Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 14 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

I’m still sort of new to this group challenge, so if you’d like, you can meet my family in my first post or read more in my second Fly post.  Here’s a picture of us from our camping weekend this summer, and a brief snapshot of our summer in this post:

camping collage 2014
Camping fun – reading stories in the tent, trying to get a good family picture before our hike, fishing with Daddy & Grandma. Little Brother age 2.75, Big Sister age 4.5

Mealtime Antics

Some dinnertimes tend to be especially hectic and crazy – especially on my workdays. One night my son was constantly calling, “Mom, Mom, Mom…” with various requests. That particular night the kids were sitting at a smaller “little table,” instead of the bigger, adult table, so I felt like I was up and down a lot getting things for my kids. I confessed to Daddy O. “This is my most stressful forty-five minutes of the day.”

My two year old, then chimed in with another, “Mom.”

Me, feeling a bit exasperated, “What?!”

Little guy, “I love you very much.” Oh…Awh…all this stress and crazy is definitely worth it!

After dinner we often let the kids eat dessert, or dinnertime bonus, as we like to call it. One night my 4 year old asked, “Mom, can I have turtleneck ice cream?”

Me, “It’s just called turtle ice cream.”

Big sister, “Oh.”  Me, “I’ll get you some.”  And I’ll have some too!  It’s been funny seeing a pattern about turtle / turtleneck comments with my kids, as in my last post.

ice cream eating kids
We love ice cream!

Four Year Old Fashion

Daddy O.: I tried to get big sister to wear her khaki pants.

Me: Oh yeah, her capris. Sweetie, why don’t you wear those? They are 4T.

Big sister: I don’t know I’m just not into them.

Wow, has she been watching some Tim Gunn (who is anti-capri pants) lately? I love seeing her sense of fashion develop!

The many faces of big sister
Here’s big sister showing off her accessories and crazy faces! Little brother got into the photo shoot too!

I noticed that big sister’s hair was growing longer, so I said, “We need to get your haircut soon. Do you want some off the ends or grow it long?”

Big sister immediately said, “Grow it long” (like the princesses, obviously).

I looked a little closer, saying, “Let me see your hair. We may need to take some off the ends to keep it healthy.” Big sister was a bit confused, “Is my hair getting sick?” I started explaining, “No honey, not exactly.”  Then little brother chimes in, “My hair is sick.”

But I guess that’s one way of thinking of it…your hair gets sick, so you need to go to your stylist to make it better!  I love their rationale!

Eventual Potty Training, Lots of Potty Talk!

Little brother will turn three in September, and we’ve had SOME interest in using the potty.  There has been a very HIGH level of interest in using potty talk from both kids.  I’m trying to rein that in, but here’s a sampling of what I’ve heard:

Big sister: Mom, my brother says I poop IN my butt.

Me: Well, isn’t that right?

Big sister: NO, I poop in the toliet.

Me: Yes, you’re right.

This girl is very exact! She really likes to correct her brother (and others too).  I’m wondering what’s in store for her and what she’ll navigate towards once she starts school!

During a diaper change, I started this exchange with my son:

Me: Oooh – green poop (thinking, can’t we just be DONE with diapers now?)

Little Brother (clearly excited): Green – my favorite.

Big sister: You can’t choose what color your poop is. Your body chooses (based on what you eat).

Me: Yeah, you’re right.

Later to Daddy O. I said, “Did you hear that lovely exchange about green poop?”

Daddy O.: I can’t wait until parent-teacher conferences!  (Big sister starts 4K in fall…let the fun begin!)

In a conversation between me & Daddy O., I was explaining, “We have a whole lot of food. I wanted to say we have a b-u-t-t-l-o-a-d of food, but I don’t want our kids to hear that.” Daddy O. suggested, “You could say b-o-a-t load.” To that I said, “Well, that’s not as fun.”

The Golden Rule

We’ve been talking about the Golden Rule, after reading the Berenstain Bear’s book and big sister went to vacation bible school for the first time this summer.  I was a bit surprised when big sister said, “Mom, remember the golden rule: You get what you get, and don’t throw a fit.”

I guess we need to review the Golden Rule a few more times!

Foot in Mouth

As the post title states, there was some “open mouth, insert foot moments” as of late. This has happened in the LITERAL sense, as my two year old can put his foot in his mouth and seems to like sucking on his big toe. Another fun blogger I follow, Kaela at The Girl Who Blogs, just wrote about phrases she did not expect to use while parenting. I shared with her that I’ve told my two year old son to, “Get your foot out of your mouth.”  Crazy kid!!

On Getting Tired

Little brother: I took a yawn.  (or in other cases, when he’s not tired, he says, “I didn’t take a yawn.”

Me: yawning with exaggeration

Little brother: That’s a Thunder Yawn!

Daddy O.: What’s a thunder yawn?

Little brother: A really big yawn.

I hope this post hasn’t generated too many yawns – be them tiny or thunder yawns! Be sure to buzz around, and click on these links for a peek into some other homes: