A Lonely Man's Christmas Song

Oo is BEYOND excited about Christmas. Since November, she informs me every day (multiple, multiple times each day) how many days remain until the holiday. But earlier this month, she would have to think hard and maybe even do a little counting on her fingers to figure out when her Dec. 8th birthday would arrive.

She's been cutting snowflakes from paper and reading our collection of Christmas books. She's been making shopping lists of the gifts she'd like to buy for us, but she doesn't have any idea what she'd like for Christmas (so I had to make up a wish list for her). She watches a Christmas movie or TV show everyday and wants to listen to Christmas music every night during dinner.

Christmas music... oh, how the kids love the Christmas music! Oo has even begun to write some of her own Christmas carols. I sneaked a peek at one of her song sheets, and... well... I was speechless. I scanned it in and have attached it below for you to see for yourself. Please don't mention that I've shared this with you... she gets very defensive when we correct her spelling. And honestly, I'm not even sure what she was even trying to spell here. Enjoy!

Abstinence

Oo has been complaining of stomachaches multiple times a day since August. Adrian and I have been at our wits end over it because we don't know whether or not to take her seriously. Sounds cruel?? You have to know Oo to understand. She has a penchant for drama and control, and the stomachaches have a tendency to occur when there's something that she wants to get out of doing.

Well, last week she began to be more descriptive about her pains, and what she was describing to me sounded a lot like acid reflux. So, off to the doctor we went.

Oo was sensitive to lactose and soy in her first year, so lactose intolerance is a strong possibility. However, since the stomachaches don't always coincide with the consumption of dairy, the pediatrician's office has decided to test her for lactose and fructose intolerance as well as celiac disease (sensitivity to gluten). Our exploration includes a visit with a pediatric GI specialist but it begins with taking samples... of her poop. Let me clarify that. It begins with ME taking samples of her poop. Feel free to gag. I do.

I need to get three days of samples before I can turn them in to the pediatrician to be tested. I won't disgust you with the details of the collection process, but Oo watched me do it this afternoon, and her response was appropriately, "Ewwww! Gross! Yuck! Are you actually going to... ewwwww!"

Always thinking ahead (perhaps too far ahead sometimes), I responded, "Yep, it's disgusting... really disgusting. But mommies have to do disgusting things like this for their kids sometimes." My hope is that when she's a teenager I can remind her of this day... during "The Talk."

Quotables

Ever since Oo began talking, Adrian and I have diligently written down any goofy gem that the kids have said that we think is worth remembering. To capture as many quotes from them as possible, we grab the first slip of paper we can find, write down the date and the setting/situation, and then the quote verbatim. All of these slips of paper are then thrown into a designated box to be read at a later date.

We've never gone back to read through the quotes. We're waiting for a special occasion to do so. One thing's for sure... when they're all grown up, I'm going to compile their quotes into a book for each of them. Considering the doozies that Oo and T have uttered, it should be a good read!

Doing a little cleaning today, I came across a stack of quotes that have not yet made it into the box, which I lovingly keep on a shelf in my closet. They're not the most hilarious things that the kids have said, but I wanted to share them before they are shut away for years to come.

T - 9.12.10
(out of the clear blue) "Hippos have nice feet, and lions' feet are scratchy. And we don't have to tickle them."

Oo - 9.18.10
(watching the final round of a dog show on TV, very nervous and excited...) "Who's it going to be? Who's it going to be?" (then chanting before the announcement was made...) "Poo-dle. Poo-dle. Poo-dle. Poo-dle."

T - 9.20.10
(During a dinner of Chinese takeout, T talks about a book he wants to check out of the library, "Prehistoric Actual Size." After dinner, he gets a fortune cookie and cracks it open.)
T: What's this say?
Adrian: It says, "People rise to your expectations."
T: No, no, no, let me see. (he takes the paper) It says, "You... hafta... get... that... book... from... the... library!"
(The next day we went to the library and checked out the book — both versions of his fortune came true!)

T - 10.27.10
(3-year-old logic)
T: Mom, I can't eat that yucky banana.
Me: Why is it yucky?
T: Because I might sneeze on it.

Super Green Creamy Dreamy Pasta

This year I've been learning how to cook. Learning?!? Just this year?!? Yes, Adrian has always done all of the cooking... he insisted. Prior to his current job, there were occasions when I would attempt to cook something, but the results were either a disaster or would distress the refined palate of our household's primary food critic. However, when he is out of town, I am free to experiment a bit. That said, I still need to appease the shorter critics in the house — the shortest of which is quite picky.

Despite having had a year to work on this whole cooking thing, my recipe repertoire is still quite small. Other than the obvious, easy-peasy dishes, such as tacos or spaghetti and meatballs (frozen meatballs, not homemade), I've mastered meatloaf and Cheez-It chicken (sounds weird, but it's sooo delish). That's it. Just those two dishes. But not only do the critics here sing their praises, the short ones actually clear their plates, which is such a very rare occurrence in our house.

