Halloween

The boys get very definite ideas of what they want to be at Halloween. I hear tale of kids who change their minds daily until the hour is nigh, not so my little ones!

Somewhere in August, D2 decided he wanted to be a skeleton. When the time came, we got him the skeleton outfit he picked out. It came with a matching mask but at the school party, they aren't allowed to wear masks so the night before, I went on youtube and found a tutorial for the skull make-up....


Here's a close-up (although I still haven't fully figured out my camera)....

I know he looks super-pissed in these photos but he was actually trying to not crack up the whole time. He said he didn't want to smile because I drew teeth so he didn't need to! I caught him smiling once...

T decided he wanted to be a spaghetti monster. That sort of morphed into just spaghetti. I wasn't really sure what he wanted but this is what we came up with...

He made most of this himself. I rolled the masking tape meatballs and he painted them. I cut the holes in the tablecloth poncho (he painted that too with splotches of sauce, looks like blood to me, but what're you gonna do, right?). I cut the cardboard and he covered it with tin foil, 80% of a skein of Lion Brand Wool (huge skein that!) and for the sauce, part of another skein of Vanna's Choice or some other cheap acrylicrap from Michael's. We used nearly a full can of spray adhesive!

When we were trick-or-treating, T got tons of compliments. One woman even yelled in to her house, "Come here! This is the one I was telling you about from school! Get the camera!!" Too funny!

The boys and Dave also carve pumpkins every year. They pick the pumpkin, draw what they'd like and Dave carves them. If you've been here at all, it's pretty easy to tell which pumpkin belongs to which kid....

(If you're new, the happy-go-lucky vampire is T's and the disemboweled one is D2's. It's pretty odd considering D2 hates anything even remotely scary on TV or in books!)

Hope you all scored lots of candy, Ruth!

Kind Children Are Kind

About a month ago, the kids' school had Field Day. Field Day is where there are a bunch of different stations and they have silly things to do at each station. One station, they loosen their shoe and see how far they can kick it, another station, they balance a bowl of water on their head and try to fill the bucket across the way... you get the idea.

This year's Field Day theme was The Amazing Race so each station was either a state or a country. (At one station, the man asked the kids, "Do you know what country this is?" and a boy yelled out, "The Suburbs!" How true!)

I got to hang out in the morning before I had to start work so I got to see D2's class play at Field Day. They all trooped out to the big field in single file and the last kid stopped at the edge of the field. I held out my hand and said, "Come on! Let's go play!" At first, he took my hand but then he looked up at me and pulled his hand back. D2 looked back to see; he and another boy came back and got the hesitant child. D2 looked at me and said, "This is E. He's never been on the field before - it scares him." D2 and the other boy (B) each took one of E's hands and coaxed him onto the field. That's when I got it (not the brightest bulb, I know) - E is a Special Needs child.

D2 and B slowly but surely got E over to the rest of the class. D2's teacher told me that D2 was always very nice to E and they usually hung out and played together with 2 other boys at recess. E's mom showed up and she was telling me how sweet D2 is to E and that at the end of the day, D2 always makes a special effort to come and say goodbye to E. She went on and on about how nice and patient D2 was with E. It was makin' me all misty!

Later, when E got a bit nervous (all the kids were all over the place and he seemed to get confused as to where to go), he found D2 and walked up behind him, putting his hand on D2's shoulder. D2 looked back at E and said, "It's OK, we're just going this way." and led E to the next station.

About a week after this, I came down from my break at work (the kids were already in bed) and Dave handed me a letter from school. It was from the Special Needs teacher. It asked us if we would be willing for D2 to participate in a group that taught social skills to Special Needs kids. The group would meet once a week and our child was chosen because his teacher said he would be good at it. Of course we said yes!

Dave handed me the envelope the letter it came in and D2's teacher had written on the outside:
To the parents of D2: If you wish D2 to participate, I know he would enjoy the group. He is so good with E and he too can benefit by interacting socially with this small group of 2nd graders. Thanks, Ms. M

Ok, so that totally made me cry! I'm such a dork! It's not like any of the kids are ever mean to E, but most of them don't play with him or anything. D2 and B always plays with him.

I was telling this to the women in my knitting group and Tina pointed out that when people talk about their kids, they say they want them to be doctors or lawyers and stuff but when it really comes down to it, what they really brag about... what's really important is that their children are kind and good. She's so right!

Proud of my kids, Ruth!

Airport Sightings

The boys and I went to the airport this morning to pick up Dave's best friend, Ty.

