Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Superman Shirt

When I was young I heard a story about my childhood friend many times.  He was older than I was, but since we grew up together and our parents were the best of friends, I got to hear this cute story more than once. 

It appears that Richard was into being a super hero when he was a small child.  And as you know, superheroes need capes in order to be truly successful in their hero endeavors.  So his mother made him a "Super Rich" cape.  She even sewed a big R on the cape so there was no doubt who's cape it was.  She made it a safe cape, with a tear-away portion so that he wouldn't get "super stuck" in a tree.

My son, having recently discovered this guy named Superman, was in need of a super shirt.  Superheroes are big now (or maybe they always are for toddlers and small boys) so I didn't think I'd have too much trouble finding him a shirt. 

Today I went to Target and yes, there were lots of shirts in the superhero vein.  Then I found it, a nice T3-sized shirt with the Superman 'S' on the front.  But as I put it into the cart it looked like it was stuck to a second shirt.  Only it wasn't...it had a cape on the back, pre-made, with velcro connection spots on the shoulders for those situations in which your super son tries to get himself stuck in a tree. 

I hope he likes it.  I hope he likes it as much as Richard did with his Super Rich cape.  I get to see that cape still as it's hanging on the wall in their mountain house in the kids room.  Good times.

The Big Boy Update:  At lunch today, for no apparent reason, my son looked at my mother and said, "who's a grown up?"  Then he said, "Mimi and mommy are grownups." 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Bracelets.  She likes things on her wrists.  She will fairly cut off the circulation to get her hair elastics on each hand.  She will put anything else she can on her wrist.  Recently, she got a hold of one of those bracelets made with many rubber bands and she's been wearing it on and off, through the night and day on the left and right arms for several days now.

Someone Once Said:  Writers go on writing long after it becomes financially unnecessary … because it hurts less to write than it does to not write.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The Tree, The Crane and Superman

A child's mind doesn't have the same expectations, the learned history and experiences an adult has.  In many ways, this can change their perspective on things.  They're not bound by the customs we've learned through our lives and they don't see any reason why something can't be done.  In short, they have an open mind.

This morning on the way to school my son was looking at the trees.  He likes "big big big" things and "tall tall tall" items and basically anything that has a grossly exaggerated characteristic.  I asked him which tree he liked and he told me, "that one."  I asked which one he meant (as we kept driving, which did not perturb him in the slightest,) and he told me "that big big one...over there."

I asked him if he was going to climb the tree and he told me yes.  But then he added a twist.  He told me he was going to climb it with a crane.  He further told me that I would be the driver of this crane and that I would drive it up to the tree and he would be at the top of the crane and then he would climb over and be at the top of the tree.    "Wow," I told him, "that's a great idea."

Then, because he was now thinking of other great ideas, he changed his mind.  Away with the bulky crane and the need for a driver.  He said, "I will be Superman."  The last time I asked him about Superman, he wasn't altogether sure who that was, but since then, someone has explained it to him.  He told me, "I will fly up to the top of the tree myself."   I told him that was an excellent idea and it also was a much more "green" solution. 

When did he find out Superman could fly?  And why don't we have a cool Superman shirt for him to wear, what with him needing to be Superman to conquer random trees on the way to school?

The Big Boy Update:  "Will you watch my motorcycle?"  Yesterday after lunch my son went into the garage and was driving around on his plastic motorcycle.  I came out to tell him he had to go to the potty and would he like to go himself, or did he need me to help him.  He told me he would go by himself and then looked longingly at his motorcycle and asked, "will you watch my motorcycle?"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Playing with the big kids.  Yesterday after dinner everyone went down to see the new playground our neighbors had just gotten.  Not only was it fun, but my daughter was able to play well with all the older children who are faster and more experienced.  Bigger kids don't seem to bother her, she just keeps going.

Fitness Update:  Yesterday I did a half-hour on the elliptical at the gym to do some cardio as well as some specific work to help with shin splints.  Today, I went back to do a little more and I added in the weight machines as I had a bit of extra time.  I like both, although it's not as fun as the gym with our trainer.  Actually, any exercise is more fun with a buddy in my opinion.

Someone Once Said:  Vice requires training and long practice—otherwise for pragmatic reasons virtue should rule even when moral instruction has ceased to bind.

Monday, July 29, 2013

That Insecure Thing Called Self-Image

Paolo Nutini's song New Shoes reminds me of how I feel some days.  In the song, he first puts on some old shoes one morning and he just doesn't feel right.  Those old shoes affect the way he feels with far more depth than just their level of comfort on his feet.  He changes into some new shoes and suddenly everything feels all right, better than better even. 

Our self-images are fickle things.  That new shirt or new tie or a new hair style can make you feel so much better about yourself, your day and even your attitude.  But one little negative thing can make you reel like your dragging your feet or failing at something or that you look shabby.

It's Monday morning and therefore it's weigh-in.  Let's say I weigh two pounds more than I would like to this morning.  Those two pounds, even if they're water weight or a standard fluctuation that has nothing to do with weight gain, can change my attitude about my whole day if I'm not careful.

It's not just weight, because for the most part I have that under control.  It cold be the scraped knee that looks terrible and is going to remain looking terrible for several weeks that causes the downturn in what would ideally be an easy-going self-image.  Or hair.  Don't get me started on hair.  A good hair day or a bad hair day can do the same thing.

Why are our self-images so insecure?

The Big Boy Update:  Poomer Power still persists.  We don't know what, "Poomer Power" is.  My son keeps saying it and we've tried to figure out what he's talking about.  He only does it when he's playing and imagining things happening that look like cars and trucks interacting.  I'll let you know if we discover what he's saying.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Five pair of underpants.  She has figured out how to successfully put on underpants and yesterday while she was "helping" us fold the laundry she managed to put on five pair...at once.  If she would have held still for any period of time, I would have gotten a picture.

Fitness Update:  I made it to the gym after vacation and a week of buns and donuts.  It's good to be home. 

Someone Once Said:  You’re a real whirling son of a bitch! Do you know it?

Sunday, July 28, 2013

The Dirty Oven and the Klaxon

You know how sometimes you see something and it's been that way for a long time but suddenly, right then, you have to do something about it?  That happened to me this morning.  My daughter was standing on a stool, pressing buttons on the oven.  The way this oven works, unless you press the On/Off button first, every other button you push just makes a "beep beep" sound.  My daughter was loving that beep beep and she was occupied for a good while.

As I stood beside her, I noticed the spills that had crusted over in the oven through the door and I decided it was time to run the self-clean cycle.  Or, rather, I considered it.  The clean cycle on my old stove was four hours and although I'm sure it's suppose to be a safe thing to run at any time, I don't want to leave the house while it's in progress.  When I pressed the self-clean button though, I was surprised to find out it was only an hour-and-a-half total clean time.   So I pressed Start and took my daughter off to a different spot to play.

I told my husband about it when he got out of the shower and he agreed, had he known about the shorter duration, he would have cleaned it before now too.  All went well for the first half of the cleaning, and then things started to smell like badly burnt food.  And then, the all-house, fully-coordinated, painful synchronous, smoke detectors began to go off.

You may remember from a post long ago that when we changed the batteries in our smoke detectors, we discovered we had fifteen of these loud safety devices.  Some of them are redundant because the security system has additional units.  There are some a mere three feet from others because a four foot "hall" must have one even though there is one just across the threshold of the adjoining bedroom.

When fifteen of these little bleeders go off at a frequency that makes you uncomfortable and wanting to sprint away from the sound as quickly as possible, it's no fun for the entire family.  We got the doors open and the terrified dog outside and the children were asking questions while daddy did the tried and true "door waving" procedure at the door closest to the kitchen.  And the sirens stopped.

But don't celebrate yet, because the cleaning cycle was underway and nothing short of a full power outage was going to stop the scorching and burning process.  So on and off the sirens went and the dog shivered and the children decided they wanted to go down the street and play.  My husband said he really didn't want to stand there waving the door for another forty minutes.

I got my favorite, very old fan from the attic and we sucked air out through the garage at top fan speed with windows opened all around.  We were successful in both keeping the sirens off as well as sucking all air-conditioned air from the house into the hot muggy outdoors.  At this point, the klaxons ceased for good.

The clean cycle finished and yes, the oven is sparkly clean now.  Next time, we won't wait so long to clean the oven.  Also, remind me to do it in spring or fall when we don't have to lose so much heated or cooled air.  Lesson learned.

