Time To Reconnect ..

It's been too long, plain and simple. I guess I started posting quick one-liners on Facebook, which was much easier and faster than trying to make each post here funny, witty and relateable. I reread all my old posts last night and realized I need to start posting here again. I laughed and cried reading the old posts and felt very thankful for the recorded memories, but also sad for all of the unrecorded moments I've missed over the past several months. So I am recommitting to this blog. My posts going forward may not be funny or witty or relateable, but they'll document my crazy life and hopefully give my kids lots to laugh about some day.

Score!

"Score!" This is what I heard my kids shouting over and over again from the top of the stairs, interrupted intermittently with peels of laughter and "you won again, you get a sticker!" I didn't hear any tears, nor anything breaking, so I let them be. Thankful that, for once, they were playing nicely without any adult supervision. But, of course, my curiosity got the best of me. I meandered over to the staircase and realized that they had made up a game. They were tossing small plastic balls off the landing trying to hit the small carpet in front of the front door, then racing down the stairs to retrieve them so that they could play the game all over again. I couldn't believe it. They made up a game, all by themselves, that wasn't dangerous or destructive and that they all found fun and entertaining. And, believe it or not, I just heard Michael say to the other two kids: "Are you tired yet? Ok, then it is time for bed." Who on earth are they, and what have they done with my REAL children?

Peter's Dream

"Peter: "I cried for you a little bit last night. I was sad because I was in the black car and I wanted to be in the little red car with you and Daddy and Emily."

Me: "Who was driving the black car?"

Peter: "Nonno."

Me: "Nonno or Nonna?"

Peter: "The girl one."

Me: "And where was Michael?"

Peter: "He was in the black car with me. So we jumped into the red car [jumps off the hearth to demonstrate] and then we drove to Batman's house but he wasn't home."

A Questionnaire

Wow, I cannot believe that it has been almost a month since my last post. We were visiting my parents in St. Louis during the first two weeks of September. I came back with so many stories to tell that I felt overwhelmed at the thought of sitting down to type them all out. So I am going to write a quick one tonight and try to catch up on the road trip stories another time.

I received a letter from Michael & Peter's teachers that said that the school would be begin an "All About Me" study this week. My first thought was: "Isn't every day 'all about me' for a three-year-old?" Trying to be a supportive parent, however, I read on. Among other all-about-me items attached the letter, I discovered a questionnaire to fill out regarding someone special in their life. In order to get the boys to choose someone other than boring old mommy or daddy, I listed some other family members and friends for them to choose from.

Michael chose Pappy (my dad) and these were his answers to the questions:

Who is someone very special in your life? Pappy.
Why is this person so important to you? Because I love him.
What makes him so special? Because he snores in his office.
What are some things that you like to do with this person? I like to help Pappy fix things and set up the pool and camping and fishing with him.

Peter was adamant about choosing me. I asked him who else is special to him besides me and he answered "Batman." So I again gave him the list of relatives and friends and he finally settled on Rie Rie (my mom). Here were Peter's answers:

Who is someone very special in your life? Rie Rie.
Why is this person so important to you? Because she let me be Batman at her house.
What makes her so special? She showed me the animals in the jungle at the zoo.
What are some things that you like to do with this person? I like to play with toys with Rie Rie and run in her house.

So I guess this post did end up reflecting a little bit of our trip to St. Louis, after all. As you can see, the boys had a great time spying on Pappy napping in his office, going to the zoo with my parents, running wild in their house and generally having the time of their life. Thank you so much Mom & Dad for having us ... hopefully you have fully recovered by now and put your house back together again. We miss you!

Baby Neptune

In an effort to save up all the kids' favorite videos for an upcoming road trip, I've resorted to playing old Baby Einstein videos in the car. They are definitely too old to be entertained by puppets and classical music, but I figured that it was better than nothing. Yesterday I popped "Baby Neptune" in the DVD player and the strangest thing happened. My three kids, who usually fight non-stop in the car no matter what movie I play, actually had a running dialogue amongst themselves that entertained ALL of us. It went something like this:

Emily: "Oh there is a dolphin!"

