Crystallization

I spent a good hour messing with my jar of honey today.   Have you had honey crystalize on you?  One single crystal in it and slowly, over months of time, the contents of the entire jar will turn into crystals of honey.

My mother told me some years ago that all you need do was pop the container  into the microwave for a minute or two and the crystals would melt.   They will, it's true.  However, if the container you're storing your honey in is plastic, there is a chance it will do that melty, droopy thing non-microwave safe plastics will do.  

You could remove the honey from the cute bear-shaped or small-necked container, if only it hadn't turned into a lump of crystallized honey.  The best thing to do is apply heat in another way and keep the honey in it's container—in a non-melting kind of way.

We have one of those hot water taps at our sink for hot tea or coco or warming baby formula or even for dissolving pesky honey crystals.   I put the honey container  in a larger plastic container and filled the larger container up with hot water.   I waited and after a while I turned the container upside down to get the parts up top.

I repeated this, changing the hot water from time to time, for the next hour, waiting for all the crystals to dissolve.   While I did this, my daughter and I made mojito sorbet by zesting and squeezing limes and lemons, clipping sprigs of mint from the back yard and plucking all the green leaves off them and doing several other adult steps in the process and ultimately watching the ice cream maker churn for thirty minutes until it was done.  

By then, the honey was crystal-free.

The Big Boy Update:  My son woke up in the middle of the night and came downstairs, telling me, "the sun was in my bed."   He said it was very bright.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was watching pictures on my in-law's digital frame when one came up of my husband's motorcycle.   She cried out, "daddy's butter cycle!"

Fitness Update:  Run fail.   I haven't run in a while, but today I had a terrible time running.  I think I was dehydrated or possibly I hadn't eaten enough.  I got all the typical signs of "bonking", including narrowed vision, cramps and difficulty focusing for the latter half of the eight miles.   I had to walk a collation of times.  I was looking forward to a lot of water at the water fountain, only to find it was under significant repairs.   Tomorrow I may try to run again.   Maybe I'll have remembered how by then.

Paddington

We're visiting my in-law's this weekend as my husband and his father are in a member/guest golf tournament.  During this time, my mother-in-law and I are spending time with the children together.   My son has been very occupied with some of the toys that his father had from when he was a child.   We are talking about trucks, cars and flying machines.  There have been lots of, "emergencies" and people have been saved while he plays quietly in the basement.

My daughter has been working on her singing and dancing.   At several points, we weren't sure she was going to stop singing and dancing.    But eventually, they get tired and it's time to get ready for bed.

My mother-in-law has many things from when my husband was a child, including books he loved and remembers.  I was cleaning up the toys and clothes when I heard the story in the next room that had begun.   It was one of the Paddington books.  Paddington is a bear who lives in London and loves marmalade sandwiches.    I had forgotten about Paddington.    I loved Paddington.

He was named for Paddington Station, one of the main Tube stations in London, and the location where he was found.   I spent the entire summer of my eighth year in England with my parents and a large group of college students.   During that time, my parents got me a collection of the Paddington books.

I loved those books.  When I was older and attending that same college that hosted the group I had gone to England with over a decade before, I moved into my first home, a small townhouse.   I became friends with my neighbor and her three children and I shared my Paddington books with them.

I had assumed they knew it was something I wanted back, but later when I asked, they had no idea where the books were.   I told myself someday I'd get another copy of the books.    This was long before the internet, eBay and Amazon, but I was going to find those books again some day.

I largely forgot about them, remembering from time to time but not having a need to find them.   Now, with children who are getting more interested in stories, I'm going to make sure we have the Paddington books so we can read them together.

The Big Boy Update:  When the children went to bed last night my daughter wasn't settling well.   My husband waited outside of the room, listening to her say, "I wanna go home" for six minutes (he was watching his watch.)   When he went back in the room to check on her after she had quieted down, my son said to him, "Reese did it.  That crying was Reese."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Singing and dancing.  My daughter has been singing and dancing in the kitchen at my in-law's house for the past forty-five minutes, non-stop.  She has a hand towel she keeps putting on the floor, placing just so, standing on top of it and then singing something (very loudly) that we can't quite understand, accompanied by a marching-type of dance.   When she's done we clap, she smiles, and then starts again.   I think, but I'm not sure, that the towel represents the "movement space" they have in the classroom at school.    The dancing and singing is all her.  One time when she was done she asked us, "guys, do you know that song?"   The only thing we could identify were the bits where she would repeat, "let it go, let it go" from the movie Frozen.

Pictures Versus Words

I have a Facebook account and a Twitter account.  I have web pages for each of my children on which I post pictures on a regular basis; and I have this blog.   Of all the mediums I choose to communicate socially, internet-wise, this blog seems to work the best for me.

I like taking pictures of the children, but for some reason I just can't bring myself to post, "cute pictures" of my kids on Facebook.   Twitter is more of a text message, single thought kind of medium (by original design, but that's been expanded), but I seem to think in longer thoughts.

When I write here, I don't really post pictures either.  Unless I need to show something that's not easily explained in words, I avoid pictures.   I'm fairy certain I've never posted a single picture of my children here on this blog.

Pictures work well for some people and are their preferred way to express their thoughts.   Words seem to work better for me.

The Big Boy Update:  My son still calls people, "Pahmer" all the time.   Pahmer means lots of things, mostly pronouns for other people from what we can tell.   If there is more than one pahmer-worthy person, my son might call out, "over here, pahmer's".   He called someone a, "silly pahmer".   The other night in the tub, apparently one of my children was pahmer, because his/her/it's name kept getting repeated in the bathroom while they splashed around and I folded the laundry.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I'm not sure how my daughter knew what to do to work a jump rope with someone else.  There aren't jump ropes available at school and the ones we have at home have only been used to "hook and tie" things up by my son.  However, yesterday my daughter and Uncle Jonathan worked the jump rope in the living room and my daughter told him, "Pahmer is jumping rope."   The Pahmer mystery continues...

Let's Make a Reservation

At the parent orientation on Monday for my daughter's class, we learned about their snack routine, and I've just got to say, I am impressed with what little children and young minds come up with.

My children come from two years of. "Toddler House" where the entire class of twelve enjoys snack time together.  The portions and selection is made by one of the teachers, although the children help prepare things, like cutting up fruit or peeling a vegetable.   In Children's House, snack is handled differently.

The older children, most commonly the five-year-olds, plan a "menu" for the week.  The items coming in from the snack shopping each family does in rotation is mostly the same, but they still decide on what's going to be served each day.

Then, at the start of the morning, snack is prepared and sits in a corner of the kitchen, available to children for when they want to have snack later in the morning.    When you would like to have snack, you find a friend you want to have snack with.   You and your friend go and get your napkin (each child has their own cloth napkin), they get their cups that are labeled with a shape they recognize (since most children aren't reading yet).   The children get a plate, serve themselves some snack, sit down and eat together.

When they're done, they clean up the table, put their dish, cup and napkin away and the table is now available for anyone else who would like to have snack next.   But what if more than one group of children wants to have snack together?   My daughter's teacher said they were wanting to reserve a place in line and for a while, she was putting two napkins (indicating the two friends who wanted to snack together) in one pocket of her apron.  If a second set of children wanted to wait in line, she would put their napkins in her other apron pocket.  

Then, they came up with a solution together.   There is a three-slotted glass napkin holder in the kitchen area.  If you want to make a reservation for snack because the table is full, you put your napkins in the first slot.  The second and third slots can be filled as needed.   When the table becomes available, the first children in line take their napkins and begin their snack.   The children figured out on their own that if you're second in line, this is the time to move your napkins up one slot.  

Apparently the reservation method for snack time is appreciated by everyone, including the teachers.