This week, Oo has been begging and begging to cook something. And so, with the primary critic away on business, it was safe to try something new. Following a recipe from Bean Appetit, a cookbook of fun, healthy recipes for kids, we made a pasta dish and gave it fun new name — Super Green Creamy Dreamy Pasta. We started by making a spinach pesto, which we mixed with cream cheese and milk and heated on the stove. We then stirred our sauce into a pot of spinach fusilli. Voila! So easy, the kids loved it, and Oo's urge to cook was satisfied. And I loved that it tricked Oo into consuming dairy and T into eating a veggie other than carrots or corn! As for Adrian, I think he will enjoy it too if I stir in a little proscuitto.

Here's a picture of Oo proudly showing off her delicious creation:


One more picture before I sign off. This morning I set up some train tracks at T's request, including a tunnel made from blocks that T always uses as the Time Tunnel from his favorite show, Dinosaur Train. I then took some pictures of T playing with a train because he's just so darn cute. T took a look at the pictures and decided that they weren't good enough ("too dark" or not good because he wasn't looking at the camera). He insisted that I take more pictures, each of which he scrutinized carefully. Below is a shot that passed inspection:


Well, so much for writing a shorter post. Perhaps next time I can reel it in a bit.

Blogettes

Having Oo in kindergarten is like adding a part-time job to my life. You'd think that with one less kid to care for during the day, I would have some extra time to get things done around here. You'd think that, but it has certainly not panned out that way.

Oo attends a community school, which is essentially a charter school that requires families to volunteer their time to the school. Why? Basically, the state provides HALF of the funding per student to her school that would be provided were she in a traditional public school ($5,700 vs. $10,200). There is no tuition at Oo's school, so to make up the difference in the funds needed to run the school, families are required to volunteer 10 hours a month. We can volunteer for anything, and I mean anything! From working in the library or the lunchroom to serving on the legal or marketing teams. One can help install new playground equipment and storm windows, maintain the computer lab, or write grant requests. There is no shortage of interesting opportunities to help.

(There are also a lot of fundraisers. But I HATE asking people to buy things — so I don't. However, if you ever need any magazines or subscription renewals, let me know and I can give you a web link and a code number so that Oo's school gets a cut. I also will gladly accept any Box Tops for Education or Campbell's Labels for Education. And if you shop at Giant Eagle, I can give you a web link to register your Giant Eagle card so that the school earns points for everything you purchase. There. That's my fundraising schpeel. Oo's school is an amazing place, filled with bright, fun kids who are served well by the unique environment this school provides — please keep us in mind.)

Okay, so you're thinking, "Ten hours a month? How does that equate to having a part-time job?" Well, the school has a shortage of parents who are available to help out at lunch time, so I usually put in more than my 10 hours. Also, there's the commute time to school. What should be a 15-minute drive one way, has been a 30- to 40-minute drive one way thanks to a major road resurfacing project. Take a different road? No can do. There are only a few ways to drive over the Metropark valley; any detour will take just as long as creeping slowly past the orange barrels. And on days that I volunteer (usually twice a week), we're making that drive six times a day.

Then there's homework. Homework in kindergarten?? Yep, Oo's school has an accelerated program (which is why we chose this school), so she has handwriting, math and reading homework every night. Oo resists doing everything I tell her to do (and she's pooped out from a full day at school), so homework time tends to be a long drawn-out process. I'm hoping for her sake and mine that we soon figure out a speedier (and less painful) way to do the work so that she has more time to play in the evening.

With school being a BIG adjustment for Oo, we've decided to forgo any activities (such as more swim lessons) until she adjusts. T, on the other hand, is craving new challenges and ways to occupy his time without Oo to entertain him. He's currently enrolled in a music class at an arts center on our side of town, and attends library storytime every week. When we're not out and about, he's attached to my hip. I don't get much housework done this way, but we've been able to use this one-on-one time to read together and work on some preschool skills. And as I suspected would happen, his verbal skills took a HUGE leap forward once Oo wasn't around to do all the talking.

Also not around as much is Adrian. A few months ago, he received a wonderful promotion. We're so happy with the new work he's doing — he's well-suited for it and is more satisfied because of it. There's a catch though. He's out of town a lot, and the kids and I are on our own two to three nights during the week. Faux single-parenting is a lot of work. I can't imagine doing the real thing!

The past few months were also jam packed with a large proofreading project, planning our block party, various visits from out-of-towners, and some out-of-town visiting of our own. And now we're heading into birthday and holiday season. Oy! I've recently accepted that life never slows down, it only gets busier. I've also learned that the busyness is worth it, and that it's important to keep that in mind.

And so... taking our new busyness into consideration (and planning for its inevitable increase), I've decided that if I'm going to keep blogging — which I LOVE (and have missed) doing! — it's going to have to be in a different format for a while... call it a blogette, if you will.

I hereby commit to more blog posts. But the posts will be much shorter, such as a single photo with a caption, a quote from one of the kids, or a short story. That way, I can keep you folks in touch with the kids' goings-on (and I can do a little bragging about my favorite little people).

The hard part for me is going to be keeping the posts brief. I do so like to describe every little detail. Take this post for example. I could have just said, "We've been busy, and we'll probably get busier. My posts will be shorter." I could have said that, but I'm just so darn verbose. Wish me luck blogetting!

