"Do you know my birthmom?"

Asher is nearly 4 years old. He's a very busy, smart little boy, who when he does slow down, enjoys "reading" books and watching movies.

His latest favorites are Despicable Me, Kung Fu Panda, and Kung Fu Panda 2. Oddly enough, in all of these movies, adoption is a theme.

In Kung Fu Panda 2, there is a scene where the goose father confesses to his panda son that he was adopted. This began a conversation among Jake, Asher and I one night. We have always told him that he was adopted, and he has met his birthparents, A & K, but just this week we saw K, Asher's birthmom. He hadn't seen her in over a year, and with this recent talk about adoption on his mind, one night he looked at me and said, "Mom, I have a question to tell you."

He had my full attention. "Yes, Asher, what is it?" I asked him.

"Do you know my birthmom?"

"Yes, Asher, I know your birthmom. K is your birthmom."

"Do you know my birthdad?" Asher asked.

"Yes, Asher, I know your birthdad. A is your birthdad."

He thought about that a minute. "You know A & K. They are your birthparents."

Again, he thought about what I had told him. Then he said, "Do you know my birthtractor? Do you know my birthdog? Do you know my birthEiffeltower?"

I thought maybe he was getting it a little more...but...maybe we'll continue having adoption conversations!

You Can Tell Everybody....This is Your Song...

It was bedtime tonight, and instead of a story, I decided to sing Asher some songs. As I carried my "baby" up the stairs in my arms, the song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" ran through my mind so I began to sing it to him. He seemed to enjoy it well enough, but then he said, "Sing MY song, Mom!"

"Which song, baby?"

"MY song!"

I had no idea which song he was meaning...I tried a version of "Asher J" to the tune of Jingle Bells...that wasn't it. I thought perhaps he meant "The Ants Go Marching" as that has been a very regular bedtime song...but he didn't mention that one.

"Sing me part of it, baby. Sing it so I know which song you mean."

"MY song, mom...the one with the guitars and the drums!"

Ahhhh! Yes! To reach a compromise in the car (and also to make sure I didn't go crazy) in regards to listening to his "Kids' Songs" CDs every time we drive anywhere, I tried to make sure that when we were listening to MY music, that I always pointed out the instruments he may be able to hear. I always pick up the melody in music, but like Uncle Dylan, Asher always picks up the beats.

The song Asher was calling HIS song? Adele's Rolling in the Deep.

DING! Mommy wins!

He pounded out the very clear bass drum beat on the mattress with his foot while I sang to him. He had a huge smile on his face. And so did I.

What did he just say?

It's summertime...and you know what that means? Swimming, sunshine, fresh produce, warm nights, and fireflies.

One Sunday dinner at my parents' house, we were eating some delicious corn on the cob. Someone asked to have the spray butter passed. Asher piped up, "Please, can I have some sunscream for my corn on the cob?"

Last night Jake invited Asher and I to dinner, Asher's first movie in the theater, Cars 2, and to wind up the date, he took us to Whitey's Ice Cream. Asher, of course, chose the orange sherbet and insisted he have it in a cone. This morning when he woke up, he was STILL talking about what an exciting night it was..."And I got orange ice cream...in a comb!"

We recently picked Jake up from his Homecoming ceremony. He has been deployed to Afghanistan for the last year and it has been so wonderful to have him home again. On our way out of the town, we saw a Chinook helicopter, and a regular helicopter. Grandma explained the differences between the two. Tonight, Asher was talking about the Chinook, and Grandma said, "What does the Chinook have that the other helicopter doesn't have?" Asher let us all know what he had learned..."Two repellers!"

Rock In Roll

Asher LOVES cinnamon rolls.

He will ask for them almost daily. And daily he will ask for them multiple times.

If we run out of cinnamon rolls, it can be a very stressful event. Last Sunday I had to drive to the grocery store with bad hair, without my teeth brushed, with the child still in pajamas to retreive said breakfast items.

Usually I just whip up the ones that you simply pop in the oven and drizzle with icing, all from a tiny paper tube. Asher thinks they are divine.

Today we had a late breakfast at one of our favorite local restaurants. I picked out a plump, homemade cinnamon roll for Asher from their bakery case, and he immediately began scarfing it down.

About two-thirds of the way through, he started slowing down. It appeared there was something bothering him, when he even went as far as practically gagging. I thought maybe he had put too much in his mouth, so, as moms sometimes have to hold gross things in our hands, I helped him remove some of the offending cinnamon roll. There was still something bothering him, even as he was spitting out the pieces of pastry.

"What's the matter, baby? What's wrong?" I asked.

He pointed to the roof of his mouth, and let me fish around inside with my finger. "There's a rock in my mouth," he said. "There's a rock in my cinnamon roll."

There was no rock in my baby's roll, however, he just wasn't used to the delicious goodness of a REAL, homemade cinnamon roll, complete with sugary goodness, rather than faux icing from a plastic tube.

Rock in roll, Asher. Rock in roll...

How many times?

The other night Asher & I went swimming at the YMCA. He's really getting better, and he's still fearless, which is why I'm so glad he's getting better!

We use a foam floatation device that straps around his chest, so that he is buoyed in the back. He can dog paddle around, and loves to slide down the slide and jump in from the side.

He jumped in about a hundred times in a row. If he wasn't going to sleep like a rock that night, at least I was!

The next morning when Grandma Taxi picked him up for daycare, I said, "Tell Grandma where we went last night." & he told her, "To the YMCA...." I said, "Tell her how many times you jumped into the pool!" and he replied, "Well....I don't know. I didn't count!"

Out of (and into) the mouths of babes

This cold April morning, I was making some muffins for our breakfast, and also making up a pot of broccoli cheese soup. I was peeling the onion and Asher asked, "What's going to hatch?"

Now and then he gets a bit greedy with food, and after I had chopped the onion he came and snatched a bit of it off the cutting board. I let him walk away with it, but when he turned around with a horrified look on his face like, "What did you just let me eat?!" I couldn't help but laugh...especially when he put his hand up to his mouth & went "Ehhhhh!

Black Man Doing the Robot Dance

It's tax time.

And you know what that means...Liberty Tax has people standing on street corners, dressed in Statue of Liberty costumes & doing crazy things like waving to cars, hula hooping, and dancing to their own beats.

So, when I called my sister tonight, who was watching Asher, to tell her I was on my way, she said "Make sure you look for the black man doing the robot dance on the corner."

"OK?" I replied.

So...when I got to the corner she mentioned, I looked around.

No black man.
No robot dances.
No black man doing the robot dance.

Bummer. I must have missed him.

When I arrived, I let her know I hadn't seen the man, and that I must have missed his awesome moves.

"Did you see Anytime Fitness?" she asked me.

"Uh...yeah."

"Well, that was where your son pointed out the black man. Doing the robot dance!"

See for yourself!?

Orange You Glad...

Asher loves fruit. And carbs. And anything with sugar that will make him hyperhyperhyper!

Lately we've been eating lots of clementines and oranges, and he seems to love the juicy fruits.

The other day he was enjoying an orange. It had some pulp on it, so he brought it to me and said, "Mom...get the boogers off!"

Never thought about the fun conversations I'd have as the mom of a little boy!