Friday, November 30, 2012

My little glitter baby.

Checking out our sparkly little Christmas tree.
Will: (pointing to a clear ball filled with glitter) That one is mine.
Me: How do you know?
Will: W-I-L-L-L-L-L (His name is on it)
Me: What does that spell?
Will: GLITTER!!

And. . . .his original artwork from school this year.

 
I swear, he must have had glitter in the womb.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

So the kids went back to school. . .

I just realized that while I was wiping up my own tears and snot over back to school, I never got around to sharing the boy's back to school fun. Here is a brief run-down:

 Luke started school a week before Will. He was really nervous to go to school with a dog bite on his nose (ouch!) because he didn't want anyone to ask about it. We practiced some responses and sent him on his way. We drove him there but he was going to ride the bus home.

 
When it was time for the bus to drop off, I dutifully went to the bus stop and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, my cell phone rang and it was the principal of Luke's school. Apparently Luke was refusing to ride the bus because it did not have seat belts. He IS our HSO (House Safety Officer) so I would expect nothing less from the boy. I hop in the car to go pick him up and get the full story. I guess what happened is that he got on the bus and got in his seat and started looking for the seat belt. It seems that he started crying or stressing looking for it and the bus driver tried to explain to him that buses don't have seat belts. This surely sent him into tears at which point the bus driver alerted the school teacher monitoring the bus line. She couldn't convince him either so she got him off the bus and took him to the principal. The principal didn't have any luck convincing him either so that is when the phone call happened.  We talked about it and once he was reassured that it was safe and not against the rules to ride the bus without a seat belt he seemed okay with it. I'm not sure if he was more concerned for his safety or the fact that I would be upset if he was not wearing a seat belt. The next morning he climbed aboard the bus and hasn't looked back. I actually had to pick him up the other day because I was up at the school for a PTA meeting and he got mad that he didn't get to ride it home. So to that three year-old Luke who told me "When I am five I will go to Kindergarten and ride the bus without you," I say--"We did it kiddo!"
 
 
 
As for the youngster (sorry for the old fashioned word. Luke found it in a book and is a little fixated with it right now.) I never know what I am going to get with him. I mean, really, what two year-old is predictable? So I took his picture on meet the teacher day AND on the first day of school, hoping for a good one. He's fairly cooperative so I got cute ones both days.
 
Meet the teacher day, in an outfit he chose:
 
And on the first day:
 


Will with his best buddy.
These two are like peas in a pod and were so happy to see each other before class. They are just as excited to see each other every single day as they were on the first. It is really cute.

 

A new ear

Anyone who knows Will knows his love of all things sparkly, flowing, or just downright beautiful.

Today at the bus stop he was just staring off into space twisting and twisting and twisting his ear. (It looked painful.)

Me: Will, why are you twisting your ear? What will you do if you twist it off?
Will: (smiling) Twist it off?!?! I'll have to get a new one.
Me: Where do you go to get a new ear?
Will: Go to the store and get a new ear.
Me: What kind of store sells new ears?
Will: The ear fix it store. (Eyes widen and light up, voice raises about three octaves, grin spreads across his face, his feet start dancing and jumping) GO TO THE EAR FIX-IT STORE AND GET A NEW SPARKLY EAR!!!

I can only imagine what sort of bedazzled, rhinestone encrusted ear he has picked out.

(Uh, I guess he doesn't know how much money we have already put in those two ears he has got!!)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Kid talk

Luke: Mommy, when you and daddy got married, were you best friends?
Me: Yeah.



Friday, August 31, 2012

How I Handled the First Day of Kindergarten

Luke made some very profound statements on the morning of his third birthday. He was sitting in bed and said three things to me that have stuck with me for years. One of these was "When I am five I will go to Kindergarten and I will ride the bus without you." Well that day is here. Even though I had five and a half years to prepare for it, I still don't think I was ready.

We have been prepping for Kindergarten for a while now. Pre-K last year talked about it everyday--about going to school five days a week, homework, independence, etc. We talked about it all summer. We went clothes shopping and organized school supplies. We went shopping for things to put in his lunch box.  I started having flashbacks of Luke's first week of life. . .

