better just the way he is

so there's this story i made up for khary about 2 yrs ago featuring his stuffed dog slash best friend, rocky. in it, the family is out hiking and khary finds a super-special stick that he says is perfect for rocky...turns out the stick is magic & rocky comes to life and can fly. they go on adventures, khary riding on his back, to dozer's favorite dog park, to the zoo, deanna rose, pretty much anywhere we feel like rambling about in the dark, since it's a bedtime, imagine-yourself-to-sleep kind of story.

we hadn't done the story in a long time, so the other night, i'm putting him to bed and he's a little restless, so i start in on the story, he comes up with even better adventures at nearly-4 than he ever did before. at the end, he says we went *back* to the woods to hike, and he brought the magical stick and threw it away. a bear ate it up. and he got a regular stick to bring home to rocky where he is. "one that isn't a magic flying stick."

me: did you have fun on your flying adventures with rocky, khary?
khary: yes, it was fun. but i like him normal.
me: so he's better just the way he is?
khary: exactly, mommy.

...awww, dangit, kid. you impress me every day.

___________________

the other day we were getting ready to go somewhere, all four of us. i was still eating supper at the table & khalil was sitting on daddy's lap, also at the table. khary fell to pieces after being told that he could not, in fact, go upstairs to watch his show (noggin) before we left. he started crying and went over to daddy to lean his face against daddy's shoulder. meanwhile, khalil is very concerned that his big brother is so upset. and in slow motion, reaches up to khary's face and *ever-so-gently* wipes his big bro's tears away.

:::melt:::

(gawd, i'm misty-eyed again just thinking about it!)

wise beyond his years

it struck me a couple times today just how very wise khary is becoming. first, he told me it's better to get ice in his cup first, then the water, so that the ice doesn't splash the water out and make a mess. granted, dawud and i have probably told him as much, but he totally understood and was actually reasoning through it. :)

second, i'm lying in bed with him and khalil this afternoon--settling down for naptime--and he asks me to stop singing the lullaby i sing every day so he can practice putting himself to sleep. O_o and he proceeded to do just that, whispering "chicka chicka boom boom" to himself for a while until he drifted off.

meanwhile, khalil is almost toothed. almost. almost is a bitch. almost means near-constant screaming, demanding to be held at all times (if not nursing), only sleeping for about 15 minute stretches, and generally being a drain on an already-sick mommy. little dude hurts a lot, but BOY is he going to be even cuter with teeth, if you can believe it.

holy crap, i just bought two cases of wine!!

well, i'm only keeping 5 bottles. the rest i'm holding hostage for friends till they give me ransom.

cellar rat wine merchants, at 17th and baltimore, has a monthly case for only $100. once a month, they hold a case tasting, at which you can actually **pick and choose** which wines you want. if you're keeping count, with tax, that comes to only $9/bottle!!!

happy birthday to me!

the flight:

an interesting day...or not. i liked it, anyway

we started khary's occupational therapy today at children's mercy. it went well, despite us being late (and *that* despite us getting up before 6:30 for an 8am appt). during khary's session, khalil got a little restless, so i put him into the ball pit, into which he sank with every move as if in quicksand. here's a shot of him freaking out and begging to get out of the pit, lol:



(i'm really not a mean, terrible mommy. i just do psychological experiments with my infant.) :P

and today began "explore the city tuesdays" for my boys and me. we (i) have decided to do something cool every tuesday after ot since we've gotten up and about early and all. today we went to crown center, then via skywalk to union station, where we shared a huge, diabetic-coma-inducing cinnamon roll. now i *really* can't wait for the weather to be nice! i've got plans, you know.

after eating half of our respective grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and nap, we had the 2nd halves of our lunches. i noticed dozer freaking out a bit more than usual, so i peeked out the window to the porch:



that right there is a squirrel who's been visiting us lately gorging himself on the pecans i left out on the porch on sunday. (why did it take him so long to find them???) i had a couple handfuls of leftover pecans that my aunt had given me over the holidays. i made some yummy candied pecans and dawud made a pecan pie, which he tells me is fabulous, but i'll take his word for it.

...and soon i get to go taste and buy some wine!!!!

black snowman and another by khary

notice that the popsicle stick snowman has an appendage at the bottom of the stick.

and khary's salt dough snowman is, of course, black. now, it's because he decided he wanted to paint all the ornaments we made black. but given his ethnicity, it's quite fitting.