The Big Boy Update:  "It's your fault."  My son was talking to Grandpa yesterday.  He wasn't happy about how everything wasn't readily available to be shaped to his every whim.  When he was frustrated enough, he told Grandpa, "It's your fault!"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Spicy!  She doesn't have a problem with spicy things.  We got some delicious hot sausage at Costco yesterday and I heated some up this morning in the crock pot for later.  When I sampled a piece, my daughter asked for a bit.  I gave her some, expecting her either to spit it out or ask for water afterwards.  She did neither; she asked for more.  And she kept asking for more.

Someone Once Said:  The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

That Long Ride Home

Vacation is over and you have a long ride coming up to get back home.  Then there's the unpacking and resetting the house and getting back into the swing of being home.  Oh, and you have a party the night after you get home.  Don't forget about that.

The party I'm most definitely not complaining about.  It may well be the easiest party we've ever hosted.  We're providing the location for a New Parents social for families at our children's school.  What do we have to do?  As far as I can tell, welcome people, talk, eat and drink.  The school has a caterer arrive with food and the staff is bringing the drinks and wine glasses with them early to help us set up.  They'll also stay and help clean up afterwards.  I don't think having a party gets much easier than that.

But back to the ride home that happened yesterday.  We have young children and they don't like to be constrained for hours on end in a car seat.  But there are some good things we have going now.  First, they face forwards and they can watch the television.  And we do use the television; but only on long trips or emergencies.  And we only use it when they're getting antsy.  For instance, yesterday we were in the car for several hours before we turned it on.

Second, we time the trip so that the hopefully have both a nap when we depart (because we've tired them out as best we can) and then they sleep the latter part of the trip after their bedtime arrives.

But even so, it can be trying. We were lucky yesterday in that they were happy most of the way and fell asleep after the movie (Mary Poppins) ended.  The traffic was good and we got home much sooner than expected.

Sometimes long trips can be rough.  Yesterday was one of the good trips.

The Big Boy Update: At lunch yesterday, my son was playing with his utensils and making all sorts of noises as he drove them across the table and up the wall.  When we asked him what the fork was, we were expecting him to say it was a truck or an excavator or a race car.  What did he say his fork was?  A "fork lift" of course.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Pig tails.  I've mentioned before that she tears out anything you put into her hair shortly after it goes in.  I think we're making progress though.  She will forget for long periods of time that there are things holding her hair out of her face.  Eventually though, she remembers and takes one side or the other side out.

Someone Once Said:  Dear, don't bore him with trivia or burden him with your past mistakes. The happiest way to deal with a man is never to tell him anything he does not need to know.

Friday, July 26, 2013

What Do You Mean, "Dirty"?

Children have no comprehension of what is and what isn't dirty. They don't mind if their clothes are wet, food-covered or mud-ridden.  They are fine in damp, cold clothes and they don't seem to mind if there is food all over their face, hands and hair.  In a way, it must be very freeing to not have to worry about cleanliness all the time.

I remember when I was a child my mother telling me I could do any gymnastics I wanted in the grocery store, as long as I didn't put my hands down.  "Why can't I put my hands down," I asked?  "Because the floor of the grocery store isn't clean," my mother said.  And she had me there; it's hard to do many gymnastics moves without putting your hands down.

My children are similar.  They don't care if something is messy or muddy.  They're happy to be involved in making or participating in the mess.  Just now, they were outside in the back yard at my brother- and sister-in-law's house.  I thought that after a week I could trust them to not get into too much trouble in a few minutes so I went inside to grab something.   When I came back out, I discovered I was very wrong.

They had found an opening in the fencing that went around the base of the house.  They had crawled in, found two old, partially inflated rafts that had large puddles of muck on them.  They were jumping up and down, giggling together and being altogether too happy that they were making a mess.

I lured them out with food and then got them naked and showered in the outdoor shower (aren't those great at beach houses?)  They're in new clothes now and they're no-less happy than they were before while I can still feel a ghosting residual "filth" on my hands just from cleaning them up.

Sometimes, it's good to be a baby.

The Big Boy Update:  "That guitar is the storm."  Uncle Eric has lots of guitars.  My son was strumming the three hanging on the wall in his office this morning.  The one on the left and the one on the right were electric and when not amped, they're quiet when you strum them.  The one in the middle though, was acoustic and was quite loud when he played the strings.  He looked at me and said, "that guitar is the storm."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Peepotty.  She tells you now when she has to go to the potty.  It's a mere second or two before she actually goes in her pants, but she tells you.  She also says "poop poop poop" but that usually means pee.  I've been lazy this week on vacation and have had her in a diaper most of the time.  Back to training in full next week.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Teen Beach Movie

You may know that we host movie night at our home most Friday nights.  You might also know that I rarely watch a movie with our friends.  I sometimes catch a bit of the movie playing in the "kids room" as I prepare my children for bed, but that's it.

It's not that I don't like movies, I do.  Sometimes there's a movie I really want to see, but I just don't want to take the time to watch it.  I would like to "have seen" movies, but I'm not willing to invest the time to actually watch the movie.

It's mostly because at the end of the day, the one thing I want to do is get into bed and fall asleep doing something on my iPad (which could be watching a movie, but again, almost never is.)  That, and by the time it's time to watch a movie after the children are asleep, it's too late to start watching and still get enough sleep to get up early and meet my neighbor for our exercise of the morning.

So, when I tell you that this week on vacation I've watched a movie not only once, but twice, I bet you won't believe me.  When I tell you it was a Disney movie targeted at early teens, you might be wondering if I've lost it.  But when you hear that I'm in a household with teenagers who like to watch Disney movies and shows and that I was in the same room while they watched this movie, you might begin to understand.

And yet here's the thing:  I liked this movie.  It was cute in the way teen movies are, but it was also very well done, just like Disney is known for.  Did I like the movie?  I did.  The actors even at their young age are very good at acting, singing and dancing.

Would I watch the movie a third time?  If I stayed up here on vacation any longer, I wouldn't be surprised if it got a third showing.  As it is, I'm leaving tomorrow to head home.

The Big Boy Update:  We went out on the boat this afternoon.  My son decided first that he was the captain.  Upon being told that his Uncle Eric was the captain, he decided he would "blow all this wind away" so that we could have a more comfortable boat ride.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Repeater.  She will repeat words you say fairly regularly now.  We got her a little baby that says a few different things when you squeeze it's tummy.  She will squeeze it and then repeat what it says and her little voice sounds like a fair comparison it's so tiny and high.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Green Head Fly Speed

Last year I got my boat license so that I could drive a jet ski while on vacation.  I did drive one and I even tried the stand-up version for a short while.  It's a fun time.  But there is a downside, the green head flies.  I don't know what these villainous creatures are formally named, but I can tell you the innocuous name of "green head flies" doesn't do them justice.

Maybe something starting with "vicious biting and stinging" would be better.  At any rate, I was out on the jet ski again this year and they were after me.  They were after everyone, but I only itch for me, so that was my main concern.  There are periods of no wake you drive through, but those areas are mostly around houses so the flies aren't as bad there.  When we got into the trails in the marsh the real problems start.

So here's how it works: if you maintain speeds high enough--from my experimentation fifteen miles per hour or higher--they can't catch you.  But slow down or stop or fall off, even in the middle of a large open water area, and they're on you in five seconds.  I don't know how they do it out that far; they are highly skilled at hunting people down.

I had been bit, but not too terribly much, and then I ran the jet ski aground in a very sharp, narrow turn.  Standing around in the grass and muck while we tried to get the jet ski back in the water did me in.  Last year I itched for two weeks from the bites.  This year, I am hoping it will be less.  Next year, I'm not sure it's worth the fun for the price in itching afterwards.

The Big Boy Update:  We went to several stores yesterday and at one we told my son he could pick out a toy.  He loves trucks and cars and he sat on the floor in the vehicles aisle for the longest time playing with all the different options.  Finally, he decided on a tow truck (there was a "hook," of course).  He picked the cheapest toy in the whole store I think at $2.00.  I have a feeling that will change as he gets older.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Happy in the water.  She had the best time in the lagoon the other day.  We put her in a float and the kicked and floated around and didn't want to be bothered because she was so happy sitting in the float and watching the rest of us have fun swimming.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Groomers and Tags

The beaches up here in New Jersey seem different today than what I remember from my childhood.  Granted, I wasn't going to New Jersey beaches back then, but I have been to lots of beaches on the East Coast and I don't remember some of the things that happen up here, happening when I was a child.

