that's the spirit ?

My Mom and Dad have a nativity scene out in their front lawn.  This morning (Trey got to stay the night) Grammie said to Trey:
We can go outside and look at Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus now.

Trey responded:

Can I throw snowballs at them?

that's logistics

Trey "sneaked" out of his room last night to go to the bathroom.  Sneaked is in quotations because apparently Trey defines "sneaking" as covering his own mouth up, bugging his eyes, out and announcing once he sees us looking at him that he has to go potty.

After he was finished with his business, Blinn went to tuck him back in.  While getting him re-tucked in, Trey lecuctured Blinn:

Daddy, when you go to sleep you sleep this way (dramatic head flop towards the window) NOT this way (another dramatic head flop, this time his head is facing the door).  That way you can't see me. 

Apparently he too realized his sneakiness wasn't as sneaky as he had hoped.

they call me Trey, Trey Carstensen

We were watching a movie before bed time on Friday night.  Trey decided he wanted all of the lights off for the movie.  Blinn and I said that's fine, but you'll have to do it yourself.  He said okay in his usual upbeat fashion and went to the kitchen and pulled a chair over to the first light switch. After he had reached the switch and turned off the light, as he was getting off the chair, he looked at Blinn and I and said,
"I icredible (incredible)".

Now Blinn and I usually are pretty good about listening to what Trey says and not laughing as he can be very serious, but after this statement, we both had to laugh out loud!  Our sudden burst of laughter did not deter The Dude.  He proceeded to drag the chair into the living room to turn off the final light switch.  As he was about halfway to the light with the chair, he looked over at us and said,
"I very dangerous".

No shortage of confidence or self-awareness at our house.

these are a few

After dinner tonight Trey listed a few of his "favorite" things (stated in a sing-songy tone, though thankfully not of the Julie Andrews variety):
"Corn is ma favorite, lickrish (licorice) is ma favorite, and milk is ma favorite".

au natural

Upon arriving back at our house after daycare, Trey said to me:
"Hey Mom.  We have any contractors comin over tonight"?
It was a legitimate question as we have had a couple over lately, so I replied,
"Nope, we won't have any over tonight".
Trey responded,
"Oh good.  So now I can take my pants off and play"?

can you tell how we've mourned previous nemo's?

Overheard by Mama while Trey was going potty and Gus was roaming around the bathroom:

Gus you do anything you want.  When you done we flush you down the toilet and get a new doggie.

Last but not least

Last night while having some after dinner jelly beans on our front porch, I asked Blinn and Trey if they wanted to have tacos for dinner on Wednesday.  They both answered in the affirmative, and then Trey further inquired, "with Auntie too"?  I thought that was adorable that he was thinking of his Auntie (my sister Emily) and that he wanted her to come over so I said, "well sure!  Why don't you call her and invite her over".  The following conversation was overheard by Blinn and I:

Trey:     "You wanna come over for tacos tonight?"
Auntie:   "Oh, I can't today I'm getting ready for bed already."
Trey:     "You wanna come over Wednesday?"
Auntie:  "Sure!  What are you having?"
Trey:     "Soft ones."
Auntie:   "You mean soft tacos?  I'd love to come over!"
Trey:     "Okay!"
Trey (with a 100% serious face and some firm gesturing of his hand while talking) "Bring presents."

Emily and I cried we laughed so hard.

not wheaties but close

After Trey finished his peanut butter toast and blueberries this morning, and I had finished my eggs, he told me "Mama, we ate that breakfast like a champion". 

He's totally ready for soccer practice tonight.

wedding or survivor?

We were talking over breakfast about Aunt Krissy's upcoming wedding.  Trey and I have been looking at pictures of Aunt Krissy and we've been talking about how he gets to be the ring bearer.  This is more than just your usual ring bearer duty; Trey also gets to walk Kristin's beloved pup Chloe down the aisle.  We've talked about this as well because Trey loves and takes great pride in walking Gus. I want him to know what he gets to do, so he's prepared on Kristin and Jay's big day.

After all the groundwork I've been laying, I was rewarded this morning when I told him that his Aunt Krissy sure misses him he responded "I gonna walk that dog on the island".

poodle lecture 101

This morning Gus was on a barking rampage outside as another dog walked by our house.  Blinn said "somebody needs to make him stop that".  Being the helpful wife I am, I continued to prune my geranium on the back porch.  Blinn then went out back to address the barking and I hear this stomp-stomp-stomp hustling towards me.  Trey is now outside and yelling as loud as his can
"Gus!  Gus!  You stop that.  Come here Gus"!

Whether it was Daddy or Trey who got Gus to run back into the house, Trey took credit for it and said
"I got him back in, I go talk to him". 

Trey followed Gus to the living room and we listened as he crouched down towards Gus' level and began his lecture:

"Gus, you caaaaannnn't bark.  That dog bad.  He a bad dog.  He KILL you Gus.  Okay Gus, OKAYYY"? 