We were a few minutes early and we got to see two soldiers in desert camo get their tearful, squealing, "Welcome Home" mugging from their girlfriends and their families. It was totally making me tear up seeing the sheer joy and relief on the faces of their loved ones.

We also got to see a woman in a full burka. She was with her family and the 4 year old little girl with them wore a headscarf and the 2 year old little girl with them had her head uncovered. When T saw the woman in the black burka with only her eyes and hands showing he turned to me and asked, "Is she a ninja?" When I got done laughing, I explained that her religion requires her to wear clothes so that nothing of her body can be seen. He said, "Hmm, that's cool." (which is what he says when he means, "How interesting."). I said, "No, T, it's really not cool at all. It's very repressive. But everyone is different and that's just how they have chosen to live so it works for them."

And who knows? Maybe underneath those robes, she really is a ninja!

What was evident was her delight in her daughters. The little one started to wander off and the mom held out her hand and called her back and you could see the mom's eyes light up at the sight of her smallest child! Even with nothing else showing, you could tell she was smiling.

Seeing Ninjas, Ruth!

Coasters and Baseball and Skeptics - Oh My!

We had such a busy and fantastic weekend!

Dave took Friday off and we went to Elitch Gardens. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but Dave and I are crazy for coasters. On our honeymoon, we went park hopping in CA. Last year, we left the kids with the grandparents and went to Elitch with our friends Dona and Daren.

This year, the library's summer reading program had an end game of Elitch tickets for the kids! They read the required amount (12 hours? 20 hours? I can't even remember) and turned in their papers for some paper tickets. The tix also had a discount for adult tickets so off we went!

We got the kids on the easier rides first then worked them up to the bigger rides. We got them on the Tower of Doom (which D2 LOVED and wouldn't stop talking about all day) and one roller coaster (the Boomerang) which they both hated. They are super-skinny guys and if you are smallish or short (like me) you know that the restraints on roller coasters only click down so far and if you are smallish or short, you get banged around in your seat pretty good.

The Tower of Doom takes you up slowly to a height of 200 feet then drops you straight down. D2 loved it and after a few more spinny rides, we figured out that he liked the spinny rides but hated the coaster because he didn't like being upside down. That combined with being flung around in his seat made him feel like he was going to fall out. T didn't like either one. He's a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to rides. There were plenty of other rides that they loved (the swing ones, the log ride was a big hit, the teacups.... yes, we actually rode the teacups!).

I took some sock knitting with me and I got about 2" done while standing in line for the rides! I knew I was going to rip it all out when I got home but I kept going anyway as it kept me entertained. How did I know I was going to frog? I set up the sock the night before - CO and ribbing cuff (it's the Conwy sock from Knitting on the Road) and when we were driving away from home on Sat, I pulled it out to work on it. I then realized just by the feel of it, that the needle was too big. I didn't pay much attention to it the night before as I was just trying to crank out a little bit so it'd be ready for Sat. I was working on a US 3/3.25mm and I wanted to have it on a US 2/2.75mm. Oh well.... good thing I like knitting! Ribbit.

We also went to Elitch's waterpark. We should've gone there first as it closes at 6p and the rest of the park is open until 9p but we still spent a good couple of hours in the wave pool and going down the kid's water slides! My glasses have these magnetic sunglass cover thing and they popped off and are lost forever in the wave pool - so that kinda sucked.

Dave and I took on a couple of the big people water slides - he went down the really fast blue one and I went down the twisty purple tube one. I hated it! I was trying to hold my head up but the centrifugal force forced my head back and the tube isn't smooth. WHAM, WHAM, WHAM every time you pass the sections of tube-seaming. It gave me a monster headache!

We left our house at 9:30a and didn't get home until 10p! We left the park at about 7:30 or 8p and went downtown to Sam's #3 for dinner. It's a great diner with really good food. The whole ride home (about a half hour or so) D2 went on and on about the Tower of Doom - "Which was your favorite part?" "Which was your least favorite part?" "Which part did you like the best?" "Which part of the Tower did you like the least?" "Which part of the Tower was the scariest?" "Which part of the Tower was the least scariest?" The same questions to each and every one of us and asked over and over and over. He really liked that Tower!

Saturday the boys both had games. D2's game was at 11a and T's was at 2p.... on one of the hottest days this summer. It was super hot at D2's game but one of the parents brought this big collapsible gazebo thingy and a couple of other parents had squirt bottle/fan thingys so the boys did OK. D2 and I didn't go to T's game - it was just too hot! I'm sorry I missed it because T finally got to play pitcher! But I'm not sorry I missed it as Dave told me there were no collapsible gazebos and no dugouts so no shade at all! It's all relative as the 100 degree weather here is a cold snap in Tucson! We have become heat wimps just like everyone else in CO and we pretty much melted at home the rest of the day.

