Friday, January 30, 2009
Cake!
Sam tried to talk me into making Sadie a purple Care Bear cake, since he had a green Care Bear cake this year for his birthday. However, Grandma was here to decorate his and he was old enough to care what his cake was. No Grandma today, but more importantly, all Sadie cares about right now is the existence of frosting. So she got cupcakes with purple frosting - and was completely happy! Sam didn't seem to mind eating them, either.
T-shirt Tradition II
Here is Sadie in starting her own birthday T-shirt tradition. Sam gets to wear an old t-shirt of Joe's for a picture each year on his birthday, I only thought it fair that Sadie wears one of mine - equal representation for Ball State and UNI.
She was quite enthralled with the fact that she could not see her feet.
In fact, she refused to let me take it off her and spent the next half an hour walking around in it, playing with all her spoons and forks. She had just been to time out three times in 10 minutes for throwing food on the floor, so this was as close to eating as she was going to get for a while.
She was quite enthralled with the fact that she could not see her feet.
In fact, she refused to let me take it off her and spent the next half an hour walking around in it, playing with all her spoons and forks. She had just been to time out three times in 10 minutes for throwing food on the floor, so this was as close to eating as she was going to get for a while.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wheels
Anything with wheels can be considered a riding toy by my two kiddos. They kind of remind me of clowns at a circus.........
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Uncle Matt was here!
You can tell by the abundance of empty Coke cans........
...and the smile on Sam's face for having a constant GeoTrax playmate.
I believe my brother and sister-in-law spent at least half of the waking hours they were here in the basement playing trains. They are much more tolerant of sitting in the poorly-lit basement for hours on end serenaded by "All aboard!" than I am. Matt and I bought Sam some more track and he was in heaven after his uncle got everything connected way better than Mommy ever could. I think his comment about my previous attempt at a track was something along the lines of "It just didn't work for me."
Sadie had fun too....
...playing the guitar....
...and "helping" Matt pack.
And my wonderful sister-in-law was here too. Just can't put any pictures of her up - have to protect her food-critic identity!
...and the smile on Sam's face for having a constant GeoTrax playmate.
I believe my brother and sister-in-law spent at least half of the waking hours they were here in the basement playing trains. They are much more tolerant of sitting in the poorly-lit basement for hours on end serenaded by "All aboard!" than I am. Matt and I bought Sam some more track and he was in heaven after his uncle got everything connected way better than Mommy ever could. I think his comment about my previous attempt at a track was something along the lines of "It just didn't work for me."
Sadie had fun too....
...playing the guitar....
...and "helping" Matt pack.
And my wonderful sister-in-law was here too. Just can't put any pictures of her up - have to protect her food-critic identity!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Spaghetti for supper
This is why you won't find the Mason clan out to eat very often.......at least anywhere the average meal costs more than $4.99.
Hot Mama - Amen!
Those are the three words Sadie now says on a consistent basis (though not all at once, in that order, with the emphasis I added with the exclamation point.....just thought I'd flatter myself for a moment.)
My friend Jen pointed out that they can all be tied back to eating (her favorite activity): she says hot when she can't eat something yet, Mama is the one who brings the food over, and she has to say amen at the end of the prayer before she is allowed to dig in. I also thought I heard her say "yummy" the other day. The other two "words" she uses most frequently by signing them are "more" and "all done," so basically her entire vocabulary revolves around food.
(The other thing I can't forget to mention - she is also attempting to say Dada - finally!)
My friend Jen pointed out that they can all be tied back to eating (her favorite activity): she says hot when she can't eat something yet, Mama is the one who brings the food over, and she has to say amen at the end of the prayer before she is allowed to dig in. I also thought I heard her say "yummy" the other day. The other two "words" she uses most frequently by signing them are "more" and "all done," so basically her entire vocabulary revolves around food.
(The other thing I can't forget to mention - she is also attempting to say Dada - finally!)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
The things I have done
Before I had kids, I had a list of things I would never do when I had children. Never. Ummmm....yeah....I was wrong.
One thing I found completely ridiculous was people driving their children around in the car just to get them to fall asleep. How dumb. If your kid can't sleep without requiring a trip around town, maybe they just don't need the sleep that much, I thought. (At that point, I thought parents wanted their children to sleep because the children needed it. Then I learned that you really want your children to sleep so you can sleep yourself!) Then, at 9 months old, my lovely son started not taking a morning nap. The books all said kids usually take 2 naps a day until they are 18 months old - I was supposed to have 9 more months!