Five and a half years ago my sweet Luke was born. They told me he had a broken clavicle. I didn't cry. They told me he was breathing funny. I called them idiots and I didn't cry. He didn't latch on to eat for days. I was frustrated but I didn't cry.  I gave him a bottle and he was eating so fast he forgot to breathe and turned blue. I scolded him, told him he would get himself in trouble acting like that. I didn't cry. When the pediatrician called me at home to tell me his bilirubin was too high and he needed to be admitted to the intensive care unit immediately, I started crying. The flood gates had finally opened. I had been sitting in the nursery rocker, trying to coax Luke to eat when the phone rang. After the pediatrician said "26" the tears started coming and there were no more words. Gene came in and took the phone out of my hands, reassured the doctor we were on our way, and started gathering our things. I just cried. We put Luke in the car seat and I sat in the back next to him and cried. It was raining like a monsoon and the roads were flooded.  I remember not being able to even see where we were going. Gene was trying to be calm and strong and I was falling apart. I cried at the hospital when they took our information and walked us up to the NICU. I handed him over to the nurse and stepped back out of her way. When they shot his chest x-ray the nurse held his arms up over his head and a sob caught in my throat hearing the way he screamed when they manipulated that broken collar bone. Another nurse, trying to be kind, put her hand on my shoulder and said, "its okay honey. It's just an x-ray. It doesn't hurt him." I wanted to slap her because she didn't know MY baby and it DID hurt him. I cried off and on for days. We would go home from the hospital and I would start planning when to go back. It was still raining. Our street was flooded. We tried to go to him and had to turn around because the water in the road was too high. So I would cry.

That is how I felt the weekend before the first day of Kindergarten. Crying off an on over anything. We had some stressful events happen at meet the teacher night and I thought to myself "this is why people homeschool."

Over the weekend, our dog nipped at Luke. He is partially blind and completely high strung and he got spooked. It was the third time he has nipped to draw blood, but we weren't hanging around for a fourth. On Monday, he moved in with my parents. We've had him since he was a puppy and since before we were married. He is a good dog, a faithful dog. I miss him.

I took Luke to school Monday morning and walked him to his class. When the teacher dismissed the parents I gave him a hug and a kiss and left before he saw my tears. I didn't go to the kiss and cry breakfast because that would only make things worse. I went home. Will was at Grammy's house. The house was so quiet. No children, no dog, and I didn't have anything scheduled to do. I ended up aimlessly driving around town. I went to stores where I didn't need anything and didn't buy anything. I would go to two or three stores and then come home. The quiet would get to me again so I would find another few stores to go to. I think I came home and left at least three times that day.

I will address Luke's experience of Kindergarten in the next post, this one is about me.

I guess I am having Kindergarten grief. I am done with the constant crying and have moved on to anger and jealousy.  This week without him has seemed so terribly long. Even with Will around, we both look at each other and think about Luke. I am starting to think, "Why do they get him for so many hours? They get him FORTY hours a week! EIGHT hours a day! I only see him awake for FOUR hours a day. This is unfair. He's MY baby. This is why people homeschool." I miss him so much. I didn't expect this feeling. If it weren't for Will, I might just stand at the bus stop all day waiting for him to come home. He won't even let me make his lunch anymore--he has bought cafeteria every day.

On the flip side--Will and I are having fun with one-on-one time. He is so sweet and giggly, it is what gets me through my day.

I know that in another week or so I won't feel this way about Luke going off to school. It was an emotion that took me unexpectedly. I thought I was SOOO ready for school to start. Going from the three day week to the five day week makes for a long week. Bottom line though, Luke is having the time of his life. He loves it. He smiles when he gets on the bus and smiles when he gets off the bus. Oh, the bus. . . that's for the next post.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Kid talk

My kids crack me up. My latest favorite moment in conversation:

Scene: Will running, jumping, spinning wildly around the house just before bedtime.
Me: Where do you get all this energy from?
Will: I just have wots of wittle energies.

