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.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
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?
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?
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
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!"
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!"
Monday, August 4, 2014
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.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
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.
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.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
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.
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.
Friday, August 1, 2014
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
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
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