Life's interruptions

I have a few minutes to catch up on my blog.  Let's see... I took Little Man to the doctor last week and found that he has a double ear infection.  Oh.... hang on.... the phone is ringing.

 

 

Ok, now I'm back.  As I was saying, Little Man has an ear infection.  He kept complaining about bugs in his ears.  Yeah, I have creative children.  Oops.... there goes the door.

 

 

I'm back.  Anyway, he's doing much better these days.  Now if only I can remember to give him his medicine twice a day!  I've also been getting things ready for this big consignment sale this week.  I just dropped a van-full of toys and clothes to the sale yesterday and the presale starts tomorrow.  Oh, crap.  I can't finish this now, I have to type up something for the PTA.  Back later.

 

 

Well, that's done.  As I was saying, I have things in this big sale.  Last fall, when I participated, I think I made about $250-$300 from it.  I can't remember exactly, because I use that same money for buying clothes and things for the kids during the year.  I'm hoping for a good sale this time around, too.   I've also been spending a lot of time researching materials for home schooling next year.  Monkey and I are both excited about it.  Right now, I'm focusing on Science and History.  You'd be amazed at how much information is out there.  Well, I'll have to catch up with this in a while because I have to get some laundry done.

 

 

I only have a minute because now I have to run to the store.  Man, having a blog to keep up is a bit time-consuming.  I just don't know how other people do it.  I follow writers that post daily.  Either I'm too busy or just not that creative.  Anyway, folks, I'll do my best to keep writing.  I hope you'll have patience with me.

 

He stole a pancake

Sunday morning, something funny happened in a not-so-funny way.  The kids were eating pink  pancakes (I made extra pink pancakes on Saturday so they could also have some on Sunday) and I was downstairs catching up on my emails while they ate.  I usually get a good 5-10 minutes uninterrupted, depending on what they're eating.

  

Monkey has this habit of getting up in the middle of breakfast and dashing to the bathroom.  One would think that she would get that bit of business taken care of beforehand, but not so.

 

She came back to the table (after cleaning up, of course) and I hear, "Little Man!"

 

Monkey walked downstairs, calling for me, and I could tell by her tone that she was barely holding it together.  

 

"What's up?"  I ask, thinking any number of things that Little Man could have done.

 

"Little Man ate my last bite of pancakes,"

 

"Really?  He really did that?"  This was not on my list of things that Little Man could have done.

 

"Yeah, he really did."

 

Oh man, what to do.  Well, he can't really give it back, now can he?  So we go upstairs and have as reasonable a conversation as anyone can with a 3 year old about how it's not nice to take food from another person's plate, not even his sister.

 

But I have to wonder if she'll be leaving her plate of pancakes unprotected again.

 

 

To pee or not to pee...

Little Man walked awkwardly down the hall towards us , trying really hard to keep his legs from touching each other.

 

"Did you just have an accident?"

 

Sadly, "yeah."

 

Monkey turns to look at her brother, asks,

 

"Are your pants wet, Little Man?"

 

"yeah,"  the wet stain covers his pants like a pair of chaps.  He continues his bowlegged walk towards me.

 

Monkey turns back, carrying her book from the hall to the kitchen, raises her eyebrows and  quietly, with a bit of bored amazement and just a hint of inflection, says,

 

"wow." 

 

 

 

worthless

Today is going to be a worthless day.

 

Little Man decided he would try and wake up the entire house at 4:00 am.  By screaming and crying and moving things around to get to his lamp so he could turn the light on.  He knows that screaming will get me up and he thought it was playtime.

 

I could hear him banging around trying to climb on top of the clothes hamper to get to the lamp.  The way our house is laid out, his room is right next to ours, sharing a wall.  When I went in to check on (scold, yell, whatever) him, he was stuck inside with the lid crumpled around him.  

 

I put him in bed and took the hamper out of the room.

 

Not more than one minute later, I hear more banging around.  Hoping it would go away, I rolled over.  Then I heard it again.  So I get up.  This time his light is on.  What the?  He had gotten the two stools out of the bathroom to his room and stacked them up so he could reach the lamp.

 

Too tired and irritable to admire his resourcefulness, I turned off his lamp and carried the stools back to the bathroom.  Told him to stay in bed; it's too early to get up; everyone is trying to sleep, then crawled back into my own bed.  Trey is grumbling, too, by the way.  This back-and-forth thing had been going on for about 15 minutes and we both had been up to try and get the boy in bed.