I swear he did this to himself.



Saturday, June 9, 2012

Flora & Frank

On Mother's Day my mom gave me a pretty hanging plant. Days after hanging it right outside my breakfast room window a mourning dove had made her nest smack in the middle of my plant. I didn't really notice at first until the plant started to die in the middle. I climbed up to see what the trouble was and found this:

Since then the plant has completely died leaving us an unobstructed view of her and her nest. We named her Flora. When daddy bird came to visit we named him Frank. Flora and I have bonded through all of this, she did kill my mother's day plant, after all. Early this week Flora was perched on the edge of the pot looking very panicked. I thought maybe they eggs were hatching so I climbed up to see, but instead there was a fresh THIRD egg!! I guess that one was a surprise to her too!

Yesterday evening, Frank came by to relieve Flora for a bit. They were both perched on the edge so I thought I'd check out the progress of the eggs and make sure there wasn't a fourth. This is what I found:


Do you see the two fuzzy baby bird heads in the nest? Look left-center. And the third egg in between momma and her babies.

I couldn't stop taking pictures while Flora showed off her babies. Frank is a scaredy cat and flew away when I approached with the camera.

Peeking out to say hello!
She is usually pretty shy about feeding her babies when I'm hanging around, but I got this one.
Two babies, one head up, the other head tucked under momma.

It has been so fun to watch this process of nature. I just wanted to share with you.

So, what should we name the babies???

Friday, March 30, 2012

And the party. . .

This was the biggest birthday party we have ever given Luke either of our kids, yet surprisingly it required the least amount of preparation and was probably one of the smoothest. We have always had parties either at our home or at a local park because that is what he wanted. This year he wanted a roller skating party. I was down with that except that there was only one rink he wanted it at and it was not in our city. It required driving through a ridiculous construction zone freeway. The last party we went to there we were met with a line wrapped halfway around the building just to get in. But it was awesome because he got out there and did that roller skating thing all by himself.

We got on the computer one night and looked around the internet for fun places to party that were local and easy to access. We chose a place called Leapin' Lizards which was awesome. It had 8 or 9 inflatable play things, a big playground/climbing/slide thing and the party packages included absolutely everything from napkins to party favors. We had a party bouncer that was amazing. He took one look at the party and then knew who belonged and who didn't. Luke kept calling him his coach, as in, "Where is my coach? I need a drink of water." I just can't rave enough about this place and I would recommend it to anyone. When you consider all the things included, the price was reasonable to me--what we would have spent on birthday decor, plates, food, favors.


Will jumping with the big kids
 Will was in absolute heaven. He talked about that yellow castle for days, literally. The kid never stops jumping around on dry, flat, solid land. Putting him in a bounce house was like sending him back to his home planet.
Group shot with Izzy(?) the lizard.

I did my best attempt at a spiderman cake.  Thank you for action figures.

A cute bunch of kiddos.
 This picture below was one of the best features of the party. The kid-mob riot that happens at present-opening time drives me bananas. They had this giant inflatable chair that they plopped Luke in for presents and it totally gave me the space I needed. I didn't get a good shot of it though because I was standing to the back/side.
 When we got home, this is the first present he ripped from the package.
Look out. This kid is five and he means business.
And just for fun. . .

4 years old

Three years old

Two years old

One year old

Minutes old

Luke turns 5!!

So I haven't posted in nearly three months, but I have a really good excuse this time.  I've been posting over on my new project www.lizspinspiration.blogspot.com and keeping myself really busy with that. But now that its up and running I am going to try to work on this one a bit. And of course I can't miss a birthday! First things first--the birthday photo shoot, which I did myself and I am surprisingly pleased with! I kinda wish I had some photo editing software to polish it up a little.





This is Luke's favorite shot. I told him he looked like a cranky pirate so he loved it even more. Boys.

Feeling alive at five!!




Gosh, with a kid that cute how could the pictures turn out awful?

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Birthdays are AWESOME!!!