Peter: "No, that's not a dolphin, that's an Orca Whale."

Emily: "Oh, Orca Whale, okay."

Michael: "What's that Peter?"

Peter: "That's a submarine."

Michael: [singing] "We all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine ..."

I drove on, laughing to myself and wondering who taught Peter about Orca Whales and submarines and who taught Michael the words to a Beatles song. And, more importantly, wondering why I didn't think to create these Baby Einstein videos myself. Every mom needs them in her arsenal, especially Baby Neptune, it seems. A "movie" that can entertain babies of all ages AND promote conversation and dialogue among toddlers and preschoolers is a must have. Julie Aigner-Clark, you are my hero!

Age Before Beauty

I'm not sure when it happened. That fateful day when I started caring so much about trying to look younger. The thing is, I've always looked older than my actual age. It was once a great thing ... I had no problem pretending to be 16 when I was only 12, 18 when I was only 13 or 21 when I was only 17. In fact, I remember hanging out with some older kids on a ski trip when I was about 12 or 13 years old ... I had no problem pretending to be 16, until one of the kids fell and the others asked me to drive him to the hospital.

But, in my 20s, I began to realize that this "looking older" thing wasn't really that much fun anymore. I must have been about 24 years old when I met a man on an airplane who asked me what I did for a living. After explaining that I was in law school, he said "oh, is law going to be your second career?" I shudder to think how old he actually thought I was. Needless to say, I ordered a stiff drink and ignored him the rest of the flight.

As I entered my 30s and began having kids, I've had more and more encounters with people thinking I am older, much older, than I actually am. And, it is no fun at all. For example, I have been taking some classes at my gym with my husband's 17-year-old niece over the past few weeks and three, THREE, different women have come up to me and asked me if she's my daughter! Do I seriously look old enough to have a 17-year-old daughter? Oh my. This is not good. Thankfully, she's beautiful, so at least people think I have a beautiful 17-year-old daughter. But, as I've said, it's age before beauty for me these days.

So, until I find the fountain of youth and can turn back the clock to my rightful age of 35, I think I am going to start telling people that I'm 50 years old ... I mean, I look pretty damn good for 50, right?

Trickery

Sure, it's normal for young kids to ask "why" virtually all of the time, but, with my son Michael, he actually expects a logical answer to every "why" question that he asks. Over the past year, I've learned that if I say "no, because [some logical reason]" instead of just plain old "no," then I actually have a chance of avoiding a million and one whinny "whys". Here are some examples:

Michael: "Mommy can I have more crackers?"
Me: "No, because they're all gone."

Michael: "Mommy, can I go over to that [dangerous] swing set [overlooking a rocky ledge]?"
Me: "No, because I think a really mean dog lives over there."

Michael: "Mommy, can I sleep in your bed tonight?"
Me: "No, because sometimes there are spiders in my bed."

Well, I'm in a bit of a bind because he is starting to catch on to me. Now when I say that we're all out of some food item that he wants, he asks to see the empty wrapper or container. He wants proof. And, he's only three-years-old. Not good.

I guess I need to think of some new tricks, the veracity of which can't be proven one way or the other. Or, perhaps, just keep some empty wrappers on hand, learn how to bark like a vicious dog and get some scary-looking plastic spiders for my bed.

Why, you might ask, didn't I just stick with plain old "no means no"? It certainly worked for my parents, along with "do as I say, not as I do," "because I said so," "we're not the so-and-so family so their rules don't apply here," and other familiar old-school parenting quotes. I guess I thought that maybe I was just a little bit smarter - using reason and diversion instead of authority and intimidation - but I'm not so sure now. Ahhh, back to the drawing board, I guess!