The Big Boy Update:  When I took my son to the pediatrician last week to get an allergy form updated, he was pretty excited to be going.  We have a great doctor and he likes to see her.   We were in the waiting room, waiting to be called back when he decided he couldn't wait any more and said, "I'm ready to go back and see my doctor now."  As he walked out the door and down the hall, thankfully the nurse called his name to come on back.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got new shoes today.   These shoes look more like the types of sneakers/running shoes/tennis shoes adults wear.   I didn't realize she'd made the connection until we got home.  She jumped out of the car and said, "Now I can run like Jon does!"   She ran into the house to find Uncle Jonathan and show him her, "running shoes".

There Is Only One of Everything

My children go to a Montessori school.   This week they started in the next class up, which is called "Children's House".   There are many materials they will learn during the two to three years they'll stay in these new classrooms.   The teacher told us there is exactly one of everything.   Not two, not three.   This is intentional because it teaches children to wait for a turn and share.

I'm really looking forward to the new "work" my children are going to be doing.  Now, if only I could get them interested in telling me what they did.  My two are so in the moment that they really have no interest in talking about what they did at school today.

The Big Boy Update:  There must have been something very exciting on the television yesterday because my son told me, "mommy, I want to be inside the TV."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter told me, "Greyson is going to have a birthday tomorrow.  He's going to be thirty minutes."

Throat Rock and Roll

I have an anterior plate in my cervical spine (that means the front of your body) and some rods in the posterior area of my cervical spine (otherwise known as the back).  Lately, and this is new, I've had troubles swallowing pills and having them go down.

I can swallow food, and I've never really had any issues swallowing pills, but something recently has been giving me grief.   Let's say it's morning and it's time for the vitamin and fish oil pills.  I take these on days I remember, but I don't always take them because, well, I don't like feeling that I *need* these supplements.   Still, they are on the whole helpful, so many mornings I take them.

One morning not that long ago I could have sworn there was a pill stuck in my throat.  I thought, "this is a phantom feeling, it's not there" remembering words someone told me once and feeling that surely, there was really no place for a pill to get stuck in something so channeled as a throat.  

About ten minutes later, when the feeling hadn't subsided, I started tasting fish oil.   Ah, it was the fish oil pill tat was stuck and it was most definitely stuck if the pill casing had dissolved and now I was tasting the oil itself.   Still, it was strange.

I ultimately came up with something completely new to help the pill go down, which was taking my throat in the front of my neck with one hand and moving it aggressively back and forth in an effort to dislodge the pill.   It worked immediately with the sensation of a stuck pill going away after I swallowed one more time.

I've had to do that several times since and I'm not sure what is causing pills to be stuck there (food has no problem going down).   When I would get the sensation of a stuck pill, I would swallow large gulps of water to try and dislodge it to no avail.

At any rate, strange though it might be, I have an easy solution.

The Big Boy Update:  Soda is called, "ticklie water" to my children.  They had some of, "Olivia's ticklie water" the other day (Sprite) and after the meal the cups went into their car seat cup holders.   We went to a park and when we came back some time later, my son drank some of the now-flat Sprite.  He said, "hey, this isn't ticklie any more."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted for dessert at the buffet the other day:  a green bowl, A green gummy bear, a green jelly bean and a green gummy worm.   I think she likes green.

First Day of School - Children's House

My children started their new year of school today.  For the past two years they've been in what Montessori schools call, "Toddler House".  They have now graduated to, "Children's House" and will stay there for two to three-years.   They will experience the classroom in a mixed-age environment, learning from the older children at first and then becoming the older children and then helping the younger children as they grow.  

They were excited.  They loved their first day with their new teachers.  My daughter told me on the way home from school, "I have two new friends, Anne and Susan".   Anne and Susan are her two teachers.  I spoke with Anne later in the day and she told me there was very little crying and that she enjoyed the morning after getting accustomed to the new classroom.

Do you remember the first day of school in a new classroom?   Some people don't have a lot of memories from their elementary school or pre-school days.   I have specific memories, and definitely some of the first days of school.   It's daunting to enter into a new environment and see all new people  in a strange classroom.

My children did a few visitations to their new classrooms at the end of last year, but that was months ago and months of time to a toddler is years ago to us as adults.  

This morning before school we got the children dressed in their school shirts and put them on the front porch for a, "first day of school" photo.  They didn't want to take the picture.  They were only interested in getting in the car and going to school (which I didn't want to discourage).   What did I do?  I bribed them.  

They're children.  They have absolutely no interest in, "you'll appreciate these pictures when you're older."  They don't even know what, "when you're older" means.   My cousin told me years ago that when I had children I would bribe them, because it was a necessary evil of being a parent.   And she was right.   I don't mind bribing, especially when it serves my purpose and it helps a child figure out there is, in fact, something in it for them if they will just sit still and smile for thirty seconds.

They got gummy bears.  I got a good first day of school picture.

The Big Boy Update:  At the natural park/playground yesterday my son got in a big pit with a shovel and dug a very large mess.  On the way out of the park he picked up some puffer mushrooms and squeezed the spores out all over his hands and arms.   He looked up at me and said—and this was a first—"I need a bath."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter still wants to smell everything.  She really likes to smell things that you can't smell, say, like salt or sugar.   And...because this is important...she likes to snort out instead of sniffing in when she smells.    It makes her happy though, so we don't complain.

The Sit Down Scream Out

We had a parenting teaching moment today.   We've had to do this before, but the children were younger and they didn't understand as well as they do now.   Today, my daughter got a lesson.

We got in the car and she was hungry.   I had food for them because most of the items at the Indian buffet we were going to would be a little on the spicy side for them.  That, and they're not going to get much value out of the cost of the buffet.   I told my daughter she could have her apple sauce when she got her shoes on and got in the car.    She was mad.  She was pitching a fit, but eventually got in the car.

On this particular day, my son was in a good mood.  It seems like it's one child or the other that's not holding it together, but not both.   The one that's not as hungry, upset, angry or having strong feelings about <insert random thing> sees it all happening and decides (maybe) to be the perfect child while the other one loses it.

So we go down the road and I explain to my daughter that her apple sauce is available but that the, "snack" as she's calling it, is for lunch and she will get it when we sit down.   Her brother eats his apple sauce squirt thing quietly while my daughter loudly refuses and screams, yells, kicks the back of the passenger seat and wails.

I warn her I will pull the car over if she doesn't calm down and use her quiet voice.  It continues.  I pull in to a neighborhood that turns out to have no on-street parking and hope the slowing of the car will help or maybe the rolling down of the window will make things better.   Neither helps.   So I drive off and pull in at the next driveway, into a rest home.

I whip into a parking spot, get out, walk around and pull her out of her car seat.  I take her and unceremoniously drop her on the grassy area away from the parking area.   I tell her when she's calm and quiet, I will come get her.  I turn around, walk back and get in the car.   Uncle Jonathan, my son and I have a nice time chatting while my daughter screams and has a fit on the grass outside (where we can see here and she is safe).

I come and get her when she's quiet, explaining she needs shoes on to go to the restaurant.  I'm putting her in the car and putting on her shoes and she rips off the first one when I move to the second shoe, so out of the car seat she goes and back onto the grass I place her, leaving her with her shoes and telling her when she is calm and has her shoes on, we can go to lunch.

I come back a few minutes later as she's getting her shoes on, this time bringing a cracker because this was tough on her and she was mostly throwing a tantrum because she was hungry.  However, she knew exactly what she was doing because when I stopped the car and came around to open her door the first time, she immediately said, "I'm quiet mom."

She took the cookie and was calm and quiet the remainder of the trip to the restaurant.   I am hopeful this is one of those lessons you don't have to repeat.   She certainly didn't like it at the time.

