Last night when Brent was putting Noah to bed he said to him, “I love you so much.”

Noah’s response, “Of course you do. What father wouldn’t love his son.” Duh dad!

The other day I took Nathanael and Noah to Toys R Us to spend Nathanael’s birthday money. After two hours, I’m not kidding TWO HOURS (who’s says I’m not patient) of helping Nathanael to decide on what he would purchase, I hobbled on sore feet to the checkout line.

We were waiting in line when Nathanael asks very matter-of-fact as if he is asking me if I like ketchup on my fries, “Mom you’re hot? Huh?”

“What?”, I ask, caught off guard.

“Not hot like the temperature hot,” he continues.

What? Where is this coming from I’m asking myself. Looking for someone to blame I immediately I feel like beheading Hannah Montana for corrupting my sweet innocent baby. I’ve never even seen the show, but I don’t like that she wears a long blond wig when she has perfectly beautiful natural brown hair. It’s just a disguise my friends say. I don’t care. She could have chose those black plastic glasses with the plastic nose attached.

In the car I ask Nathanael a few questions to try and find out where he heard the word “hot” in that context. I also ask him if he knows what it means. He says he heard it at school. Then smiles and says, “It’s kind of a love word, huh, Mom?”

“Yes honey. People say it when they think someone is really really beautiful,” I say.

Then he says, “I sort of wish I would have gotten the remote control boat.”

Noah: Bicycle from Jenn Nims on Vimeo.

Sometimes I get sad. Sometimes I cry. And sometimes joy comes in the funniest of ways.

Reindeer.

Last week I was sitting at the breakfast table with Brent crying. There was no fighting just crying when two little reindeer trotted into the kitchen holding a sign that said “Christmas Cerelers”. Nathanael and Noah had found some old Christmas reindeer antlers and they were singing the Jingle Bells chorus with the focus of a contestant on American Idol. When the chorus ended Nathanael launched bravely into the verse although it was clear he didn’t really know the words. And Noah kept right up with him smiling and moving his mouth. The little reindeer finished their performance. As they walked out of the kitchen I heard Nathanael whisper to Noah, “At least we made mommy stop crying.” Almost. Sad tears had turned to happy tears.

Noah and I had a conversation walking to his classroom the other day.

Me- Do you like writing your name in class?

Noah- No.

Me- Why not?

Noah- It’s boring.

Me- You know I heard someone say once that only boring people get bored. Are you boring?

Noah- Yes. And I’m not talking to you anymore.

Me- Why not.

Noah- Because you’re boring.

Today was Nathanael’s first day of second grade and Noah’s first day of pre-k. I like firsts. First taste of a new ice cream flavor. First time seeing the Rockies. First time hearing an amazing song. First time driving alone in a car. First time stroking the muzzle of a horse. First buds in spring after a long winter. Firsts are fun. Well most of the time. First shots are not. First speeding tickets are not. First time being made fun of for passing gas in public is not, well unless you are a 11 year old boy. One of the best things about having kids is getting to exerience “firsts” again and again. Many which have been forgotten. Simple pleasures and curiosities such as the first time catching a lighting bug or first time building a river in the sand at the oceans edge to fill up your castle moat. The not so great first can be scary, but this time around I am approaching them with some, I hope, wisdom. And maybe…just maybe with some thought, compassion, and a whole lot of prayer some of the blows of those not so great firsts can be lessened or even dodged. And maybe my boys firsts will sort of erase and help me to unlearn some of the jaded attitudes I have picked up over the years. Instead of being a big black mark my cynical attitude will become more of a smudge. Thankfully, both boys came home excited about their first day of school. Nathanael said he had so much fun. And I could tell Noah felt bigger and more responsible. He’s doing big stuff, sitting down and writing his name before he goes and plays. And I probably should mention, I had my own first. The first Monday in August where I was halfway organized, managed to complete some tasks with a pretty good attitude, sidestep depression, and remember other people are human beings just like me on a Monday. A good first day of second grade. A good first day of pre-k. A good first August Monday for mommy.

Noah loves to play “The Baby”. If you have played it with him you know “The Baby” can get intense. Thankfully he was a much easier baby than the one he pretends to be! The Baby started as Baby Bat. We’d lay in bed and I’d be Mommy Bat and Baby Bat would cuddle in his mommy’s wings. I loved being Mommy Bat so much a bought a t-shirt with bats on it. They weren’t serious bats though. Mommy Bat is much more serious than the bats on her shirt.

Some call it lies. I call it imagination.

We are all driving home from the gym when Noah exclaims I saw an “enchihuahua!”

“You did! Where?” I ask.

“We just passed it”, Noah continues.

“Are you sure?” Daddy asked.

“Yes, it was black,” says Noah.

Being animals lovers, we turn around and start looking for the “enchihuahau”. But there is not a dog in sight.

Noah says very seriously, “It went behind the building.”

Fooled again…

We all scream for ICE CREAM. Today, Nathanael and I found a brand new, still in the packaging, Rival ice cream maker at the Goodwill store today for $3.99! That’s less than one scoop with 3 mix-ins from Cold Stone. You would of thought I gave Nathanael the keys to his very own us Toy R Us when I said we could buy it! We brought it home and Brent was equally excited exclaiming, “It’s new. It’s even still in the plastic wrap,” as he opened up the box. Mmmm…I want organic 😉 homemade peach ice cream!

We are going on an adventure you can read about it here one million children