He was, however, quite nicely lulled to sleep if in the car for about 10 minutes and was a dream to transfer from carseat to crib. And so I conveniently had "errands" to run every morning around 10 - was it my fault he fell asleep before we got to our destination and I just happened to turn around, go home, and slip him into his crib? I won't even tell you about the "scenic" routes I took to run my "errands." Let's just say I believe I have been on every street in the city of Muscatine.
I also was certain that my children would not even know what the inside of a McDonalds looked like until they were teenagers. I didn't like the place, why should they? And then a friend wanted to meet at one with a playplace for a playdate - and I was doomed.
My children (both of them - even the one who has only been home from China for 3 months) squeal with delight as I pull into a drive-thru. And if I decide we get to go in to eat? You would think I had just told them they could have ice cream for every meal and go to bed whenever they wanted. I do believe Sam has been to every McDs within 15 miles of our house (which is quite a few). Of course, I will blame some of this on his Grandmommie and Papa who fed his addiction while we were gone to get Sadie..... I just won't mention the fact I resorted to using getting nuggets and fries as a bribe to get him to use the bathroom yesterday. Or the fact that I seem to be addicted to their southern style chicken sandwich.
I was able to cross another item off my list today. When I was a teacher, I was oddly annoyed by kids having shoes that light up or have characters on them. Seriously people, these are shoes. Do we have to make every single item appealing to kids? Can't they just be happy with a plain old pair of shoes? (Maybe this stems back to my own childhood and only once even getting a pair of shoes in a girl color - I usually either got my older brother's or had to be able to pass them down to my younger brother - so I will admit that I may have some strange issues with shoes.)
Yet today, there I was, in the middle of Kohl's pleading with Sam to pick out a pair of shoes so we could get home and Sadie could take a nap. (See the first paragraph....parents needing children to sleep!) I started out with the plain colored ones, trying to make black and lime green as attactive as possible. He was not convinced. I then moved on to the ones with a basketball on the side. Not plain like I wanted, but no lights and no cartoon characters. Then he saw the Cars ones. Thankfully they did not fit, but he was still not satisfied with the balls. I tried to talk him into some police-car looking ones (yes, LOTS of lights, but no Diego or Thomas or whomever). No go. He saw the Spidermans and his eyes lit up. (I have no idea why he likes Spiderman - he has never even seen him anywhere other than on his underwear!) I was getting desparate. Sadie had managed to dislodge 3 boxes of shoes from the shelf and was having fun throwing them on the floor, we still had to go to the grocery store before heading home, and the Spideys were on sale: I caved. My son now a has a Spiderman on each foot and blinking lights on each heel (as well as each velcro strap - like the heel isn't enough?)
I can't wait to see what I do next.
One thing I found completely ridiculous was people driving their children around in the car just to get them to fall asleep. How dumb. If your kid can't sleep without requiring a trip around town, maybe they just don't need the sleep that much, I thought. (At that point, I thought parents wanted their children to sleep because the children needed it. Then I learned that you really want your children to sleep so you can sleep yourself!) Then, at 9 months old, my lovely son started not taking a morning nap. The books all said kids usually take 2 naps a day until they are 18 months old - I was supposed to have 9 more months!
He was, however, quite nicely lulled to sleep if in the car for about 10 minutes and was a dream to transfer from carseat to crib. And so I conveniently had "errands" to run every morning around 10 - was it my fault he fell asleep before we got to our destination and I just happened to turn around, go home, and slip him into his crib? I won't even tell you about the "scenic" routes I took to run my "errands." Let's just say I believe I have been on every street in the city of Muscatine.
I also was certain that my children would not even know what the inside of a McDonalds looked like until they were teenagers. I didn't like the place, why should they? And then a friend wanted to meet at one with a playplace for a playdate - and I was doomed.
My children (both of them - even the one who has only been home from China for 3 months) squeal with delight as I pull into a drive-thru. And if I decide we get to go in to eat? You would think I had just told them they could have ice cream for every meal and go to bed whenever they wanted. I do believe Sam has been to every McDs within 15 miles of our house (which is quite a few). Of course, I will blame some of this on his Grandmommie and Papa who fed his addiction while we were gone to get Sadie..... I just won't mention the fact I resorted to using getting nuggets and fries as a bribe to get him to use the bathroom yesterday. Or the fact that I seem to be addicted to their southern style chicken sandwich.