And as long as I'm logged on, I simply must share...


The kids LOVED Halloween. They got lots of candy, but Oo lost most of hers in her first-ever candy swap with friends. (I have a lot to teach her, but perhaps her Aunt Meanie would be a better instructor — she always knew how to trick me out of my best candy!) Oo dressed as a dog, but thanks to a sudden, large growth spurt, her costume was uncomfortably tight — Oo was so sore by the end of the night. T dressed as the Cat in the Hat. After Halloween, he wore the hat all day, EVERY day, and everywhere we went. He even stored toys in it while he was wearing it (because the Cat always has something to pull out of his hat). The hat wearing, however, came to an abrupt end this past Saturday when he got sick. His fever was simply too high to allow him to wear a big, felt hat. The fever's gone now, but he hasn't put the hat back on. It may be because his sinuses are jam packed and his head hurts. Time will tell.

One more pic... Adrian carved a Lionel Richie pumpkin this year. :)

Signing Off

There has been so much going on this summer, so much fun to write about — the kids' first swimming lessons, Oo taking tennis (5- and 6-year-olds with rackets... hilarious!), and some great "field trips." Unfortunately, the more we do, the less time to write and post pictures.

Speaking of pictures, here's a shot of Oo at the tennis courts:


Despite the crazy summer, on Wednesday evening, I enjoyed a rare moment — silence, sort of. After playing in a neighbor's yard, the kids and I were home again in our backyard. Ready for some down-time, both kids slipped into their own little worlds, leaving me to quietly pull weeds (one of my favorite ways to mentally recharge). T was content riding his tricycle up and down the driveway and watering my flowers. And Oo... well, Oo was sitting in the middle of the driveway, dreaming up and acting out what could only be described as a soap opera.

There were four characters in her story: a daughter, father, mother and narrator. As she acted out the story, she did a different voice for each of them. Our next door neighbor was working in his yard within earshot, and I wondered if the performance reminded him of a twisted version of the radio plays of his youth.

In Oo's story, a man with black eyes was the villain. Interestingly, this character had no speaking parts. He was a critical element to the story, but existed only in the characters' and narrator's descriptions of him and his dastardly deeds.

The soap opera was fast paced and continued on for 30–40 minutes! Seriously! To draw the episode to a close, Oo finished with:

Tune in next time when there will be more later and less for now.

Sounds exciting. I can't wait!

Siblings

Oo and T are becoming more lovey with each other. It's not uncommon to find them snuggling on the couch together if they're watching TV. And one always kisses the other when tears are being shed over a boo-boo or hurt feelings. But...

Just as their feelings of affection toward each other are growing, so are their feelings of contempt.

Oo is a very gregarious girl. She needs to have people around her and engaged with her. She loves to let her imagination run wild and to take everyone along for the ride. T, on the other hand, can be very content playing by himself. He needs periodic moments alone throughout the day to get lost in his thoughts. You can tell by the look on his face that he's imagining something pretty fun, but it's unlikely that he'll want to tell you about it.

Put these two personalities together in the same family room and soon fur will start to fly.

Take today, for example. I hear Oo wailing (kind of a whiny wail, which means that she's not in as much pain as she's pretending to be). She tells me that T smacked her in the head. T confirms that, yes, he did smack her.

Time outs don't really work with T — he enjoys the time alone, so the threat of a time-out is not much of a deterrent. In fact, that little stinker has begun putting himself in time-out immediately after hurting Oo. It's kind of like, "Yeah, I did it. She pushed my buttons, so I hit her. Now I'm just going to sit over here on the 'naughty step' and chill out for a bit."

Instead, I talk sternly to T — he doesn't like it one bit. After the head-smacking incident today, I held his hands in front of him and said, "Do not touch Oo with these hands. Keep these hands to yourself." He looks back at me with sad eyes; I can tell he listened to me and will not smack her again today. Five minutes pass before Oo starts wailing again — T had head-butted her. So this time I knelt down to his level, looked at him with a serious scowl, and told him, "Do not touch Oo with your hands or your head or your feet." Notice how I threw the feet in there? I'm such a clever mom: always thinking ahead.

Shortly after that, he bit her.

The fights don't start when I'm in the room, so I never know who started one. I can guess who the instigator was — based on who's in a crabby mood that day or who really wants some attention (good or bad) from Mommy — but I never really know for sure. Not knowing who caused the tiff makes it hard to administer a punishment, so I'm starting to punish both of them. Now, after every fight they both have to sit in a time-out and they both get a stern talking to.

We'll see how this works.

A School Year Summary

A week after her graduation celebration, Oo had her last day of preschool. The teachers kept it a low-key day, sticking close to the daily routine. Oo was nervous before the last day. She had a hard time sleeping and was afraid her teachers will soon forget her. But when I picked her up after school that last day, she was bouncy and cheering, "Summer break! Woo-hoo!" Seriously?? I thought a few more years would pass before I'd hear her say that.