 

Before my head hit the pillow, I hear Little Man carrying the stools again (he bangs them against the wall as he's moving them).  Stubborn little bugger, that one.  So I get the stools and hide one in the tub, behind the shower curtain, and the other in our room, next to the hamper.  Get him in bed.  Get myself in bed. 

 

Then I hear him trying to get in our room (our door sticks, so it's not an easy thing to just walk in when it's closed).  I don't really remember how many times this happened - at least twice because both Trey and I got up.  When Trey went in there, the last time as it happened, he was in there for a little bit longer.  I could hear him talking to Little Man but I have no idea what he said.  It must have worked because we never heard another peep out of him.  This was around 4:30 am or so.

 

It's a good thing, too, because I was composing in my head the ebay listing for "one cute little three year old boy that won't let me sleep." 

 

Pictures from our snow day

Yesterday was a snow day.  The kids were very excited about having snow to play in.  We went out kinda early - it was before 10am - and played in the snow.  I tried teaching them how to make snowballs but unfortunately the snow wasn't very cooperative.  We just ended up throwing handfuls of snow at each other.  Monkey did manage to get some all the way down the back of my shirt.  Note to self:  don't duck and cover head, thus exposing the back of the neck, when someone is throwing snow. 

 

 

There was evidence of some early morning visitors.  The kids had fun following the rabbit tracks.  Luckily I was able to get a few pictures before they were all obliterated. 

  

 

 

 

 

Monkey decided to make snow angels.  She tried teaching Little Man... 

 

but he didn't quite get it right.  He wouldn't lay all the way back on the snow, just his elbows.

  

But then I had to show them how it was done.  Do you have any idea how long it's been since I made a snow angel?  I think I may have been not much older than Monkey.  

 

 

The kids tried making a snowman but it ended up more like a snow pile. 

 

 

I love a snow day!

 

Snow day!

We actually have a snow day today!  First time in the two and a half years we've lived in this area!  How very exciting!

 

Sure, I had a lot I needed to do today.  I was looking forward to getting the kids to school so I can run errands and such.  

 

But it's a SNOW DAY!

 

Now, instead of "working" later today, I'll be outside throwing snowballs at the kids and taking pictures.

 

I love a snow day!

  

Security blankets

photo by popofatticus 

 

 

Little Man likes cars.  And he likes Cars.  If you're "in the know,"  as in haven't been living under a rock in the last several years, you know what Cars is.  It's a great little movie about a race car named Lightning McQueen.  Marketing has been HUGE for these little cars.  There are big toy cars - the kind the kids can actually drive - and little hot wheels sized cars, and now they've even made Mini Adventure Cars that are about half the size of the die cast metals ones.

 

Little Man will be getting lots of Cars for his birthday and Christmas.  See, his birthday is in a little over a week.  I have the unique challenge of making sure his birthday is celebrated just as it would be any other time of year and not right before Christmas.  No Christmas wrapped presents will be given to him on his birthday.  No Christmas candy in the goodie bags.  No "this is for your birthday and Christmas" combined presents.  I've even thought about taking down the Christmas decorations at home for that one day and redecorating for his birthday.  OK, not really, because 1) I don't even have the Christmas decorations up yet and 2) that would be entirely too much work.

 

But this isn't about his birthday (look for something next week, though, that will be in celebration of his birthday).  This is about his Cars.  He has two of the die cast metal cars.  "The King" and "Lightning McQueen" (he calls them "King" and "Queen").  They are his security blanket.

 

They travel everywhere with us.  It has become quite the discussion when we get ready to go to school because he wants to take them to school.  We do manage to keep the Cars in the car at drop off time.  They go to the grocery store.  They get dropped out of the cart often and if I happen to miss that because I'm doing something important like trying to figure out which detergent will get me the best price with my coupons and sales and then move on without picking up the wayward car and he starts to worry about his car being lost and the upset tone of his voice gets higher and louder and then I have to backtrack and try and figure out where the car was last seen because God KNOWS I can't leave the store without King/Queen and he's so happy when I find it waaay up under the shelf that he actually giggles.  Deep Breath.

 

He sleeps with them.  Successfully, I might add.  Only once in a while does he lose one in the blankets.  And when he comes to climb in bed with us first thing in the morning, the clacking of little metal cars precedes him as he puts them both in one hand so his other is free to help pull himself up onto our bed.  

