Just Some Pics

Joshua and Mercedes love to play in the curtains.  Mercedes truly believes that she disappears behind the sheer curtains.  She hides behind them and stays there with a smile on her face until Jon Mark or I ask "where's Mercedes".  Then, she pops out with a look on her face that says, I'm so clever.  The game repeats over and over again until Joshua joins in or Jon Mark gets them to play "monster" instead (their ultimate favorite game to play). 

I don't know where Mercedes thought of this... I guess picking a lock with a bobby pin comes naturally to some.  I just had to take a picture of it.

She didn't know I was taking her picture.  When she turned around, she almost looked guilty.

Last Sunday, I took some pictures before church so that Mommom could see Joshua in his train outfit.  She gave him this outfit right before we left Arizona and she didn't get a chance to see him in it.  Joshua was being silly that day and wouldn't give me a nice smile. 

Mercedes is really starting to understand what a camera is all about.  The moment I bring it out, she gives me her cheesy camera smile that is too cute.  She is loving nursery these days (as long as Daddy is the one to take her... she has a meltdown if I am the one who drops her off).

Jon Mark was being silly too, and he wouldn't give me a good picture either.  The first one (that I didn't post) was of him bending over looking at me through his legs.  In the next one, he decided to look angry.  So, I went with this one.  It's his "Greek God" pose. 

This picture is just to show you how wintry it is here.  We are constantly knocking our icicles off of our house because there are sooo many and they get so stinkin huge that it's ridiculous. 

I was playing around with my camera and Joshua was doing his best to cooperate with me.  He patiently posed for picture after picture while I tried different settings and angles.  I think he was getting tired of it in this picture...

Joshua has said some funny things recently.  He asked me how the baby in my belly would come out of me and he was concerned that it would hurt me when the baby shattered through my belly.  He wasn't satisfied with Daddy's answer "Well, Joshua, it comes out of the birth canal and the doctor helps it come out".  He wanted to know what a birth canal was and where it was.  With Grandma Haws's help, we finally answered him in a satisfying way using very basic terms and not going into much detail.  He loves his baby brother or sister already and is convinced that no matter what it is, it will be named Luke.  No matter what.  He loves kissing the baby and feeling it give him "pounds".  (Just as a side note: when he feels the baby move he gets really excited and happy, when Mercedes feels it move, she scowls at my belly like something very wrong just happened).

Recently, he also said to me, "Mommy, when I came out of your belly I made you soooo happy that you cried and cried--then daddy put you in time out."  (Another side note:  it's no secret that Jon Mark is more of the disciplinarian than I am.  And, it's no secret that when Mercedes or Joshua whine, they have to go into their rooms to do it--timeout--and they have to stay there until they're done whining). 

Just to show the difference in personalities:

We were at the museum the other day and it was really crowded.  There was always some toy that Joshua would playing with when another kid would come along and try to take it away or intimidate him until he gave it up.  At one point, one kid actually threw Joshua off of the tractor that Joshua was sitting on.  Joshua came up to me and expressed how unfair that was.  I told him that some kids haven't been taught how to share and that what the other kid did was very impolite and rude.  I was upset that this boy's mom, who had seen the whole thing, hadn't done a single thing about it.  I was also too timid to do anything myself to correct this other child's behavior.  Instead, I told Joshua that when that happens, it's okay for him to stand up for himself.  He then told me that maybe he needed his dad to show him how to do that (does he recognize at such a young age that his mom is very anti-confrontational too?).  I said that yes, Daddy would have some good ideas.  Joshua then turned to me and said, "Yeah, daddy would probably tell me that I should say to them, DIE!"  Anyway, I did tell him that Daddy probably wouldn't say to do that and we brainstormed other ideas.  But I realized something.  If Jon Mark had been there, he would have gotten the tractor back from the other kid and if the mom had said anything to him, then Jon Mark would point out that she needed to teach her son to share (maybe in a nice way).  Anyway, I think Joshua gets his lack of aggressiveness from me and I am glad I am married to a man that has strengths where I have weaknesses.  Later on, that same kid tried to take something from Mercedes.  It was very interesting to me to see that even though this kid was twice her size, she fought back and stood her ground without even flinching.  I guess maybe she takes after Jon Mark.