Best Friends

I moved to Pensacola when I was three, and soon after started in a 3 yr old pre-school class.  Two of the girls I met in my class I’m still best friends with today – Britton and Laura.   Britton and I only went to school with for that one year, yet we remained friends throughout elementary, middle, high school, college and now into adulthood.  I was the maid of honor in her wedding and her son is my godson.  Laura and I went to school together a few years longer (through about 3rd grade), but again remained friends throughout grade school, college and now as adults.  Our children all go to preschool together now.  I have wonderful childhood memories of spending the night with both these girls and playing dolls for hours and hours. They have been and always will be true friends.

True friends are hard to find, but I think Mac may have found one in Jack P.  Anyone who knows Mac has heard about his best friend Jack P.  He has always referred to him as Jack P.  Not Jack.  Not Jack Phillips.  Just Jack P, and Jack P has always referred to Mac as Mac Gilmer.  Every time they see each other they yell, “Mac Gilmer!”  “Jack P!”  Then they run full speed to one another and embrace (lately their father’s have been encouraging high fives instead of a full blown bear hug.  I though love the innocence their bear hug!)

Jack P’s mommy and I have been friends for years, but hadn’t seen each other much until she moved back to Pensacola a few months before Jack was born.  Mac and Jack were born 3 weeks apart and met for the first time at Britton’s baby shower.

We got the boys together a time or two the first few years, but as best I can recall their friendship began when they started 2yr old preschool together in the turtle class.  It is impossible to explain the bond they have, but I truly believe Mac loves Jack like a brother.  In the past two years with all the changes in likes and dislike of a 2, 3 and now 4 yr old boy, Mac has never waivered on who his best friend is – Jack P. 

One of the first few weeks of preschool the teacher told us that Jack bumped his head really hard in the gym last week. He was crying and Mac ran over and put his arm around Jack and Jack cried on Mac’s shoulder. All the teachers were on the verge of tears at how sweet the boys were to each other at just 2 yrs old.  

The boys first spent the night together at Christmas when they were 3 1/2.  I thought Jack P’s mommy was crazy for inviting Mac over, but he made it all night and never once asked to come home.  Since then the spend the night parties have continued successfully with a few very early morning wake-ups by Mac who is always anxious to start playing with Jack P as soon as “the sun is awake!”  

The Mac and Jack stories could go on for days.  Ranging from their affection towards one another – they have hugged and kissed each other more times than any of us want to count – to the countless times they have fought over a toy, where to sleep, whose leg was touching the other’s, what movie to watch, who was taller, etc.  They truly act like brothers and are able to fight one minute and play together the next without ever missing a beat. 

I quickly pulled some of my favorite Mac and Jack pictures for this post. 

  By far one of my all time favorite pictures.  Best friends pee pee together!

      Jack got Mac this toy for his birthday.  Mac is obsessed with animals (and dinosaurs in particular).  Jack loves cars and trucks.  Jack was thrilled to find a toy that is “both our favorites” and Mac was just as thrilled to receive it!  

 

So far the only year Mac and Jack were in school together was when they were two.  After that Jack moved to another school.  I worried they would grow apart when they didn’t see each other daily, but regular requests to play together, Sunday school and a few joint family vacations have kept the friendship alive.

Its fun to now watch Mac little brother (Copey) and and Jack’s little sister (Frances)become friends.  Frances is the sweetest, cutest, little girl and she loves Coe.  Now that she has shared her ice cream with him, he loves her too!

     

Thanks Lacy and Jeff for sharing your children with our family! 

Conversations with Mac

Since I didn’t start this blog at the beginning of the year I want to periodically go back and add in some notes I put in the boys “milestones” journal that I keep.  First is a conversation I had with Mac this winter:

Mac: when Colleen gets to school I'm going to run to her and use my listening ears because Colleen is the bestest person (pause) mommy are you a little sad?

Me: a little

Mac: Why? Do you want to be the bestest person?

Me: Maybe sometime but I'm happy that if it isn't me its Colleen. I like that you love Colleen

Mac: Mommy one day you can be the bestest person...when Colleen isn't here!

Next is a text I got form Colleen in the Spring:

Mac: do bears eat their vegetables?

Colleen: yes, they are omnivores like us which means they eat meat, fruit and veggies.

Mac: well, my bear ate meat when he was a baby but now he's changed his mind to be nice and is only eating vegetables and fruit. (furrowed brow and head tilted) ...he's a vegetablarian bear now!

Colleen: you mean vegetarian! Are we mean because we eat meat?

Mac: if I had to bite my meat out of the side of a zebra, then I would be mean, but mommy kills our meat at the grocery store.

Another text I got form Colleen in the Spring.  She was in her first trimester and still regularly getting morning sickness:

Colleen: “I got sick earlier, and Mac (who always sits outside the bathroom anytime I’m in there) said ‘Miss Colleen you don't sound so good. You need to make sure you burp after you eat like Coe. Can boys go into the bathroom with big girls if they're not peeing and are only getting sick?’  I was laughing while throwing up.”

From Mac to G: G do you think Deeda won't let you move by my house because I am loud and slightly wild?

