About Bentley

It would only be fair to do a random post about Bentley, too. Although I have to begin by admitting that it's a little trickier to pin him down for something like this. So bear with me if this isn't quite as fascinating/hilarious/all-encompassing as Kendra's post was. So Bentley...

-Will frequently answer questions with the phrase, "I do!" For example, if I ask him if he wants to eat something, rather than a simple "Yes," he'll say, "I do want to eat that!" The funny thing about this is that he started doing this when I was on an Abba kick (having just seen Mamma Mia!), so I think was a direct result of listening to the song, "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do."

-He has some very strange speech problems that make me laugh. He can't say his "Z's," so if you ask him where the train took us, he'll answer, "To the Yoo!" And the end of the alphabet is, "X, Y, Ye!" And for some reason, double-L has turned into a "g" sound. So it's not uncommon to hear him tell me that he's, "A siggy boy."

-And while we're on the subject, he says his own name as, "Bucky." Which I think is pretty funny, but if I actually call him that, I get in trouble. He'll argue, "No! My name not Bucky! My name Bucky!" And the worst part is that I do in fact understand him on that one.

-One last speech thing-- for not even being three yet I think his grammar is pretty good, but one thing that's off is that he'll occasionally promise, "I not will do that." This usually leaves me with a vague memory of Opposite Day as a kid and I wonder what he really meant...

-Craig recently left out a couple long strips of cardboard (part of the box that a window came in) and Bentley promptly turned them into roads on which he would drive his cars and trucks. He even managed to create hills and everything-- it was a great toy!

-He loves to play in the fort which Daddy made my throwing a blanket over Bentley's old playmat.

-Bentley also likes building "his little nest," a game he invented with Grandma. This entails throwing all the couch pillows on the floor and then nestling in them and pretending to nap. Recently he keeps trying to convince me that he can really nap there. I just laugh and put him to bed in his room.

-He LOVES nursery, and will ask several times during sacrament meeting if it's time to go yet. The workers always tell me how good he is, too, but I don't believe them. I think he's lucky enough to not be one of the many kids who cry if their parents aren't there OR the really violent kid who's always in time-out (not naming names here). I'm pretty sure he just slips through the cracks since he isn't as noticeable. (One worker did admit that it would be nice if he would just walk. Apparently he and his friend Toby are the rebel rousers of nursery-- they like to start running around and then all the other kids all begin running, and then someone always ends up getting hurt. So, no, I'm not trying to even hint that he's some sort of angel in nursery!)

-His name, Bentley, was my maiden name. And I thought I was so clever to come up with such an original name for my son (you gotta be original when your last name is Smith), and then a family moved into our ward who ALSO had a son named Bentley. Lucky for all of us I really like them! So now Bentley and Bentley get to play together. Really, what are the odds?

-He likes to randomly shout out, "BYU!" I'm pretty sure he gets that from his friend Toby, who has the cougar fight song memorized.

-His toenails are really funky (always looking like they want to become in-grown or something) and he screams and kicks at me every time I have to cut them. It's a big pain. But fingernails are no trouble at all...

-He's got a little curl to the hair at the back of his head which I am very jealous of.

-He was born by emergency c-section, which kind of sucked, but I'm glad I had the option. Recently I was explaining this to him, so now he'll randomly announce, "That one time, I got stuck. The doctor had to take me out!" I love that he says it like he remembers it!

-He has super-pasty white skin. (Sorry, kid, you definitely inherited that from me. But I don't think that matters as much in a boy. Right?)

-He loves helping Daddy with all the home improvement projects. He has a set of toy tools from Home Depot (thanks, Grandma & Grandpa!) and will carry them to where Daddy is working and "help" out. He also enjoys painting with Daddy...

I like that he got his little stool so he could be just like Daddy as they paint together.

Concentrating hard

(P.S. That's our new door there-- just trust me when I say it's a huge improvement on the old one!)

