How to know...

...your kid might be a little different
he is always trying to be upside down "like a bat"

...your kid watches too much The Old House
he puts gutters on all his drawings of houses

...your kid plans ahead
"If Tucker gets a cheese stick, I will always want a cheese stick too"

...your kid is overdramatic
says drinking all that water "made him tired"

...your kid loves football
even his basketball games include "fumbles"

...your kid has empathy
he tells you (after watching you get dressed) "Sometimes I have to hop to get my jeans on too, Mama"


...where your kid is hiding during Hide and Go Seek
just walk room to room and listen for the giggling


...your kid is right brained
he makes his capital E's with long lines on both sides "So it is balanced"

...your kid likes to negotiate
every meal ends with a conversation of how many more bites he has to eat so he can play Mario Kart later that night

...your kid has hurt his little brother
he runs to you seconds after little brother starts crying, wanting to give you a hug, saying, "I am not sure why Tucka is so upset."

...your kid thinks he is Tigger
he leaves the room to go potty chanting, "Ta Ta for now!"

...your kid thinks you are a bad singer
he tells you. Daily.

...your kid watches too much Biggest Loser
H: Where were you when I was in school?
Me: At the gym.
H: Why?
Me: Because I want to get healthy.
H: And DROP THAT WEIGHT?!?

I need more money.

I could seriously put canvases up of these two all over my house.

How to barter with Mama

Me: Kiss your brother, Hudson.
Hudson: He has too much snot.
Me: Please?
Hudson: I have an idea. Can I have an ice cream cone if I kiss him?
Me: No.
Hudson: How about a sucker if I look at him real nice?
Me: Deal.

Poo.

For the record, I have been encouraged by my husband to share the following so that we remember this (pun) crap when we are empty nesters.

Tucker pooped in the shower last week. Our bathroom shower with the full glass doors. Hudson was in the shower with him and it was not funny at all because I was the only one home and I had to deal with it.  I was right there to hear Hudson having a coronary and I look in and see the deed.

That is only part one of the story.

Bedhead in the hotel.

So, like two days later, I have both boys in our bathroom again. It is mid-day, Hudson has asked to take a shower. He tells me that he will just put his clothes back on when he is done. I am getting Tucker ready to get in the shower where Hudson already is. Hudson has began a repetitive shouting of, "Don't let him POOP in here. Don't let him POOP in here." Tucker is standing, full belly pushed out, naked outside the shower just laughing every time Hudson says "POOP" and I am laughing at this whole chaos called My Life.

I look down to see Tucker, still laughing at his brother's chant, peeing ALL over Hudson's folded pile of clothes.

And I laugh too. I love my life.

Say my name

For 38 years I have hated my name. Well, the Heather part is okay and, of course, Hughes was a rocking last name while it lasted. It is the name stuck in the middle that I did not appreciate. Dawn. Don. Don. Don. (I would say it like a man's name.) Blech.

Well, that changed Saturday night. I took my Mama on a hot date to the Broadway musical The Jersey Boys. It is all about the (I guess "dreamy" according to my mother) Frankie Valli. I knew that it was because of my mom's love of a particular song that I was given the middle name Dawn. The show is filled with all the cool music that was played in my home growing up. I had heard Dawn a zillion times before, but there was definitely something about being in the gorgeous theatre holding my Mama's hand as they fired up the clip of The Four Seasons on Ed Sullivan and lit up the entire auditorium to hammer out my own anthem. (Seriously, my retinas are still burning from all those lights.) It was really awesome. I will even stop focusing on the words, "Dawn go away..." and instead the first five words, which Mom said are her favorite, "Pretty as a midsummer's morn..."

Plus being named after a classic American anthem is cool. :)

This is not just a blog about my name. Hudson's imagination has now FINALLY evolved to the point where he does not just give his new animals names like Mr. Owl, Mr. Monkey, and White Bear. This is Hudson's new $2.50 rabbit. He named this particular lovey Poppy Hoppy Harris. A name that shows imagination? I love it.

What side do you sleep on?

I don't remember how we picked what side of the bed we were going to sleep on. Isn't that strange? How do married couples make these decisions. I do not remember choosing, but I think it was a significant selection for my life. For the past eight and a half years Josh and I have slept on the exact same side of the bed. Our bed has moved locations around the room, we even got a new bed, but we each have a claimed Side. Once, years ago, we accidentally fell asleep on the Other Side of the bed and it the morning we woke up on the Correct Side of the bed. Neither of us knew when or how that happened. But we corrected ourselves mid-sleep.
The side of the bed I chose--or was given-- since we can not remember which-- is the side closest to the door (based on current room configurations). This means it is the side that little people come to when they need something in the middle of the night. It means it is the side where the words, "I don't feel so better" are said first. This means it is the side that consistently loses the argument, "You are closer." It means it is the side that gets less sleep.
Many times over the past two years I have wished that I could go back to the moment nearly 3000 days ago, the day in which we held the elections of Which Side Will I Sleep On Forever and pick. the. Other .Side.

The Simple Life

As I have recently been told, your life is made up of three realms. Your private realm is the real you and God. The personal realm is you and your closest family. Your public realm is you with everyone else. 

This year it has been proven to me that God has a plan for changes to take place in several of those areas. Without boring you with all the aspects of Mama under construction, let me just show you what I find particularly meaningful today.

Shared interests definitely create a bond! Tucker loves watching This Old House with the family.

(and I am sure his favorite is Roger Cook like his Mama)

Hudson really made me cry this past Sunday at church. It was his first time writing his name in the attendance book.

Simple moments equal profound joy.

A bedtime ritual

Every night when you finish reading Hudson's his requested books, when he has been brushed, potty-ied, and tucked, when you reach across the bed and turn out his light, he will say four words which tear me up, "Stay awhile longer, Mama?"

No matter how tired I am, no matter how desperately I long for a quiet place where he is NOT  TALKING, no matter how much work I have waiting for me on the other side of his bedroom door, all he has to say is that and I turn to putty.

Months (? years?) ago when this ritual began he started elongating my staying time by asking, "Tell me about the next day" and now that request is often before the lights have even been turned off. Little Man wants to know all about tomorrow. The whos, the wheres, and all the details of our upcoming adventures. I find it mind clearing as well, to articulate to him our plans, and so I go along with it willingly. Plus his contributions are best processed when we can actually discuss the feasibility of his ideas, and not as I have to dismiss them while he tears up as we walk out the door.  ("I fink [sic] that we should go to the zoo and ride the train in the snow.")

Tonight was not my night to put Hudson down. I hosted book club so I did not put anyone to bed. I did go and put on my pajamas when everyone left and check out Hudson's new fish tank in his bathroom. ("My new fish is Swimmy Swimmy Harris Swimmy Swimmy Swimmy. We will call him "Swimmy" for short.") That is when I heard him calling out my name.

As soon as I entered the room, I knew the request. So I laid there in the dark watching his face all illuminated by his Glowie and answered every detail about our upcoming day. He had things to tell me too. I now know the entire layout of the pet store he and Dada visited. I love how expressive his dark eyes were numerating every animal was there. We talked about the things he would like to do for NEXT Christmas especially the new train cars and features he would like to install. ("You really need to find us a train station on a sale, Mama.")  And how one day, when he has his own house, he wants to have a train track that goes through the ceiling. ("Do you think that you can send Dada over to my house to help me build it up?")

Best of all, I was invited to a sleep over right there on his teeny tiny race car bed. ("Don't you think THAT sounds like a good i-deaea?" he says.)  

Sigh. Why can't time just stop right now?