4am Dragons

When Mr. Mister wakes up in the middle of the night, he is amazingly coherent. A couple nights ago, he woke up at 4am to go to the bathroom.  He unzipped his sleeper and took his feet out of it so that it was just on his arms with the rest hanging down his back.  This immediately became a cape and the adventure began.

"I am wearing a cape and I am fighting the dragon!" he said in a hero tone of voice on his way to the bathroom.  He made some sword-swinging motions with some sound effects and then made it to the bathroom and took care of business.

At 4am I am barely opening my eyes to make sure he makes it to the potty okay.  But to this little adventurer, dragons still need to be slayed even in the middle of the night.  I love the imagination and the boyness that is in that.

Bathtize

Ever since we had baptisms at church a few weeks ago, Mr. Mister has been "bathtizing" everything - himself in a rain puddle, his carrots in ranch dressing, and the bottle of handsoap in the bathroom sink.  It's funny...he does it just like he saw it done at church.  He puts his head real close to the object like he's praying, then dunks it back under water and picks it back up.  Then he instructs everyone to cheer.

I love it.  We have explained to him that baptism is something you do when you are ready to publicly declare your decision to follow Jesus. I think he gets that as much as a three year can.  It is fun to watch him delight in something that should be delighted in, even if it's with a carrot or a bottle of soap for now.  Hopefully someday he'll make that decision for real and hopefully it's somewhere other than in a rain puddle!

Riding into the Sunset

I can't believe I forgot to post this picture!  I love it.

A girl and a bike.  Good thing he can't go anywhere on that bike quite yet.

This beautiful little girl is one of Mr. Newton's good friends (well, she's the daughter of our good friends so they hang out and are as much friends as one year olds can be).

She is about 6 weeks older than him and I (not so) secretly hope that someday they get married.  But since that is waaay down to road, I just think it's cute when we pose them for pictures like this.  

The Ring Bear

We went to Milwaukee for my cousin's wedding this past weekend.  The boys were invited too, which made for some great adventures.  And a lot of snacks to keep them entertained on the plane and at the wedding.   I am shocked that Mr. Newton did not end up getting sick after all of his crawling around on the hotel and airport floors. Yuck.

Anyway, when we were packing for our trip, Mr. Mister was asking about what he was going to wear to the wedding.  He is going to be the ring bearer in our friends' wedding in September so we've been talking about how he'll wear a tuxedo for that.  Here was our conversation:

Mr: Mom, am I going to wear a tuxedo to the wedding?
Me: No, only people in the wedding will wear tuxedos. When you are in Miss Emily's wedding you will wear a tuxedo.
Mr: Will I wear a bear tuxedo?

After I figured out what he meant, I laughed out loud. He thought he was going to be the ring bear.  Which makes sense.  What 3 year old knows the word bearer?

So I explained the difference and I think he was kind of disappointed that he won't be walking down the aisle dressed like a bear. He'd probably love to growl at people as he walked!

Happy First Birthday!

My dear Mr. Newton,

Today you are ONE!

We first celebrated your birthday a little early, over Easter weekend when all of our PA family was in town.  You were a little hesitant to try your first cupcake but after you tried it, you had no problem finishing it.

Then we had a birthday party for you at a park this past Saturday.  We were thankful to have one of the only sunny days in the past month!  It was so much fun to have our friends and family gathered there to celebrate how much we all love you!  

This time around, you knew exactly what that cake was when we put it in front of you. You dove right in!

Then you played peek-a-boo with your plate.

Which made for a pretty messy face!  

But that's what a boy should look like on his first birthday.

These two lovely ladies didn't let a little cake on the face hold them back from sharing the love.

OH!  And I almost forgot some exciting news!

Grandma came bearing the best gift of all...

Orange Juice (the original)! 

Your cousin found him in the toys in her basement.  

It was a beautiful reunion...

you were very excited to cuddle with your long lost pal.  

Now we have backup!

One of my favorite things about your party was taking time for everyone to pray over you.  It was evident that you are a blessing in many people's lives. The one thing that everyone loves is your smile and the joy you bring when it lights up your whole face.

I agree.  Your smile is an incredible gift.

So one year ago you were barely opening your eyes to this great big world around you.  Today you curiously explore everything.  I could list hundreds of things that I love about you. But most of all I just love you for being you!

Long Locks No More

Today I gave Mr. Newton his first haircut.  I've been wanting to at least trim it for a while but he has such different hair than Mr. Mister...thinner and wispier...so I didn't know how to best cut it.   But faced with yet another rainy day, I decided to give both boys a haircut.  So on a whim, I just cut Mr. Newton's hair with the clippers, on the longest setting possible.

And then I cried.

I want his long hair back! It does look kind of cute, but it's not the same. Long hair was just him. And after looking at pictures from his birthday party this weekend, I got sad again because I love his hair like it was.

My husband and my three year old both wisely reminded me that he's still Mr. Newton no matter what his hair looks like and that hair grows back quickly.  And I just thought of Kate, the little girl whose story I've been following over the past two years.  She has lost all of her hair more than once due to chemotherapy and I'm sure her mom would love for their biggest concern to be a bad haircut.

So I won't let it ruin my day.  But I'm not ready to post a picture.  Maybe later this week once I'm used to it!