-He can be very helpful when he wants to be, and will usually fetch things for me.

-He's also very sweet about giving Kendra the kisses she demands.

-His first word was, "No." His second word was, "Car." The love with cars and all things transportation-oriented has never ended. His favorite book when he was about seven months old was The Berenstein Bears and the Big Road Race. He would laugh and laugh as if it were the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Recently he rediscovered the book and it's been fun to see him enjoy it all over again.

So those are some things about Bentley. He's a funny boy!

Timing

Craig and his Dad have a gift. In the middle of the driest July that Virginia has probably ever experienced, they've managed to take both the sliding door AND a window out right when it began pouring rain.

If anyone's having drought problems, you may want to have them come and replace your windows. It should fix things right up! They'd do such a good job that Utahns could stop praying for moisture! Guaranteed.

Poll Answer

Good guess, everyone with "Fuschia" except you're forgetting an important detail-- that might have actually matched the bathroom somewhat. (At least, it would have tied in with the pink and purple sponged onto the wall. Matched is definitely too strong a word for that.)

Nope, my bedroom was painted orange. Bright, bright orange. The walls, the ceiling, and closet door, the trim around the windows and doors. All orange. It must have been really ugly.

On a sidenote-- Kendra's room was painted yellow. I think Bentley's may have been a dusky blue-- probably my favorite out of all these, but a bit dark for someone's bedroom, if you ask me...

So the question now is, who was it who correctly guessed orange?

This Is the Moment

After much thought, I've decided to do something I have never done before. I was worrying about health care one night (did you know that I actually think about stuff like that?) and trying to figure out what I could do to make a difference. I'll be honest when I say that this health care plan that Obama is trying to push through scares the crap out of me. I'll try to write a post later that explains my reasons. But what can I do to stop it? I thought about writing a letter to my Congressman, but that didn't seem like it would make much impact. And then it hit me-- I'm so close to DC. What's to stop me from going into the city and protesting* this new health care plan? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me.

So, yes, you read that right. I'm going to protest. Natalie is coming down from Hershey to join me and we're making signs and everything. My in-laws have said they'll watch our kids-- they're happy to support us in this cause. If you want to join us, we'd love to have you. The more people, the better.

The day we picked is August 7th (Friday) at noon, right in front of the Capitol building. Yes, I realize it will be really hot. But the Senate goes on vacation the next day, so I want to do this once while they're still in session.

We're going to make signs the day before (the 6th) at my house, and you're more than welcome to join us for that, too.

My plan is to make at least one sign that reads, "My Body, My Choice for MY Health Care!" I might also make one that says, "Just Say NO to Politicians Running My Health Care!"

What would YOU put on a sign?



*All you Arrested Development fans out there, please tell me that you're thinking of Lindsay Bluth saying, "This only whets my appetite to protest!"

Pleasant

Today during dinner, Bentley and Kendra decided it was really fun to make long, drawn-out grunting noises that sounded like they were constipated. Make that exTREMEly constipated. As in, perhaps they were trying to pass boulders through their bowels. Or elephants.

And the worst part is that I laughed, so then they thought they were being funny. And kept doing it.

Bad Mommy!

All About Kendra

Here are some random factoids about my daughter:

-She insists on being carried around the house and collecting kisses from everyone before naps and bedtime.

-The other day for lunch, she ate an entire can of Spaghetti-Os. Ew.

-Just now, when she couldn't sleep (probably because Bentley was pounding on the piano), she asked for Tigger to help her sleep. This is very devious of her, because Tigger is Bentley's stuffed animal and she's knows it. But I managed to slip him into her crib without Bentley noticing. (You should have seen the sly grin on her face over the whole thing!)

-When she's tired, she'll lay her blanket on things and then lay her ahead against the blanket. But if I ask her she's tired, she'll shake her head and say "No!" very emphatically.

-The blanket that she always carries around with her is the one I took her to the hospital in. (And that joke never stops being funny to me!)

