the great freckle debate

as you all know, cashel is obsessed with a mole on the right side of my face, close to my ear, that he calls a freckle.

i have instilled (or tried to) a rule that he can only touch my freckle at night.

he's sneaky though.

he'll touch my freckle while i'm getting him dressed or bending down to talk to him and he'll say, i just want to touch your hair, and on the way to touch my hair he'll sneak in a freckle touch.

or...if i'm carrying him because he's "too busy walking to walk" he'll sneak a touch and say something like, "it's ok to touch your freckle because it's getting dark, right, mommy?"  then i'll say, "well, cashel, it's 1pm so it's not going to get dark for a long time." and he'll reluctantly stop.

my sister in law told me that her friend's son was obsessed with rubbing her hair through his fingers.  she finally stopped that and found him picking up her hair from the bathroom floor.

ahhhh...such sweet boys to be obsessed with their mommies.

well, this is what happened yesterday morning.

as cashel and i were waking up he reached over for my freckle as usual and said, "mommy, is your freckle getting smaller?" 

i said (seeing an opportunity here), "yea bud - it is."

he says, "maybe it's because i push on it so much."

my response?  "yep.  i bet that's it."

he immediately stopped touching it!

later that afternoon jason and cashel had a conversation about who was reading to him last night.  this is a routine conversation.  cashel usually wants me to read to him because of...you guessed it....my freckle.  i'll often ask him, "cashel, do you want me in the bed with you because of me or because of my freckle, and he'll say it's because of my freckle."  this helps ease jason's ego a bit.  it's not me he wants, it's my freckle.

anyhoo...back to the story.

cashel:  daddy, is it your turn to read to me?

jason: yes, cashel, it's my turn.

cashel:  well, i know that the other day i told you i was ok with that but i'm not.  i want mommy to read to me.

jason: is it because of mommy's freckle?

cashel:  no!  i don't want to touch her freckle!  it's getting smaller and i don't want it going away!

he he he he.....

yeah, i fink so

kaitlyn's mom to me:  kaitlyn says they're married

i ask cashel about 30 minutes later after he's away from kaitlyn:  "cashel, are you married to kaitlyn?"

cashel (nodding his head but not really paying attention to me):  "yeah, i fink so"

me:  "what does it mean to be married?"

cashel:  "it means we're in love"

kernersville

 

 kernersville...

it was great...

did you notice the burned pizza?  lloyd did that.

did you see me and my high school friend ashley?  she hasn't changed one bit!

we went to a museum; we went to a reunion.

we played in the backyard.  cashel showered in the backyard.

hurricane cashel hit the living room every day.

 

i was visited by my bff and her boyfriend.

we had a lovely lunch while mimi and papa watched cashel (aka - gave him all the sugar he wanted).

she's funny and smart and beautiful.

she's and he are also very weird.

 

we waited patiently....in 100 degree 8:30am weather...for the 4th of july parade to begin

 

 

it finally began.

yes...there is a town close to my hometown called horneytown.

 

this is the old car section.

this is the tractor section.

this is the candy section!  look at all he got!

 we traveled to raleigh to see some old friends for a 4th of july cookout.

it was great seeing old friends and seeing our kids play together.

 

i do think it's safe to say that the highlight of the trip was going to tweetsie railroad.

cashel isn't much into trains and cars like some little boys but he is really into riding rides.

tweetsie is like a huge carnival.  

we unexpectedly spent most of the day with an old college friend of mine, nicole and her husband and son, brodie.  

cashel crashed on our way to dinner.

 his favorite ride was, no doubt, the tweetsie twister.  

we rode it three times.

no...four.

just look at his face.  

pure happiness.

his favorite phrase?

let's squish mimi!

we had a great time.

in the last two days we went to feed the ducks.

it also became one of our favorite things to do.

it's so serene back there (behind the neighborhood)

i wished we could have stayed longer and i know cashel does too.

he often asks to go visit mimi and papa now.

yey!

it's mutual

jason took cashel to school today and mentioned to kaitlyn's mom that cashel is in love with her daughter.

she said that the feeling is mutual.

kaitlyn makes her dad pretend to be cashel and play with her.

kristin

cashel has a girlfriend at school.  he doesn't call her that but it's obvious. 

he looks for kaitlyn everyday at school.  they find each other at breakfast.  he helps her throw away her food when she's done eating.  she announces from across the room (for cashel's benefit, it's obvious) that she's done eating. they tickle each other and she says "caaaassssshhhellllll" in that sweet sing songy voice only a 3 year old girl could have and cashel just blushes and tickles her.  they hold hands.  it's adorable

she's super cute.  curly blonde hair with little pink cheeks and the cutest voice.  the little helium balloon voice. 

i asked him once: "cashel, why do you like kaitlyn so much." 

his response was a blushed:  "because she's pretty to look at mom."

he can't wait to turn four so that he can move into the blue whale class with kaitlyn.

i have not gone bonkers.  i realize that i entitled this post "kristin." 

let me tell you about kristin.

she is the wife of my colleague who is running child care for this week for those parents at poly who have to work but who don't have childcare since school isn't in session yet.

cashel can't stop talking about kristin.

cashel:  (on the way to swim class) mom...don't you miss miss kristin?  i miss her.  she's so nice.

later on...

same conversation!

much later on cashel said this during his prayer:  dear god, i want you to know that i'm not very happy right now because i had to leave miss kristin's house.  she is so nice and i really like her and i want you to help me be a good listener at swim class.

so...

he's clearly 3 years old....

but...i did ask him if he loved kristin and he said yes.  i asked him who he loved more...me or miss kristin and...

he PAUSED! 

seriously!

he paused before saying "i love you both"

ode to granddad

granddad...

since i was very young....

you've always been there for me...

you see....

i didn't really like horses, for real, only in books...

but you helped me to see that they are really lovely animals....

as well as all the other animals that are in the zoo...

like snakes...

which...

as we all know...

my mom doesn't like at all...

 you let me wear you out...

you let me make silly faces in pictures... 

 

we always have so much fun together...

thank you for taking me to museums and parks and to get ice cream and donuts... 

even though i don't like it when you park your car backwards i still love you because you know a lot about cars...

thank you for being silly with me...

thank you for visiting me...

thank you for loving me granddad.  i love you too!

speaking of...

when we were in nc cashel really loved the life guards at the westridge forest pool (a.k.a. branchwood pool).  he really enjoyed both mary vef (mary beth) and etta - both young girls (high school and sophomore in college).

cashel: mommy.  is mary vef still on vacation? (mary beth was on vacation for 1 week of our trip and was therefore not at the pool.

cashel:  mommy, i would really like etta to play wif me. 

etta - proceeded to play with cashel at the pool.

cashel:  mommy, do you think mary vef (now back from vaca) would swim wif me?

me:  mary beth?  cashel would like to swim with you.

mary beth:  of course!

cashel was in heaven.....