I was able to cross another item off my list today. When I was a teacher, I was oddly annoyed by kids having shoes that light up or have characters on them. Seriously people, these are shoes. Do we have to make every single item appealing to kids? Can't they just be happy with a plain old pair of shoes? (Maybe this stems back to my own childhood and only once even getting a pair of shoes in a girl color - I usually either got my older brother's or had to be able to pass them down to my younger brother - so I will admit that I may have some strange issues with shoes.)
Yet today, there I was, in the middle of Kohl's pleading with Sam to pick out a pair of shoes so we could get home and Sadie could take a nap. (See the first paragraph....parents needing children to sleep!) I started out with the plain colored ones, trying to make black and lime green as attactive as possible. He was not convinced. I then moved on to the ones with a basketball on the side. Not plain like I wanted, but no lights and no cartoon characters. Then he saw the Cars ones. Thankfully they did not fit, but he was still not satisfied with the balls. I tried to talk him into some police-car looking ones (yes, LOTS of lights, but no Diego or Thomas or whomever). No go. He saw the Spidermans and his eyes lit up. (I have no idea why he likes Spiderman - he has never even seen him anywhere other than on his underwear!) I was getting desparate. Sadie had managed to dislodge 3 boxes of shoes from the shelf and was having fun throwing them on the floor, we still had to go to the grocery store before heading home, and the Spideys were on sale: I caved. My son now a has a Spiderman on each foot and blinking lights on each heel (as well as each velcro strap - like the heel isn't enough?)
I can't wait to see what I do next.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Lessons in listening
Sam has been hearing a lot of "Sam, did you listen to me?" lately. Apparently he has heard it enough he now feels he is an expert of the subject. Tonight while putting him to bed he asked me, "Mom, can you listen to me?"
"Sure, Sam, I can listen to you."
"Are you listening?"
"Yes."
"No hitting Sadie when you are upstairs."
"Okay." (I briefly considered reminding Sam that is was him, not me, that hit Sadie earlier in the day, but decided it was not a conversation I wanted to start at that point in time. Sometimes you just have to smile and nod, right?)
"And no yelling loud when Sadie is asleep." (Another thing I am guilty of so often.)
"Okay."
"And just remember....."
"Yes?"
"....no throwing your food on the floor." (Thanks for reminding me. I'll try to stop.)
"Sure, Sam, I can listen to you."
"Are you listening?"
"Yes."
"No hitting Sadie when you are upstairs."
"Okay." (I briefly considered reminding Sam that is was him, not me, that hit Sadie earlier in the day, but decided it was not a conversation I wanted to start at that point in time. Sometimes you just have to smile and nod, right?)
"And no yelling loud when Sadie is asleep." (Another thing I am guilty of so often.)
"Okay."
"And just remember....."
"Yes?"
"....no throwing your food on the floor." (Thanks for reminding me. I'll try to stop.)
Monday, January 19, 2009
Keep me warm
I love to sleep. So much so that Joe's entire family used to make fun of me for how much of a road trip to Indiana I would sleep through. Joe's mom will probably tell you I used to fall asleep around Cedar Rapids and wake up in Indianapolis, just in time to pop in a Chicago CD for that last hour to Muncie. (For those of you that don't know, Joe and I were dating while I was a senior in high school and he was a freshman in college - me in Iowa and him in Indiana. His mother was kind enough to take me along on any trip out to see him, and often made trips she may not have otherwise just because we wanted to see each other. Isn't that a great mother-in-law to have?!)
But anyway - back to my love of sleep. I once told someone (about 3 years into being married) that I wasn't going to have kids yet because I liked to sleep too much. And that truly was one reason I was not on board the baby train yet. Obviously, I got over it, but I still try to squeeze in every moment I can get.
When Sam was about a year old, he suddenly went from waking up around 7:30 to rising before 6am. Not okay. Not okay at all. For the life of me, I could not get the kid to go back to sleep in his crib. After a few mornings of this I was getting desperate, so I tried bringing him into bed with me......and it worked! Joe was already up and getting ready for work, so there was plenty of room, and the lovely child would sleep until 8 or 9 o'clock. I was in heaven!
