Daddy and Me

 

St. Patrick's Day!

Mason celebrated the holiday by eating Lucky Charms with green milk, making a cereal rainbow, painting rocks like gold to fool the leprechauns, and of course, wearing green.

We were at the store last week and I saw the the Lucky Charms were on sale. We don't usually get that cereal but I thought it would be a fun treat. I said "I think we should get some of this for St. Patrick's day." He replied "THAT'S WHAT I WAS THINKING!"

We had different projects and crafts throughout the week. When he came home from preschool on Tuesday he asked to do a stake conference project. I was so confused until I realized he had confused "stake conference" with "St. Patrick's". I guess they sort of sound the same.  

Homework

Mason likes all aspects of school (except waking up early). He likes the bus, the backpack, the teachers, the snacks. The only thing preschool doesn't have is homework. So Mason makes up his own. He traces his letters and numbers almost every day. Some days he gets really particular and will erase and erase until the letter is satisfactory. I noticed that occasionally he won't turn the book around to do the other page and actually traces the opposite page upside down.

 

I'm otay!

If ever Mason falls or trips and isn't hurt, he'll holler "I'm otay!". Sometimes I don't even know anything has happened but I hear him yelling that from across the house.

Ha. I just went to type this one and realized he must get the phrase from me since I just typed it above. He often says "here's a toy if ever you need it" or "I will play that with you if ever you want".

Mason like to fill in Eli's side of conversations. For example:
Mason: Eli do you want to go with us?
Mason (in squeaky high baby voice): Yes, I want to go.
Mason (back in Mason voice): Oh good. Come on.

Mason likes to add "really really super" or "super duper" to his descriptions. He wants me to wake him up really really super early so he can get ready and watch cartoons before the bus. (Yes, we bribe him but the morning fits have almost disappeared). Or he'll ask for water from the fridge that is super duper super duper cold.

That's our Mace Face:
 

school pics

Mason (finally) brought home his class picture today which reminded me I never posted his First Ever Official School Picture. It was taken this past fall. Isn't he cute? It's sort of his "nervous but this seems cool" smile.

Ah, times have changed. Instead of an actual class picture they just put each student's individual shot all together on one 8X10. Also, I got a cd with a digital copy. Which is cool, but I can't find it, so here's a poor scanned copy.

HE LOOKS 18! or at least 8. 

his job

Mason was struggling to get his PEZ into his Death Star PEZ dispenser. That sentence alone makes me very happy. He came and asked me to help him because "I just don't know how". I told him that my job, as his mom, is to teach him everything I can. His job is to learn as much as he can. Mason responded, "No, my job is to take care of Eli."

That too.

Oh what a Valentines Day!

Mason came home from preschool with a bag full of valentines from his classmates. I am not fast enough, nor is my camera to capture his delighted expressions. Each one made him so happy. He couldn't believe his friends were so nice. Mace was just happy all day.

We ran around door bell ditching and dropping off Valentines for friends and cousins until he fell asleep. He thought running around with his dad was pretty fun. Good thing Dad held his hand so well to keep the excited boy on his feet. Grandma and Grandpa Heaton stopped by with some treats and then... wouldn't you know... Cupid  (an old Heaton tradition) himself door bell ditched us and left more goodies.  We ate the cookies and put the rest up for rewards.

I have to include these pictures of Mason decorating the house. He kept asking "I can put them ANYWHERE?"  and "I can use up the WHOLE THING?"

 

 

 

 

 

On being Incredible

Mason was given a set of long pajamas from one of his cousins (I'm guessing Ryan). They have the Incredible Hulk on them. Also they are size 7 or something which makes for a lot of rolling. But he loves them.  Mason was asking who this guy was so I've tried to tell him, but I honestly don't remember much about this character.

It has actually been a good opportunity to talk about tempers and anger and what happens when we lose control. Mason tells me all the time that we don't want to act mean or crazy like the Incredible Hulk. Also when we are cleaning up we like to act like different things (spies, tornado's, robots) while we pick up and adding the Incredible Hulk to our repertoire has added some fun variety.

The other day Jason let Mason watch a short clip on YouTube. Since then Mason has walked around with a furrowed brow and instructing us how to also look like the Hulk. He and I took these pictures of each other and he was quite pleased to see us turn mean and green.

When Mason says it, it sounds like "An Edible Hult".