First, you have to have a beach tag to go onto the beach.  You can buy a season tag for a higher price or one for a shorter duration at a lesser cost.  This was such a strange thing when I first heard about it last year.  "You mean you need to pay, just to be able to legally be on the beach," I asked?  From what I had experienced, you were expected to enter and exit the beach via public walkways as opposed to going through someone's private yard, but there was never a fee to be on the beach.

My brother-in-law and I were talking about the beach tags and he mentioned people have collections of them that go back decades.  I'm from North Carolina and I don't remember the beaches there having any tag requirement.  I'll have to ask friends who have houses at the beach if things have changed.  

One thing that those tags must pay for is the very nice grooming of the beaches that happens every morning.  For the last two mornings, I've been out on the sand early and I've seen these large vehicles, mostly tractor modifications that are being driven back and forth across the sand, removing large shells and trash that didn't make it into a trash receptacle.  They have a nice grooming end that makes the sand feel light and fluffy and a delight to walk on right after it's been "groomed".  

If keeping the beaches clean and neat and protected from erosion is what those tag fees are going towards as well as those nice life guards that help keep us safe, I would gladly pay the fee.  It seems to me like they have a nice thing going up here.

The Big Boy Update:  "That one has no Mickey."  Both children (who are sleeping in our room with us) woke up at six o'clock this morning.  In a desperate attempt to keep them somewhat calm until breakfast time an hour later, I asked my husband to put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the television in our room.  Due to a connection problem and we had to move them to the living room and the main television.  As my husband told them to follow him, my son looked at me, pointed to the defunct TV and said, "That one has no Mickey."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Anti-birthmark?  She has gotten some sun over the past months (and yes, we have been putting sunscreen on her) that has given her a little color in her arms, legs and neck.  I noticed the other day that she has a lighter colored spot on the back of her calf.  It looks rather typical of a birthmark in shape (irregular and blob-like).  I wonder if it's an invisible or anti-birthmark that doesn't have pigment and only shows up when her skin darkens from sun exposure?

Fitness Update:  The early morning at the beach was spent at a fitness "boot camp" hour that's walk-up and join for a small fee.  I wondered if it would be an easy workout or a difficult one.  It was the latter.  I was with a collection of people--mostly on vacation like me--that were looking for a morning workout and who regularly worked out.  So this workout was not fluff.   I hear the main instructor is even more difficult.  Maybe I'll get to what she has in store later this week.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Kona Kool

Did I mention how exciting it is to be visiting my brother and sister-in-law's house?  Did I go on about how much fun it is to see them and catch up as well as relax for a full week at their beach home each summer?  I know, I already mentioned all of that.  But did I mention they have a Kona Ice truck in their driveway?

I know, cool, right?  Of all the things I love, frozen desserts rank very highly on my "love list".  And given that, it is such a delight to have your own personal frozen treat machine sitting outside the house you're staying at, ready for action day or night.

So far this week, I've spent lots of time helping my children make small flavored ice cups.  My son is at an age where he will ask for specific flavors (when prompted).  I'm not sure he really prefers one flavor over the other, but he can request something if given a choice.

My daughter has a far greater love of eating ice in general and this whole option to have the ice both flavored and consumable with a spoon can hold her attention for long periods of time.  She is even saying, "I want kona" now and we've only been here three days.

I hope this flavored sugar water is low cal.  It is, right?

The Big Boy Update:  Hawaiian shirt.  I got him a Hawaiian shirt for our trip to the beach.  He hadn't seen it until today, but he absolutely loves it.  He didn't want to take it off to go to the beach and he most definitely didn't want to take it off to go to bed.  And he looked good in it too.  I might have to find another one at the used clothing store before they change over to fall clothes.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Pacifier put up means I not need nap, momma.  My daughter knows where her pacifier is kept when she's not napping or sleeping.  She is only allowed to have it when she's in bed.  So, if she doesn't want to nap, she gets out of the bed and puts the pacifier up so that she can come join us. This is excellent communication, but I would really like it if she would nap.

Fitness Update:  Blasted shin splints.  I was hoping they wouldn't bother me on the flat ground here at the beach, but from a half mile to three miles there it was, uncomfortable like a cramp that magically goes away when you add more distance and time.  I only ran five miles today, but I did a half-hour workout with some weights my nephew had for upper body that was fun.


Sunday, July 21, 2013

Vacation is Tiring

Why am I tired?  This is strange.  I'm on vacation and therefore I have far less to do than I would in a normal day at home.  I still have two children, but my husband is here and he has much less to do than he normally would at home working, so he's helping like he always does.  We also have relatives who are having fun playing with our children and they're giving me more free time to "relax" as it were.  And yet I find myself feeling lazy for no good reason.

Is it purely because I don't have forty-three things that simply must get accomplished before bed time, that my brain tells my body to just, "slow on down, we're on 'Island Time?'"  I'm not feeling ill.  I'm very comfortable at my relatives.  I love spending time here every year. I don't have anything giving me undue stress in my life right now either.  Perhaps it is the lack of pressing things to do that's acting as a soporific and making me feel so lackadaisical.

Have I exercised one bit since I arrived?  No.  I'm planning to run tomorrow morning, we'll see if that pans out.

I suppose it is vacation and as such maybe one week off from my "busy as a beaver in flood season" normal routing won't be too terrible a thing.

The Big Boy Update:  Impromptu singing.  Today in the car he was singing a song with a random tune and beat and saying, for lyrics, whatever came to mind.  It went on for so long and was so funny that I was able to catch some of it on video and upload it for others to see (and laugh with us).

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Guitar Star.  I lost her after she had a shower today as I was cleaning things up and figured she would just play with some toys.  I did find her around in the office.  She was singing, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star while strumming Uncle Eric's guitar.  She was doing a pretty good job of playing, too.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Blacking Out

Sit down in front of the television at someone else's house and you notice everything else surrounding the television initially.  Maybe it's on a stand or maybe it's in nice built-in cabinets.  The television may be large or it may be very small.  But once you start watching something on that television, everything else surrounding the moving pictures is completely ignored by your brain.

We were talking about children sleeping in the dark or in the light and how some people prefer a completely dark room while others, most notably children, are afraid of the dark.  At this point my children don't seem to have a preference either way.   That conversation got me thinking about being in the dark though.

While I was riding in the car in the very bright sun earlier today I closed my eyes and I was in the "dark."  If you're afraid of the dark when you close your own eyes, you've got your own set of special problems, I thought.  And then I noticed my blinking.  We do it often, very often, to keep our eyes lubricated.  And we don't notice it at all.  Every time you close your eyes, even briefly to blink, the world goes dark.  But just like breathing, our heartbeat or the areas surrounding the television screen, we scarcely notice it unless we make an effort to.

How marvelous our brains are.

The Big Boy Update:  Scared of the movie.  We put on Monster's, Inc. yesterday in the car.  As an adult, I had never paid attention to if it was appropriate for a toddler.  Of course, it must be because it's animated and targeted to children and it has fuzzy monsters in it.  But there are some points that are scary to a very small child.  After asking for it to be turned off several times, we changed to a younger-aged movie.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Kona Ice Fan.  She (and the rest of us) tried our first Kona Ice today as we went to see how the new truck and franchise mu brother and sister-in-law invested in recently.  She ate, and ate, and ate and I think she would have eaten more if it wasn't time for us to move on.

Friday, July 19, 2013

The Stomach Anomaly

Let's start this post off first by saying I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea to write a blog post (among other things that typically wake me up during the darkest hours of the night).  I pulled up my iPad and sent an email to myself to write a post about the strangeness with my stomach.  Then I checked my email to find a blog post from my sister-in-law on...stomach troubles.  What a coincidence.

The thing about my stomach troubles is that they're gone.  And I blame the babies.  Let's roll back in time though to before I was pregnant.  At that point and for as long as I can remember in my adult life, I didn't like pressure on my stomach region.  If I was lying down on my back, anything with even light pressure, such as my hands laying on my stomach, would be uncomfortable.  I don't know why it was so, but so it was.

When I was pregnant things rearranged in the middle regions and whatever was bothering me in that area had other troubles to contend with.  There were baby bits to rest my hands on while lying on my back (when that was possible) and the uncomfortable feeling was gone.

Before I had really recovered from that first baby, there was a second one on the way.  After that baby there was retraction and reduction ongoing in the mid-section of my body with exercise and through the natural recovery of post-pregnancy. 

