I am tired tired tired of being cooped up in the house with my knee still healing. I guess I'm more frustrated because I'm not spending the same quality and quantity of time with the boys. When I am hanging out with them it's hard for me not to get on the floor and play. And Kyle has figured out very clearly that when I am sitting on the couch with ice on my knee the chances of me getting up to put him in timeout are lower, so he's having fun calling my bluff.
Grant is going to walk any day now. He lets go of things and hovers for a few seconds and he loves holding onto hands and walking. Today he is down to just holding one hand! He may beat my theory that he's going to walk on July 29. Kyle walked when he was 14 months and 6 days old and that's how old Grant will be on 7/29. At least they'll be close so in 10 years when someone asks how old my boys were when they started walking I only need to remember one number.
Kyle is saying new words every day. My favorite thing is Waaaa-woooo? which means Where are you? If he's looking for something you better believe he walks around saying this over and over again. Yesterday when he couldn't find Grammy, he said his version of "Oh well." Too cute.
My friend, Laura, and her two girls are coming in 12 days from North Carolina! That's why I started physical therapy this week instead of waiting until next week - I want to be as healed as possible for the visit.
Enjoy your day,
Mary Jo
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
To moms at the mall - 7/16/07
As I’ve been laid up for the last several days recuperating from knee surgery, I’ve had time to compose a fantasy letter to the moms at mall play areas.
Dear Moms,
I realize that malls and mall play areas are the refuge of stay-at-home-moms (SAHM) everywhere – an oasis in the desert of our lives of all kids, all the time. But I’m afraid that some of you are bad play-area citizens.
Moms, let’s review the rules.
1. Your kids are still your responsibility. There is no magical threshold at the play area entrance that makes them everyone else’s responsibility. The “it takes a village to raise a child” concept doesn’t apply to play areas.
2. If your head is lolled over to one side and you’re drooling, you’re not paying enough attention.
3. Play areas are not for big kids, they are for little kids. There is a reason that amusement park rides have a measuring stick at the entrance with a minimum “you must be at least this tall” requirement, don’t you think? Well there is a reason that there is a measuring stick at the play area entrance that says “you can’t be any taller than this”. Big kids and toddlers don’t mix.
4. Play areas are a great place for you to teach your kids some lessons about respecting others and thinking about their actions. The future directors of overcrowded juvenile detention centers will thank you for this.
5. If your kid even comes close to decapitating another, this may be a good indicator that you should get involved.
6. If you see behavior like that in number 5 and are too lazy or disinterested to do anything about it, have the decency to look away quickly when it happens. Better that the other moms think you are not paying attention.
7. Get off your cell phone.
8. If you are on the cell phone and another mother who doesn’t even know you has to catch your runaway kid or keep them from doing something dangerous, get off the phone and fake embarrassment. Don’t look irritated at the other mothers for interrupting you.
9. If your kid is 13-years-old and weighs more than you do, he’s too big for the play area.
Thanks,
Mary Jo, mom to the 1-year-old your kid almost gave a concussion to and the almost 2-year-old who was terrified at the mere presence of your towering giant
Dear Moms,
I realize that malls and mall play areas are the refuge of stay-at-home-moms (SAHM) everywhere – an oasis in the desert of our lives of all kids, all the time. But I’m afraid that some of you are bad play-area citizens.
Moms, let’s review the rules.
1. Your kids are still your responsibility. There is no magical threshold at the play area entrance that makes them everyone else’s responsibility. The “it takes a village to raise a child” concept doesn’t apply to play areas.
2. If your head is lolled over to one side and you’re drooling, you’re not paying enough attention.
3. Play areas are not for big kids, they are for little kids. There is a reason that amusement park rides have a measuring stick at the entrance with a minimum “you must be at least this tall” requirement, don’t you think? Well there is a reason that there is a measuring stick at the play area entrance that says “you can’t be any taller than this”. Big kids and toddlers don’t mix.
4. Play areas are a great place for you to teach your kids some lessons about respecting others and thinking about their actions. The future directors of overcrowded juvenile detention centers will thank you for this.
5. If your kid even comes close to decapitating another, this may be a good indicator that you should get involved.
6. If you see behavior like that in number 5 and are too lazy or disinterested to do anything about it, have the decency to look away quickly when it happens. Better that the other moms think you are not paying attention.
7. Get off your cell phone.
8. If you are on the cell phone and another mother who doesn’t even know you has to catch your runaway kid or keep them from doing something dangerous, get off the phone and fake embarrassment. Don’t look irritated at the other mothers for interrupting you.
