Sleeping With Bugs

We had the great privilege of spending Friday night and all day Saturday in Shreveport with Uncle Ed, Aunt Glo, Brandon, Amber, and their litter of kids (also known as Uncle B, Aunt Amber - they are our cousins).  Leading up to heading over there, I was telling Keltan he would get to see Whit and Isaac (Brandon's 2 oldest boys).  A sample of the conversation:
Me:  "Do you want to see Whit and Isaac?"
Keltan:  "YES!"
Me:  "How about Uncle B?"
Keltan:  "No, not him."
Me:  "How about Aunt Amber?"
Keltan:  "No, I don't want to see Aunt Amber either."
Me:  "How about Drew?"
Keltan:  "No, not him."
Me:  "How about Laurie?"
Keltan:  "No, not him either" (Laurie is a she)
Me:  "Aunt Glo?"
Keltan:  "No, not him either."
Me:  "Uncle Ed?"
Keltan:  "No, I just want to see Whit and Isaac.  I want to chase them and grab their shirts and go 'BOO!'"


   We got over there about 9:30 Friday night, and everybody except Uncle B was in bed.  Of course, our little pumpkin wouldn't have anything to do with him, and we went off to bed.  Keltan was tired, since it was way past his bedtime, and he started fussing.  Not wanting to wake the entire house, I took him out to the garage.  I turned on the light, and there were Mosquito Hawks flying everywhere!  Keltan was nervous about all those bugs flying around.  I opened up a lawn chair, sat him in it, and asked if he saw all the bugs.  "Yes."  "If you don't stop crying, I am going to make you sleep out here with the bugs."  He never made another peep the rest of the night!  I guess sometimes it pays to be a meanie!
    Saturday, Brandon and I went in to meet his nephew, Zach, to play some basketball.  We found out that Uncle Ed took Whit, Isaac, and Keltan all to Bossier City to a McDonald's with an indoor playground!  Keltan ran up the steps, down the slide, over and over and over.  By the time we left, he decided he liked Uncle Ed, and had a great time with him.
    Tonight (Sunday), we got him ready for bed, and were ready to have him say his night-night prayer.  Typically, he sits in Inga's lap on the footstool, and I sit in the rocker, and he says his prayer.  Tonight, he jumped in the rocker and said he wanted to sit there.  So, I told him I was going to sit on his lap.  And I did.  And he said his prayer!  It was a fun moment before bedtime.
   He is really growing up into a little boy.  This makes us sad to lose our little baby, but we are having fun watching him grow up.  He loves to go to his little friends' birthday parties.  He loves to see Luke, Emma, Rachael in Sunday School class.  He loves watching Go Diego Go, Dora, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and has learned quite a lot from those shows.  He thoroughly enjoys playing a matching game with cards, and typically wins against whoever he plays.  (Of course, we play by his rules).  He is increasingly eating more meat (he has never been a fan of meat), and does really good eating vegetables - he likes cabbage, salads, and even spinach!
    We are getting close to having the upstairs completed.  I have been telling him all along that he is getting a new bedroom upstairs.  He is very excited about having a new room.  We are nervous about him being upstairs, worried he will stumble down them at night, so tonight Inga asked him if he wanted to move upstairs or stay downstairs.  He emphatically said he wanted to sleep upstairs!

Today I told Keltan, "let me tell you a secret." He put his ear close, and I whispered, "let me change your diaper." He replied, "I tell you a secret.". He got close to my ear, and whisoered, "I don't want to change my diaper." Hard to argue with that logic.

I have a little boy playing with his toys and singing "knock and the door shall be opened unto you".

These days, Keltan is very aware of what hapens when stuff is thrown into the trash - it goes into the trash truck and is never seen again.  This knowledge of how the world works is very helpful in convincing him to cooperate and/or obey.  For instance, one day he was throwing a ball down the stairs.  I told him he needed to stop.  He did it again.  I then told him if he did it again, the ball would go to the trash.  Well, you kniw he did it again (he is, after all, Inga's son).  So, I took the ball and made a long, slow, agonizing trip to the trash can, with a pleading son following behind me, and, as he watched, dropped it into the trash can and shut the door.  Aparently, that made an imoression on him, for now when I tell him something is going into the trash, he pays attention. 
I tell you this to set up what just happened this afternoon.  We could not get him to lay down, close his eyes, and take a nap.  We tried telling him he could go play outside with Daddy if he took a nap.  He said, "I can run? (as he kicked his feet) and kick the ball?". Still, he wouldn't sleep.  Finally, I told him if he did not close his eyes and be still, I would throw the back yard into the trash.  "No, no throw away back yard!". And now he is sound asleep.  Thank you, Keltan, for saving me a LOT of hard work!