And so, we celebrated the last day just as we had celebrated the first: eating ice cream! Here's a picture of the more recent of the two trips to our favorite ice cream shop. She's striking a "fancy" pose.


For this next picture, I told T to say, "Ice cream." Instead, he said, "Ice cream cheese!" He cracked himself up with that one; he's still laughing about it.


Throughout the year, Oo's teachers did a GREAT job photographing the kids and sharing the pics with us parents. Below are some shots of Oo at school.

Playing with new friends during the first week.


Hunting for pumpkins before Halloween.


Making a ghost storybook for Halloween.


Muffins with Mom Day.


Celebrating her 5th birthday. (And no, that huge cake is not real, but the candles are.)


A visit from Santa.


Celebrating the Winter Olympics with some games of their own.


Posing with a flag we created as a family to represent her one-person Olympic "team."

Doughnuts with Dad Day.


Handing out valentines for her classmates.


Oo and one of her best friends during the Pledge of Allegiance.


Oo and that friend during the Easter party. (Much to Adrian's displeasure, the two have already professed their love for each other. Me?... I think it's sweet.)


So that was her school year through Easter. When the teachers send pics from the rest of the year, I'll share any good ones.

What a great school with amazing teachers! I'm looking forward to sending T there in a couple years. Oo's also looking forward to it; she thinks that with T there her teachers will be able to remember her.

I don't think she has anything to worry about. Each of her eight teachers (yes, I said eight) told me how sad they were to see her go and how they wished she was coming back next year. Oo's a lovey, sweet girl. I'm lucky to have the whole summer ahead to have her home with me.

Haircut

Oo decided a couple months ago that she wanted short hair for warm weather and long hair for cold weather. I had to explain on many occasions that if she cuts her hair in the spring, it probably won't be long again once fall rolled around. I'm not sure she believes me. Who knows? Maybe she'll prove me wrong.

Yesterday was the big day. Adrian knew that a new haircut was coming, but he didn't know when; Oo wanted to surprise him. Her plan is to also surprise her teachers and classmates. When she first decided to cut her hair, she told me that she needed to cut it before summer vacation because she wants to go to school and have everyone tell her how beautiful her new haircut is. (She is her mother's daughter.)

Daddy was totally surprised yesterday, as were all the neighbors we saw. Oo was so thrilled every time she saw a new person to show off her hair to that she bounced up and down like a caffeinated child. With each meeting, I had to tell the excited blur to stand still so that the person could actually SEE her hair.

Here are the before and after shots. I know that she would LOVE to hear more reactions to her new do, so if you want to send Oo a message via the blog or an email to me, I'll be sure to pass it along to her!

Before:


After: (I also had to beg the jumping bean to stand still for this picture. Notice how she's squeezing herself with her arms... she's literally physically trying to restrain herself from jumping.)

Graduation? Really?!?

When Oo was three, I had no plans of sending her to preschool. I didn't go to preschool. Besides, even at three, Oo was quite the little smarty pants. The idea of her going to preschool just seemed like a pointless exercise.

But the more moms I talked to, the more I realized that almost EVERY kid goes to preschool nowadays. Seriously, in the past few years I have yet to meet a mom my age-ish who wasn't or didn't send their child to preschool. Still, I wasn't sure Oo needed it.

When conversations about kindergarten began in my circle of mom-friends, I learned how much a child is expected to know these days BEFORE they go into kindergarten. I thought, "Wow! Really?? I think that's great!" Kids are sponges able to absorb all kinds of info. They WANT to learn; they want to know how to manipulate their world and be as independent as possible. Why not give them a jump start? I also thought of the social disadvantage Oo might have if—unlike other kids—she were not exposed to a classroom setting prior to kindergarten.

At the urging of a friend, we did a preschool trial-run (see blog post from Sept. 2008) when Oo was three. She was eager to go to school, so we signed her up for a once-a-week preschool class. She hated it! The things taught in that class were so basic that Oo was bored out of her mind. You should've seen the look on her face after her first class: totally bummed, utterly disappointed.

A year later, I decided we should find a preschool for her, an affordable school that would challenge her and that had a warm, loving environment . A tall order! Following some advice from a former co-worker, I visited a school and met with its teachers. It was exactly what I was looking for but didn't expect to find!

In this past year, the school surpassed my expectations. Every teacher (and there were a lot of them—3 teachers for every 18 students!) was genuinely loving toward the children. Oo was challenged and encouraged, hugged and gushed over. At the start of every school day, she bounced out of the car with a huge smile on her face. And when I picked her up after school, that huge smile was still there. The teachers nicknamed her "Smiley" and always let me know how much they enjoyed her joyful personality.

Wednesday night was her graduation ceremony and spring concert. In my mind, preschool and kindergarten graduations are utterly superfluous. Why not save the big graduation event for big academic accomplishments? And so, as I baked cookies for the post-ceremony reception, I tried to think of some genuine words of praise to say to Oo on her graduation night that didn't reveal that I thought the whole thing was pure silliness.