Finally another text from Colleen

Colleen: Mac are you excited about earning Legos this week instead of an animal.

Mac: Yes, I'm excited about new Legos but I think I should get an animal too since I'm going to get such good reports and because you love me, right?

Colleen: Yes, I love you very much but we don't have to get toys to know that people love us. Toys are rewards for good behavior. What are ways we can show someone we love them?

Mac: Telling mommy that we love her, and daddy too! Giving Coe my crackers on the way home from school.

Colleen: Those are good, what else?

Mac: oh your toes are beautiful Miss Colleen and your flower skirt is nice!!

Colleen to me: How funny is that?! He already knows the art of flattery!
It got him out of being quizzed further and technically worked as an answer.

If these are the things he has come up with at 3 and 4 I can only imagine what I have in store when he is a teenager!

Time outside

Last weekend was a great weekend but we missed daddy during the day.  Albi had a continuing education class Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Thankfully he was home at night and finished Sunday afternoon in time to go with us to PYC family day.  Saturday morning the boys and I got up and did a quick grocery store run before heading to Gigi and Papou’s condo to swim. 

The boys had a blast swimming and both fell asleep on the ride home. 

Mom came by for a little bit on Saturday afternoon.  She asked Mac if daddy was at his class.  Mac’s response, “No he is at his course but it isn’t a golf course.  It’s a teaching course!”

Saturday night Forrest, Ed and baby Finley came over.  It was Finley’s first of many dinners at our house.  Coe kept saying “baby” and really wanted to sit in my lap the whole time I held Finley.  I don’t think he was jealous.  He just wanted a better look at the “baby”.  At one point he hit her on the head.  Well, he didn’t really hit her but his hands definitely touched her head a littler rougher than I would have liked, and she started crying.  She was starting to wake up in my arms when Coe decided to “pat” her head.  I think Coe startled her.  Thankfully Forrest didn’t freak out (and I don’t think Ed saw!). 

Mac held Finley after dinner, and did a great job.  He knew to get the boppy and sit very still in the chair.  You can tell he loves her and he really loves that he is big enough to hold her all by himself.  Unfortunately I was so busy making sure he didn’t drop her that I didn’t get any pictures.

Sunday morning the boys wanted to play outside.  I don’t know what it is about the back yard, but Mac always wants to take his clothes off.  Maybe it’s because it is so hot!  Mac quickly stripped down to his underwear and Copeland had on nothing but a diaper.  I laughed as they jumped on the trampoline together.  Coe kept saying “whoa, whoa” as Mac jumped all around him.

The boys pretended to be mandrills (it’s a type of baboon that Mac learned about from Yaya last week).  Copeland never knows he is supposed to be an animal, but as long as he runs around Mac is satisfied. 

Both boys were sweaty and filthy after playtime, so I gave them a bath before lunch and nap time.  I remember the pictures of Forrest and I in the bath tub with crazy hair.  Tried to recreate the look with the boys!

Sunday afternoon we went to family day at PYC to meet Yaya, Coste, and Coste’s godson and his family – John, Jennifer, John Mastin and Parker.  The big boys were excited to go down the huge waterslide while the little boys loved the puppet show. It was a well planned event with something for all ages to enjoy.

  

I didn’t get many pictures of Mac because he never stopped moving the whole afternoon. He and John Mastin did the waterslides a million times and swam in the yacht club’s Olympic size pool.  Mac and Copeland both danced with the band after dinner, and everyone agreed Copeland has a lot more rhythm than big brother Mac!

I sure hope the last few weekends of summer are just as much fun!

Future Lawyer?

Last weekend Mac went to work with me.  It is the first time he has come to work with me when I was actually able to get a lot of work done.  He watched a movie  on my iPad, played animals and did a little exploring. 

Several of our attorneys are big Florida fans, but one has a large alligator in his office which Mac thought was really cool.  This attorney also has several cool model motorcycles on his shelf.  Mac kept saying, “Mommy I didn’t know he had all this fancy stuff!”

Mac got to feed our department fish, Veda too.  He immediately said he wanted a fish but he wants a blue one with orange stripes.

 

Here is a snip it of one of the conversation we had at the office

Mac: Mommy does Levin live here?

Me: No

Mac: Is he here right now

Me: I don’t think so, but we will go look in his office later

(A little while later FGL walks by.  Mac runs to the door of my office and then into the hall yelling after Fred…)

Mac:  Hi Levin

FGL: Hi, where is your mommy

Mac: She is in here working (pointing inside my office)

FGL: why is she always at work?

Mac: She has to come to work because we don’t have any dollars and she has to get some more dollars so she can buy me new animals!  Bye Levin

Me (whispering): Mac its Mr. Levin

Mac: (yelling down the hallway at this point) I mean Mr. (emphasis) Levin

Albi picked Mac up from the office after a few hours and took him to play golf.  It was fun to spend time with him at the office and still be able to get some work done at the same time.  Before he left he wanted to race me down the long straight hallway.  Can’t say I have ever done that at the office.  I enjoyed every second of the race – even though I lost to a really fast 4yr old!  Thanks Mac for making a Sunday at the office a lot more fun. 

