This is why I'm smitten

My Clive is a darling little peanut.  I'm fully aware of his charms over me.  I'm helpless when he speaks in his sweet little 3 year old voice and *explains* something to me. 

Like yesterday, we were eating lunch which included leftover peas. The conversation went something like this . . .

Chloe: "Mama, I'm your sweet pea, right?" 
Me: "Yes!  You're all my sweet peas." 
Clive: "Not me!  I'm a BIG pea.  See because I'm big and because I'm a pea.  Because I just ate a pea.  Like this, see?" (explained with accompanying gestures)

And when he SINGS he notches up the darling-ness to ridiculous heights.  Here's an example of him singing one of our favorite bedtime songs, If I Were a Butterfly. Lyrics altered by Clive.

Freezing Clive

Lately, I find myself wishing life had a *pause* button.  Especially so I could freeze these adorable moments in my Clive's third year.  Clive's little brain and mouth have been connecting recently to come up with some doozies of super cuteness.

Take for example, tonight as I was singing to him before bed.  Our general pattern is that Matt reads to C & C while I put Solomon to bed.  Then I come in and finish things up by singing to Clive while Matt reads something of a higher level (right now they're reading Nancy Drew) to Chloe.

Tonight, I was singing our usual bedtime ditties and during Fifty Nifty United States Clive started (as he always does) asking me who lives in each state that he recognizes.  This is limited to Ohio, Michigan, Texas, Florida and Wisconsin so this questioning bit doesn't take too long.  Tonight, however, Clive asked who lives in Washington.  The conversation continued like this . . .

Clive: "Mommy, who lives in Washington?"
Me: "I don't know anyone who lives in Washington, son."
Clive: (thinking it over a bit) "Hmm, I know!  George WASHINGTON lives in Washington!"  [That's what we get for homeschooling -- a 3 year old who knows about George Washington.]
Me: "No, Clive.  George Washington doesn't live there because he's not alive anymore. He died a long time ago."
Clive: "Ohh, that's so sad!  I want to see George Washington!"
Me: "Well, George Washington is in heaven now so you can see him when you get to heaven. Then you can talk to him and ask him any questions you want."
Clive: "Oh, good!"
Me: (I attempt to finish singing the song but Clive interrupts me.)
Clive: (looking up to the ceiling and shouting) "Hey, George Washington!  I'll see you soon!  I just have to die first!"

WHAT A NUT!

I usually try to stifle my laughter around Clive because I don't want to ostracize him for his innocent 3 year old observations.  But this time I could NOT contain my giggles.  We laughed together on the bed for a good long while.  Yet another moment in time I'd like to freeze, please.

Another evening this week during our bedtime routine we were snuggling.  Our snuggling consists of us hugging each other with faces close together while Clive says repeatedly, "Snuggle, snuggle, snuggle".  If you can picture that in Clive's adorable voice, your heart is probably melting as mine does every night. 

During one of these snuggle-fests, Clive says to me in a very affectionate voice, "I love you the best, mommy!"  What moms heart doesn't like to hear those words? Well, he didn't stop there.  He thought for a few seconds and then added, "But I really love the money in my money bank the bestest!"  Already he knows how important money is!  After I smirked in reaction to his money-love comment I gave him a quick lesson in NOT loving money since God says we should love God more than anything else.  Clive responded by saying, "But money can buy me trucks . . . and I love trucks!"  Guess he's not quite ready for that lesson yet. 

What moments lately have you been relishing?

Clive time

Today a dear friend of mine took Chloe home for an afternoon playdate (thank you, dear friend!).

Imagining the extra time I would have this afternoon with one less child to manage, I immediately envisioned myself doing something productive around the house. Maybe I could finally scrub the bathtub, dust away the inch-thick layers of sediment settling in our living room, or begin working on Chloe's halloween costume. Ah, the lovely fantasies and unrealistic expectations of my dreaming mind . . .

What DID end up happening was that I got to spend some super good quality time with Clive. Since he's the middle child, I don't get much alone time with him. He's a crazy fun and unbelievably adorable kiddo. I love him to pieces. But thinking of a special activity for JUST him and me gave me pause. I didn't really want to dig in the sandbox or play cars in the dirt. But I did want him to feel like the center of attention since he's always living in his older sis' shadow.