Horses and Peppermint Oil

Thursday night, I was outside with Keltan, swinging him on his swing.  (To the chorus of "bigger! Bigger!", I might add). After a couple of minutes, he says "Me want to go to petting zoo and feed the animals.". Not thinking I heard him correctly, I asked him to repeat it, and he said what I thought I heard.  I am not too sure where that thought came from, other than just a few days before I had mentioned about Mommy being at the Terrell Zoo (my nickname for the Terrell Walmart). Regardless, his little mind thought it, and that was what he wanted.  I attempted to explain to him we would have to go on Saturday, but he never really bought into that explanation.  At last, he decided to go inside and ask Mommy to go to the petting zoo.  We talked about it, and decided Saturday wouls be best.
As I was rocking him that night, the thought came to me.  A fellow church member has horses!  I texted Mr Rex, and asked when he would be feeding them, and if we could come out.  4:30 PM Friday, and yes! 
At 4:11 PM, I loaded up an excited little boy and off we went to feed the horses!  When we pulled up, there was Chevy and Baby, eager to be loved on.  At first, he was a bit timid, but I took his hand and petted Chevy with it, and he was no longer timid!  He loved petting them.  Mr Rex said he could get on ine, so we went into a safe area while he got Brianna out and into the round pen.  She was not all too excited about being bridled, and I was glad Keltan was behind a secure area as she was resisting!  1800 pounds of horse protesting is a big load!  Keltan's response to being asked if he wanted to sit on Brianna was, "no, she too big for Teltan.". So, he did not get on her.  But we watched Mr Rex walk her and do some fun stuff with her, and he petted Brianna and Chief.  He liked the sound Chief made as he protested Brianna being messed with. 
After a few minutes, it was feeding time.  Keltan helped Mr Rex count out 4 scoops of food, and then got the opportunity to let Brianna eat out of his hand!  That was exciting!
He got to watch the tractor run, and the attachment go up and down, turn the water on, and run around the pen having a great time.  Now he likes to give "horsey sugars".

So what about peppermint oil?
I love the smell of peppermint oil in a little oil burner.  It is a sharp, clean smell, and helps open the sinuses.  So, while we all napped, I had some burning in the kitchen.  Whwn I woke up, I extinguished the flame.
As I was getting supper ready, Keltan got out his stool to help me.  (He loves to help us cook.). Next thing I know, he is spitting and talking about it being yucky.  I looked, and he had licked the peppermint oil!  I got a rag and started wiping his tongue to remove as much as I could.  I then thought I would get him some milk to help with the rancid taste.  As I was doing that, he ran to Mommy, and then wiped his eyes.  Silly Daddy didn't think about washing his hands!  Well, then it was in his eyes!  Imagine grabbing a tube of Carmex or Ben Gay and rubbing it in your eyes.  That is what it feels like.  He was screaming!  We took him in and washed his hands, and Mommy got a warm rag to wipe his face.  I recalled reading warning labels on the bottle, so I called poison control.  The nice lady told me to let him suck on a sucker, and flush his eyes for 15-20 minutes, and the best way to do that would be to stand in the shower with him.  Thinking this sounded like a lot of "fun", I grabbed a handful of Dum Dum suckers, and told Inga to get him into the shower.  It ended up with them in the shower, and me outside of it, all of us running water on our faces!  We all took turns letting water run over us, and Keltan thought it was crazy funny.  He even got to where he didn't mind water on his face!  I helped him spray Mommy and me, then I helped him spray himself.  So this went on for about 15 minutes.
He seems to be just fine now.  He went outside with me to cook burgers, and he could clearly see the moon behind the trees, and he has been crazy all night, so we have to assume he is ok.  Here's us being thankful!

Helping Mommy

Mommy was looking for a certain can of something, and pulled out every can in the cupboard.  Keltan was helping to organize them.

Of course, we are talking about a 2-1/2 year old's attention span here:

Christmas Cookies

Mommy and Keltan were making Christmas Cookies (and Keltan was enjoying himself a bit too much!).

The finished product!

Big Ole Sucker

The results of some serious big-as-yo-face-all-day sucker enjoyment!

It is interesting how the things we said and/or did as a child will come out in our own children.  One of Dad's favorite memories from my childhood was when we would "rastle" and I would charge at him, whereupon he would falk over and I would loudly proclaim, "I knocked you down!". Without any prompting, Keltan does the same thing.  He loves to knock Daddy down,  (And anyone else that is willing to play along) and then excitedly holler out that he has knocked you down.

One of the things we do that we both enjoy (Keltan and Daddy) is to go to Braum's for ice cream.  He loves the ice cream (ok, I admit I might like it, too), and I live how the people in there - both customers and workers - make comments about him and flirt with him.  So, the other day I decided to take him to Whataburger for breakfast.  Whataburger has quite the senior citizen crowd, so I was looking forward to all the hoopla they would make over my awesome son.  Well, aside from the lady at the register, not one single person made a comment or even winked at him!  I was highly insulted, and have decided I am not at all in favor of the Whataburger crowd.  In fact, I have decided I am so not impressed with their patronage, I will no longer bestow my gift of money upon their establishment, at least not until they get some new regulars.  The nerve of those folk!