I Don't Want to Forget

I don't want to forget...

Conversations between Bret and Cody (they are very one-sided, so Bret uses questions to get Cody to do just about anything he wants him to).

Bret:  "Do you want to go downstairs and find a spider?  It's going to be a daddy-long-legs or daddy-short-legs.  Do you want to hold one?"
Cody (enthusiastically):  "YEAH!"
Bret:  "Okay, it's going to be very cue-uhl.  Do you want to watch me catch one?  Do you want to hold one?  It's going to be very very cue-uhl!
Cody:  "YEAH!"

Bret:  "Cody, do you not want me to play with any of the blocks?"
Cody (as he's building):  "Yeah."
Bret:  "So you're not going to let me play with any of the blocks?"
Cody:  "Ummm, yeah."
Bret, throwing himself on the floor in a tantrum: "Waaaaaahhhhhh!!!  Mommy, Cody's not letting me play with any of the blocks!!!"
Me:  "Bret, Cody is going to say yes to just about anything you ask him.  I don't think he actually cares if you play with the blocks."
....a little while later....
Bret:  "Cody, do you want me to build a big bonkbed?"
Cody:  "Yeah."
Bret:  "So do you want me to take those two big blocks?" (which, by the way, Cody was building with)
Cody:  "Yeah."
Bret:  "Okay."  (proceeds to take the two biggest blocks from Cody in a very business-like fashion)
He's a quick learner!

All summer long, there were lots of creepy-crawly things that were captured and which subsequently met various fates.  One would almost feel badly for these creatures, except that despite the unfortunate end that most met, they truly were loved.  And how many insects get to experience true love in their short existences? At one point, Bret caught a grasshopper, which Serena judiciously named "The Greenest Grasshopper Ever."  The Greenest Grasshopper Ever was kept in a 5-gallon pail in the backyard for a week or so, and somehow managed to survive his incarceration.  Then, we took a trip to Iowa over Labor Day weekend.  Upon our return home, it was discovered that The Greenest Grasshopper Ever's pail had gotten knocked over (probably by some merciful storm), and had apparently hopped away to find a new home.  And, yes, there was crying when the Greenest Grasshopper Ever got away.  We also dealt with tears when the baby toad died which had been in captivity by the hand of the neighbor boy for a few weeks and then loaned to us for a couple nights.  Thankfully, we did not experience too many fatalities, and these are the only ones that led to weeping and wailing!

As summer turned to fall, all the kids could think about was how much longer it would be until they could go sledding.  Bret prayed, "We need You to get some snow out and pour it on the trees...."  He also asked almost every day for a couple weeks if it was "going to snow tomorrow?"

Bret just waking up from a nap, wearing his night cap  ;D

Sometime mid-summer we made a routine stop at the library and were pleasantly surprised when the Cat in the Hat walked in!  The kids loved seeing him and even got a picture with him!  Since then, they always talk very matter-of-factly about the Cat in the Hat and how he is ALIVE because THEY SAW HIM.

Bret is a pretty typical second-born in that he is very obsessed with things being "his."  After spending a weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's this summer (and spending an inordinate amount of time catching and playing with toads, which Grandma let him keep in her aquarium in the living room when he wasn't playing with them), Grandpa pulled out and washed up an old aquarium that they had and said Bret could take it home (we also took a couple of toads home, named Johnny and Sister!).  Bret was beside himself with excitement over his "'quarium!!!" When Jordan came outside while Bret was out there admiring it, Bret exclaimed, "Dad!  Come see what's mine!"

Toads all around!

At 3 1/2 yrs (August 20), Bret's stats are: 37 1/2" (17th%) and 30 lbs (14th%).

One afternoon when my Mom was visiting, Bret came out to use the bathroom during quiet time.  As he sat on the toilet, he whispered conspiratorially to me, "I saw Grammie.  Yeah, she's really nice.  We like her....  Yeah, we love her."

Serena:  "I know Grammie has only been gone for a day, but I feel like I already miss her.  I wish she could live with us forever."

Serena:  "That is too beautiful for words!"

Serena loves going on adventures with Jordan.  She's easy to take along because she is pretty low-maintenance.  One day, Jordan mentioned to Serena that he was going to a field trial on Saturday and he'd take her along if she wanted to go.  The next day, he was tickling Serena mercilessly, and Serena finally told him that she wouldn't go with him if he didn't stop.  He did stop, but couldn't resist one last tickle.  Apparently, she intended to stick by her statement, but later, she overheard Jordan telling the neighbor that he was going to a field trial and taking Serena along.  The next day, I asked Serena if she was planning to go to the field trial with Daddy.  She said, "I couldn't very well make Daddy into a liar.  He told Mr. Chris that I am going with him to the Field Trial, so now I have to go or Daddy would be lying."  That evening, she told Jordan, "You shouldn't tell people things you're not sure about yet."  Poor little girl carries so much responsibility and makes such sacrifices!  ;)

Jordan has one of the those rubber bracelets for awareness of a disease that one of his coworkers has.  Serena had noticed it one day, and asked him about it.  When he explained what it was for, she felt such compassion towards his coworker, and made a picture for her and started praying for her every day.  Jordan's coworker was so touched, and sent a child-sized bracelet home with him for Serena.  Serena was just overcome by this gesture and exclaimed, "Having a bracelet that matches Daddy's seems almost too wonderful to be true!"