As I thought, I began to realize just how much she really did accomplish. Not just learning to write legibly, cut with scissors (I never let her use them prior), and color within the lines. She learned how to be a thoughtful member of a big group. She learned it's okay if our friends want to play with someone else for a change. She witnessed a little bad behavior and took ownership of her own behavior, feeling very proud that she never got into trouble. She made many crafts and was delighted to see how much she is capable of creating. She learned that, in addition to family members, many people love her because of who she is.

And the list goes on and on. By the time the last batch of cookies was in the oven, the kids were asleep in bed and I couldn't wait for graduation day to come. I was excited for Oo, and also, I couldn't wait to see the teachers and gush over them for a change.

Below are pictures of our graduate. We also took some video—I figured a way around our camera-laptop compatibility issue—but the "cinematography" is really bad. I don't dare show it for fear you get seasick from the shaky camera.

Here is our proud girl holding her diploma.


Walking down the aisle after the ceremony. So beautiful!


Hanging out at the post-graduation reception, or as T called it, "The Cookie Party!"

Even though Oo graduated, she still has one week left of school. The school likes to end the year with an ice cream social and a few days of their normal routine before the kids say good-bye to their teachers and friends. Oo told me she's going to miss everyone. Me too. Until, that is, T goes there in two years!

Bed, Bed & Beyond

First of all, thank you to those who answered my plea in the last posting and signed Jamie Oliver's petition. As promised, since more signatures were added, I'm posting more pics and stories of the kids:

Last weekend, Adrian and I dropped the kids off with grandparents and headed to Ikea for some fun shopping. Our mission: 1) a twin bed for Oo so that T could move out of the crib and into Oo's toddler bed; 2) new bedding to fit Oo's new bed; and 3) a bookcase for T. After a four-hour round-trip drive and four hours in the store (there's just so much to look at!!), we were successful. And since the kids were having an overnighter with the grandparents, we were able to come home, disassemble the crib, assemble the new bed and bookcase, rearrange the rooms, and wash the new bedding. All that and we were still able to go to bed by 3am!

Waking up without children bouncing on us was a very weird experience. You'd think that we'd want to enjoy the quiet morning, leisurely sipping hot coffee and reading the newspaper uninterrupted, but we were too anxious to get the kids and bring them home. You see... they knew nothing about our redecorating plans. All of this was a total surprise.

We played it cool when we got home. Adrian went upstairs first and convinced T to tag along with him. We figured that it would be best to let T see the changes first—giving him a chance to react in his own laid-back way. We knew that if Oo was the first one to see the bedrooms there would be so much squealing and jumping around that we wouldn't really get to hear T's reaction to the whole thing.

We videotaped the kids' reactions (darn cute footage), but ARGGG! our video camera is not compatible with our laptop—a frustrating discovery I made this week. Alas, since I cannot show you the video as I had planned, I took some pictures yesterday. I hope the pics will give you an idea of how thrilled they were to see their new rooms.

The picture below is T standing in front of his new "Book Club." He always refers to Oo's bookcase as her "Book Club" (which drives Oo nuts), and now he has a Book Club of his very own. A decorating aside: the curtains were purchased at Ikea eight years ago, and the striped canvas bins were purchased at Target this week. A perfect match. What amazing luck!


T insisted I take the following picture of him playing with his moose, named Chocolate.


And below is T on his big-boy bed. He's excited about it, but he's a little worried about his crib, which we put in the attic before we brought the kids home. "Where'd my crib go? I think it went up into the sky!" Is he talking about a crib heaven??

In the picture there are two sharks. On the pillow is T's shark, Speeka. While Adrian and I were shopping for Oo's new bedding and curtains, etc., we began to feel like T was getting short-changed, so we bought him a stuffed animal—a shark that is a much bigger version of Speeka. T has named the new shark... you're not going to believe this... Big Speeka. The shark was definitely THE highlight of the new decor as far as T is concerned.


Below is a picture of T and Oo wearing "hats."


And now for Oo's room! Oo's new bed is a twin-sized mid-loft. A two-rung ladder on the side gets her up to her bed. The ladder has proven to be a major source of entertainment for the kids. Up the ladder. Down the ladder. Up the ladder. Down the ladder. Up the ladder. You get the picture.


We put the bed where her Book Club used to be. The loft fits very nicely there and, despite it's height, it doesn't make her room feel crowded. The empty curtain rod on the wall is where a quilt used to hang. I'll be moving the quilt over to another wall and hanging her name alongside her bed. Like her tiara? She insisted on wearing it for these pictures.

Below is Oo with her books. I confess... I posed her for this picture. She doesn't normally rest her feet on the ottoman. She'd much rather use it as a step stool to help her reach the fragile keepsakes we keep on top of her dresser.


The next picture shows the play space below Oo's bed. We outfitted it with a few floor pillows and a small table and lamp. I have sheer, sparkly, hot pink curtains to hang across the opening; I just need to fire up the ol' sewing machine (yuck!) to hem the bottoms. I also need to hem her new window curtains—they match her bedspread.


Aside from the kids' total surprise and delight with their rooms, there have been a few reactions that we were not expecting. The first of these is that the kids don't crawl into our bed in the middle of the night, every night. In the past week, Oo and T have only had one instance each of sneaking into our bed. Are they more comfortable in their new beds? Do they think our bed is lame compared to theirs? I don't know; I don't care. I'm just glad I'm not getting kicked and elbowed in the head every morning.

