Let Sleeping Babies Lie ~ especially two-year-old babies

It has finally happened. Rhett has turned into a two-year-old. I was beginning to think that we had somehow outsmarted the tantrum gods because those famous Terrible Two's had yet to set up shop in the Kilgore house....... until a week ago when Rhett threw a fit beyond what I thought he was capable of and I immediately knew I was not as lucky as I had hoped.

Rhett was sent to his room last night during dinner because he refused to stop grunting angrily at us. I know - he's so vicious! After five minutes, we were surprised to hear complete silence coming from his corner of the house where an even bigger I'm-in-trouble-and-mad-about-it fit should've been taking place. I peeped in to check on him and found this =
Maybe the angry growling wasn't necessarily because he's two. Maybe he was just tired (this time)... Kerry scooped him up and put him in bed. We didn't hear from him again until seven o'clock the next morning.

And did you notice that sweet baby tooshie in the air? HOW do they sleep like that? I think it would hurt my back.

Little Boys Only

I have to share what I stumbled upon last night when I was going to put the boys in bed. Now, stumbling upon anything when dealing boys (especially Grant) can be like walking into a dark room full of creepy crawly things that you can't get away from. But, this time, this stumble landed me in laughter instead of sending me screaming the other direction in frustration whilst shaking my fists in the air.

The boys had been playing in Grant's room for quite a while just as happy as could be. There was no screaming, no crying, no yelling, and I'm pretty sure nothing was being thrown (b/c I would have heard it hit the walls/door). I was so proud of them, and I just hated to break up the party, but that's a mom's job, right?

I turned the corner to go into Grant's room and..... Hmmmmmm. What is this?????


Take a closer look...
Yip. It's a sign telling Kerry and me to stay out. I guess it was just a playtime for little boys only.

That's my Grant. And this is just another example of the millions of reasons to love him.

Ying and Yang

I'm so proud of Grant. He came home from school today, had a little snack and went straight to doing his homework.

And while he was doing his homework like a sweet angel, someone got caught coloring on the walls with a dry-erase marker. (NOT a good picture of Rhett. Sorry.)

Just another day at the Kilgore house.

He loved it!!!

This picture was taken AFTER school. Wouldn't you know my camera's battery died this morning, so all school pictures had to occur AFTER the fact. Oh well - not much difference, I suppose.

Rhett really wanted to be a part of the action...

A little bit of a smile... (or is that an evil grin?)

Grant woke up with a smile on his face this morning = the morning of the first day of KINDERGARTEN. His first words were, "I am so excited!" Thank goodness! The morning went off without a hitch, for Grant. For myself, however, the morning was a bit harder than I expected. I did well when driving him to school, I did well when walking him into the school, but the tears started to form when we turned left to go down his hall - the Kindergarten hall. I just couldn't swallow that The Day had finally come. The Moment had finally come. We were there. I was there. No turning back. I was able to gain control of myself because Grant was still with me, and I didn't want him to see my cry. I was afraid it would throw off his whole morning, his whole happy-with-the-day morning. I put the sadness out of my mind and followed, yes, followed Grant into his room. (He led me in. I was afraid I'd have to drag the child in. It was as if he couldn't get there fast enough.) He entered the room on his own, walked directly to Mrs. Williams and touched her hand and said, "Hi, Mrs. Williams." It was his way of celebrating that he had arrived at school - his FIRST day of school. She patted his hand and bent down and said that she was so happy to see him. So sweet! I gave him a kiss and hug, took him to his seat and walked away with one child instead of the two that I came into the school with. He waved goodbye from his little chair, and that was that. I rounded the corner to enter the hallway, and I felt the tears coming again, but Rhett came through. He threw a fit because he didn't want to leave Bubba!! I am not usually excited about two-year-old fits, but this one quickly took my mind off the sadness of leaving my baby, so I welcomed it with relief. I was able to make it out of the building without crying. Matter of fact, I haven't cried at all. I've started to a couple times. You know the feeling of your throat tightening up? Ya - that's come a lot today, but I've been able to push it aside because deep down I know he'll be fine. He'll have fun. I also gain peace because I know the school district and its policies, as well as the school's layout, like the back of my hand since I used to teach in this district. The school I taught in is almost a carbon copy of Grant's school, so the fact that I know where every closet and hallway and door is gives me reassurance. But probably what makes me feel the most comfortable is that my father-in-law, aka Dude Dad, is an administrator in the school district. It's not that I ever plan on using that leverage, but it is nice to have it in case it is ever needed...

I will admit the day was lonely and s-l-o-w without him. I began to think that 3 o'clock would never roll around. But, it eventually did, and I picked up a very happy kindergartner who said he had a great day and was sad that it had to end. Thank you, Mrs. Williams! He did report that the playground was not as cool as he had hoped, but he seemed to have decided that all was not lost and the year would still be okay. He also mentioned that he made a lot of friends and that he had had the BEST day EVER.

We celebrated the day with ice cream. Unfortunately, so did half of Sugar Land. Grant had two scoops - vanilla and cotton candy. He ate every bit of it.

Here's to a great SECOND day!

Kindergarten, Here We Come!

