Boooo

CT is all about the prank these days and thought it would be
so fun to where these to his dental visit.

I am woman hear me roar

PJ had to get pinned down today at the doctors office for a throat culture. She didn’t like it. She would not lie down or open her mouth without assistance.

Please picture one small examining room. In the exam room you find one nurse with two cotton swabs, one screaming/hysterical child, one mom pinning the screaming child down on the exam table, same mom prying mouth open of screaming child, smallest sibling of screaming child pulling at mom’s pant leg trying to climb up mom’s leg and also crying, and oldest sibling of screaming child doing karate/ninja moves all over the 3×3 exam room.

Fun times!

I can to fly!

All I need is my fairy costume

and a slide to jump off of.

Oh yeah, and my helmet.

Beyond pig-headed

I am slowly being driven mad by my little girl. She seems to have given-up her one nap. Does she still need a nap, you ask? YES. But, she just won’t go down.

There are several reasons why this is such a bitch-slap.
#1 CT going to afternoon kindergarten. You see, I had my heart set on HOURS (or at least 1 hour) of napping (no one touching me or demanding anything of me or yelling or fighting). I was looking forward to an entire year of quiet afternoons.

#2 “Quite time” at our house is to be done in one’s room. SHE WILL NOT STAY IN HER ROOM. And it doesn’t seem to matter how many times you walk her back in there, she just comes right back out.

It also doesn’t seem to matter how I threaten, what I threaten, locking doors, keeping doors open, positive reinforcment, negative reinforcement, taking away TV or even her most prized possession (her binki), it just doesn’t matter to her. It is her way or no way…AND I CAN’T LIVE THAT WAY!

Do I feel like I have to win with her? Yes. Maybe that’s part of the problem. But oh my god, if I lose the battle at 3, what the hell does 13 look like?

Thinking…

I have the BEST father-in-law in the world!

He called to check-in. Junior (as he calls my husband) is out of town and so he wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly in his absence.

I told him everything was fine but that I sure could use a bottle of wine. Ten minutes later he drops off not one, but two bottles of wine and some cheese.

You can’t score any higher in my book than that.

Cheers!

Foliage

We took our annual trip to the Arboretum last week. There is something so breathtakingly wonderful about leaves that are bursting with such color that you can have whole back drops of yellow, orange or red just with the turn of your head.

The most exciting part of this year’s trip was a lesson in poisonous and non-poisonous berries. KP decided to pick-up and eat a delightfully round red berry, then proceeded to throw-up all over himself.

We hiked around to find the nearest arborist, just to get a little clarification on if my small child was going to die or not. We handed the arborist the sample berry. He took a bite, then told the on looking children “don’t ever do this ok?” and as they shook their heads he looked as me and said, “Oh, he’ll be fine, it’s just some form of crabapple.”

Good pickn’ little buddy. But next time, let’s leave the berries on the GROUND!

Big britches

I am perpetually buying my kids clothes that are too big. I mean, why on earth would you buy clothes that fit? They might grow out of them too fast and then where would you be?

As all good cheap people know, you want to get some really good wear out of them, you know at least a good two years. I do know my purchasing habits and understand my “problem”, but it didn’t really hit home until I saw CT wearing the same shirt, for three years running.

And I must admit, he looks good in clothes that fit, even though they are a touch faded.

Never enough

On many occasions I come up with ideas, implement them and then wonder to myself…now why the hell did I just do that?

A prime example came this past Tuesday. CT and PJ have been off of school for the week and I thought it would be fun for us to organize a get together. Since CT and his buddies have been so into Star Wars, I thought it would be fun to have a small handful of kids over for a viewing of the first Star Wars, or the fourth, depending on how you count.

So, of course, I can’t stop at just the movie, I have to include dinner and a small bit of play time. Then, of course, I can’t stop at one or two friends. When it was all said and done, it ended up being 11.

The kids came. The kids played with their light sabers in the driveway. The kids watched the movie. The kids lost interest in the movie about 10 minutes into it. The kids ate dinner early. Then, we all walked to the park. The neighbors looked on in amazement, wondering who these extra kids were wielding light sabers. And then…all 11 of them took over the park. The sun started to set. The parents came. The kids went home. CT pouted.

I looked at him and couldn’t believe he had the gall to pout. And how, after a full afternoon of frolicking with his friends, could he be sad? How on earth could he be doing this to me after all I have given him? Because. Because he wanted more; more time, more people, more fun, more of the movie that didn’t get watched, more, more, MORE.

And in that moment, all I wanted from my son was a simple “Thank you”.

And in the days that followed, I have come to the realization that I too need to know when to stop. When to say enough is enough. Yes, he is a kid and kids always want more, especially more fun. But maybe if I learned to keep things in check, he could see that he could too.

C-lunch turns 1

Wow, one whole year old. I can’t believe I have been blathering away on the internet for a solid year. And, as I look back on this past year, I think of all the wonderful, crazy, sad, bewildering, typical and momentous things that have gone on in my life and can’t even imagine what year two will have in store.

I can’t wait to find out!

PJ’s self-portrait