It had been so long that I completely forgot about that eerie, uncomfortable stomach sensation until last night, when I realized it had been gone and hadn't come back.  Was it some tightness in muscles or fascia or fat?  Can fat be tight? 

I don't know what it was, but I'm glad it's gone.  Thanks, kids.

The Big Boy Update:  Laundry mess.  This morning I was getting the children in the car one by one to go to camp.  I got her in and came back to a full mess in the bedroom.  He had dumped the basket of laundry off the bed and sent it flying in all directions.  But he had taken his shoes and sock off before getting on the bed, as he is expected to do, so I couldn't be too mad at him.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Hair here and there.  Her hair is all different lengths.  She has some new hair that started growing as her head got larger and some that's been growing for a long time.  She's  a messy head right now, but I don't want it cut.  Anyone who's tried to grow out hair before knows you have to suffer through the bad hair stage to get to alonger length.

Fitness Update:  Last day in the gym before a week of vacation.  He worked us so hard I got blisters on my elbows. 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Vacation

I never was much for vacations.  I don't mean I don't like vacations, just that my family never did the saving up and planning all year for a big vacation week somewhere exciting.  We did take trips, but nothing that was eagerly awaited for, talked about, planned out for maximum fun factor and we certainly didn't seem to do those all out expensive trips that some families seem to need to save up for the remaining fifty-one weeks of the year.

I don't think I ever missed those weeks.  I had fun year round and I didn't feel like I was having to wait out my life in more boring or less exciting weeks of the year, just so we could experience that one super fun week.

But I have a vacation every year now.  I look forward to it for much of the year.  When my husband, then boyfriend, told me he went up to his brother and sister-in-law's house on the New Jersey shore every summer for a week and would I like to go with him that year, I wasn't sure it would be all that much fun.   But I said, "sure" and I went.

And I found out it wasn't Disneyland or Las Vegas, but it was something altogether better in it's own way.  It was like a relaxing week at the beach, but you're with family and you're having fun catching up and spending time with your niece and nephew and meeting their friends and going out on their jet skis or boat or the beach and having as much fun or relaxation as you want, whenever you want.

It's been like that ever since that first year I went.  Each year I look forward to going up and now my children do too.  Tomorrow we leave to head north for another year's vacation.  I can hardly wait for it to start.  Now I must get this post finished so I can go and get to the packing.

The Big Boy Update:  Ro-ha!  I have no idea what word my son is trying to say, but he's been saying "ro-ha" all day.  Let me know if you figure it out.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Tick.  This morning I found a tick on her shoulder.  It came off, but it gives you the shudders thinking about it.   She is fine, and you can't prevent everything from happening to children, but it still makes you feel a bit of a failure when something does happen.

Fitness Update:  Trampoline exercise class!  I went with two of  my neighbors to a fitness class in a facility where the entire floor is covered with trampolines.  Not only was the place impressive and the trampolines fun, the hour-long workout was a killer.  I told my husband and Uncle Jonathan they had to come with us next time.

Someone Once Said: It is better to copulate than never.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Learning How To Counterbalance

My children have always ridden in cars in car seats.  It's the law, and it's safer.  But yesterday Uncle Jonathan and I drive my daughter to the pool in the car on his lap.  It was two blocks and I drove at a crawl's pace to be safe.   My daughter seemed completely oblivious to our blatant breaking of the law and unimpressed by the car trip overall.  Mostly, she was interested in what Uncle Jonathan was holding in his hand.

What I noticed was that she had no concept of counter balancing herself as the car moved.  She's spent her entire life, up to now, strapped into a car seat when in a car.  In those seats they can be little noodles of muscle and bone and the seat gently protects them.  Sitting up, sideways, on an adult's lap in a moving car is an entirely different story though.

She does know how to balance though.  We push her around in the blue car and the wagon and she sits up and balances quite well.  I expect she'll get the hang of this soon enough...say when she's ten or whatever age it is nowadays that you no longer need car seats.

The Big Boy Update:  The Veggie Tales Conversation.  My in-laws got my son a CD for Christmas that has the Veggie Tales characters talking and singing and using my son's name as they do so.  It's a great CD as it doesn't sound like his name is just plastered in and the same is done for three hundred other kid's names.  The main guy asks my son questions and uses his name when he does so.  My son understands now that he's being asked a question and he dutifully answers the voice on the CD.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Not only did she work on her balance in the car as written above, she's also working on her pool skills.  She is still our little daredevil and will jump off the side of the pool into your arms.  She loves to be dunked under water and even likes being held there.  Oh, and she's good at blowing bubbles.  We're working on the kicking, but she's going to be swimming sooner than her brother at this rate. 

Fitness Update:  A little work in the fitness room last night with Uncle Jonathan and then back to the trainer this morning. 

Someone Once Said:  There was one field in which man was unsurpassed; he showed unlimited ingenuity in devising bigger and more efficient ways to kill off, enslave, harass, and in all ways make an unbearable nuisance to himself. Man was his own grimmest joke on himself.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Age of Reasonable Trustworthiness

Children are tiring.  Each age has their own way of tiring you, as an adult, out.  Right now I have two toddlers.  They are full of energy or in some cases beyond tired and out of energy but cranky and in need of assistance to make it to bedtime.  But no matter what state your children are in, be it energetic, hungry, angry, bored or ill, they seem to require more energy input from you as an adult than you expect.

It does get better in some ways over time though.  For instance, my children sleep through the night.  And they sleep well.  Sometimes one needs to be re-blanketed or repositioned, but for the most part, we have our nights back, and that is a great thing.

My children can climb up and down stairs themselves, which is a very helpful thing.  It's fun to be putting breakfast on the table and have them come down the stairs happy to see you in the morning.

My children are also potty trained.  Okay, maybe not.  Maybe definitely most certainly not when it comes to my daughter.  My son mostly is, but my daughter is still in the whole training phase.  There is more time spent in the potty negotiations and trips and changing when accidents happen and washing out of the soiled underpants than there ever was in plopping them on the changing table and putting a new diaper on.  But I hear this potty training thing pays off later, so I'm not arguing.

One of the nice things is that at this age, I can leave them alone for a while if needed.  They're reasonably trustworthy.  I wouldn't leave them alone for too long, because they might take a notion to investigate the spices, open up the white pepper container, pour large amounts into a paper bowl they found and then start eating it.   And yes, this did happen.

They weren't at all pleased with how the pepper tasted.  We tried not to laugh too much as we cleaned up the mess.

The Big Boy Update:  Apples and oranges.  We struggle with making sure our children get a balanced and varied diet.  I know we aren't nearly as strict as many parents, but if we can get in good foods, I'm okay with a cookie or ice cream factored in at some point too.  He eats well at school and today at lunch he preferred apple and orange slices over quesadilla.  I didn't mind that some of the meal food wasn't eaten because he was full of fruit. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  French braided hair.  I have a hard enough time getting her hair in one or even two bows.  She doesn't hold still and she likes to take your work out once it's complete.  Today, she came home from camp with french braided hair ending in pigtails.  It was very cowgirl cute on her.  Pearl said she sat still and let her do it surprisingly. 

Fitness Update:  I wore my heart rate monitor to the fitness room this morning because the calorie burn count on the elliptical machine is outrageously high and I wanted to confirm what the true burn was.  I wasn't surprised to find out I was only burning 40% of the calories it was counting.  Still, a half-hour on the elliptical machine is a tiring thing at resistance level twenty-five.

Someone Once Said:  The commonest weakness of our race is our ability to rationalize our most selfish purposes.

Monday, July 15, 2013

The Week in Weight

This is how my week in weight goes:
Monday morning is weigh-in.  Every Monday my husband and I enter into a spreadsheet our weight and we've been tracking it for almost a year-and-a-half now.  Initially, I was going for weight loss, but now it's to make sure I'm maintaining my target weight.  But that doesn't mean I don't pay attention to my weight during the remainder of the week, on the contrary.

This is how my week in weight goes:

Let's say it's Monday morning and if I think I might be on the high side, it's time to do something cardiovascular, like run, early.  That's sure to drop some water weight to make the numbers come in lower.  Granted, if I was putting on weight over time, this tactic would only work for so long and eventually I would have to sweat off a literal "bucket of water" to get to my target weight, but for small deltas it does the trick.

If I made it to, close to or not too much over my target weight then I can relax.  Hey, there's not another weigh-in for a full week so I can eat all I want today and maybe the next day too.  Only, I don't usually because I'm glad I'm on track and didn't lose all control over the past week.

