Funny Shoe and The Pea

I wasn't too clear on the Valentine's holiday. Shouldn't you be showing the people you love how much you love them all year long? It just seems odd to designate only one day in the whole year to do this. But then the candy started arriving...and I was SOLD! First a friend dropped off a lollipop, and then another with a few chocolates, and all of a sudden it was like I hit the treat jackpot! I even received a few presents when I woke up on Valentine's Day.

I recently mentioned to my parents that I'd like to go to Mars. One small dilemma...I don't own a space helmet. This, I'm sure, is the only issue holding me back from blasting off. Sure enough, on Valentine's morning, I opened this....

After putting it on I realized that I also need a space ship to complete my voyage. I was quick to point this out and my dad rolled his eyes while my mom suggested something about a large box and a father/son project. Stay tuned, my next post just may be from Mars!

Oh, I also learned about making things for the people I love. I made my dad a Valentine with an owl that said, "Hoo Loves You? ME!" He said I was clever and especially liked the candy I had glued to the owl. I made my mom this Valentine. My teacher said I could write anything I wanted to my mom. So I dug deep into my soul and told her just what I thought. "Happy Mother's Day Mom. You're a funny shoe." Poetic, isn't it?

Now that the excitement of Valentine's Day is dying down, I decided to create a little  excitement of my own. During lunch today I proudly announced, "Mom, guess what I put up my nose?" My mom, who's given me the "Only fingers go up your nose" lecture about 1,000 times, quickly turned around in the kitchen and said sternly, "Your finger???" (I think she knew full well that was not the correct answer.) "Nope, I said, a pea!" "Seriously Bodie?" was all should could say. When I replied affirmatively, the look on her face changed. And not a "You're awesome, way to go buddy!" kind of change. More like a "Oh geez, it's been nice knowing you" kind of look.

My mom isn't much for panic but I could tell this pea-up-the-nose incident was not going to win me any prizes. She was not happy. For the next twenty minutes she held my face in strange positions and requested I blow. No luck. She pulled out this suctioner thing, attempting to coax the pea out. No luck. She begrudgingly called the doctor - did we need to go in or would it just dissolve? They were closed; they were at lunch too (I bet none of them stuck a pea up their noses at lunch!)

My mom took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and appeared to go to a much happier place. When she opened her eyes and returned to our pea-in-the-nose reality she said, "Okay buddy, this is it. You have one last chance. I'm going to plug the one side up and you need to blow with all your might. Got it? Otherwise you'll have to go to the doctor." She pinched the one side of my nose really hard and I blew like I had never blown before. My face turned red and I thought I was going to pass out. Then all of a sudden, that pea shot out of my nose like a rocket! Seriously, it was moving at about 20 miles per hour. My mom started to laugh so hard tears were rolling down her cheeks. We high-fived. The pea was out.

Refresh and Relax

We were in town this weekend, so my parents decided a decorating refresh was in order. I quickly got on my smock shirt, the one I wear when I do water colors, and the sweat pants affectionately called "grubbies" by my mom. "Where's my brush?" I asked eagerly. "Um" was my dad's reply followed by, "Don't you want to play downstairs with all of your cool toys? Painting is no fun at all." Who was HE kidding? Painting a tiny piece of paper is awesome, so painting a whole room has got to be euphoric. Hand over the paint brush people.

My mom smiled and said, "Okay, you can paint." Now we're talking. She got me a small tray of paint and a brush and walked me over to a space on the drop cloth. My dad muttered something like, "This is a terrible idea Lisa..." "One rule," my mom said, "You cannot touch the walls....ever. Got it?" Yeah sure, I got it, how hard is that rule. Now hand me the brush. "Okay buddy, here's the brush." I leaned forward to get the brush and did what any three year old would do, I balanced myself by putting my whole hand on the wall. "Hey mom, what happened? I have paint all over my hand."

Somewhere between covering my hand in fresh wall paint and being swooped to the kitchen sink before my dad could say, "I told you so," my mom and I agreed on a compromise. I would paint watercolors on paper at the kitchen table. My trusty smock shirt still had a purpose, whew.

My parents got to work and a few hours later our front room was painted tan...again ("richer tan" my mom would say), new drapes were hung, different wall hangings were up, and my toys were back in the room - which, frankly, was what I was most concerned about. Well that, and the "richer" tan color, of course.

While I may mock them a bit, I do like the new mirrors, they are just my height. So I've figured out how to climb up on the console table to check out my full profile - I don't think this was  their intended purpose, but it's definitely a bonus!

