Alaster. Part 1 of 27.

Okay... maybe not a full 27 parts, but still. When you save up stories for almost a year... the update can't just happen in one post. We'll see how many it takes!

Many of these stories are old, but this picture is current. I took it one day last week when I was upset with Aly. I had just had enough.

You should know that Aly is the sweetest, cutest, most darling 4 year old boy ever. Alaster makes our house a lively, happy, entertaining one. He is so loving. He is so sweet. He tries so hard to choose the right. These facts being firmly established would it be alright if I also admit that he has an impressively large stack of very, very bad habits we are working on?

Anyway. Back to the story. I was about to lose it one day when he put that hat on, came to the kitchen where I was and just launched into the most adorable conversation you've ever heard... as if nothing had happened all day long. His ears stuck out at just the right angle to fully complete the job of softening my heart.

Alrighty! Off we go! Part 1 of... a bunch... of Alaster updates!

What he said one day as he ran off to get ready for bath time:

I'm gonna get NICE and Naked!

What he told Aunty Whit when she asked about what he learns at Preschool:

It's not a learning preschool. We don't learn anything. It's not like church!

A funny phase he went through:

Always referring to himself in the 3rd Person. "Alaster is tired." "Alaster wants green beans!"

What he said when I told him he was welcome to help me one day:

I am so inclined.

His stated reasons for wanting to help me:

Because I love you. And to be so kind.

One thing I absolutely LOVE when he does:

Whispers in my ear.
One of my all time favorites happened at the playground. He snuggled up to me, cupped his sweet little hands around my ears and whispered in "I think I swallowed a rock." and ran off to play some more.

Something he is incapable of doing:

Getting dressed without walking around and around in circles. He can't put a shirt on standing in one place to save his life. He walks and walks and walks himself into clothes each morning and into pj's each night.

An example of how he shortens things he's talking about because he thinks it makes him sound as cool as the Fonz:

Yeah ma. Let's have some Mac. (instead of the full Macaroni and Cheese)
He does this with lots of different things!

What he said so seriously one day when I jokingly asked him if he wanted a potato (which was next to an apple in our hanging fruit basket) for a snack:

What on EARTH would I want a potato for?

A funny story about him being naughty:

Jack did something to Aly that he shouldn't have. I was lecturing Jack about it and I could see an indignant Aly out of the corner of my eye standing next to me with arms folded, eyebrows pulled down, head nodding up and down at each of my excellent points.
I finished up the lecture. And looked down at Alaster. He had a suggestion of what I should do next:
"Now punch 'im!"

Something he consistently says incorrectly:

"That's what." instead of "That's why."
"Because I want to play with him... that's what!"
etc.

Things he said wrong a long time ago that he has since corrected (I'm tellin' you folks this update was a long time comin'!):

Dust = Just
Bone and Arrow = Bow and Arrow
Masagna = Lasagna
Don't go out me! = Don't go without me!

Things he still says wrong:

Constructions = Instructions
Instruction Paper = Construction paper

What he said to me one day in the burliest voice you can imagine when I went to see what he and Jack were up to:

We are MEN!

An example of how he so, so sweetly feels and expresses gratitude:

I told him we were going to do something fun that day and he said "Oh thank you mom! Thank you. I hope it's library day because you have to be so, SO quiet."

Well folks? That completes update #1. I hope to be doing more of these in the very near future. For Jack and Truman too!