This Correction Brought to You By....

Great Grandma Honey.... 

The "Smart MOUTH Gene."

I, apparently, inherited the potty-mouth gene and no one in my family is claiming that.

Excuse me, I have to go wash my mouth out with soap...

A Clarification

One of my besties, Emily has informed me that I neglected to identify the dish I am holding in my "Happy Olympics" post. I will save you some time by showing you again here.

It is not, as she guessed, a bowl of boiled chicken. 

It's fortune cookies. Homemade, painstakingly prepared, fortune cookies. I even created and typed up the fortunes myself. Let me tell ya - a bowl of boiled chicken would have been a LOT easier.

James' Great Inheritance

Trust fund? Nope.

Full head of thick hair? Nope.

Lucky lucky James got what is known in my family as, "The Smart-Ass Gene." 

Well you're welcome, son. I believe this trait can be claimed completely by my family. Ask any of them - they all have it. I think the worst might be my brother, but my grandpa could really give him a run for his money. Grandpa Kington was not a man of many words, but in 20 words a day, 19 of them were funny and sarcastic.

Here's how I know James has it:

Me (trying to get James to invent his own Halloween costume, my eyes are very big and my voice quite high): "I know buddy, what about a kangaroo?!" 

James (also very big eyes and high voice as if he is mocking me): "Ooooh! I know mommy, how about NOT!"

Smart. 

Ass. 

Gene.

I'm A Fire Fighter!

Wouldn't it be fun if fire fighters really did wear giraffe boots?

SeaGirt, NJ and the Three Uncle Kevins....

sounds like a new nursery rhyme.... 

Just got back from a FUN weekend on the Jersey shore in Sea Girt, NJ at Brian's Uncle Kevin's house. Cousins and uncles and friends, good food, lots of late-night gaming and gorgeous weather.

As usual, not much sleep was had by young James (or his parents), but we still kept business as usual with early am trips for coffee and long walks on the beach and boardwalk.

One sticky wicket for the weekend: James is two and wrapping his brain around new people and names is hard enough, but at this particular family gathering, there were THREE Uncle Kevins. Brian's uncle, Brian's brother and Brian's cousin.

So, you are already familiar with this Uncle Kevin:

You MAY remember this Uncle Kevin (Brian's uncle, dad's side):

And new to the blog is THIS Uncle Kevin (and girlfriend Missy):

Really, he goes by "KC" so that one was easy. I think, to James, they are known as "KC and Missy, my new best friends." They played and played and played with James - he loved it. KC played soccer for Stanford and James couldn't get enough of his foot/juggling skills.

Brian's Uncle Kevin is really a Great Uncle Kevin, literally and figuratively, but any uncle who can dig a three foot hole for James to sit in and play for an hour on the beach, does not deserve an aging title such as "great" anything. So, to us and to James, he is sadly known as "The Other Uncle Kevin" until we come up with something better.

This was something like, "what are you doing?"

"Oh, a hole!"
"Thanks Other Uncle Kevin!"

Here is James "helping" daddy get a bucket of water. Please note the direction in which he is running....

This truck was part of a party favor at a birthday party (thanks Linda V) and James loves it so much that we have moved it across four states and just as many beaches. Best money we've never spent.

A special frozen treat almost as big as James...

James Coyne: Toddler Soprano, Human Tuning Fork

First my deepest apologies for the delay in posting. We have purchased a new computer and we are still figuring it out. Ah.... technology!

So, without further ado, here is our son, the soprano, singing Baa Baa Black Sheep (in the highest note humanly possible) until he is distracted by, in fact, a white sheep. 

My favorite part is how it seems like he is actually warming up at the beginning. Perhaps looking for just the right pitch....

Turn up the volume, but do not play this near any windows.

The "Building" Zone

This is from a recent trip to the National Building Museum. They have a big room for little builders with all kinds of blocks and construction items. Giant foam blocks, small wooden blocks, big toddler size legos, etc. They even have a playhouse that shows the inner workings of house plumbing. James did not build one thing while we were there. 

He drove dump trucks from one side of the room to another narrowly missing adult ankles and small babies and then he found this. This is SUPPOSED to be the apex of a tower, the roof of a house, etc. For James, it was a truck and apparently "hard to carry."

Here's the translation:

"It's hard to carry." He says this about 6 times. He even tells himself that it's hard to carry when he sees himself in the mirror.

"OK, this is the perfect spot."

"I'm going to ride the truck."

Perhaps realizing that there are no wheels: "Is this a truck?"

Also at the building museum... a wedding. This was so funny to me that I had to take a picture. They were setting this up while we were there and I love the idea of this poor couple having to stop at the information booth on their way down the aisle.