Prestonisms.

I've been meaning to write about some of the absolutely hilarious things Preston has been saying lately.  He cracks me up.

#1 - Watching TV

Preston and I were sitting on the couch watching The Biggest Loser, and one of the contestants was crying because he received a box of letters and photos from his family at home and was overjoyed.  Preston, all concerned, asked me "What's he doing, mama?".  I said "He's crying." And he thought for a second, and then said "Cuz he exercises so much??".

And that is when I died from laughing so hard.

Preston is used to me watching TBL while I workout on my aerobic steps, and notices that the trainers on the show are always yelling at the contestants while they exercise.  It's no wonder he thought that man was crying from working out so much.

#2 - Parenting Grandpa

My Dad (a.k.a. "Grandpa") was over at our house last Wednesday taking photos of me for my website.  He had all of his photography equipment spread out all around the living room, and when we were done he was packing them up. Preston had lingered for a while watching Grandpa take photos of me, and would come in every now and then and offer Grandpa a refreshment (grapes).  And then as Grandpa was packing up his equipment, Preston said rather sternly while pointing his finger, "Now Grandpa you need to clean up ALL your toys!".

#3 - Church

Today at church, Preston noticed that there were leaves on the floor next to our seats.  We must have tracked them in with our shoes from outside.  Preston picked up a leaf and looked up at the ceiling and said "Mama, leaves are falling from the church?" and I said "No I think it's from outside."  And he said (while still looking up at the ceiling), "How'd the leaves fall in here? Where are the holes?"


#4 - Friends

Last Thursday I hosted a playgroup at our house, and we lucked out with the weather. It was nice enough where all the little guys could go out and play in our backyard.

Preston is almost 3.5 yrs old, and I think he's reached a point where he prefers to play with kids that are either his age or slightly older.  He hasn't been doing too well in nursery for the past several weeks (probably because most of the kids are small and they cry a lot).  I think he will be really excited to go into Sunbeams in January.

With that said, sometimes he has a hard time with playgroup.  He'll either go off and play alone if its mostly little kids.  Or if his friend Toby is there, he'll play with him.  But for the most part, I would say Preston kind of struggles because he is not only older than most of the other little kids, but he is also really tall for his age. He looks like some of the 5 year olds we know.

Anyway, there is one little boy in our ward named Emery who is 2 years old.  He is such a sweet little kid, and for some reason has taken a liking to Preston.  Just like how Preston gets along better with older kids, I think Emery gets along with Preston for that reason.  Preston was so sweet to Emery at playgroup. He held Emery's hand the entire time and walked around the backyard with him. Whenever Emery would trip and fall, Preston would help him back up.  He even went inside and got a cookie for Emery and brought it out for him (albiet shoved it into his mouth).  It's so sweet to see my little guy treat others so nicely.

#5 - Stinky Beach

As you know we live on an island and so we are surrounded by ocean.  Preston has really been into smells lately, and will often ask me "what is that smell?".  He is really smart too.  For example, one time we were outside for a walk and one of the neighbors must of had a fire going because the entire neighborhood smelled like chimney smoke. Preston asked me "Mama, what's that smell?".  And I wasn't quite sure how to explain it to him, and before I could answer he said, "I know what it is! It's CAMPING!!!".  He remembered that smell from the campfire when we went camping. What a smartypants.

Well, to get off the island we have to drive on a road that goes right next to the beach and if it's humid enough or hot enough (which wouldn't be recently), you can smell the ocean in the air.  One day, Preston asked me "What's that smell, Mama??" and I said "It's the beach."  And he said "It's yucky yucky yucky smell! I don't like the stinky beach!"

This is particularly funny to me because I grew up on this island, and I LOVE the smell of the ocean.  However, Will, having grown up on a dairy farm hates the smell of he ocean.  He thinks it smells like dead fish (which is ironic that he finds the smell of cow pastures good).  Finding out that Preston does not like the smell of the beach was one touche that Will has loved having over me.

#6 - Wake Up Mama

Every night before Preston goes to bed, either Will or I will read him a story (or two or three or ten).  Preston and Taylor both get free books every month in the mail through a reading program sponsored by our local library.  One of the books has turned into my favorite book, and it's called "My Lucky Day". It's about a pig who knocks on the door of a fox's home, and the fox thinks it's his lucky day as he grabs the pig and tries to make a roast out of him.  But the pig manipulates the fox into giving him a bath, feeding him a huge dinner (to fatten him up), and give him a massage (for more tender meat). In the end, the fox passes out from exhaustion and pig runs home with all the extra dinner food and exclaims that it must have been his "lucky day".

Preston knows this is my favorite book, as I can hardly get through it without giggling at the story and its illustrations.  The other morning, after I had stayed up quite late working in my studio and was not ready to be woken up by a 3 year old at 7:00 in the morning, Preston crawled into bed with me and read me (from memory) the entire "My Lucky Day" book.  He knew it was my favorite, and he even did all the voices that I do when I read the book, including the knock on the door when the pig shows up at the fox's house.  It was adorable and I thought it was incredibly thoughtful that Preston thought reading me my favorite book would get me out of bed to play with him.