R...U...S...S...E...L...L

THAT SPELLS RUSSELL HE'S SO SWELL!

so i'm a nanny right? and with that comes much fodder for the likes of my BLOG! no wonder why so many of the best bloggers out there, are moms or dads. when kids are around, life is chalk-full of crazy antics and humorous anecdotes. as long as you are keeping an eye out for them, they will hit you daily... or just about.

so RUSSELL... he's 4, or he will be in just a few short weeks. (up until a few weeks ago he was saying that he was 3 and three quarters, thank you very much!) he's the youngest of 3 very bright children. he's preceded by JAMIE (10) and ANNA (almost 8). anyway, RUSS... he's my boyfriend. i've known him now since he was 18 months old and he had me at "caaahhhurrr"-- one of his first words: translated means Car (he's your typical boy).

like i was saying, this little hoodlum and i are the best of buds. yes, sometimes we fight, but we always seem to make up over a cup of chocolate milk and then we're off to our next ADVENTURE. (ahhh...cute... i just remembered how when he was about 2 or maybe a little older, he used to call them BADGERS. "peggy... we go on a BADGER?"... CUTE) okay so back to the point. RUSS and i play a lot together, we understand each other and this very bright almost 4 year old is the sunshine in my day.

RUSS, because of his age and his place in this world, always seems to be saying things that catch me by surprise. for instance, i came over one saturday to babysit the kids and i was wearing a necklace the he had never seen before and before he said anything else to me he said "peggy, that's a beautiful necklace." freaking cute! most kids his age, no... correction, most adults don't say stuff like that, but RUSS does!

so this post is dedicated to my two most favorite things that RUSSELL has ever said, to date!

story 1:
it was late in the day and i was busy about getting the dinner ready, when a blood-curdling scream fills the house, followed by shrieks and sobs as ANNA runs into the kitchen with tears in her eyes and a story about RUSSELL giving her a good whacking. which of course puts him in time out... which is the bottom step of the staircase just outside the kitchen.

so there he is, in time-out land and he's doing his very best to grab my attention by asking me all sorts of questions and singing songs, etc. so i finally go to him, crouch down and tell him that he needs to be quiet while he is in time out because he is being punished and then i ask him if he knows why he is in time out and he responds like most children, with a shrug. so i tell him it's because he hit ANNA, i get up and start for the kitchen and decide to throw in one last little ditty... "and that's not okay in my book." just as i turn to go to the sink he throws back

"You have a book, peggy?"
(pause... because i am straining to keep from laughing)
"Where's your book, peggy?"

i had nothing to say. nothing to respond with. how does one respond to that question, when one isn't even sure they know what they truly meant? yeah, he's right... i have no book... foiled again!






story 2:
this story takes place just about a year ago, exactly, when RUSS was just a little tyke, turning 3. i've since learned that developmentally, children his age are really into dressing up and making believe that they are BATMAN, SPIDERMAN or in this particular case... A RED SOX PLAYER. for RUSSELL's third birthday he was given a plethora of red sox gear. hat, jersey, baseball and bat and even batting gloves, to top it all off. this only deepened his reality that he played baseball for history's favorite underdog, THE BOSTON RED SOX.

the day was hot and the two older children had friends over to play and we were all headed out front (where there is a large patch of grass that we call "the triangle," it being shaped like a triangle and all... it's not technically their yard... but it is our domain) to play a game of baseball. RUSS was super excited for two reasons: 1) the older kids were there and he was going to get to play with them and 2) he was going to don on his new threads and BE a real red sox player. so there we were, in the mud room trying to get him all shined up and ready to go; he's getting his batting gloves on and i am tying his shoes. as i am hunched over, hard at work, RUSSELL starts in

"peggy, i don't want you to come out and play with us."
"oh really, that's too bad, i have to go out with you."
"but, peggy, i don't want you to come out."
"sorry dude, but if i don't go out, you can't go out."

are you ready for this response???

"yeah, but peggy... RED SOX PLAYERS DON'T HAVE ANY PEGGY's"

and he's right... they don't! poor RUSS... he has to be the only red sox player in the history of red sox players to have to have a peggy. what is he to do?

ahhh RUSS. i can't get enough of him. from his blonde shaggy hair, to his dimpled cheek all the way to his chipped front tooth (thanks to his older brother jamie). i can't wait to see the person he is in about 15 years. maybe if he's still single... ew... just kidding... i am not demi moore!!!

RUSS YOU ARE THE BEST!