ST-T-T-T-T-UTTERING!!

Little Ben-Ben has started stuttering this last week. I hope this is a passing phase. I read some about it today and what causes it. Of course they don't know. Good news is, 75% of kids grow out of it, the bad news is 25% don't. They say often when kids start catching on to more complex grammar and forming complete sentences that they get hung up on processing all that. That doesn't make sense to me with Bennett because he's been speaking if fairly full if not completely full sentences for many, many months now. He especially does it when he's trying to say what he wants and the sentence starts with "I". He says "I" at least 5 or 6 times. Every time he does it, I want to sing the song "Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay, Canta y No Llores" (Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay, Sing, Don't Cry) that I learned in Spanish class when I was 8 or so from Mister Molina (remember him, Nick?). Singing and not crying is probably good advice. I just worry that Bennett will get made fun of in the future, and he shouldn't cause he really is super smart, and such a shining little star. I would hate for him to have low confidence due to some stuttering. I know, it's only been a few days, and he could get over it tomorrow, but it's a mom's job to worry, right?

Done, and done.

Several months ago, Lincoln had a flushing fetish and would flush foreign objects down the toilet. I caught him in the act a few times. Mostly they were smaller objects, but we discover after the guest bathroom got REALLY stopped up, that he had upped the ante. I had wanted to call a plumber, but Matt assured me he'd fix it. We ended up just locking that bathroom door for a while cause Matt never had time to get to it. Then our good friend, Wynne, came to visit... the time had come. So Matt finally dumped some Draino down there (which I could have easily done, but figured that fixing toilets was Matt's job), and it flushed great. Problem solved... or so we thought. Wynne informed us that the toilet was great for a a few flushes, but was slowly getting worse. Good thing she was only here for a couple days! Now Matt's parents are coming to visit, so the time has come, yet again, to REALLY get the problem solved. I again suggested that we call a plumber, but Matt adamantly refused. I figured if Draino couldn't fix it, a plunger, etc couldn't fix it, it was time to call the plumber. This situation is a little reminiscent of this incident. 3.5 years later, I'm still doubting Matt's abilities. 

Next thing I know, Matt's got the toilet off it's "foundation" and he's got a snake auger thing through it. We threw a few buckets full of water in there, and some semi-large items came out, but nothing that really seemed like it would clog things up. Having got the auger through there and no more things were coming out after dumping buckets in there, we assumed all was solved. We got the toilet back into place, and then I flushed a few regular usage sized wads of TP down. Problem not solved. We were so ticked, we decided to have a go at it another day. 

Yesterday was the day. Interestingly enough, the toilet would drain if you tipped it slightly backwards, but when upright, it would not drain. Matt and I thought that one through, and Matt decided that whatever the object was, it had to be disk shaped, cause it could rotate to let the auger through, and would allow water to pass when the toilet was tipped back. I agreed. This time, we had a harder time getting the auger through. Finally we did, and when it was through, I thought to attach something at the end so when we pulled it back, it would snag whatever was not flushing through the other way. We got an old rag on the end of "the snake" and pulled it back through. Whatever it was, was chocolate brown, and quite large. Matt was very nervous about pulling it out, but it had to be done. 

Ta da!!!!

Note Matt's Saturday morning bed head. Yes, the toilet is in the shower... less water to mop up that way.

A pretend chocolate doughnut. Yay!!! It wasn't poop! Disc shaped, no?

Done, and done! Richard and Laila... we're ready!!! Wynne, sorry you had so suffer, and Matt, sorry I again doubted your abilities. I'd like to say never again, but I know that is too much to promise.

Girl Thing

This morning, Lincoln went through just about everyone we know and determined if they were a boy or girl. The only one he got wrong was Lucy, our dog. I tried to convince him that Lucy is a girl, but he wasn't buying it. A little while later, I was sitting in our front room on the couch having just finished a phone conversation. Lincoln came around in the corner and said, "Mom, where's your girl thing?". I was very nervous about what he meant by that. He climbed up on the couch next to me, and asked me again where my girl thing was. I said I didn't know what he meant, and honestly I didn't. We haven't been through the "boy things, girl things" conversation yet. Then he reached around the back of my head and grabbed my braid and said, "There it is!!". What a relief. I guess Lucy doesn't have a pony tail, so she's not a girl. I wonder how he knows that Grandma Mecham is a girl, cause she doesn't have a pony tail either. I love it when I get to have a peek into his little mind. So cute.

Book of Mormon Stories

This is a new favorite song of the kids. Bennett will sing and do all the actions, but not for the camera. His favorite place to perform is in the grocery store at the top of his lungs. As I was teaching them the actions, I realized that the actions aren't exactly PC, but, that's what they are.

Take 1:

Take Benny:

Take 2:

Chalet or Shanty... you decide.

Matt called me from work last Friday afternoon and said we were headed to the mountains to a lil' Swiss Chalet. The weather was FINALLY decent... perhaps the 3rd time this year that it was comfortable enough to wear shorts. Anyway, we got there with images of being secluded in the woods. Turns out, it was just barely off the main highway in a cluster of other "chalets" that were actually more like shanties. And to top it off, the summer season started June 1st, that day, so it was double to cost!!! Despite all the let downs, we managed to have a little fun.

Benny dragging his blankie in the dirt.

Having a laugh with Benny.

We went for an evening walk. It was about 9:30 PM at this time and still very light out.

This is the hand-me-down bike trailer we got from our neighbors. Maybe we'll buy some bikes now.

Ben Ben enjoying a s'more (that we cooked over the stove top) with dad on the bed. Not Matt's best angle... sorry. Benny kept petting the sheep skin on the wall and saying, "So soft", and "E-I-E-I-O". 

Lincoln dancing to Yo Gaba Gaba. Take note of the pen marks from earlier in the day.

The next morning, we were planning to go on a little hike, but of course it rained so we went on a LONG drive through Kananaskis country. We definitely saw some wilderness.

The sun came out for a moment. Isn't this beautiful??

Lincoln and Bennett fell asleep in the car and when they woke up, they kept requesting to go back to "our cabin" for some cookies and marshmallows. When we pulled up to our house, they burst into tears saying, "I want to go to our cabin". Apparently, they had a good time in our shanty.