Favorite Words Right Now

Colin & Grace at their school Christmas Program

It's always fun to hear the words that come out your kids' mouths. Okay, it's not ALWAYS fun. From time to time, the words make you say, "Oops" or worse.

Grace's favorite words right now are:

• Awkward
• Horrifying

It is impossible for Grace to say "awkward" without a pause between awk and ward, and she says it with the sass of a teenager. We're in trouble when those years arrive...and probably sooner.

She's been using the word horrifying a lot! My favorite story she's told using the word was about how she had a horrifying dream where Daddy turned into an alien. Classic!

Colin's favorite words right now are:

• Frustrating/Frustrated
• Nipples

Colin knows that his behavior can be very frustrating for those around him. I'm not exactly sure where he picked up this word, but he loves the way it sounds. On Friday night after his school Christmas Program (where he never sang one word of the song), I asked him why didn't sing with his classmates. His response: "I was too frustrated." I asked what was frustrating him. He said, "Singing is frustrating." 

As for his other favorite word, what can I see? He's into nipples. And he digs talking about them - human nipples, animal nipples, it really doesn't matter. He just likes saying the word as often as he can weave it into a conversation. At home, this isn't too bad, but when he said it LOUD during church a few weeks ago, I was horrified (to quote Grace). His very innocent question: "Mommy, do mice have nipples?" I Googled it to be sure, but it turns out they do. The things we learn when we have kids!

Stay tuned in the weeks to come for a month-by-month review of 2013, which has been quite a year for the Fogarty family!

I Was Kissin'...

 

 When I arrived to pick Colin up from preschool today, he ran up to me with a huge smile on his face and said, "Mom, I was kissin' today!"

He was clearly proud of himself.

His teacher told me that he spent much of the day flirting with one of the little girls in his class and telling her they should kiss. In his classroom, they have a ramp that the kids called the "elevator." At one point Colin said to his lady, "Let's go to the elevator and kiss."

We're in big trouble with this kid. He's a little charmer already.

And the double standard begins. At dinner Colin told his Daddy that about kissing at school. He got a high five. Grace then said that she has a boyfriend...Daddy said she was grounded for life.

1st Day of Kindergarten

Grace on her 1st day of Kindergarten with the paintings she made for her big buddy and teacher

Grace sitting at her desk, ready for day 1 to begin

As hard as it is to believe, our baby girl is now in kindergarten. Her first day of school was awesome...and every day since has been fabulous too! She's loving kindergarten! The biggest change I've seen in her from last year to this year is the amount of detail I get about her day. All the way home, she tells me all about what she did at school, who she played with, and what she learned. Needless to say, our drive home is the highlight of my day. 

We continue my favorite tradition that we started last year. Every day after I pick her up I ask, "What was the best part of your day?" Without fail, she answers, "When you picked me up." Makes. My. Day.

Grace Calleigh, we love you so much! Your sweet smile brightens our world, and we are so proud of you! We are excited for a wonderful year of kindergarten. Watching you learn and grow brings us great joy!

The Best Part of My Day

Grace and I have developed a tradition. Every day when I pick her up from school, I ask, "What was the best part of your day?" Without fail, she replies, "When you picked me up." It makes my heart smile. She's the best :-)

Grace is loving Pre-K and is learning so much! Lately, she's been pretending to be her teacher at home. She even started calling Colin by her teacher's son's name. Each week they learn about a different letter, and she excitedly tells me about all of the things that start with that letter. I love seeing how much she loves to learn!

Quote of the Day

As we were driving home from school today, I was pointing out all kinds of things to Grace. Airplanes. School Buses. Trucks. Numbers on signs.

Then, I pointed out a HUGE American flag blowing in the wind.

Grace excitedly replied, "That's my Pledge of Allegiance one!"

"What kind of flag is it?" I asked.

"It's an American flag, silly."

My Cousins Live in the Computer

Our kids have three cousins on my side of the family and five cousins on Martin's side. Of their eight cousins, seven live far away -- two in Pennsylvania and the other five in Ireland. This always makes me sad because I have great memories of playing with my cousins during my younger years in PA. On the flip side, it makes for an adventure when the cousins do get to see each other!

As we were preparing to say goodbye to Martin's Mam last week, I told Grace that we would visit Nanny and Grandad in Ireland soon. I then mentioned that we would also get to see all of her Irish cousins - Liam, Melissa, Michelle, Conor, and Sam - while we are there. Grace got a really confused look on her face and replied, "They don't live in Ireland."

Then I was confused. "What do you mean they don't like in Ireland? They all live close to Nanny and Grandad."

Grace wrinkled her nose and said, "No, they don't. They live in the computer."

It took all of my willpower not to crack up. Since we Skype with the Irish fam, Grace now believes they all live inside the computer. Hilarious!

