Then it got even more embarrassing

So, the Teenager has been accompanying me to the local aquatic center each day while his little brother has swim lessons taught by one of his own classmates from school. What could make this situation more awkward? Well, for one, as we've previously stated in the swim lesson post, having a mom who insists upon setting her up own folding chair complete with an attaching umbrella is a good start. But wait, there's more. Today after I got everything set up I couldn't get the right angle and ended up with too much sun on my legs and feet, so I decided to cover up with the little guy's beach towel. While I was fiddling with that, a huge gust of wind came up, picked up the entire umbrella out of it's holder stick and all and then flew the thing over a fence where it then made a loud thud into the side of the water slide. 
I think I've made my point.

Summer Time Antics

What happens when you mix a Summer BBQ with friends, add some margaritas for the parents and then give the toddlers s’mores? Well naturally, hilarity ensues. Be sure to listen for what little guy says as he tried to get his hands unstuck.

 

 

In case anyone missed that, he says; "oh cwap" which we found hilarious. Of course, that could have just been the margaritas or the fact that we, as his parents, find little guy pretty darn entertaining most of the time. But the margaritas help.

The now traditional, annual "A/C is out" post

Apparently this is now a yearly thing; the #@!* A/C going out. Readers may recall last year's entries ending with; It was the Flux Capacitor. Thankfully, at least this year it didn't happen during triple digits as it did two years ago when this not-so-fun tradition got its start.

This year's installment all started with a leak although the A/C was still cooling. All of  sudden we had water dripping down from a recessed light fixture above the fireplace. The hubs swung into action and quickly discovered it was due to a clog in the emergency overflow drain. Once he unclogged it, water started dripping out the drain outside and onto the patio. Not so great for patio entertaining, but better than coming through the ceiling.

We called the repairman who supposedly fixed the leaking problem. Then things really went awry. Later that evening, we noticed the temperature in the house was getting hotter and hotter even though the A/C was running. Turns out while the repairmen were "repairing" (and I use that term sarcastically) they bumped something loose, broke something else and basically knocked out the whole system. So essentially, we went from having A/C before they "fixed" something, to having no A/C at all.

When we had them back, they discovered the coil was shot and leaking freeon. They had to order the new part, which meant going into day three of no A/C before it was finally fixed yesterday afternoon. 

I'm just very glad the temperatures were within "we can make it through alive" range during this saga. Thankfully, it got fairly cool in the evening and we used our whole house fan to cool down the house for the night before it starting heating up again during the next day. We made a dinner that required no heat and for dessert we enjoyed these:

Another Trader Joe's favorite.  Like a margarita on a stick...minus the tequila.

Little Guy's Swim Lessons with associated amusements

 

This summer we finally started the little guy on swim lessons.

Monday was the first day.  The irony of having a teenage brother is that there's an excellent chance your swim instructor at the local aquatic center is right around his age, goes to school with him and knows him. Sure enough, Teenager informed me that little guy's swim teacher was in fact in one of his classes.

We've completed day three of lessons and so far, so good. It looks like he's quite comfortable in the water and is taking to learning the basics pretty well overall. We've had a bit of a challenge with him not wanting to get his ears wet, so we tried kids silicone earplugs which seemed to help.

The first day I was not prepared for a total lack of any shaded areas to sit. I'm not one to stay in direct sunlight for any length of time so I knew this was going to be a problem. So, since yesterday my solution is to haul in my folding chair and attaching umbrella. Apparently this embarrasses Teenager. I guess when your mom is pushing a stroller with your toddler brother that also contains folding chair and umbrella bags sticking out the side and then proceeds to set up said chair & umbrella combo poolside it's a spectacle you don't want to be associated with. It only gets worse when it's discovered that the sun is in exactly the perfect spot for the umbrella not to work as made, therefore it must be jimmy-rigged onto the side of the stroller and held in place by your sun-sensitive mother.

