April Laughs

Jaxon says to me, "I need to be green, Mom." What? I continue to ask about what part of him needs to be green, his hair? His skin?
"Not the color of my skin, mom, I need to turn out the lights and not waste water." Oh, be GREEN. So smart.

I tell Jaxon that pink used to be his favorite color. He responds, "Well things change. I have different priorities now. (Priorities means jobs)."

"Mom, do we have any waterproof underwear?" Jaxon asks before his field day of watersports at school.

Finn grabs Milo's paws and claps them together while saying, "Clap, clap!" Then he pulls the cat close to his face and says, "Kitty kissed me!"

When my cousins Allina and Michelle were heading home after a weekend trip, Finn wanted to go with them. He asked, "I go with you?" I told him to ask if he could go in Allina's suitcase. He asked, "You suitcase?" She laughed and said, "You want to go with me to Seattle?" He asked with excitement and confusion, "Sea turtle?"

Speaking of turtles, when I mistakenly called Asher by his brother's nickname, he corrected me, "I not Twinkie, I Turtle."

March Laughs

March and April are usually busy months for us, so it's no surprise that this installment of our "Laughs" series is late and pretty sparse. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

3-05 Finn struggles with very powerful emotions (especially when he's tired). If I do something that makes him mad, he cries, stomps, screams, hits me and yells at me, "GoWay!" In his next breath, he puts his thumb in his mouth, grabs his little baby bear and looks up through his tears, "Rockabye?"

3-10 Asher plays with Milo's ears, pulling them straight up. "Look!" he giggles, "He's a bunny!"

3-13 I ask Finn, "Twinkie (that's his nickname) have I told you how cute you are?" He looks at me and says, "No!"

3-15 Mark was telling Jaxon that he met an inventor who had learned how to make electricity out of garbage. Jaxon laments to Mark, "I haven't figured out how to make electricity go through wood."

3-17 During a movie trailer for Chipmunks, "The Squekuel" they sing, "Shake what your mama gave you." I ask Jaxon what that means and he says, "My clothes. My mom gives me my clothes."

3-18 Mark is singing to himself while cleaning up dinner and Jaxon interrupts with, "Dad, if you like singing so much, why don't you sing all your words?" Then he demonstrates (much like Dori singing to the whale on Finding Nemo). "Jaaaaxoooon, puuut yooour clooooooothes oooonnnnn."

3-20 Jaxon must have picked up on relationship language at school when he says to me, "Mom, I like you but I don't like like you." However, I realize he doesn't really understand the meaning when later that day he says about Milo, "I like like him."

Trip to DC

At the end of February, I went to Washington DC as a representative of the Hemophilia community. The National Hemophilia Foundation has an annual event where it's members go to Capitol Hill and talk to our Congressmen and Senators about issues relating to the bleeding disorders community.

This year's Washington Day happened to be on the same day that President Obama did his Health Care Summit. Talking to the Legislative Assistants was really awesome since they were already in the mindset of healthcare. What had been a hard sell in years past (eliminating lifetime caps, getting rid of pre-existing condition clauses, etc) was a much easier discussion this year.

During the trip, I had some time to go touring. Here are my photos.

I got to see some old friends (Hi Kathleen! Hey Ben!) and make some new ones (Yeah Sus!) I even ran into a friend from our old BYU ward (Maddy, do you remember the Sandra and Justin?). Unfortunately, they didn't recognize me. I'm not sure if I'm just much better looking, or really old looking (or both?).

I had a great time in Baltimore visiting an old HS friend, Ben Brinton and his gorgeous and brilliant wife, Susan Christiansen. They have a beautiful brick home in Baltimore and were so gracious to put up with me for a day (including two drives to DC and back). It was such a wonderful trip all around.

I shouldn't be blogging this right now, I'm on my way to Cali tomorrow for a Mormon Feminist retreat (the second annual Sophia Gathering). I've planned it both years and I'm still not sure why I've taken on that responsibility. I don't need the extra stress. But, I'm really excited, it should be a lot of fun.

As far as March Laughs (for all of you followers out there) I will do them when I return. I'm so behind on the calendar, it's not funny. Jaxon has stopped asking me to change it. He's given up.