brendan’s photojournal

PHOTOJOURNAL COMING SOON!
In the meantime, I’m using this as a place to document a few things when I can get to it…

10.08
every night now you hold a concert. sometimes you request the music to be played on the computer, other times you sing your own songs. you’ve actually written 2 songs (daddy thought enough to write the words down after we realized you were singing the same songs over and over). you keep saying you want to learn to play certain songs (before halloween) but you lose patience when can’t do exactly what daddy does. but at the same time, you’re able to replicate a similar rhythm on your own (you have a great ear and amazing rhythm!)
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we went ice skating and after once around, falling over and over, you were determined to skate in those hockey skates and you did! in fact, you told me to go sit on the bleachers so i could watch you skate around by yourself (which you did). after 2 hours, you would only take one break (for about 2 minutes) and you even passed up Cheetos to get back on the ice. no matter how many times or how hard you fell, you got right back up with a smile on your face. amazing! then you proceeded to tell me how you were going to play hockey and “defend the goal”. i actually looked into pee-wee hockey because you’ve mentioned it a few times now … yikes, it’s not cheap!
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life is so good in your eyes right now. you’re loving your new school, loving playing soccer, loving our new routine and the time you’re spending with your friends throughout the day, loving all the new things your trying and doing, loving mommy time when kyra’s napping, loving daddy time in the evening … i’m lovin’ it!
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9.08
phew! the last tube was “rolled” out of your ear today. no more tubes, no more dr appt to see if the tube has moved, no more ear stuff!!!! (fingers crossed!)
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singing lots of songs … kid ones, “wishlist” by pearl jam doesn’t count. i’m so happy to hear you singing about apple trees and apples falling on your head and wormy coming out of an apple. not that i don’t love pearl jam, i really do … but it’s a nice change.
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loving your new school (thank God!)
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playing soccer … loving it … beckham in the making!
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“Mommy, these chips are healthy for you. They show a potato on the back!”
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8.08
today, during our usual stop at the airport to watch the airplanes come and go, you were throwing questions at me left and right. somehow i ended up telling you that if you ever wanted to take flying lessons, this would probably be the place you’d go to learn … like the pilots we saw today who were obviously practicing take-offs and landings. without much thought to what i said, you immediately whipped your head around, let go of the binoculars around your neck, stared me straight in the eyes, wrinkled your nose, and said “no way! i don’t want to fly and airplane…” phew, i must admit i secretly felt relieved (i’m scared to death of flying but am very, very aware of passing that onto my children so you would never know through the flights we’ve taken together). before i had time to really finish that thought, the next words out of your mouth were “i want to jump out of one!” *gulp*
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7.08
“mmmm … just think about it mommy, grape pie! you just buy some grapes at the store and we put them in a pie. well, maybe add a little sugar. maybe a lot of sugar. but you know, fruits already have sugar in them so … well, i don’t know, what do you think? wait, don’t tell me. i think we add sugar. yes, definitely add sugar. sugar is good.”
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“How does God make people?”
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i have got to get better at updating … you have said some of the funniest and most interesting things i’ve ever heard come out of a 4 year old’s mouth … i keep thinking i’ll remember them (how could i possibly forget???) but i don’t and i want to kick myself. you’re home for the summer now, first time … started the summer off with a fever for 2 days but back to your old self now.
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6.08
after eating mcdonald’s with ketchup all over your mouth, i told you you looked like ronald mcdonald. your reply … “do i have red hair?”
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swimming with swimmies … you’ve freed yourself from “needing” the vest! yay!
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5.08
I AM MISSING SO MUCH GOOD STUFF … YOU ARE SO HILARIOUS AND ENLIGHTENING RIGHT NOW AND YOU SAY SOMETHING SO FUNNY OR AMAZING THAT I THINK “HOW WILL I FORGET THAT ONE!” AND THEN BY THE TIME I HAVE A CHANCE TO COME ON HERE, I’VE FORGOTTEN…
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Building a rocket tonight, Brendan informed Pete that “Time goes by fast like a rocket.”