So to re-cap, I've provided swim lessons for the toddler, protection from skin cancer and embarrassment for Teenager. I'd say that's quite an accomplishment combo.

Potty Training Hits and Misses

So, in an effort to get better on track with Potty Training, we implemented the brilliant plan; “Poop for Toys”. Basically, if you poop in the potty, you get to select a small toy from a specially created basket of items waiting enticingly outside the bathroom door. This plan has worked like a charm. Unfortunately, our toy supply has depleted rather quickly after a recent bout of diarrhea, something we did not take into consideration.

Most amusing however, was an incident that took place during our Memorial Day BBQ with friends. Little guy was playing inside with his two little buddies while Teenager supervised. Apparently, there was some sort of incident that involved an attempt at pooping on the potty, a missed target and one of little guy’s friends being sent outside with a dramatic message for us;

“Um, Teenager told me to tell you that little guy went poo poo. But he missed. A little. And there’s poop on the rug. And the wall. And he wants to know if he gets his toy now.”

On being a little less LOST

The hubby and I can barely keep our eyes open past 9pm. We have to be really invested to stay up until nearly midnight as we did for the LOST finale. We knew that DVR’ing the thing and trying to watch it later would be a disaster because we’d be spending the next day dodging conversations, radio stations, Internet, etc. so as not to spoil the ending. Oh, and on a side note: since we were forced to watch commercials for this live viewing, I must give credit to Target for their hilarious ads!

Normally I do not watch any drama-type series but I got hooked on this one when I stumbled onto the pilot episode and knew this was going to be different. Of course  “different” is an enormous understatement. I can honestly say that I’m glad I got hooked on this show and spent the last six years following it to the dramatically thought provoking ending.

In  perusing other people’s thoughts and comments about the ending, it was interesting to see that some people are complaining about a lack of answers. I guess I can understand this to a point; of course there were things that left the viewers scratching their heads and trying to piece together the how’s and why’s. But just as in life, we don’t know all the answers. Oh sure, some folks think they know and will go so far as to testify that they know this and that. But they don’t, of course.

Some people felt that the ending was too emotional and as one person put it; a lot of “sappy crap”. Ironically, I dare say the “sappy crap” is at the heart of what the entire story is about and in the grand scheme of things it’s ultimately what life is about.

If you are still attempting to figure out all the ins and outs of the island then you’ve missed the point. It’s not about the mysteries of the island; it’s about the characters relationships, their place among people, their lives. I think a lot of people were so focused on figuring out the mysteries of the island they failed to see what it’s all really about.  In real life we have folks who focus the majority of their time and attention on work, hobbies, church, and other self-imposed commitments all the while their personal relationships are suffering. There are families that spend inordinate amounts of time working to pay for houses that they are never home to enjoy much less spend time with their spouse and kids. There are folks who get caught up in organizations that take their time and resources away from their families, all while they’re thinking they are doing the “right” thing. I think those are the folks that are really lost.

Much like the characters on LOST, I think people need to be focusing attention on trying to figure out how to build a better society. And I think that starts from being able to figure out how to develop and nurture the relationships in our lives. At the end of the day, the relationships that allow us to find ourselves and enable us to find happiness are the relationships that matter.

So, even if we didn't get to know the integral secrets of the island, it was still well worth the journey. Hopefully we all learned something along the way.

Just Did It

Saturday morning, while the kids stayed home and played, the Hubby and I participated in a local 5k which we entered to walk. As it turns out, we ended up running it instead. For the first time ever, I ran a 5k. I know that probably seems ridiculously insignificant to most folks out there who’ve run many, much longer events. But this is the girl who keeps threatening to “start running” (see previous posts here , here and here) and just never seems to do it. So, I just did it.