Clive got pretty sad when his big sis left so I distracted him with smoothie making. He sat on the counter and dumped frozen strawberries and yogurt into the blender eagerly. We ate our lunch on the porch so we could watch for the garbage truck. (Exciting lives we lead, eh?) After some pretend fixing of the porch railing with his tools, we made peanut butter cookies together.

Making cookies with an active 2.6 year old is certainly an interesting experience. He wanted to do EVERYTHING himself. If I wouldn't have been on my toes, we would have ended up with some extremely unique tasting peanut butter cookies (I barely saved the dough from an extra cup of sugar Clive wanted to add). Once we got the ingredients correctly measured and mixed up, Clive's job was to roll the cookie-dough balls into the sugar. And then he took it upon himself to throw the dough onto the baking sheet. Sheesh. Can't blame him though, I DID call them "balls". And my boy knows what do to with a ball!

We had loads of fun and even though no household appliances were scrubbed this afternoon, I made a lasting memory with my dear middle boy.

How do you make your second child feel special?

Interview

Stole this cute idea from blogger friends Christina and Katie. While "interviewing" Chloe and Clive with the questions below, we were all downstairs together in the basement schoolroom/playroom. Distractions abounded! Not that Clive needs much to distract him as you'll soon discover when you read his *interesting* answers.

By the end of the interview Matt and I were both laughing to the point of tears! Experiences like this remind me yet again of the super fun phase we're in with our precious kiddos. It's draining to have three little ones 5 and under but these are sweet precious days!

Without further ado, here's the interview. Enjoy and try it out on your little people!







1. What is something your mom always says to you?
Chloe: "Um, I love you!"
Clive: "No no, I a baby. Babies not talk, babies cry. WAAAH." (I asked the question again this time addressing it to "baby" instead of "Clive".) "Uh, shhh."

2. What makes mom happy?
Chloe: "When I give you a BIG hug!"
Clive: "Sad!"

3. What makes mom sad?
Chloe: "When I disobey."
Clive: "Uh, no I a baby. Uh, I don't know."

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Chloe: "By tickling me!"
Clive: "Tickle me!"

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Chloe: "A gift" (Not sure what she was thinking with this response but she's right on. I WAS a gift to my dear mom when I was a child. Now if I was a lump-of-coal type gift or a bright-shiny-new-bike type gift is up for debate.)
Clive: "I don't know"

6. How old is your mom?
Chloe: "35"
Clive: "3"

7. How tall is your mom?
Chloe: "50 inches"
Clive: "50 inches" (copycat!)

8. What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
Chloe: "Take naps" (So true!)
Clive: "Get in a bus"

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Chloe: "Sit and cry"
Clive: "Wash the dishes"

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Chloe: "For being superman"
Clive: "I need to wash my hands!"

11. What is your mom really good at?
Chloe: "Taking naps"
Clive: "Eating supper"

[At this point in the interview Clive yells out, "Where's my hammer?!? I need my hammer!" For the next several questions of the interview Clive hammers the bookshelf while singing the Bob the Builder theme song.]

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Chloe: "Lifting chairs"
Clive: "Lifting chairs"

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Chloe: "Teach"
Clive: "Lifting chairs" (guess I'm not very good at my job then according to Clive)

[Since Clive kept repeating Chloe's answers, Matt proceeded to conduct a whispering lesson with Chloe. Chloe wasn't getting it and the whole thing spiraled into silliness quickly.]

14. What's your mom's favorite food?
Chloe: "Cheese"
Clive: "Cheerios"

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Chloe: "She wins races a lot."
Clive: "She . . . . hammering."

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Chloe: "Superman" (Can you tell Chloe's fascinated by superman lately?)
Clive: "Kipper the dog" (HEY, I object!)

[After his last reply, Clive explored the game closet, found the bananagram bag and shouted, "BANANAGRAMS!" while dumping all the letter tiles out.]

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Chloe: "Doing school"
Clive: "Do bananagrams in here"

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Chloe: "We both have brown hair and brown eyes"
Clive: "Both 3 years old"

19. How are you and your mom different?
Chloe: "I can't hear" (Huh? Maybe she meant she couldn't hear the questions over her brothers' racket?)
Clive: "I different and mommy's different too"

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Chloe: "Because I love her"
Clive: "She told me"

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Chloe: "To stores"
Clive: "To Krieger's"