Facial

So, my sweet husband bought me a gift card for a massage last year for Mother's Day. Very nice, right? Well it seems as though I had a terrible time finding a good time to go and use it. It expired on May 31, 2009 so on May 29th I went.

Just in the nick of time.

I did decide to have a facial instead of the massage though. So off I went.

Very relaxing. A little bit of pain during the "extractions" but overall very nice and my skin felt oh so smooth afterward.

Now in the meantime, my husband was home alone with the kids. 9 times out of 10 this is no good for the green team (that is me... I am the only one with green eyes, so the blue team - everyone else - tend to team up against me.)

I walk in the door and I was talking to a friend on the phone.. I wander into my room and my daughter follows me in... "Mommy" (note the disregard that I am talking to someone else) "Mommy - your face looks nice!"

"Thank you sweetheart" then she leaves...

Not five steps out the door - "OK Dad. I told her!"


Nice



Later that day Noel and I were going to finish our fence project we had started the weekend before. I kept telling him to go to the store (read "gently reminding him to go to the store") to get the lumber we needed for the project.

Before he goes, we decide to play a little family style picture Bingo.

I win the first game and Daddy wins the next 4. Sonshine is getting frustrated and simply states "Dad. It is time for you to go to the store."

A family history of poor losers perhaps?

Summer Pool

So, it is crazy hot this summer, right? Just officially the start of summer yesterday and I am already paying over $200 for electricity... Goodness knows what it will be in Aug... yikes..

So, I was looking at the Sunday paper and saw that Target had their blow up pools on sale... so I got one. Went to Target, got the pool, brought it home.

Little man decided that I was not able to swim in it. I didn't think much about this... just thought he was just talking... you know... cause that is what he does now...

Anyway, when Noel gets home, little man lets him in on the plan... "After dinner, you, me and sister are going to blow up the pool and go swimming."

Noel doesn't really think about it and goes "OK"

I inform him that I was not included in the pool group.

He asked why

"Because she isn't on the box."

(Duh!)

Apparently on the box, there is a girl, a boy and the dad. Thus I was not able to swim in the pool.

Noels thoughts were that the mom was the one taking the picture.

I told him "No.... Mom blew the thing up, so she is over passed out on the grass!"

I love 4 year old logic.

"Pona"

So my daughter has been playing on the computer alot, right? I have been doing the "proper parenting" thing and checking what she is doing and all that. So, the other day she asks me ...
"Mom. Do we have Microsoft Word?"
Me: "Yes."
Her: "Where is it?"
Me: "Let me show you."

(note the absence of my questioning her about why she wants it - I can figure that out later - gotta love auto save)

A little while later I am reading and I hear her voice from the computer room :

Her: "Mom"
Me: "Yes?"
Her: "How do you spell 'pona'"
Me: "Huh?"
Her: "How do you spell 'pona'?"
(surely I have misheard her. Years of vocabulary words float through my mind... Is she saying 'Pony'? No. 'Pawn'? No. hmmmm

Her: "MOM!"
Me: "Yes?"
Her: "How do you spell 'pona'?"
Me: (i give up) "P-O-N-A"
Her: "thanks!"

I forgot about it.

So today I am listening to her play on the computer.

Her: "Mom! I opened Microsoft Word."
Me: "OK"
Her: "Now I can type. I called it 'Lauren'"

(she actually saved her document and renamed it lauren. I don't know how she knew to do this)


Tonight I get on my computer and notice her document is open....
I read it and what do you suppose it says?


"Once a pona time......"


he he

It is all talk!

Little man, who isn't so little anymore, is really starting to talk. Except for the incredibly annoying mimics of his sister, he has really picked up some cute words. The other day he said both "Dangerous" and "Ridiculous" without his sister's help. Just out of no where. "Mommy, we cant go swimming in the deep end... that is dangerous"... "Mommy, don't put that on your head... that is ridiculous".

Wha?

