Winter4 and Fall2 love popsicles. Really, who doesn't? This evening after dinner, Winter4 asked me, "Mommy, pweese can I have a popsicle for Fall2?" (He thinks I'm more likely to give in to him if it's for his brother.) I told him they could each have one. Everyone celebrates! I got the little guys set up at the table with their treats and left the room for 15 seconds. I returned to find Winter4 doing a dance in the family room.
Me: "Winter4, where is your popsicle?"
Winter4: "My popsicle?"
Me: "Yes, the red popsicle you were just eating."
Winter4: "Hmmmmm..."
At this point, Winter4 puts on a very serious face, furrowed brow and all, as if his popsicle vanished into thin air and he can't imagine what could have happened. He pats his head with his finger and says, "I finking...I fink it's behind the TV!" He runs and looks. He finds a Christmas ornament and a toy. Then he looks at me and exclaims, "I don't what happened!"
Winter4 has a reputation for running off with things and throwing them behind furniture. Today I found a friend's baby rattle behind the entertainment center. Earlier, I found FOUR doorknob covers behind a cabinet (you know the kind that are meant to keep kids OUT of rooms?)
Misplacing a treat?! How DOES that happen? I'll let you know if it shows up...
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Hi-ho, Silver, Away to the Bowl in the Sky
One of our geriatric goldfish, Silver, swam away to the big bowl in the sky this weekend. You may think we're being clever naming a goldfish Silver but really the goldfish was just silver-y colored. We can be very literal people. The other goldfish is named Gold because he/she is, yes, you guess it, very gold colored.
When I say geriatric, I mean that he/she has been around for more than 3 years but I've lost track of the time. Those fish have survived many, many things such as Winter4 bobbing for apples in their tank when he was only Winter2, a trip to the neighbors to be fish-sat and overfeedings by several well intentioned boys.
I noticed that Silver looked pretty bad one evening while I was making dinner (a dinner of fish sticks, by the way). I didn't take it too seriously as Silver had a melodramatic streak and has appeared to be dying several other times in the past. Within a day, I'll find him swimming around like nothing ever happened. Not this time. He kept up the dying act for a couple of days which made me consider just putting him out of his misery. Enter Summer10 who took moral offense to this idea. I tried to tell him that it's not fair to let Silver flounder (get it?) for days. He told me that it's not fair to make Silver die from not being able to breathe or worse yet die in a sewer pipe. Even though I thought, "Hello! This is a geriatric goldfish!" I appreciated the fact that he had weighed these moral issues and had an opinion.
Fortunately, Silver didn't linger much longer. Now, my confession. I, as a woman who has put her hands in toilets, applied ointment to various locales on all sorts of people and animals and caught vomit with her bare hands is skeeved out by dead goldfish. Mike doesn't understand how I can prepare and eat fish for dinner but can't pull a dead one out of a tank. What can I say? It's just gross!
So, in honor of our Silver, I think I'll lay off the fish entrees for this week and perhaps rescue another 19 cent "feeder fish" so that Gold has a friend.
When I say geriatric, I mean that he/she has been around for more than 3 years but I've lost track of the time. Those fish have survived many, many things such as Winter4 bobbing for apples in their tank when he was only Winter2, a trip to the neighbors to be fish-sat and overfeedings by several well intentioned boys.
I noticed that Silver looked pretty bad one evening while I was making dinner (a dinner of fish sticks, by the way). I didn't take it too seriously as Silver had a melodramatic streak and has appeared to be dying several other times in the past. Within a day, I'll find him swimming around like nothing ever happened. Not this time. He kept up the dying act for a couple of days which made me consider just putting him out of his misery. Enter Summer10 who took moral offense to this idea. I tried to tell him that it's not fair to let Silver flounder (get it?) for days. He told me that it's not fair to make Silver die from not being able to breathe or worse yet die in a sewer pipe. Even though I thought, "Hello! This is a geriatric goldfish!" I appreciated the fact that he had weighed these moral issues and had an opinion.
Fortunately, Silver didn't linger much longer. Now, my confession. I, as a woman who has put her hands in toilets, applied ointment to various locales on all sorts of people and animals and caught vomit with her bare hands is skeeved out by dead goldfish. Mike doesn't understand how I can prepare and eat fish for dinner but can't pull a dead one out of a tank. What can I say? It's just gross!
So, in honor of our Silver, I think I'll lay off the fish entrees for this week and perhaps rescue another 19 cent "feeder fish" so that Gold has a friend.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Things I've Learned
Things I've learned but really wish I didn't know.
