what we did this week

1. I do the dishes, if for no other reason, to just stare out the window at the changing leaves in our backyard.
2-3. I realize these are apples, but we actually went pumpkin selecting this week. And trying to take pictures of pumpkins, while wrangling a whirlwind 4-year old and a 8 month old that really just wants to walk.. is close to impossible. Even when the adult and children counts are even.
4. Really, do the trees ever look any better than with all these colors?
5. Too early to start teaching Noah to spell his name? Is the fact that all he really wants to do with blocks is eat them a telltale sign?
6. I actually knitted Noah a hat this week. That actually fits. For the most part.
7-8. And then I thought, heck, why don't I just make Lily a Princess Peach costume from scratch too. So I did. I am. The goal is to get it done by Saturday night.
9. Yesterday, we went to Target. And were greeted with Christmas decor in the entryway. Already. Last year they (this same Target) at least waited til Halloween day. (I took other pictures too. Jason told me the employees were watching me. Good for them, I told him.)

what we did last week

 1. Getting tired of seeing pictures of the inside of exams rooms? I'm getting tired of being in these exam rooms. Constantly. I find this exam room interesting though. With the bones. They zapped me with electricity on one visit. On purpose. Wish I'd gotten a picture of that.. but I guess they don't leave that stuff just laying around.
2-3. I found some "extra" time last week to sort through boxes that haven't been unpacked yet. (That's what sending your whirlwind child to preschool will do for a SAHM) And found so much awesome! The bulk of my tiny dvd collection and my Starbucks bear dressed as a bunny from 2008.

Today's conversations

I was cleaning this morning, as Jason was sleeping. The fact that he was sleeping is irrelevant to the story, just thought I'd put it out there.

At some point I went into the bedroom to get something and felt the need to share one of the days vile discoveries with him.

Oh, I figured out what that smell in the kitchen closet was. It wasn't the paint.
What was it?
The potatoes. One of them had.. I don't know.. liquified? There was some kind of liquid in the bottom of the bag. I didn't look at it that closely.
Did you get rid of it?
Seriously? No, I saved it. Figured I could just clean it up and use it anyway. Ya, obviously I threw it out!

Then I vacuumed under the fridge. As I'd had on my list to do for about two weeks. Since I'd dropped something under there, went to retrieve it, and was horrified at the dog hair(?), dust, and whatever else had accumulated under there. I wondered what happened to the grate that used to prevent some of that from happening. I went back into the bedroom to see if Jason knew..

Do you know what happened to the grate that used to be on the bottom of the fridge?
It's not still on there?
(blank look) Ya, it's still on there, that's why I'm asking what happened to it.
I don't know.

The End.

Ulterior motives

Last week I found a good deal on Groupon, and brought it up to Jason. Every time I talk about Groupon, he's suspicious.

Is that even a real thing?
Yes. I've gotten a bunch of deals there. Old Navy, etc..
Okay.
Do you want to go to this semi-expensive restaurant? We'd save $55 with the deal.
Sure. My mom thinks we should go on more dates anyway.
Ya, so she can babysit..

Red bees

Talking to Lily is like taking to a 5 or 6 year old. She has amazing observations, she makes her own connections between things and ideas without someone having to explain it for her, she has a very clever sense of humor. And so smart.

Today we were talking about what's healthy and unhealthy to eat. Food and vegetables are healthy, she tells me- candy and sugar aren't. But a little bit of candy is okay, she says. Yes, I tell her, a little bit is okay.

We named some vegetables. We named vegetables by their color. How about red vegetables, I ask her.

Strawberries. [she says with a grin]
No.. that's a fruit. Don't try to trick me.. How about tomatoes?
Ya! And bees are red.
What? No they aren't.
Yes they are.
No- bees are black and yellow.
Some bees are red.
No, I don't think so.
Yes!
Lily, no, they really aren't.

Then she shows me this..

And says "the one on my controller is!"

Comedian.

Four going on six

Last year, I couldn't believe Lily turned 3. This year, it was more like.. hmm, aren't you like 6 or 7 now? Not 4. Only 4? Wow.. she's four. FOUR.

Lily started pre-school this year (and LOVES it). It's been awesome for her- socially. While she can't seem to tell me what any of the kids names are.. she plays with them and gets along well. There were no tears the first day or any of the days that followed. She looks forward to going and it's just become a natural part of her routine. And I am thankful that on days she doesn't go, she doesn't seem to mind, notice, or care.

She plays video games now (thanks, Jason). Like plaaaays them. Minecraft, Disney Universe, Little Big Planet, various Mario Brothers games, Eden, Halo (f-ing HALO), Portal (PORTAL! I can't even play that game!).

She is SO into Minecraft outside of the game as well. And Angry Birds, Lalaloopsy (still),  making pretend food in her pretend kitchen, iPad (YouTube- ug), stuffed animals, puzzles, endless running, dancing, music. She makes me tired.

