Didn't he just roll over?

How is it that my baby boy, who unexpectedly announced himself to the world early, and on his sister's second birthday, can be starting school already?

Didn't he just smile his first smile; roll over by himself; take his first step; say his first word; dance his first dance; make his first goofy face and hug me like I've never been hugged before?

There were no tears - just lots of smiles this morning as my baby boy incredibly becomes my little man! Congratulations Alex. Mommy and Daddy (and Abby) love you very, very much!

What did the bunny bring you?

Thankfully for my waist, I'm not a big candy or chocolate fan so I don't dive into the kid's baskets when they are at school and consume my weight in chocolate. Their loot is pretty safe with me.

Funny enough, they didn't really dive in yesterday, either. In fact, they opted for our pathetic looking mini-bunny cakes at breakfast instead of a handful of chocolate.



When asked by family and friends about their Easter Baskets (The Bunny was on a tight budget this year so not NEARLY as exciting as years past), the two things they told everyone about were the new water guns and the pack of gum. We aren't talking super-soakers here. They are the small, leaky kind you get at Wal-greens, if The Bunny were to get his stuff from Wal-greens which he doesn't. And the gum...I've held off for a long time and lately they have been introduced to this sugary treat outside the house, so I'm trying to stay in control of it. It will be my pocketbook that is hit when those cavities start showing up!

They didn't mention the chocolate bunnies, the chocolate lollipop, the huge KitKat bar or the roll of Sweettarts. It was all about the gun and the gum. Weapons and Bubbalicious - should make next year a lot easier for The Bunny. Hand grenades and Juicy Fruit anyone?

File under: Where do they learn this stuff?

Me: "Alex, give me the toy and I'll replace the batteries."

Him: "Why?"

Me: "Because they're dead."

Him: "Oh. Were their tongues sticking out?"

Me: "What?"

Him: "That's how you know something is dead."

Me: "Yes, honey. The batteries tongues were sticking out."

He's so smart

Last evening I asked my son to try and go potty before bed. He said he didn't have to go. This is our nightly ritual and if we stray from it, we get a wet bed.

Me: "Please try to go potty. You just had yogurt so you'll have to pee."

Him: "Why, Momma? Does Yogurt make you pee."

Me: "Yup. Anything in your belly will make you pee, especially yogurt."

A little silence in the bathroom.

Him: "Mommy! You were right. I am peeing."

Me: "See. I'm brilliant."

Him: "Yes you are. But, I'm really smart."

And we all know "really smart" beats "brilliant" in our house any day!

Can't you leave it alone?

Little boys and their pee-pees...I guess if I had easy access to an appendage at 4 years old I probably would have felt compelled to play with it constantly, too.

We had a great time with friends yesterday - 8 adults, 9 children and lots and lots of matchbox cars!!! As I uploaded and disseminated the pictures I took from the festivities I noticed (AFTER THE FACT) that my son was caught on camera with his hands down pants, thankfully keeping said pee-pee out of view...but we aren't always so fortunate in places like the supermarket, park or playground.

Little boys and their pee-pees...

When a nugget is not a nugget

Served the beloved chicken nuggets for dinner. Depending on the spend for the month I will rotate between the Perdue Dinosaurs or the supermarket variety. This month I had a coupon for the whole grain breaded Perdue version. I couldn't imagine there would be any difference - just another marketing gimmick to help us Moms pass off chicken nuggets as healthy food.

My daughter took one bite and exclaimed,

"THESE ARE DIFFERENT! I don't like them!"

Are you kidding me? They look, smell, and heat up exactly the same way in the microwave! This was supposed to be my guaranteed night that food would be consumed and there would be no complaining. Apparently almost 6yo can taste the different between completely processed and completely processed in whole grain breading nuggets. I give up.

Language barrier

It's round two of the language barrier - my daughter had this going on a couple of years ago and now it has resurfaced with my son.

Daddy: "Hey buddy. What did you have for snacks at your Halloween party today?"

Him: "I had a got."

Daddy: "A what?"

Him: "I had a got."

Me: "You had a got? What's that?"

Him: "You know. When you don't remember something."

Us: "Ahhhh...you forgot."

Turning hate to love

Late last night I wrote a draft blog about what I see as the resurgence of hate in our country. 7 year old murdered. Anchorwoman murdered. Neo-nazi's planning assassinations. Then I tried to sleep last night. And I couldn't. I not only had a bad day at work but I had a bad feeling about our nation. And then it occurred to me...turn the focus from hate to love.

So, today I decided to trash my post and write about the lovely things that happened yesterday. Like how my daughter has her first set of rosary beads from school and at night she wants to do her prayers and always starts with,

"I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America."

I tried to explain it's not a prayer, but since that is how they start their prayers each morning at school, I was told I am wrong. Quietly, I listened to her run through her prayers and I smiled. She only sees the good in this world.

And how my son was getting a candy out of his candy jar of Halloween candy from our fall festival this weekend and quietly he exclaims, "Mamacita" as he was digging to the bottom for his favorite taffy. I asked him what he said and he had a big grin on his face and explained,

"At my new school, Miss Karen says 'Mamacita' when we don't take our naps."

It was his soft, innocent voice exclaiming Mamacita that had all of us laughing around the dinner table.

And then when we carved our pumpkin for Halloween, my son put his hands inside the pumpkin and quickly pulled out his hands.

Him: "Mommy. I think I need gloves. Can I have gloves?"

Me: "Absolutely not. Get your hands inside and pull out that pumpkin spaghetti."

Within minutes his arms and elbows were covered in pumpkin.



Life will get me down. My kids will always bring me back up.

Welcome to the jungle

When we bought our current home we were pretty excited that they had completed the basement as a play room. My husband had worked tirelessly one summer at our other house to finish the basement and we really didn't want to let that extra space go when we moved.

So yesterday when the kids were overtired, overextended and over-juiced from a busy day at the local fall festival, I sent them to the basement.

I explained, again, that it is their room and if they want to play horses, fix pretend doors or play house, that they had a whole room downstairs in which to explore their inner child.

About an hour later, when I went downstairs to retrieve them for dinner, my mouth dropped. Not only was there a pile of misc. train track pieces at the end of the stairs but when I peeked around the corner into the room, it looked like an earthquake had hit our home. Every bucket, basket, dollhouse, train table, couch cushion, book, pipecleaner, art supply, dress-up outfit and toy had been dumped out and was scattered (or piled!) all over the floor.

I saw red. Then black. Then red again. I was furious! I felt my blood pressure rise, I got hot and then I was finally able to speak. I don't know exactly what I said, but I know it was loud and my husband came running down behind me. After threatening to take trick-or-treating privileges away, the clean up began.

I say this alot to friends and family, but I just go so sick when I see how much "stuff" my kids have. I'm totally to blame, but when we have clean up exercises like this it just makes me feel like there is no sense of appreciation or respect for gifts - nor do they understand what it could be like without all that "stuff". It's an internal battle I have with myself, but on this particular night at least I was able to vet out the Burger King and Happy Meal toys and throw them away. There was some satisfaction in that. If I never see another digi-toy or Disney movie character made of hard plastic, I'll be thrilled.

The basement looks great now. I think if this happens again, EVERYTHING will go in the trash and I'll have a nice little entertainment room downstairs with a full bar and wide screen TV - for adults only!!!