9. If your kid is 13-years-old and weighs more than you do, he’s too big for the play area.
Thanks,
Mary Jo, mom to the 1-year-old your kid almost gave a concussion to and the almost 2-year-old who was terrified at the mere presence of your towering giant
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Knee surgery
My knee went out yesterday and my hopes of putting off surgery for a few more weeks are dashed. Surgery is tomorrow so I'm taking a few days off from blogging. Hold a good thought for me!
Friday, July 6, 2007
7/6/07
I’ve been feeling kind of emotional about the boys lately – a good kind of emotional.
Kyle has the biggest, brightest smile I’ve ever seen. His laugh is like a drug to me and I can’t get enough. To hear him chattering incessantly when he’s riding in the car is like hearing the best music; I have to control my urges to constantly look at him in the rearview mirror. He’s our clown and our little monkey.
Grant is turning in a little ham. He loves to do something cute and then look back and forth from Mommy to Daddy to get confirmation that, yep, they still think I’m cute. This is also what he does when he’s throwing a fit or shrieking – just wants to make extra sure that everyone is paying attention.
I’m not sure what it is about the last few days that I feel especially overwhelmed with love and gratitude. I’m not skipping around the house and giggling like a child with glee and happiness. I just feel quiet and thoughtful. And grateful.
Good night,
Mary Jo
Kyle has the biggest, brightest smile I’ve ever seen. His laugh is like a drug to me and I can’t get enough. To hear him chattering incessantly when he’s riding in the car is like hearing the best music; I have to control my urges to constantly look at him in the rearview mirror. He’s our clown and our little monkey.
Grant is turning in a little ham. He loves to do something cute and then look back and forth from Mommy to Daddy to get confirmation that, yep, they still think I’m cute. This is also what he does when he’s throwing a fit or shrieking – just wants to make extra sure that everyone is paying attention.
I’m not sure what it is about the last few days that I feel especially overwhelmed with love and gratitude. I’m not skipping around the house and giggling like a child with glee and happiness. I just feel quiet and thoughtful. And grateful.
Good night,
Mary Jo
Thursday, July 5, 2007
No need to blur - 7/5/07
I'm sitting at our new desk in our bedroom. When Grant came home last November we actually thought he and Kyle would be sharing a room within a few months so we could temporarily deal with having limited access to our office area / guest room. He's been home eight months and it's clear that he and Kyle won't be sharing a bedroom anytime soon, so we're moving our stuff and actually giving Grant a room he deserves. All he does is sleep in there - all the playing and living happen in the rest of the house - so it's been easy to ignore all the junk we have in there and justify not decorating it (I know this makes many people cringe), but he deserves to have his own space.
Yesterday was the 4th of July and we mostly relaxed. We went to the pool for a whole 60 minutes before the storms moved in. We tried a new section of the pool area that winds around and the water flow kind of pushes you along. Grant loved it. Kyle liked it fine but about every two minutes a big giant 4 trillion gallon bucket dumps out and if you're in the wrong place (or the right place depending on how you look at it) when it happens it's loud and unpredictable and, well, wet. Kyle's not wild about big loud unpredictable things. I'm not sure how he tolerates me :-)
After we got the boys home and took their suits off, we let them run around naked for a few minutes, something we'd never done before. Who doesn't love the sight of little baby butt cheeks? We took a few cute pictures and I figured we could always blur the pictures to hide their little willies (highly technical medical term), but there's no need. Why? you ask? Well because neither boy would let go of himself, if you know what I mean. So basically, we got pictures of our kids touching themselves. Sigh.
Grant isn't the best napper in the afternoons even though he clearly needs one. So take a tired almost-toddler and add in his teething and the 4:30 to bedtime window becomes rather unpleasant. He's managed to find a pitch, tone and volume for his screaming that he should probably win some sort of award for. This afternoon's meltdown was super-sized and Dave almost ran screaming from the house at one point. He's the king of patience and compassion so you know if it gets to him, it's serious!
Dave was off today and I got to have some me time. This morning I went to Barnes & Noble and then Half-Price Books all by myself! Then after lunch Dave took the boys to the mall for a couple of hours. I had big plans for what I could get done with some time here by myself, but Molly (our yellow lab) came and told me that the rain on the skylight in the master bath was just too loud and scary and would I mind coming to lay down with her and Katie. So what choice did I have? As an animal lover I couldn't ignore such a request and had to snooze with the puppies as the rain hit the skylight. The sacrifices I make are truly staggering.
