting up."...tattletale!

* I left Mac and Nixon to get haircuts, while I ran an errand. I returned to find Nixon crying, Mac beyond frustrated and pissed, Nixon without a haircut and Mac with a haircut. Holy hell, y'all! It'd been less than 15 minutes!
   The story goes: Mac gave Nixon his Angry Birds game to play and got his (Mac's) hair cut first. When he was done, Nixon was getting mad at a stage and yelled that he needed to still play his game! Mac said "No haircut", Nixon melted down and I walked up at the ass-end of all that, just in time to see my baby boy needing a hug from mommy.
   After ten minutes of calming him down, getting Mac off the "my kid's an ass and I just want to go away" train and getting myself back into the mom mind we did get Nixon's haircut. And he was awesome! Sat still the whole time, no screaming or fighting.
   The hairdresser was MIA for about 5 minutes when we first walked in. I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and say she was in the restroom....but I wouldn't blame her if she was reconsidering her job during those missing minutes. Gods know I reconsider parenthood on days like today....

* Nixon says to me today "Mommy, I want to be little in your belly again." WHAT?!?!
me: Baby, you're only in my belly once. When you come out, that's it. It's a no return policy.
Nixon: But mommy, I want to be in your belly.
me: Nixon, I'm pretty sure you're confused. I love that you want to go back in time and take me with you, but we can't. We can only move forward.
Nixon: That's stupid.
me: You have no idea.

Read me a story...but not that one, only Mommy can read me that one! And other ways Nixon lets us know where our place is in his heart.

* Nixon woke up today and was awesome. Super quiet, snuck downstairs and played with his toys. Then he came up and told me "Mommy, the sun is up and I'm hungry. Let's start the day!", and start the day I did.

* Nixon was doing his learning path on my computer, when the battery warning came on the screen. Nixon says "Mommy, you need to plug it in, the power is low!".
   I get the power cord and plug it in, while Nixon runs over to the switch that controls the outlet I plugged it into. He flips the switch and says "Let's get this power flowing right!"

* At bedtime, I ask Nixon if he wants Mac to read him the new My Little Pony books we have for him. Nixon quickly says "NO! Just you, Mommy." but he did let Mac read the "I love you, Stinky Face" book that we've read to him since he was a baby.
   Mac says it's okay, My Little Pony is just Nixon and I's thing and that's cool. Mac and Nixon have comic books together.  

Another catch-up post....vacation is over, so tonight's post will be business as usual, I promise!

* Wednesday my parents wanted to treat Nixon (with Mac and I) to a day at the Zoo. Any zoo trip is a good trip for Nixon, but this one included rides!

the train that Nixon had to go on alone...meaning no parents. His first "just me" ride *tear*

the carousel that started with Nixon sitting in the bench next to me and ended with him on the horse in front of me. 

* Wednesday night Nixon spent the night with his Geema Jes and Mac & I had the night to ourselves. We did nothing special. But Nixon enjoyed movies with his godmother and some very special bonding time with her.

* Thursday we went to my grandmother's for lunch. Geema Jes brought Nixon out there to meet us, and my sister came out a little later with her kids. Nixon got to play with his cousins, chasing bubbles in the backyard until it started to rain. I'm so glad he got to spend the time he did with his cousins, making memories similar to memories I have with my cousins from my childhood.

* Friday was packing day and we left to drive home around 3pm. Actually, we left 5 minutes early. For us it's kind of a big deal!
   No big events on the road. We made good time home, Nixon slept for about 3 hours of our drive. Mac and I had some silly bonding time while he slept. It really was a great vacation, minus every moron on the road seeming to target our car with their stupid driving.

Daddy's turn to drive! 

Yeah, we're kind of weird like that. 

* Saturday was our recovery day. The cats were super happy to see us and Nixon even slept in until after 9am. We all stayed in bed until after 10am, Nixon saying he had a "yucky tummy". We got dressed and went to go eat breakfast at Denny's, when Nixon got sick on the way.
   We cleaned him up and changed him (yay for being lazy and not unpacking the car yet!), I was ready to go home but Nixon insisted he was good and wanted to eat. We took a chance, armed with wipes, and asked to sit at the booth closest to the restrooms just in case.
   It was unnecessary because he was totally fine, ate all his breakfast and didn't get sick again.