The next reaction we weren't expecting is that both kids are sleeping later. On Friday, T didn't get up until 8:15. EIGHT FIFTEEN!! This from the child who used to be happy to start his day at 5:30.

Another unforeseen reaction: T doesn't want to be rocked at bedtime anymore. When we rearranged T's room, Adrian wanted to put the rocking chair in the attic. The sentimental mom in me crumbled when I heard this. So much baby-mom bonding happened in that chair. Many bottles were fed while mom and baby locked eyes with each other. Slow rocking and lullabies ended every evening for the past five years. Many long, middle-of-the-night wakings were toughed out in that chair. Boo-boos and upset stomachs were soothed away with big hugs and rocking in that chair. A library full of books were read in that chair. I wasn't ready to put the chair in the attic. Uh-uh. No way.

But I guess I'll have to part with the chair soon anyway. Not only does T not want to rock to sleep in it, he doesn't want to read bedtime stories in it anymore either. Right after brushing his teeth, he climbs into bed and asks me to turn out the light. All T needs at night is Purple Bunny, Speeka, and Big Speeka, snuggled up with him in his tiny little bed. It's amazing to see him suddenly so independent.

It is also amazing that the kids are able to sleep so soundly. You would think they'd be roused by Adrian and I tip-toeing into their rooms over and over again to see how content and cute they look sleeping in their new beds. Hmmm... I wonder if I could take some pics to show you...

"Zzzzzzzz... BRIGHT FLASH! Waaaaaaah!! What was that? Mom, that scared me! I need to sleep in your and daddy's bed!"

Um, yeah. Sorry. Those pics aren't going to happen.

Food Revolution

Children today are expected to live 10 years LESS than their parents.

Thirty-two percent of our nation's children are obese or overweight.

Shocked? Horrified? I am.

Maybe you've seen ads for Chef Jamie Oliver's TV show "Food Revolution" — named after a health movement he has organized. And hopefully you've even tuned in to watch an episode or two. The premise: Jamie Oliver is putting his whole heart into changing the health of our children. His approach involves improving school lunches by replacing things like chicken nuggets, frozen pizza and french fries with fresh food and locally grown produce. Among other things, Jamie is teaching lunch ladies how to cook from scratch, showing school administration how to purchase healthy food within their budget, and most importantly, making Americans aware of the crap that we're feeding ourselves and our children. (I've included a few links below if you want to learn more.)

As part of his health movement, Jamie is asking for people to sign a petition. This petition is a show of hands — to show government and industry how many of us care about the health of children and what they get fed at school. The petition reads as follows:

I support the Food Revolution. America's kids need better food at school and better health prospects. We need to keep cooking skills alive.

That is all it says. A simple statement about a serious problem. Please add your voice to the 522,234 people who have signed to date. Click here to sign the petition online.

For more information:

- Check out this speech given by Jamie. You won't regret spending 20 minutes of your time to watch it.

- Watch this promo for the Food Revolution show.

- Visit Jamie's Food Revolution website.

Okay, so you sign the petition, and I will promise lots of updates on the kids in my next blog post. And believe me, we've been busy around here — there is a lot to fill you in on.

Hugs!

Quick Quote

After T had been sitting on the potty for a while, I went into the bathroom to check on him.


Me: Hey bubby, are you all done?

T: No, I not all done. I trying to poop out a rainbow.

Me: A rainbow?!?

T: Yeah, a rainbow. First I gonna poop out red and orange and lellow and even violet!


You know, I never in my life imagined that I could feel apprehensive about seeing a rainbow. Until now.

Doing the Bunny Bop

When she was younger, Oo and her bops were good buddies. And since using a bop was not affecting her speech development, I wasn't too concerned about breaking her of the habit. I even thought that she may give them up on her own. She loved/loves to talk and the bop kind of got in her way, so she weened herself down to using it just when she was sleepy or needed a little comfort.


However, once T was born, I grew tired of keeping track of two sets of bops—keeping them clean, making sure they weren't interchanged with the other kid's bops, and always knowing where the bops were at naptime or bedtime. So, shortly after Oo turned 3, we took her bops away.

Following a friend's advice, we gave Oo's bops to Santa's baby reindeer. On Christmas Eve, Oo lovingly put ALL of her bops on a plate next to the cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. You see, we had been let in on a little secret: Santa leaves a special, extra present for children who give their bops to the baby reindeer. Great opportunity to break the bop habit, right? Wrong!! After we put Oo to bed, we had some final preparations for Santa's visit and we needed to wrap the presents from Mommy and Daddy. But instead, we were kept very busy consoling a sad little girl who was too upset to fall asleep.