Anyway, this is a long way from where he was at Christmastime.... He decided to put a "Y" sound at the end of most every word. "Sister-y... can I have some of your water-y?" I thought that it was cute..... Sister, not so much. Baby girl has actually asked me and darling dear not to call her by her name when little man is around. "Mom (I am mom to her now... not mommy anymore) ..actually more like 'Moooooooom' don't call me by my name. I don't want my brother to use my name (?). I want him to call me 'sister'." Of course, she does not call big man 'brother', so I don't get it. whatever.

Baby girl also picked up this annoying phrase at Christmas too. (gotta love grade school). "Big 'ole" has entered the house! "Mom... can you get me a 'big ole' drink... I am thirsty". Yowsers. Then again, a few months ago, husband and I were in bed on Sat morning fighting the sun from rising (it always seems to though) and baby girl wanted to know what we were going to do that day. "I dunno.. what do you want to do?"

"Let's go to the mall and loiter."

HUH? Really?

"So, darling daughter... what does loiter mean"

"You know... just hang out."

Wow. Chalk a positive up for grade school cause I am 98% certain that I don't use that word in my everyday conversations...

We do still have issues with some words though.

With both of them "ambulance" really gets them tongue tied. It usually ends up "aliens". As in "Mom - listen - can you hear the aliens?"

"No" (as I look to the sky for the UFO I am sure is hovering overhead with their sirens and bells blazing.)

Ever since my mom was in the hospital for a week or so this Spring, now they play "Aliens" and race to the hospital. whatever.

T still has an issue with the "L" sound. He finally got the "L" back in "please". But the "Fl" sound is really tripping him up. So, instead of, "Mommy, my flip flops are on the floor" it is "Mommy, my blip blops are on the bloor". Now, I know I am his mom, but that is WAY CUTE!

Shake it!

So, it is 3 years and 6 months since the birth of my son. He FINALLY decides that it is time to use the potty on a regular basis (and the angels sing "ALLELUIA")

So, we started tinkling on the potty. Then we started pooping on the potty. (This is nasty... we are using a small potty and what goes in there must be transferred to the big potty - nasty). Now my big boy needed to learn how to stand and use the potty. From the beginning, I told my husband that he would have to be the one to teach him how to do this as I just don't have those parts.

When I came home from school one day and casually mentioned that my son's preschool teachers had started to teach him, my husband was a little peeved. (Apparently this was a right of passage that had been violated) so I told him to get to work.

At a visit to Nana's house, we heard the familiar call " Mama, I need to go potty" which was answered with "NOEL - GO". As my husband chases my son into the bathroom he is trying to remember why this was so important for HIM to teach my son this....

Noel comes out of the restroom a few minutes later in tears. (laughing ones) He says that after my son went potty, he told him to "Shake it". Now, to older boys and men, this is common knowledge. To a three year old boy who is used to dancing around the house, this is an invitation to cut a rug, so he shakes it. (think "come on baby, lets do the twist").

Wowsers. That was funny.

Update on the binky

I was reading some of my old posts and came across one talking about Tyler's pacifier. Yes, the pacifier is gone. We had a passy passing ceremony on his 3rd birthday. I am pretty embarrassed that it took that long, but at three, we kicked that habit.
We had his party, opened presents, had cake, everyone left, then it was time. We pulled the trash can up to him. We had been explaining to him for weeks that 3 year olds don't use binkies anymore and that when he turns 3 that he wouldn't have it anymore. He seemed to be on board.
But when the time came, he threw his binky into the trash.... then took it out again. "No, you can't do that. It is time for binky to go bye-bye." "NOOOOO I want my binky".... yep it went on and on for about 30 minutes that night. I just sat on the couch and cried and cried. Why was that so emotional to me? I even went and got it out of the trash, washed it and had it in my hand for when I just couldn't take it anymore.
He finally fell asleep. we went through the same routine for another 2 weeks, but then I guess he forgot about it.
I think that was the last thing that made him truly a baby and since he will be my last, I suppose I was mourning that again. Not sure, maybe I was just hormonal. It sometimes happens that way.

