Thursday, October 30, 2008

The next Kitty

I watch Brothers & Sisters each Sunday on ABC. One of my most fav characters is Kitty, the political pundit. She's smart, quick-witted and has a silver tongue. All things I really long to be ... but somehow fall short. But I do think there is hope yet. I think Mallory may be headed in that direction. Either that or she has been sucked into the 2008 Presidential Election at the ripe old age of 3.5.

We went to Wal-Mart tonight to get shoes for her pom pom girl costume (wait till I post the pictures!). On the way, I was listening to NPR which was airing a segment on Barack Obama's infomercial that aired last evening. The next thing I know, she's in the back seat yelling "Bakak Okambama" over and over again. Those of you who really know me understand how this just breaks my heart! Not that I have anything against the man, I just don't believe what he says.

When we got home, I sat down at the computer to do some work. Somehow my interests were diverted (imagine that) and I ended up perusing the net. Okay, I'll admit it. I was on Pink is the New Blog. It's an obsession. A guilty one. Anyway, Trent had a post up about McCain being endorsed by an alien (it sounds very odd, but you have to read it). When Mallie saw the picture of McCain she immediately starting telling me that the man in the picture was John McCain.

Now the only question is ... who is she going to vote for? Hopefully Mommy or Daddy. :)

Open wide

I am happy to report that I have officially received my first sickeningly, slobbery open mouth kiss from Truett. You know what I'm talking about. I had just gotten home and True was on Daddy's lap, lounging on the couch. I ran over and started loving on him and the next thing I know the wide open black hole is coming at me. And he did it again and again and again and again. I'd say, "give me a kissy" and he'd obey (good boy!). I think I have the sweetest little boy on earth. But I'm thankful that I bought the Kleenex bundle at Costco last week!

In other True news ... his new favorite word is "tha?" Always said as his finger is pointing to something. He wants to know what everything is ... if he'd only remember so I didn't have to repeat it 20 times. Sometimes I find that he asks me so many times I just start numbly answering ... sometimes giving the wrong answer. Funny how tuning out and turning off can do that. I certainly hope I haven't screwed him up for life. Picture this when he's in third grade ...

Teacher: Boys and girls, what is this on the wall (pointing to a clock)?
True (raising his hand impatiently): I know, I know ....
Teacher: What is this, Truett?
True (knowingly): It's a turtle.
Teacher (laughing in her head): No, it's not.
True (again, nodding knowingly): Yes, my mommy told me it was when I was 16 months old.

Okay ... so that scenario is a little far-fetched, but I do fear that I need to pay more attention to my precious one. Maybe I can just blame these little things on Mallory? She does so delight in teasing her brother (all in the name of love). I wouldn't put it past her to play some type of joke like this on him in the future.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Dinner

My kids love me tonight. $10 buys a lot of love these days. It also buys a lot of sanity. And quality time with the kids because I am not doing dishes.

Monday, October 27, 2008

How could I?

I think there's a cardinal parental rule that says "thou must have camera on ones person at all time." Otherwise, how does everyone get these great pics of their kidlets all the time? It's a requisite parental right to capture each and every memory memory on a memory card.

I used to abide by the rule. But lately, I've been breaking it. Not even taking the iPhone with me (which really is sacrilege.) And now I'm a little sad about it because I've missed:

1. True playing on the slide in the back yard.
2. Shawn pulling the kids around the block in the wagon.
3. Mallory and Christopher making cookies this past Saturday.
4. Mallory and True at the pumpkin patch, then at the Trunk or Treat and then at the petting zoo.
5. The ooey gooey fun that goes along with carving the pumpkins.

I could keep going, but you get my point. I need to get back on my game so I can inundate all you people with pictures of my photogenic kids.

Take a bite out of ...

We're certainly not taking a bite out of crime around here. No ... True has been taking bites out of other kidlets at school. I am sad to say that he even broke skin last week.

M'Dondo -- HE'S TURNING INTO A BOBBY! For those of you who don't know what this means ... well, I sincerely hope you've never had to encounter a Bobby. If you have, you have my sympathies.

See, at our other daycare, there was a little boy named Bobby that loved nothing more than to terrorize all of the other kidlets by biting them. We had several discussions with the director about getting this little boy kicked out (yes ... that's how many times he had bitten) to no avail.

So, the last few weeks we've been reading this:


Except ours isn't in as good of condition as that picture above is. We apparently cannot treat books with the reverence they deserve because coloring and tearing them seem to make my kids happy. Either that or we have had to read it more times than I remember. See what I mean?