On Tuesday and Wednesday and sometimes even Thursday though I don't really think about food that much other than being reasonable with what I eat and balancing it with the exercise I'm doing.  Tuesdays through Thursdays  are the fun days.

On Friday I check the scale and see if I'm in trouble for the upcoming Monday, because I need time to correct, if so.  Usually I'm a more sensible eater on Fridays and Saturdays.

Sunday is the worst day usually, because for some reason I'm always really hungry on Sundays.  I don't know why.  I struggle on Sundays to be mindful of what I'm eating and if I've just got to have that big meal, then better make it breakfast and tell yourself you've had your fill of great big plates full of food for the day and to prepare for small portions at lunch and dinner.

For the most part, I don't think this is too unhealthy an attitude.  For those of us who can't eat anything and everything we want all the time without putting on weight, you've got to watch what you eat in some fashion.  Being boring and never having that big, over-indulgent meal or food item ever isn't going to work for me.  But knowing I have an end point I am holding myself accountable for (the following Monday's weigh-in) keeps me on track.  Or at least so far it has. 

The Big Boy Update:  Tricycle successful.  He hasn't really gotten the tricycle before, mostly because he was too short.  Today he got it, although he wasn't able to really master getting up to speed and staying at speed so he did a lot of stopping and starting.  Oh, and he mostly forgot to steer he was so focused on the pedals.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She stole his food!  He tries to steal her food all the time.  That, and he puts things on her plate that he doesn't want.  Today he was still asleep and I watched her take food off his plate again and again that she liked (hotdogs) and act innocent when she thought I was looking.

Fitness Update:  We biked the children to camp this morning.  Eleven miles sounds like a long way, but the calorie burn is nothing like running.  Still, it was good weather, breezy and  a clement morning for a bike ride to school.

Someone Once Said:  One does not let children get married; they do get married, when and to whom they choose.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Camp Makes All The Difference

First there was one child and then there were two.  One child is busy, two children are busier still and two toddlers with lots of energy are sometimes exhaustingly busy.  But then came school and for three hours every weekday morning there was one less toddler to chase.  Then the second toddler was accepted to school at an unexpectedly young age and there was time in the daylight hours with zero children to chase and you could catch your breath and even catch up on a few things.

But school had to end at some point and it did just as summer was arriving.  What?  You mean I have to chase these highly active children the entire day now?  Where are those three hours I had busily filled up with school volunteer work and other things?  I needed those hours of freedom without children in order to get the day's work done.  But there was no school for the children to go to.

For three weeks, three long weeks, I had children all day long.  How do mothers do this all the time with more than two, sometimes a full gaggle of children every day?  How do day care providers do this every day without turning to substances like heavy caffeine intake to make it through the day?  And yet people do it all the time and many even thrive in that environment.

And then came summer camp.  Summer camp is just like school from my perspective:  three hours of the day without children.  Summer camp is my savior.  My children love it and I can get everything done so that I can focus on them for the remainder of the day and hopefully make their afternoons interesting and mentally stimulating.

Summer camp saved me.

The Big Boy Update:  Pool wary.  He's better at the pool, but he's not as much of a daredevil as he was before he jumped in that one day earlier in the summer.  We're working him into blowing bubbles and kicking but he's more cautious now than he was before.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "Walk away!"  She just started to say this yesterday.  Her brother has been saying it constantly for months, but she hasn't used the phrase until now.  And boy has she picked it up.  She is using it constantly, trying it on and working it into her vocabulary with enthusiasm.  The first time she used it was yesterday when I asked her if she needed help getting out of her car seat.  She said, "no" and when I asked her a second time she smiled, waved me off and said, "walk away" in the sweetest little girl voice. 

Someone Once Said:   That’s why I bought the first round. The party never gets smaller.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

From The Desk of:

When I was young, there was this fad that seemed to go around for a while that you needed to have your own notepads.  Maybe it was in my town or maybe the whole thing was engineered by my mother (who is good at organizing things).  I remember getting my personal note pads with my name on them and being so excited that there was not only papers printed up with my name, but that those papers were stuck together into a notepad.

I think I was fairly young, probably under ten, definitely not older than fourteen when I had these magical note pads made up for me by the printing group at the college where my mother worked.    I loved that area of the college, so many exciting things happened there with paper.

With my notepads,I would write all sorts of things to people.  I would draw on them.  I would make paper airplanes out of them and other origami models.  I loved my notepads.

I came across a note yesterday on that same type of stationary.  It was a, "from the desk of" piece of paper and it was the right size, one quarter of am 8.5" x 11" paper.  It was a hand-written note from a friend of my father's and for some reason I had put it in an old game or card box and left it there for decades.

I'm not altogether sure what it came out of as my son discovered it in his opening of several things.  It's yellowed and old and does have a date, only not the year.  But I do remember this friend of my father's, even if I don't remember this specific note.



I still have a little bit of my note pads left in a storage box somewhere that I saved for posterity.  I should go see what else is in that memorabilia box after all these years.

The Big Boy Update:  "Momma, I stepped in poop."  Oh dear, yes, he did.  There was a bit of time he had on pants, but no underpants and that poop just fell right out of the pants leg...onto the oriental rug...and then he stepped in it.  He told me as he came across the house trying to hold up his leg.  I did lots of cleaning first him, and then the oriental rug with the carpet cleaner spot bot tool with water, sucking out everything I could.  I'm so glad he told me.  Also, eww.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The torrent of words.  She is getting words so quickly and putting them into sentences that she's transforming every week into a new little girl.  People who haven't seen her in even a short while can tell the difference in her communication.

Fitness Update:  Nine miles starting at 5:30AM with Uncle Jonathan.  When you're done with a long run at 7:15 in the morning, it almost seems like it didn't happen.  I went to the gym for twenty-five minutes of upper body work to round off the day while I had a sitter helping with the children.

Someone Once Said:  Sensitive and sensible are complimentary traits.

Friday, July 12, 2013

The Strange Exchange

I bought something at the drug store today.  I try to be a good customer, and that means not using the option to return an item unless I really need to.  What I mean is I have a personal expectation that I will make a good decision when I buy the product and if it turns out it wasn't what I needed and I have to return or exchange the item, then I most likely could have been a more informed buyer so that I would have made the best decision the first time around.

And yet I do return things, and today was one of those days when I made a poor decision, got home, looked at the product I'd bought and went back within the hour to exchange it for the other option I should have gone with in the first place.  I don't like returning things; it's a much more involved process than purchasing something.  But it had to be done.

So I get to the drug store, grab the alternate product and go to the check out counter.  There is an older man there who says, "let's see how much this rings up for before we go any further."  After he scanned the product he said it was only a dollar difference and it wasn't worth it to do the complicated exchange.  I told him I would gladly pay a dollar, and tried to hand it to him.  He wouldn't take it and told me to not worry about it.

I left the store after thanking him, but I was confused.  This was a large chain drug store.  They have inventory tracking most likely done through the purchasing of products.  I was exchanging one product and brand for an entire other brand and product.  And a dollar difference?  If it had been a few cents, but I was surprised he didn't even want to pursue the price difference.

He wasn't the manager, I wonder what the other associate thought that was watching the whole event from the next register over?

The Big Boy Update:  My son woke up from a long nap yesterday and was time-confused.  When he came out of the bedroom he said to me, "I want to eat breakfast."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The spoon flip.  She enjoys eating with a spoon, but she does so with her own special method.  She puts the spoon in her mouth sideways, with the food smashed against her tongue.  Then she turns the spoon upside down in her mouth and sucks the food off it.  I don't know how she does this so regularly without spilling much food.

Fitness Update:  Gym for upper body and then a half hour on the elliptical machine later.  High resistance on the elliptical machine is a hard cardiovascular workout.

Someone Once Said:  Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. (He is also a fool.)

Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Milking of the Cereal

Little babies go from nursing or drinking from a bottle to solid foods slowly.  One of the first foods are small cereal-like "puffs" that melt in their mouth.  They love these things.  Cereal is an easy food to give a child as they get older because it's got grains, it's easy to hold, the like the taste, you can put it in a little feeder cup, it makes them smile, and most likely twenty-three other reasons that aren't coming to mind straight away.  In short, cereal is a good thing to a child learning how to eat solids.

As they get older though, it's time to put that cereal in a bowl and help them use a spoon to eat it.  Also, it's good to add some milk to it.  It is most common to see people eating cereal with some fashion of milk on it, as opposed to dry cereal in a bowl or cup (although that's pretty tasty too).  But making that transition from dry to wet might take a bit of work, especially if you have balky children.