Little did I know we were forming a habit. Not that I mind Sam in bed with me in the morning, but then he started wanting to come to my bed in the middle of the night. He and I still have a nightly conversation about 2am about the fact that he sleeps in his bed and I sleep in my bed until Daddy goes to work. He's tried all the angles - he's scared or lonely or just thinks my bed is softer - but I still tell him no.
Now, I have plenty of friends who share their bed with their kids - and I am not opposed to it in theory - but in practice it just doesn't work for me. There are 2 adults in my queen-sized bed and there just isn't space for my helicopter-style-sleeping son. So he has to wait until morning. And this morning when I let him in and his comment melted my heart.
"Mommy, there was nobody in my bed to keep me warm. I need you."
Oh, my sweet, sweet boy. Just please tell me we won't be doing this when you are in middle school.
But anyway - back to my love of sleep. I once told someone (about 3 years into being married) that I wasn't going to have kids yet because I liked to sleep too much. And that truly was one reason I was not on board the baby train yet. Obviously, I got over it, but I still try to squeeze in every moment I can get.
When Sam was about a year old, he suddenly went from waking up around 7:30 to rising before 6am. Not okay. Not okay at all. For the life of me, I could not get the kid to go back to sleep in his crib. After a few mornings of this I was getting desperate, so I tried bringing him into bed with me......and it worked! Joe was already up and getting ready for work, so there was plenty of room, and the lovely child would sleep until 8 or 9 o'clock. I was in heaven!
Little did I know we were forming a habit. Not that I mind Sam in bed with me in the morning, but then he started wanting to come to my bed in the middle of the night. He and I still have a nightly conversation about 2am about the fact that he sleeps in his bed and I sleep in my bed until Daddy goes to work. He's tried all the angles - he's scared or lonely or just thinks my bed is softer - but I still tell him no.
Now, I have plenty of friends who share their bed with their kids - and I am not opposed to it in theory - but in practice it just doesn't work for me. There are 2 adults in my queen-sized bed and there just isn't space for my helicopter-style-sleeping son. So he has to wait until morning. And this morning when I let him in and his comment melted my heart.
"Mommy, there was nobody in my bed to keep me warm. I need you."
Oh, my sweet, sweet boy. Just please tell me we won't be doing this when you are in middle school.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Matt's a little busy right now
Thursday morning the kids and I braved the 25 below temperatures to go to Barnes and Noble. Why - you may ask? Because apparently the "bookseller" I talked to on the phone is not trained in customer service. My brother Matt is featured in an article in last week's New York magazine. (http://nymag.com/news/features/all-new/53344/) I had been to one B&N the afternoon before (when it was only 20 below) looking for it, but that one did not carry that magazine. The kind person there told me to call another store in the morning because they had a larger magazine section. (She told me to call in the morning since she had called while I was standing there and had gotten "some kid that didn't know what he was talking about.") So I did. Here was my conversation with the aforementioned "bookseller."
Me: Do you carry New York magazine?
Him: I think so.
Me: Not the New Yorker. New York magazine.
Him: I think so.
Me: Can you go look? I want the Jan. 11th issue.
Him: (after going to look) The special double issue with Obama on the front?
Me: Yes - it says Jan. 11th, right?
Him: Yeah.
Me: How many copies do you have?
Him: I think I saw 2.
Me: Can you hold them for me?
Him: I can't hold magazines.
Me: Please. My brother is in it. (So it's not like I am going to stand you up and not buy them and then you are left with 2 copies you could have sold, sir....)
Him: Cool! That's really neat! (His enthusiasm gave me a little hope....)
Me: So can you hold them?
Him: No. Maybe I could hide them behind something for you. (chuckle) No - I can't do that either. (Funny, buddy. OK - now I am going to play my poor-mother-of-two-small-children card.)
Me: I have two toddlers that I don't really want to bring out in this weather. Is there any way you can have them held until this evening when I can come alone?
Him: No - sorry.
So we went and got the 3 copies they had. I made a big point as we were standing in line for Sam to say "That's my Uncle Matt!" and then made a big production of getting all of my children's cold-weather gear back onto their bodies. Not that anyone seemed to notice.
