"Freakin' Crap"

So, lately I have been having an ongoing conversation with Gavin regarding an expletive that I sometimes use (Caleb uses it too, but not as often as I do). While this is not the worst thing that I could say in times of annoyance, it has somehow become much worse in my mind after hearing it come out of the mouth of my 3 year old. And after all we aren't New Yorkers so we don't have a lot of harsh language in our current vocabulary. The first time that Gavin said it, I think he just repeated it after hearing me say it. At the time Caleb and I both downplayed it in an attempt not to laugh and thinking that he wouldn't probably say it again, didn't feel the need to draw attention to the phrase.

Well, last week while riding in the car, we were stopped at a stoplight and Gavin and I had the following conversation:

Gavin: big sigh "Freakin' Crap."

Mom: reproachfully "Gav, you don't need to say that."

Gavin: "I do need to say freakin crap, Mom."

Mom: "No, you don't. Do you even know what that means?" wrong question to ask a preschooler

Gavin: "Yeah Mom. Freakin crap means when the other car will not stop blocking our way. So I need to say freakin crap."

Mom: "Well, that is not what it means, so you don't need to say it anymore. It is not nice."

Gavin: "Mooom, it is nice. I do have to say freakin crap."

Seeing no point in arguing further, I let it drop so that he wouldn't keep finding a way to fit it into every sentence.

Later that night he says to me "Mom, are you going to say freakin crap anymore?"

Mom: "No Gavin. I will try not to say it and you shouldn't either."

Gavin: "Well, I am still going to say freakin crap, even if you don't say it anymore."

Great, that is exactly what I wanted to hear... And in keeping with his word he has found times to say it whenever he seems to think it necessary. Each time with Caleb and I telling him to stop, and that it isn't a nice word.

Finally, yesterday we have this argument while I am painting and he is hanging out just talking my ear off.

Gavin: "So, Mom, Do you think freakin crap is not a nice word?"

Mom: "That's right. It isn't nice and we shouldn't say it."

Gavin: "But freakin crap is a nice word Mom."

Mom: "No, Gavin. It isn't."

Gavin: "But Mooom, I already told yeh. It is a nice word. You need to listen when I tell you somethin about saying freakin crap."

At this point I could hardly argue for having to hold my breathe so that I didn't laugh out loud, which would only make him think that I agree with him. All of these conversations just make me look forward to the much worse phrases that he will probably come home and try out on us in the future. I guess it is a good thing that I have now been put in check to watch what I say.

Geesch.

Let the Remodeling Begin... or Continue

Well, we have officially spent the last week working on the other side of our duplex getting it ready to welcome new tenants. So far it feels like we have made good progress, all of the floors are done. We are now now ready to cover and tape them off so that we can start the priming and paint and other messy things without marking up the now quite nice floors. It should be an interesting week, and I hope in a few more days to at least be able to start showing the place to prospective neighbors.

Pictures to come soon (I know you are all dieing to see them). ;-)

Blisters... Ouch

We had a rough start to our week when first thing Monday morning Henry was tormenting Gavin in the usual way by pretending like he is going to put his hand in the toilet while Gavin goes to the bathroom. Then between screams about his brother, Gavin yells out "Henry is going to touch the hot thing!" (Also known as the curling iron) By the time I ran in from the kitchen Henry had already grabbed the heated lever handle of the curling iron, the end result being second degree burns on several parts of his hand. Ouch, I know. Poor guy. I was torn between being really sad that he was hurt and also annoyed that he insists on being so defiant and doing everything we tell him not to do.

The super fun part is also that he wouldn't keep a bandage on it, so we had to get creative, and I finally busted out the athletic tape. He looks like a little boxer running around, with his poor tiny little hand all taped up. He hasn't spent as much time complaining about the hand as I would have thought either. He is so tough. (The unbandaged pictures are a bit too gruesome for online viewing.)

To go along with Henry's blistered hand, is another fun photo. This is my foot following the 6 mile run that I did on Wednesday morning in training for the Provo River half marathon that is coming up in a few weeks. 11 miles on Saturday got the thing started, but this long week of running has done nothing to help. Pretty gruesome shot, I know, but I couldn't resist showing off this battle scar that had me limping around for two days. I am now trying several suggestions to keep from getting more of these while continuing to train for the race. Yuck.

Oh... Accessories

I was recently going on to a few of my friends about how I can't seem to bribe Gavin into choosing what he wants to wear, or making many decisions about his appearance. When I ask him what he wants to wear in the morning he says... "A shirt and short pants." Or "jeans, and a shirt." And when I try to open the drawer and just have him pick one, he basically just grabs something without even glancing over. I have mostly noticed this in comparison to the opinions and the flare that I see in the wardrobe of the cousins his age and his friends his age... all of which are girls. I had pretty much given up trying to get him to take an interest...
Then this weekend, our friend Jessi picked up a set of goggles for Gavin at the store. When I gave them to him he could not have been more excited, and has been wearing them almost constantly since.

You might look at this photo and think, "No problem, he must be headed out for a swim." Nope. This is us on the way to the zoo...

This is him after being at the zoo for about 15 minutes and getting sweaty enough to fog up his goggles, but not wanting to take them off, just moving them up to his forehead. In his defense he did say that he needed to wear them in case the elephants decided to spray water on us, and was pretty peeved when Dad declined the request to wear the matching green pair.
He can also be found jumping on the bed or just playing around the house or yard at any given moment with these goggles on. The only time we have persuaded him to keep them off is when he wears his helmet to ride his scooter, and then they got straight in the scooter pouch to be put on as soon as the helmet comes off.

I have to respect even the smallest amount of self expression in a kid so easy going and carefree about appearance... though he swears that these have to be worn "to protect mine eyes." I should just be grateful for such a safety guru.

Mount Olympus- Happy July 4th

Caleb and a couple of his friends, Nick and Randy, got up super early on the 4th to climb Mount Olympus. It is a steep and tough hike, so I think they were glad not to have the wives and children along. I was also glad to still be in bed when they left. Here are a couple of great shots of the Salt Lake Valley. All of the moisture that we had into May and June has made this really beautiful and green this year.

I am not sure what faces he is making in these photos... Though if you climb that high, you can make whatever face you want.

A New Room for The Boys

Well, in preparation for all of the work that we will have to do to remodel the other side of our duplex this month, we decided to also buy a carpet remnant for the boys room and replace their carpet as well. Once we had all of the furniture out of the room, I realized how much the place needed a new coat of paint. It seemed logical to get it painted while there was no carpet, so I set to work and finished it in a morning. We then spent parts of the next day and a half learning to lay carpet, and actually doing it.

Our great friend Kelly, was nice enough to hook us up with some great carpet for the other side of the duplex and give us a lesson on carpet laying. Luckily he owns all the tools and has lent them to us for a few weeks before he moves to NM. :-(

Here is Kelly showing the boys what to do. You can't tell from the angle of this picture, but Henry is actually pick-pocketing Kelly while he is working. Nice, I know.

Gavin loved to be the helper and of course talk Kelly's ear off.
Finally, Henry is modeling in the new and improved room. I did a blue accent wall that looks great with the brown carpet. The room looks really nice with the furniture back in as well, it was a nice quick face lift.

New Haircuts etc

On Saturday, the boys got haircuts for summer. They were just getting too hot with all that hair. Henry now looks quite old and handsome. Since he has about 5 cowlicks, he had to get a short buzz to avoid the super messy hair look.

He is handsome and he knows it.

As always, Gavin suffered a bit of a panic attack once a single hair got on his neck, so his cut is a little more rough, but oh well, it grows fast.We have been spending plenty of time in our little pool. What fun.
This is what Henry insists on doing whenever I have the hose. Usually he comes over and pulls it down to a level with his head and the plunges his face in with his tongue out to try and drink.