As luck would have it, only a couple minutes into the thing the Hubby and I saw someone we knew up ahead and jogged to catch up and say hi. We ended up chatting (and running) and at some point when the Hubby pointed out I was running and had already run half of the thing I knew it would be silly to not just keep going. So I did. The Hubby ran right alongside me (even though he could have gone much faster.) It was a little rough at the end, especially since someone decided a couple of steep hills would be just great in the last half mile before the finish line. But I plodded along and made it.

Of course my time was pretty unimpressive. In fact I had to laugh when I realized that my 40-some odd minute time was a few minutes more than some of the females in the top three…..of the 70+ age category! So yes, I have some minutes to shave off to beat the Senior citizens.

The Hubby reminded me we are planning to do the 4^th of July weekend 5k here and that we should aim to improve our time. If I can beat out the 60 year olds then I’ll consider that an accomplishment.

Here are a couple fun shots from the after race party. Our favorite Vendor there was Seattle’s Best coffee and their cool, giant fridge:

Conversations with Little Guy: Bathroom Edition

While out grocery shopping today we stopped in the restroom. Of course, I take little guy in the stall with me. After getting some toilet paper, this brief dialogue took place:

LG: Mommy, why are you getting so much toilet paper?

Me: Well, little guy, girls need more toilet paper.

LG: Oh. Well, you’re only ‘spose to take a teeny-tiny bit.

Me: Yeah.. um.. well, I can see you've been talking to your father.

That Eating and Losing Weight Thing

I’ve launched a new recipe and tips site for weight loss and maintenance!

Everything has Weight Watchers points included.

Check it out:

Teenager supplied entertainment

There are many things to complain about when it comes to having a teenager. However, we have very few with ours and are thankful for that every day. I feel incredibly lucky to have such a well-mannered young man whose behavior and personality get numerous compliments. I can’t overstate how fortunate we are to have a teenager who is also an awesome and helpful big brother and his little brother is very lucky to have him.

We are even further blessed with our teenager providing lots of amusement for the whole family. There’s been an abundance of good natured ribbing about his hair as we give him a hard time when he refuses to do anything with it. He has very fine hair with no body whatsoever...it grows pretty much straight down in the front and looks scraggly without any product in it.

Now he’s decided to make his latest personal appearance statement in the form of one of those chin-only goatees, something that has provided lots of laughs around here. (He’s very secure about himself lest my readers worry I’m scaring him for life by chuckling at some of these things! We are a family of big teasers, to be sure.) Just for kicks I whipped out a notebook and penciled a quick drawing of the kid (please keep in mind I am no artist by any means!)
After looking at this it hit me….

    Hilarity ensued.

Now tell me you don’t see the uncanny resemblance! Ironically, he happened to also be wearing a green shirt.

To his list of good qualities, we must also add "good sport".

Well, that was fast

So when it’s a Friday at about ten minutes before quitting time and you’re called into HR, it generally only means one thing; you’re fired! Yes folks, I got the axe today. It’s a small comfort to know it was not me personally and had nothing to do with my work performance as they apparently decided to eliminate my position entirely. Due to the economy and the company's need to get the most bang for the buck from their employees they determined they needed to fill another position in a different department and that parts of my job could be absorbed into the duties of that position. Of course, it’s pretty ridiculous that they didn’t think of this about a month ago before hiring me, as it seems a waste of their time and resources to start a brand new employee and go through all the new hire procedures and costs (physical, drug testing, background check, etc.) and then decide that this wasn’t the position they really wanted to fill in the first place.

So, this leaves things in an uncertain state. The biggest issue is what (if anything) we are going to do about pre-school for the little guy; by far the worst part about this whole saga. In the meantime, I am happy to be back to my old routine and be able to take little guy to and from school for the remainder of this school year, the hubby can get back to his regular routine at work since he no longer has to creatively schedule things around my work schedule and I guess I won’t be tripping any more circuits with my early morning hair drying. Although I’m irritated about this, I’m thankful we hadn’t plunked down the hefty pre-school registration fee for Fall already or we would have lost it. We did have to buy a second car seat but ended up buying one that has a higher weight limit and will work past the time our other one does anyway, so that was fortunate, at least.