Then Friday afternoon my parents were coming to our house so that I could take them to the airport Saturday morning to catch their plane to Jamaica. Every time the phone rang on Friday Sam was hoping it was them calling to tell him they were almost here so he could look out the window to watch them drive up. At some point in the late morning I was on the phone with my brother Matt (trying to fix my computer problems over the phone, which is the usual reason that I call him). Sam got all excited and said "Matt is coming to our house too!?" I told him that he wasn't coming today, but he was actually coming in a week or so. (Matt lives in New Jersey, but he and his wife are coming to Chicago next weekend.) "Oh," Sam said,"He can't come today. He's in a magazine instead."
I can't wait to see what he says when Matt is at our house and I hold up the magazine next to him.
Me: Do you carry New York magazine?
Him: I think so.
Me: Not the New Yorker. New York magazine.
Him: I think so.
Me: Can you go look? I want the Jan. 11th issue.
Him: (after going to look) The special double issue with Obama on the front?
Me: Yes - it says Jan. 11th, right?
Him: Yeah.
Me: How many copies do you have?
Him: I think I saw 2.
Me: Can you hold them for me?
Him: I can't hold magazines.
Me: Please. My brother is in it. (So it's not like I am going to stand you up and not buy them and then you are left with 2 copies you could have sold, sir....)
Him: Cool! That's really neat! (His enthusiasm gave me a little hope....)
Me: So can you hold them?
Him: No. Maybe I could hide them behind something for you. (chuckle) No - I can't do that either. (Funny, buddy. OK - now I am going to play my poor-mother-of-two-small-children card.)
Me: I have two toddlers that I don't really want to bring out in this weather. Is there any way you can have them held until this evening when I can come alone?
Him: No - sorry.
So we went and got the 3 copies they had. I made a big point as we were standing in line for Sam to say "That's my Uncle Matt!" and then made a big production of getting all of my children's cold-weather gear back onto their bodies. Not that anyone seemed to notice.
Then Friday afternoon my parents were coming to our house so that I could take them to the airport Saturday morning to catch their plane to Jamaica. Every time the phone rang on Friday Sam was hoping it was them calling to tell him they were almost here so he could look out the window to watch them drive up. At some point in the late morning I was on the phone with my brother Matt (trying to fix my computer problems over the phone, which is the usual reason that I call him). Sam got all excited and said "Matt is coming to our house too!?" I told him that he wasn't coming today, but he was actually coming in a week or so. (Matt lives in New Jersey, but he and his wife are coming to Chicago next weekend.) "Oh," Sam said,"He can't come today. He's in a magazine instead."
I can't wait to see what he says when Matt is at our house and I hold up the magazine next to him.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Her own sense of style
Sadie spent most of the day in striped leggings and her ladybug Halloween costume. (Yes, I picked out the leggings. She was the one insistent on the ladybug.) The outfit was completed when my parents arrived tonight with a new set of hand-me-downs from my friend Jen (and her daughter Anna). Sadie was immediatly taken with the "fur"-trimmed coat, hat, and muffler and added it to her ensemble.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Multitasker
My lovely daughter is what I would kindly call a multitasker when it comes to going to the bathroom. Not-so-kindly it would be described as a completely annoying child to put on the toilet because she insists on playing with everything within reach....or sometimes not-so-in-reach.
In China, they tend to potty train earlier than here in America (or at least earlier than I do here in America), so she came to us what I would call about 75% trained. She does her business on the toilet as long as a catch her in that brief moment before she goes, but is not yet to telling me that she needs to go. (Well....maybe she tried to tell me in Chinese for a while but gave up when she got no response.) She has a quite obvious look about her when she needs to use the bathroom, so I am pretty successful in getting her to the toilet in time.
Once she is placed on the toilet, it is a mad rush for me to quickly remove the toilet paper roll from the holder, lest she get a hold of it, tear off a piece, and try to start wiping herself before anything even starts happening. Then I move on to firmly holding the toilet seat lid, since her next move is to turn around and start banging it against the tank for effect. Once she sees I have that secured, she moves on to to trying to wriggle herself around to try to start taking wipes out of the box on top of the tank lid. And somehow in all of this she manages to do what she needs to do, usually without much mess.