Enjoy,
Mary Jo
Yesterday was the 4th of July and we mostly relaxed. We went to the pool for a whole 60 minutes before the storms moved in. We tried a new section of the pool area that winds around and the water flow kind of pushes you along. Grant loved it. Kyle liked it fine but about every two minutes a big giant 4 trillion gallon bucket dumps out and if you're in the wrong place (or the right place depending on how you look at it) when it happens it's loud and unpredictable and, well, wet. Kyle's not wild about big loud unpredictable things. I'm not sure how he tolerates me :-)
After we got the boys home and took their suits off, we let them run around naked for a few minutes, something we'd never done before. Who doesn't love the sight of little baby butt cheeks? We took a few cute pictures and I figured we could always blur the pictures to hide their little willies (highly technical medical term), but there's no need. Why? you ask? Well because neither boy would let go of himself, if you know what I mean. So basically, we got pictures of our kids touching themselves. Sigh.
Grant isn't the best napper in the afternoons even though he clearly needs one. So take a tired almost-toddler and add in his teething and the 4:30 to bedtime window becomes rather unpleasant. He's managed to find a pitch, tone and volume for his screaming that he should probably win some sort of award for. This afternoon's meltdown was super-sized and Dave almost ran screaming from the house at one point. He's the king of patience and compassion so you know if it gets to him, it's serious!
Dave was off today and I got to have some me time. This morning I went to Barnes & Noble and then Half-Price Books all by myself! Then after lunch Dave took the boys to the mall for a couple of hours. I had big plans for what I could get done with some time here by myself, but Molly (our yellow lab) came and told me that the rain on the skylight in the master bath was just too loud and scary and would I mind coming to lay down with her and Katie. So what choice did I have? As an animal lover I couldn't ignore such a request and had to snooze with the puppies as the rain hit the skylight. The sacrifices I make are truly staggering.
Enjoy,
Mary Jo
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Stop on red, right? - 7/3/07
Today was a good day. Two days in a row and Kyle was only in time-out once! Unfortunately, his teeth made pretty solid contact with Grant's arm the one time he bit him, but Grant would probably get confused if there wasn't some sort of souvenir on his arm all the time.
We met Julie and Matthew at the mall for our morning walk today. I can't walk fast because of my knee, but we stroll for over an hour; sometimes we stop and the kids play. This morning there was quite a wild little banshee girl who almost took Kyle's head off when she was jumping around. In fact she just about injured all three boys in various ways so Julie and I decided that since her mom or nanny was too busy on the cell phone to worry about the fact that their little firestarter (I'm predicting the future) was out of control, we'd get back to our walk.
At what age can kids grasp the concept of red light / green light? Kyle wants the van to be moving all the time and when it slows down or, heaven forbid, stops, I hear, "Mommy. Go. Mommy. Go. Mommy. Go." at least 12 times. I explain that we stop on the red light and can only go when the light is green. Keep in mind I'm not sure he's totally got his colors down so I'm reaching here. I'm telling you, this is driving me nuts. It is nonstop. I found myself today mapping out the route that had the least traffic lights to try to minimize this. How sad is that? I think part of the problem is that in Kyle's mind, what he's doing is working.
How am I supposed to explain the concepts to a less-than-two-year-old when there are so many variations? Honey, we stop when the light turns red and can only go when it turns green. Except we can take a right on red after coming to a complete stop so in that situation disregard the rule. Oh, and when we're in a left turn lane, all the lights can be red except the little green arrow in which case we can go. All the lights in front of you that I normally tell you to look at can be red and we will still go (just like you want to). Oh and don't forget when the traffic light is malfunctioning and blinking red... then we actually go through it (after stopping completely and listening to you demand that we go).
Before I had kids I had no idea that I would spend so much time thinking of something so mundane. Of course I also had no idea how these little people whom I adore, whose curiousity I find fascinating, whose determination is often endearing can drive me absolutely nuts. On a more mundane note, that's an odd phrase as are its variations... drive me nuts, drive me batty, drive me ape sh$% (my late dad's personal fave).
If you think about it, you just fill in a noun of your choice at the end of the phrase - drive me
* If I hear 'Go' one more time it's going to drive me bridge pylon.
* The dogs are driving me paintbrush.
* The neighbor's singing is driving me frog guts.
* Dave is driving me candle wax.
Dear reader, you really must try this as it's quite therapeutic.
Yes, these are actually things that go through my head. At least I'm never bored, right?
Enjoy your night!
Mary Jo
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Personal space - 7/1/07
Here I sit on the couch, breakfast goo on my shirt courtesy of Kyle and Grant, writing a blog entry with Kyle sitting next to me desperately wanting to get his grubby little mitts on the keyboard. Dave and I decided that he has to learn at some point that the laptop is a No-Touch zone even if it's right in front of him. Yeah, good luck to us.
Yesterday was a rough day at our house. LOTS of screaming and crying and just a general got-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-crib kind of day.
Our class at The Little Gym was good; Kyle has gotten better about sitting in the circle when we're singing songs but he sure likes to get out on his own when it's time to get on the equipment. He does not like the teacher to touch him at all, but I suppose I really wouldn't want a stranger manhandling me either. He definitely likes his personal space.