This Christmas, T was just a couple weeks shy of turning 3—a good age, we think, for giving up bops. Needless to say, we did NOT give them to the baby reindeer. Taking a different approach, we checked a book out of the library called "Little Bunny's Pacifier Plan," in which a dentist gives a gentle (and far more sane) plan for breaking Little Bunny of his bop habit. Step 1: the bop never leaves the house. Step 2 (a week later): the bop stays in his bedroom. Step 3 (another week later): the bunny has to sit in the chair in his room to use his bop. Step 4: he gets tired of spending time in his chair and realizes there's more fun to be had without the bop. T liked to use his own bop to act out the story when I read it, and without any suggestion from me, he declared that he, too, had a bop plan. His plan mirrored that in the book.


We had five strong days of Step 1, before T started sneaking bops outside in his pockets. And often, while driving merrily along in our car, I would suddenly tune in to the "slurk, slurk" sound of him sucking on his bop in the back seat. It looked like I would have to renew the book with the library for three more weeks, and start over with Step 1.

Or... (insert angel choir singing an epiphanous "Aaaaaaaaa" here)... we could just donate the bops to the Easter Bunny's babies. Yes! Adrian and I decided that's what we'd do. After all, prepping the house for the Easter Bunny isn't nearly as involved as getting ready for Santa.

After plans were set with the Easter Bunny, I excitedly told T about the special gift the Easter Bunny gives to children who give their bops to the baby bunnies. And thanks to the illustrations in "Little Bunny's Pacifier Plan," it was really easy for T to visualize baby bunnies sucking on bops.

On Friday night, we did a test-run. Fridays are Movie Night, so it was late (9:15) before the kids were going to bed. It was Adrian's turn to rock T and read him a bedtime story. As always, T asked for his bop, but Adrian said he didn't know where T's bop was. T responded, "I just want to go nigh-night." He was too tired to put up a fuss, and he slept peacefully through the night.

On Saturday night, we had a tiny green pail that we filled with Easter grass. We gave T his four bops, said how proud we were of him, and told him to put his bops in the pail for the Easter Bunny. We also reminded T of the special present that the Easter Bunny gives to kids who give bops to the baby bunnies. T stood there and hesitated. He put one bop in his mouth, clutched a bop in each hand, and rolled the fourth bop around on the floor with his bare toes. My heart sank a little, and I felt tears well up.

But he did it! He made it through another night without a bop, and he is now completely bop-free. With the help of Easter candy and his thank-you present from the Easter Bunny, T didn't miss his bop very often on Sunday, but when he did, he'd melt into a sad sack of potatoes. Here is a picture of T checking out the rocket ship that the Easter Bunny left for him:


Today was much harder for the little guy. Mondays, to begin with, are always hard around here—the kids miss Adrian terribly when he heads back into the weekday grind. T asked many, many times for his bop today. He searched in all the usual places for a bop: under his bed, in my pocket, behind the bananas on the kitchen counter. When I reminded him that the baby bunnies now had the bops, he'd slump down to the floor. I told him I was proud of him, and I gave him lots of extra hugs and back rubs. Usually that helped matters, but there were a couple times where he clenched his fists, glared at me with angry eyes, and let go with a fierce roar. But just as quickly as he lost his cool, he composed himself and told me, "I yelled at you. I'm sorry, Mom."

And I felt tears well up.

Save That Other Planet

Oo has a new obsession: the former planet Pluto. She first learned of Pluto last summer, when we bought a floor puzzle of the solar system. As she and I worked on the puzzle, we talked about the sun, planets, comets, and other celestial bodies illustrated in the puzzle. And as you can see in the picture below, Pluto has tears streaming down its face.


She was very curious about why Pluto is sad, and I told her that it may be because Pluto used to be a planet but isn't any more. After that, whenever she puts the puzzle together, she asks why Pluto is sad—not because she doesn't remember my answer, but because she's hoping for a reason that doesn't sound so grim.

This Friday, we received a shipment from Amazon, which included among other things, Martha Stewart's "Cupcakes" cookbook (yum!) and the They Might Be Giants' DVD/CD set entitled "Here Comes Science." A song on the album—"How Many Planets?"—teaches kids the names and order of the planets in our solar system. The song also addresses the Pluto situation and explains why, in 2006, the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet.


The song has re-ignited Oo's interest in Pluto, but with much fervor. After watching the song's video, she pounded her fist into the palm of her hand and declared, "I will not rest until Pluto is a planet again." Her approach to free Pluto from its sorrow involves contacting the government and telling them they must change Pluto back into a planet. To this plan I nodded my head, not daring to inform her that the government is pretty busy with other stuff right now.

Her devotion to Pluto is unfailing. She has been composing ballads to Pluto:

Pluto, oh Pluto, I will always be your friend.
Don't worry, oh Pluto, you'll be a planet again.

She has made a couple drawings of her and Pluto holding hands (notice, Pluto is now smiling):


She also challenges me multiple times throughout the day to name all of the planets. When I name them—Mercury through Neptune—she gets really ticked off at me for not including Pluto. A teeny, tiny part of me enjoys getting a rise out of her. A little tit for tat, if you will.*


* While wearing a mischievous grin, Oo admitted to Adrian this weekend that she likes to ask us "Why?" over and over and over. She calls it "The Why? Game." I call it "Let's Fluster Mommy."

St. Patrick's Cookies

A Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day to all of you!