I can’t help but think about how things generally happen for a reason and wonder what may be in store. Here’s hoping something positive is just around the corner.

Umm, really?

So here’s a little something I’ve noticed…has this ever happened to you? You’re dealing with an individual on-line for a business transaction of some sort such as e-Bay, Etsy, some home-based businesses (Mary Kay, etc.) and you’ve waited a ridiculously long time for your item or order to arrive. When contacting the person, sometimes multiple times, you eventually get some variation of the following response back:

Dear Customer,

I am so sorry for the delay! Things have been crazy with ________________.

[Fill in the blank with one of the following:]

• Multiple deaths in the family involving numerous cross country travels for funerals
• Horrendous sickness lasting months during which I was completely incapacitated including being unable to email you to let you know what was going on
• Emergency surgery immediately after you placed your order followed by a lengthy hospital stay which lasted until just last night when I was finally discharged and came home to find your email inquiring about your order

Seriously, I cannot tell you how many of these I’ve heard. The sad part is I guess I’m a sucker because I used to believe them and then feel really horrible that I bothered the person about my silly little order! I would immediately write back telling them how sorry I was for their loss, sickness, injury, etc, and not to worry about rushing my order off in the mail. Yeah. Well. I’m just not buying it anymore. Of course I’m sure sometimes these excuses are legitimate, but come on now! This is just a little too much to be coincidental.

New Attitudes

I’m now deep into week two of the new job. So far I am making it through. Of course, the house is a disaster, I blow electrical circuits blow-drying my hair while hubby irons his shirt in the morning and by 7:30 pm I’m falling asleep while watching TV. And speaking of hair, this morning I was faced with a choice of either A) actually do my hair or B) take that time to eat breakfast. Let’s just say that a hair clip was used and I enjoyed a bowl of cereal.

So, naturally there are adjustments. I would like to state however that despite everything I have managed to get up each morning and get my walk in, something I’m pretty darn proud of if I do say so myself. I think it took an attitude adjustment to get to the mental commitment part of this down. You see, back when I was slacking and not getting my exercise in I would feel guilty every single time I missed a work out. It occurred to me that as much as I hated dragging my butt out of bed at an unholy hour, once I did it and got out there and did my exercise I felt great. So it finally sunk in that the downside of not working out was a feeling of regret and remorse yet there really was no downside to forcing myself to do it other than the momentary feeling of not wanting to get out of bed. Then there was another thought process about the excuses; generally that I felt I hadn’t had enough sleep the night before and needed to stay in bed. The thing is, another 30 minutes was just not going to make difference nor was there much of a chance I’d go back to sleep anyway. The fact is, there was a much bigger overall positive to getting up and getting in my exercise than staying in bed for 30 more minutes. I think it took examining all this for me to finally realize that there are some things you just need to do and sometimes you have to change the way you think about things in order to do them. Of course, I wish I could take this same attitude and apply it to a multitude of other things. But, one thing at a time. Baby steps.

That thing called a job

I bet you all thought that once I got a job you’d never see me again and reading about the all the zany antics of my life would be over! Well, of course not!

I’m on day two in the first week of the new job. Thus far, I’ve not said or done anything stupid . One observation; the working area is a wee bit small. No, it’s not a cubicle, it’s actually the tail end of the counter of someone else’s workstation where someone placed a computer system, phone and rolled in a chair. Now mind you, I was not expecting a corner office with a window or anything, I mean, I am the newbie, I get that. Actually though, this is not the worst set up I’ve had. I thought back to a time many years ago when I started a new job for a large company in an oh-so-special state that's home to a famous musical family popular in the seventies. That job by far had the worst working area set up ever. I was hired for a brand new position which combined security with reception. It was very interesting. The idea was that I would be in the front office area of a large building that housed hundreds of employees. The employees would often check out equipment for use at home, testing, etc. It seems the company had a little trouble with the equipment actually coming back. (This is where I’d normally insert a snarky comment about the irony in the level of dishonesty for state and a community that prides itself on upstanding citizens, but I won’t do that.) So, they decided that I would have the duty of logging out the various items on a sophisticated computer system and making sure they were eventually returned and logged back in. A brilliant plan in theory. The trouble was, I had no computer. They wanted me to start doing this manually in a binder while sitting at - wait for it - a card table. That was my workstation. And naturally I looked terribly official in this capacity. Eventually I got an actual desk, phone and computer and was able to do my job instead of looking like I was there to sell cookies or take sign-ups for the softball game.