We've gotten there now, but it took some work.  We had to select new cereals that my children didn't associate as "dry only" foods and introduce a small amount of milk.  Then, we added a bit more milk to the bowls and after that we added milk to known cereals. 

So far, they're eating cereal without a problem.  Some days are better than others and some cereals are more successful than others.  Children are fickle: some days they want fruit and dislike cereal while other days the fruit is of no interest to them and they want, "moi moi" cereal.  But we made it.  We have milked the cereal and they have accepted the new breakfast food combination as edible.

The Big Boy Update:  Peanuts.  Okay, I was very hopeful that the peanut thing we my son had going was a mild thing, but unfortunately, it's not.  He didn't react to peanuts initially, but over time he seems to be more sensitive to them.  Today, he found a Reese's Pieces piece in one of those quarter portion machines and before I knew it he had popped it into his mouth.  He spit it straight out, but he got very red and itchy around his face and it turned into a histamine reaction that basically bothered his entire dermis.  Benadryl and some topical analgesic lotion on bothersome spots and he's fine, but it appears we're going to have to steer clear of peanuts for a while and re-evaluate as his immune system matures.  The good news here is that it's not a breathing issue, so it may get better or resolve over time.  For now, we avoid and wait. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Blueberry picker.  There is a blueberry bush at school and the blueberries are turning blue and edible.  The children enjoy picking the blue ones that have ripened every morning.  Early arriving children get first pick, and the picking goes quickly.  My son, even at two-and-a-half, understands to wait and not pick the non-ripe berries.  My daughter is just happy to be picking.  I had to remove her from the bush today so that tomorrow and next week there will be blueberries to enjoy.

Fitness Update:  We're doing a lot of non-cardio, weights work in the gym while my neighbor's toe heals.  It's a different kind of fun.  I swear, I have arm muscles now.  It is so cool.

Someone Once Said:  Since when was an emotional argument won by logic?

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The Condensate Pan, The Sludge and The Float

I was going to write about an entirely different thing today, but the day got away from me and then, just about when I was going to sit down at the computer, my husband said one of those phrases you never want to hear; "there's water in the basement."

And there was, but it wasn't that bad.  My in-laws were in town and they jumped right in and helped clean up what was clearly an overflow from the condensate pump unit on the side of the air conditioning unit in our mechanical room.  But...what was causing the water overflow?  Why wasn't the condensate pump pumping like it was meant to? 

I did the thing I am known for doing: I texted our builder.  He is, without a doubt, the greatest builder.  I would say ever, but there are some impressive monuments built in the world and while I know my builder is the best, I may well be biased. 

At any rate, he messaged me back, asking about the pictures I was sending.  He gave us tips and we were working on things and making some discoveries, but utterly failing in really understanding what the unit was doing and how it was constructed.  We were basically floundering. 

He said he would be near us in about forty minutes.  He didn't have to stop by; we finished building our house two-and-a-half years ago.  But he is just that kind of guy.  When he arrived, we had made a little more progress in the diagnosis realm, determining it would come on and pump, but only if you jostled it or messed with it. 

He suggested (after some messing around with it) that it was the internal float that wasn't coming on.  He figured out how to open it up, and we discovered it was covered and coated in this slimy sludge.  It was unappealing and it needed to be cleaned.  Once cleaned, it looked like new.  So now, surely all will be well. 

But no, the pesky float worked just as it should in all ways, except when put back together.  Did it need more buoyancy?  Was it rubbing against something preventing it from rising all the way?  And most importantly, why was the plastic container opaque so you couldn't see what was happening inside once you put it back together?!

We worked for close to two hours and I was so touched the entire time that our builder, in his clothes from working on another house in the summer heat, would come over and help us until the problem was solved.  Eventually we worked out that the float was (prepare for a technical term here) tetchy.  Okay, okay, that's my term for it, but it's the answer we came up with. 

The original foam buoyancy piece was replaced with a newly cut one from one of my children's pool "noodles" and it seems, hopefully, to be working fine now. 

I owe my builder another bottle of Mount Gay Rum after today.  What a nice guy.

The Big Boy Update:  My son decided he wanted some money today after I explained I was going to the bank to get money.  When I asked him what he wanted to spend money on, he said, "I would buy chicken fries...and chicken...and people."  What else would you buy, I asked.  "I would buy daddy."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Drying the dog.  We gave the dog a bath the other day and my daughter watched the whole process and wanted to help by giving the dog toys to play with while she was looking sad in the tub.  Afterwards, my daughter happily tried to dry the dog off with a towel.  The dog wasn't one bit interested in a toddler trying to dry her, but it didn't stop my daughter from trying.

Someone Once Said:  She says people have to tell little white fibs or else people couldn’t stand each other. But she says fibs were meant to be used, not abused.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Death By Sweat

It has been so hot.  So very humid and, well, okay it's not that hot yet.  I fear the hottest of the hot days are yet to come, but it's been hot enough.  It's in large part due to the humidity that it feels even more hot than it truly is.  But this post is about sweat.

Running is a real bear right now, but taking the summer off isn't an option.  It's time to pre-hydrate and drink most of the time you're running.  And if you even think you're going to be working on speed in this type of weather, you'd better think again, because it's not happening.

I have not had so many unpleasant running experiences as I have in the past month.  Today I got some more advice from an associate at the running store.  I'm stocking up on all sorts of things that will help me stay hydrated and yet still be able to train through the summer.  Because there's no stopping the sweat once you get your heart rate up in this weather.

The Big Boy Update:  "daddy" = "I don't know".  It took me a while to figure this out, but it is always true and it can be very funny.  If my son doesn't know the answer to something, he will tell you, "daddy."  For example, "what did you eat for lunch?"  "Daddy."  Or, "what do you want to do this afternoon?"  "Daddy."  If you're around my son any time in the near future, I suggest you try asking him a question you know he won't know the answer to.  I have money on what his answer will be.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "K K K K K K K"  Imagine that to the tune of the ABC's song and you get an idea of what my daughter decided the letter of the day was today.

Fitness Update:  Fitness room for some weights work after the children went to sleep last night and some circuit work with our trainer this morning.  Then, a big breakfast.  Nice.

Someone Once Said:  When dealing with children there is greater need for observing than of probing.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Disappearing Roadside Stands

We've been going to the same location in the mountains for vacations ever since I was a child.  We went to my parent's best friends house for many years and had the best of times.  About the time the children grew up and moved out on our own, my parents bought a house in this same town and have enjoyed it both part-time and then full-time when they retired years later.

My parents have owned their house for twenty years, something that's hard to believe in the way that time goes by faster than it seems possible kind of way.  We've seen many changes through the little town they reside in now for eight months of the year after all this time.

Remember when you could rent video tapes?  That was the height of luxury at the time, being able to watch a movie of your choice whenever you wanted to.  At that point, there wasn't even a movie rental store in town so we came in via the next town over, a longer drive, and an intolerable addition of minutes to me as a young child.  But we got that movie.  It was beside the point that they never picked out children's movies, it was only important that we had a movie.

We rode up the mountain hills, or rather mountains, in different cars over the years.  I remember more than one car we were concerned wasn't going to make it up some of the longer, steeper parts, but we always made it eventually.

And along those windy, twisty roads there were many roadside stands.  We liked to stop and get honey or fresh fruit and vegetables, and hopefully, if you were in the back seat and you were me, boiled peanuts.  Tasted like salty peas, but such a wonderful, juicy delight.

Those roadside stands started to disappear at the same pace that the widened, straightened roads were built along the way to our destination.  There were so many once; now we take a specific trip to the one we know is left, and we have to get to it via an access road off the newly widened highway, because their stand is no longer near the road once the curve they were on was straightened.

We get to the mountains so much faster these days, but we've lost a lot of the charm and nostalgia of the drive from when I was a child.

The Big Boy Update:  I am frequently reminded of the Blues Traveller song, "The Hook" because of my son's obsession with anything he deems hook-worthy.  He even makes a hook out of his hand and will hook anything, including impossible things.  He's two-and-a-half, impossible isn't a problem for him.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "You sit here"  This is brand new.  She has started to understand the line between her identity and that of those around her.  And she is beginning to try and control other people.  Today, she told me, "you sit here" and tonight she told Uncle Jonathan, "Jon, you come" (to the car.)  She's just the right age for this to be happening developmentally, but it's still exciting to see.