 

They've also become something of a weapon.  I've caught him using them to hit the poor puppy on the head before or throwing them across the room when he's in a tantrum.  Those little cars hurt, in case you were wondering.

 

I'm sure at some point he'll outgrow his need to carry the Cars cars everywhere he goes and after December, he'll have a plethora of Cars cars to choose from, but for now, I think it's kinda cute.

 

What's your security blanket?

 

books, books, books

photo by emilywjones 

 

Yesterday was one of my days to volunteer at Monkey's school.  Our library services about 1000 children and, of course, the teachers for those children.  It is an "open door" library, meaning that students can come to the library any time during school hours, at the discretion of the teacher.  This is in addition to the classes coming to the library for their Specials throughout the day.  Needless to say, it gets very busy.

 

Parent volunteers are a huge part of the library.  I think on any given day there are about 10-12 moms and dads that come to help the librarians during the school day.  I usually go for two hours in the morning, about twice a month.  Mostly, what I do is shelve books and sometimes check out books for the students.  Often, the brightest part of my morning is seeing last year's classmates of Monkey.  I'm not ashamed to say I had favorites.  Sometimes, I'll even see Monkey come in.  She never knows I'm there and I'll just observe her.  Then I just can't stand her not knowing, so I'll go and sit next to her and wait for her to acknowledge me.  It's pretty neat surprising her that way.

 

But yesterday, the librarians asked me to do a different job.  One that I hadn't done before, but it was one they had saved just for me.

 

I'm not sure how often our library gets new books, but when they arrive, the new books need to be checked over for publishing errors; is it bound properly, are the pages all there, did any of the text get cut off.  Then they have to be "broken in."  This is simply pressing a few of the pages open so that the book is easier for the children to open and read.  Who knew, right?

 

Yesterday was my day to sit down and break in new books.  There's something special about opening a new book.  Those fresh, crisp pages, brightly colored illustrations, bold text bouncing along, carrying the story through.  I can't even begin to tell you all the books I looked through, but the librarians busted me more than once giggling to myself.

 

There was Petunia, the goose that learned that wisdom comes from reading a book, not carrying it around (she blew up the barnyard!).

 

The Three Billy Goats Gruff - remember that?  It brought back a memory of mine from elementary school of making paper bag puppets and putting on a puppet show.  Our class rooms had half-doors, so we went in the hallway and used the bottom half of the door as our stage.  But I can't remember if I had a goat or the troll.

 

And there's The Three Silly Girls Grub and The Armadillos Tough (I think), which were based from the Three Billy Goats Gruff.

 

I creeped my way through spider books, laughed at a giraffe with a tongue up its nose, lingered over beautiful watercolor illustrations of a coral reef.

 

I read about Lou Gehrig, JFK and Jefferson.

 

I learned why the Jolly Roger is called that.  (Oh, he was a jolly old pirate!)

 

I giggled over a dog that got a kitten that "if he ignored it, it would go away." 

 

I saw pumpkins and apples and Christmas and variations of the Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

 

I spent two hours immersed in books and I loved every bit of it.  The Librarian joked that I owed her one, because I was doing one of their favorite things.  I think she was right.

 

 

election day

Yesterday, instead of staying home and obsessing over an election that I have no control over (I'm sure my vote was canceled out by someone else, but at least I voted), the kids and I headed out to the mountains for the day.  I love living close to mountains!

 

Here are a few of the 150+ shots I took yesterday.  Yes, I know I have a problem with taking a lot of pictures!   In no particular order, here are a few to share with you.

 

Who knew there would be snow here in early November?  Enough to make snowmen?  Very cute...

 

 

A shot as we were coming down the mountain.  It was a wonderful day for a hike.  

 

I carried Little Man on my back for the two hikes we did yesterday.  I didn't really like the idea of him traipsing down the side of a really big hill.  He was much heaver at almost-3 years old than he was at almost-2 years old.  Funny how they grow...

 

 

 

Another shot taken from the top...

 

 

 

A view with the late afternoon sun across the range. 

 

 

     

We headed to a waterfall first.  It took us maybe an hour to get to these.  And then my batteries started crapping out on me.  I was not very happy.  There was even a nice lady there willing to take my picture with the kids (I'm always behind the camera) and there just wasn't enough battery life.  So, guess who gets to go to the visitor center to pay a premium for cheap batteries that lasted about 24 hours?  I wasn't about to go without batteries, though, because then I would have missed all the awesome shots going to and hiking up the mountain.