Returning to work after all these years is definitely taking some getting used to. For instance, I’m finding that my morning routine is going to need some tweaking and overhauling. It’s been tricky calculating when to get up so that I can manage to squeak in my workout, get myself looking presentable, have breakfast and drive to the office in time. In addition I have to also figure out when to actually go to bed so getting up the next morning isn’t impossible. Thus far, those times seem to be around o’dark fifteen and right after dinner respectively.

Now for those who might have been hoping to read all about the crazy co-workers and wacky office goings-on I’m afraid I have to disappoint you. I’ve learned from fellow mommy blogger Dooce that writing about work is almost never a good idea if you want to keep the job.

Easter 2010

This Easter came during some very non-Spring like weather around here. This was really evident at the big Easter Egg Hunt when little kids came bundled up. My little darling was sporting his Easter short-all with a sweater. I doubt he even noticed a chill though, the way he heats up so quickly, he’s in constant motion! The hubby brought along his good camera to take some nice shots.

The pose on this one cracks me up; the Hubby said he actually did this on his own.

Here you can see the field for his age group covered in eggs.
They were all gone in a matter of seconds.


Just a little Easter cuteness pictorial for you all.

Goodbye Bon Bons and Oprah

What I’m about to say only sounds like it could be an April Fool, folks. I will now be retiring my title of stay-at-home-mom. I got a job. I know! A job. One in which I will be required to get up even earlier than I do now, find and wear pants that fit, drive to an office and sit in front of a computer that will not be displaying my own web site. I will also be getting something I have not received in a very long time; a paycheck. Actually, I can’t really say I will be getting a paycheck because shortly after payday it will be turned around and deposited to the little guy’s new pre-school. Yes, I am working solely to enable to my child to go to pre-school this Fall, the year right before he enters Kindergarten.

So let me back up and tell you all how this happened. As dedicated readers know, little guy has speech delay and Sensory Processing Disorder. He’s been receiving therapy (both speech and OT) since age 18 months. In addition, at age three he started a speech pre-school that is part of the public school system. He’s attended this 5 day a week program since last August. He absolutely loves school and in fact has done so well academically and overall that his teachers and therapists state he will not need to continue with Special Education and in fact would do well in a regular pre-school. Unfortunately, “regular preschool” is not part of the public school system (though I think it should be!) and must be paid for at a private school. It’s not even within the realm of possibility for us to pay for pre-school out of our current resources. So, as much as I love being a stay-at-home-mom and was not at all considering returning to the working world at this point (beyond my side projects; SimpliSave, Draga Designs and of course, this blog) getting a job was the only answer. We felt strongly that not having the structure and opportunities of pre-school the year before entering Kindergarten would be a big social and academic setback. Little guy is at the top of his class academically and overall seems to be pretty darn smart. Of course we’re thrilled that he’s doing so well but we weren’t prepared for having to figure out what to do in order to keep him in a pre-school program.

A while back I started sending out resumes for positions which met pretty strict criteria. My attempt was to obtain a part time position (something that is surprisingly hard to find) for a local company (so I didn’t have to drive far) during regular business hours during the workweek (so I would be gone mostly during the time little guy was at school and have maximum family time outside work hours). I got one call for an interview and was offered that job. It was truly one of those “meant to be” situations. Now frankly, I’m a tad nervous to enter the work world after many years. I’m not even used to having adult conversations during the day and I just know that within the first week I’ll be asking a co-worker if they need to go potty and if their crankiness means it’s time for a nap. But this is a new chapter in my life and one that I think will be a big positive overall.