Regardless of its appearance, the book is doing its job. I am happy to receive daily reports from the teachers at school that there has been no biting for several days. Good thing True is so easily brainwashed at this age. Let's hope it continues until he's a teenager.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Artsy schmartsy

Mallory loves arts and crafts, as evidenced by the plethora of clothing that comes home from school with glue, glitter and paint on them. I'm not quite sure why I was asked to supply an art smock when they don't seem to be using it. But that's not the point of my musings today.

Mallie is art obsessed. I suppose it's normal at this time in her life ... if my brain was firing as fast as hers I would probably have the same problem. The need to create. She constantly wants to carry a pencil around the house so she can "write" on things. She draws little snake-like creatures on construction paper and brings them home from school. Hand outlines are a favorite drawing past-time. Painting is her favorite, but limited because mommy just cannot stand the mess and clean-up. (Side note: can you see me hovering behind her saying, "dip the brush in water so you don't mix your colors. Oh, you mixed your colors. How unfortunate?" And there she sits just smiling at her brown concoction.)

Now that I have the iPhone, I've even found a way for her to draw when we are out and about. The program is almost like an etch-a-sketch. You draw what you want with your finger and then shake the phone to erase it. BUT, we have figured out how to save her masterpieces. Here's an example:


I don't profess to be an art critic ... but it's not bad, eh?! Wish I knew what it was, but I guess that's the point of abstract art ... you find your own meaning.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Big boy chair

It's happening faster than I thought. Truett just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Shawn and I have discussed what would happen if we didn't feed him, but I don't think it would help us meet our goal of keeping him a baby.

I didn't blog about it, but about two weeks ago I tried to put him to sleep in his new big boy bed. He actually fell asleep in it and was so darn cute. I went back in an hour and a half later and he was curled up in a little ball on the floor. Back into the crib he went. Guess we'll try big boy bed again in a few weeks.

But, there is one thing that he did on his own. He walked away from the highchair. Cut the ties and went cold turkey. He was getting to the point where he'd arch his back, cry and have MANY temper tantrums if he even saw you walking towards said highchair. You would have thought it was going to bite him or something (more likely the other way around).

Day after day, he wandered over to Mallory's kinderzeat. Shawn started putting him in it for fun and well ... the rest is history. You know he had to have one! He got the updated version - the Tripp Trapp - on Friday. A beautiful orange color and he LOVES it. Mommy not so much because you can imagine the mess on my table at meal time. At least the highchair contained all that squished up food.


Guess you can't stand in the way of progress ... even at your own dinner table.

Monday, October 13, 2008

A peace offering

Mallory is upset that I did not buy flamingo pink bunk beds. And I am having a hard time explaining to an almost-four-year-old why this is a bad idea. Well, the explaining part is easy. The comprehension part ... not so much. But I am not one to rock the boat around here so I decided to make her a peace offering. This weekend while she was puking her guts out (poor baby) I did this to her bedside table:

It used to be white. Now, it's well ... bright. Nice, huh? I was a little worried as I was doing it. But I kept telling myself: no guts, no glory. Besides, it only cost me $2.99 and an hour or two of my time (which is worth $1 millon!). I'm pretty happy about how it turned out. Of course, Mallory is in LOVE!

Next on the list - this sad, sad dresser from Shawn's bachelor days. You can see I've already girl-ed it up once. But it's time to take it to the next level. And maybe find some new pulls for it since it's been this way for almost two years now. Luckily Mallory has nimble fingers and can pull the sides. Otherwise, she might be running around naked right now.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Bribery Works

Guess who earned her Hannah Montana flashlight yesterday?! It was one of the first things she asked about when she woke up. Such excitement. I wish I was that excited to get up! I am in a place where I just want to roll back over and snuggle up to the pillows.


Sorry for the poor picture. It was taken in the garage, sitting in the car with little light.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Don't take my man

Mallory was pretty sad when we came home from gymnastics yesterday. I thought it was because the fun of gym was over and the prospect of a bath was enough to bring on tears. Nope. As we started talking about it, she told me her friend Sabrina* was mad at her. Apparently there had been some altercation about Sabrina back-talking her. I just had to roll my eyes and tell her that both her and Sabrina needed to apologize to each other and move on.

So when I dropped off Mallie at school this AM, I casually mentioned the conversation to her teacher. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she started laughing. Then, this craziness spewed out of her mouth ... and I am in denial that we are already starting down this path.

You see, the story goes a little something like this ... late last week Mallory and Joshua* decided to get married. Unfortunately we weren't invited to the wedding but Ms. Robbie assures me it happened. They have been sitting next to each other and playing on the playground together ... just two little lovebirds, two peas in a pod. Suddenly, Sabrina* began hanging around Joshua* trying to steal my girl's man. Yeah, you can imagine how that went over ...