Our vacation home couldn't have been any better, but we could have used more hours in the day. It's never enough time.....
Until next time: We love you, New York!

Vacation is going well, I'm a huge slacker!

Aug 19th....Ice cream goodness :)

 Being home, in NY, for a week and trying make time for everyone while not totally stressing out ourselves has been tasking. We're doing it, but it's taken some finessing.

   Monday I got my tattoo done. Nixon was adorable when he saw it. He said "Oh mommy, you have a lovely owie!" And he is not wrong. He's been loving all the time he's gotten to spend with his cousins A & P.
   The downside is he's gone on a 4 day nap strike. He finally took one yesterday, but we had to wake him up for dinner....and that was just a mess. He was Captain Grumpy Pants for the rest of the night, until we mentioned ice cream. As soon as he heard that, he degrumped and was ready to go.
   We met a long-time friend of mine for a brief visit last night, and Nixon was in awe of my friend's Star Wars Rebel Alliance jersey! That's our little geek!

  Today (Tuesday) we spent the day with Nixon's godmother, Mala. We went to a local comic book store and had a slightly disappointed kiddo when he realized not every LCBS stocked toys like Third Eye Comics does. No Angry Birds? No Nixon. He was politely asking Mac, Mala and myself to take him out to the car because he didn't want to be in the store anymore. Not rude, just very matter-of-factually making his choice known. I have to say, I was proud of him for not just throwing a tantrum to get out of the store. He waited until I was ready to take him to the car.
   After lunch out, we made our way back to Mala's abode where Nixon and Mac napped together while Mala and I just chilled for a couple hours. *I should probably add: Mala is my cousin and therefore Nixon's cousin as well, but we've asked her to be one of his fairy godmothers and he calls her "Geema"
    We spent more time visiting with my friend from last night, this evening and ended the night with a wonderful and laughter filled good time at a restaurant for a late dinner. Nixon wasn't on his best behavior, but to be fair it was quite late and he was admittedly tired.

    4 days of our vacation down 3 days to go! We're all still alive, so that's something to be grateful for!

Meeting the family....for the first time that he's likely to remember for the rest of his life!

* Nixon is awesome! I know, I say that a lot, but really he is. He woke up today, and came in to wake Mac and I by saying "The sun is put and today is Sunday! It's a great day!". How awesome is that?!
   He had a great morning chilling and relaxing before we headed off to my aunt's house to see Nixon's godmother and the rest of my immediate family, who would be also arriving at said house soon after we arrived there ourselves.

* Nixon had a BLAST running around with his cousins and it was great to watch them play together. It brought back memories of my own childhood visits from my own out-of-state cousins and our summers together. I love that Nixon's making memories of his own like that with his cousins now.

family....we are who we are. 

We have arrived!! (Aug 17th's post is late)

We made it to NY safe and sound. Nixon was awesome, doing little sleeping, some picture taking and, unfortunately, getting sick at one point. He told us "I'm okay, just too much food in my belly". We cleaned him up and carried on.

He's a trooper, even if he's cranky!

* Nixon and I both got up around 830am today. For him this is late, for me this is a miracle! I had a lot to get done, since I thrive under pressure and I'm a professional procrastinator. Nixon was great while Mac slept, for the most part, letting me get things done around the house and even helped me sort the laundry by pulling all his clothes out and putting them in his own basket.
   We had a bunch of errands to run when Mac woke up, including gifts for my nieces. Not an easy task with a kid in tow, but Nixon was totally into picking out gifts for his cousins...we'll see if he's still totally into it when it comes time to give said gifts to his cousins.

* He did not take a nap today, unless you count a 5 minute snooze in the car a nap. I'm hoping this means an extra long nap in the car tomorrow, but it could backfire and mean an extra cranky kid in the car tomorrow. Either way it'll be an adventure!

* We stopped at the grocery store to grab some last minute snacks and things, and Nixon had this one cashier completely in love with him. She kept telling me how she loved his little voice and listening to him say things. She just kept asking him questions to hear him talk. Thank gods I was right there otherwise I might not have had a kid anymore she looked like she was going to gobble the sweetness right out of Nixon! I get it, my kid's kind of cute and very adorable when he's not being an ass, but please middle-aged cashier, control yourself!