The Big Boy Update:  My son watched some Transformer shows with his Uncle Jonathan this morning.  There is a version of the show that is made for younger children that is much cut down on violence.   When we went to lunch my son was telling his sister how he was, "Octopus Prime" and how he was also a firetruck transformer.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:    My daughter wanted a granola bar today.  She usually is easy going, but today was a challenging day for her (see above).  She sat down to eat the bar and suddenly from across the room I heard, "I broke my granola bar.  Uh oh.  I broke it!"  <wailing ensued>

Cake Decorating

My husband offered a auction item for our school's auction this past March. It was to teach cake decorating to older children an/or parents. Today he has the winners come to the house and decorate cakes with him. 

He pre-made some cakes and spent three hours with six people giving the instructions now to make a cake look great with the base icing and what to do to decorate designs, words and other common decorating things. 

I was out with the children at the pool during the event, and got home just as they were finishing. Three was a countertop full of cakes, with each person doing two six-inch layers each...and they were beautiful.  They each did a good job and they each had totally different ideas on designs. 

Everyone said my husband was a paitent, skilled teacher.  It was a fun afternoon. I think my us and is going to offer the auction item again next year. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son was playing with my daughter and wanted some help with a lawn chair at the pool. He said to his sister, "Reese, can you help me out here?  Turn yourself into a tow truck."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter feels badly.  I'm not sure what it is, but hopefully she'll feel better by the first day of school on Monday. 

Garbage Soup

Lots of people make soup from leftovers.  I love soup, but for some reason, it usually doesn't occur to me, especially when it's ninety degrees outside.   Today, however, it did.  

I took all the things from the refrigerator that could possibly work in a turkey soup—including the leftover turkey—and started cutting it up to put in a pot.    I wasn't sure on seasonings, but my husband looked some things up online and I figured it would be edible at worst, and flavorful at best.

Two hours later the house smelled great and the soup was better than I expected.  My husband, who doesn't like soup usually, thought it was good too.   He may have been willing to eat it though because I made him Biscoff ice cream per his request.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was playing with something at the doctor's office two days ago and pretending to be a doctor.  He said, "this is a schictobamdachus" as he wielded a duplo lego piece.   "What does it do," I asked him?  "It makes band aids," he told me.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The Wincess.   My daughter couldn't decide what outfit she wanted at Costco for Halloween.  My son's choice was easy, with Iron Man being his immediate and definitive selection.  My daughter chose based on color, not theme of the outfit.  The next day she wanted to be saved by Iron Man (he told he he would save her and she was a princess).   So she put on her green and purple witch costume and was a princess.   I told her she was a wincess, because witches needed to have princesses too.

Fitness Update:  My friend found that article about blood sugar and the benefits of interval training.  Our Uncle Jonathan has been doing interval training and just ran the fastest 10K he's ever done at something like 7:30 per mile.  My ten to eleven minute miles is almost a crawl in comparison.  Here's a link to the article.

The Car Slap

When I was a young driver, say sixteen or seventeen, I had something happen to me one day that I have never forgotten.   I had stopped at a gas station to get gas in my parent's old, blue Mercedes.   To get into the available spot, I had to back into the row and this was something I wasn't that good at doing, given my inexperience at driving.

As I worried about getting in line with the pump, I suddenly heard a "WHAP" on the car.   I hit the brakes and turned in the other direction to see and older man calmly filling up his car with gas.  I was so concerned about getting to the best spot to fill the car that I wasn't noticing everything else around me and I had gotten too close to him.  

His message was simple, easy to do and hard to ignore.   He never said a word to me, just that single slap on the car.   It didn't hurt the car, and as a result, he wasn't hurt either.  He wasn't upset (that I could tell) either.  

To this day, I haven't forgotten about that car slap.   There have been several times in my life that I've almost done the same thing to another car.  It's a simple way to prevent a possibly bad situation.

The Big Boy Update:  Arm pit itchy.   We went to the pool today.  It was a different pool than the one we usually go to and I think it may have been a chlorine pool and not a saline pool.   My son's skin has good and bad days and sometimes pool water can cause it to become more irritated.  During lunch he started itching his arm pit and he would not stop.   He was getting close to causing it to bleed in several areas so we packed up, got in the car and I put on the cream we keep handy for just such things.  When we got home I put on the steroid cream in the worst spots and now he's asleep, feeling much better and much less itchy.  One of the other moms at the pool today has the same situation with her son, with very similar reactions that my son does.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter likes to cut paper.  She likes to cut paper with small, sharp, pointy adult scissors.  She will sit on the carpet and very carefully work with the paper and scissors.   We have learned from their schooling that children have the capacity to understand how to be careful and that things can be dangerous.   She does a very good job with the scissors, although she tears the paper more than she is successful with cutting.

Wedding Dress Wearing Opportunity

We were making a joke tonight about a photo opportunity we have upcoming.  We've broken ground on the site for our new school.  All trustees and some of the other key people that helped make this possible will be on site next Monday to take a picture with hats and shovels.   One of our trustees said, "dress up, it's a formal event."

We do want to look nice, but there will be mud.   However, how many chances do you get to wear your wedding dress again?  My friend on the board suggested we wear ours.   Hers is preserved in a box, while mine is in a zipper bag (most assuredly wrinkled) in the attic.

I don't know if we'll wear our dresses, but I'm going to pull mine out and see if I still fit in it.

The Big Boy Update:  My son still calls people "Pahmer".   I need to write a whole blog post about this Pahmer word, because while it's not a person, or people, it's also everyone and everything.   Today at a playground my son said, "Hey, big boy Pahmer" to an older, taller child.   He told this child, "I'm Optimus Prime too."   (My son has no idea who Optimus Prime is.)

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She wanted to play in the splash pool this afternoon.   I sprayed her with sunscreen, but neglected to put on some bug spray.  Tomorrow is our monthly insect treatment.   I should have remembered because in ten minutes, my daughter was having a fit and scratching all over.  We had to put Sting Stop on her limbs liberally and then give her some benadryl to calm the itching.

Fitness Update:  Gym today.  It's been over a week.   My neck is annoyed at me tonight.

It's Nearly School Time Again

With the summer almost over, not in a heat-way, in a "days are free from regularly scheduled events" way, my schedule is getting busy again.   I didn't foresee my summer being easier; but it has been nice not having to get the children off to school every morning, hurry up and get dressed, don't dawdle while eating and no, you can't take that toy to school.

Still, I'm looking forward to the children being in their new classes this year.  I hope they are, but I can't get much out of them on that front.  Mostly they're interested in the big rock over there or the caterpillar that's covered with ants.  Children have their own way to deal with time, and that way is never in a hurry (except in the house, in which case they always run).

I predict my schedule is going to be more busy with them in school as opposed to out of school though.  I'll have some time without them in the mornings, but I've committed a lot of time to the school and other projects, so I'll be using that time to get caught up before they come home and turn into little time-stealers again.   Fun, cute time-stealers.

The Big Boy Update:  "May I, please?"  These three words are words my son does not want to say lately.  He wants to be in control and he likes to make demands of everyone around him.  If you don't listen to his demands, he yells them at you.   Guess which two parents are now making even more of an issue that he ask using his polite words?   He really, really dislikes it when we ignore demands.  Sometimes, he dislikes asking politely so much, he'd just rather do without, stomping off and making angry sounds as he goes.   We don't have different expectations for him versus his sister, but he is really trying to push his limits of late.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Please and thank you.  My daughter likes to ask politely.  She doesn't always say please, but she asks in a kind, requestful voice.   Without being prompted, she also tells us thanks a lot as well.    I'm wondering when she'll get to the testing stage like her brother is in, or if she'll skip it altogether and find another way to test us in her own, ladylike way.

Lost Car Keys

I lost the key to the car today.   It's found now, but it was an interesting few minutes when it was lost. You know how you mentally back track from when you last had the lost item to see if you can place where it might be?   This is what happened...