Thinking of this story reminds me of when my daughter gave hers up. (it wasn't a willing thing). She chewed up her last one one night and I couldn't find another one to send with her to mothers day out the next day. her teacher assured me that she would be OK and she was for the most part. (apart from the incessant "I wan ma Binky" in the car and in bed for about 2 weeks).

I remember when we brought my son home from the hospital and we had fresh, new, clean Binkies for him. I remember seeing the look in her eye... like having an open bottle of tequila in front of an alcoholic. I am sure that she took a few drags from the new Binky, but I suppose that she decided that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be so she left them alone. She decided her new mission concerning the Binky was to keep track of it and make sure that it was in her brothers mouth at all times... he was much quieter that way... :)

Sodom and Gomorrah

Long story.



My daughter loves to read bedtime stories at night... of course she does 1) it is fun to have someone read to you and 2) it delays the inevitable that the lights will be turned off and she will have to go to sleep. (Why did we hate this so much as kids... I would love to go to bed early every night.....)



So, trying to be the well balanced mom that I think I can be, I thought that it would be great to get her a kids Bible with lots of pictures and stories of the Bible. I thought that we could read them together and learn and talk and really enjoy growing up and learning about God together.



So on her Birthday we give her this Bible and a pair of Dora pajamas. Guess which one she liked the best. I did get the obligatory "Oh wow mom... thanks" when she opened the Bible, but then she set it aside and did not pick it back up for weeks. This hurt... you know I wrote a very sweet note in the cover hoping that she would treasure it as much as I treasured giving it to her... NOPE... I think that this comes with her learning empathy which I have been told doesn't come for another couple of years.



OK, so now the real reason for the post.



So when we finally decide to read it at night, she gets about 3 a night. Soon enough she picks out her favorite stories. The one she really focused on was Sodom and Gomorrah. Not sure if it was the pictures of the fires or the picture of Lots wife turning into salt... but she LOVES that story. I think she gets it though....



One day we were travelling down the road to church. There is a McDonalds pretty much across the street from our church which we used to go to before/during/after church activities. I say used to because on this day we looked for the McDonalds and it was no longer there. The only thing that was left was a big pile of rocks.

So my daughter is in the backseat and asks what happened... I say "Looks like it was torn down"

Silence in the back seat.

"I guess Mr. McDonald looked back"

Now tell me the child isn't paying attention.

I was rolling!

So, after weeks waiting and waiting we drive back past this McDonalds. This time it is my son's turn. "Look Mom... Bob Builder"

Huh?

There was a construction crew building the McDonalds back. Bob Builder apparently.

So now it is the McDonalds that Bob Builder Built.

I bet that they didn't know that, huh?

What my kids don't have or do.

Our kids don't use bar soap. Yes, my kids are clean, but they use shower gel or liquid soap. Even washing their hands, they use liquid soap. I can still almost smell the smell of ivory. You know, I remember using that last little bit... trying to rub soap into nothingness.... I remember carving soap into cool statues... (was I the only one to do that?)... I even put the soap in my drawers as a "sachet". My kids don't even know what dove is and they are really confused why they can't touch the soap I have in their bathroom for visitors... they don't understand that when they rub their eyes, it will burn...ahh the memories.



Our kids don't have to wait to see a picture. They don't even know what a Polaroid is. Even my 2 year old says "Me see it" after I take his picture. I get in big trouble when I don't let him see it. I have a long explanation ahead of me when I take his picture with my Nikon or something. UGH. I wonder if this is why my daughter is such a ham in pictures.....



Our kids don't have plain bandaids. You know, the kind that ripped of every hair you had on your skin and sometimes even the scab itself. What a bunch of pansies. Now they have to have "sensitive" ones or character ones. But you know, it did take me a while to figure out that I would rather spend $5.00 a month on a few boxes on bandaids for my kids to put on then take right off, then to listen to them whine about an "owie" that I can't see.



Our kids don't have under-roos. At least I haven't found them. Yes, there are character underwear, but it just isn't the same, you know?