He's doing math he's so excited for our trip to NY, he got a massage and gave me a massage....I love my baby boy!

* Nixon says to me this morning "Mommy, we've got 2 weeks before we leave for New York. That's forever!". I tell him, we've got 2 days and he looks at me and says "That's not so very long. I go to sleep and wake up and then it will be one day! Wow, mommy, that's not long at all!"
   He then tells me to start packing. haha

* Nixon misplaced his iTouch today (well Mac's iTouch) and was pissed because that meant he couldn't play Angry Birds. He comes over to me and tells me I have to find it for him. I told him since I didn't touch it last, I wasn't looking for it. I went one step further and told him if I did find it before he found it, I was keeping it until we left for NY on Saturday.
   I thought he was going to lose his mind! Well, he did kind of lose his mind. He cried, yelled and kept trying to tell me I lost his iTouch.
   Mac finally found it, after Nixon apologized and was looking for it at the same time.

* At dinnertime, I tell Nixon: "Listen, if you think while we're visiting friends and family, you will get away with acting up and mouthing off and being horrible, you are wrong! I will find a place to put you in time out and you will be treated like we're at home. Family will not stop me from correcting your behavior. You know that right?"
   This kid took his plate and tried to walk away from me! I stopped him, make him look at me and took his plate away....you take food away from a Ball and he gets it. He got it, or at least knew enough to listen to Mac and I, look at me and told me he got it.
   We shall see......

* Nixon, after his shower, says to me "Mommy, can you do the bang, bang on my back?" It took me a minute to get what he meant. He likes when I use the side of my hand pinkie to wrist, and lightly chop his back as a massage. What's even better, is after I did this to him while he was stretched out over my legs in my bed watching tv, he decided it was my turn so I got the same massage from him AND I got a back scratch from him!
   I love him and his thoughtfulness.

poor baby has a cough but keeps telling me he's fine...yeah, so fine he's sleeping with his mouth open :(

"Oh My" Nixon's new favorite phrase

* Mac has a new ringtone on his phone. It's George Takei saying his famous "Oh My" line. Nixon finds this to be hilarious and has been repeating it perfectly now for a couple days.
   Today, he woke me up (at 11am, totally awesome kid I have!) by tapping my shoulder lightly and saying "Hey Mommy, Oh my!" I had no choice but to wake up and go to the bathroom I was laughing so hard!

* Nixon says to me at bedtime tonight "Mom, I'm not tired, but my bed is comfy. You can come put in bed and read to me but I'm not tired." I did read to him and he wasn't tired. He fell asleep about 45 minutes later after 3 trips downstairs.
   He was not lying.

Ummm...can I get "Conversations I had never wanted to have with my son, EVER" for a million, Alex? The answer....

* Nixon kept trying to lean over and kiss me, but his mouth was wide open. At first I thought he was trying to lick me because you know, we do that to each other in our house so it's not totally out of the realm of possibility,  but when I ask him what he's trying to do, I end up having the most uncomfortable and disturbing conversation with him to-date.
me: *pushing Nixon's face away* Baby, what are you doing?
Nixon: I want to kiss you!
me: Why is your mouth open? Close your mouth and kiss me.
Nixon: NO! I want to touch my tongue with your tongue!
me: You want to what?!?! Why? Why would you even think of that? What?!? *clearly I am having a hard time grasping the words coming out of his mouth*
Nixon: But mom, I want to kiss you!
me: Oh my god, Nixon! You can kiss me, but for gods sake, your tongue stays in your mouth.
Nixon: No! I want to kiss you my way!
me: *sigh* Nixon, where did you learn or see kisses like that?
Nixon: The Big Bang.
me: Sonuvabitch! Okay, see here's the deal: first, no kissing anyone like that, until you are much older! Second, you do not kiss people you are related to like that. Got it?
Nixon: Really?
me: Nix, I adore you, but you must keep that tongue of your out of other people's mouths until you are older, they can not be related to you and you can never kiss mommy or daddy like that. You need to find someone you have feeling for in your heart, like I have feelings for daddy in my heart, to kiss like that.
Nixon: Mommy? Can I have a normal kiss from you and a hug too?
me: Of course you can...no licking!
*he laughs because I know exactly what he was going to try!*