Fitness Update:  Eight miles and I lost another crazy amount of water weight, even pre-hydrating and drinking on the trail. Ninety degrees and "humid as hell" is no fun to run in.

Someone Once Said:  Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

The Only Thing More Awkward Than an Umbrella...

Is two people and an umbrella.

I dislike umbrellas.  I always have.  I realize I'm in the minority when it comes to this opinion, but I dislike them nonetheless.  And I shall count the reasons why.

First, you have to tote it around with you, just in case it rains.  I would rather risk getting wet.

Second, you stay dry on the upper parts of you, but the lower parts still get wet.  Since I don't have coiffed hair or wear makeup, getting wet upstairs isn't that much of a tragedy for me.

Third, you have to store it somewhere when you arrive, or get to your car.  I dislike the whole dripping wet umbrella contraption.  When they collapse, it's a guaranteed way for them to stay wet for days to come.

Fourth, when you leave wherever it is you brought your umbrella to, you have to remember to take it home with you.  The number of umbrellas left at my house over the years is a testament to how frequently they're forgotten.

Fifth, you are a menace when you're carrying one.  I have a special hatred for the extra large, super-duper, gigantic umbrellas that keep you and the surrounding county dry, while taking up the entire sidewalk and incommoding other passers by.  Large umbrellas aside, they all look like eye-pokers to me and I try to steer clear whenever I can.

Sixth, most of the time, the entire distance you need to go, say from the restaurant door to the car or the car to the house, is short.  By the time you deal with an umbrella, you could have gone the distance more than once.

And seventh, the sharing of the umbrella.  People are being kind in their desire not to get wet and it must seem like a weather catastrophe to see someone out in the rain, not seeming to mind getting wet.  I find myself frequently declining offers to share an umbrella, something I find frightfully awkward.  It seems to distress people that I don't want an umbrella, that perhaps that lady is off her medication, or maybe she had head trauma.  Either way, I sometimes have to decline an offer more than once.  Really, I'm fine.

Bottom line is, I don't mind the rain.  If I get wet, my body heat will usually cause my clothes to dry in a reasonable amount of time or if I get soaked, hopefully there's a dryer or towel in my near future.  I like the rain.  I dislike umbrellas.  But thanks anyway to everyone for trying to take care of me in the rain.  I appreciate the thought.

The Big Boy Update:  Big boy fan.  We went to friends of my parent's last night for dinner.  There was a six-year-old there named Ben who was the complete and total object of affection for my son last night.  He immediately looked up to this older boy as both a fun play mate as well as someone to admire.  It was very cute, and yet a little oppressive with all the adoration and smothering of affection my son lavished on Ben who was a good sport.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Roulette obsessed.  There is a roulette wheel at my parent's house.  She likes the wheel, but she loves the ball.   She will spend hours playing with that ball, bouncing it on the glass table, spinning the wheel and chasing it around the floor when she invariably drops it. 

Saturday, July 6, 2013

The Collection of Things or The Three Little Dogs

We all collect things over time.  Some of us collect more than others and some of us purge over time more than others.  Some collect things of value while some collect things of junk. 

My father is a collector and so am I.  But we collect in different ways.  I like to collect things and store them away in a neat, orderly, organized fashion.  If I want to see, or work with, or go through my collection, I bring it out and then put it up when I'm done.

My father, on the other hand, likes to have his collections out and about.  But he collects things that are far more suitable for display.  My collection of breath mints wouldn't exactly make for a stunning display on the shelves of out living room.  His collections of magic posters, miniature cameras, antique microscopes and historical nautical instruments are perfect for sharing visually with visitors and guests.

My father has collected for all of my life and I'm accustomed to coming home to see new and interesting things around the house.  He has a knack for putting all manner of unrelated things together in one room, somehow making it work and look like it was meant to be just that way.  I don't have that skill.

My parents are kind enough to display all the things I've given them over time.  Just tonight I noticed the crystal cherries from Italy, the concrete puzzle from New Zealand, the rocks attached to some driftwood from my trip to OOPSLA in Austin and the multi-layered hand-blown vase from Murano. 

So, if they've been displaying my things for over twenty years, there must be things far older in their personal historical time line around their house.  Tonight, I discovered one.  My son was finishing his bath and reached for something on the counter in my parent's bathroom.  My father said, "no no, that's delicate.  I've had that since I was a boy."  It was a ceramic piece with three dogs: one orange, one black and one white.  I had seen it for years, but I didn't know it was that old or, more specifically, what importance it had in my father's life.

It could have been something from a yard sale he liked several years ago, but it was over seventy years old and has been with my father all this time.  It changed my feelings entirely about that little piece of ceramic, just because I knew how it's history was personally intertwined with my father.

It's interesting how things become important to us because of longevity or proximity or any other number of reasons.  I wonder how many other things are around my parent's house that I don't know are important to them?

The Big Boy Update:  Passive and aggressive.  He has reached the age of television zoning.  If something is on that is even remotely interesting to him (including an adult talk show, go figure on that one) he will just sit there an stare at the screen.  But beware, too much passive time results in extra aggressive behavior when he runs around later. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Baby bow boot camp, round two.  Her hair needs to be put up in some way to keep it out of her eyes.  She likes to take the bows or bands out though, when you're not looking.  Mostly, she just wants to put the bands around her wrist.  So it's back to cracking down on her to make sure she leaves them be.  Also, she looks very cute with pig tails.

Fitness Update;  I pulled a wagon with two children down the hill to the center of town here in the mountains for the parade this afternoon.  It was a bit of a workout to keep the wagon under control going down and a lot of work to pull it back up the hill.  My legs felt it both ways.

Someone Once Said:  Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Coffee and the Repour

It's not common that I go to a restaurant and have coffee as my beverage.  What does happen a lot is I order a coffee to go or I make a coffee for myself at home.  In either of those two cases, the coffee is sweetened and creamed at the start, before you begin to drink.  As you drink your beverage, the level of sweetness and creaminess remains constant and the drink tastes the same level of deliciousness from start to finish. 

In a restaurant with a cup of coffee, this does not happen, and it confounds me.  From what I've seen, most people add either cream, sugar or both to their coffee.  For any given cup, you get the right balance of additives and then you're ready to drink and enjoy.  

But the waitperson commonly sweeps by and tops off your beverage, usually when you're not looking.  If this is to add to your water glass or your lemonade or your soda, this doesn't make much of a change.  But if it's your coffee (or your tea) then you've just had your balance imbalanced unexpectedly.  This can happen again and again and if your meal is like mine was this morning. 

I wasn't upset, if I was, I would have said something.  I was glad to have such an attentive lady helping us with our meal.  But with beverages that have additives, I'm surprised more wait people don't ask if the person would like to have more added.   To be sure, it happens some of the time, but not all of the time.

Still, my coffee was delicious, even if the balance of ingredients varied wildly over the meal.

The Big Boy Update:  "Garbagetrash"  is apparently what my son thinks all things both garbage and trash related are called.  That, or he's not sure and he's making sure to cover his bases.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Bahpur and fahfire.  She has names for things just like her brother.  "Bahpur" is a diaper and "fahfire" is a pacifier.  Similar, but different from his "bahpoo" and "fassire".

Someone Once Said:  The child whom we have robbed of his own will becomes difficult; we believe that by doing things for him we will do him some good.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Seasonal Specific Longings

It's July Fourth today and we've just gotten in from a lovely pool party at our friend's house.  They always have great friends, good food and everyone seems to have a good time.  After having their pool installed, it's hard to go wrong.  My son and daughter had a tremendous time  splashing and trying to swim.  But this post isn't about that party (and how full I am from the food right now.)

It's about out of season longings.  And you're saying, "what are you talking about?"  Have you ever happened onto something Christmas-related in May and had a longing, just for a little bit, for that time of year?  My son has the book, How the Grinch Stole Stole Christmas and he doesn't care what time of year it is when you read it to him; but as adults, it brings about thoughts of a time of year that's out of sync with where you currently are.

I was looking at something on my iPad last week and I saw this roaring fire in a beautiful fireplace and it reminded me of the fires we used to enjoy when I was younger at my parent's best friend's mountain house.

They had wonderful fires and I would stand as close as I could, usually on the stone hearth itself, warming my legs and hands until I couldn't stand the heat any longer.  I would do this again and again and wish I could even sleep by the fire because it was so peaceful to watch the flames dancing and the wood crackling.