Sunday, we went to a picnic/pot luck thing. Dave signed us up! I was so shocked that Dave signed us up for anything even resembling being social that I didn't even mind missing my knitting group! He found this Secular Parents Club (Secular Parent's Club? I guess it works with or without the apostrophe) at meetup.com. He actually found it right before we left Parker but we haven't had the chance to go to any of the meet-ups until now.

It was great fun! I've never seen Dave be so outgoing with strangers! The shindig was at Bear Creek Park and we had this huge wooden gazebo to ourselves and it was right next to a bathroom and also right next to a largish creek. Their were only 2 or 3 kids that were the same age as our boys, everyone else had babies or toddlers. But the kids had a great time and the adults were similarly entertained. Everyone brought food and the adults stayed in the shade and ate and shared stories of our past religious lives (or lack of) and our current state of skepticism and/or outright atheism. One of the guys was a minister and is getting his degree in religious studies! With his current beliefs/doubts, he's not sure what he's going to do when he graduates. His dissertation is on TV evangelism - I can't imagine the horror stories he must be finding!

There were about 20 people there (including the kids) and I am looking forward to spending more time with these like minded folks.

What a weekend, Ruth!

P.S. I haven't forgotten about the contest. You can still enter until I reveal. I'll tell all soon....

Rock, Paper, Scissors

I'm cleaning off my floor. I have this filing cabinet next to my desk and I usually just put things in front of it instead of in it and sort things out later! (Lazy much?)

I'm going through all the papers the boys brought home during the school year to see what I want to keep and what to toss. Their file cabinet slots are getting way too full, so yesterday I bought two plastic bins to put things into.

Going through T's papers I found this story....

One day Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln raced outside from the White House to see who would steer the helicopter. They got there at the same time. They had a big fight. Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln had an election. They tied nine to nine. They did Rock, Paper, Scissors but Abraham kept cheating. Barack decided that they should play bowling.
THE END
by T (edited for minor spelling errors)

That kid slays me!

Loving Summer Break, Ruth!

I is for Insane

Well the inline hockey thing was a complete fiasco. The night of the school skate, I talked with the manager/owner (we'll call him "J") quite a bit about which class we should put the boys in and with the information he gave me, we picked the inline hockey class.

J told me that the first three "practices" were actually used to teach the kids how to use the inline skates and most of the kids that showed up had never used inlines before (just like T and D2). Also, all the first-timers get a free pair of hockey inlines as part of the class fee. We show up the next night for the first practice and WTF?? It was complete chaos and insanity. There's over 100 kids there and they are all racing around the rink like little experts. There's so many kids that the place ran out of the free skates and my boys and about 15 other kids had to use the rental inlines. So many in fact that they didn't even have D2's size of the rentals and he had to use a pair that were a size too big.

The "instruction" on how to skate consisted of a guy in the DJ booth calling out instructions to the hundred + kids whizzing around the rink. After 20 minutes of that, they had all the kids sit in the middle of the rink and the parents stand around them and they told us what the hockey league was going to be like and that today they would have skating drills and on the next session (4 days later) they would start stick drills.

I walked to the front desk and told them we wanted our money back. I explained that this was NOT what J told me it was going to be and that we were leaving. The guy convinced me to wait until this practice was over before I made up my mind.

So Dave and I waited. They had the more experienced skaters around the outside edges of the rink and the new kids in the middle. After about ten minutes, they sent T to the outside kids. Really?? Yeah, I guess the fact that he could actually stand up on the skates constituted his promotion to the outside. D2 on the other hand.... I watched him struggle to stand up on those skates for 5 minutes. 5 minutes of him falling and falling and struggling and getting more and more frustrated, trying not to cry. There were so many kids, the teachers (all 4 of them to the 100+ kids) didn't even notice - it was brutal. I couldn't watch after awhile or I was going to start crying. To see my kids feel so frustrated and to be so helpless to help them - it was awful.

By the end of the practice, T was sort of getting it and that was only because Dave pulled him aside onto the carpet outside the rink and showed him how to skate a little. D2 came off the rink in angry tears and all that practice succeeded in doing was to make him HATE inline skating.

We got our money back.