Stay tuned to see how this all unfolds. Because you just know there are going to be some interesting posts coming up! Oh, and even though “stay-at-home-mom” may no longer apply to “SAHM” for me, “Surviving Assorted Home Mayhem”, always will.

3 Olive Martinis

One of the things the Hubby and I enjoy is perusing our local thrift stores for interesting finds. So much of the time we run into junk but every once in awhile we discover a real treasure. We’ve found materials for use with our jewelry design business and interesting home décor items among other things. Recently we stumbled upon an old silver drink mixer/pitcher. It was different than the modern style because it actually had a pouring spout and a handle, unlike today’s cocktail shakers. It was very tarnished and didn’t look like much but we thought we’d found a great deal and bought it. The Hubby polished it up when we got home and it looked great!

Fast forward to last night. The Hubby was arriving home late from a business trip. As a special welcome home I thought I’d mix up a batch of martinis; his favorite cocktail lately. Naturally I decide to use the new pitcher. After carefully mixing the ingredients and proceeding to shake the contents I quickly discovered why this thing ended up at the thrift store in the first place. Apparently the lid, which fools you into thinking it actually holds the contents of the pitcher back, allows liquid to escape through the side where the spout is; a genius design right there. So, I now have alcohol shooting out the top and all over the bar. But wait, there’s more. This thing all of a sudden breaks apart, the lid flies off, the top comes apart and I drop the pitcher. Now there’s ice cubes and gin all over the floor and at this point there was more than a little swearing. After mopping up the floor and picking up all the ice cubes I decided to haul out the ingredients again and mix up a new batch in my old, boring cocktail shaker. When the Hubby arrived home I believe his comment was something to the affect of; “what happened at the bar and why do you smell like gin?” “Just drink your martini”, I said.

Spring, Pedicures & Toddlers

Spring has sprung around here. I adore this time of year when I can see blossoms on the cherry tree, little leaves springing up on the grapevine and the promise of some afternoons ahead lounging outside. It’s this time of year that I am so happy to get out of my winter shoes and boots (I actually hate wearing socks and enclosed shoes) and get into my sandals and flip flops. Naturally, this requires a pedicure. Thanks to the economy and a little thing we like to call “cutting back” I do all of these at home now.  So, in anticipation of setting up shop for my pedicures the Teenager got me a footbath for Christmas. I was excited to use this thing for my first pedicure of the season. I set it up, filled it with water and stuck my feet in and the little guy wanted to know what I was doing. When he saw the whole soaking my feet routine he wanted to do it, of course. It was all Daddy could do to hold him back while he was taking off his little shoes and socks and attempting to jump in! But the cutest part of this scene was when I was done with my pedicure he said; “Mommy! I wuv, purple, it’s my faborite color! I want purple toes, too!”

It’s My Birthday- I’ll Eat Fries if I Want to

Yes, it’s true. This day rolls around way too fast for me. Although my “official” B’day celebration will not be until later in the month due to scheduling issues, the little guy wished me Happy Birthday this morning in his own cute, now able to talk, voice. The day did not get off to the greatest start because as I was getting ready I bent over and ripped my pants. My new pants. On my Birthday. On my Weight Watcher’s meeting morning. The irony is not lost on me.  There have been some other unfortunate, ill-timed incidents which I won’t announce over the Internet, but suffice it to say there’s nowhere to go but up.