They still have that house and we've even been invited up to see the fireworks on Saturday from their porch.  It's a beautiful house in the summer, but it won't be the same without that roaring fire and the chilly weather outside.

The Big Boy Update:  "I rescue you."  Today at the pool, he wanted to rescue people.  He would do this by climbing onto their diving board, walking to the end, looking over and asking you to give him your hand.  He would then say, "come up, I rescue you" and be very happy when you obliged him.   We couldn't get him to jump off the diving board so we could rescue him, however.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Broken arm?  No, it's not broken, but I was worried there for a bit.  She was climbing out of the pool and stumbled on the top step.  Now, if you know my daughter, you know she stumbles on a regular basis.  She has the clumsy gene I have.  But she hurt herself.  She was crying and wouldn't stop and was holding her right arm, close to the wrist, very carefully.  This went on for some time.  Finally, I took her in and changed her out of her swim clothes and she seemed to forget about her arm.  She must have hit it hard and bruised it, but at least it isn't broken.

Fitness Update:  I wedged in some weight lifting at the fitness room before our fun pool party. 

Someone Once Said:  Every so often some idiot tries to abolish marriage. Such attempts work as well as repealing the laws of gravity, making pi equal to three point zero, or moving mountains by prayer. Marriage is not something thought up by priests and inflicted on mankind; marriage is as much a part of mankind’s evolutionary equipment as his eyes, and is as useful to the race as eyes are to an individual.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Perserverance

I went to a, "Talking With Toddlers" class a few weeks ago.  I took my neighbor with me and we both agreed we learned a lot.  Have you even been somewhere or experienced something and there is one single thing that defines that event or moment and it's the thing that comes to your mind the most often when you remember that period of time?  The thought I have regularly and repeatedly from the class is "perseverance".

Our instructor (who is also my daughter's lead teacher) said, "if you're watching your child struggling over something, you should be very proud."  The point is, that's how children learn.  Swooping in and doing the activity for the child, such as putting on the socks or opening the jar, isn't helping, it's depriving them of a learning experience.

She said it's good to let them get frustrated.  It's absolutely fine to wait until they're close to giving up and then coming in to give them a helping hand at figuring out the task themselves.

So now, every time I see my daughter set out to put on her underpants or her socks or her shoes herself, I don't fret that she's going to most likely fail; I smile at knowing she'll be busy for a while working hard on learning for herself.

The Big Boy Update:  "I need to go potty."  In the car this morning he told me he had to go.  I asked if he could hold it and got a non-committal response.  So I hurried when we got to the store to get two children out and in the building.  I was close, but I wasn't fast enough.  He lost is just before we got to the bathroom.  But he knew and he asked and he tried to wait. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Walking up the stairs.  This morning I was in the kitchen and she was in the basement.  I heard her call my name and came to the top of the stairs.  I watched her talk to me while she walked, not crawled, up the stairs with only her hand on the wall for balance.

Fitness Update:  I have missed our trainer.  We did mostly upper body today doing buddy exercises with my neighbor and her broken toe.  I felt like doing a Hulk roar at the end of the workout, my arm muscles were so worked out.

Someone Once Said:  Any statement that starts with “I really ought to—“is suspect. It means you really haven’t analyzed your motives.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

I Give You a Kiss

We have tried very hard to not raise clingy, needy children.  To see my son be self-reliant at only two-and-a-half make me proud, not upset that he doesn't need his mother.  But that can come with a price. 

Both children like to meet other people.  They like to play with other children.  They are most pleased going into a new location and exploring the new things they find there.  And that means they mostly run off and go have a good time without you. 

Certainly when they're hurt or upset or tired they come to you and want to be near you; but my children don't hide behind my legs and peek out at the newcomer and they certainly don't want to be hugged any longer than necessary to get over their most recent bodily injury. 

So hugs are short and kisses are a matter of novelty, not a requirement for their comfort or knowledge that we love them.  But we do hug them and kiss them and I do tell my son that he's, "my best boy" and my daughter that she's, "my best girl."

They don't sleep in our bed.  They never have and even when they've been sick and in need of comfort, their bed is where they find that comfort and where they want to be.  Just try to get a two-year-old to settle down in your bed when he's never slept there before and you'll see what I mean.

Tonight, we were at my favorite sushi restaurant and my son made me giggle.   There is a big fish tank there and, of course, they have fish of the same species as those from the movie, Finding Nemo.  My son loves to ask where the fish are and point them out and name them and talk to them and...apparently kiss them.

On several occasions tonight he would go back over to the fish tank during the meal, talk to one of the fish and then say, "I give you a kiss" and kiss the fish tank repeatedly.  The lady at the front desk and I just stood behind him trying not to laugh out loud because it was so very sweet and cute. 

Now if only I can get him to want to give me a kiss sometime too.

The Big Boy Update:  "Walk away pants!"  This phrase, "walk away," is something they use in his class at school.  It is suppose to be a polite way to tell your friend this is your work and they need to find some other work to do and respect your space.  My son has extrapolated this phrase to mean he's mad or upset or maybe now that I think about it, it might be his version of a swear phrase.  This afternoon he was having trouble getting his pants off to go potty.  When he finally got them off, he kicked them across the room and yelled very loudly at them, "walk away pants!"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Dip-a-dip-a-dip.  My daughter has entered into the age of dipping.  My son was interested in dipping anything into anything far earlier, but she wasn't in so much of hurry.  What she does do that's very cute is talk about the dip in a little sing-song voice by saying, "dip-a-dip-a-dip" and then calmly dipping her fry or chicken or what-not into the dip.

Fitness Update:  Didn't make it to the gym this morning due to a headache, but I made it to the fitness room with Uncle Jonathan this afternoon.  The fitness room wall is lined with mirrors.  I'm not sure if it's a good thing that you can see how much you're struggling or sweating or looking foolish as you try to exercise.

Someone Once Said:  The notion that a boy becomes a man only on a certain birthday is mere legal fiction.

Monday, July 1, 2013

What is Gramps Doing Here?

We went to visit my in-laws the other day.  Daddy had a parent-child golf tournament he was playing in with his mother and the children and I went up to see Grandpa (or Papa as my two seem to persist in calling him).  We had a very nice visit, which ended with a dinner on the newly renovated porch and veranda at the country club.

There were hot dogs and potato chips and my children ate happily at tables covered with white linens, not caring a bit that they were smearing ketchup all over the place.  After they lost interest in the meal portion of the celebration, we moved them to the dessert stage by making them each a fancy ice cream sundae with all sorts of sugary, drippy, candy toppings.

When my daughter was done eating, I was afraid she was going to be ejected from the country club for improper attire because she had made just that much of a mess on herself.

Tired out and sugared up we drove home and they fell asleep on the way.  That night much later, my husband realized something was amiss upstairs in the children's room.  My daughter, for the first time in her life, had thrown up.  It was everywhere on the bed and she was confused and she didn't understand why her pacifier tasted so terrible.

We don't know why she threw up, but after changing her bedding she had no problems going straight back to sleep.  I was tired too and apparently I went straight back to sleep as well.  Later that night I awoke to a darkened room to an odd sight.  My father was in our bedroom and he was doing something at the dresser across from the bed that has the changing table on it.  Why was my father in the bedroom at this hour and what did he need from the changing table?

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but my daughter with her blonde hair looks a lot like my father with his white hair.  This was not my father I was seeing, it was my daughter, being held by my husband in his arms and her head of hair was more easily seen in the darkness than my husband's dark brown.  When I woke up enough to realize what was going on, my husband told me she had thrown up again and would I help him get her back to bed now that she was changed into fresh clothing.

As I carried her up the stairs I told her how she looked just like her Gramps in the dark.

The Big Boy Update:  Mall run.  Given the rainy day we looked for an indoor activity and decided on the mall.  It's relatively safe and the children can run around and around and around and burn all their energy while we slowly make our way to the other end of the mall for lunch.  We ended the trip with a race to the car that involved a lot of toddler running and much switching back but eventually ended in two asleep children as we drove into the driveway at home.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  As mentioned above, she threw up for the first time for an unknown reason.  She had a very low fever for part of the next day and was whiny as a result but seems perfectly fine today. 

Fitness Update:  Three miles in the rain with a friend who drove all the way from the next town over to run with us this morning.  It was a nice short run, which was good because we had all overworked ourselves this weekend with biking or running endeavors.

Someone Once Said:  Each individual lives her life in now independently of how others may measure that life in years.