Today we entered a new realm. The first was during breakfast this morning when that telling look came across her face. I ripped her our of her booster seat, ran to the bathroom while pulling down her pants, and set her on the seat. Only then did I notice the banana still in her hand. I tried to remove it, but she had it in a death grip. I figured, what the heck, maybe it will keep her from messing with everything else while we are in here.....and I was right! I did have to take a picture because it cracked me up. Just close the blog now if you are opposed to seeing a toddler on a toilet. (And no, I do not make my children eat their breakfast naked. She still had on her feety-jammies, so going to the bathroom requires a full stripping.)
And then this afternoon she had to go with the thermometer from a play doctor's kit in her hand. Again, I went with it since it meant I wouldn't have to do my usual routine. She then took it a step further and started lounging on the toilet. Again, it cracked me up and out came the camera. (I assume if you are still reading you are not opposed to toilet pictures, so I won't warn you to close the blog again. )
In China, they tend to potty train earlier than here in America (or at least earlier than I do here in America), so she came to us what I would call about 75% trained. She does her business on the toilet as long as a catch her in that brief moment before she goes, but is not yet to telling me that she needs to go. (Well....maybe she tried to tell me in Chinese for a while but gave up when she got no response.) She has a quite obvious look about her when she needs to use the bathroom, so I am pretty successful in getting her to the toilet in time.
Once she is placed on the toilet, it is a mad rush for me to quickly remove the toilet paper roll from the holder, lest she get a hold of it, tear off a piece, and try to start wiping herself before anything even starts happening. Then I move on to firmly holding the toilet seat lid, since her next move is to turn around and start banging it against the tank for effect. Once she sees I have that secured, she moves on to to trying to wriggle herself around to try to start taking wipes out of the box on top of the tank lid. And somehow in all of this she manages to do what she needs to do, usually without much mess.
Today we entered a new realm. The first was during breakfast this morning when that telling look came across her face. I ripped her our of her booster seat, ran to the bathroom while pulling down her pants, and set her on the seat. Only then did I notice the banana still in her hand. I tried to remove it, but she had it in a death grip. I figured, what the heck, maybe it will keep her from messing with everything else while we are in here.....and I was right! I did have to take a picture because it cracked me up. Just close the blog now if you are opposed to seeing a toddler on a toilet. (And no, I do not make my children eat their breakfast naked. She still had on her feety-jammies, so going to the bathroom requires a full stripping.)
And then this afternoon she had to go with the thermometer from a play doctor's kit in her hand. Again, I went with it since it meant I wouldn't have to do my usual routine. She then took it a step further and started lounging on the toilet. Again, it cracked me up and out came the camera. (I assume if you are still reading you are not opposed to toilet pictures, so I won't warn you to close the blog again. )
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
a few too many clicks
On a recent visit my parents taught Sam how to use a mouse (the computer-kind). About 6 months ago I started entertaining him every once in a while with computer games from his favorite shows I found online, and he was content to pick the game and watch me play it.
That has now ended. On one hand, it is a very nice development, as I can now leave him at the computer alone while Sadie is napping and get a few things done around the house, checking in on him as I walk by. On the other hand, it's a little scary to have a just-turned-3-year-old able to navigate between websites. I start him off at Bob the Builder and he knows how to get to Barney, Thomas, and his current favorite, Roary the Racing Car (which, incidentally, has websites in different languages and Sam always like to pick "not where we live." I was quite amused to find him listening to sing-alongs in French and Spanish one day).
He also knows how to close the browser's window when he is done. That is fine, except that he then has a tendency to move on to rearranging my desktop icons. Not that big a deal, but I am afraid of what he may accidentally delete someday, so he has been given strict instructions not to click on anything that is not on a game. He is usually quite obedient. However, today I came down from running some laundry upstairs and found him with a few different windows open, including a lesson for a math book I wrote some time ago. I stopped, looked at him, and before I had the chance to say anything he blurted out quite guiltily, "Ummmm.....I did something."
That has now ended. On one hand, it is a very nice development, as I can now leave him at the computer alone while Sadie is napping and get a few things done around the house, checking in on him as I walk by. On the other hand, it's a little scary to have a just-turned-3-year-old able to navigate between websites. I start him off at Bob the Builder and he knows how to get to Barney, Thomas, and his current favorite, Roary the Racing Car (which, incidentally, has websites in different languages and Sam always like to pick "not where we live." I was quite amused to find him listening to sing-alongs in French and Spanish one day).