 Mac came home after training and I told the story to him. The only thing we could come up with that Nixon was talking about regarding the Big Bang Theory, is the episode with the long distance simulation kissing models that Raj and Howard use. The one where Leonard is still dating Raj's sister after she moved back to India. Yeah, we love that show and I guess we're going to have to be way more cautious about content, not just violence and language which had been our concern previously, when it comes to Nixon. Damn you, kid!!

Medicine juice and other things that will lead to a pre-breakfast meltdown....

* Poor Nixon had the worst morning today. He was eating his apples and drinking his OJ that I had gotten for him, while Mac and I were up in our room still waking up and getting ready to go out to breakfast. Nixon spilled his OJ and was so upset! He was crying, just devastated that he made a mess and had spilled all his "medicine juice". He's got a cough and some chest congestion, so to get him to take his cough medicine I put the dose in a cup of OJ. He saw me do this today and realized it was "medicine juice". He was suddenly very okay with drinking medicine juice (which he hadn't been before, hence why I resorted to mixing it in OJ in the first place) and was upset when it was spilled.
   We cleaned him, the carpet and the chair up, assured him it was fine and eventually we got out of the house and had a really nice day together. Lots of errands completed, getting things ready for the road trip this weekend and even got Nixon's health forms for school completed!

* how do you know Nixon's under the weather? He takes a 4 hour nap and then still goes to bed on time. Yep, that happened today. Poor baby, I hope this cold is short-lived so he can really enjoy our time in NY with my family next week.

morning Mommy, I'm going to yell in your face about a rabbit but I'll make up for it later by treating you like a Queen! Gets me every time!

* It's been well established that Nixon has no respect for my personal space, correct? He has even less respect for it when I'm sleeping. As he proved, once again, this morning.
   I was sleeping in the spare bedroom, because I had issues sleeping last night in our bedroom at the front of the house. The spare bedroom looks over the backyard. Nixon comes running into the bedroom, jumps onto the bed, gets mouth-to-face close to me and yells "Mommy, get up and look! Peter rabbit is visiting again. You have to say hi to him! MOMMMMY LOOK RIGHT NOW!!!"
   The bunny, aka Peter Rabbit, was in the backyard down below us and I can assure you he could not careless if I say hello to him or not.

* Nixon was randomly singing this morning, a bunch of Phineas and Ferb songs. Guess what I learned? Phineas and Ferb are to blame for Nixon's "bowchicabowwwow", they say it in one of their songs, just not like Nixon sings it.
   But seriously, Disney?!? This was okay?? I'll let it go, because it's kind of awesome...but really?!?

* I have to share this: Nixon brought me a pudding cup (or as he calls it "putting"), holds it out hand up, head bowed and says "Your Majesty, may I please have this putting please?"                          

He got his "putting" cup!

In the middle of the night there was a thump and a cry, the next morning he says "use your mommy voice"....he is very lucky he is so darned cute!

he woke up and rolled over just as the flash on my camera went off...I'm keeping this one! 

* Who got woken up, out of a dead sleep, by a *thump* and crying child?!? This mom! Nixon finally did what Mac was always afraid he'd do: he rolled out off our bed. Our bed, which is about 3 feet from the ground. He rolled over in his sleep, after he FLEW at me in his sleep and elbowed me in the back of my head and between my shoulder blades I swear to gods he like super-flied across the bed and landed on top of me, just as I was falling asleep!, he quickly fell back to sleep and so did I. Then he rolled over and *thump* cue my panicked scramble out of bed to get him and his crying!
  I lifted him back into the bed and just held him while looking for blood on his face or head. He had no blood on him, but kept asking him if he was okay. He told me his face was okay but his back and legs hurt, because he landed on them. After he calmed down, by the way while he was calming down we were curled up in the center of my giant-ass bed so he didn't worry about falling off again, I asked him if he thought it was time to stop sleeping in mom & dad's bed. He said "Yeah, because falling out of it is a long fall and the ground hurt my back Mommy.", I carried him into his bedroom, gave him hugs and kisses and he was soon fast asleep.
    He does have a couple small bruises on his spine from the fall last night. Totally one of the top 10 scariest middle of the night moments I've had with him!

