Snow Angels.... NOT

Okay, so we went out in the snowstorm that we had this weekend - approximately 1 inch - and tried to make a snowman. This will give you some perspective of what the snow supply was like.

Bombs Away

Kate decided to take the plunge for the third time in a month. We put her to bed in her pack and play (we transport her to her crib around 11pm) in the office and she JUMPED out. The girl is crazy, and she scares the living day lights out of Shad and me when she just appears in the kitchen and starts talking to us like she belongs there at 9pm.

We then put her back to bed and smile... knowing this is the beginning of some very long years.... not that we would trade them for anything. But the irony is going to get us one day.

Fashion Model or Something Else

Kate put on her own glasses and headband today - all she needs now is a snowboard according to Dad!

What a Day

Today I went to a funeral with my Mom for a family friend. It was in a Cathedral in Mass that I visited often as a kid. Everyone's funeral, wedding, Holy Days of Obligation, and more were spent in this Church. It's absolutely beautiful. My Dad's Mom and his Grandmother have stain glassed windows in there as well. I think for the city and for our family, there is so much history to learn, and know about what has transpired in that Church.

Anyway, funerals are funny things. I have learned that people won't change their schedule to go to a family reunion - and won't miss their childrens function to attend - I think the best family reunions that everyone shows up for are funerals. Isn't that kind of funny that people don't often gather to say hello, yet they gather to say good bye.

It was a day of reflection for me, a good day. And, it continued on as we stopped by my Nana's to see her in her assisted living facility only to find ourselves amidst a sing along with about forty elderly people . It's funny, Nana doesn't remember much at all these days but she remembered every word to every song from decades ago.

Robbing the Cradle

It was only a few weeks ago when Reilly's teacher told me he got in a "heated discussion" with a classmate on same sex marriage. Yah, I know... at four??? Well, today we heard that he got married at school. He and his friends colored and cut out flowers and rings and the all married one another. Reilly married AnnaLisa who is from the three year old room. He seems quite content with his new life as a married man. :-)

School or School - That is the question.

Milford New Hampshire is one of the few towns in the state and probably across the country that does not offer public kindergarten. Instead we need to pay for another full year of care at a private school - it's about $750/month. He is currently going to an "early learning center" (which is a traditional mainstream learning environment) and absolutely loves it. I can't say enough about the program and the teachers in it - however, I still toy with the idea of sending him to an alternative learning school next year. I often look at kindergarten as the only opportunity I have left to offer him another learning style that helps him develop his inner self. I am looking into the Waldorf school down the street and I have looked a little bit at a Montessori school. I have since been told that I should have started with these learning philosophies instead of introducing them at five. Since when is five beyond a recovery point? And, if I do send him into another learning environment I have been told that I should not transition him back to a public school.

I am so torn on what to do - Shad and I want Reilly to be confident and happy. He is those things but he is also anxious, nervous and often emotional and negative when faced with a stressful situation. Perhaps that is all four year olds. I don't know. If there is something we can do about nurturing these anxieties and allowing him to see another side, we want to do it. I'm not sure the school is the answer but it's weighing heavily on my mind right now - especially since we need to let his school know next week if he is returning in the Fall.

Who knows.... now I know why parents say "we did the best we could... at the time".

Crossing Over

I think that was a show about contacting people who had moved to afterlife, so it is certainly not the context I am referring to. I am referring to our world of 4 passenger cars to a MINIVAN! Yes, a minivan! We bought a used one on Craigslist this weekend and we're already digging the space! No longer do I need to wedge myself in the back of the truck between two carseats and two children possessive of their space. No longer do I need to watch the two kids rip stuff out of one anothers hand and no longer do I need to ride with a backpack and any other items at my feet. As long as we opposed this world we are now embracing it. Of course, I want to trick it out with a racing number, stickers and a bike rack on top - but when we have extra money, I'm sure that's NOT what we'll be spending it on.

It's nice that we have come to the end of our three year search, multiple discussions on gas and coolness, now it's practical and slightly better for the environment.

Night of Responsibility

Reilly wanted to help tonight with Kate in getting ready for bed - two of the many things we heard or the ones that got our attention the most were: Ah, Mom Kate climbed into the bathtub and Daddy, Kate is trying to climb out of her bed.

Other than that,he did a great job. :-)

The Art of Language

I find this time in a childs life to be so exciting - 21 months. Kate's language development over the past several weeks has been so significant. She used to talk nonsense nonstop now she just talks nonstop. She is so proud of herself when she can identify everyone and everything at the dinner table, cup, daddy, reilly, plate, mommy, hot dog (although the hot dog was really chicken)! She even burped tonight at the table, said "scuse me" and followed that with "I fluffed". She has so many words right now, regardles of what they mean she likes to share them with all of us. We love listening to her try to express herself - it's extraordinary.

How's this: Kate talks so much, she's laying in bed talking in her sleep right now!

Pee Queen

Yup, that's me. If I'm not cleaning up spilled milk or juice I'm cleaning up PEE! My little buddy gets so relaxed sometimes the only thing that wakes him is when he pee's in his pants. It just so happens he's often on the couch or the living room chair. UGH... that frustrates me. We are going to need new furniture by the time these guys are in school.

I suppose with most Mom's I'm getting pretty good at the stages of cleaning:
1. blot the spill/leakage with an absorbent towel as much as possible
2. get a wet cloth and scrub the area
3. spray on the toddler cleaning solution
4. wait 5 minutes
5. wipe again
6. spray with febreeze if necessary

Knock Knock

Who's there
Boo
Boo Who
Why are you sad?