1. How to remove crayon from the inside of a dryer (scouring powder preceded by a glass of wine--in you, not the dryer.)
2. How to remove silly putty from the carpet (Goo Gone)
3. How to remove little boy smells from the carpet (Urine Gone, "For pet or people accidents.")
4. How to cook Spaghetti-O's on a gas grill after a storm knocks out power for a few days (big cast iron pot)
5. How to use an Epi-Pen.
6. The only people who watch Disney Channel in the middle of the night are in the E.R. at a children's hospital.
7. If someone vomits on a pillow, just throw it out.
8. While vacationing, even though the kids don't get in the car after being on the beach you will still return home with alot of sand.
9. How to care for ants in an ant farm (they don't eat much and bury their own dead).
10. How to drop to the ground and crawl stealthily out of the room if a sleeping baby wakes up and starts to look around.
11. Yelling brothers will not wake up a sleeping newborn but Mom walking into the room will.
12. How to remove cold candle wax from the sink and garbage disposal (This is a story that I've tried to forget. Pretty sure it involved a knife or ice pick.)
13. That funky smell in your car is probably an old sippie cup. Just throw it out. DO NOT OPEN THE CUP.
14. Clean a window and 15 seconds later, a toddler will put his face on it or lick the glass.
15. Containers of leftovers that you don't remember eating should not be opened. (See #13)
All these things I know and I'm still learning how to outwit my newly four year old!
1. How to remove crayon from the inside of a dryer (scouring powder preceded by a glass of wine--in you, not the dryer.)
2. How to remove silly putty from the carpet (Goo Gone)
3. How to remove little boy smells from the carpet (Urine Gone, "For pet or people accidents.")
4. How to cook Spaghetti-O's on a gas grill after a storm knocks out power for a few days (big cast iron pot)
5. How to use an Epi-Pen.
6. The only people who watch Disney Channel in the middle of the night are in the E.R. at a children's hospital.
7. If someone vomits on a pillow, just throw it out.
8. While vacationing, even though the kids don't get in the car after being on the beach you will still return home with alot of sand.
9. How to care for ants in an ant farm (they don't eat much and bury their own dead).
10. How to drop to the ground and crawl stealthily out of the room if a sleeping baby wakes up and starts to look around.
11. Yelling brothers will not wake up a sleeping newborn but Mom walking into the room will.
12. How to remove cold candle wax from the sink and garbage disposal (This is a story that I've tried to forget. Pretty sure it involved a knife or ice pick.)
13. That funky smell in your car is probably an old sippie cup. Just throw it out. DO NOT OPEN THE CUP.
14. Clean a window and 15 seconds later, a toddler will put his face on it or lick the glass.
15. Containers of leftovers that you don't remember eating should not be opened. (See #13)
All these things I know and I'm still learning how to outwit my newly four year old!
Friday, January 8, 2010
A Thanksgiving Prayer
I found a Thanksgiving prayer written by Spring7.
"Dear Jesus,
I am thankful for my family and me. I am also thankful for my toys, my Earth and zebras."
I suppose the African savanna would be a dull place without all those stripes.
"Dear Jesus,
I am thankful for my family and me. I am also thankful for my toys, my Earth and zebras."
I suppose the African savanna would be a dull place without all those stripes.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
O Christmas Tree
I'm finally taking down our Christmas tree. I've been in the process of taking it down for a few days now and I keep getting interrupted. Imagine that!
Our Christmas tree is one of my favorite things. Almost all of our ornaments have some meaning...places we've been, gifts from friends and family, the special ornaments I get for each boy every year and ornaments the boys have made for us. The tree is a big green collection of memories and happy thoughts.
Some people have beautiful, color coordinated ornaments, lights and ribbons on their trees with the ornaments spaced out perfectly. Our tree is so far from a designer tree, it's almost funny. Keep in mind that the tree is 7 feet tall and I'm only 5'1". I can stretch pretty far but can't reach the top. Also, keep in mind that I have two little people in my house who will remove and then run away with ornaments. Basically, my tree has A LOT of ornaments right in the middle. Every year, Mike returns from work, looks at the tree, giggles, then moves some ornaments to the top for me. I try my best not to move around any ornaments after the boys are finished decorating. Sometimes, it's inevitable if say a special ornament is too low or some creative person has put four ornaments on one branch. The big boys have some sort of photographic memory of ornament placement and will directly ask me why I moved their ornament.
As much as I love having it up, I'm also relieved when it comes down so I'd better get back to work!