She's fully, 100% (knock on wood) out of diapers, pull-ups.. even at night. She uses the regular toilet seat most of the time, not her little one that goes on top. And she takes showers! Which makes my life 100 times easier than dealing with "bath time." She can get herself dressed, except when she doesn't want to (or thinks Noah doesn't have to dress himself so why does she?).

She's so so so good with her brother- especially now that they can actually play together a little bit. It's so obvious that he LOVES her to pieces (and vice versa). I think she is going to be absolutely beside herself in the spring when he can actually toddle around with her a little bit.

What else? She knows the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors (and what you get when you mix them together). She can write her name, knows her address, and has a scarily scarily accurate memory. She asks me endlessly how to spell things. Everything. Even giant run-on sentences. And recently, somehow, she seems to be learning about addition. (Actually, subtraction too.) I'm afraid if she doesn't get to go to kindergarten next year she's going to be bored out of her mind.

And if she does get to go, I'm afraid I'm going to miss her way, way too much.

Happy birthday, Lily! (Um, slightly delayed- because you know, hanging out with you is way more fun than blogging about you.)

what we did this week

 

1. For the first time, I saw a car decorated for Halloween- with giant cloth spiders all over the passenger side of the car parked next to me.
2. Legos. Lots of legos. Not much else to say about it.
3. Using the magnetic alphabet app on ipad, Lily depicted her and I driving. I'm in pink, at the steering wheel, and Lily is sitting in the back. Yes, we are wearing our seat belts- if you couldn't tell.

I don't like Sundays

Sunday morning I woke up, went to the bathroom, made myself breakfast, and got Noah out of bed. I prepared Noah's bottle, fed him, changed his diaper, and got him dressed. I woke Lily up, got her out of bed, made her breakfast, helped her with going to the bathroom and brushing her teeth, and then tricked her into getting dressed. I played with Noah and Lily, went through my coupons, and determined what I needed to get at the grocery store. I brushed my teeth, got dressed, brushed my hair, and asked Lily to go wake up Jason.

Then I had to tell her to specifically tell him to come into the livingroom (like, actually get up OUT of bed). I followed her down the hall to ask him if there was anything he wanted from the grocery store. He said something like, "you're going to the grocery store?" (Insert blank look in lieu of response here.)

So he did actually get up- to see me sitting on the floor, putting on my shoes.

When are you leaving?
Uh.. right now.
I wanted to take a shower.
(Insert blank look in lieu of response here.)
It's my only day off.
(Insert blank look here.) Ya. (As in 'ya right, it's really not. And I'm going to the grocery store not Disneyland.')

So I went to the grocery store. Limped around (good ole slipped disc) and bought groceries. And drove back home.

I dragged everything inside, put it all away, and went to see what my family was doing. Noah was sleeping. Lily and Jason were sitting on the couch playing Little Big Planet. Right. Okay.

I went back in the kitchen, put away clean dishes, washed dirty dishes, prepped Noah's bottles, cleaned up some recycling stuff, and swept the floor. Some time near the end of that, Jason made an appearance in the kitchen asking me if I was almost done.

Why?
It's my only day off- I have stuff to do.
(Insert blank look in lieu of response here.)

[What I was really saying in my head: 'Suuuuure, let me just put away my bon-bons that I'm chowing down on here so that you can go into the bathroom alone. And take a shower without an audience. Because when was the last time you took a shower? Yesterday, maybe the day before? Do you want to know when I last took a shower? No.. you don't. Alright, no problem. Have a nice day off. I'll just be over here wondering what that's like.']

what we did this week

1-3. You would think that with all that went on this week, I'd have more pictures.. but I totally don't. Lily turned 4 (FOUR!) on Sunday. We had a tiny party at home and let her play way too many video games over the whole weekend. Kind of like well, it's HER birthday so..

Volunteering my time

When field trips were just an idea, for the future, for my preschooler.. it seemed exciting. Ah yes, field trips- very cool, Lily will love that, blah blah blah.

But when field trips became a notice on the board at Lily's school.. um.. that's different. And ohshit.

I spent a week panicking about it. Until I decided that, sigh, I just couldn't let her go. And she'll be fine, she won't care, I'm pretty sure the teachers haven't even let them know about it (because some won't get to go- I assume?). So.. it's fine. Let's move on. Etc.

Then I realized crazy people parents could volunteer to go along. Hmm. Well, that's something to consider. But I don't know- other people's children sometime make me nervous. In the sense of really not knowing them at all, but feeling obligated to foresake my own life to protect theirs. Right?

I really don't know. Arranging for someone to look after Noah. Paying more money for the trip itself. Losing out on time at home not having to keep the world from being destroyed entertain a 4 year old.

But then somehow I found myself losing my mind volunteering anyway..