So I guess children and adults aren't quite so different when we feel our relationship is being threatened. And I think Mallory told Sabrina* where to stick it.

There's the 3 year old version of How the World Turns.


* Names were not changed to not protect the innocent.

Cat nap

I feel like doing this about right now, especially since the prospect of 3 - 4 more hours of work tonight looms.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Bribery = Bust?

After last week's pity party post about how Mallory wasn't sleeping in her bed we seem to have veered off into a path of unknown territory. Ladies and gentlemen, she has SLEPT in her bed and done so willingly (I'm not tieing her down, really). Of course, it was too good to be true that she'd actually earn the object of bribery in the first week.

But, we are headed in the right direction ... four consecutive nights in her bed ... one night in ours. Two more nights in her bed ... and let's hope we make it to five. Man do I want to give her that darn Hannah Montana microphone/flashlight! Mainly because my hairbrush isn't cutting it anymore. I need something that resembles the real thing so I can break out my inner diva.

Shawn thinks she'll make it this week ... so much so that he went out and bought the next bribe. A Polly Pocket set. He does love his little girl so (either that or he is in love with peaceful sleep).

Predicament

Truett and I were hanging out on Sunday afternoon. Shawn ended up having to go into work and Mallory was ensconced in the playroom absorbing knowledge from the electronic babysitter - the TV. As I was doing something in the kitchen, I looked over to a mewing noise and this:



Yes, he was in quite the predicament. He just sat there and mewed plaintively as if saying, "I am your child, how can you leave me here? Help me, Mommy. Please, rescue me. " I am sad to say I just watched, waiting to see what he'd do.

Uh huh. I can can hear you Dondo. I eventually got him off ... after he started screaming!

I have a present for you

When I came home last Friday afternoon it was pretty quiet. Mallory was out playing, Shawn was on the computer and Truett was wondering aimlessly around the house. Unfortunatly, that peace only lasted a few moments before Hurricane Mallory made her way inside. There were lots of hugs and kisses and "what are you doing-s" to be asked. She finally ran on her way and I decided to pick up the house a little.

As I was reading the day's mail, I heard Mallory casually say, "Mommy, I have a present for you." This does not cause me great excitement but it does warm my heart that she wants to present me with little trophies. I've received flower petals, rocks, leaves, little pieces of construction paper. You get the idea. So when she told me she had a gift I was thinking along the lines of previous trinkets. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her swinging something around and looked over to see:


OMG. A tampon? It was one of those moments as a parent where I could not contain the laughter. It spilled out, and out, and out, and out. Mallory thought it was hilarious and started laughing with me. What a joyful moment a crazy little cotton string started! That night at dinner I was recounting the story to Shawn. He then told me she had been playing with it all afternoon. Oh to be a kid again.

Of course, now I am thinking I should just give her a box of tampons for her birthday and she'd be overjoyed. No more expensive Barbies whose hair gets tangled up, puzzles whose pieces get lost or games that we can never play because we can't find the pieces.

Case of the Cat Nap

I used to read mysteries voraciously. I started off with a few Nancy Drew's, then moved on to Trixie Belden and her side-kick Honey. As I grew up, I started reading some Mary Higgins Clark and then the Nora Roberts series about Eve Dallas. So you can see I have a weakness for figuring things out ... I just never thought I'd have to solve a mystery at home.

It all started when the plant on my dining room table suddenly started losing dirt. Yes, it would be scattered around every morning. None of the other two plants in the house were touched ... just the one on the table. Honestly, solving the WHO was easy. Meet the culprit, Cinder.


What a mugshot! She actually looks like, "who me? I didn't do it, I tell ya."

The mystery came as HOW she was doing it (I don't think I'll ever understand the mind of a cat to get the WHY!). And I was determined to solve it! You see, the plant she is trying to destroy was one from my Nana's funeral. I have never been known to have a green thumb. In fact, if you wanted to kill something you brought it to me. So I have been very proud of myself that I have kept this plant alive for almost three years now. I like to think my Nana, whose whole body was green, is looking out for me.

I watched and watched and watched but I could never catch her in the act. Then the break through. One afternoon when Shawn came home, it all became clear. And I died laughing when I heard what she was doing. It seems as if she's figured out how to climb in the pot, curl up and nap in the warm sunshine of the dining room.


I've tried to get a picture of her doing it, but she seems to avoid me at all costs when she knows I'm upset with her. Just like a kidlet. Yes, she is my sixth kid: Shawn, Mallory, Truett, Jack, Jill and finally, Cinder. So, I'll keep chasing her down ... waiting for just the right moment to catch her in the act and send her to jail.
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