 

Being at the visitor center worked out, though, because they had a small museum and a movie theater with a short film that taught about where we were hiking.  Monkey found it interesting and, dare I say it, may have learned something!  Little Man, on the other hand, was much more interested in seeing how fast his mommy's reflexes were when he darted through the doors to the lobby.  Watching mom freak out is way more entertaining.

 

 

 

On the road again....

 

 

 

I love fall.  These pictures came out much better than my previously overexposed pictures from our hike a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

 

I even played around with the lighting some... 

 

 

 

Just another pretty shot of the fall color in the mountains.

 

 

It was much nicer to commune with nature than to listen to talking heads all day.

Halloween

Well, I don't normally post pictures of my kids, but since they're all incognito, I thought it might be ok this time around.  Aren't they cute!

  

 

 

We went with Little Man's buddy, WB.  Their neighborhood is ideal for chasing after candy.  They had lots of energy starting out.  After about the 10th or 12th house, the energy waned a bit.

  

 

 

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!

  

 

 

This was the haul that Little Man brought in after we called it quits after the 15th or 20th house or so.  Monkey continued on to about 5 more houses.  Her bucket was overflowing... 

 

 

The sugar-induced drunkeness began shortly thereafter.  We left WB's 'hood and headed to another friend's house where they were having a bonfire and s'mores.  I didn't get any pictures because by then I was exhausted and just wanted to sit by the fire.  We didn't even get home until about 9:45 or so and the kids went straight to bed - face paint and all.

 

All in all, it was a good night.  

 

 

Daylight savings

Ahhh.... daylight savings time.  It's the two times a year that we actually have "control" over time.  In the spring, we get to spring forward and skip an hour.  As if our days weren't short enough as it is.  In the fall we get to fall back and trick our bodies into thinking they get an extra hour of sleep. 

 

Next year, I'm just going to bed an hour earlier.

 

The puppy (who is crated in our room at night) usually is a great sleeper - except for the snoring, but I can get past that.  He picked this morning, at about 4am, to wake up and whine that soft but high-pitched whine that slices through your subconscious like splinters under the fingernail.  I do my best to ignore him and manage to drift off to sleep again.  If there's one thing he's learned in his relatively short time here, it's that whining will not get him out of the crate now that I know he's able to control his bladder for the entire night.

 

The children don't understand what daylight savings is.  Monkey will sleep late, if you can call 7:00 late, but Little Man follows a different drummer.  At 6:30 am (and this is before I turned back my clocks, so that makes it 5:30 am), Little Man comes climbing on my bed and uses my prone body as a guide to crawl to the top of the bed - as if falling off my body will dump him into a deep abyss.  Once he reaches the pillows, he finally climbs off and asks to be covered up and lays still for a little while.

 

Have you seen The Lion King?  Remember the scene where Simba gets up and plays with his sleeping parents trying to wake them up by crawling all over them and talking to them when they OBVIOUSLY don't want to be woken up?  Does Simba stop?  No.  Does Little Man?  No.

  

Just as I thought he was drifting off, he becomes one with Simba and starts crawling all over the bed and talking about breakfast.  Things like cereal and waffles and such.

 

"Let's go back to sleep."

 

"But I'm really, really hungry."

 

Damn his cuteness.

 

So yes, I'm up at my "normal" weekend wake-up time of 6:30am despite the fact that I was supposed to get an extra hour of sleep.  Making pancakes from scratch because I'm out of my mix.  At least there's coffee.

 

Yeah, next year, I'll just go to bed at 9:00 to get that extra hour of sleep.

 

 

(I'll be posting a Halloween post once I get my pictures downloaded from the camera.  I know I'm a little late, but that's how I roll.) 

here I go again...

photo by Renee Oakenfull, also viewable at urbanpulse.com, 

 

Yes, I'm bragging again.  If I can't brag on my children, why have them, right?  Monkey's teacher, MrsM and I had our conference Tuesday, as you no doubt saw in my absolutely hectic schedule for that day.

 

Actually, let me go back in history a bit.  In kindergarten, Monkey tracked right along with the majority of her class.  She had a wonderful teacher and was learning at a pace that I was very comfortable with.  By the end of the year she started reading on her own and was finishing chapter books (Magic Tree House, to be specific) before school was over.  I love that she loves reading.  Fast forward through the summer to first grade.