Our Christmas tree is one of my favorite things. Almost all of our ornaments have some meaning...places we've been, gifts from friends and family, the special ornaments I get for each boy every year and ornaments the boys have made for us. The tree is a big green collection of memories and happy thoughts.
Some people have beautiful, color coordinated ornaments, lights and ribbons on their trees with the ornaments spaced out perfectly. Our tree is so far from a designer tree, it's almost funny. Keep in mind that the tree is 7 feet tall and I'm only 5'1". I can stretch pretty far but can't reach the top. Also, keep in mind that I have two little people in my house who will remove and then run away with ornaments. Basically, my tree has A LOT of ornaments right in the middle. Every year, Mike returns from work, looks at the tree, giggles, then moves some ornaments to the top for me. I try my best not to move around any ornaments after the boys are finished decorating. Sometimes, it's inevitable if say a special ornament is too low or some creative person has put four ornaments on one branch. The big boys have some sort of photographic memory of ornament placement and will directly ask me why I moved their ornament.
As much as I love having it up, I'm also relieved when it comes down so I'd better get back to work!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Heeerrrree's Johnny!
No, not Johnny Carson...I guess the title really should be "Heerrree's Winter3!" Remember the famous scene from The Shining when Jack maniacally peers though the partially open (well, hacked open) door? Take away the maniacal part and it becomes a scene from my life.
Winter3 is pretty good about going to bed and staying in bed...for a while. The problem is that as you know, he is everywhere and into everything. People say that no one wants a smart cat because of all the trouble they can cause. The same can be said about three year olds. Curiosity really didn't kill the cat...it stressed the life out of his mother. We just can't trust that Winter3 will stay in bed all night long. I have visions of him going downstairs in the middle of the night and trying to make soup, or call Ireland or start my car. I'd like to think that my son who is "skeered of funder" would be too fearful to go downstairs alone but I don't care to lay awake in bed debating that thought.
Sooooo...cue parent of the week music...we lock him in his room at night. Naturally, the one door of the house that doesn't close well is his bedroom. Since the knob doesn't close well enough to lock we've tried various doorknob covers which all worked for a while but which he eventually figured out and broke off. We stepped up our game by duct taping the door knob cover on. This too worked for a while and even well enough to lock me in the room (only for a minute, sheesh). He's worked so hard at the door (persistence is good trait, right?) that now it won't latch at all.
Our final move before we give up on this chess game is a chain lock like you might find in a hotel. So far, so good but this brings me back to my "Heeerreee's Johnny!" reference. Rather than an axe wielding murderer, I have a talking three year old. Imagine the little face squished in the door, "MomMomMommyMommmmyyyMama! Let me out!" The power to open his door, even if only that much, was exhilarating. After a few days, he gave up and doesn't play with the door much except at naptime and in the morning.
But he can't get out. And my life is no horror movie so even if I have a crazed three year old on one side of the door, I know that my sanity is safe.
Winter3 is pretty good about going to bed and staying in bed...for a while. The problem is that as you know, he is everywhere and into everything. People say that no one wants a smart cat because of all the trouble they can cause. The same can be said about three year olds. Curiosity really didn't kill the cat...it stressed the life out of his mother. We just can't trust that Winter3 will stay in bed all night long. I have visions of him going downstairs in the middle of the night and trying to make soup, or call Ireland or start my car. I'd like to think that my son who is "skeered of funder" would be too fearful to go downstairs alone but I don't care to lay awake in bed debating that thought.
Sooooo...cue parent of the week music...we lock him in his room at night. Naturally, the one door of the house that doesn't close well is his bedroom. Since the knob doesn't close well enough to lock we've tried various doorknob covers which all worked for a while but which he eventually figured out and broke off. We stepped up our game by duct taping the door knob cover on. This too worked for a while and even well enough to lock me in the room (only for a minute, sheesh). He's worked so hard at the door (persistence is good trait, right?) that now it won't latch at all.
Our final move before we give up on this chess game is a chain lock like you might find in a hotel. So far, so good but this brings me back to my "Heeerreee's Johnny!" reference. Rather than an axe wielding murderer, I have a talking three year old. Imagine the little face squished in the door, "MomMomMommyMommmmyyyMama! Let me out!" The power to open his door, even if only that much, was exhilarating. After a few days, he gave up and doesn't play with the door much except at naptime and in the morning.
But he can't get out. And my life is no horror movie so even if I have a crazed three year old on one side of the door, I know that my sanity is safe.
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