Bret has an incredible ability to find money (and other random treasures...pearls, earrings, etc.) everywhere he goes.  He's found coins on the floor/ground at stores, parking lots, and parks; and even discovered several coins under the swingset at Grandma and Grandpa's house?!  His most amazing finds were:  a penny among the woodchips at the park (it was so camouflaged, I have no idea how he spotted it!), a penny in the corn bin at Bloomsbury Farm (again, camouflaged; plus there were TONS of kids and adults flailing around in there!), and a dime lying in the debris along the side of the hiking trail in the woods at High Cliff Park?!  One day, walking around the mall with Jordan, Bret found an earring.  He said, "It's so pretty!  I'll give it to Serena. Then maybe she'll like us!"

Serena:  "The words just came tumbling out before I had a chance to think about them!"

We spent a weekend in Minnesota visiting Jessica & David.  While we were there, Jessica gave the kids a few little gifts, and Serena just loved the pink pen with the feathery pink poof at the end!  ;)  She wanted to work on writing, so I taught her how to write a cursive "S."  I was surprised how quickly she caught on!  The next morning, she was so excited to show me how well she could write it after she'd been practicing writing it in the air while in bed!  :)

Sleepy Cody-bear

Serena loves to pretend about things from books she's been reading.  She spent a few days pretending about Peter Pan.  She, of course, was Wendy; Bret was John; and Cody was Michael.  So, who should be Peter Pan?  Why, Jordan, of course!!!!  ;D  So many wild plans were made that involved Jordan whisking them away to Neverland during the night!

Of course, Serena's all-time favorite thing to pretend is "Little House on the Prairie."  Usually, she pretends to be Mary, and Jordan is Pa; but he insists on calling her his "Little half-pint of sweet cider half drunk up," which is what Pa called Laura.  This frustrates Serena greatly, which only encourages Jordan's teasing!  ;)  But, I think she got him back the other day when we were at the mall.  Jordan was heading up the escalator at Scheels with Bret, and I was pushing Cody in the stroller and Serena was with me (pushing her doll in her stroller).  Serena waved to Jordan and called out at the top of her lungs, "Bye, Pa!!  Goodbye!!!"

Sometimes we wonder about what's going on in Bret's head, just based on the things he says.  When he spotted me with Serena and Cody at the mall, he yelled out excitedly, "There's Serena and Bret!"

Bret's been pretty intent on learning to write lately.  This has come as a by-product of his obsession with mail (which is another story entirely).  So far, he has mastered "B," "P," "E," "O," and "Z."

Whenever anyone teases Bret about eating him, losing him, throwing him outside, etc., (you get the idea), his go-to response is (in a very pathetic tone of voice), "But then you won't have a Bretster-boy."

One evening, when we were visiting Jordan's parents, Grandpa sat down for supper wearing a shirt that Serena thought was pink.  He insisted it wasn't pink, and after some discussion, the topic was dropped.  Later, as he was about to go outside, Serena looked up from her coloring and remarked casually, "Doesn't Grandpa look pretty in his pink shirt?"  Now, lest you think this really was just a casual comment, I will go ahead and explain to you that first of all, Serena firmly believes that pink is a color that should never be worn by boys.  And second of all, she only uses the word "pretty" to describe girls, and intentionally uses the word "handsome" for boys.  Yes, she definitely is a Horak.

So, with the kids being so big into pretending, Jordan has been a lot of things.  Besides the times that he's rough-housing with them and being a giant/troll/dinosaur/lion/bear/anything-big-and-scary, he has also been Pa (from the Little House books), Grandfather (from the Heidi book), Peter Pan, and most recently Santa Claus.  The kids think it's really fun to play "Santa Claus" where one of them will be Santa Claus and the others are the children.  They pretend to sleep while the Santa Claus wraps up presents for them (random toys wrapped in a blanket or pillowcase) and then announces that it's morning.  The "children" wake up and open their presents and then it's someone else's turn.  A couple nights ago, they decided to have Jordan be Santa Claus.  So, he was asking them what they wanted for Christmas.  Serena wanted a soft blanket for her doll.  Bret wanted a box.  "A box?" Jordan asked. "Is that all?"  Bret clarified, "A box with something else in it!"  The next evening, as soon as Jordan got home, the kids went running to the door shouting, "Santa Claus! Santa Claus!"  At supper, Bret was saying something pretty random about some frozen strawberries they tried to mash with a fork at church on Sunday.  It was so off-topic, that Jordan said, "What's wrong with you, kid?" (Jordan and I had just been saying a little earlier that Bret can be so off-the-wall like he's in his own little world sometimes.)  Bret's answer?  "Well, you're Santa Claus...."  ;D

The other night at the mall, Serena was with Jordan and they went into a store and saw a sign that said, "Everybody has that uncle."  Serena wondered about it, so Jordan explained to her how everyone seems to have an uncle that's a little bit crazy.  He asked her which uncle that would be for her.  She thought for a bit, and said probably Uncle Jason.  (If you read this, I'm sorry, Jas!)  ;)  So, Jordan said, "What about Kaden?  Who do you think is that uncle for Kaden?"  Serena hedged and said she didn't know who all of Kaden's uncles were.  Jordan prompted that he had the same uncles as her: Uncle Eric and Uncle David, and that also he was one of Kaden's uncles.  Serena looked very uncomfortable and finally said quietly, "Sometimes I think you're a little crazy, but I don't like to say it."

Just adding this picture because I think it's hilarious!  It reminds me of the children's book, "Harry the Dirty Dog!"  ;)