 

She's doing very well.  MrsM sends home daily reports in Monkey's folder and everything is good.  Only once in a while is there a note on behavior, usually relating to talking.  Monkey's nothing if not social.  Gee, I wonder where she gets that from?  The work she brings home has very few, if any, mistakes.  I'm starting to wonder is she really that bright or is the work really that easy?  Then comes home a particular handwriting/grammer/spelling test.  Under "comments," which is reserved for the teacher, Monkey had written "this is boring."  God love the honesty of a child.

 

So, I start to wonder where exactly is she in the class?  Is she being challenged?  Is she too bored?  What can we do?  Trey is a big supporter of homeschooling for lots of reasons which I won't get into here.  I haven't been.  Not because I don't believe in it, but because I still have faith in public schools, I'm not organized enough and the fact that I'm not a teacher.  I don't have that gift.  I have friends who homeschool and it works for them.  But I don't think it's for me.

 

Well, that's what I thought before.  Then I started thinking that if Monkey isn't being challenged, then maybe I should consider homeschooling.  So the idea starts stirring around for a week before I even mention it to Trey.  Why wait?  Because I didn't want the big, fat "I was right!" from him (before you get all upset and think he's "that guy," understand that we have a running joke between us about who's right and wrong, and, well, we all know I'm always right).  So we converse about it.  We talk about things like enrichment programs, co-ops, umbrella schools and whatever else.  Then he added that if we do this, to help relieve my household burdens, we could have someone come clean the house.  Woo-hoo!  Sign me up!  Have I mentioned that I loathe cleaning?

 

But I digress.

 

All of that had been discussed pre-conference as a "what if?"  So conference time comes and MrsM goes over Monkey's reports.  She's above average in several areas.  She's one of the strongest readers in the class.  Then she asks me if I think Monkey could handle being challenged more?  YES!   MrsM has a plan for challenging the students in her class that are needing it.  Thank you!  The last thing I want is for Monkey to be bored at school.  Sure, she has fun with her friends and doing all the "specials" like music, art and PE, but I want her learning, too, not floating.  I don't want her to get lost in the shuffle of all the other students.  

 

I'm not ditching the homeschooling idea just yet.  I'll hang on to it and wait and see how her years at school progress.  I hope we continue to have teachers like MrsM who are willing to think outside the box to challenge our little Monkey.  Teaching is a gift and I admire those who do it.  There's just something special about a good teacher and I'm thankful that Monkey has had such good teachers in her short career as a student. 

 

PS:  Yay!  My 100th post!  Who-da thunk it?  

parental bribery

photo by jerine

 

Today I took the kids to get their flu shots.  Actually, Monkey was a few months overdue for her 6-year well child checkup so we needed to get that done, too.  What??  We've been busy!

 

First, let me tell you that last year, when Monkey had to have her shot, I had to hold her down kicking and screaming.  Little Man was with me and a nurse had to carry him out of the room because Monkey was making such a fuss.

 

I was not a happy camper.

 

This year, I talked to Monkey and talked and talked about it.  About how she needed to be a big girl and set an example for Little Man.  She needed to put her on big girl panties and suck it up.

 

Ok, I didn't say it quite like that, but she knew my meaning.

 

Have you ever taken a puppy to the vet to get shots?  They crumble up a bunch of treats for the pup to eat and while it's eating, the vet gives it the shots.  The puppy has no idea what happened.  Monkey went with me when our puppy had to have shots and I explained what they were doing with the treats.  He didn't even flinch.  This was back in July or so. 

 

Apparently, this stuck with her.  Just as we were getting ready to leave the house, she asked if we could take some of our chocolate covered pretzels for her to eat to distract her from getting the shot.

 

Uh... sure!  

 

Let me tell you, it worked.  I didn't think it would because Monkey didn't want to pull her arm out of the sleeve and started pushing the nurse away and getting upset.  The nurse reminded her of her pretzels and as soon as Monkey took a bite, the nurse popped the syringe.  I swear to you, Monkey actually giggled!  Giggled that a trick that works on a puppy actually worked on her.

 

Hey, whatever gets it done, right, people?

 

On the way home, she tells me it didn't even hurt.  After explaining (again) why she needed one in the first place, she tells me she's glad she got her flu shot.  Amazing!

 

Oh, for those of you who wondered, "What about Little Man?", he got his shot first, in the leg, and he didn't like it.  He cried until he got a pretzel of his own.  Then he simmered down a bit.  

 

Just another banner parenting day - full of threats and bribery.