Something must have stuck, we didn't hear a peep out of Gus for the rest of the morning.

deprived and dramatic

While eating a sucker, which is a rare occasion at our house, Trey announced
"this sucker my favorite in the whole wide world".

He's a cheap date.

prepping to pad our retirement fund

Trey announced at dinner while pounding his milk "I like milk.  It make me strooooooooooooong".  Blinn and I of course said something to the effect of "yes, milk is good and it does make you strong". 

Trey continued "I play basketball because I strooooooong".  Again, we said something while trying not to laugh to confirm that yes, basketball players are strong and yes, they must drink milk too.

Trey then mumbles more to himself than his usual loud declaration
"when I big I climb ladder and cut net". 

Our Dirk Dude dreams big.

our future candidate for the nobel peace prize

This morning Blinn had to go into work early, so Trey and I were sitting together on the couch, putting his shoes and socks to get ready for daycare. Blinn has to travel out of town Thursday-Friday for work, so I was telling Trey before Daddy leaves, he has to take the trash out for us. Trey asked,

"The bedroom trash"? To which I replied,

"No, Daddy has to take out the bedroom trash, bathroom trash, and kitchen trash for us. Daddy is a good helper". Trey responded,

"I a fighter". I had NO clue where this was going, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and rather than instantly addressing that he described himself as a fighter, I asked him,

"Trey, what do you mean you're a 'fighter'"? Trey succinctly explained to his naive Mommie,

"I play hockey".

Enough said.

jimmer vs. dirk

Blinn LOVES the NBA. He is usually pretty good about not subjecting the rest of the family to NBA games (I loathe it and prefer college basketball 1,000,000 times over), but since it's the playoffs Trey and I have been watching it with him.

We happened to be watching a game together one evening when Trey looked at the TV and said,

"Daddy, I wanna watch college, dis NBA".

We have no clue how he is (at 2!) able to differentiate between college and NBA basketball, but this Mama is quite proud of his sophisticated taste in sports!

don't wanna know

Trey has been trying to pick his nose lately. When Blinn and I notice, we make sure to ask him to stop and that it's gross. He usually just takes his little finger out and complies. Yesterday he tried to pick again. I asked him to please stop and that it's not good manners and gross. He took his finger out of his nose, but this time he looked at me and whispered, "but Mama, I HAVE to". I chose not to engage on this one and ask why.

never fear

Trey woke up at around 5:45 on Monday. I wasn't quite ready to get out of bed, so I brought him into bed with me knowing that he wasn't going to go back to sleep. Blinn had gotten up earlier to do some work in the kitchen. As I expected, Trey didn't go back to sleep, instead he rolled over and said "toonies Mama". So I said okay- this meant I could still lay in bed a bit longer. We watched "toonies" for a bit, and then Trey asked me, "Where Daddy go"?

Mama: Daddy's in the kitchen working.

Trey: Oh, okay. I go help him?

Mama: Sure

Trey: Okay. Toonies- I'll be right back. And off he hustled to the kitchen.

he'll be hood forever

Trey likes "boom boom" music. When we're in the car, Trey will sometimes request "boom boom" which means that Blinn or I have to change the radio channel to find some hip-hop for Trey to bounce along to.

We often listen to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind" in the car and apparently the lyrics have really stuck with Trey. After supper we were just sitting around and I asked Trey if he wanted to dance a little. Trey said "yeah yeah" and then proceeded to sing his own version of "Empire State of Mind". It goes a little something like this (and please picture Trey sincerely singing with a very impassioned, eye squinting face) :

Trey: "New Yoook New Yoook Lights oooonnnn TV ooffff" repeat twice.

We think that he has remembered the "big lights will inspire you" lyric and put his own life version spin on it.

first assumption was a little off

I was already sitting in our car with Gus as Trey and his Daddy ambled from my parents house to the car. I was enjoying watching this adorable Daddy-Trey walk to the car and noticed Trey had to bend down and grab a rock from my mom and dad's drive way, and then put it in his pocket. As his mother, I thought "oh, how cute, he wants to take a rock home with him".

My two boys finally make it to the car and Blinn was getting the Dude situated in his car seat. Blinn took the rock away from Trey and the following played out:

Trey: "Heyyy Daaadyyy! I nee dit (need it)!"

Daddy: "Really? What did you need that for?"

Trey: "To put in ma (my) ear!"

Daddy: "And that's why I threw it out the door, we don't put rocks in our ears."

gus would agree

We were at my parents house this weekend and as Blinn and I were trying to corral Trey into his shoes and socks, he saw Gus chewing on a bone.

Trey observed, "Gus, bone!'.

Mommie: "Yep, Gus is chewing on Louie's bone".

After a slight 2 second pause (for drama I'm sure, he is mine), Trey followed up his initial observation with, "Mmmm, tasty".