December 8 our Willybird turned 2! He is so grown up now, I just can't believe it. He loves Yo Gabba Gabba so his party was all Gabba themed. I didn't know this going into it but nearly all the Yo Gabba Gabba stuff has to be bought online. Since I am such a good mom, I started planning this one early enough that I actually had time to order party stuff online and get it shipped without having to pay for expedited delivery. And thanks to black Friday I got it on super sale with free shipping.

Thank you Pinterest for the Muno-inspired chocolate dipped pretzels--they were a hit with the kiddies, and delicious too.

Grammy made him a fabulously scrumptious DJ Lance Rock fluffy orange hat cake.
What Gabba party would be complete without Gabba land?? I thought I was buying a Yo Gabba Gabba book for Will on Amazon, but when it arrived it was really this fold out-paper doll play set thing. Not super fun for a 2 year old but made for cute counter top decorations for the party. Luke has enjoyed playing with it.

Luke spun Gabba tunes all afternoon in the play room and showed off some sweet moves.



Will was a fabulous host and welcomed all his friends with big hugs!

He blew out both his candles like a champ.


Grammy made some cupcakes too per special Willy request. Will ate his one sprinkle at a time in true Willy fashion.
 Playing in his Gabba tent filled with balloons! I am still finding balloons all over the house.



The kids played pin-the-eye-on-Muno.
A couple of cute DJ Lances at the exclusive after party.
 It was a fun party and we were so grateful to the friends and family who helped us celebrate. Fitting in one more event in the already busy month of December is no small feat! We had all been at cousing Maya's party the day before so it really was a weekend of birthdays for our families. Next year we are going to try to plan consecutive parties for the two. Hmmm. We'll see if we can be organized enough to pull that one together.

20 facts about Will at 2:
1. Loves cereal. Eats bowls and bowls of it. Probably at least 4 bowls a day. His favorite are Froot Loops, Chocolate Cheerios, and Honey Nut Chex.
2. Loves to jump. On things. Off things. Just jump around. The kid has got so much energy to burn.
3. Favorite TV shows are Yo Gabba Gabba and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Still has a little soft spot for some Baby Einstein though. (Seriously, do kids ever outgrow Baby E??? Even Luke enjoys one every now and then.)
4. Not so much into wearing clothing. Really likes to show off his undressing skills in public places.
5. Temper. Temper. Temper. Stand back.
6. Bangs his head on things when he is really upset. Not just things, he specifically finds hard things. Shelves, tables, wall, ceramic tile. He will get up and walk over to the tile just to bang his head on it.
7.  Wants to be just like his big brother when he grows up. (And this drives Luke bananas.)
8.  Favorite CD is Mama Mia. He can't help but dance when its on.
9.  Gives some pretty sweet snuggles when he needs some love. 
10.  Knows a billion words. Speaks in sentences. Says "Awesome" on a daily basis (which makes me laugh).
11.  Knows all his capital letters, some of his lowercase letters, and numbers 0-10. Can sing most of the ABC song by himself.
12.  Loves to be read to. Current favorite books are Knuffle Bunny, anything Llama Llama, Dr. Seuss ABC's, and Berenstein Bears Clean House.
13.  Charmingly crooked teeth and cross bite create a cutie-pie smile but mommy and daddy forsee a lifetime of orthodontic bills.
14.  Will never turn down ham. Loves the stuff.
15.  Loves dogs, all sizes.
16.  Loves going to "school" and likes the idea of wearing a backpack. Once its on though he rethinks the decision and would really prefer if someone else would carry it.
17.  He needs a haircut. I can't stand when the hair falls over their collar. I'm sure when they are teenagers, my boys will make up for all the short cuts I keep them in now.
18.  He loves to put on a show when he is supposed to be sleeping. He has come up with all sorts of acrobatic tricks to "fall" (read flip, slip, jump, skip, etc) out of bed at bedtime--over the toddler rail of course.
19.  Watching him do somersaults is hilarious. I had him in tumbling once but it's mommy & me classes and he wears me out.  He can't go by himself until he is three.
20.  He is the funniest, sweetest, most energetic, smartest two year old I know and I wouldn't change him for the world.!