Thursday

I have lost any sort of creative spark necessary to come up with a title for my entries lately.

Summer has hit us. It is 8:56 in the morning and Maddie, Mylie, and Zack are all still sleeping. Usually they have all been up for hours by this time. Andrew only recently popped his head off of a pillow in my bed to cheerfully tell me in a hoarse-from-a-night-with-no-talking voice, "Good morning, Mommy! I looooove you. What day is this day?" Of course, when he popped up he startled me, because he went from 100% asleep to 100% awake with none of the usual stirring warnings, and he popped up like a stiff zombie. He somehow makes his way for our room in the middle of the night. I am impressed when he manages to make it to our bed and fall asleep without waking me or Ben in the process.

Andrew is extra interested in what day it is, as he nears the final days of countdown to our Outer Banks, NC beach vacation. We leave Saturday and we'll be there for the whole week. Andrew knows the days of the week in order, but apparently is still confused by some things. For instance, he doesn't quite understand where "tomorrow" falls into the weekly line up. He is endlessly frustrated when I tell him we are going to do something "tomorrow" when he wakes up and asks me what day it is and I tell him the day of the week, he scowls at me and says something like, "Wednesday?!?! I thought you told me when I woke up it would be tomorrow!" Or, "It is not TOMORROW any more, Mom. It was tomorrow on the last day." Of course, the 'last day' is Andrew speak for YESTERDAY.

Andrew and Maddie have made it quite clear that they will not go in the ocean where, as Andrew so eloquently put it, "Sharks, jellyfish, and Sponge Bob Squarepants live." We'll see if they hold out on this or not. Andrew has told me a few times that his job at the beach is to tell the lifeguard when he sees sharks starting to eat people. That way, as Andrew put it, the lifeguard can 'go find the shark and crush its bones.' I'm shocked when Andrew talks like this, however, I must admit I am also slightly relieved, since this sort of violent talk is a nice change from asking for pink shirts to be painted on his cheek, or the desire to have a pink unicorn from build-a-bear, or talking about when he grows up and is a mom. Fortunately, he has also now switched to talking about when he grows up and 'be's a dad.'

On a recent car excursion (mainly, loading Zack, Andrew, and Mylie into the car for a brief drive after Zack once again made it up to the front during sacrament meeting and played a few notes on the piano as someone was at the pulpit speaking...we didn't wait to find Maddie, we just left her with Jessie, and drove a few miles and returned for classes) Andrew shared his life plan with us. He explained he would have ten children....and a wife so the 'babies could sleep in her tummy'...and he would work at CVS or 7-11 so that he could get his kids lollipops every day...

Once again, Andrew has made us so proud.

He loves lollipops, and every time he gets into the car he asks if we are going to CVS or 7-11 to buy lollipops. He even told me yesterday that he wanted me to take him to the Fairy Godparent store, since he wanted fairy godparents so they could grant his wish for 'a million lollipops for me and Zack to have in our room.'

Fortunately, my kids don't have any cavities thus far. They still really love going to the dentist. I didn't get a cavity until I was in college. I've only got two cavities. It was a sad day for my perfect record when the first one developed. Ben, I believe, also only has one or two. Our kids might be in luck. However, our siblings all have many and Josh was subject to multiple baby root canals back in the day, so let's just keep our fingers crossed that my kids luck holds out...

Well, I better go enjoy some productive time before the minions arise for another day of mischeif and mayehm...