 

 

gourmet apples and a shout out

I did something fun with the kids last night.  Monkey and I had been talking about this for a while and finally I got a round tuit.  Ok, I didn't really get a "round tuit" but you know what I'm talking about.

 

As some of you may know/remember, I used to sell Pampered Chef.  One of the theme shows we had a couple of years ago was making gourmet apples.  I have to say this was the most fun and most messy show I had ever done.   

 

So, last night we made gourmet candy apples.  This is more than just dipping an apple in melted caramel.  This is a production.  Oh sure, we did start with dipping an apple in caramel, but there were two kinds of cookies to crumble and two kinds of chocolate to melt.  This was no "simple" thing.

 

First things first.  We coated the apples in caramel and put them in the refrigerator for about an hour or so.  Wait, I missed something.  Monkey helped melt the caramel.  She had a very important job: stirring the caramel constantly.  But I couldn't leave Little Man out!  I put peanut butter fudge crackers in one ziplock bag and oreo cookies in another bag.  Little Man's job was to crush the cookies inside the bag with his fist.  He beat those cookies into submission, I tell you!  Actually, I had to help him a little.  His small fist could only do so much damage.  We set the bags aside for later.

 

Fast forward to after the apples sit for a while.  I melted two different kinds of chocolate - light and dark.  I had intended to use white chocolate, but the bag I bought I had used to make chocolate covered pretzels and when I tried to buy more, Wally World was out.

 

We coated the apples, first one half, then the other, with the different kinds of chocolate.  Monkey then took her apple and sprinkled cookie crumbs all around.  I did the apples for Little Man, Trey and me.  We let them sit for a while so the chocolate could harden, then cut them up for dessert.

 

Just so you know, if you try this yourself, use a tart apple like Granny Smith.  We used Red Delicious which made it too sweet.  Even Monkey said it was too sweet for her.  You read me right.  My daughter, who has a bigger sweet tooth than I (as if that was even possible) said her apple was too sweet and that she wanted to save the rest for another day.

 

Did you know that people will pay upwards of $20 for a gourmet apple like we made?  Crazy, isn't it?  Well, ours aren't pretty, but with a little time and effort, these could make great gifts and you can make several for less than $20 total.  

 

If you're interested in more detailed instruction, just leave a comment.  If you're like me and just want to wing it - go for it!  

 

 

 

On a different note, I want to give a shout out to my dear friends, Runner Girl and Mom of 4.  They are running in their first marathon this weekend:  The Marine marathon in DC.  They've been diligently training and supporting each other all summer long and I am so proud of them!  I've done a marathon - the first Rock N Roll marathon in San Diego, 1998 - and if I can do it, I know they can!  Prayers for them for safe travels to DC and a good run on Sunday.  I'll be with you in spirit, friends!

 

Conversations with a two year old

"I'm stinky"

 

"Do you have a stinky diaper?"

 

"No."

 

"Let's go change"

 

"K"

 

"Ewww, you're stinky!"

 

"I got BIG poop!"

 

"Yeah, you do"

 

Points to the dirty diaper  "Look, a mountain!"   

 

 

 

Yeah, this is my life.

 

Losing my chi to Barbie

 photo by luisvilla 

 

  Yesterday, Monkey and I started a project.  Actually, I started the project in my head some time ago and began working on it last week.  We're moving our full sized guest bed into her room and her twin bed into Little Man's room.  However, she has a LOT of junk toys in her room so first we must clean her room.

 

Have I mentioned before that I hate cleaning?

 

The first thing we tackled was her book shelf.  I wish we had done this before the consignment sale because she cleared off easily half her books.  Naturally, I'll be saving some of them for Little Man because he loves books, too, but there were several that we'll be putting in the next sale, which is unfortunately not until the spring.

 

Then we moved on to discuss her Polly Pockets, My Little Ponies and Little Pet Shop toys.  She still plays with some, but agreed to let a few others go.  Next came the Barbies.

 

I had no idea just how many Barbies and accessories we had.

 

Something to remember, people, is that I saved many of my Barbie toys and clothes from my own childhood, Monkey has had generous grandparents, gifts from Mommy and Daddy and a really cool yardsale score from a couple of years ago.  We have lots of dolls and clothes.   

 

So we started sorting them.

 

And sorting them.

 

And sorting them.

