hablas espanol??

in the car today, i was chatting it up with moses about his day. he was telling me all about who had cried that day and why, and of course, cars and trucks. i was thinking about how ximena's mom was speaking to her in spanish, and i also remembered that they have a visiting spanish teacher once in a while. i decided to brush up my spanish-speaking skills with mo.

"moses, hablas español?" (moses, do you speak spanish?)
"yeah."
"sí? sabes todos los númberos?" (yes? do you know all the numbers?)
"yeah."
"sí? uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez!" (yes? 1-10)
"yeah."
"sí? sabes todos los colores?" (yes? do you know all the colors?)
"yeah."
"sí? diga rojo y azul..." (yes? say red and blue...)
"yeah."
"moses, diga sí!" (moses, say yes!)
"sí!"

what?? continued conversation proved that he did not understand what i was saying, but it was fun for that moment where i thought he was a linguistic genius. :)

lovelove,
proud mamá

"moses not stanky"

the other morning, as i changed mosey out of his wet diaper, he said to me, "moses not stanky."
"oh... is mommy stinky?" i asked.
"no, mommy's not stanky."
"how about daddy?"
he pauses a long while, hears that daddy is actually going poopoo on the potty, and he replies, "daddy's stanky!"

haha...

mosey was upset about something

one other time that he was upset, i told him he needed to go to sit in his chair in the living room until he could stop crying. well, this time he was upset, he took the initiative and told me, "i go sit in chair and cry." he followed through with it, and when he was through, he told me, "all done crying, mommy." and the storm was over.

teaching our kids about the world

i have this really deep conviction that we, as parents, are responsible for teaching our kids about the world. i'm not sure i know exactly where it's come from, but i do know that my parents did their best to teach me. they taught me how to behave in public, how to speak to adults, how to eat a variety of foods, that racism exists and that it's not fair. they taught me how they believed the world worked, and how we could live within those constraints. it wasn't always accurate, but it was guidance and i feel like i have some kind of secure foundation to stand on as an adult. a frame of reference, if you will. one from which i know i can decide right from wrong and what my own opinion is and how i can understand where others stand.

so, when i read stories about how:

California has become the first state in the nation to allow transgendered students to choose which school bathrooms and locker rooms to use and which sport teams to join based on their gender identity.

i feel both anger (towards parents and adults that fight for that kind of thing) and a sense of dread (about the future for these kids). i mean, there is some degree to which i understand that we live in a really cruel world, and that a transgenered child may actually be in danger (of physical and emotional bullying) if they go into the wrong bathroom... i still think those kinds of decisions need to be on a case by case basis. i feel we are doing a dis-service to kids, allowing them to think the world will accommodate and change norms for their differences. we (as human beings) need to know how to work within boundaries, and i believe this ruling is ruining that essential lesson. i also wonder if mixing bathrooms and sports teams will result in young people getting physically and sexually harassed more. i mean, think about a transgender girl trying to change in the boy's locker room after a game. do you really think that all the boys will always behave? i am actually afraid for general safety. lastly, the transgendered kids, though in a tough situation, are the minority, and the majority is paying the price. even as an adult, i would feel uncomfortable using a bathroom stall next to a person with male genitalia. this is, and always will be, true. it's not because i hate men or transgendered folks.

oh, and also, the story makes it seem like this ruling will help ease discrimination and prejudice against transgendered folks. can you tell me how this would happen? 

the world is so broken.

lovelove,

me

proud and joyful moments

the other day, we were eating some brown rice as part of our dinner, and mosey, in between fistfuls of rice, asks me, "this quinoa, mommy?" my heart was so proud at his advanced knowledge and love of foods.

yesterday, as we were playing "lie down together" (yes, we have the BEST toddler in the entire universe), mo started sucking his thumb. i asked him if i should suck my thumb too, and he replied, "yeah, mommy, suck thumb too." i laughed and told him that i don't suck my thumb, and he proceeded to teach me, saying, "look... moses" gesturing to himself and demonstrating how he puts his thumb in his mouth. when he saw it wasn't working, he pulled my thumb up and guided it gently into my mouth! this child. i love him.

also yesterday, i called little mo "booboo" and he told me, "i'm not booboo, i'm moses kringry!"

tonight, we ate tortilla chips as an appetizer at a local mexican restaurant. when the food arrived, we had him put his chip down on the table and hold our hands to pray. as we were praying, i sneaked a peek at our son. you know what he was doing? he was putting his mouth down to the table to pickup and eat the tortilla chip while still holding onto our hands as daddy prayed. puahahaha!!!

lovelove,
mamma bear

TP time

i found out today that mo and his chum at daycare threw a whole roll of toilet paper in the john and jumped around the bowl while flushing and laughing and having a grand old time.

#whendidhebecomealittleboy

quick turnaround

so, this morning, we were getting ready to get out the door, and mosey started to take out some cars and trucks to play with. i told him that it wasn't time for that, and that he needed to put his toys away. he, of course, in classic two-year old fashion, started having a meltdown. i proceeded to ask him calmly to put his toys away. and you know what happened? he turned his attitude right around and started putting his cars and trucks back in the box. and he said, "mommy, i'm not fussing."

i couldn't have been more proud. who is this awesome toddler? i can't handle it.

lovelove,
me