If you can't beat 'em....

Remember how fun it was when you were a kid and learned that copying everything that anyone in your general vicinity said was fun as well as annoying, which was just enough to make you never want to stop? My kids have made this unfortunate discovery. They used to just drive each other crazy doing this, which almost always results in me having to intervene. It is a daily occurrence. It's annoying me lately.

Now, they have moved on and have started copying me. I have been just telling them to stop, make threats, the usual. I changed my approach this week. Reed started in while we were driving a few days ago. Instead of trying to shut it down, I joined in. Next thing Reed knew, he was saying things like "I still suck my thumb, I sniff dirty diapers, Troy's behind smells great, I love school buses." After he copied a few of my silly phrases, he started laughing so hard he could not speak, and it was game over.

Poison by Fluoride

Reed seems to have a thing for fluoride. He always has to be reminded not to swallow the toothpaste, still after all of the years he has been brushing his teeth, all three of them. Then there was the time that he ate some toothpaste right out of the tube when he was about a year old. Yum, cinnamon. On that occasion, I had to call Poison Control. It was then that I learned that calcium binds fluoride, so drinking milk will help rid the body of excess fluoride. He did not eat a huge amount, so that it what we did. A lot of milk, no problems.

On Saturday, just two days ago, my fluoride-loving son struck again. This time he decided to drink the bubble gum flavored fluoride rinse. I happened to walk by the bathroom and witnessed him spitting something out and saying something about it being gross. After giving me the biggest bunch of BS you have ever heard and sending me searching here and there for the "yucky pink thing," he finally told me what he had put in his mouth. I really thought that we were beyond this. At least I knew what to do without having to call Poison Control again. We are now back to locking the lids down on e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. just in case our four and a half year old little boy who acts like a big boy much of the time decides to do something like that again.

Thankful Friday

* I did not have to wear a coat today. We will finally get to play outside without someone begging to come back in because it is too cold.


* Evyn's dental appointment went well today. Her wicked gag reflex prevented x-rays of her back teeth, but they were sweet and, at my request, x-rayed the front, top where her teeth have been missing for years. Looks like her adult teeth will erupt soon. As best as they could tell, her adult teeth were not traumatized when she fell four years ago and knocked her teeth back into the gums. Time will tell but it sounds promising.


* The strong heartbeat of a 13 week old fetus.

* Field trips with kindergartners to learn about needs vs. wants. They went to Ukrop's and got a tour of each department and then raided the cafe and chowed down on some pizza and fruit. I really did not want to go because it created scheduling difficulties for me, however, I made it work and have no regrets.

Happiness is...

Yesterday was sort of one of those happy days. Although Holly got called in to work for an early morning emergency, I spent my morning doing a chore here and there and reading in between spurts of productivity. I also heard from an old friend and was able to have a leisurely conversation about why Holly and I should come down to Florida to visit and warm our souls with minimal child-related interruption. Was that *my* two kids playing nicely for an extended period of time without one argument? Sure was! Good times, I'm a happy girl. Also, Reed had an afternoon play date scheduled with his buddy and his buddy's dad and spent his morning making numerous calls to his buddy's mom on his non-working, used-to-be-a-demo-in-a-Sprint store cell phone confirming their plans. He was excited. Evyn was complaining of a tummy ache. I was not too concerned. She complains about a lot of things.

The kids were also really been enjoying their new desk and spent some time coloring and sharing the computer. Evyn is always coloring, drawing and writing, but Reed would rather do anything else. His fine motor skills are lacking, and up until yesterday morning I did not think he could write his name unassisted, especially since his still holds crayons and pencils in his fist....still. Honestly, I've been very concerned about this and the fact that he produced the name below thrilled us. Holly and I were all but jumping up and down when he proudly handed this over. He also produced this family portrait and a couple of pumpkins.

Evyn also drew this - their slumber party Saturday night on our bedroom floor with sleeping bags, a fire and a movie. She even drew her stuffed puppy and our old stray cat, Tom, who we forced to come inside since it was so cold and he so old and is nursing a hurt leg. Tom enjoyed it too once he figured out we were not trying to feed him to Troy. Troy was not allowed at the camp out. He was bummed.

After having such a great start to the day, I should have known that the bliss would soon end. In honor of the rise and fall of my Sunday, I came up with this:

Happiness is babysitting your 17 month old cousin Saturday night. She's adorable and busy and had so much fun with Evyn and Reed. Happiness is not discovering that half of your family has been inoculated with the tummy plague of 2009 after Alleigh (and our pregnant Ashley too) had been here just the night before - fingers crossed she does not get it!

Happiness is having a play date with your friend and his dad. Happiness is not having it cancelled because your sister's little tummy ache escalated into repeated sessions of vomiting which made your friend's mom cancel the play date for fear of you spreading the plague to her family.

Happiness is having another adult to help when poor Evyn started with the really bad part of the plague. Happiness is not watching that other adult succumb to the plague right before your eyes approximately one hour after Evyn's started.

Happiness is an air bed which can easily be wiped clean and sterilized. Happiness is not having your daughter and your partner in that bed, alternating vomiting sessions.

Happiness is the two well people in the house leaving the sickies behind and hitting a toy store which happened to be going out of business and had one killer sale going on. Happiness is not having to return home to do more laundry and continue the bleaching process.

Happiness is having a washing machine and plenty of detergent. Happiness is not feeling that your days are numbered and the plague will have you on your knees, head in toilet, in a matter of days or hours.

Happiness is making the most of feeling well, for the moment.