I was taking my son to get his hair cut and the parking lot in the strip mall was fairly busy.  As I pulled into a parking spot, there was a man on a cell phone in the spot talking and gesticulating.   He waved me in and got out of the way.   I got my daughter out on the driver's side and held her hand because there were car behind us.  I got my purse, the snack bag (it was past snack time and they were both bellowing about wanting snack).   I went around to the other side and got my son out, grabbing his hand in my other hand and shutting the minivan door with some sort of appendage still available.

As I held a child in each hand to cross to the sidewalk I remember thinking to myself, "I'll lock the car once I get them out of the street."  Once we got on the sidewalk, my son decided he most definitely was going to have issues going into the hair salon (even though he loves going) and he began to try and hide, "be shy" (as he told me) and insist on holding the door open to the salon, thus letting out the cool air.  

I got him inside and had to deal with him for a few minutes to get him mentally reset so he could calmly get his hair cut.   My daughter had never met my stylist and they had a nice few minutes saying hello while my son ate a fig newton bar.

Hair cut over, it was time for the hair cut reward—a smoothie.  My son and daughter walked along the side walk with me to the other end of the strip mall and we got smoothies.  We know the owner, so we spent a few minutes catching up with him.   After we left, I ran into a neighbor in the parking lot and we talked about the first day of school for their children (ours is next week) and then we departed.

I showed my children what crosswalks were for in the parking lot as we looked both ways and headed to our car.   That's when I started looking for the car key.  It wasn't in my pocket and it wasn't in the spot it sits in in my purse.  Hrm, could it be in the snack bag?  Did I drop it in there instead when I was dealing with my children and the crossing of the busy street earlier?   No, it wasn't there.   That's strange.   I was about to go back into the hair salon to look for it when I noticed one of the front lights was on in the car as we approached.  

Had forgotten to turn off the lights?  I realized at that point that I had never locked the car, I also remember thinking at the time that there wasn't much in it to steal as it was empty of anything other than wipes and apple sauce packets.   Wait...wait...oh no, the car was on!

Yes, I had walked away from the car, leaving it running, for an entire forty minutes.   No one had bothered it that entire time.   I was relieved the car was still there, although I felt guilty for running the car all that time for not only no good reason, no reason at all.

And no, this isn't related to having an all-electric car.  I've had a car for over ten years now with that, "comfort access" option where you never need to take the key out of your pocket or purse to start and stop the car.   During that time I've never once forgotten to turn off and lock the other car.   This was just a collection of stacked distraction events that, well, distracted me.   It turns out though that  a boring minivan isn't a big target for theft, even if it's ready to drive off with the keys in it.

The Big Boy Update:  I WANT TO CONTROL EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING.  He does.  It's really becoming a challenge to deal with him over the past several weeks.   School starts in one week and I hope we can get this spate of defiance somewhat worked out before then, but I predict I'm going to have an emergency conference with my son's teachers shortly after school starts.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "Can I have a big bite now?"  My daughter is willing to eat food X to get food Y that she prefers.  However, she will see if she can get more of the food she prefers in trade.

Fitness Update:  I walked four miles today with my neighbor.  She's sick, but needed to have some time to talk over a few things.   It was slow, but it was still somewhat of an exercise.   I didn't know I would be walking today, but my friend told me an interesting statistic she heard about walking.   She related this story after hearing how our friend, Uncle Jonathan, was doing interval training to increase his running speed for races.   She had read that a study showed people who were diabetic and walked an hour a day versus people who were diabetic and walked an hour a day, alternating three minutes of slow walking and three minutes of fast walking had distinctly different results.   The people who only walked showed no signs of improvement in their diabetic condition.   Those that alternated slow and quick walking, adding more cardiac activity during the workout, showed improvements.   I've asked her to send me a link to the study because I've been fighting doing interval training, even if it sounds like it helps on multiple levels.

Neck Problems

I have neck problems, but this post isn't about me, it's about my dog.  She had dislocating knee caps when she was a puppy and in her first year, we had to have two patella knee surgeries so that he knee caps would stay in place.  The veterinarian told us at the time that she would have arthritis as she got older, most certainly, but that that was far better than the alternative if we didn't do the surgery.

My dog has lived a relatively normal life, aside from not being the fastest runner or doing much jumping at all.  She's been happy.  As she's gotten older, she's shown signs of her knees bothering her and last year, around the time she turned nine-years-old, we had to put her on anti-inflammatory medication for her knees.

Recently, she was getting worse and a week ago she started doing that dog scream thing they do after eating breakfast and couldn't seem to get down the stairs to go outside.  This was new, I didn't think things had gotten suddenly worse, but we'd been away for ten days, so maybe something happened.  I called and brought her in.

There were X-rays and the two doctors decided it was most likely a problem in her neck area, because her knees seemed to be fine, but she did not want to have he neck bothered.   Their recommendation was pain medication twice each day and crating aside from eating and going outside to see if the condition would get better.

My dog seems okay, but definitely not recovered.  We're not sure what the situation is, and without a two-thousand dollar MRI to see more details, we're not likely to find out.   For now, I hope she recovers on her own and is in less pain soon.   She doesn't like the caging much at all.  She finds it offensive to not be allowed to mingle with the family.  Or, possibly, she's upset she's not following the children around and picking up all the crumbs after them.

The Big Boy Update:  Breaking Boy.   My son has had some really bad bouts of wanting to be in control of everyone and everything around him lately.  It's been very tough because he's also been upset and quite angry several times as well.   I hope it's a short phase, because it's a tough one for all of us to work through.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Backflips.   My daughter is doing so well at swimming.  It's really amazing.  Today she was holding on to the side of the pool, pushing off, dropping down to the bottom and kicking back up to grab on to the side again.  She did this again and again and made her way around the side of the pool doing.   She also learned how to hold on to the railing at the stairs and do back flips.  I thought it was a mistake at first, but then I watched her do it another six times.

Pudgy Fudgy-wudgy

I've been making ice cream with that ice cream maker I didn't want but then decided I needed and now I don't want to go without it.   As long as I have some sort of milk product (preferably with a high fat content), sugar and thirty minutes, I can make ice cream.   Barring milk in the house, I can make a sorbet with sugar, fruit or even fruit juices.  But I'm mostly about the ice cream.

Wait, that's not true; that mojito sorbet I've made twice now with the fresh mint leaves is dynamite.   But back to the ice cream topic for now.   Milk, sugar, vanilla and <insert flavor item> and you have something possibly more exciting than vanilla ice cream, or possibly a bust.  

I had some bananas that were going bad so I stuck them in the freezer.   When they were frozen, I cut them up and made ice cream with them.  I wasn't sure what it was going to taste like, but overripe bananas are sweet, so I didn't add the full amount of sugar.  I'm glad I didn't, because that ice cream was not only one of my favorites, it would have been far too sweet with the normal amount of sugar.   I've never had banana ice cream before (that I can remember) but I'm not sure why I haven't tried it, it is my new favorite ice cream.

I had another item I had too much of recently—fudge.   It was girls weekend at the mountains and there was fudge and I fell for the, "buy two slabs and get a third huge slab for free" bit.   I am normally immune to those ploys, but darn it, I was hungry.

I brought the extra two slabs home and stuck them in the freezer.   Today, I decided to chop them up and make ice cream with bits of fudge in it.   My daughter helped me in-between eating bits of the fudge that was sitting out on the counter.

Some of the fudge melted and mixed in with the ice cream, making it light in color, but distinctly fudge-related flavor-wise.  I added the last third of the fudge at the end so there would be pieces in the final batch.   I wasn't sure I was going to like it.   My husband loves it.  He says it's his favorite ice cream yet.

He told me I should start giving these ice creams fancy, memorable names like the Ben and Jerry's chain does.   So, in honor of all the calories from the heavy cream, half-and-half, sugar and fudge in this batch.  I named it, "Pudgy Fudgy-wudgie" because if you ate a lot of it, you'd be sure to become pudgy.