It was so heartbreaking for me to see D2 so upset. He wouldn't look anyone in the eye and he was so downtrodden and you could tell he felt like a failure. T went over to him and patted him on the back and said, "It's OK, D2, everyone falls when they first learn. They fall a lot! It's OK." So sweet! D2 still wouldn't talk to any of us or look at any of us until a couple hours after we got home.

We told them that we would wait until Spring and get them some skates and teach them how to use them and then they could learn hockey. We explained that the class wasn't what the teacher told us it would be and we apologized for getting them into a class that was clearly meant for kids with some skating experience.

I've talked before about how I feel about letting kids start an activity and then just letting them quit if they didn't like it but this wasn't like that at all. This "class" wasn't a class, it was a T-shirt hockey league and not meant for first-time skaters.

The next night, we took them to a free intro Karate class and they freakin' LOVED it! So now they look like this...


The intro class was at a dojo that was going to cost roughly $200 a month (eesh!) so we signed them up at the Rec Center instead. The Rec Center class isn't as small or as organized but they are still learning and having an excellent time.

Raising little ninjas, Ruth!

H is for Hockey

T has finally lost a front tooth! We tease him saying he looks like a hockey player...









I think it makes him look 2 years younger then he actually is and then I remember how tall he's getting. He is already up to my throat!





We've always teased T about loving hockey. When he was about 18 months old, I came out of the kitchen and saw him standing in the living room with the remote in his hands. I looked at the TV and got the remote away from him. He was one click away from ordering a $200 season package of hockey!





When we got our next bill, apparently the little monkey had gotten far enough that they were charging us and we had to call and wrangle the cable people out of charging us. They charged us for 1/2 the season and we made T watch every one of those games with us! Not that I mind, my dad used to get us season tickets to the minor league team in Fresno (the Fresno Falcons).





Now that T looks the part, we tell him we're going to get him some skates and send him into a game. That's not too far off either - the school had a skate night last night and we took the boys. They had an excellent time! Especially Davis - he was a fearless, little champ out there. Trev took a pretty hard fall (his butt landed right on a skate wheel) so he was a lot more trepidatious but, then, he always is when it comes to physical feats. Anyway, we saw a flyer for a class/league where they learn how to rollerblade and also how to play inline hockey. We talked to the boys about it and they start today! (Need to look in to more health/dental insurance...)




I've always loved hockey, Ruth!

Dr. Twizzler, D.D.S.

T has a left front tooth that is a little bit loose.

Dave's mom gives us 2lb. bags of Twizzlers on a regular basis. (Part of what she puts in the weekly bag of what I've come to call "grandma grenades".)

Apparently when you add those two facts together, you get small tooth placed into your hand.

Strangely, the tooth that popped out was not the tooth that was loose! It was a lower tooth to the right of the two front teeth (his right). He said he didn't even know that one was loose!

He's had it pretty easy so far with the teeth coming out. Last night there was a fair bit of blood but no apparent pain. Easy for him and easy on Dave and I!

The tooth fairy came and left a dollar as usual. She didn't need to borrow that dollar from T's little brother like last time. She learned her lesson and stockpiled a few dollar bills in a secret place.

Unfortunately, she's not nearly as stealthy as she would like to believe and T has gotten much better at faking that he's asleep so T is on to her.

He's promised not to sell her out to D2.

He's a good boy.

Anticipating his beautiful smile, Ruth!

Magicians and Bloodsuckers

I forgot to tell y'all about Halloween!


First up, we have our evil sorcerer...


I'm pretty proud of this costume. We bought a second hand evil robe and I got some glow in the dark and silver metallic fabric paints and painted all over it. Then I got a stiff piece of black felt, made a cone and stapled it shut, then a soft piece of felt, made the brim, more stapling, more paint and viola! (The staff was purchased. And we couldn't quite get his makeup right, looks like he dipped his face in milk!)

Then we've got D2 as your basic toothsome vampire...


Fancy shirt (as he called it), black jeans, cape that T wore when he was a 2 year old vampire (6 years ago!), some make-up and rubber fangs.

Here he is showing off his cape and his little rubber bat ring...



The evil sorcerer likes to ham it up with his fiendish vampire brother...



D2 was so funny about those rubber teeth! They were WAY too big and at first he wouldn't let me make them smaller. He was slobbering like crazy and finally I convinced him to let me shorten them. I cut a back tooth off each side and they fit a little better. He was still slobbering a lot. It's about a 20 minute drive from our house to the party we were going to. After about 5 minutes in the car I asked D2 if he wanted to take the teeth out until we got there and he said, "No way!" He was very committed to his character! Even when he'd go up to a house, he'd pretend to die when the light hit him and he'd say, "I vant to eat your cahndeeee.", or "Look into my eyes. Now give me all your cahndeeeee." What a goof!