Now that Grant is tucked soundly into bed and off in Sweet Dream Land, I wanted to take a few minutes to share in some special events that happened today because it helps me to ignore the conflicting storm of emotions rolling through my heart and head right now. I have to keep it together. I can't give in to the strongest emotion that is pounding at my heart that keeps crying out, "He's not a baby anymore. It's time for him to go out into his little kindergarten world." I mean, wasn't it just yesterday that I was lying in my hospital bed and watching him - falling in love with my new baby - and listening to his quiet and gentle breathing... Nope. I'm NOT going there right now. Lord, give me peace.

Moving on. So during Bible class today, the kiddos that would be heading off to kindergarten tomorrow had a special event in their honor. The kids were blessed and prayed over for their upcoming first day of school, and they were also presented with a Bible that had their name engraved on it. It was a big hit with the parents b/c, well - DUH! Who doesn't love their child being prayed over and celebrated? And it was a big hit with Grant because there were donuts, and his future wife, Hanna, was there.

Ms. Kathy is introducing Grant and presenting him with his Bible. He's so serious! Where did he get that from???

When Ms. Kathy asked him what he was looking forward to the most in kindergarten, he replied confidently, "The playground." We might be in for some trouble.

Hanna and Grant with their new Bibles. She's not that short. She's sitting and he's standing.

And now that night time has come and the first day of school clothes have been picked out and his lunch has been made, I have to share what we did at bed time. Mrs. Williams, Grant's teacher (whom I already love), gave the students a bed time poem to read that wished them sweet dreams for the night before the first day of school. It was a very sweet poem that Grant really seemed to appreciate. The words were precious, the encouragement was kind, but the CUTEST part of all was that the poem told him to put a star (Mrs. Williams gave them each a star at Meet the Teacher last week) under his pillow to help him sleep on this what was sure to be an anxiety filled night. Too bad she didn't give one to the mommies to put under our pillows, too. The poem said she would sleep with the star under her pillow as well while she dreamed sweetly about their upcoming year together. Now HOW precious is that??? HOW wonderful Mrs. Williams ALREADY is! I just don't think of things like that. I teach 3rd - 6th graders. I don't know about these cutsie little things kindergarten teachers know about. God bless them! They are true gifts to our children.

After he placed the star under his pillow (he's sleeping with me since Kerry is in Boston on a business trip), we read his favorite book, said a prayer, and then I snuggled with my kindergartener, my sweet baby boy, just like I did the night he was born. I held him close and smelled his hair, felt his soft skin, and listened to him breathe. Oh, precious Grant, I love you so! (Even though you refuse to smile for pictures.) I hope you have a GREAT first day tomorrow and that you aren't nearly as nervous as I am!

Who says the groom can't roll down the aisle? (which he actually does, by the way)

Now this is the kind of wedding I want to go to!!! Now, why didn't I think of something like this to do at my wedding??? (Which would certainly be to the horror of my mother and father.) Not that I would completely go back and change my wedding. It was perfect. But I mean, how TOTALLY awesome this is! Sure, I had a dance competition between the bridesmaids and groomsmen at my wedding reception along with karaoke - which was TOTALLY fun by the way. But this... You can't beat this! This wedding party practiced this stuff, people. You gotta watch it! It's the most fun you'll have all day. I found myself wanting to get up and dance along with them, but I didn't because that would be odd and possibly freak someone out if they walked up and saw me dancing along with my computer... Maybe when Garrett gets married I can talk him into doing this... Come on Garrett and Dani... You KNOW it totally ROCKS ON!

17 Truths

My sweet friend Kandy recently posted a list of ten truths about her. It was really fun to read, so I thought I'd give it a whirl instead of blogging about life tonight. I've been sitting in meetings for 8 hours a day for four days in a row now, and my brain is just GONE (sitting all day tends to do that to me - imagine that). I have no capacity in my memory or creative file to write about the boys, this week, or the exciting fact that Kerry and I celebrated our 9th anniversary Wednesday. I'll get to all of that later. But for right now, I give you an extended version of Kandy's...

17 Truths About Amanda Brooke Martin Kilgore

1. I want a handgun for the sole purpose of protection when Kerry is out of town.

2. I secretly long to write and publish a children's book someday.

3. I hate traffic lights.

4. I did not like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". It was so unreal, it was stupid. It did not meet the criteria for "fantasy" in my opinion, so the only option left is that it was just a dumb idea for a movie. Sure, it had beautiful cinematography and good 'ole Brad, but that's not enough to get five stars from me.

5. I do not like scary movies.

6. I REALLY want to get a spunky haircut and fun highlights.

7. I think Gifted and Talented programs are a joke.

8. I can't stand the way salt water feels on my skin.

9. Germs totally freak me out, so I have very specific public restroom rules that I ADHERE to (among many other daily rules I go by that I'll have to share later). I never sit all the way down on those dirty, nasty toilet seats. I flush the toilet with my foot. Once I've washed my hands, I touch NOTHING. This means I turn the water off with a clean paper towel, and I open the bathroom door with a paper towel as well.

10. I fear my boys will someday have to go off to war.

11. I enjoy paperwork = paying bills, doing lesson plans, grading papers - Yip - I'm a dork.

12. I believe people should sanitize the doorknobs in their homes (including the steering wheels in their cars).

13. I ABSOLUTELY love that you should pull your car over when a funeral procession approaches you.

14. I miss going to my late grandfather's farms to feed the cows and ride the horses.

15. I check my mail about once every ten days.

16. I do not like pie.

17. I've never been on a roller coaster, and I never plan to be on one either.

YOUR TURN!