Nothing really going on around here, just chillin.'  I wish I was the kind of person who could pull that phrase off, but I cannot.  I'm surprised that I just made the effort to type out "can not" instead of just "can't."  Listen,  ever since I moved to Lafayette (or maybe it stems back to when I quit working), my speech has gotten so casual.  Mike catches me saying things that I never used to say, or just being really lazy, specifically in my word endings.  I cannot  remember the last time I consciously pronounced an "ing."  Man, it's so much work, I guess.  I'm all about...talkin' on the phone, watchin' tv, eatin' dinner.  It's all about the stress being on the first syllable.  Pretty soon I will actually be writing this way, too.  It's scary.  I need to speak proper English.  I am an edumucated woman.  You wouldn't know it by conversatin' with me though :-)  No, really, I AM GOING to make an effort.  Great, now all of my friends will catch me slacking.  Wait, now that I think of it, maybe I started talkin' this way since hangin' out with certain friends, who shall remain nameless.  I do live in the South now, ya know?  Two hours south of my hometown :-)

I saw the movie, "The Secret Life of Bees," yesterday...with one of my southern friends (actually she really is from down under, N'Awlins).  I read the book years ago, but had forgotten a lot of the details.  I wasn't dying to see the movie, but it was slim pickiNGS (see, that doesn't sound right) at the theater.  Oh, and when did Dakota Fanning go and grow up?!  She's so old now.  My favorite movie of hers, "I Am Sam."  Love that movie.  Anyway, SLOB (ha!) certainly wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, by any means, however, I cried like a baby.  Oh my goodness, Kristy can attest to the fact that I blew my nose several times in that theater.  I have to say I've been quite emotional the past two weeks...over relatively stupid things.  I'm not going to (ooh, I SO wanted to say "gonna") lie, it's had me, and a couple of others in my life, wonder if I'm pregnant.  The emotions would have at least seemed justified then, but hence, I am not.  I wish and pray for that though.

Okay, moving on to Alex.  Now that I think of it, that kid of ours has been really good the past few days.  Woo hoo!  Maybe Mike will comment and refresh my memory about an incident that I could be blocking out.  Let's see...today though, Alex casually said, "You guys are fat."  This was a first.  So, we had to have a conversation with him about how we never say something like that, it's mean, hurtful, rude...all that stuff.  I did question why he would think/say that and (totally innocently), he's like, "Ya know (gesturing), in your hips-like."  It did kind of make me giggle.  I didn't even know he knew about hips.  But, really, we don't condone this kind of talk and won't allow it, even if it is true about his momma.

He is officially 40 pounds now.  I can't believe it.  He has actually gained a lot of weight this year.  Like 5 pounds, which is a fair amount for someone his size.  Now who's fat?  Just kidding.  We've been talking about getting him a booster seat for a little while now.  His shoulders are resting too high (he's gettting too tall) in his 5-point harness car seat.  He has been very excited about getting a bigger seat.  So, he used one for the first time today and was sitting all high and mighty in that booster.  It may take a little while for him to learn to buckle himself in, but he can unbuckle himself when it's the appropriate time and I am thankful for that.

Today the two of us went grocery shopping and went about it a little differently.  I had been meaning to do this before, but never took the time, I guess.  I was glad I did today because the trip went so smoothly.  Alex is at a good age for this right now.  Anyway, I had my grocery list written out and I went through and picked 8, or so, items from it that would be something that Alex could draw on his own or with a little assistance.  So, we got out his trusty notebook (like Steve, or Joe, from Blue's Clues.  Whom do you prefer??) and crayons before we left and drew pictures of foods and then I wrote the words next to them.  He came to the store prepared with his pen and notebook.  He was very pro-active in his shopping...quite the helper.  I could see he was feeling that independence, too.  He crossed off each item from his list as he found it in the store.  I wish I had a picture of some of his drawings, but I didn't take one.

I've mentioned this to a couple of people, but the other day, Alex said, "Mom, who am I going to marry?."  I said, "I don't know Alex.  Maybe you haven't met the person yet that you'll marry someday."  And we talked about maybe meeting in high school, college, a job, etc.  He said, "I think I'll marry a girl."  Okay, so we've established that.  He's brought it up a couple of other times since.  My boy needs to slow down.  He's all ready to leave the nest and tie the knot.  He does want to be 5 years old, like now...geesh, he just turned 4!  Anyway, ladies, I mean preschool-aged girls, you better watch out because my son is apparently on the prowl for his future wife.  He is quite the gentleman.  Let's hope he doesn't call you fat on the first (play)date.  I have a friend who will be happy to hear the news of Alex courting already.  She's been trying to fix her toddler up with Alex for months.  I know, she's messed up.

Lastly, for this random post, as much as I enjoy our local K-Love station, I get tired of hearing the same songs over..and over..and over agin.  Seriously.  But, it is positive and encouraging and there's always Jon and his lovely bride, Sherry.  Really though, they play wonderful contemporary Christian music.  Before K-Love came to the area, I was constantly scanning through stations.  I hated that.  This is the ONE station that Alex will sit and listen to AND sing to in the car.  He loves it.  I am thrilled about that.  There is nothing like hearing your 4-year old sing, "Blessed Be Your Name," especially in the middle of the day while at home with no music playing.  He just started singing it this afternoon while playing with magnet letters.  I was on the computer and then quickly went to YouTube to find it.  His eyes just lit up when it started playing.  And then he asked me to dance.  And we did.  We jumped up and down together while holding hands.  And then we lifted our hands up to God. He stretched those perfect fingers towards the sky without thinking twice about it.  If only we could all worship the Lord like a child, ya know?    

Be blessed this week, everyone!