We went to Donna and Daren's yearly party again this year. It was in our old neighborhood so we took the boys trick or treating there (they always get a good haul!). This year is the first time Dave got to trick or treat with me and the boys. He usually stays at the house and hands out candy but since we weren't in that house anymore... he had a great time with us! After about an hour it was getting truly chilly and the boys were ready to stop and go back to Donna's house to play with her dog. Dave kept telling them, "Let's just hit the houses on the way back!" Their sacks were almost too heavy for them to carry and they were done but he kept reminding them that mom and dad were going to eat half so they should keep going!


He makes me nuts every time we are to go to a Halloween party. In all the time we've been together this is only the fourth one he's gone to (#1 was in Tucson in 1999, #2 was T's first Halloween and it was with the playgroup and #3 was last year). He's not social and doesn't want to dress up. He waits to the very last day to pick a costume but all the while he throws out ideas of what to dress up as, should we dress as a couple, what about this, what about that - it's like when he's bored and has the TV remote - flip, flip, flip flipForTheLoveOfBobPickSomethingflip.


This year he got a grim reaper robe, put on a big straw hat (borrowed from his dad) and his Hawaiian shirt and went as Death Takes A Holiday. I got him to add one of his golf clubs for a scythe replacement.


I borrowed a great costume from Donna. She sewed this really cute Little Red Riding Hood costume a few years ago and with the skirt's elastic waistband, it fits anyone! She took a pic of us before we left the party but I haven't seen it yet.


The kids played with the other kids there and Dave and I played Poker with the adults. It was great fun!


Contemplating next year's costume, Ruth!

Magic Beans

OK, not Magic Beans but a Magical Seed!

About a year ago, T came home with a cooked, salted sunflower seed that another student at school gave him. He wanted to plant it and I told him it probably wouldn't grow as it was cooked and salted. I told him if wanted to plant it to go ahead and give it a shot.

He planted it and watered it and waited and watched.

It didn't grow.


Until about 3 months ago!


Not only did it grow - it grew like mad! Seriously, that's right up there with some of the craziest things I've ever seen.

(Never mind their grimacing mugs, it was terribly sunny that day.)

Wonders never cease, Ruth!

Quitters

I signed the boys up for two free classes at the library. They are geared for 1st-2nd graders (for D2) and 3rd-6th graders (for T).

One is a creative writing thing and the other is a book club. They both meet for 7 weeks.

With the first meeting of the creative writing class, D2 went to his and was just sitting there. T, of course, met everyone in the room within 30 seconds and was writing up a storm. Dave went and asked why D2 wasn't doing anything and he said he didn't know what to do. Dave came and told me this and when I walked over to the class, the doors were shut.

After the hour was up, Dave asked D2 what he'd written and he said, "Nothing. I didn't know what to do." I asked, "You didn't know what to do or you couldn't think of anything to write?" He just said yes.

Dave asked, "Did you not like the class?" and when D2 said no, Dave blew me away when he told D2 that he didn't have to come back if he didn't like it.

WTF??

I said, "Yes, he does." And I took Davis by the hand and walked back to the class and the teacher and I talked with D2 about how he could ask for help and get a better understanding of what he needed to do next time.

Then Dave and I had this argument about whether or not D2 had to go back. I said, "Absolutely!" and Dave said, "If he's not into it, then it just becomes a chore and he'll start to hate it!" I said, "I don't see how he can tell if he's into it or not when he doesn't even give it a chance. He's been to ONE session! So you're telling me if we signed him up for football and after ONE practice he said he didn't like it, you'd tell him he didn't have to go back?"

Dave said yes and I called bullshit.

I think one of the biggest problems I've had in life is the ability to quit when things got difficult. Not important things like surviving - I'm great at that! But other important things like school, work, whatever. It may be cowardly and it may be bullshit but I totally blame my parents for this. With very few exceptions, they let my brother and I quit anything we didn't feel like doing (after-school activities-wise). For my parents, it always seemed like one less thing they had to pay for/drive us to.

I don't want that for my boys. I want them to A) get some diversity and B) stick it out. It's once a week for 7 weeks. I don't want to raise quitters.

Last year, when T was doing that cumulative marathon thing, he got bored with it and wanted to quit. Dave and I decided he had to finish. It was one mile, twice a week with the final mile in downtown Denver. And that final mile was so much fun for him! He didn't want to do it again this year but I think it was good for him to finish what he started.