* Nixon is hilarious! I am grumpy-as-hell first thing in the morning. Nixon, my son, knows this. So when he says something to me, before I've had my coffee, that makes me do a double take, I just love him a little more.
   I was making Nixon waffles. I called him to the kitchen, barely speaking because I hate being awake before I've had my coffee, "Nixon, come get your waffles". Nixon walks into the kitchen and says "No, mommy, you don't say that. Not like that."
   I look at him, "Say what?"
   He says, straight-faced "You say it in your mommy voice. Not that voice you just said."
  All I could respond was "My "mommy voice"? What's that?"
   He was kind enough to explain, "Your mommy voice is your happy voice."
   Ah, it all made sense, I wasn't happy enough for him. But, please note, he's not a fan of my overly sarcastic happy tone either. With him it's either real or nothing at all.

he knew I was taking his picture, so he asked me to hide him from the light. 

It's always nice to start with a warning..or advance apologies in my case. His teacher has been forewarned and she's still excited to have Nixon in her class!

* Nixon says to me this morning, sweet as could be "Mommy, I think it's time to get out of bed. You need to brush your teeth. Me too, but you do the most." I adore my son and I love this adorable, blunt honesty of his.

* We, Mac and I, are mildly addicted to TMZ the show. We watch it so much Nixon now knows the closing bit and gets angry when he can't do it. Tonight he had just taken a big swig of water and he couldn't swallow it in time, so he acted out the "I'm a lawyer" with his hands! He is so hilarious!

* I went to Nixon's school to picked up his new student packet and pay the remaining registration fee. As luck would have it, I was greeted by his teacher! So, being me, I apologized for Nixon's dry-witted sarcasm (in advance) and also for "being that mom on the first day with snot leaking down my nose and not wanting to let go of my kid". We both laughed and I told her, I was kidding....kind of. I'm hoping I remember tissues, or at least wear something with sleeves.

I feel like this post is just the beginning of the apologies I will be making to Nixon future teachers....is there a template I can find, maybe a mad-lib would be best?!? This is going to be great, right??

* I called this morning and found out Nixon has a spot in the pre-K class we signed him up for last month!! He'll be going 3 days a week, 3 hours each day starting September 4th.
   Let me just say: for a kid who has been begging to go to school for over 6 months now, when I told him he will be going to school in a few weeks, even going so far as to show him the first day of school as I wrote it on the calendar, he was far from impressed. In fact, he was pissed off! Why? He was pissed that he had to wait until we got back from NY and then another week.
   He even tried telling me "But mom, we already went to New York, don't you 'member? We put all the x's on the days and we're home now. Now I can go to school!"
   I believe I will be apologizing a lot to his teacher for his creative logic....like, a whole lot.

* I painted my toe nails this morning. Nixon asked for his to be painted as well. He chose the very neon green/yellow color I have. But hey, he sits still for 20 minutes, so I see it as a win.

* Have you met "mini-Mac"? Mini-Mac is Nixon, when he is in full-on mimic daddy mode. He repeats almost any and everything Mac says, good or bad. But he doesn't just repeat the words, he copies the tone and voice inflection. He is getting spot-on dry sarcasm from this.
   Again....I apologize to his teacher for producing quite possibly the most dry-witted, sarcastic 4.5-year old she has had the pleasure of teaching. Thank gods this school has a heavy emphasis on creativity, Nixon surely has a ton of that!

the post that almost didn't happen because I am lazy, my bed is comfy and I really am lazy!

* I was watching Ink Master this morning, while Nixon was doing his learning path on the computer. Nixon says to me, something about wanting a tattoo and how awesome tattoos are. Then he sees the actual tattoo needle and ink process, shown on the show. He says to me "Mommy, I think I don't want a tattoo anymore. Needles give me owies and I don't like them. Can you stop watching this show now? I don't like it anymore." I tell him I do like tattoos and the needles and he says "Mommy, that's gross! You need help!"
   The fantasy in my head of mother-son tattoos just died a little today....