The Big Boy Update:  Okay, watching Monsters, Inc. was a bad idea.   My son is gets scared at night about monsters now.  We saw it on the ride home last Sunday and now he's got issues when he goes to sleep.   We're working on helping him through this, his first nighttime fear, but it may take a bit to get over.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter went to, "Soccer Ball" class today with her friend from school, Jacob.  My son went as well, but she I think really liked the class.   My son liked it too, but he wasn't as interested as she was.  She was good at listening to the instructions, kicking the ball, sitting quietly and waiting for the next thing to do, and of course, holding Jacob's hand when there was time.

Educators Say: "You're doing the right thing."

We went to get pizza at my children's, no, my husband's favorite pizza place.  My son was having one of those difficult days.  He didn't like anything, didn't want anything, was angry at everything and was being one very ornery little boy.   I told my husband to take my daughter (who was having a find day mood-wise), order the pizza and I'd bring him in in a few minutes.

I tried multiple things, none of which involved letting him have his way—even if he'd known what he wanted—and got nothing but wailing, protesting and arguing.  I thought he was okay so we went into the pizza restaurant and it was suddenly apparent that he was not okay.  I turned around and fairly dragged him out (because while he didn't want to be in the restaurant, he also did not want to leave the restaurant).

We tried to go look at things next door at the pet store but that lasted only a few seconds so I had to resort to sitting him down in a chair and telling him he had to stay there until he calmed down and that this was not a choice.    He was miserable.  He was hungry and he was in the middle of an amygdala tantrum he had very little control over.   So we sat and eventually my husband came out with the food and my daughter.

He told me, "there are some ladies in there that congratulated us on how we were taking care of the children, saying that was the way it had to be done and that they should know, they're educators."

Sometimes it's hard for parents to deal with their children when they're in public.  No one wants their child to be seen having a tantrum and it's not uncommon for parents to try and mollify or placate the child in any way they can so that the situation is more socially acceptable.  

I got over that a good while back.  I would far rather someone see me being a parent who isn't letting a tantruming child get their way versus be the kind of parent that people say, "they've just spoiled their children, it's a shame."

If at all possible, I try to keep my children behaving respectfully of other people's space in whatever public locations we go and that may mean removing them from the situation if necessary.   But I do expect them to always listen and hear our words and respect both my husband, me and any other adult figures with us too.

We have good kids who are learning how to navigate the world both physically and socially.  They're doing well, even if we have tough days.

The Big Boy Update:  At three o'clock in the morning last night I heard the door to the children's room slam and someone (by the sound of the thumping, my son) run downstairs and into our bedroom.   He climbed onto the bed and said, "I'm scared of the monsters."  This was a first.   I hugged him and he got under the covers and I explained that we didn't allow monsters in our house and he could feel safe because his room was a safe place.   After a few minutes I carried him back to his room and he went back to sleep.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  We ordered a child's plate of macaroni and cheese at a restaurant the other day.  I know adult portions can be big sometimes, but this plate was huge.  We were assured it was indeed the child's portion.   My niece remarked that the plate was as big as her head.   We took the remainders home and I think three people ate it for lunch the next day, including my daughter, who thinks macaroni and cheese is one of the best foods in the world.

The Sally Ann Experiment

My husband saw something on television recently and decided to test my children.  It was called the, "Sally Ann Experiment".   Here's how it goes...

You have little drawings of Sally, Ann, Sally's box and Ann's basket.   There is also a little drawing of a cookie.   You bring these drawings to a child and visually demonstrate the following verbal example:

Sally and Ann are in the same room.   Sally has a box and Ann has a basket.   Sally has a cookie and puts it in her box (hide cookie drawing under the box drawing).    Sally then leaves the room.  (Hide Sally.)

While Sally is away, Ann takes the cookie from the box and puts it in her basket.  (Move the cookie from under the box drawing to under the basket drawing.)   Sally comes back (bring Sally back.)

Ask the child, "where do you think Sally will look to find her cookie?"   A child that's close to the four-year-old age has gained an understanding that other people have their own thoughts and will likely show you that Sally expects to find the cookie in her box, where she left it.   A younger child doesn't understand this yet and will tell you that Sally will look for the cookie in the new location, not realizing that Sally has no knowledge that the cookie has been moved.

My two children are at the perfect ages to test out the Sally Ann Experiment.   My son, who will be four in December, got the answer correct, pointing to the prior location of the cookie (Sally's box) even though he knew the cookie was hidden under the basket drawing.

My daughter, eleven months younger, believed Sally would look in her friend's basket (the new location of the cookie) because to my daughter,  that's where the cookie was.

The Big Boy Update:  My son did his first photobomb today.  We were at a popular park in town and there was a nice stone turtle two children were playing on.  Only, those two children weren't playing on the turtle, they were posing for a family picture.  My son hopped on behind them and joined in the picture, grinning all the way.  When we realized it, I pulled him off and we apologized to the family.   They wanted to know his name, since he was the newest member of the family.  We asked what their last name was, (Town) and called my son by that last name for the rest of the park trip.  Coincidentally, as we left the park, the Town family was also leaving and we all laughed again and waved goodbye.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got a small doll as a kids meal toy today.  She was looking at it and playing with it in the car on the way home and suddenly said, "guys, look at this:  it's a pretty girl...just like me."

Easter Egg Dying

We dyed Easter eggs today.  I know, it's August, but it just worked out that way.  Let me explain...

My mother brought us an Easter egg dying kit sometime back in February or March.  Since that time, it's been sitting in the pantry, waiting to be used.  It had all sorts of fun things like stickers, glitter and tattoos, as well as the traditional pellets of color you put in little cups and dye the eggs.

We went to Florida for Easter, so we didn't dye eggs during Easter proper.   The kit sat and I looked at it from time to time but didn't do anything, mostly because my son has had in the past an egg white allergy.  

Today, I was hungry for eggs and my children were looking for something to do.   I went to the store after going to the chiropractor and got eggs.  I got home and told them we were going to dye eggs.  My daughter immediately got her stool and wanted to help.  She stirred bowls of vinegar and water and watched the color tablets dissolve.

I looked at the other items in the packet and immediately threw away anything having to do with glitter.   Glitter is the herpes of craft supplies, because you can't ever get rid of it.   I saved the stickers and we all watched the eggs boil.

When the eggs were done, they dyed them and then wanted to, "crack them" and sort of, kind of, try a bite or two of them.   They haven't had a lot of eggs on account of my son being allergic for most of his life.  He's fine now, so we're trying to re-introduce eggs.

The stickers weren't that exciting, but cracking and peeling eggs was definitely fun.   It was a mess.   We all enjoyed our late Easter fun.

The Big Boy Update:  Today I looked outside and he was using, "the wee wee bushes" and the neighbor's daughter was watching him.   I came out and told him I was glad he was using the wee wee bushes.  He told me he was using the "prickly" wee wee bushes (the junipers) and that he was *not* going on the grass (something we had to talk about several weeks ago).

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Green is her favorite color.  Without a doubt, in all circumstances.  She loves green (or 'gween' as she calls it).   She hasn't wavered from green in more than a month.

The Lost and Found Ring

I lost my wedding ring today.   Rather, I lost the engagement ring; I don't wear the two wedding bands that surround it except for special occasions.   In retrospect, I think I would have preferred to just have the one ring instead of the three, but we didn't know that at the time.

I am careful with my ring.  I take it off and put it on my vanity at night or when I'm doing things like cleaning.  Lately, because the children have taken to washing their hands at my vanity, I've started putting it in the top drawer.  This is because my children will pick up anything and turn it into a toy...leaving it wherever they think it might need to go.