The Animal Odd Couple

Sweet, sweet story. Thanks for the link, Teresa. :)

Thankful Friday

I should start this out by saying 'N is for Necklace'! Yes, I remembered show and tell today. Evyn's bus driver even reminded her as she stepped onto the bus this morning as well. T is for Team effort.

I am thankful for our furnace. It's cold!!!

Ikea delivered the kids' new desk and chairs this week and my slow work allowed me to build it and get it all set up last night. Exactly what I wanted...enough space for both of them to work/play.

Thank goodness my favorite show Nip/Tuck (the ONLY show I follow) repeats two more times during the week since I missed it on Tuesday night.

Last, but certainly not least, Reed has been Pull-Up free for three nights in a row and has remained dry. We seem to be on to something here...finally! I'm sure I just jinxed myself.

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Evyn's school picture:

This was attempt number two - does she look sad or what? Now, I am not sure if I should have bothered having them retaken. First attempt was a rainy day - the only morning that the bus did not show up. We stood in the rain for a good 30 minutes before I gave up, we walked back home and I drove her. At this point, her hair was frizzy and damp and I was frazzled and did not care (Reed was soaked and HAD to change his entire outfit before we departed, and he was not very nice about it either) . The picture that resulted from that event was cute but her smile was fake and the hair was crazy, so I thought a retake was in order. The second time around, well, not a terrible picture but this is not our typical Evyn whose face is almost always bright and cheery. This sullen, slumped over little girl with the weird flap-over hair situation is cute too, though.

It's not Friday but I am thankful.

I keep missing my "Thankful Friday" opportunities. I have had so much to say these past few Fridays but the words never made it out of my brain. This was supposed to be the main thing that made the thankful list for this week, but I fell asleep before I could make it happen last night and before the end of Super Nanny. I hate it when I miss the end.

Anyway, Friday is show and tell day in Evyn's class. They are to bring something in that fits in their backpacks and also starts with the letter of the week. For some reason, I have a mental block when it comes to show and tell (probably because it is not written on my calendar). On a few of the Fridays she has taken something in, they have not had it for some reason and then I forget and then it is back on the next week and poor Evyn does not have anything to show. Luckily, she is not the only one showing up empty-handed, however, I'm too involved in her schooling to let this happen, or so I think. I'm writing "show and tell" on my calendar this weekend so she will never miss another one (this school year, at least).

So, yesterday was show and tell and, of course, I forgot. My excuse is that I was too busy wishing I was dead. I had the plague. Holly had to miss work because it is hard to parent when your head is getting ready to explode and you cannot get out of the bed or the bathroom. Pretty good excuse, I think.

On her way to school Evyn realized that she did not have anything for show and tell for the letter L. She and the bus driver, Mrs. R, started talking about possibilities, using anything that was in E's backpack. Mrs. R even looked through her own bag for something, but they came up empty-handed. Mrs. R then had a super idea. She suggested that Evyn sing a lullaby and then they went over the words to Rock A Bye Baby together so Evyn could practice. Once Evyn arrived at school, she immediately told her teacher that she did not bring an item to show but she had a lullaby to sing. Evyn told me that her teacher said that was "the greatest thing that anyone has ever bringed to show and tell." When it was Evyn's turn for show and tell later in the day, her teacher stood up in front of the class next to her and sang with her and then the whole class joined in. I really wish I could have seen that.

This story was not something she came home talking about. This is a story I might have never heard if I had not been in the right place at at the right time last night. I'm usually working at night and am so thankful that instead of listening to a doctor talk about a patient's musculoskeletal pain or the nasty phlegm they are coughing up, I was hanging out with Evyn, folding laundry and listening to her talk about kindergarten stuff. It made my week! We are so lucky to have such a sweet person driving our daughter to and from school each day.

Reality bites

It is official....... the holidays are over and we are once again faced with morning routines, bus schedules, lunch packing, meetings, work, etc. The alarm clock was not my friend this morning. I had to wake the sleeping princess for her first day back at school, which I hate to do. It was cold and foggy and still dark-ish. The bus was right on time -7 a.m. UGH! I went for my first run in a week and nearly keeled over. How many more months until those birds that annoy the hell out of us in the wee hours of the morning start chirping again and the sun shines just as early? Speaking of annoying, the guinea pig escaped today, and Reed found her under his bed. I went back there to catch her and closed Reed's door so that Troy would not feel the need to help us out. This was all fine and great and I caught the little pig, but then I realized that Holly had taken Reed's doorknob partially off - took the knob but left the little thing that secures the door in the closed position. There is no doubt in my mind that Reed's room is child safe after searching and searching for long, screwdriver-like items to open the door with. Nothing of the sort. We were locked in and also locked out because once I managed to squeeze through his window and jump down all while somehow busting my arm up, all of the doors were locked. Ahh, Mondays! Now that the holidays are over and the excitement for the season is gone, all there is now is winter and routine with a little (or a lot) unpredictability thrown in. I would like to either take a tropical vacation or fast forward to March or April. There is really nothing but warm weather to look forward to at this point. I really don't mean to be a scrooge and I'm not as grumpy as I probably sound, I'm just cold, and sick of this dreary winter.

This morning when the bus did arrive, Mrs. R cheerily thanked us for the goodies we gave her for Christmas. Since she just loves Troy and still invites him onto her bus periodically (and that is about all I know about her), I decided to make some note cards with the big goofball's picture on the front. She loved them. Evyn also made several batches of dog treats that she packed up for Mrs. R's dog. Dog treats were our big holiday baked item of the year this year, sadly enough. They were the only things that turned out (as far as we can tell) decent.