-Several of the nursery kids know her name and were concerned when I showed up at playgroup with just Bentley. They kept asking, "Ken-wuh? Ken-wuh?" (That made me happy.)

-There was a whole rash of babies born at the same time as Kendra. All of them ended up with "A" names except her. Apparently we missed the memo on that one... (Really! In order of birth, they are: Aidan, Autumn, (Kendra,) Afton, Alta, and Aaron!) I like to think of all them together as being the "A+K" Team. And I feel really badly for the nursery workers now that they're beginning to turn 18 months old...

-Kendra's a flirt. I can only assume she inherited this ability from her Aunt Leah or possibly Grandma Patrice (I DON'T WANT TO KNOW, MOM). She sure as heck didn't get it from me or any of my other sisters.

-She loves stuffed animals, and enjoys hugging them and then passing them to me or Craig so we can hug them also.

-But she's also learned from Bentley the fine art of playing with trains and cars and takes a healthy interest in these things, too.

-Speaking of Bentley, she absolutely adores him and tries to do whatever he does. Recently this has included eating with a spoon and a bowl and trying to say prayers (or at the very least folding her arms and saying "Amen" at the end). When I bought Lightning McQueen band-aids for Bentley (for the bleeding gash he had on his leg at the time), Kendra wanted one, too. I told her she didn't have a bruise (our word for anything that hurts), and she immediately pointed to a week-old bug-bite on her knee. She got a band-aid, too.

-She's most affectionate during yoga class and always manages to sit on me or lean against me so that I can't do the positions at all. (She sat on my back for "cobra." That didn't work so well...)

-She only ever cries over emotional things. If she gets hurt, she'll rub the spot and look concerned until I tell her that she's fine. But if (heaven forbid!) Bentley hurts her feelings, she'll wail so loudly you'd think we'd just amputated her left foot. Very dramatic.

-She knows the word for "binky" and "blanky" but the two seem to be one entity in her mind. If I tell her to put down her blanky, she'll do that and then immediately spit out her binky, too. Apparently you can't have one without the other.


I'm sure I'll think of more as soon as I post this. But it's a start at least. Kendra makes me laugh.

Construction Site Thoughts

This work on the bathroom has changed my routine in ways that I would never have foreseen. Which forces me to think about all of it more than I probably would otherwise do. And since it's on my mind, what better way to stop thinking about it than to write it down? So here are some of my thoughts:

A) It turns out that when you get sawdust in your sheets, it makes the bed really itchy and hard to sleep in. Drop cloths (and making the bed each day BEFORE Craig begins working) are essential.

B) Keeping all my clothes in Kendra's closet is a much bigger pain than I ever would have guessed. I usually try to shower while she's napping, but now that means that I can't get to my clothes when I'm done showering! And with my in-laws here, lounging around in my bathrobe and/or underwear until she wakes up isn't really an option. So when I forget to lay out clothes before naptime, I end up wearing what I wore yesterday (blech).
1. Craig's Dad put the pole back up in my closet yesterday and I moved all my clothes back today. Heaven.
2. I should explain that better. He was going to put the shelves and everything back, too, but I told him not to. I'm hoping that if my closet is as lame as possible, then I'll be forced to set up really cool closet organizers and stuff like that as soon as the bathroom is done. That could work, right?

C) I'm not sure which is more disconcerting-- the fact that I can hear Craig's and his Dad's voices through the walls really easily as I shower (thanks to the other wall and the insulation being gone at the moment) or the fact that when they stop talking, the silence is quickly filled with the sounds of them pounding, hammering, and screwing things into the (paper thin) walls. I keep expecting the wall to suddenly collapse while I'm shampooing my hair.

