from Facebook
Well….I have a tale from the #landofcute. Although, it should be a tale from the land of super cute.

So, about a week ago my neighbour’s dog went missing for a while. Being 19 years old, and almost deaf and blind, when we heard coyotes late one night, we all thought that Jack was no longer with us. I decided I needed to tell Marcus and prepare him. I was just waiting for the T.O.D to be declared.

One night as we were driving by Helen van Veen’s we stopped to talk to Randy. Randy and I told Marcus that Jack was missing.

“I have an idea!”

“Well, you know what you can do? You can put Jack’s biscuits high up in the tallest tree and when Jack looks up he can see them, and then he will know how to find his way home!” Marcus made sure I called Ron Van Veen to tell him about the biscuits.

A few days later I was watching a story about a broad daylight store abduction of a 7 year old girl. She fought him off and he eventually dropped her and ran. I immediately decided to update my street safety conversation with Marcus that afternoon.

I confirmed our safety word, and I reminded him that he should fight like hell if anyone tries to grab him. He liked the part where he got to practice his “loudest scream ever” in the truck. I got a little misty eyed.
“What’s wrong Mommy?”
“Well Marcus, I just want to to always be safe and I want you to know how important this training is”
“I know, if anything ever happened to me you would cry every day forever. WAIT!! I have an idea!”
“What is your idea Marcus?”
“If something ever happens to me, I know what you can do. You can put pancakes in the tallest trees and when I look up, I will find them and then I can find my way back to you!”

Lost it, completely.

from Facebook
2 tales from the #landofcute

On Thanksgiving day Marcus and I had a chat about what we are grateful for. I said I was grateful that we were all healthy, and he said that he was grateful for everybody in the whole world.
Mommy: Marcus, did you know that there are almost 7 billion people on our planet?
Marcus: uh huh, and I want to meet them all!
______

I have a 15 minute video of Marcus and I in the car talking about super villains. One after another, totally on the fly Marcus was making up elaborate stories about what their super powers were.

Bad guys that were so fat, they just fell on you and stopped you. Evil guys that could pounce all the way to Mars and the sun, and another that had a cannon in his belly that he could fire.

By far mine and Gary’s favorite was JaiBot. His super power…..instead of having hands he has packing tape dispensers, and when he caught you he taped you to the ground!

from Facebook
A tale from the #landofcute

Marcus: Mommy I learned a new game!
Me: What game Marcus?
Marcus: It’s called “hide and go peek”
Me: How do you play it?
Marcus: Well, someone goes and hides and just before you can’t see them you peek to see where they are hiding.

from Facebook
A quick tale from the #landofcute

Yesterday Marcus and I were about to get out of the truck. I, reaching for his Karate uniform said aloud. “I have your uniform”
From the back I heard Marcus excitedly take off his seat belt as he jumped into the front seat.
“Where is your unicorn?”
Boy was he disappointed.

from Facebook
I have been talking to Marcus about his feelings. I am learning that by expanding his emotional vocabulary, he will have greater access to understanding his own feelings if he can relate to the words used to describe them. What I didn’t know is that he would start making up words to describe his feelings. Tonight he was feeling disappointed youtube was taking so long to boot up Sid the Science Kid. “Mommy I am feeling upset deluded!”

In other tales from the #landofcute This summer Marcus has started calling me “m’lady”

Today I found a note that I wrote to myself in an old diary. It is priceless. Around the time that Marcus discovered the Octonauts he learned a lot about various sea creatures. About 2 years ago, when he was 3, I asked him for the very first time
“Marcus if you could have a pet what kind of animal would you like to have?” Without skipping a beat he said
“A Snot Sea Cucumber!”

from Facebook
A long overdue Tale from the #landofcute

So today I took Marcus clothing shopping with me. We were the only 2 people in the store. Marcus loves to play hide and seek in the clothing racks, while I browse. About half way through Marcus starts to tune into the clothes. He starts touching the fabrics and saying “ooh soft”
So, I say “Marcus would you like to pick out some clothes for me?”
I have no idea how this is going to turn out. He has shown zero interest in fashion thus far. So, he walks over to a pair of turquoise camouflage trousers and says “Here Mommy you can wear these as pajamas” I have to stifle a laugh as he is being dead serious. So, I say to him “You know Marcus, when you shop for clothing it is a very personal thing. An article of clothing has to speak to me before I will buy it”
The look on his face was priceless. He stopped for a moment and then walked over to a black and blue stripped shirt. He took it off the rack and held it up and said “Hi” to the shirt.

I had to walk away. I was seriously about to lose it. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell Gary Marriott.

from Facebook
I realize that I have posted quite a bit this week, however I just have to share a moment in time. Really, I just cannot keep up with the cute.

A tale from #landofcute. After school today I was feeling like a needed a light caffeine pick me up, and Marcus wanted a snack, so we headed over to Starbucks for a cup of green tea.

While we were there Marcus decided that he wanted to stay to enjoy his snack. So I said to him while looking at 2 empty tables “Marcus can you find us a table to sit at?”

I paid and when I turned around both of the tables I had in mind were empty. Out of the corner of my ear I heard his sweet little voice “Can we sit with you?” The man in his late 50’s who was sitting alone looked at Marcus and said “Yes, you may join me”

Everyone in that corner of Starbucks had a little tear in their eye and were giggling as Marcus did not give it a second thought before he pulled out a chair for himself and sat down and began to chat with our new table mate.

I would have thought the man might look over at me a give me a look that said “Your kid is cute and all, but can you find another place to sit?” or “Come and join us” or something. Instead I came over and said “Uh hello, is it ok that we join you?” Before he could answer Marcus said “Well Mommy he was sitting here all alone and now he isn’t” I tried to compose myself fearing I might burst into proud tears and the man looked up at me and said “I told your son yes” I realized that he was taking in the moment and enjoying Marcus’ sweetness and his uninhibited nature. He was treating Marcus like an adult. They engaged in conversation by asking each other’s names. I learned that Ian was from The Ukraine and had a grown daughter and he was in IT. I also realized that he was shy, which made the interaction even sweeter. Most of the conversation was between Marcus and our new friend. Marcus showed him that he could count to 10 in Hebrew, and I am just sitting there with a lump in my throat. They chatted for about 5 minutes and then Marcus announced loudly and proudly “Mommy I have to pee”

Ian took the moment to take his leave and wished us both well.

from Facebook
2 short but sweet tales from the #landofcute.

This morning the fog was so intense. Visibility was about 100 feet, so merging onto the road was a bit daunting.
Marcus says from the back seat “Don’t worry Mommy I can see into the fog because I am a vegetarian!”

The other day Marcus was summarizing a book we had read together.
“Hey Mommy, the girl in the story was smart and could change a tire. She knew how because she could read the constructions.”

Sleep well. B

from Facebook
A tale from the #landofcute for Peter Diane Marriott in honour of her Birthday.

This past December I introduced Marcus to “Sid the Science Kid” videos. It was love at first sight for all of us. It is a great animated show that teaches little kids about subjects like friction, elasticity, and temperature. As we were walking around our hotel in Jamaica Marcus stopped Gary and I and said.
“I have an observation to make”
In great anticipation Gary and I stopped to listen.
“Since we have been walking around the hotel I have seen two maps. They show you where to go. Yep, I am just an everyday science kid making observations”

Ya know, in that moment we were both completely unprepared for that level of cute, and the only way I can describe how Gary felt was by the look on his face that I had never seen before. It was this delicious combination of utter jubilation and complete pride that I will never forget.