 

She's keeping all the Disney Princess ones and the fairy ones and her Hannah Montana ones.  But the furniture, most of the clothes and just about all of the accessories are going.  Oh, didn't I mention the furniture?  That was the yard sale score from a couple of years ago.  I found a box of what I thought was Barbie furniture, but turned out to be Sandi furniture from the late 70's early 80's I'm guessing.  Complete with the necessary accessories, like dishes, pots, pans, even the bathroom sink and tub.  I was so excited, brought them home to Monkey and set them up.  She played, I swear to you, alone in her room quietly for the entire day, breaking only for lunch.  Just that one day alone made the purchase worth it.

 

I'm having a twinge of heartburn getting rid of these things, but we just don't have the room around here to store enough Barbie furniture to furnish a 5 room house.  They've been crammed in a box in her closet for a year and a half and I need that space.

 

So because her room is full of junk toys, we moved to the living room to stage our sorting.  My chi is all out of whack because there's stuff EVERYWHERE.  I dream of having a Jeannie to wrinkle her nose and make it all go bye-bye.  

 

And the sad thing is that since I haven't finished the project, I can't even finish the post because there's nothing more to report.

 

Tune in tomorrow to see if my chi survives... 

 

Keeping up with the little men

Where have I been, you're probably asking yourself right now.  I've been busy.  I've taking on an additional two year old, who just so happens to have the same name as Little Man, so it's been a little busy around here.

 

LM and LM2 are quite cute together.  They're cousins, actually.  His daddy and I are cousins, so that makes LM and LM2 1st cousins, once removed.  Or is it 2nd cousins?  Actually, they're not even blood related because my cousin's daddy and my daddy are step brothers from my granddaddy's second marriage.

 

Confused yet?

 

Other than having to use full names around the house when trying to get one or the other's attention, it hasn't been all that bad.  They get along pretty well together.  Unlike LM and his other friend WB - remember him?  They share a birthday?  When they get together, they behave like siblings, poking and teasing, taking toys from each other just for fun and putting them where the other can't get it.  There's a lot of screaming and yelling going on.  You know, sibling stuff.  Stuff I wouldn't know about because I'm an only child.   We call LM and WB Forrest and Bubba.  One of the nursery workers at our church call them "two wild and crazy guys!"  They're just that kind of pair.

 

 

 

(If you ever really want to laugh, check out some of the old SNL skits - they rock!)

 

So anyway, I've been taking care of LM2 during the day since Wednesday.  His mom runs a daycare and they've been closed for staff training so she asked me to help out.  We trade babysitting often, so it was a no-brainer.  Plus, it gives LM someone to play with!

 

Speaking of, they're both upstairs unsupervised while I type this.  Hmmm.... maybe I should go check on them.

 

catching up

I realized that lately I have not updated stories on the kids.  Their grandparents, I'm sure, are not pleased.  

 

Monkey:  Last week I got a call from the school nurse.  When you have caller ID and you see the school name on the list, your heart stops just a little bit.  Just so you know.  So, mine did.  I answer and Nurse Judy (no, that's not her real name) said that she just wanted to call and let me know that Monkey got stung by a bee.  Yes, again.  I could hear Monkey in the background.  She's a very fragile and dramatic little girl.  I think she'll be an actress when she grows up.  One of those melodramatic, over-the-top actresses.  Think Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween.  Don't get me wrong, I love Jamie Lee Curtis,  I think she's fantastic, but you can tell she's grown as an actress since Halloween.  

 

But I digress.

 

The bee sting.  I think what freaked her out the most is that the bee was still stuck to her when she was taken to the nurse.  That would freak me out, too.  Anyway, I got her on the phone (and only a mother could understand what she was saying between her sobs) but she didn't want to come home.  She just wanted me to come look at her.  So I did.  I asked the nurse if she could put baking soda on it, since it worked so well last time.  Then she sent Monkey to the clinic (the nurse's office and the clinic are two different places at our school) until I got there.  Luckily I needed to go to her school for something else anyway so it wasn't a big deal.  Monkey didn't want to miss out on the Library or Art, so I'm guessing the sting wasn't all that bad.

 

Little Man:  This week, I got the first "he's a handful" type of comment from his preschool teachers.  He has a friend and they play and fight and pick at each other like they were brothers.  And they're in the same class.  I tried warning the teachers the first day I met them, but I don't think they quite understood what I meant until this week.  Oh, and Little Man got in trouble for pushing down another, younger child.  Just because he was standing, I guess.  There were no toys involved or anything.  Little Man just pushed him down.  Great.  Bully in training.  They also commented on his temper.  He gets really frustrated sometimes and doesn't quite know how to express himself, so he screams and gets mad and throws things.  Well, he is two.