D) Thanks to the nearly continual babysitting that I'm getting from Donna (my way-too-helpful to the point that I'm pretty sure I'm consistently taking advantage of her, mother-in-law), I keep just taking one kid or less out with me when I run errands. This is great and makes life much easier, but it's starting to make me think that having a third kid would be a piece of cake. I have to keep reminding myself that I don't normally get to have a babysitter around all the time to rely on. (She also keeps doing the dishes. I'm starting to believe I'm a better housekeeper than I actually am. But the days when she isn't here, I'm humbled back to reality!)

E) It's kind of amazing how quickly the mess from the bathroom can spread to the rest of the house-- we have blocks of wood, little bits of insulation, and powder from drywall pretty much everywhere, despite the fact that Craig vacuums everything very thoroughly at the end of each day. How do we manage to track it around so well???

F) Craig is a really hard worker. Yesterday was his birthday (Hip Hip Hooray, Craig!), but he still insisted on working all day. I made him take the day off for my birthday just so he could pay more attention to me! Boy does that make me look like a brat. (We did go see Harry Potter yesterday night, so he got to do some fun stuff, too. Just for the record. I also made French toast for breakfast, but it turns out that there's a reason that Craig usually makes the French toast in our household. I managed to melt the plastic bag that the bread was in to the frying pan not once but twice. TWICE! So pathetic.)

G) In the dark, you can see a ring of light around the shower faucet and the water-hose leading to the toilet because the wall on the other side is missing. The first time I noticed it, it creeped me out, but now I kind of like it.

H) It's kind of amazing how much STUFF we have laying around for this bathroom. In the laundry room we have extra drywall, the vanity, a medicine cabinet and a mirror. And some other things that I don't know the name for. And there are usually tools all over the kitchen table and countertops.

I) So if I think this is kind of a pain, I can't even imagine how horrible it would be if I also had a house full of strange men doing all the work! I have new-found respect for what a pain it was for my Mom to re-do her kitchen and bathrooms...

Home Improvement

For the third time since we've moved into our little home, we have a toilet sitting on our patio. THE THIRD TIME!!! Our neighbors just laughed it off the first time, but by now I worry that they're regretting us ever moving in! I mean, really. Can you get any more white trash than that? (My mother-in-law pointed out that at least we don't live in a trailer. I suppose then we'd simply be trailer trash...)

Anyway, yes, it's summer vacation and home improvement projects are underway.

Craig and his Dad already installed our new sliding glass door and it looks lovely. Kudos to my men for that one. In fact, it looks so nice that I'm forgiving them for taking three plus days to get it done when they originally assured me that it would take only one. ComPLETEly forgiven. Really!

No, seriously, I really am very happy with the door. It looks nice, and perhaps even more importantly, it shuts very tightly, so it keeps out the weather AND the bugs. I'm in heaven.

Now Craig and his Dad are working on the bathroom (hence the toilet in the yard). This is the last bathroom that we need to renovate, the master bath. It has a shower which, when we moved in, was being held together with painter's tape.

(Exhibit A)


And based on the big water stain on the ceiling of the room below it, I think the painter's tape just wasn't up to the task. So we have never actually used that shower. It's also a very small bathroom, with floor tile original to the 40-year-old home (read: one-inch square tiles that remind me of a public restroom).

(Exhibit B)

(We did throw away the moldy piece of carpet you can see here which was being used as a bathmat. Ew, ew, ew.) A paint patch we discovered under the sink proved the original owners painted it turquoise (which matched the toilet and sink) with sponged-on pink and purple patches. Wow. Someone liked for things to be very colorful.

(Exhibit C)

We did at least take down the pink curtains before we even moved in.

(This also explains our formerly pink living room, huh?) After finding that paint, I did a little detective work and began looking for clues as to what color my bedroom may have been. Any guesses? (Take the poll!)

Again, wow.