I did something unusual today.   I made banana ice cream with the children.   That part wasn't unusual (although I'd never made banana ice cream before—it was delicious), but taking off my ring in the kitchen while cooking was.   Later, after cleaning everything up, I realized I didn't see my ring.   It was right...er...where did I put it?  

I know, I should have been more careful.   I always am.   I knew I would have never put it some place unsafe.  But...did I put it on the vanity in the bathroom and did a child wash their hands, say my daughter, and get interested in the ring?

My husband said that yes, she did wash her hands and we both fretted.  My daughter isn't the most reliable witness and her memory at two-and-a-half isn't that accurate, but we drilled her none-the-less.  She told us all the places the ring was, such as, "right here" (indicating a spot on the carpet).   She said it was in the sink, in the toilet, behind the bed, in the trash can and many other places that made our panic rise.

My father called about this point and asked if it was a good time; I didn't know where the ring was so I asked how could I help him and then spent some time on the computer working on something for him while trying not to panic over a ring that my be in a strange spot we wouldn't find for six years when we just happened to look behind something random and there it was.

After more questioning of my daughter to no avail, my husband and I started looking in the wildest of places.  Then, I looked in the powder room and it was sitting right there on the counter, right where it would have been had it been the master bathroom.   I don't remember going in there to take it off.  When I do something out of my general routine, I usually make a special note of it.  Was I distracted because the faucet was running and was hurrying?  I don't know.  

My daughter didn't seem overly upset about our endless questions, but we apologized to her none the less.   Ring on, I went on about my work for the day, but for the next hour, I was still in searching mode.  Every room I went into I would visually search for places the ring might be, and then I'd remember it was back on my finger.

The Big Boy Update:  My son wasn't feeling well today.  We gave him some medicine so he could sleep, (he kept asking to go to sleep,) and when he woke up he was no happier.   He was angry at everything.   I had lunch ready for him but he didn't want to hear about it and told me not to talk to him.   He was telling me all the things he didn't want as he headed to the table.  As he was walking downstairs to the dining room he said, "I don't want these stairs to be on the stairs!"  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was putting on her shoes this morning so we could go to the grocery store.  (She loves to go to the grocery store.)  She looked up and said to me, "my shoes are on the cracked feet!"   Cracked?   Oh, "correct",  we've been working getting the shoes on the proper feet because children just don't care if they're on the wrong feet, even if it looks dreadfully uncomfortable to the adults.

Back in the List of Things

We're back from vacation.   There are several more weeks until school starts back, but my list of things to do has been getting longer.   It's literally longer because I manage it on my computer and I've been having to scroll down to see the most recently added items.   I don't like long lists that indicate I haven't been keeping up on things.

Now, admittedly, I'm making the list long myself.  No one is making me do these things.  It's me, sating to myself, "it's been eight months, you need to seal the granite countertops again," or "that light fixture with the flicker hasn't been looked at in six months."

Today I got a good number of things checked off the list, but I think I added just as many back on.   I talked with my husband about time frames on some things, like doing touch-up painting on the house.   December we'll have been in the home for four years and while two reasonably responsible adults wouldn't have made that much of a mess of the walls, two adults plus two feisty toddlers do make for a lot of scratches, dents and marks that are starting to become quite noticeable in some of the more heavily-travelled areas.   But for now, we're going to put off the paint work until cooler weather, so that item got pushed out and off my list for now.

My husband is very much a help in these list things.  He does lots on his own, but he's always willing to take over some of the things that suit him better than they would me (say the electrical work with that flickering light fixture).

If today is any indication, it's going to be a productive week list-wise.   I was a bum before vacation, it's about time.

The Big Boy Update:  I found a rock that was water worn while my son and I were walking yesterday.  He liked it and held it for a while until he found a similar rock, embedded in a six-inch piece of broken-off concrete.   He figured out if he threw the concrete on the sidewalk, parts would break off.  For several blocks he did this, breaking the piece down and getting closer to his target stone.  The final break knocked the stone out almost perfectly.  My son, in classic toddler style, left the pebble half and walked off with the concrete-only piece.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The one inch putt.  We went to play mini golf two days ago.  My son and daughter didn't understand what was going on last year when we brought them, but this year they got it.  My daughter liked making the ball go into the hole.  She would walk over to the hole, carefully place the ball one inch away from the hole, aim at the ball with her club and knock it in.   She would then exclaim, "I got it!"

Fitness Update:  I told my trainer today that I had had a, "very caloric intensive vacation" and he laughed.  He told me if I couldn't keep up or had to skip some exercises today, that that was all right.   I asked him if he was trying to make me cry and he laughed again.   I kept up, but it was a tough day.

Seventies Throwback

I was born in 1970 and as such, I'm a child of that decade.  I remember lots of things from that time and today I was reminded of some of them when we stopped for lunch.  

I wore Hush Puppy, tan suede shoes with those strange, rubbery soles.  There were brown, corduroy bell bottomed pants with shirts and polyester shirts that may or may not have gone with the pants.   My mother had dresses with big, bold patterns in orange, brown and other earth tones.  I remember a lot of earth tones and large, bold designs.

We went day-glow in the eighties and I was right there, looking crazy with the other teens, and then it seemed like we had had enough of color for a while and the nineties and the start of the new century we toned it down.  

The last two houses I owned had white cabinets.  Both were built around the year 2000  By then, we had all moved on from avocado and harvest gold appliances, shaking our heads at the families that still had them in their kitchens.  

But today, that house with the big kitchen full of all white cabinets (the walls were white too until we painted them) would need to be updated to be sold.   Updated to what?   Something more earth-toned to be, "in".

So today when we stopped for lunch, I looked around the newly updated restaurant at the browns and tans all over the wall and the seating.   My children were interested in the big, bold swirly patterns of the wall paper.   The furniture was reminiscent too of what I remember being, "cool" in my friend's houses from my childhood.

We were at McDonalds.   Are the seventies coming back?

The Big Boy Update and Tiny Girl Chronicles Conversation:
My daughter noticing there is another canal across the street from their aunt and uncle's house, "hey look, there's another beach over there."
My son, "no, that's not a beach, it's a lake."
My daughter, peering around the other side of the same house, "hey, there's another one!"
My son, "It's a goon.  It's a guh-loon."
My husband, "It's a lagoon."
My son, "it's a lug-goon!"

The Tennis Ball Surprise

With the fusions and degenerations in my spine, keeping in the least amount of pain and discomfort is  something that affects things I do every day.  I have to do certain motions certain ways, sleep in certain positions, don't do some things that others would find easy to do and do extra things to keep a relative balance in my spine and the surrounding muscles.

Invariably though, things get out of balance from time to time.  Sometimes, I can get things back on track in a few days while other times it could take months to get back to my, "normal".  Muscles can be mean, but I don't want to spend all my life on anti-inflammatories because less medication (or ideally no medication) is better where possible.

Much of the time I go to the chiropractor's office—they help quite a lot—and they're great at giving me advice on what things I can do or not do to try and help the situation such as, "don't cross your arms over your body if you can help it, hand the seat belt to your right hand from your left hand."   Many of the things they've told me over the years have been fairly easy to do or avoid.

I'm plagued with inflamed, balled up and angry muscles.   The other day the chiropractor said, "get a tennis ball and work that muscle out."   Hold on.  What?   Why is it after nine years at the chiropractor, no one has bothered mentioning the tennis ball trick to me?  This sounded easy, it sounded delightful because I could imagine leaning into the tennis ball against the wall or on the floor and working the muscle out.   I told him thanks and  I would.

I went home, found a tennis ball in my children's toys and lay down on the floor to work out a particularly knotty muscle.  I was amazed.  That tennis ball was dynamite.  I was on the floor yelling into the kitchen at my husband and Uncle Jonathan the amazing medical benefits of a simple tennis ball.  I don't think they cared.  I'm not even sure they heard.   I didn't really care though, I was too busy with the tennis ball.

