Perhaps I should explain....

I still have a lot to learn about how to set up a blog page. Hopefully soon I can add links to friends' blogs that I enjoy reading. For now, I think my little blog will be slightly bare....

When I decided to set up a blog, I went to Google and typed in "How do I set up a blog?" Instantly there were numerous websites in front of me with all sorts of options. Faced with too many choices, I picked the first one!

Gosh, not too many years ago, if you wanted to look up something you had to drive to the library and search through those tiny little drawers for the one specific card that led you to the exact book that might be a little close to what you were looking for..... Times they are a-changin'.

Just the other day, Alex asked Rob, "Daddy, what was your favorite video when you were little?" Without even thinking, Rob answered, "Alex, there wasn't any such thing as videos when I was little." (GASP! How could that be true????) "Then what did you do?" Alex asked. "We played outside - ball, swinging, riding bikes...." Yup, and made mud pies, caught fireflies, and rolled in the grass - without any fear of any stinkin' fire ants!

Yesterday, I was using some articulation cards with one of my students. The card had a colorful cartoon picture of a person sitting in front of a typewriter with the word "TYPE" under it. The student, obviously puzzled, twisted up her nose and looked sideways at the picture. I had to explain that "in the old days" there were no computers and that people typed letters on a typewriter. Ya know, I took typing in high school. That was the year we got the first computer lab, too. You wrote a 20 line "program" to make the screen go blank. And you were justifiably WOWED by that feat.

Sigh. I guess I should get to the real purpose of this post.

The purpose of this post was actually to explain the title of my blog. Wiggles, Bananas, and Boogers. What??? Well....

When I was pregnant with Alex, I was quite certain the little one within was destined to be a gymnist or a tumbler... or perhaps a break dancer. He wiggled ALL the time. Then, the very day he was born, he held up his head and looked around the room at the nurses. No one could swaddle him tightly enough to keep him still. He wiggled out of a swaddle completed by the most seasoned labor and delivery nurse. Rob figured that there was no other nickname than "Wiggles" for such a wiggly thing. He answered to "Wiggles" until he was over 3 and a half years old....

(Never a dull moment!)

Anna Claire's original nickname was "Baby" since she was THE baby. She answered to "Baby" more than her own given name. Rob decided she needed a "real" nickname, though, so he took it upon himself to nickname Anna Claire "Anna Banana." I guess it fit, since she could eat more bananas than a herd of monkeys. (I know, there's no such thing as a herd of monkeys, so don't go correcting me....) Anna Banana sounds a bit like MY childhood nickname - Susannah-Banana - so I was ok with that. Of course, Mrs. McKay in first grade didn't appreciate my signing my name on my classwork as Susannah Banana. Made me erase it. I personally thought it was quite creative.

Then, along came our little surprise, Alyssa Kate. "Baby" (aka Anna Claire) was a bit confused about who the "baby" was. Eventually, Anna Claire no longer answered to "Baby," and that was a hard pill for me to swallow. I thought my Anna Claire would forever be "the baby." But, the new baby became "Baby" or "The Baby," and we all adjusted. Now Anna Claire won't let us call her "Baby" because (according to her) she's a big girl. :*(

So why Boogers? Yup, Rob came up with that one, too. Hey, Rob, you know, you could have come up with a prettier, cuter name for Alyssa Kate.... Of course, the fact that she was born in January and kept a stuffy nose for about three months gave all the influence Rob needed to come up with the moniker....After all, he did do most of the nose suctioning since he was at home with her more. There's even a song to go along with her nickname. Rob made that one up and still sings it to her all the time. Ask Alex or Anna Claire to sing it to you and they will. Good grief. And she answers to "Boogers" more quickly than she does her given name, too. Can you see me rolling my eyes? Can you also see me cringe when, in the middle of a restaurant - or worse yet, CHURCH - Rob leans over and says, "Come here, Booger nose." (I need to carry around a rock to hide under...)

So there you have the explanation for my blog title, just in case you were wondering....