So the Smith men have a lot of work ahead of them. So far, they've ripped out the wall with the door that leads into the bathroom and moved it back about a foot or two. This bumped it a few inches into our closet, but it's worth it to have a slightly bigger bathroom. (I can say that easily because the inches we lost were on Craig's side of the closet!) They've been moving studs in the walls (the bathroom actually looked better once the drywall and tile were all gone and you could see the insulation and studs. Top ten signs you have the ugliest bathroom in the world). This included the drywall for the ceiling, adding new (and thicker) insulation to it and then putting up new more water-resistant drywall. They've also put in all new wiring so that we will now have a fan, a heated floor, and a light on either side of the mirror, rather than a really tacky light built into the medicine cabinet. Also, I think we'll have an outlet that allows TWO things to be plugged in, not just one. Luxury beyond my wildest dreams! (And triple-yay for having a father-in-law who is not only über-handy, hard-working, and willing to drive here all the time to help out, but ALSO an electrical engineer, so he did all that in a few hours. We owe him more thanks than we can possibly begin to express.)

So that's what's going on right now. Our house feels like one big construction site, but it will be worth it. I can't wait to have a real bathroom some day!

You know it's bad when...

... your son wakes up from his nap, takes one look at you and starts crying and insisting you put your hair up in a ponytail.

I swear, occasionally, I really do leave my hair down. Really!

P.S.

To all you Frenchies out there-- Happy Bastille Day tomorrow!

(Ha, Natalie-- I beat you to it!)

Orange Monday

I actually try really hard (for me) to feed my kids fairly healthy food. If you knew me during my college days, you'll know that I pretty much lived on goldfish crackers and chocolate chips, washed down with the Creamery's chocolate milk. (Heaven.) So even just trying to make sure they get fruits and vegetables every day is not exactly what comes naturally to me. But I do try.

So today, as I was spooning squash into Kendra's mouth, it suddenly occurred to me that the last things I'd fed her were: (baby food) squash, (cheddar cheese) goldfish crackers, macaroni & cheese, and (baby food) peaches.

Is anyone else noticing the color scheme involved here? As if that weren't enough, Craig then feed her a piece of cheese! My poor little girl is going to turn orange!!!

Admiration

Maybe you didn't realize this about me, but I love Dr. Horrible. Love, love, love it. The music is really catchy. The acting is first-rate. I love that Joss Whedon (in addition to being the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, another favorite of mine) produced this during the writer's strike. I love that the most evil villain in it is "Bad Horse-- the thoroughbred of sin." I just love it. And, of course, since I love it, I either watch it or have the music playing constantly. (Obsessing over things that we love is a family trait. Really!) Which means that my kids end up watching it, too. So Bentley is a Dr. Horrible fan, also. He's been a fan just about as long as I have, and even could say "Dr. Horrible" when he wasn't even very good at talking yet-- it sounded like, "Dapo Hoble," but I knew what he meant. He and I are kindred spirits.

Just to illustrate how much Bentley likes Dr. Horrible, one time I was asking him if he was Daddy's boy or Mommy's boy, and he just grinned and said, "Dapo Hoble boy!" So there you have it.

So while we were visiting Natalie's place in Hershey, one of Bentley's favorite toys that he discovered were his Uncle Cameron's goggles.

It's not just me, right-- there's a definite resemblance there, right???




Apparently my son has a future in world domination. And hopefully really good singing. I'm so proud!

Pride and Shame

*Disclaimer: I promise, promise, promise that I will not post about every little update that has to do with potty-training my son. Because that's gross. And because I can't imagine that you're so bored that you want to read about it. But this quick story was pretty funny (albeit gross), so I hope you'll forgive me...


So! Bentley peed in his little potty-training toilet for the first time today! It was mildly funny because he said he wanted to, but since he's said that before with nothing to show for it, I didn't really think too much of it. I'd been bathing both he and Kendra in the tub when he announced that he wanted to use the toilet, so I wrapped a towel around him to dry him off, told him to go to it, and proceeded to leave him alone so I could get Kendra out of the tub.

