Sunday, December 26, 2010

Buying Presents

The Boy had a Santa's Workshop Day at school where they could buy presents for family and friends. I sent in a list with who to buy, how much to spend on each and money. The list contained Daddy $5, AGW $5, and the Girl $3. Being a kindergartener they had help from some fourth graders while shopping. Daddy got a Michigan Ornament. The Girl got a Michigan key chain, a six year old and a fourth grader must have a hard time on trying to buy a gift for a 2 year old at a craft type sale. My AGW got an ornament that said "#1 Mom", probably the best of the three.

The story gets much better from here. The day of Santa's Workshop he told me when I picked him up from school that he had saved some money and bought something for himself. I thought that was pretty good and couldn't wait to see our gifts but really wanted to see what he bought for himself. So with his $13 that he was given for the sale he purchased all the above and later I found out he spent $6 on himself. The Boy didn't get just any gift for himself he got a piece of Coprolite! So we each got a nice present from the Boy and he spent $6 on dinosaur poop.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Has Santa Ever Not Delivered?

As school has been out and both kids have been home driving me batty, I wonder if the threat of calling Santa is really worth it. Has Santa ever not brought presents because of a bad child? Would Santa really skip our house? As I threaten my children with these thoughts of Santa not coming I wonder how far they would have to go to make Santa not come. Would they really know if Santa didn't give them that special present or if Santa didn't deliver half of the presents. I can make the Boy freak out by grabbing the phone and saying "I'm calling Santa!" The follow-up thought is if I really did call Santa and Santa didn't bring any presents what would be the fallout? Beyond the distraught children and then stressed parents would they get the message of behaving or would they just be worse?

I would not do this to my children as they are great kids and they are that - KIDS. I am sure Santa will make it to our house.

Anyone that hasn't seen this http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home Should really check it out. Our kids were responding with head shakes, yes's and smiles when they saw their video messages, it even rang true with the Girl who is 2 1/2. For the Boy who is 6 they even showed Santa's path to our city which was pretty Nick and he got a great appreciation out of that, plus he saw Santa had photos of him from the year and was a little surprised Santa was watching that closely. Too bad Santa didn't use the Photo I posted a few days ago of the kids with the train.

We will soon put out our reindeer food and wait for the jolly old man to visit. Merry Christmas.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

My Last Day of the Little Sanity I Still Have

The last day of school for the Boy is today and I write with what little sanity I have with just the Girl at home. My kids are great and I love them very much but trying to balance out the entertainment of the perpetual motion 6 year old with demanding two year old is a constant challenge. I always hear of stories of kids that fall asleep eating, watching a movie, playing with toys, or even on the potty, but that is not my kids style. The only reason my kids go to bed is because I make them. I believe the Boy could power my house if I could keep him on the hamster wheel long enough and the Girl would be right there waiting her turn as she wants to be just like her big brother. The girl does eventually tire but getting her to bed sometimes is a challenge, whereas the Boy will fight to the end to stay up. So tomorrow morning get the coffee on and the placek ready as I will need all I can have to maintain a sound mind before Christmas with all the excitement.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

"She's Ruining My Life!"

Today we got the Boy's Polar Express down and set it up around the Christmas Tree. This has become an annual event since Santa brought it a few years ago. You may remember this scene from the Girl's first experience with the Polar Express:

Since this time the Girl has come to love trains as she wants to be like Big Brother. We finally got the Polar Express out of his room and put it around the tree which was very exciting for everyone. The girl wanted to constantly play with the train which was OK but then she started bumping pieces and knocked one over. The Boy with the a nice groan exclaimed, "She's ruining my life!" It is always nice to be int he other room to be able to snicker when overhearing these comments.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Sleeping Sideways

The Girl for some time now has slept sideways. She refuses to lay in her crib with the length of her body along the length of her crib. She will turn and sleep sideways so her feet and legs stick out the side. We have tried a few things and want to start moving her into a bed but to no avail she is still sideways. Whenever we lay her down she immediately scoots her body around so she is scrunched in the length of her crib. We moved her crib 90 degrees to try to see if that worked but she just freaked out and cried at us. Once she was have a nightmare and my AGW brought her into bed but she didn't sleep, she insisted on laying sideways and practicing her kick boxing on my head. My AGW even introduced a pillow and told her she can sleep like the Boy (she always wants to belike her big brother), she liked that but as soon as we left the room she would turn sideways. Last night I went up to say goodnight as I got home right after she went to bed and when I walked in she was sideways but had a look on her face like "Oh Shit!" She just got caught and didn't move an inch or even want up as she usually does when someone goes in there. So I guess we will get her a square bed and then she won't know which way to lay.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Self Checkout

The Girl and I find one thing rather annoying, when people who can literally carry all their grocery items in their hands/arms clog up the regular check out lines instead of using the U-Scan (or self-checkout). The Girl gets particularly annoyed as she likes to ride int he carts with the cars on the front but only for so long, especially if we are not moving. As her patience was wearing thin I am trying to keep her calm but as the longer we had to wait the louder she got. The wait might not have been so bad except for the fact that the first person with an armful of stuff thought it would be a fantastic idea to have an at length discussion with the cashier while we all waited. I thought about channeling one of friends who may have handled the situation much differently, but I kept my composure as much as I could and kept asking the Girl to be patient. As the Girl got louder I did as well in asking her to be patient. The amazing part is the lady never got the hint and the other person with an armful of stuff was getting annoyed by both the first lady and the Girl (and probably me as well). I believe the cashier noticed we were a little peeved as she asked the person in front of me and the person behind me how their day was but didn't ask me, and I believe she was frustrated with my $15 worth of coupons that I handed her. At least this time I didn't have to take the pacifier away to make my child cry to get the person done checking out out of the way.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Shall We Dance?

