Strangers

If you know Bennett, you know he is not shy.  He is the most friendly, loving little boy.  Anywhere we go, he is saying 'hi' to everybody.  I love that about him, but it's also a little scary to think that he is so friendly and trusting with strangers.  So I decided it was about time to talk to him about how sometimes strangers might not be friendly (well, a lot of strangers aren't friendly - heck, sometimes I'm one of 'em - but we're talkin' the right out mean ones).

So for the last few days, I have been telling him that we have to be careful about talking to strangers and that if anyone ever comes to our door and he doesn't know that person, he is not to let them in, even if they ask him to.  He should go get Mama or Daddy right away.  Of course that is followed by a "Why?"  And I have to explain that most strangers are nice, but some are not, and we never know.  (Anybody have any good tips on how to address this subject?  It's hard!)

So now when we go out, he still says 'hi,' but he also points and says, "Mama, that man is a shtanger."  I'm just waiting for him to call one of them mean to their face or something.

Anyway, yesterday we had our annual termite inspection.  I heard the doorbell ring and knew that's who it would be.  Bennett went ahead of me to the front door and I heard him say, "Hi!  What's your name?"  Then I heard him say, "Hi John."  He hadn't opened the door, but as I approached I still felt like I needed to remind him and said, "Bennett, what have I told you about strangers?"

Bennett said, "But Mama, that's not a shtanger.  That's John."

Oh boy, this is gonna be a tough one.

The Three Year Old Smile?

At what point in a child's early life does "smile!" turn into some version of this?

Does it happen to all children around the three year mark?

Shingleroof Spring

This past weekend was Camp Meeting at Shingleroof Campground.  I will post more, but for now I just wanted to share the fact that Cannon enjoyed the icy cold spring water about as much (well, maybe a little less) as Bennett did his first year.

Dead Giveaways

Josh's dad has been talking about needing more t-shirts lately.  So for Father's Day we gave him a new one:

(hint: we have two children, and Josh's sister just had her fourth)

For my mom's birthday, we gave her a video montage:

Wings and Walkers

Bennett has been spending the morning upgrading his cars to include wings,

and Cannon Man decided to walk!  (And for all of you that say, 'how does your house always look so clean?'  Here's proof that IT DOESN'T!)

He took his first actual steps on June 15, 2011, but has been pretty stingy about sharing them with us since. Today I was in the kitchen and the boys were playing right next to me. I heard Bennett saying something, but it was a second before I realized he was saying, "Cannon's walking!" Sure enough, he was. It seems to be a lot of fun for him; like it's just so exhilarating. :)

Curious Clues

I love popcorn from those old-timey-type machines.  I was in Wal-Mart the other day and passed up a free bag of popcorn from one of those machines.  Not only did I pass it up, but I got as far from it as I could, as quickly as I could.

I sat down at my parents' house and started looking at the Publix ad to see if there was anything I needed and had to put it down because the pictures of food made me want to throw up. Literally.

The other day at lunch I set a kid-size cup full of orange juice down on Cannon's tray and gave Bennett a sippy cup of whole milk.

I was in the kitchen washing dishes as Bennett watched Cars. I turned to the movie as some random (not sad, not sweet) part was on and started crying. Which was immediately followed by laughing at myself.

And we are sadly passing up a trip to Napa Valley for my cousin's wedding in September because, well, it would be wasted on me.  Who wants to go to Napa Valley and not drink wine?!?

You tell me what's going on...

Quick Progress

I'm so proud of our little water bug.  Bennett has gone from this on Memorial Day Weekend

to this on July 4th Weekend.