Cousins

We had a fun visit with my little sis and her fam as they stopped off here for a couple days in their trip to move across 2/3rds of the country.

There was some sharing
There was some keep away
There was eating
And there was lots of posing
(These two are going to be trouble some day)(notice how E feels about the posing)(and note how A felt about O trying to join in on the photoshoot)

And there was just enjoying the company. (This was right about the time that Miss A began to imitate EVERY move cousin M was making. It was hilarious and SCARY all at the same time. I'm telling you people, they are going to be trouble)

She loves accessorizing

Jewelry, purses, hats, belts, and (despite the pictures I've shown as evidence) shoes.

Soon she won't even need me

So unlike her brother who comes up with all kinds of reasons he can't do something himself -- I'm too busy...too tired... too little...it's too scary and my all-time favorite... my legs are broken (he's even dedicated himself to this one to the extent that he's scooted himself all over the house without using his legs), Miss A is all about doing things herself these days. After a meal she buses the table and puts the trash in the sink and the plates in the trash (no that wasn't a typo). She is constantly opening the freezer to find herself something to eat and then insist that I cook her the frozen chicken, steak, or broccoli she has selected. On the occasion she decides to use the toilet, after sitting down on the throne she always extends her hand towards me and says "leaf".

Yesterday morning she took her independence to an all-new level. While Br and I were getting ready for the day she got herself a box of cereal, bowl and spoon. She filled her bowl, threw the empty box in the trash, and made a tiny little fruit loop trail as she took her bowl outside so she could enjoy her breakfast and the beautiful weather at the same time. The thing that cracked me up the most was when she came back inside and saw one of the many fruit loops she'd spilled on the ground said "oops", bent over and picked it up, and put it in the trash.

Conversations

These are some of my favorite conversations from this last week.

As I walk outside to check on the kids playing in the backyard I see E emerging from a fenced-off area pulling up his pants.

Me- Um E. Why were your pants off?
E- I had to go potty.
Me- I've told you before, we don't pee in the backyard.
E- (very animated) I come to the door. I knock. Nobody answers. I go to the backside and pee.

I guess it was as simple as that.

As we were in the car driving to a party place for one of E's classmate's birthday party.

E- I want to go to Dax's house
Me- Sweetheart, I've told you before, I don't know where Dax lives (in the past he's handed me an atlas and told me to use that to find the house). Plus his party is not at his house so he won't be there.
E- But I want to go to his house so I can play with his toys

This continues and each time he insists on going to Dax's house with a lengthy and more agitated explanation as to why he wants to go to Dax's house instead of the party place, I get a little louder and tenser trying to explain why we weren't going to his house. Until finally there is a pause and then
in a calm voice...

E- Calm down. Calm down. I trying to say that I want to go to Dax's house so I can play his toys.

Ah, if only it was that simple.

A few days later I was trying to get E to get dressed. I put his clothes out for him including a fresh change of undies.

Me- E. Please put your underwear on before your pants.
E- Where mom?
Me- That red underwear right there (pointing directly to it)
E- What?
Me- The underwear you are sitting right next to
E- Where?
Me- The ones you are practically sitting on.
E- (looking around) Huh?
Me- Right there (finally getting up and handing it to him)
E- Oh. This underwear. I just thought you crazy.

Then lastly after a trip to the grocery store where we ran into A's favorite employee. She was being silly and insisting that he was not her friend when he was asking her about it. In the car on the way home.

Me- A, is Hank your friend?
A-Nope
Me- We'll is Mommy your friend?
A-Nope
Me- Is Daddy your friend?
A-No
Me- Is E your friend
A-No
A- Chocolate milk!
Me- Chocolate milk is your friend?
A- (with a huge smile holding her cup in the air) Yep!

Two good reasons to shine

Dear Mother Nature,
I write out of concern for you. Why oh why have you been so gloomy this week? You know Spring is here. We've been watching the popcorn blossoms pop into big shady leaves. Sure the daffodils and hyacinth have come and gone, but the tulips are beginning to shoot up bringing a whole new array of colors. The birds are chirping in the trees again and the squirrels have come back out just so that our dog Duchess can have something to do all day. Can't you give them all a little sunshine? If not them, then how about my kids? We appreciate your nice weather oh so much. They were so happy when the weather warmed so they could run free outside. All E wants is for it to be "shinny in the backside". Remember last week how happy they were when we went to the zoo? Let me remind you. You know nothing makes those two happier than splashing around in the water. How can they do that when you are hiding the sun behind the clouds? Don't you want to bring these smiles back? I don't think it is too much to ask. ... Wait, is that the sun I see slowly peaking out?... Thank you so much!!!!! We won't let you down.