Whereas most parents use a trip to the store to start teaching their preschoolers the concept of money, I'm going to have to teach Kyle how to deal with people who come up behind us in line at the grocery store and pretty much stand on top of you, completely invading any and all personal space you hold dear.
Step 1: Do a triple-take looking behind you at the person, then lean your torso forward with a horrified look of "Dude, you'd better jump back"
Step 2: See how slowly you can pay. Act confused about the process in order to draw out the transaction.
Step 3: When you enter your PIN on the card swipe machine, lay your body across it so your pal behind you can't see. Not that he would look, but you want to clearly communicate, "You must be trying to steal from me since you practically have your chin resting on my shoulder."
Step 4: Do a single-take, crinkle your face and say, "Do you need something?" or say, "Dude, I'm married." Of course, the latter really wouldn't apply for Kyle at this point, or wouldn't apply for me if it's a woman in my zone.
If none of those work, you're just out of luck and your best bet is to move along. Then jump him as he comes out of the store.
Okay, back to yesterday... after Little Gym it was off to Costco which we like because they have shopping carts with two seats so both boys can ride side-by-side. After shrieking almost all the way there, he decided to continue the trend inside Costco which made us quite popular with the other shoppers. I joked with a grandfatherly man in the produce section, "Would you like to take him home?" He laughed and shook his head NO so fast I'm pretty sure he either got whiplash or injured a vertebrae in his neck.
Today the sun is actually shining for the first morning in about two weeks. If I were the complaining type I would mention the steamy humidity but thank goodness I'm not the complaining type! Hopefully a little sun will help everyone's mood around here. Even Dave and I snapped at each other yesterday. Of course that lasted about 90 seconds and we were over it, but I'll blame that on the weather, too. I think we're going to try out the pool at the rec center today.
Dave made awesome fried rice last night - mushrooms and the chicken-apple sausage that jumped in our cart Costco (funny how random obscure things like to come home with us sometimes). He's hit some major homeruns lately and I told him that if I weren't already married to him, I'd be inclined to take the leap based solely on his cooking.
Gotta go clean my closet. Yippee.
MJ
Yesterday was a rough day at our house. LOTS of screaming and crying and just a general got-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-crib kind of day.
Our class at The Little Gym was good; Kyle has gotten better about sitting in the circle when we're singing songs but he sure likes to get out on his own when it's time to get on the equipment. He does not like the teacher to touch him at all, but I suppose I really wouldn't want a stranger manhandling me either. He definitely likes his personal space.
Whereas most parents use a trip to the store to start teaching their preschoolers the concept of money, I'm going to have to teach Kyle how to deal with people who come up behind us in line at the grocery store and pretty much stand on top of you, completely invading any and all personal space you hold dear.
Step 1: Do a triple-take looking behind you at the person, then lean your torso forward with a horrified look of "Dude, you'd better jump back"
Step 2: See how slowly you can pay. Act confused about the process in order to draw out the transaction.
Step 3: When you enter your PIN on the card swipe machine, lay your body across it so your pal behind you can't see. Not that he would look, but you want to clearly communicate, "You must be trying to steal from me since you practically have your chin resting on my shoulder."
Step 4: Do a single-take, crinkle your face and say, "Do you need something?" or say, "Dude, I'm married." Of course, the latter really wouldn't apply for Kyle at this point, or wouldn't apply for me if it's a woman in my zone.
If none of those work, you're just out of luck and your best bet is to move along. Then jump him as he comes out of the store.
Okay, back to yesterday... after Little Gym it was off to Costco which we like because they have shopping carts with two seats so both boys can ride side-by-side. After shrieking almost all the way there, he decided to continue the trend inside Costco which made us quite popular with the other shoppers. I joked with a grandfatherly man in the produce section, "Would you like to take him home?" He laughed and shook his head NO so fast I'm pretty sure he either got whiplash or injured a vertebrae in his neck.
Today the sun is actually shining for the first morning in about two weeks. If I were the complaining type I would mention the steamy humidity but thank goodness I'm not the complaining type! Hopefully a little sun will help everyone's mood around here. Even Dave and I snapped at each other yesterday. Of course that lasted about 90 seconds and we were over it, but I'll blame that on the weather, too. I think we're going to try out the pool at the rec center today.
Dave made awesome fried rice last night - mushrooms and the chicken-apple sausage that jumped in our cart Costco (funny how random obscure things like to come home with us sometimes). He's hit some major homeruns lately and I told him that if I weren't already married to him, I'd be inclined to take the leap based solely on his cooking.
Gotta go clean my closet. Yippee.
MJ
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