* It's Shark Week!! WooHoo!!
   Even Nixon is getting into Shark Week, watching some good shark-filled shows with mac and I. Tonight we watched a show with some crew members of Mythbusters building a replica of Megalodon, an ancient shark that was HUGE! The replica was crushing all kinds of things and it was really impressive. Mac let out a "DAMN!" at one point and Nixon repeated the phrase and then said, "Right, Dad?". Right you are kiddo....but we reminded him not to say that word.

* Nixon has been cleaning up his room for one week! I am a happy and proud momma because since he's been doing it, he's making less of a mess in his room!

Boring day and it's okay by me.

* I like boring days that really nothing happens. It means no great disasters and no big meltdowns, in my book it means an epic win!
   He even choose a book not a toy when we were doing a quick grocery shopping trip today. A book!! What parent would turn that down?!? Not us.

* Nixon's kind of the coolest kid I know. Did you know he tells me when he's ready to go to bed? He'll grab his teddy bear and go to the stairs and say "Umm, Mom, I think I'd like to go to bed now. I think it's time."
   Yeah, he really is the coolest kid ever!

He just needed to know that Pinkie Pie had a best friend to make his bad mood go away...or at least that's the only logical explanation I have for his total mood change today.

* This morning did not start out good at all. We all got up and got ready to do our Monday morning tradition of breakfast at Denny's, even left and got to Denny's....only to have Nixon lose his effin' mind over Angry Birds! I mean, he LOST his mind! Crying, yelling...an epic tantrum that resulted in us getting back in the car and coming right back home.
   The end result was a family nap and a much happier Nixon. We went to Denny's for breakfast for dinner. Nixon was totally awesome. Ordered his meal, sat quietly, ate his whole meal...just a total 180 from the child he was in the morning.

* Nixon is becoming great at cleaning up his bedroom and living room before bed. Tonight he cleaned his room while his bath was filling up. It was great!

* Nixon woke up from his nap today and was walking down the stairs. I told him, to go bring his Pinkie Pie down with him. He stopped on the stairs and peeked around the corner at me and asked why. I told him there was someone who wanted to play with her...then he saw that my Build-A-Bear Princess Twilight Sparkle arrived and he got the biggest smile on his face and said "Pinkie Pie's best friend is home!"
   Best.Reaction.Ever! He brought Pinkie Pie downstairs and set the ponies up so they were hugging. It was adorable.

His heart's better, he's giving me kisses and bonding with daddy today! A total successful Sunday!

* From yesterday:
Nixon seeing Mac reading on his tablet: What the heck are you reading?!?!

* Nixon was in a much better place this morning. He said to me "Mommy, I have good smiles from when J visited. That's a good thing. Friends are good to have." Those words made me feel like the best mom in the world, because just last night he was swearing off of making friends ever.

* I struggled with another mild migraine today. As I was trying to sleep it off, Nixon came up to check on me. He saw I was hurting and he kissed my forehead saying "Oh, Mommy, you don't feel good do you? My poor mommy."

* I woke up to find Nixon and Mac playing Super Hero Squad together. Mac was playing, Nixon had a turned off control, but he didn't know it. They "played" 3 levels together and Nixon had a total blast! I was in love with both of them watching them together.

Life kind of sucks, even when you're only 4 with no real life issues.

* Another great signing at Third Eye Comics today. Nixon and I arrived way earlier than usual, got there before 9am. It was a great crew, chill day, Nixon was great. The creators we met were awesome! They even got the "Name Story" because they asked how we came up with his name (I had them sign something for him).

* Tonight Nixon and I had a deep conversation about friends, love, missing people and broken hearts. Much deeper material than I'd thought I'd have to address with a 4-year old, but he needed to hear it. He was saying he wanted to quit making friends. Why? Because his heart hurt from missing his cousin J so much, he was worried that new friends would leave him too and hurt his heart even more.
   Poor kiddo.
   I had to tell him, his heart hurt from missing J because he loved J. We always miss the ones we love when we have to say good-bye. He seemed to understand, but wow, talk about a really heavy moment for us.