Sometimes it is the little things that make it all better. Let me start on yesterday. The fun began as the Girl got up from her nap in a bad mood which I made worse by having to change her diaper, put on shoes and sock to go pick up the Boy from school. Once I got the diaper off she didn't want a new one on, and she certainly didn't want to wear pants. It was a good fight to get pants on and keep them on her. Then as I was struggling getting hit, kicked and scratched I had to get the socks and shoes on. I would have skipped this but it is cold out and we don't need those little piggies getting cold. After a good fight I finally got the socks and shoes on and I am ready to throw in the towel, but next is the jacket and it has already been about 12 minutes. The girl has the ability to put her arms straight up and become super slippery and slide right out of most holds so the jacket was a challenge as well. Another 3 or 4 minutes and finally got the jacket on and next is getting her strapped int he car seat, not as difficult as expected as I believe she used up all her energy fighting the pants and shoes. Granted now she was ticked off and wouldn't look at me or talk to me which was alright a bit of quiet time. We pick up the boy and head to Walmart to pick up a filter for a cool mist humidifier and realize when I get there that my wallet is sitting as home so we go back home. Besides some minor bumps int he road everything is going alright until my AGW gets home and I need to g o back to Walmart this time with my wallet only to arrive and find that are out of the filter I need. I was very close to clearing off that shelf in frustration. Get home and final eat some dinner and have an adult kool-aid.

Finally the next day, this certainly has to go better. First off the Girl decides to wake at 6 am, a little early. Then I find out school for the Boy is delayed 2 hours. If you know the Boy you know why this is not a good thing - lots of energy. So we work on his letter book and are on the letter 'F' - the vocabulary in my head was certainly not kindergarten appropriate at this point. He did a great job and got it done. Then the Girl gets her princess dress on, brings a toy that plays music, holds out her hands and says "Dance?" Made it all just wash away.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Why is going to the potty so hard?

I ask the question because the Boy knows how to use the bathroom and does a good job except when his body is telling him it is time to go. I realize sometimes excitement gets the better of kids but he can just is determined not to go sometimes and it gets to be issue when we are going to be in the car for a bit or going to bed. Last night for example as he was asleep he needed to go so I got up and got him to the bathroom as I didn't want to change his whole bed. Then later in t he night he had to get up and drop a few friends off at the pond. I don't really get why he just won't go as it not only makes it hard for us to sleep and makes him tired and grumpy in the morning. My favorite is "I don't have to go!" and then it sounds like Niagara Falls as he is crying saying he doesn't have to go. Independence is important to kids but our house would be much calmer if he would listen to his body as he gets more and more crazy the longer he waits. I just don't get it.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Santa's Cameras

As the Boy gets older he gets a little more inquisitive along the way. We always talk about how Santa is always watching. Lately he has been talking about Santa using cameras all around to watch him. When he sees Christmas decorations, especially Santa Claus ones, he wants to know what each of them is made of so he can try to debunk the whole Santa camera theory. The other day he saw a large Santa outside of a building and asked if it was made of concrete, as I answered yes because I didn't see it he told me there were no cameras in it because you can't put cameras in concrete. There is also a big blow up Santa around our area (apprx. 20-30 feet tall) and he also says there are not any cameras there as they would blow away. I don't know if he is trying to disprove Santa or he is just being very vigilant so he is on the "Nice" list. I have been thinking of make some little tubes with lenses and putting some kind of Santa designation on them so he may find one and see that Santa is watching.

He has also been talking about a the "Elf on the Shelf," we do not have one but a girl in his class has been telling him about it. So that may have to come in to play as well. This is fun as last night my AGW and I watched "Christmas Story."

And recently he has had a few hockey games, so much so that he has got a blister on his foot. Here is a picture of him clearing the puck.

Friday, December 3, 2010

She is Cute Sometimes Too

Sometimes the Girl is cute and not throwing a tantrum (which seems rare at times). Today she wanted to go to school just like her big brother. So in getting ready she got a bag and put her princesses in it and was absolutely serious in taking it along. I had to go into the school today as I had to take something into the office so we walked the Boy to his room. We went in his room and she proceeded to pick out a locker and hang up her bag and was probably taking her coat off if I had not stopped her. Maybe I should have left her there and waited for the phone call if anyone would have noticed.

On another note the Girl has this nice toddler power walk. She was playing with my AGW and she then had to go get something. She kept her arms in a bent position and had this power walk into the other room. Hopefully she only uses this for good and not tantrums.