What Easter's All About

There are A LOT of topics that are not easy to explain to your kids - death, homelessness, natural disasters, war, etc. But, as parents, it's our duty to help our kids understand things that we may struggle to understand ourselves. With Easter approaching, I wanted to help Grace, my almost four year old, to understand what we're celebrating. I wanted her to know that it's not just about Easter egg hunts, coloring eggs, and a visit from the Easter Bunny. As I set out to teach her about the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, I realized that explaining these events so that she could understand them would be a huge challenge.

I got a storybook that I thought would help, and it did, although I had to answer questions along the way about things she saw and heard in the story. Here are a few examples of our interactions the last few weeks:

• When looking at a picture of Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head, "Mommy, that looks like it hurts."


• When we read about Simon helping Jesus carry the cross, Grace responded, "Simon? Like the Chipmunk?"


• After finishing the story, as I was asking questions about what we celebrate on Easter to see if she understood, Grace answered, "Jesus died on the cross." I replied, "Very good. And what happened next?" Grace's answer: "He didn't have a shirt on, and I could see his nipples."

All in all, although she had some silly responses, I think she's starting to understand what Easter is all about. I will keep praying for the right words to explain what will happen in the days to come and why we sing ALLELUIA on Easter morning with such joy! Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Big, Big Giant Booty

Sometimes your kids say things that are so funny that you forget to tell them they're not nice things to say. Last night my parents stayed at our house because they had an early flight to PA this morning. Grace was so excited to have Nana and Pop-Pop sleep over. She helped me make their bed, complete with a Tinkerbell bedspread that she knew they would love. As we were all hanging out together, Nana told Grace that she wanted to sit in her Winnie the Pooh chair. This chair is a hot commodity at our house lately, as Colin loves to climb up and sit on it. This often doesn't go over well with Grace who likes to remind Colin that it's "her chair." Grace was not impressed with Nana's desire to sit in her chair and told her she couldn't sit there. I asked Grace why Nana couldn't sit there, and she replied:

"She won't fit."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because she has a big, big giant booty!" Grace answered.

We all laughed hysterically, and I'm not sure we ever got around to explaining to Grace that she needs to be nice and not talk about people's booties. And Nana, you're booty's not giant :-)

We Don't Like the Cowboys

You have to be careful what you teach your kids, right? We all know that. Well, as die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fans, we recognize our duty to teach our kids right (cheering for the Eagles) from wrong (cheering for the Cowboys). During this past football season, Grace got pretty into football, and she loved cheering along with us. We taught her the E-A-G-L-E-S chant and the "Fly Eagles Fly" song that we sing every time they score a touchdown.

We also began explaining to her that we don't like the Dallas Cowboys. This was, in part, because several of our devious friends tried to get her to say "Go Cowboys" and "I love the Cowboys" to irritate us. So in our explanations we told her that the Cowboys stink and that we love the Eagles! No harm done, right?

Yesterday we were shopping at Sam's and two genuine cowboys walked past us. They were fully decked out in 10-gallon hats, boots, and jeans and looked like they just came from a ranch. As they walked by, Grace blurted out, "The Cowboys stink. We don't like the Cowboys." Oops...I guess she's confusing the Dallas Cowboys with real life Cowboys. We'll need to work on that ;-)

Thankfully, these real life cowboys laughed, as I tried to explain to Grace that they are nice cowboys.

Another Classic Grace Quote

Last night I took the kids for a walk right after we got home. Colin was in his stroller, and Grace decided to push her baby in a stroller. This is a risky move because you never know when Grace will decide that she can't walk anymore because "her legs are broken." Those of you who spend a lot of time with her know that her legs tend to be broken fairly often.

So we walked to the neighborhood playground and were having a great time. Colin enjoyed the swing, while Grace went down the slide at least a dozen times. All was well with the world...UNTIL I announced that it was time to head home to make dinner. Grace refused to walk home. This time there was a twist on her usual broken legs excuse. She informed me that she couldn't walk because she was thirsty and her "legs weren't filled with milk." :-)

Gotta love our little drama queen!!!

Grace's Quote of the Month - January 2011

Grace says a lot of funny things...she keeps us entertained, no doubt about it! In January, she was her usual hilarious self, but one quote has kept me laughing.

Grace, Colin, and I were shopping at Wal-Mart with Nanny (Martin's Mam). We were looking for "fuzzy socks" for Grace, as we prepared for some cold weather. Grace wanted warm, fuzzy socks, "just like Mommy and Nanny have." As we searched for the socks, we entered the training bra section. Grace pointed at one of the bras and said, "Mom - I want to buy boobs."

She was very upset when we didn't buy her a bra...she said she needs them to cover her boobies. Just imagine her as a teenager...