Dave says the difference is that T asked to participate in that activity where I just signed the boys up for the library thing.

I could use some opinions on this. I'm still going to make D2 stick it out but I'm curious to see what y'all think.

Quitters never prosper, Ruth!

A Short Romance

On Monday, T came home from school and said, "Hey Mom! I have a girlfriend. And for real this time!" (Whenever he mentions a girl's name we say, "Is she your girrrrrlfrrrrriend?". Because we are 12.)

Me: Really? Who is she?
T: Rose!
Me: Oh? I like Rose! {She's a full head taller then anyone else in the class, pretty, very smart, very polite and kind.} How did she become your girlfriend?
T: I asked her!
Me: What did you say?
T: "Will you be my girlfriend?"
Me: What did she say?
T: Can I answer that later?
Me: Um, I guess. Why don't you just tell me now?
T: No, that's what she said, "Can I answer that later?".
Me: {laughing} Oh! OK. So did she? What did she answer?
T: Yes!
Me: Well, what does her being your girlfriend mean? What does she do that makes her your girlfriend?
T: I don't know. She just hangs out with me and stuff.
Me: Yea, that's about right. {phew!}

When Dave came home I had T relay the whole story to him and Dave said, "Well, that's cool!". Then T said, "Yea, we're going to get married." Dave said, "Slow your roll there, little man. Don't get ahead of yourself!" Then we told T that he was going to meet a bunch of people throughout his life before he meets "the one". We told him how Daddy and Mommy went out with lots of different people before we met each other and that the odds of him marrying someone he meets and dates before he's 25 are pretty slim.

Yesterday I picked the boys up after school and asked T, "How's Rose?".
T: I think she broke up with me.
Me: Really? What'd she say?
T: She said we should probably just be friends.
Me: Yea, that sounds like a break-up. That's OK, though, you guys are a bit young yet to be boyfriend and girlfriend and she'll make a great friend!
T: Yea, it's OK.

And just like that, he's over it. Not that there was really anything to be over! That romance was shorter then a Brittany Spears wedding! (And, fortunately for all, with much less drunken public nudity.)

And so it begins, Ruth!

Shark Teeth

T is 7 1/2. He'll be 8 in May. On Monday, he lost his first baby tooth!

About 2 months ago, we saw this in his mouth....


See that big tooth coming in behind his lower, front left tooth? (Our left, not his.) We immediately made a dental appointment since that just didn't seem right and since his adult tooth looked like it was coming in way too far back due to his baby tooth being in the way. The dentist assured us this was perfectly normal, happens quite a bit and nothing to worry over. He said to make the next appt. 6 months out and if it wasn't resolved by then, he'd pull the baby tooth. He said not to worry about the placement of the adult tooth. He explained that the tongue pushing on it would put it in it's proper place without any thought or effort on the part of the child.

The dentist also said losing one's baby teeth late is normal and usually hereditary. Dave remembered that he lost his baby teeth late. Me, too. On my 8th grade school ID (yes, I still have it - don't you have yours?), if you look really closely, you can see a gap towards the back of my smile. I lost my last baby tooth in 8th grade. I was 12.

That baby tooth of T's wasn't even loose! Not even a little bit! We had T start working on it and it finally came out 2 months later! They have this really cool thing they do at T's school when a child loses a tooth. They get sent to the Vice Principal's office where the VP gives them a wee, plastic treasure chest that says Tooth Saver on it. This is the tiniest little plastic treasure chest you can imagine! Perfect for tiny baby teeth. I think it's a very sweet thing to do for the kids.

T came home from school, showed us his little treasure chest with the tooth inside it and then went to put it all under his pillow. He even wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy....
"Dear Tooth Fairy, this is my first tooth that's out ever! Love T. M.'

Unfortunately, the Tooth Fairy didn't have any cash on hand so after the boys were asleep, the Tooth Fairy borrowed a dollar from T's little brother and put it under T's pillow. D2 got paid back a few days later. The Tooth Fairy team took the wee chest with tooth and the note and put them in a safe place for sentimentality. One of the team may have laughed at the other team member who may've misted up a bit. Reports are still being confirmed.

Feelin' Fairylicious, Ruth!

A Fair Idea

I've been going through my old posts to see what I've put in as drafts but didn't actually throw out there. Here's one from a year and a half ago....

"I've been trying to work all morning but T keeps interrupting me every 5 seconds to show me the wonders of his new Vsmile game (scooby doo). He's at a new level on the game and Davis keeps asking questions. Finally T tells D2, "Davie, you're distracting me." Then he turns to me and asks, "Mom, do you know what 'distracting' means?"