He also knows how to close the browser's window when he is done. That is fine, except that he then has a tendency to move on to rearranging my desktop icons. Not that big a deal, but I am afraid of what he may accidentally delete someday, so he has been given strict instructions not to click on anything that is not on a game. He is usually quite obedient. However, today I came down from running some laundry upstairs and found him with a few different windows open, including a lesson for a math book I wrote some time ago. I stopped, looked at him, and before I had the chance to say anything he blurted out quite guiltily, "Ummmm.....I did something."
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
I really should not be encouraging this
by taking pictures of him doing it, but he was just having too much fun for me to stop him. And he did prepare himself a great landing spot full of pillows. So I am a responsible mother, right? I made sure he had a soft place to land. 
The day he has been waiting for
Ever since I nixed Sam sharing his fruit snacks with Sadie shortly after we came home from China, he has been asking when she will be allowed to eat them. (I did let her eat most everything before her surgery, figuring most food items would eventually disintegrate and make it out her nose if they got stuck up in her cleft. However, I drew the line at fruit snacks.....those things would never disintegrate on their own!) I explained to him that she had an owie in her mouth and it needed to be fixed before she could eat them. So, every time she had a doctor's appointment (and she had quite a few pre-surgery) he would get excited afterward and ask, "Can I share my fruit snacks now?" The poor kid was disappointed with a few too many negative responses, I guess, because he hasn't brought it up since early December.
Tonight Joe broke out a new box of fruit snacks he had gotten for Sam while grocery shopping and Sam could hardly believe it when we told him he could share with Sadie now.
Me: Sam - you get to share your fruit snacks with Sadie!
Sam: Her mouth is fixed?
Me: Yep - it's fixed. She can eat them.
Sam: It's really, really fixed?!
Here they are - fruit snacks! Look Sadie! (But then watch me eat it myself!)
Hurry up, Sam - find one for me!
Here you go!
And she patiently waits for more........
...and gets to put one in her own mouth.
More, please!
Tonight Joe broke out a new box of fruit snacks he had gotten for Sam while grocery shopping and Sam could hardly believe it when we told him he could share with Sadie now.
Me: Sam - you get to share your fruit snacks with Sadie!
Sam: Her mouth is fixed?
Me: Yep - it's fixed. She can eat them.
Sam: It's really, really fixed?!
Here they are - fruit snacks! Look Sadie! (But then watch me eat it myself!)
Hurry up, Sam - find one for me!
Here you go!
And she patiently waits for more........
...and gets to put one in her own mouth.
More, please!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Guess who got dressed ALL BY HIMSELF this morning
I tried to talk him into changing either the top or the bottoms to no avail. While in the bathroom at a store (yes, I took him out in public like this) came the best part - the Handy Manny underwear on backwards (to go with the backwards pants and shirt, I guess). The outfit was made complete with the black and red tennis shoes he wore.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Less is more
I subscribe to the "less is more" theory of housecleaning - the less you clean, the more exciting it is when you actually do! Those of you that know my mother will be quite surprised at this I am sure, since she cleans her house every Saturday morning, and you would think that observing that (and even taking part in it when I was younger) would have rubbed off on me. Not so. I won't even tell you how many Saturday mornings have gone by around here without a dustcloth or toilet brush in sight.
My biggest downfall is my bedroom - I have a tendency to lay things on the floor instead of putting them away (though I can always find what I need). I could tell things had gotten a little out of hand lately when one morning (after having had a major clean-up session the night before after the kids had gone to bed) Sam looked around my bedroom, paused for a moment, and then said, "Wow. There's a lot of carpet in here!"
My biggest downfall is my bedroom - I have a tendency to lay things on the floor instead of putting them away (though I can always find what I need). I could tell things had gotten a little out of hand lately when one morning (after having had a major clean-up session the night before after the kids had gone to bed) Sam looked around my bedroom, paused for a moment, and then said, "Wow. There's a lot of carpet in here!"
Saturday, January 10, 2009
I need to improve my computer skills
Since I do not know how to compress pictures from my camera to email-able sizes, all you blog readers will have to put up with seeing pictures of random things I want to show people. We had the blanket for Ellison back in November, now the nursery items for Jen. Someday I will figure it out......
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