So after a hard days work, we rewarded ourselves by going out to dinner with our friends, the Vets. For being just a little guy, their son Colby is hilarious. Here's a photo of us doing a spoon trick together - the kid's got talent!

Football...It just makes me happy

I'm three and my favorite football team is already in the Super Bowl. Apparently this is not normal. But my mom grew up in the 80's and the 49ers not only played in, but WON, four Super Bowls in a ten year span - so maybe this is a start of another decade-long streak! One can only hope.

For my dad's birthday, I got him a Miami Dolphin football helmet. He won't say it in front of my mom, but it's definitely his most favorite present. We play tackle football every night before bed and, with me becoming so strong and such a good tackler, I decided "safety first" should be our motto. Now we both have helmets and can tackle at full speed without any worries. Oh, my mom says to point out that there are about 17 neon colored stickers on the helmet and packaging that said, "THIS IS A TOY. NOT TO BE USED AS PROTECTIVE HEAD GEAR," whatever that means....

My dad's favorite move is to "stuff" the football into the face mask of my helmet. It usually occurs right before I would score a touchdown. This is not only a penalty, but I cannot see when this happens and I usually run into a wall. This makes my dad break into uncontrollable laughter. While also laughing, my mom admits this may reveal a small character flaw in my dad's personality. Lucky for me I have my trusty Niners helmet on!

Fingers and toes crossed that the Super Bowl outcome provides a reason for a serious touchdown dance!

My Mom Turned 4-0!!

My Dad threw a big birthday party for my Mom. They have thrown fun birthday parties for me, so I wasn't too surprised that my Mom was giddy to have her own party.  I guess turning 40 is a big deal. I hope turning 4 is just as much of a big deal!  I love any reason to throw a party!

The party was held in Washington, DC at The O Street Mansion.  I saw the Mansion during our tour of the venue and it was gigantic with tons of crazy rooms - I loved the big Christmas tree. My Mom loved everything about the place and  was psyched my Dad was planning a fun party.  They invited 60 of their closest friends from as far away as California and Utah (very near Radiator Springs).  My Mom wore a beautiful red dress and had on sparkly shoes.

I wasn't invited but that was okay because I had my favorite sitter, Jordan, over to play with me. Besides, we got to watch my favorite movie, Cars.

The night started off great.  My parents left with my Aunt Karen and Jordan and I watched Cars.  After watching the movie, Jordan helped me get ready for bed. I started feeling a little queazy and Jordan had to act quickly. She called her Mom, a pediatric nurse, and everything ended up okay. Jordan's Mom was awesome and I finally managed to fall asleep. My parents were concerned but Jordan's Mom reassured them that I was feeling better. I am so glad that my parents didn't have to come home early.

My parents had a fun party and the pictures tell it all!  I love a good party and I was able to share in their post party excitement. It was fun to see all of their friends dressed up in fancy clothes.   Bring on the next party!  I think my Dad's birthday is next?

Christmas - Part 2

We packed up the car and headed to Vermont on December 26th - or at least that's what they told me because it was 5am and pitch black outside. My Nana and PopPop live in Vermont, two doors down from my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jimmy's family. And my Aunt Karen and Uncle Eduardo's family were also up there so there were a lot of people. Seven very crazy and loud cousins - I may have been responsible for most of the crazy and loud - running everywhere in the house, it was non-stop fun.

It began snowing just after we arrived and didn't stop for an entire day. Everything was covered in the most beautiful, white snow. I wasn't responsible for shoveling any of the really long driveways, so I loved it! We built a 6-foot tall snowman, played a soccer game in the snow (the neighbors have a full-sized soccer field in their yard), had snowball fights, went sledding, and I ate a ridiculous amount of snow. The temperature was 14 - 25 degrees (yes, I'm not making that up), but with so many fun things to do outside, I didn't even notice the cold.

Here are some of our sledding pictures. Is it just me or do my mom and dad look completely out of control and like they are fearing for their lives???

 

 Cool as a cucumber, just enjoying the ride...

 We broke the neighborhood record for the longest sled and nearly disappeared into the forest. My dad just kept yelling, "Hang on Bodester, hang on, we're going in for a crash landing!"

 

 Here are some pics from our soccer game - my mom appears to be doing karate on my cousin, maybe we need to teach her how to play soccer?

 And before we rolled out of the northeast, we stopped in New York to have brunch with my parents good friend, Mike. He's tons of fun and even endured ME doing a few jumpers!