I told him, "I have a fair idea what it means." He asked me for a definition. At 5, sarcasm still escapes him some."

It's funny because now, at 7, he totally gets sarcasm. And uses it quite well!

Sarcasm runs in the family, Ruth!

General Directions

Warning: Grossness ahead....

My little guy has this weird thing when he gets a bad cough. It gets so bad sometimes that it makes him throw up. It hasn't happened in almost a year, but yesterday it came back in full projectile force.

He threw up on the floor yesterday. Dave came home shortly after and I told him, "Just in time! D2 puked and now you get to clean it up!" haha. I cleaned it. As I was cleaning, Dave was teasing D2 saying, "We don't like pukey boys! We'll have to send you to another home! One where they DO like pukey boys!"

Usually, when we tease D2 like this, he says in a wavery/laughy voice, "Reeeeeeeallllly?" But today he got all excited, "Can I go to the Puke House?"

We laughed, "Where??"

D2: "The Puke House. You know.... where you can puke as much as you want to all day and no one cares about the puke?!"

The three of us were cracking up about that!

I'm on all fours, cleaning up nastiness and laughing about it. Love that kid.

As I'm cleaning, I look at the carpet cleaner I'm using. It's Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover and comes in a spray bottle (the kind you have to squeeze over and over. And over.) Not crazy about it's delivery system but this stuff works like crazy! I read the instructions yesterday and I've read them before but every time I do, it makes me shudder:

General Directions: Simply apply a generous amount on the spot, agitate with finger tips and blot with absorbent cloth. SPOTS DISAPPEAR INSTANTLY.

OK - pretty sure anything I'm using this stuff for is not anything I'm ever going to want to stick my finger tips into! Ewwwwwww! (I just use a towel to agitate it in and then blot.)

One thing that's not so funny is when D2 pukes at night. Which he did twice last night. Like I said, he hasn't done this in almost a year and we were hoping he'd outgrown the problem. (Last time it was so bad during the night that we literally ran out of sheets for his bed and he had to sleep on towels.) The scariest, like last night, is when he does it in his sleep and doesn't wake.

The first time last night was right before he went to sleep and we changed everything out. We always check on the boys before we go to sleep. Give them a last kiss goodnight, make sure they're covered with blankets and such. Last night when we checked on them, we were in D2's room and I said, "Ugh, hate that puke smell!" (His last bout was in the hamper in the hall waiting for their trip to the basement laundry this morning) Dave said he couldn't smell it. I said really?! Then he said he could smell it. Then I saw it. D2 had done it again but we don't know when because he was sleeping in it and it was all dried. That completely freaks me out because I get images of Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix, ya know?

Dave keeps saying we should take him to the Dr. but what're they gonna say? Or do? The kid coughs up some gunk from his latest cold, it gets caught at the back of his throat and triggers his gag reflex. Besides, every time I consider taking him for this problem, he stops before we get the appointment! sigh.

Any suggestions?

Quickly becoming the Puke House, Ruth!

Birthday Fun And A Little Poetry

For my birthday, on Sunday, my husband took me to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch and then in to the mall for a present!

If you've never eaten at The Cheesecake Factory, it's a real treat. It's not cheap but you get an enormous amount of delicious food so it works out OK in the end. Their menu is about 18 pages long and that's no exaggeration. They actually have advertisements from other companies in their menu! I think it's to cover the cost of the damn thing.

They have such a variety of foods that I was worried. Usually when a restaurant has that many different styles of food (bistro, Asian, Italian, etc, etc) then none of it is really all that great. Not so at The Factory! It was all spectacular and delicious! I had an amazing cocktail called the Georgia Peach - Absolut Vodka, Peach Schnapps, peach slices and raspberries all blended. So. Good! I had the chicken medallions with balsamic marinade and asparagus. Dave had the Crispy Beef which was an Asian dish with a delicious sweet/savory sauce. Of course we had to have dessert there but since I'm not actually a big fan of cheesecake, I ordered the Lemoncello torte. *Drool*

After lunch, we went to Victoria Secret were Dave bought me the bra I've been wanting forever. I knew what size I needed from a previous fitting and I knew I wanted wireless. It was $42 and worth every penny. Wearing it now and feeling comfortable and pretty!

I forgot to mention something from a couple of weeks ago...