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While babysitting today, Grammy Jeanne asked you to go do something quietly in your room while she put Kyra down for a nap. She walked in later to find you had turned your radio on, took all the pillows off your bed, and were playing air guitar on the bed!
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Got a rather large cut on the playground last night and asked what the red was. When I told you it was blood, you looked up, smiled, and said “cool!” Your such and boy and I love it!
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started t-ball and loving it!
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4.08
Mastered riding your bike without training wheels this week!
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“How was school today?”
“Good, I didn’t have any jobs today.”
“Really?”
“Yup, I had the day off. You should try it sometime.”
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“Daddy, how do you say ’stupid’ in Spanish?” Buddy, no matter what language you say it in, it still isn’t nice.
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Brendan puts his rainbow fish puppet on his hand and starts running around like it’s swimming. He comes over to me at the computer, makes it talk and says “Hi Traci, do you know where Brendan is?” I play along and say (as I’m typing an e-mail) “Hi Rainbow Fish, I think he might be in the kitchen or maybe he’s watching TV in the living room. If you can’t find him there, he might have gone up to his room to play with some toys up there.” There’s no reply but he’s still standing there. I turn away from the computer and look at him as he stares at me with this funny look. “What?” I said chuckling at his expression. He squishes his eyebrows and quietly asks “Mommy, you know this fish isn’t real, right? It’s just a puppet.” Ha! Guess I scared him a little.
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3.08
Somewhere between dinner and dessert, it hit you… “OH CRAP! WE FORGOT TO GO TO CHURCH!” Nicely said, buddy… we’ll definitely go next week.
a follow-up: Both kids were up at an alarmingly early hour the next week so we actually DID make it to church… can you believe it was the 7:30am mass??? And IHOP after, of course!
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“Who’s going to live in our house when you and Daddy are dead?” This heard from the backseat of the car on the way home from picking you up. Weren’t we just talking about the egg hunt and cookies and happy things? “Who will be my new Mommy and Daddy?” Is this an adoption thing or do all kids ask about their “new” Mommy and Daddy. I try to explain that we’ll be your Mommy and Daddy forever, even after we’re dead (ugh! can’t believe I’m talking about being dead to my 4 year old son) and then tell him it’s going to be a long, long time before we are dead. He will (I hope!) have a family with kids of his own and they will be our Grandkids and we’ll be so happy to see them and visit and babysit. Then he says “When I’m married and have kids and we go out to dinner together, you and Daddy can come with us.” Yes, we can baby! I’m looking forward to it!!
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You told me in the car on the way to school today that you wanted our family to be together forever. I explained, as I feel like I am doing more and more lately, that we will be a family forever. But then you said “No! I mean together all the time. Like when I go to school, or to my friend’s house.” My reply kind of sucked… telling you something along the lines of how we all need to have our “own” things and that when you grow up, you won’t want Mommy and Daddy around all the time, you’ll enjoy doing your own things. Feeling bad about my reply (it was kind of weird for a 4 year old) I tried to touch on how even though we aren’t always going to be there (physically), we’ll always “be there”. Supporting you, cheering you on, throwing parties when you do something big, being “in you corner” no matter what. Your reply… “Are you going to have a party for me when I die?” You’re killing me (no pun intended) with the death thing lately. I got a reprieve from it for a while, but I sense it sneaking back. Of all topics, that’s the one that brings me to practically sobbing on the spot when I let my brain even scratch the surface of it happening to any of my loved ones. I figure God has a plan… it’s either to show you it’s okay to cry OR to toughen me up for what’s in store down the road. Either way, I sometimes wish I could go back to those old conversations… like wondering if Elmo was a boy or a girl. Love you little man!
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In regards to Noggin’s slogan It’s like preschool on TV… “Mommy, I don’t need to go to preschool anymore. I can go to the University of Noggin!”
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Playing teacher at the hotel for Kyra’s finalization… holding up pretend name cards… “Okay, friends, and whose name is this: K-Y-R-A?” How long have you known how to spell Kyra’s name???
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Regarding red and blue fruit snacks (his fav) upon pickup from school… “Mommy, pleeease, give me a break with those.” But I thought you wanted these everyday if you could have them???