"So I used to be the baby Jesus?"

There have been so many funny things going on in Casa Costal lately and I keep saying "I have to blog about that." But I get too busy or I get one of my infamous headaches and I don't do it, but tonight I must!!

As I am sure all parents say, "my child is sooo funny," and I'm sure that's true, but they haven't met MY child! (Sense my sarcasm...) But it's true. Charlie is one of the most unusual kids you will ever meet. Everywhere we go, everyone knows him. He is notorious in Ocean City; Finny and I just follow along as his entourage! He has picked up this new habit of doing impressions of people (sometimes right in front of them). Today he mimicked my father-in-law while he was still talking "When I go down to Palm Beach, I get a bunch of shrimp..." (in his best Cuban accent!) But as usual, what takes the cake is Charlie's incessant questions. He's like my little Socrates, always asking questions. And unfortunately for him, Mommy doesn't always have the answers!! So today we are sitting in the car and he says:

C: "Mommy when you were a little girl and Daddy was a little boy, where was I?"
M: I had no idea what to say. I was afraid if I waxed philosophical on him it would lead to other even more difficult questions, but I forged forward... "You were in heaven with God." (and I braced myself for the barage of questions... and he said
C: "So I was the baby Jesus and then you called me Charlie?"
I about peed my pants laughing!

But what can you expect from a big 4 YEAR OLD boy!!! Yes, he just turned 4 and we celebrated at "Mom Mom's Build a Bear" in the good old Deptford mall! We had a blast! BAB was sooo fun and they did a great party! Charlie wanted a "worm party." I wasn't really sure what that entailed, so I just made a worm cake out of rice crispy treats and "dirt" cupcakes with worms coming out. That was the extent of my wormy theme, but it apeased the beast!! He loved it! And the cake was quite the showstopper in the mall! Joe and I can't believe we are parents to a 4 year old boy! He feels so grown up! I know that sounds crazy!! But ever since that boy came out of me I've been dreading the day he grows up and leaves me!! And of course, my little intuitive boy (Joe and I think he reads minds sometimes) says to me the other day, "Mommy I'm gonna love you forever and ever. I'm never gonna leave you." Also, on his birthday he blew out his candles and said he "wished that he loved me." I think he meant he wished AND he loved me! It's all semantics.

Charlie and Finn are really turning into the best of friends. It always makes me so happy when they play together. Of course, I break up tons of fights and mediate lots of tantrums and arguments, and it's usually me pulling Finny off of Charlie!! Charlie has become such a great big brother. He always looks out for Finny and keeps him out of trouble! Even when Finny is climbing to the top of the bookshelf in the playroom to get a closer look at the fish! Or today... when both boys were in the back of the Altima... they were sitting so close to eachother that Charlie kept reaching over and monkeying with Finn. He found an old piece of tissue paper (it's Joe's car, so it's got quite a menagerie of interesting items in it!) and he and Finny were tearing it up. All of a sudden Charlie yells, "Finny's eating the paper!" Finny started to gag, and then he projectile vomited his entire dinner all over the place!! I pulled over, but there was nothing I could do, so we got back on the road. Charlie said "Roll down the windows, it's stinky and he's too close!" and then he started screaming "macaroni and cheese macaroni and cheese!" And then, the smart little bugger turned on the toy M&M fan that Bammy just gave him to keep the stink away from him! Just another day in paradise!!

And in more exciting news!!! I started a year-long program to become a Lactation Consultant!!! I am so excited! I have been saying I want to do this for years!! I looked into it so many times and felt overwhelmed by all the mentoring hours and education hours required to complete it. And then a friend of Suzie's passed on some info about a class that meets one Sunday a month from 9-5 for one year and it would fulfill all my education requirements. I still have to do the mentorship on my own, but it sure throws me into the thick of it! We had our first class last month and I practically skipped the whole way there!! It was so interesting. There was such a neat mix of women there and the teacher LITERALLY wrote the book on breastfeeding!! The class is amazing and I can't wait to actually get paid to do this!! And not only that, I can't wait to be able to help women do something that I feel so passionately about!!

And it seems there is someone else in our house who is passionate about boobies! Our little Charlie! Ever since I nursed Finny he has always talked about "nipples" quite freely to anyone who will listen (the ladies on the monorail, people in the supermarket, but mostly ME... EVERY DAY!) Well, the other day he says to me "Mommy, if you lean on your nipples will they pop?" I said I'd ask at my boobie class!