So, after picking up the little guy I did something I almost never do. I went through the Mc Donald’s drive through. Hence, the title. But I’ll have you know I was pretty restrained, despite the “holiday”. I had a grilled chicken snack wrap and a small fries. Compare that to what I would normally have; a Filet O’Fish and a large fries. With Fry sauce.  Now I’ve lost readers in 49 states and several countries with that last line. If you’re from Utah or Mormon (or more to the point, a Utah Mormon) you know exactly what I’m talking about. For those of you who’ve never heard of this condiment, fry sauce is mayo mixed with ketchup in proportions that make it a coral-pink color. Back in the day as a new Utah resident from California I was intrigued when I learned that Utahn’s must have their “fry sauce” with fries. When I heard what it was I thought it sounded gross, mostly because it reminded me of thousand island dressing (though without the chunks). Then I tried it and I was hooked. I swore I would not get caught up in “their crazy culture”, (like saying “squoze” and “Oh my heck!” ) but I did. I have to admit it. You see in Utah, at McDonald’s and other fast food places they actually have fry sauce already made and available; that’s how much people use it. Here in CA we have to make our own. But I figure when you rip your pants it’s a really good idea to skip the fry sauce.

Momtuition

Today was one of those lovely “Spring Teaser” days. We get these every year; it suddenly warms up to make us think Spring is going to kick in and then we get another week or two of cold weather. We took full advantage of the great weather by taking a drive to a couple of our favorite little nearby towns. After lunch little guy got a chocolate milk, one of his favorite “treats” when we go on a outing. We had a great time strolling around a couple historic towns, browsing antique stores and the Hubby even scored some beautiful old silverware pieces with a fabulous pattern. (Which means watch the Draga Designs site for more jewelry to be available soon!)

On the way home the little guy was kind of complaining. We tried to ask him what was wrong and he couldn’t seem to tell us. We assumed it was because he hadn’t had a nap and with today being the time change we figured that was good because he’d be going to bed early. Then my mommy intuition kicked in and I told the hubby to pull over. I suggested he take the little guy out of his car seat and just as I was about to tell him not to hold him too close it was too late. Apparently the chocolate milk and windy road was a bad combination and he lost it. All down Daddy’s shirt. The good news is the Hubby listened to my warning and we avoided the whole "car barf routine" which involves completely removing the car seat cover to be washed and air dried, scrubbing everything down and in general a major operation (which we’ve done more than a few times.) Little guy seemed to be fine after this episode though I must say the ride home with Daddy and his shirt was less than pleasant. (It never occurred to me to keep extra clothes in the car other than for the little guy!) We were all very glad to get back home.

Creative Parenting: Time Out on the run

Yesterday while out and about with the family we decided to stop for lunch. We headed to a fairly large, family friendly (aka plenty loud anyway) type of place. While waiting for our food we noticed several other families with toddlers all around us. One family caught our attention when their little girl, who was sitting in a high chair, was having some sort of issue and was crying and generally carrying on the way toddlers do. Then the Dad did something that had never occurred to us. He stood up and turned the highchair around with his daughter in it so her back was to the table and she was looking out onto the whole restaurant while crying her little eyes out; sort of a time-out at the table. Several of the other customers with little ones looked to see what was going on and in an “aha!” moment we all started laughing. We thought this was brilliant because as her entire family ignored her and the rest of the restaurant was amused by this scene the little girl decided she really didn’t need to keep crying. In no time she let her family know she was done and they turned her around, hugged her and went on with their meal. The hubby and I thought this was really creative parenting and in fact I think hubby wanted to go shake his hand and buy him a beer for his creativity. He also mentioned he sure wished he’d thought of this himself a couple years ago.

Maybe they don’t melt in your hand but…

Lately there have been some issues with little guy at school and I’ve been getting reports of roughhousing with the other boys in his class. Unfortunately this is one of those things that is to be expected in a class full of boys, most of whom have Sensory processing Disorder. If you throw into the mix that its been raining a lot and that means no playground time the rowdiness level goes through the roof. We’ve been having numerous talks with the little guy about keeping his hands to himself and how he needs to listen to the teacher and not push, pull, grab, etc. Some days I get a good report and other days I see the teacher with a look on her face that tells me she just may go home and poor herself a good, stiff drink. In an effort to increase the good days we’ve told little guy he’ll get M&M’s for behaving himself, a reward that worked wonders for getting rid of the binkies here recently.