The Book of Mason and other funny sayings

Mason is now in primary. He has been asking me for a week when he gets to have his own scriptures. Yesterday before church I gave him a copy of The Book Of Mormon. He recognized enough letters to think it said "The Book of Mason" and was very excited. I showed him where the front has a few pictures of Christ, Joseph Smith, Nephi, and others. When Jason walked in the room Mason grabbed his scriptures and said "Hey Dad! Want to hear about Joseph Smith?" Suddenly I'm having visions of him as a 19 year old missionary, walking up to strangers and asking them the same question.

***

Mason was playing in one of the kitchen drawers and found a sheet of twist ties. (Side note: when Mason finds twist ties in the produce section of the grocery store he makes them into rings to give to me. I ask him what it means to give someone a ring and he answers "that I love you forever". ) He asked if he could have some and I said "three, since you are three". He replied "When I'm 18 I'm going to have 18 and make a big mess."

***

Mason loves pajamas. When he comes home from preschool he often changes back into jammies before I can stop him. It can be a pain if we're going out and he needs to change back into play clothes. One day I even took his entire drawer out and put it up on my closet shelf just to keep him in his clothes. He has a bunch of hand me down tank tops (okay, wife beaters) that he prefers over any other top. And he has a favorite pair of jammie pants that I have a hard time washing often enough since he's usually wearing them when I'm doing laundry. The other night I was helping Mason get ready for bed and retrieved those special pants out of the dryer. His response? "Daddy couldn't find my special jammies but you found my special jammies because you are a great jammie finder."

***

Mason was sick and having a really hard night. We'd been up several times and I was exhausted. Around 3am he came to my room again and we fell asleep on the floor. I woke up after a few minutes and told him to come crawl into bed with me. He asked "Is Jason up there?" I said yes and he said "Mo-om!" meaning he knows he's not supposed to get in the parent's bed until his dad has gone to work. I told him it would be okay this one time and Mason said "Oh, thank you so very much."

other silly lines:

I don't like monsters, bad guys, or Satan. Satan is a mean guy.

Holy flip! What did I just do?

(when told he can't have any more Otter Pops) But my hands are warm and my mouth is warm and my body is warm. I need something to cool me off. 

Typical Prayer

Hev Dee Fa Der:
Tank to for my friends.
Please bless it.
Tank to for my famawee.
Please bless I can eat all my blueberry cereal all gone.
Tank to for Eli.
And me.
And evwebody.
For my uncles and Heatons and Starrs.
Name Dedis Christ....AMEN!!!!!!

Guessing Game

I don't remember how we got started on this game but Mason is brilliant at it. Mason puts on an eye mask from an airplane amenities kit. Then we hand him whatever random item we come up with. He can use any of his senses but sight to guess what it is.

He isn't easily stumped. The most amazing part is when he doesn't know the name for something. Mason can describe an item's function in really good ways. Like a lighter. He couldn't remember what it was called but knew what it did so he said "it's that thing you use to make a fire downstairs when it is cold". Or a thumbtack "is the sharp thing that you hang things up with". Not bad for a three year old.

 

painting with Ry

Everything is more fun with cousins. Ryan is especially fun to do projects with because of the way he reacts when Mason does things "his way". In other words, we enjoy Ryan's astonishment when Mason makes a mess or mixes paint colors or uses his fingers. Ry keeps looking at me to see if I'm okay with it.

(note to self: where are the soap experiment pictures from the fall? I don't remember posting them and speaking of messes...)

run run run run runaway

(name THAT song)

So Mason tried to run away from home *again* today. It's like he's so upset at me he can't stand to stick around. Like last time, he put on this shoes and bolted out the door. This time he decided he'd take his bike, which was wedged and stuck under the stroller. Without saying anything, I walked over and moved the stroller. He still got mad at my interference. Mason peddled to the end of the driveway where he noticed his tire was flat. Then the neighbor ladies came over and started bugging him. He put his head on the handle bars and just cried. Again, without saying anything, I picked him up and took him inside. Within minutes he was cheerful again and asking why corn dogs are called corn dogs when they don't have corn or dogs in them.

I don't know what to do about this strange running away behavior. The first time it happened he ran outside, took a lap around the yard, and then ended up on the porch with his face in his hands. I feel like I need to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't go too far, but to not really interfere. I know that sometimes I feel like I need to run off some extra emotions. Perhaps he does too.

Dr. Starr

Jason has an ancestor, the first Starr to come to America I believe, named Dr. Comfort Starr.
Mason got a little doctor kit for Christmas and has enjoyed giving us all checkups. We are planning a surgery for Yellow Puppy after the new year.
 

 

 

We have a lot of fun