 

None of this is new to me.  I do work with him on sharing and being nice and not pushing or taking toys or throwing things or using his words to express himself.  I remember this to an extent with Monkey, but Little Man just seems a little more stubborn about it.  He goes in time out, the toys are put away, he's asked to give back the toy he takes, sometimes even gets his bottom popped, whatever.  And he's like, whatever mom.   I know it'll all pass, and he's a sweet, smart little guy, but it's hard being the mom of "that kid," you know?  

 

Maybe I need to re-read Parenting with Love and Logic; I think I need a refresher course.  Or better yet, I should read The Strong Willed Child, or Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours.  

 

I think a trip to the library is in order.  I need some new ideas...  Dear readers, do you have any?

 

pajama day

We're having another pajama day today.  I had one last week and it was fantastic!  Monkey is in school from 7:45-2:45.  In the mornings, we leave for the bus stop at 6:50 or so, pulling Little Man in the wagon.  We're just a few houses away and while I don't like the thought of Monkey walking alone, I certainly am not one of those moms that will drive half a block to drop her off.  It only takes us 5 minutes to get there by foot, so why bother?

 

On a side note, one morning Monkey was slow to get ready.  I, on the other hand, just change out of my pajama pants to jeans, throw on a baseball hat, and I'm ready to go.  I tell you this because I want you to understand that if we run late in the mornings, it's because Monkey is a slow mover.  Not because I linger on the internet.  But on this particular day, it was all Monkey.  And she almost missed the bus.  About half way down the street or so, I saw it pull up and Monkey starts running.  There are several kids waiting, so it takes a minute to load up.  Just as she is running up (about 25 feet or so away), the bus starts to pull away.  She's very upset she's missing the bus, starts crying and gives up - just as someone (in one of those parked cars that drives to the stop) honks their horn and the bus stops, she turns around and runs up and gets on.  It's all I can do to be the good mom and not laugh about it because all I can think of is my granddaddy saying "you'll know better next time, won't you?"

 

She hasn't really been late, since.  

 

So, back to my topic.  Last week, I stayed home all day.  I got a few things done, like the kitchen and four loads of laundry - all folded and put away, no less! - but in a relaxed, I don't have to be anywhere today, kind of way.  I forgot how wonderful pajama days are.

 

We're having another one today.  Not by choice, though, because normally Little Man would be in school today and I'd be using that time without children to do something amazing, like go to the store all by myself.  But he isn't feeling well, today.  He's quite the pitiful little man when he's sick.  He didn't even want to sit up in the wagon, he wanted to lay down in it.  He's the kind of guy that when he isn't feeling well, all he wants to do is lay down - in a wagon, on the floor, on the bed, on mommy, so I don't generally have to take care of a fussy, crying, grumpy sick child, which is nice.  Of course, now that I've put that out there, I'm sure I'll hear him crying any minute now and he won't stop the whole day.

 

So, what's on the pajama day to-do list for today?  Clean the kitchen again, more laundry, tag items for a consignment sale, possibly paint some trim, maybe clear some things off the DVR.  I'll leave here to pick up Monkey from school around 2:00, probably still in my "bus stop" clothes and hat and continue to have my pajama day after school. 

 

That's what I did last week and it was great.

 

Love a good pajama day!

dentist

Monkey went to the dentist for the first time yesterday.  I was expecting a meltdown from Monkey and I just knew the dentist would tell me that she already had irreversible staining on her teeth, 3 cavities and a horrible mom  that doesn't take care of her daughter's teeth.

 

Monkey didn't have a meltdown - she did great!  Did you know they have cookie dough flavored polish for children?   She didn't like it.  I guess they don't use real cookie dough.  Then she had the bubble gum flavored.  She didn't like that either, but she toughed it out.  Back in my day (insert grey hair and creaky rocker scene here) we didn't have all those fancy dancy flavors.  It tasted like dirt and we were thankful for it!

 

And her mouth cleaned up nicely!  She has two loose teeth, a little staining (probably from all the coffee and cigarettes) that polished right off and her 6 year molars coming in.  The dentist said her mouth looked great, an "excellent checkup."  I was very proud of her.

 

Afterwards, we went out for birthday cake flavored ice cream with chocolate syrup, ate a few pieces of hard candy that adhere to the teeth for weeks and refused to brush for days.

 

You didn't actually believe that last part, did you?