ANOTHER Baby on The Way!

I always knew I wanted to be a mother, so I wasn't even a little surprised that I gave birth to four of the most beautiful and intelligent beings on the planet (I know I sound prejudiced but I'm just being honest).

Though I never thought far into the future about being a grandmother, sooner than I might have imagined, I became one, again and again and again. I now have TEN grandchildren and TWO great grandchildren.

Just recently I discovered our family would be expanding AGAIN with ANOTHER great grandchild, and as I sat in the living room yesterday that belongs to one of my granddaughters (the granddaughter who is pregnant), along with her sister and one of my daughters, the conversation naturally veered toward pregnancy.

At one point, my daughter and my non-pregnant granddaughter discussed their desire to have a baby. They both said they wanted to get pregnant within the next year! We're going to need an embassy to hold all of us pretty soon.

As I look at my staggeringly deflated monetary resources, I've decided I'm going to have to come up with more creative gifts. I generally crochet an afghan for each new baby. I'm also trying to crochet hats and scarves for the younger grandchildren before winter. My fingers are going into overdrive!

Fortunately, my daughter owns a baby and children consignment boutique (they also sell wedding gowns) where clothes are in near-perfect condition and cost only a fraction of the original price. Guess where I'll be buying my baby items – Briella's Boutique in Savoy, Illinois!

But now I'm concerned about where we can meet for celebrations. Anybody know of an embassy I can rent for cheap?

Nolan And The Poo Poo Cocks

 As I've mentioned before, my grandchildren (and their parents before them) supply me with endless laughter. From what they say to what they do to how they perceive the world, I never lack for blog subjects.

So here we go again.

Before I get into the Poo Poo Cocks story, I want to relate what happened this morning.

As those of us who have children know, kids love repeating what they hear other people saying, even if they don't understand why they're saying it. Just this morning, Audrey (5) and Nolan (3) were dressed for a wedding and I told them they both looked beautiful. Just then their dad walked into the room and Nolan said, "Don't even say it, Dad. I know what you're going to say."

When Nolan didn't elaborate and nobody said anything, I asked Nolan, "What is your dad going to say?"

And he responded, "I don't know." Apparently the don't-even-say-it conversation was the whole point and required no further explanation.

Speaking of points, the point of this blog follows:

I was sitting on my bed one evening when my grandson, Nolan, walked into the room and said, "I want poo poo cocks."

Being the wise grandma that I am, I thought that sounded a lot like Cocoa Puffs (grandmas are so smart), but I didn't know we had Cocoa Puffs, and besides, I wanted to hear him say it again, so I asked him to repeat himself. "I want poo poo cocks."  Yes, this is the same little guy who wanted a Poppochino (read that blog by clicking the link).

I was surprised that my grandson, who always asks for Crunch (Cinnamon Toast Crunch) every morning even liked Cocoa Puffs, so I searched the pantry and there it was – a brand new box of Poo Poo Cocks.

Now I want you to picture me with my eyes searching the sky as I tap my chin with my finger. Wonder if these blogs will be around when my grandchildren become teenagers. I would love to present these blogs as historically accurate accounts of their lives as seen through the eyes of their grandma.

I just hope I'm around long enough to enjoy watching their reactions.

If you want to read more "funny things that kids say," check out these books:

(photo is of Audrey and Nolan)

Who Wants a Poppochino?

What? You never heard of a Poppochino? Sounds like… That's right! – a frappuccino, but…

Let me explain.

Before I explain, though, I have to tell you about how much my grandson, Nolan, LOVES coffee. He loves the taste of coffee so much, in fact, that he will drag chairs to the counter or table if he finds an unattended cup sitting on it, and he will sneak whatever coffee he finds wherever he finds it.

What's funny about his love for coffee is that he is not yet 3 years old. Everybody thought he liked only his mom's coffee, because Mommy puts lots of sweet additives into hers, but we have found him sneaking into Daddy's office to drink Dad's BLACK coffee, too.

Every once in a while, when my daughter, Brittney, and I run errands together, we take along both of her children. Nolan, as mentioned above, will soon be 3 (in a couple of days – Audrey is 5 and a half).

What usually happens just before we run our errands is that we stop off at a Starbucks or at Barnes and Noble and order two caramel frappuccinos. Once, as a special treat, Brittney ordered a strawberry frappuccino for Audrey and Nolan to share.

Audrey and Nolan loved those special drinks and, as you might expect, want them whenever Brittney and I order ours now. The other day, as we pulled up to the Starbucks window to order our frappuccinos, Nolan called out from the back seat with a slight whine in his voice, "I want a Poppochino too!"

So now, every time Brittney and I run errands and order our frappuccinos, we have to order a Poppochino too.

Photo is of Audrey and Nolan in dress-up (sepia).

Inside Jokes

You see people laughing at things you don't understand and you wonder what's so funny. Things you don't find funny have some people holding their bellies with laughter while you sit there wondering about their sanity.

What you probably don't know is that they're laughing at an inside joke.

Just the other day my grandson, Kaden (5), was allowing his aunt Lindsey, my second oldest daughter, to apply suntan lotion to his skin. As they were standing in the park, a man walked by and said to one of his friends, "That's what I'M talking about!" And they laughed.

So Kaden asked Lindsey, "What's he talking about?"

To which Lindsey responded (because she obviously had no idea), "I don't know."

So Kaden said, "I don't think he knows what he's talking about."

And then Lindsey and I were laughing.

What the guy was probably talking and laughing about was a joke only he and his friends understood, an inside joke.

I don't know how it got termed "inside joke" – you would think it would be called a between joke, because it's a joke understood only between certain people. But the event reminded me of an inside joke shared by Lindsey, her brother, Greg, and their sister, Brittney.

One day, when they were on their way back from their dad's house (when they were young enough to live with me and visited him every other weekend), they had been sitting in the back of his SUV eating Milk Duds. One of the Milk Duds disappeared under Greg and, as he lifted up first one butt cheek and then the other, and couldn't find it, finally gave up looking for the thing.

When it was time to climb out of the SUV (an hour later), Greg climbed out of the back first, and when he leaned out, he heard his sisters burst into laughter. There, on his bottom, stuck on his shorts between his two butt cheeks, was the melted Milk Dud.

All you have to do is mention Milk Dud in front of any one of them and they fall apart laughing. Last weekend when Lindsey told Greg not to forget something, he said, "I'm on it like the Milk Dud that was stuck to my ass."

So any time you see somebody laughing and you don't understand the joke, it might not be because you're too stupid to "get it" – it might be because it's an inside joke.