MONDAY NIGHT MUSINGS

- Our Christmas music was still in the car after Christmas was over, and I was ok with it for a few days, but then I decided it was time to put it away until next year. The next time the kids got in the car, they of course both requested Jingle Bells. I told them that Christmas was over so there was no more Jingle Bells to listen to. Mattie, in her ever-growing intelligence, asked me, "Jingle Bells ova? Kwi-mas ova?" And now it's like Pavlov's dogs, every time we get in the car Mattie asks, "Jingle Bells ova? Kwi-mas ova?"

- 1/11 Mattie and I were doing a puzzle today that had various animals on it, including a goldfish. As Mattie would put each piece in its correct spot, I would ask her the animal and she would tell me. Well, when she placed the goldfish in its spot I asked her what it was and she said, "Doe-ty." It took me a minute to figure out that she was saying Dorothy, as in Elmo's goldfish, Dorothy. :)

- Bryce came home with an unexpected bonus on Tuesday. The managing partner came into Bryce's office and praised him for "hitting the ground running" when he started working, so to show their appreciation and to give added incentive to the associate attorneys, all of those that got their required amount of hours for the year received this bonus. Only half - 3 of the 6 - associates received it. Way to impress the partners, Bryce! Keep up the great work!!

- 1/12 Mattie was watching Sesame Street today and the letter of the day was M. Mattie recognized it right away and said it was the letter M before the show even did. I will give that credit to CJ, for making sure that Mattie knows that "M is for Mattie" :)

- 1/12 Every night we sing You Are My Sunshine to Mattie as we put her down to bed. Well the last two nights she has started helping me sing. It is adorable! And I hope we can get it on film!

- 1/13 When we started re-potty-training CJ a few months ago, we opted to put him in pull-ups for sleeping so that we could just focus on the day-time stuff. However, within the first few days, he was waking up dry, at least at nap time. So a couple of weeks after he had the day-time down, we thought we'd try naptime, and just our luck, he had an accident. So we went back to the pull-ups...and we've just kind of been lazy since then. Even though CJ has woken up dry, both from naps and even from sleeping all night, it has taken us way too long to get rid of those pull-ups...until last night! Yesterday, he took his nap with his regular undies on (not his "naptime undies" as we called the pull-ups) and woke up totally dry. So we thought we'd finally try it at night, and sure enough, he woke up dry this morning!! He is now officially, 100% potty-trained now (so I guess we'll save the rest of the pull-ups for when Mattie starts potty-training in a few months)!

- Mattie does the funniest thing: instead of just saying "no," she has started saying, "I don't want (blank) anymo." I think she got it from CJ.

- I'm not sure why, but Mattie calls CJ's Woody doll, "Bowdy" or "Brody." I don't even bother to correct her because it's so cute!

- 1/13 So funny. When I would ask Mattie to do things today, like pick up the spilled cereal, or turn off the tv, she kept responding, "Sho" (sure), over and over again. I had to laugh every time!

- Ok, so the first big mistake of 2011: I cut bangs. No, I didn't cut them myself, though at this point I may have liked them more if I had done them myself. And it's not necessarily a reflection of the woman who cut my hair because I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted when I went in. I took two pictures thinking I wanted a fusion of them both, and she sort of just gave me the one...the shorter one (though I do think a good stylist will cut your hair so that it looks good, no matter what you may have requested, so I think she probably should have been able to see that what she ended up leaving me with really was not the best choice). So you can count on seeing a lot of hats and pinned back bangs for what's going to feel like the next year because my hair grows so slowly. I'm hoping that in a few months (ugh. that feels so far away), they will finally be long enough to be more of a swoopy bang. Trying not to be too vain here...

- Mattie has started to sympathy cry for CJ. It's really quite adorable. If he is crying because he's uncomfortable or even in pain (like when I was cleaning his snotty nose the other day, or when he had a bloody nose last week), Mattie is quick to run over, and start her own little whine too. And it's not to get attention, and it's not when CJ is throwing a tantrum or anything. It really is just because she loves her brother and is sad to see him hurting. So cute!!

- CJ is obsessed with butter. He will stick his fingers in it, lick it off knives, stick his whole tongue in the tub, and if we let him, he'd probably eat a whole stick. We truly named him after the right progenitor - my dad -  who loved butter.

- And another thing that CJ is obsessed with is his Marble Works. Bryce's mom gave it to CJ for Christmas, and like father like son, because apparently Bryce loved his when he was young. So every day - I kid you not - every day, when Bryce walks in the door from work, CJ runs to him and asks him if they can do his Marble Works. Despite the fact that CJ has done a pretty good job of holding on to most of the marbles, I still find them randomly, so I'm sure whomever lives in this house after us will probably find marbles in the most obscure places.

- Mattie has been so clingy this week. I think it started when she wasn't feeling well last week. It's nice to have her be so affectionate - Bryce is totally loving it - but it makes it difficult for me to get anything done. I try to remind myself to take moments with my kids, and so when Mattie wants me to hold her while I'm cooking or doing laundry or whatnot, I stop and try to hold her for a bit, but she is very dissatisfied when I put her down to continue with what I was doing. I hate being so torn!

- Ah ha! We discovered something CJ actually likes to eat! Just like his daddy, and his daddy's daddy, and his daddy's daddy's daddy, CJ LOVES peanut butter and syrup on pancakes and french toast. Ok, now if we can just find something healthy that he likes...

- Today Bryce and I were talking about going to dinner with some friends on Thursday and CJ asked if we were all going. I told him that we were going to go with our friends and the he could stay and play with Lynette (the girl in our ward who usually babysits). He then got very concerned and cried out, "Noooo! I want to join you!"

- It's been just over 4 months since my dad passed away and I find myself missing him now more than ever. Maybe it's because it's tax season and he always helped me with my taxes, or maybe it's because I find myself wanting to call him and ask him for advice or just share good news with him, or maybe it's because the last few nights I've dreamt of him, of seeing him again, of holding his hand. Or maybe it's because CJ still so vividly remembers him. CJ and Mattie were at the viewing, and when CJ saw my dad, he asked if Papa was sleeping. We explained to him that Papa went to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again and that we would see him again. We thought the actual funeral was too much for the kids, so Bryce's cousin watched them for us and then we picked them up for the graveside service. You never know how much your kids retain, but it really stuck with CJ. Whenever death is mentioned, like in movies or whatnot, CJ brings up Papa. Even yesterday, we were listening to a song about the atonement. Bryce asked CJ if he knew who the song was about. After CJ's silly guesses that it was about Jack and Jill or Humpty Dumpty, we explained to CJ that it was about Jesus and that Jesus came to earth and then he died for us so that we could live with Him and Heavenly Father again. The next thing CJ did was ask about Papa dying. So we assured him that yes, Jesus died so that we could live with Papa again too. Sometimes it's so obvious how close my kids are to the veil, and it is very humbling. It reminds me that these are not my children, in the grand scheme of things...I just am somehow privileged enough to be a part of their lives.

- Oh, and I took a very important test today...but more on that later...

Happy Monday!