Coe’s excited face

Whenever Coe gets excited he makes the cutest face.  He looks around to make sure everyone sees his excitement.  Finally caught it on camera.

 

Copey strikes again

Copeland has always been my happy, go with the flow baby.  Now he is still a happy, go with the flow toddler…until you tell him NO.  When anyone tells him no he does one (or more) of the following: 1) purses his lips and gives the “mad face” (I have got to get a good picture of this), 2) does a quick scream at the top of his lungs, 3) hits someone or something, or 4) lays down on the floor and screams. I generally have to stifle a laugh when he acts this way.  It’s like he is trying to act really mad but he quickly gets over it (unlike his older brother!). 

As I’ve said before, hitting is Copeland’s main “bad behavior.”  Mac went through a biting phase when he was around this age, and Coe is going through a hitting phase.  Last night during bedtime stories, Copeland hit me.  I told him no and moved him away from the rest of us while Albi continued to read stories.  Coe got his feelings hurt, stuck his lip out and began to cry.  Next thing I know Mac has his hands over his face and is crying huge crocodile tears.  Albi and I looked at them and each other trying to figure out what was going on and why everyone is suddenly crying.  I asked Mac what happened and through his tears he said, “You were mean to Copey and made him cry.  I love my little brother, and I don’t want you to be mean to him.  He didn’t mean to hit.  It was just an accident.”  Albi and I really had to stifle a laugh at this one.  Never in a million years would we have thought that at this age Mac would be this protective of Copey.

This morning the boys were playing in the playroom while I was getting ready for work in my bathroom.  I have a video monitor in both of their rooms as well as the playroom so I was periodically watching them and constantly listening to them.  First I heard Mac yell, “Mom, Copey has a marker.”  I rushed into the playroom to find Copeland eating a black marker.  He had colored all over his hands and some on his legs plus a few facial drawings.  Time to put the “washable” marker to test.  Thankfully everything washed off quickly with soap. 

 

I sent Coe back to the playroom and then a few minutes later Mac yelled “Mom, Copey hit me in the face with a car.”  I decided to ignore him as they will generally work it out if I don’t intervene.  All was quiet for a little while until Mac came into my bathroom crying that his lip was really hurting.  Apparently Coe got him good because his lip was bleeding and puffed up.  I got Mac some ice and made sure he didn’t look at his busted lip in the mirror – experience has thought me that when Mac sees any hint of red from a boo boo a dramatic response will follow!

When I finally got in my car to go to work, I started thinking that Colleen is going to have a long three weeks with no more summer camp for Mac and both boys home all day.  I better quickly find some activities for them to do during the day before Copeland destroys our house and Mac!

Happy Birthday G

We spent the weekend with G and Deeda who came to Pensacola to bring Mac home.  I was so excited for Mac to be home and to have the weekend for us to all spend together.  We cooked out Friday night and hung out at the house so Mac could play with his toys and little brother.  Not sure which he missed more!

G’s birthday is this week so we celebrated early and said Saturday was all about her. G wanted to go to the beach but the weather forecast was not looking good.  We woke up to sunny skies on Saturday morning so G, the boys and I decided to give the beach a try while Albi and Deeda played golf.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day at the beach.  The high was 89, so the with the breeze on the beach it was quite pleasant which is unusual for July.  The water was clearer than I have seen it in months and the waves were minimal.  It was also super shallow so we could go pretty far out in the water and Mac could still touch.  Coe threw sand and Mac “rode” the waves.  G and I enjoyed it all!  We fed the boys lunch on the beach and headed home around 12:30 just as the skies were darkening and the rain rolled in.  I didn’t take my good camera to the beach and really didn’t get any good pics with my phone.  We were all too busy enjoying the water and sand!

G and I did a little shopping at Dillards that afternoon while Copeland napped and Mac had quiet time.  I got her some blue Nike shoes for her birthday and got myself a matching pair!

G wanted to go back to the beach for dinner, so we headed to Flounders.  I got a few pictures before the boys took off for the playground. 

(Need to figure out how to do a good head swap with these two pictures so I can have one shot with everyone looking!) 

The boys loved playing on the playground at the restaurant.  We got a table right by the playground so Mac played his little heart out with a quick break to eat a few popcorn shrimp. Coe threw some more sand while Mac ran, climbed, slid, and swung!

 

After dinner we headed to the new ferris wheel on Pensacola Beach.

I have never had a fear of heights and have always been the first one to ride any roller coaster, but something about this ferris wheel made me nervous.  I think it was the fact that we had Copeland with us and he didn’t really want to sit in his seat.  Realistically I knew the doors wouldn’t open if he pushed on them while we were 100+ft in the air but I’ve handled too many lawsuits where things that aren’t supposed to malfunction do!  Thankfully there were no malfunctions during our ride and after a time or two around, I relaxed (a little) and enjoyed the view.    (Yes, Mac’s hair is wet.  He had a really good time playing on the playground!) 

We all had a great time celebrating G’s birthday and look forward to many more celebrations in the years to come.  Happy Birthday G!