Getting Hitched

A couple weekends ago we took a quick little trip to Albucrazy for my little brother's wedding. The drive was actually relatively painless. If it hadn't been so annoying, Miss A asking "Where a going?" over and over and over again would have been a little comical. Miss A-" Where a going?" Me- "Albuquerque". Miss A- "Oh, Albeekirkey!" Then less than a minute later "Where a going?". AHHHHHH!

We rolled into town with just a little time to stretch our legs before a little family dinner my mom hosted the night before the wedding.

I had done a lot of the flower prep work at home but then spent the rest of the night and every moment up until the reception putting together a "cake". Luckily my sisters stepped in and put together the groom's "cake". I'm giving them all the credit because my game plan for the design literally fell apart. What I enjoyed most of all was the quality sister time we managed to sneak in as we turned scrap Styrofoam into a cake and somehow managed to keep the doughnut tower from toppling. The ceremony at the temple was nice and the weather for pictures after was PERFECT. I have to be honest. I'm a little jealous of their reception. It was beautifully simple and classy. My dad even put together a little band to play live music throughout the night. I loved the whole thing. The whole thing went off without any major drama (although my sisters and I were all able to get a Bingo on our "dysfunctional family bingo" cards -- I'm pretty certain anyone could win at any family gathering dysfunctional or not).

The next morning we slept in and met up at my nephew's soccer game. We showed up but the other team only had 2 players and no ref. My little sister stepped in as the official and E got to make his soccer comeback for the opposing team. Despite the fact that he never managed to stay in the game for more than 2 minutes when he was playing last fall, he played 3 full quarters. I was so proud of him. The rest of the days we all sort of just laid low and enjoyed each other's company. E had the time of his life with his buddy cousin P. We were a little sad when we had to go home.

Success

I swear my next post will have photos.

So in the last little while I was in a little bit of a slump. I think it was mostly fueled by the fact that I realized there was no way I was going to be skinny by the time pictures would be taken at my brother's wedding which was a goal that was really important to me. I got over the fact that there was nothing I could do to make my goal in such a short time but as I was thinking about it I realized that it has been a while since I've had success. I'm not talking a huge success like winning an award, losing 30 pounds or saving someone's life or anything like that. I don't know what had been happening but it had been a while since I'd even had a little success like getting all the laundry washed AND folded, staying on top of my to-do list, or keeping my house from falling into shambles. I got a little overwhelmed and discouraged. After a weekend away from my typical day to day activities, I'm finally feeling like I'm out of my slump and have a new resolve to have a successful week (meaning I'm going to stick to my healthy eating plan and exercise, get my house back to a less chaotic state, fold some laundry, make some dinner and maybe, just maybe cross everything off my to-do list). I can do it!

Why?

E is definitely in the why? stage. All day, why this?, why that? Every now and then I try to give him an actual answer rather than "just because". It makes me laugh when he comes up with his own answer to "why". For instance last week he asked, "Mom why is it raining?" I told him something like, "because the clouds had too much water in them and it started to drip out." His response was "no. Um, I think they crying."

Out of all the MANY questions WHY this week came tonight. He caught me looking in the mirror checking on how my implant areas are healing. He asked, "why you not have teeth." I said "Because they fell out." and his response was "Oh, because you talk too much."

Sam I am

When I picked E up one day this week from school he muttered something like "I didn't want the green eggs." I turned to his teacher to ask what in the world he was talking about. She said that in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday they had green eggs and ham. Apparently, when E saw it he flipped out. He screamed like they were trying to poison him and he held tightly to his teacher's leg even though they said he didn't have to eat them. I guess it was quite an ordeal. I turned to E and asked him why he freaked out and he said, " I not like green eggs and ham." Clearly, he didn't get the moral of the story.

I got implants...

...dental implants that is. Well, I guess I only got one major step done, but that is progress. I lost two of my baby teeth probably close to 20 years ago and adult teeth never grew in. Shortly thereafter I got my first orthodontic appliance. A rapid palate expander, braces, MANY MANY retainers ( I melted some and broke others-- I once lost one of my fake teeth during water polo practice and had to find it 12 feet underwater), and a couple flippers later and I FINALLY found myself in the chair yesterday for the first of the three-stage process of getting myself a permanent smile. The surgery wasn't bad at all. I just cranked up my music whenever I could hear the sound of bone scraping or drilling. I enjoyed a very nice pain killer induced nap after I got home yesterday and was secretly a little sad that I wasn't in pain when I woke up this morning so I didn't need Br to stay home from work so I could stay in bed all day. I know, I'm being a little silly. Although nobody in my family was really rivaling me, it will be safe to say that by the end of this I will have the most expensive set of chompers. In any event, I'm super excited that after YEARS of waiting for this whole process of replacing two silly little teeth with finally be over.