Today I was delighted when I received a note in little guy’s backpack saying he did great today! I told little guy how proud I was and said he’d get his M& M’s right after lunch. After I handed him three M & M’s (yes, we’re pretty minimal with them) I walked into the office to grab something off the printer. I then hear him yelling “Get it out, get it out!” and run back to see two M&M’s sitting on his tray and his little finger pointing to his nose. “Did you put an M & M up your nose?!” I asked foolishly. He said; “yes”. I tried the method we used just weeks ago when he stuck a blueberry up his nose: trying to get him to shoot it out by blowing his nose real hard. This did not work at all. I ran for the tweezers. To my surprise, once I grabbed the M & M it did not just pop out as I’d anticipated. It was melted in a chocolatey, gooey mess. So I stood there pulling out small chunks of melted chocolate from my toddler’s nose. Then I looked up his nose again with the flashlight to see that there was still plenty of M & M material lodged in there. Great. I once again tried to get him to do the “shoot it out your nose” routine and he was finally able to blow out the rest of the M&M in one disgusting little lump that flew onto his tray.

In related news we are now switching to stickers as rewards.

The Gripe and Whine List

You know how “they” say to remember what you have to be thankful for and focus on the positive? Today I don’t feel like doing that. Yes, I do have much to be thankful for, I do need to focus more on the positive and honestly I strive to do that (most of the time), but sometimes you just have to gripe. So, if you were looking for a feel good post complete with rainbows and unicorns you might want to move along.

Here in no particular order are the things that are currently irritating me:

Rain and cold – I’m over winter now, thank you.

The healthcare/insurance situation is completely ridiculous. Something needs to be done.

The cat’s depressed (see post on loss of dog to understand why) and consequently keeps us up at night meowing. We really need some sleep.

I really, really need outdoor exercise. See “rain & cold” issue above.

Weight loss is not going well and I’m running out of pants. Also, I don’t think it’s humanly possible for my thighs to get any larger however, I do not want to test this theory.

I’m coming up on yet another birthday. I say “yet another” because I just had one. At least it feels like it. I’m still trying to adjust to not being in the thirties any longer. Not that there’s anything wrong with being in my forties, I’m just irritated with being older. I’d probably deal with it better with smaller thighs. *sigh*

I could think of a lot more, but then it would just sound pathetic and complain-ey. Oh wait, it probably already does. But I’m ok with that.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

So, you know how I’ve been threatening to actually start running at some point? Well, as luck would have it, after fully convincing myself to give it a go I now have a huge obstacle.

Back around Christmas time the family all went through a horrible cold. Mine took forever to go away and during that time my coughing caused me to fracture a rib. I’ve been told no exercise at all outside of basic walking. I would be walking if only I could manage to get up in the morning to do it, but alas, I don’t sleep well due to said cracked rib. (Yes, I know, I could/should walk at some other point in the day, but I am one of those "if it doesn't happen in the morning it's not going to happen at all" exercise types.) To further complicate my issue is the fact that my injured ribs are on the side I have to sleep on to avoid snoring and waking up the hubby. Now,with no exercise and not even any walking weight loss at this point is non-existent.

So it all breaks down to this; my ribs hurt, I’m not sleeping well, the hubby has to sleep on the sofa, I’m getting zero exercise and I can feel my rear end get bigger by the moment. It all makes me want to just say to heck with it and eat a carton of ice cream.

That is all.

Little Guy: The newest YouTube sensation?

I know as his family we are probably the only ones so entertained by him. But little guy has us cracking up over his version of "The Chicken Dance" as well as a loose interpretation on the SpongeBob SquarePants opening theme song.  See for yourselves.