I have a tennis ball in my suit case and it's been here in case I needed it this week on vacation.   I wish I knew about the tennis ball trick for my last vacation because I was in some severe pain by the end of the trip.

How much is this little tennis ball going to save me in pain and medical costs?   I don't know, but I hope a lot.

The Big Boy Update:  My son found a very dead beetle today.  It was desiccated and as soon as he picked it up the legs fell off.   I told him we needed to go inside and have a shower after swimming in the lagoon and he said, "I just gotta help him hatch."  He proceeded to peel the exoskeleton off the beetle until there was nothing left.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  This morning something happened that's never happened before.  My daughter woke up and because we're on vacation and she's sleeping on the floor in the same room we're in, she walked over to the side of the bed and said, "hug".  I picked her up and hugged her.  She lay down on the bed and fell back asleep for the next hour.   Our children have never slept with us so it was an interesting experience.

Kona Ice Count:  Over a week at my brother- and sister-in-law's house with their Kona Ice franchise truck in the drive way and I'm a Kona Ice addict.  I can't even tell you the total number of Kona's I've eaten, but it's sure to have put a dent in their profit margin for the month.  I'm going to have to go on some sort of detox when I get home next week called, "exercise and work off the Kona gut"

Non-parent Does Not Mean Non-children

Recently I was at out annual "Girls Weekend" with some of my favorite girlfriends.   We drink wine, talk about any subject, no matter how risqué or taboo, and in general, have a good time.  There are a collection of us and we each have chosen a different path as adults.

Some of the ladies have decided not to have children, while others of us didn't learn our lesson after the first child and had a second, or even third child.   Whatever the choice, each of us is happy in the direction we've chosen, be it children or no children.

My best friend from elementary school said something to me that I hadn't thought about during that weekend.  She and her husband decided some years back to not to have children.   She told us that just because a person decides to not have children, it doesn't mean they dislike children.   She and her husband like my children and the children the other families in our girls network have.  They bring them birthday and holiday gifts, and they like to play with our children.

It's something I hadn't thought about until she said it.   And she's right, I was incorrectly assuming that people who elected to not have children may not like children.  I was reminded of it again this weekend when Uncle Bob and Uncle Brian visited us on vacation.   Both uncles like my children and have a great time chasing them around and playing with them.    Both uncles don't have children of their own, but are some of the best playmates for my two children.

The Big Boy Update:  My son is making up all kinds of words lately, the most famous being, "pahmer".  He told me yesterday, "Pahmer and Pooder and me are inside."  I asked,  "who is Pooder?"  He told me, "nobody. They're just my family.  I have a lot of family.  I keep them in my pocket."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is finally becoming interested in keeping her hair out of her face.   She woke up this morning and told me, "my hair is falling down."  I helped get it out of her face and she was completely happy.

The Cardboard Box Attraction

You've heard about it and you may have even experienced it--when a child likes the cardboard box more than the item inside the box.   It happened to us today.

The item inside wasn't a child thing, but the size of the book was the exciting part because it would just fit one of my children in a crouching position.   They would get in the box, dump the other one out of the box, pan to go on a space adventure in the box and try to hide from us in the box.

My husband took them via "air mail" from one room to the other.  When it was time to blow dry my daughter's hair, I found it far easier to do so while she pretended to be hiding in the box as opposed to reasoning with her in any other way.

Before we went to dinner, I looked over to my sister-in-law and said "don't throw away that box."  She agreed, it was far better to keep it around for entertainment purposes with the children.

The Big Boy Update:  My son and I were giving each other high fives today.   One time, we missed entirely and I whacked him in the forehead.  I said, "I'm sorry, I hit you in the face."  He said, "that's okay, I wanted a 'high head.'"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "There's a cat in there."  We've been going out to my brother- and sister-in-law's Kona Ice truck each day to enjoy some a frozen dessert.  My children love the Kona truck.   Every time we go outside, my daughter looks in this very dark window area that's under the house and every time she proclaims, "there's a cat in there."  The first two times I went to look, worried there was an actual cat stuck under their house.  I don't know what's she sees, but she thinks it's a cat.

Storybook Land

We're in New Jersey visiting family.  My sister-in-law told us we should consider Storybook Land, a toddler and young child amusement park dedicated to classic storybook rhymes such as the Mother Goose ones.   Today, we went to check it out.

My niece and nephew joined us.  They were much too big for the age range the park was designed for, but they remembered it from their childhood.   They rode rides with my children and we all marveled at how creepy the Mother Goose rhymes actually are (they are both strange and somewhat horrific if you think about the meaning behind many of the lines.)

We looked at many exhibits that showed the storybook rhymes in action.  You pushed a little red button and some animatronics would happen inside a closed room.   Those parts were especially creepy to the adults; the children loved them.

We had ice cream and then drove home to have dinner.   Maybe we'll go back next year and see what my children think about it then.

The Big Boy Update:  My son said, "Daddy, I made a shape for you."  We looked over and he had; he had put three coasters together and made the Mickey Mouse shape.   He was very proud.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I was in the, "hot pool" (hot tub) with my daughter yesterday and she was singing something random--she is great at singing random things.   She looked over to me and said, "I'm singing a cover song."   Who told her about cover songs?

The Refrigerator Schema

Refrigerators are busy members of any household.   Everyone has a different plan for what their refrigerator should hold and do for their family.  This week, we're sharing space in my brother- and sister-in-law's refrigerator.  

By necessity, their refrigerator is quite full.  They have guests arriving and leaving all the time and those guests each have things they want to keep in the refrigerator.   My relatives are very flexible with their refrigerator storage, even when it gets crammed and packed full so that there's no room for anything else to be wedged in.

Food can be a bounty, but too much food is a burden.  Everyone bringing, "just what you need" (when it's not at all what you like) makes for a frustratingly full refrigerator.

I have expectations for my refrigerator at home.   It's not unlike the expectations for my house and my life.   There should be a place for everything and everything should be in its place.   The ketchup should always be in the same, ketchupy place.   The mustard should be in it's mustard spot and the sodas should always reside on the soda shelf.   Don't move the milk out of its milk cubby, and definitely don't hide the beer in a spot other than the beer storage spot.

My brother- and sister-in-law's refrigerator has different rules.   It's like a three-dimensional Tetris box.   Things get stored so that the most items can be fit into the space available.  In the few short days I've been here, the ketchup has been in four different spots...each time, well-positioned to make the best use of the space.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son wants to swim in his cousin's "galoon".   We told him if he got his swim suit on he could swim in their lagoon.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  We were waiting for our seafood order to be ready at a local restaurant.   My children were dancing to a live musician playing a guitar in front of the restaurant.   My daughter looked up at me and said, "he's playing a tar!"

The Sandy Sneeze

We're on vacation at the beach at my husband's brother's home.  Today the rain stopped, the sun came out and the clouds even went elsewhere.  We took advantage of the good weather to pack up a lunch and take their boat from their lagoon to the inlet.   

My husband drove one of their jet skis along side us and my children waved to him, my son shouting instructions to him that he couldn't hear, during the ride.   We got to the inlet, which is a nice spot at the edge of the ocean but without the waves of the ocean front beach.    They set out two anchors and attached the jet ski to the side of the boat and we were ready to enjoy an afternoon in the sun.

My children ate their lunch quickly, because they wanted to get off the boat and get to the beach.  We had brought a big shovel and sand castle building tools.    They found the water a little cold, but they made it to the shore and then much sand play was had. 

My husband and their cousin, Kyle, helped them build sand castles, moats, bridges, tunnels and holes.  My children mostly jumped on top of everything they made and scooped sand with the smaller shovels.    