Knock Knock
Who's there
Orange
Orange Who
Orange you glad I didn't say boo?

Those are Reilly's renditions of the latest knock knock jokes. He's getting better. :-)

Poor Nandi

Poor Nandi... she spent Christmas week with our friends the Dudevoirs and she was spoiled rotten. Two teenage kids who wanted to play with her and run with her and walk with her all week long and a Mom who made her homemade organic dog treats and a Dad who just admired a "boy and his dog" to.......... children tripping over her, landing on her, pulling her tail, hugging her too tight and being told to "lie down" everytime she lays under the highchair for that last scrap of food that might fall her way. I think she is reconsidering her family options... good thing she can't speak. Although her eyes tell the whole story - thank goodness she still thinks Shad's her husband.

Mean things Kids Say

Everytime I say something to Reilly that he does not want to hear I get the "YOU ARE MEAN" speech. Tonight I told him he couldn't have dessert because he said he didn't feel well, so I offered him a banana. His response: "You are NOT my best friend."

I think I'm beginning to learn that I need to get a thick skin. Kids are going to say things that they don't mean or realize how much they are hurting someone else's feelings. It brings back "fond" memories of when I said things to my parents that were similar in tone... ugh. I don't like this trait of a four-year old.

I just need to sleep one more day

and then it's four more days until Christmas.

Kate's new things...

So she can communicate quite well between her words and her signs. She's actually quite bossy. And if you say no, she comes back with "Why?" She's learning all too quickly.

Kate loves hats - she wants to take them off and put them on all the time. Kate loves shoes and wants to take them off and put them all the time. Kate loves showing everyone her belly. (funny how that is a toddler thing, not too many women would do that now)Kate loves antagonizing Reilly. She has figured out how to push his buttons already.

Tonight, after she had been in bed for about 45 minutes she began to cry and then should my name. I went in to check on her and she had thrown the blankets and the stuffed animal out of her bed and she was stuck in her sleeper (pajamas). She had figured out how to undo the snap and unzip down to her belly. Somehow she had her arms pinned behind her and her sleeper half on and half off. No wonder she was crying. Poor thing.

Everything she does just makes Shad and I smile. She is really a funny little girl and the more her personality develops the more traits we see in her... can't wait till she's a teenager. Ha Ha.

Question of the Day

Is Elmo a boy or girl?

I followed that question with a series of questions including, well, how would we know? His solution was to go online to pbskids.org on elmo's world.

I never wonder why I went to the seminar at the Waldorf school on the effects of media on children under 10. He doesn't even watch tv that much - yet he absorbed that tidbit!!!!

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

So it happened yesterday, Reilly was having lunch. He had two beverages going - the last sip of my juice, which he always requests, and a small water bottle with gatorade and water. He asked me if he could pour the juices together, I said no. (in the past when he has taken on this science experiment of mixing liquids, I am always mopping the floor OR he doesn't drink either of them he just plays and he doesn't eat his lunch either) So, this time it was an emphatic "no". I then went upstairs to get some stuff together because we were heading out shortly to go shopping.

When I came down, I noticed that my one remaining sip had reproduced into a half bottle while I was upstairs. The following two minutes went like this:

"Reilly, did you pour the bottles together?"
"No"
"How did this get half full, are you sure you didn't do it"
"No"
"Reilly, are you lying to me"
"No, I didn't do it"
"Are you sure"
"I didn't do it"
Well, I knew there were NO other option, Kate was asleep and Nandi and Shad were out running. I looked around the room and aside from the randomly dispersed Santa and friends, there was no on else in the house.
"Reilly, I think that you might be lying, why don't you go sit on the step and think about it"
Minutes pass...
"Reilly, do you want to tell me what might have happened"
"No"
More minutes pass...
"Reilly, are you ready to talk about it now?"
"Yes"
We return to the intact scene of the crime.
"Mom, it was magic, one bottle did pour to the other bottle and it was magic. Really, it was."
I felt I should encourage his imagination here... even just for my benefit of hearing a creative story.
"Really?? How did that happen"
"Well, there was this witch, not a bad witch but a good one, and she did it"
"What did she look like"
"I don't know she was invisible"
"How did she do it?"
"I don't know I was invisible"
"What else happened?"
"That was all, she just mixed the juices and then she was invisible"
Hmmmmmmmm, I do believe his story is a bit suspect, but clever nonetheless.
Later when Nicole was in the car, I said "Reilly, tell Nicole what happened today with the juice"

His reply "Mom, maybe I did it."

The choir began to sing.....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

Glue and Glitter

At school today I used glue and then I used glitter in my project. I'm really good at glue and glitter, did you know that?

The new man of the house!

Reilly has been the new man of the house since Daddy is away. I asked him if he wanted to grab me a soda from the garage - his response was: "I think I can want to." I asked him if he would check to see if the dog had food and water, he left me and came back later and said "can you help me lift Nandi's water?" He had put the bowl in the bathroom sink and filled it. He offered to call and order the pizza. He offered to go to the store to buy waffles and chips. :-) - my influence, not Shad's. AND he has figured out that some of our cuisine is not to be shared with Dad.

Reilly and I even tried to dig out the septic tank today with Grandpa Nannies supervision. (we didn't find the tank though)