Romanism's

{I've been keeping track but haven't posted... some of these are a few months old...}

Unbeknownst to us, Roman was taught a prayer at school that his class says before their snack time. One night at dinner as Jason was about to take a bite, Roman said he had to wait until we said "God, Our Father" first.

Jason {looking shocked that he was called out on not praying first} said: "OK. Good idea. Are you going to say it?"
Roman: "I have to finish eating my apple first"
Roman: "God Our Father. God Our Father. Na Na Na. Na Na Na. May we ask your blessing. Na Na Na Na Na Na. Otter Man. Otter Man." {to the tune of Frere Jacques}
Jason {bewildered}: "Do you mean "Amen?"
Roman: "No Otter Man"
Jason: "I think we need to ask your teacher for the lyrics"

That was in October some time because now we say it before each meal {breakfast, lunch & dinner and sometimes snacks.} Roman is really strict and bossy about it, too. There are a lot of rules surrounding the prayer: we can't close our eyes, we have to have our hands straight and not clasped, everything has to be "just right" - glass, all utensils, plate on the placemats, all condiments we need for the meal set out, etc... He'll start counting us off and stop because he realized we need ketchup with our meal and he'll get up and head for the fridge. That's another thing - he likes to count us off. It isn't always 1,2,3... either. Sometimes he counts to 7 and then starts and then gets mad because we weren't ready. We told him the "standard" was to count to 3 and so lately he has been sticking to it and sometimes he'll let us count, but shame on us if we try to count in German, Spanish or Italian - he gets so mad!!! A few times, he would say "on your mark, get set... go!!! God our Father, etc..." We told him that wasn't exactly an appropriate way to start a prayer. I need to catch this on hidden camera, because it really is sweet how he has changed our mealtimes forever.

One morning, Roman had his craft supplies out and was coloring. He had his washable markers, his kiddie scissors and some construction paper and was happily making some "artworks" as he calls them. I took the opportunity to go upstairs and change my clothes and get ready for the day. When I came downstairs, I saw that Roman had cut the tassles off all of my pillows. I scolded him for it and put the scissors in time-out for the rest of the day and told him that he lost his pool privilege for that evening {and had to hide the fact that I secretly liked the pillows better without their tassles.} Later that afternoon, Roman asked about going to the pool that night and I reminded him that he wasn't going because he had made me angry by cutting my pillows. To which he replied "And the blanket!" Sure enough I went over the blanket and the fringe had been cut off, too.

A few super-random things Roman has said lately:

"Close the {bathroom} door so the vampires don't get in. Or the woodpeckers."

One morning, the first thing he said when he woke up was "I like to pick up cats."

"I have kicking feet. Do you want me to kick you?"

"Once upon a time, Jesus loved me"... makes you wonder what happened next!! Did that change?!?!?

Mommyism's: I've created some new terms and phrases ...

"max-my-2" - maxing out the 2 hours of childwatch at the YMCA

"Charles E Gouda" - Chuck E Cheese {because you don't dare speak the word unless you're likely to be there in the next 10 minutes. This way you can talk freely about it while making plans.}

An Avaism:

One afternoon when Roman's best friend Ava was over playing, I threatened to put Roman in time-out and said, "Just because Ava is here, doesn't mean I won't put you in time-out. I'll go downstairs and play with her myself." To which Ava responded, "No, I'll play by myself. Come on Roman. Be good. I don't want to play with your mom"