My son got sand all over him.  He would lie down in the dry sand and roll around.   Sand in salt water is sticky so it stuck to him.  I had to walk him through the deep water to get as much of the caked sand off of him as I could on the way back to the boat.   (They didn't want to go back to the boat.)

My son and daughter each had a ride on the jet ski with my husband that they really liked.   My daughter wanted to "go faster" a lot.  (I hope that's not foreshadowing for her post-pubescent future.)  

On the ride back my children huddled under their towels in the wind from the boat's speed and arrived home asleep.   They were not pleased to be woken up and shoved into a shower; my son was especially unhappy.  

Once he got in the warm water in the shower though, he didn't want to get out.   He just wanted to stand there with the warm water running over his back.   I pulled him out eventually and dried him off and did a bit of blow-drying of his hair.   

A short time later my children were at the table relaxing with their iPads.   I was looking at what my son was doing when he suddenly sneezed...and sand went all over the iPad.  How could sand still be in his hair after the long shower and blow-drying?    I had to take him outside and tousle his hair to try and get the sand out.   

The Big Boy Update:  We were walking to get donuts yesterday morning and crossed several streets.  I heard my son say, "it says 'stop, do not enter.'"  I turned around and there was a Do Not Enter sign we just passed.  I looked at my husband and said, "how did he know it said that?"   We don't know how he knew, he can't read.    Children are like little mental sponges.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "Mom, it's dark outside."  My daughter didn't want to go to bed tonight.  She said it was still light outside.   I asked her if she wanted to wait until it was dark to go to bed and she told me she did.  (It was almost dark.)  I didn't see what she did after that until five minutes later when she said across the room, "mom, it's dark outside."   She had been sitting in a chair, looking out the window to watch it grow dark.   I asked her if she was ready to go to bed, she nodded, and then headed into the bedroom to bed.  

Cleanliness is Importantness

The Big Boy and Tiny Girl Shower Story:

This is a story about children and their childish ways.  It's about innocence.  So...don't freak out when I tell you.

My children had been playing in the rain and the dirt and they were dirty.  They wanted to get in Aunt Kelly and Uncle Eric's "hot pool"  (hot tub) so I told them we'd have to have a shower first to get clean.

I got into the shower with my two and told them they could help me clean their shoes (which were filthy).  I gave my son a bar of soap and he became very focused cleaning the bottom of one of his shoes...that is, until he discovered his penis.

He decided he needed to put soap on his penis.  He put a lot of soap on his penis.   He noticed his sister didn't have a penis.   She wondered where her penis was (I told her she had a vagina).   My son told his sister he would put soap on her vagina for her.   I gave his sister a second bar of soap.

There was a reasonable amount of time in which soap was rubbed on genitals and then I said, "okay kids, let's get the soap off so we can go to the hot pool!"   They did, and we went to the hot tub and that was all there was to it.

It was funny from an adult, mature, perspective.  To the children, it was just another day of childhood exploration.

Traveling Tales

We were in the car a long time yesterday.  For the first time, we decided to drive the whole day with the children in the car without taking advantage of the hours my children would be sleeping.   Driving during their sleep hours makes for a faster, and possibly more relaxing drive for the adults, but when we get there in the middle of the night, it takes a toll on us as parents.

We thought we'd give it a go this trip and on the whole,  the children did quite well.  It was a long ride at eleven hours, but that included several stops, one specifically when my daughter yelled out, "poopie, poopie!"  Even in the middle of Washington traffic, we took time to stop for that one.

My son was interested in our destination.   We were heading to the shore of New Jersey, was we have family.  To my three-year-old son, "New Jersey" itself was our ultimate goal.  He kept asking, "are we at New Jersey yet?"   When we finally crossed the state line, he was not as excited nor impressed as we had hoped he'd be.  He was particularly unimpressed when we told him we still had two more hours of travel to go.

When we stopped for dinner, we could hardly get the children to eat because they just needed to run and burn energy.  In the play area at the place we'd stopped, they ran around screaming and flailing their arms.   Frenetic is about the best word I can come up with to describe their energetic motions and noises.

As we got back on the road, my daughter looked out the window and said, "is it night night time?"  It was getting dark and we still weren't there.  I told her she could stay up late and spend time with her cousins, aunt and uncle when we arrived and she was happy at that.

Then the GPS navigation said, "continue following the road for nineteen miles."   My son suddenly said, "are we're gonna fall off the road?  Aw, man."  We explained that the word was 'following' not 'falling' and he was somewhat relieved.

Then, my son started asking daddy if we were lost.  I think we'd told him we were getting close so many times that his faith was shaken in our ability to get us to our destination.

We did eventually arrive, and everyone, not only my children, were excited we made it.   We all stayed up late, catching up.  We are so glad to be on vacation with family at their home in New Jersey.

The Big Boy Update:  My son and daughter were very intrigued with their cousin's pool table, but especially the pool balls.   My son, for some inexplicable reason, named the orange ball, "the awesome ball".  He tried to take the ball to his bed and didn't want to let it go for some time.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted to have, "tony pails" in her hair today.   She had to settle for pony tails.

The Royster Question

Sometimes something only needs to happen once, but that once is enough to become ingrained it into your lives for years to come.   For example the movie lines, "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" and "go ahead, make my day."

Sometimes memorable phrases can come up in the most innocuous of situations.   Years ago one of our friends was in a car accident and broke his sternum.  He was at home recovering, but in a lot of pain.   The physician had put him on a medication called, "oxycontin" which none of us had heard of back then.

His girlfriend's twenty-first birthday was right as he got home from the hospital.   She wanted to celebrate, but he couldn't go out, so we came to his house.   We had dinner and I think there was wine (honestly, I don't remember if there was alcohol, but for a twenty-first birthday, I'm guessing there was.)  Since our friend couldn't move his arms much, we decided board games would be the easiest thing to do for entertainment that evening.

I decided to go and get some new games and thought I'd picked two winners with the Star Wars version of Trivial Pursuits as well as the newly released Genus Three Trivial Pursuit question card box.    I was wrong.

We all liked the Star Wars movies but we quickly discovered we didn't know, well, squat.  No one could get a question correct and everyone but our friend, Nate (who was having a happy night indeed on his pain medication) was fed up with our little Trivial Pursuit pieces filled with exactly zero pie-shaped segments.  So we moved to Genus Three.

It wasn't long before we decided Genus Three was a typo and that the proper name of, "Genius Three" should have been all over the box with appropriate warning labels.   No one could get a question.   Even the Science and Nature questions were confounding and elusive.   It was about that point that Nate said, "why can't we get a science question like, 'name a shellfish that rhymes with royster.'"

We all started laughing.   We couldn't stop laughing.  He begged us to stop laughing because laughing was terribly painful to him.    I think we gave up games for the evening, but from that point on, a "royster question" means an easy question to those of us who were there that night.

When my children started school, one of the first parents I met was a lady who's last name was Royster.   I tried not to laugh, because there's nothing at all wrong with the name, it's only our connotation with the word.   She and her husband are very nice and coincidentally, they bought a lot I used to own and sold after the dot.com market correction when I realized I wasn't going to build a house on the land.    I've never told them about the special meaning their last name has to me.   I'm not sure I ever will.


The Big Boy Update:  My son asked daddy today, "daddy, did you like building sand castles when you were a baby?"  My husband said, "yes" and then my son said, "me too."  This is interesting, because I'm not sure my children at three and two have made any real sand castles.   Coincidentally, we are on the way to the beach to visit family for the week.   We will have to make some sand castles with my son.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "My mouth is bwoooooo!"  My daughter ate an ice pop that was one of those vivid blue colors.  When she was done I told her to go look at her mouth in the mirror.  She was very interested and spent a lot of time looking at her mouth, teeth and tongue after she told me about her mouth being bwooo.

Someone Once Said:  It's much easier to support a child, than it is to bring one up that will amount to anything