Imagine my surprise when I came back and found that he'd done the deed! And I wasn't even there for it! (This doesn't really choke me up or anything. In fact, I'd be okay if that's how all his potty-training went!)

So later we told Daddy about what a good job Bentley had done, and I was quite proud of him. And this is what he told Daddy: "I peed in my toilet! And in my bath!"

WHAT???

Ew. So, yeah, that's why the title of this post is "Pride and Shame." I think parenthood usually means having plenty of both, often at the same time.

Political Video

So when I get together with my sisters, we end up talking a lot of politics, and my sister showed this video to me and I absolutely loved it. So I'm sharing it with you!

Official

And I'm pleased to announce to everyone that Craig is now officially done with his master's program. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to Craig! You may refer to him as Master Smith, if you so desire. Or if you want to make me smile.

I'm proud of him.

Heart-Stopping Moments

You would think that I would learn. If the kids are being quiet, never assume that everything is just fine.

But they were playing so nicely together for once! And I was trying to get the house tidied up before Craig got home, so I can leave them alone in my room with the door closed while I straighten things up, right?

Yeah...

When Bentley came down the stairs the first thing I noticed was that he was carrying something in his hand. It took me a moment to realize what it was: the paint brush-lid part of a bottle of nail polish. Dark blue nail polish.

And that sent me into a panic. I hurriedly assessed him for whatever damage he'd done to himself-- nothing too bad, just a few streaks on his hand and foot. I raced into the room expecting to find a puddle on my bed. Nothing. I set Bentley in the tub while I continued to look for the bottle. I finally found it firmly grasped in Kendra's little fist. Fortunately, she was holding it so tightly that she only got a little on her hand and one tiny dot on her blue & green dress.

The few other random drips I found all came out with a quick rub of nail polish remover-- off the door jam, off the toilet lid, off the tub. Crisis averted. Barely. Phew!

I've Created a Monster

Just now as I was folding laundry, I showed Kendra how to throw the used dryer sheet into the garbage. She enjoyed doing it so much that she promptly tried to throw away every article of clothing she found on the floor. (Umm, not that there are any clothes on the floor in my home. Yeah...)

* * * * * *

Different story, same child. I just realized that I never told you the saga of Kendra learning how to walk. Well, I may have told you, but I never posted it on the blog. If I did tell you, then just skip the rest of this post. Or if you don't really care. Or if you're offended that I didn't tell you (that's for you, Andrea!) But if you're curious, here it is!

So Kendra had been taking the occasional step or two, but only if she hadn't actually noticed that she wasn't holding on to anything. Which was pretty rare. And I mean that literally when I say "step or two." So she really wasn't walking at all.

Until I went to Seattle for the weekend of Juliana's wedding. Friday morning, Kendra was showing off that she could stand up (which Bentley didn't do until after he was already walking), and I moved away from her and asked her to walk to me and she did! She probably took ten steps that time first time. (And poor Craig was stuck back in Virginia and missed it all! I felt really bad for him for that.)

After that, she would take steps but only if she had stood up first and wanted to. If I stood her up or if she just didn't feel like it, there was nothing that could persuade her to try.

So a week later, my parents come to visit (hence the pictures I already posted). They arrive Monday. By Tuesday, Kendra is already in love with my Dad. This isn't surprising, since she pretty much loves all the men in her life. Daddy, Bentley, Grandpa Smith-- she loves them all and has them all wrapped around her little finger. No reason that Grandpa Rex should be an exception! She even went so far as to put on her best cute act just for him, and then burst into tears when she realized he was asleep and hadn't noticed her. So on Tuesday, he sits on the floor in front of her and asks, "Kendra, don't you want to walk to me?" So she does. And he gives her a big hug. So then she walked back and forth between us several more times, collecting hugs the entire time. And that was all it took!

Since then, she's pretty much been a walking fiend. Crawling is a thing of the past. But she still has this huge, very smug grin as she meanders her way, zombie-like, around the house. She knows that she's hot stuff.