I bought the Interweave Knits fridge magnet poetry kit. I was going to enter their poetry contest but like most things, bought it, stashed it, forgot until it was too late where it was and why I'd bought it to begin with. sigh. I'm a dolt.

Anyway, I was cleaning up a small riot on our bedroom floor and found it again. I slapped the whole thing on the fridge and left to run some errands. Dave was home on a break and stayed with the boys.

When I left, it was still in one big rectangular piece. When I came home it was taken apart and the boys were having a field day with it! I was trying to make a little poetry but some of the words were missing. I asked T if he was the one who took it apart or was it Daddy? He said Daddy had done it and that's when I noticed the poetry D had left for me...

If you can't read it, it says, "I swell to pleasure you [heart] sheep can join in for fuzzy play."

Yea. Only D can take knitting poetry and make it pornographic! He's a nut!

Later, T came up with this poem...

It says, "I [heart] to knit on sheep for friends." Clever boy that one.

If you've got kids (or silly husbands), I highly suggest getting one of these poetry kits (knitting themed or otherwise). Our boys have been making stuff with these words almost daily since we put them out last month!

I don't feel 38, Ruth!

Stinker Kid

Had this random memory this morning:

So there I was...

At the park with T and D2. D2 was only a couple of months old so T was around 2 years old. We were at our playgroup and we'd been there for almost 2 hours.

Now T was always entirely too social. I got him a red bucket hat because it was easy to spot and that kid would be far afield in about 2 seconds. He would also take people by the hand, even before he could talk, and pull them around to show them something. Strangers. Heart attacks for me every time.

So, as I said, we'd been there for quite some time. I couldn't exactly chase him around like usual as I had D2 in the stroller and anyway, I was exhausted, sleepless and done for the day. I told him the obligatory 5 minute warning that we were leaving. After about 2 minutes, I told him it was time to go. He didn't want to leave.

I ended up carrying him a la Calvin & Hobbes mom (sideways) and he was kicking and hollering. Guess what he was hollering.

"Help me! Help me!"

Other parents were looking at me in a suspicious way and thankfully some of the moms in my group helped out by saying, "It's OK, T - mommy's just taking you home."

I remember wondering why I'd had kids at all. I also remember whispering to myself, "Ooooh T. You are so dead when we get home.

I took us home and put everyone to bed.

Love those boys, Ruth!

My latest Contest here.

Sheep Tails

My four year old boy loooooves those soft, furry, little sheep tails. He tells us about them all the time. Anytime we ask/tell him to do something, he just wants to talk about sheep.

Us: D2, did you brush your teeth yet?
D2: Wool, butt...

Us: D2, it's time for bed.
D2: Wool, butt....

Us: D2, finish your peas, honey.
D2: Wool, butt...

Sometimes, just for fun he talks about their beautiful, sweet, brown eyes.

Us: D2, where's your socks?
D2: Wool, eye...

It's actually kind of nice to have at least one other person in the house that appreciates a sheep's sacrifice as much as I do.

Sigh, Ruth!

Things You Can Do When You're 4

I went into the basement and when I came upstairs, my entertainment center was giggling...


SURPRISE!!


Look how tall he actually is...



Here's your Tippa Tuesday...

I bought the KnitPicks Options (the metal ones). I can't recommend these needles enough! They rule, addi turbo's drool. Just kidding, I wouldn't give up my addi's but only because I have too many WIP's to get rid of good needles! The Options are sooooo deliciously pointy! Love. Them. If anyone hates theirs - I'll buy them immediately! There's this little tiny key to help you tighten you needles to your cables. Now if you're like me and the whole set-up outsmarts you (sigh), you can call the nice people at KnitPicks and they'll explain it without laughing. You're supposed to turn the needle not the key. Turning the key doesn't do anything - who'd've thought!

Anyway, my tip is this: I keep a small square of bubble wrap (the kind with small bubbles) in the zip pocket with the key. Those metal needles are slippery and trying to turn them without something to help your grip is another exercise in futility. I use the plastic bubble wrap to grip the needle - easy, peasy, rice and cheesy.

Wishing I was 4 today, Ruth!

Do You Know Everything?

My 4 year old keeps asking people this question.

"Do you know everything?"

He asks it with the innocence of someone who genuinely wants to know. It's like he's searching for someone who has the meaning of life or something.

Today, he's asked the UPS man, the house painter across the street and a cop.

He keeps asking Dave and I, also. We tell him the truth, that we don't know everything and nobody does. We tell him if anyone tells him they do know everything, they are lying. I think he believes us but only a little. Because he's still searching for that omniscient person.

Still learning, Ruth!