Bored

Friday night we were BORED!! After throwing around lots of ideas of how to pass the night we finally came to the conclusion that it was a blanket fort night. It is a mild travesty that E has made it to age 4 without experiencing a blanket fort so while Br was off with the kids picking up some frozen pizza for dinner I threw together a blanket fort.
The kid's excitement after returning to their surprise was a little short-lived. E ended up being really sad because in his mind he'd decided that the "surprise" he was promised upon his return was going to be a very particular Lego set (I have no idea what gave him this impression). A's fun ended when she impaled herself one too many times on the chairs and overturned stools I used to keep the fort upright. I'm not sure why she insisted on trying to jump on the outside of the fort.

We did manage to have a few more moments of smiles while we roasted marshmallows but it wasn't long before Br and I realized the grand plan of activities and adventures we'd planned for our fort weren't going to be happening with the kids in their semi-cranky mood. So we put the kids to bed a little early and laid inside by ourselves and enjoyed our movie and popcorn. Not necessarily what we planned, but still a great night.

E says the darndest

So I started this post back in November so some of it is a little old. Tonight E said something reminded me that I'd never finished this.

I was in the middle of game of Dr. Mario that wasn't going that well and said, "why do I stink so bad".
E- "Oh, you need to go potty?"
Me (laughing my head off) "No not that kind of stink."
E- "You need a shower?"

Here's some stuff from the past
After being handed some his prize of star "sunglasses" from Chucky Cheese that didn't have lenses. "These glasses no have glass. Too boring".

Minutes into him eating his first strawberry cupcake. "Strawberries. Strawberries? Mom you make strawberries in my cupcake. I don't like it. Disgusting!" Br- "You don't have to eat it". E reached to Br to give him the two bites left, then hesitated, and took one more bite then handed the tiniest piece to Br to put in the trash.

When trying to add time detail to his descriptions, things in E's life always happen next week-- whether past, present or future. "I'm cold last week"

He always has what he thinks is a valid response to why he does, or doesn't want to do something. Me- "E don't eat that, it's really spicy". E- "But I lob it spicy" Me- "E you need to go put underwear on." E- "I'm too busy" Me- "E please go wash your hands." E- "Too boring" Me- "E you need to eat some real food before you have more chocolate milk" E- "I did eat food last week." There is also an accompanying exaggerated, but appropriate facial expression that goes along with the response.

I don't have any funny things Miss A says because everything she says is spot on. She throws me off a little because we end up having full conversations. I'm not used to having to explain myself to a 1 and half-year-old.
Me- Good morning
A- Good morning
Me- Lets get dressed
A- Why, a going?
Me- gymnastics.
A- Oh, gymnastics,
After she gets fully dresses -- Let's go.

On a walk tonight
A- Want park
Me- No, not tonight
A- Why?
Me- It's going to get dark too soon.
A- Okay
Even though she isn't known for saying anything too crazy she still shows us she has a sense of humor. Just tonight she enters the room with a pair of underwear on her head and with a straight face announces "Siddy" (Silly).

"Happy Dirt Day You"

That's how E sings Happy Birthday "Happy dirt day you. Happy dirt day you. Happy dirt day ____. Happy dirt day you." all to his own little tune.

We'll our little song lyricists actually survived to see the age of 4. To try and steer him away from another pirate party, I asked him if he wanted to have his own drive-in in his house (He LOVES the drive-in). He got really excited about it and walked around the house telling me how we needed to decorate/paint the walls to make his own "movie in the backside".

We didn't end up painting any walls but we tried to transform/flashback to a late 1950s drive-in.
The kids sat under the moon and stars in colorful little cars and watched Popeye and friends.
They ate snacks served up by our soda jerk (thank you Br!)And designed their own matchbox type cars
By the end of the party E was definitely ready to blow out the candle and finally eat some cake. (I'm such a mean mommy, always having cake around but never for my kids). Unfortunately, I ran out of time and didn't finish the cake, but did end up with just barely enough cupcakes for the kids. (sorry parents--I owe you some cake).

Thanks for turning 4 E so we could all celebrate with you. Love you buddy!