We celebrated simply this year, as we usually do — green paper shamrocks taped to the front door, Adrian's fabulous corned beef pizza, and of course, the wearing of the green. Add to that, however, St. Patrick's Day cookies, which I volunteered to bake for the party at Oo's preschool.

I found a delicious cookie recipe online: Blarney Stone Kisses. So yummy! I made the dough on Monday, let it chill overnight, and then sliced and baked the cookies on Tuesday. T stayed close by my side during the whole process. While the cookies were cooling on the racks, he stared at them longingly (and without much patience). After a time, he informed me:

T: Hey Mom, these cookies are sad.

Me: Yeah? Why is that?

T: Because they want frosting on their head.

Much to T's delight, the next step was to drizzle green icing over the cookies and top each one with a Hershey's Kiss. Here is a picture of T excitedly enjoying one of the many Blarney Stone cookies he has eaten this week.

Ballet Party

I have a ton of house cleaning to do right now—we have a new sitter coming tonight, and I'm always nervous when someone sees our house for the first time—so I must make this post brief.

Oo went to a friend's birthday party this afternoon that was held in a ballet studio. She had an amazing amount of fun! Here are a couple pics:

Mr. Tidy

T is my little "Mr. Tidy." Now, I'm not saying that he never makes a mess or ignores me when I ask for toys to be picked up. Lord, no! But in the "Odd Couple" that is Oo and T, T is the Felix to Oo's Oscar.

Oo leaves a trail of toys behind her as she walks. If she knocks something off a shelf, she leaves it on the floor where it fell. If you ask her to come to the table to eat, she flings whatever happens to be in her hand across the room to fall where it may before she'll come sit down. She prefers to have books in stacks on the floor rather than on the bookshelf, because that way she can keep the ones she has read separate from the ones she needs to read next.

T, however, wears a big toothy smile when he hangs up his coat and stuffs his hat into the sleeve (he'll also hang up Oo's coat if she forgets too). He practically giggles when he tosses his empty sippy cup into the sink. And as soon as he notices a couch pillow on the floor, he puts it back on the couch automatically.

Today, I came into the family room and saw T stuffing balls between the wall and the back of the couch. It's a tight squeeze back there, so not many of the kids' balls would fit, but he was trying his best. I asked:

Me: "T" what are you doing?

Oo (who always answers for T): He's shoving balls behind the couch.

Me: I see that Oo (I also see that T has begun shoving Oo's My Little Ponies behind the couch), but I asked T. T, why are you shoving things behind the couch?

T: Momma do not like a big mess.

I appreciated the attempt at cleaning up, but I did not enjoy having to move the couch to fish out ponies with dusty manes. Yuck! Didn't I just move all this furniture to vacuum behind and under it? Oh, wait... that was last summer. Yuck!

February's Highlights

I spent a little time this evening downloading pictures from my camera and organizing them on the computer. (One of these days, I'm going to actually order prints and put my pictures in albums!) Below are a few pictures from February that I thought you might enjoy.

We had our 2nd annual Valentine Walk on our street. At one o'clock on Valentine's Day, all the little kids on the street walked around delivering Valentines to each other. This year, T was old enough to grasp the concept of getting mail from his friends. The picture below doesn't show his excitement (it was freezing cold that day), but once we were inside and reading all of the cards, he kept shouting, "Momma, look! Look! Anuhder Balentine!"


After the Valentine Walk, but before we headed inside for some hot chocolate, we played in the backyard for a while. When the snow gets deep back there, Adrian shovels out trenches so the kids can swing and play in their toy house. (I haven't been back there in a few days—I've been stuck in the house since Sunday with a sick Oo—but I've been informed that there's an igloo back there, just waiting for Oo to climb inside.)


For Christmas, the kids were given a small drum set, a toy guitar, and a couple of microphones. Adrian has been working to teach them a song by The White Stripes. Here's a picture of them rockin' out with a friend.


One of my favorite ways to be pampered is to be left alone in the house... by myself... alone... with no one yammering away in my ear or pounding on the bathroom door. On a recent Sunday, Adrian took the kids to the zoo to give Mommy some alone time. When they returned, the kids were excited to show me their new stuffed animal friends that they got from the zoo's gift shop. Oo named her harbor seal "Harrison" (we have no idea how she came up with that name), and T named his shark "Speeka." It was the first time that T ever named a stuffed animal by himself.


Oo has taught herself to read. It happened very suddenly, and it's super exciting for us on many levels. One cool thing about her being able to read is that she can now read books to T. He loves it when she reads to him (he's very proud of her), and she's happy to be playing the role of the big sister. You would think that I'd take that time to slip away to do a load of laundry or sneak a piece of chocolate (depending on the kind of day I'm having), but I don't. I find it hard to pull myself away. I love hearing her read.

Pacific Standard Time

Yesterday, with his finger dangerously close to my eye, T said, "I love her green eyes. Hey Oo, I love her green eyes."

To which Oo lovingly responded, "And I love your blue eyes."

Then T said (with his finger again frightfully close to my eyeball), "Yes, I have blue eyes. Her have green eyes... and red."

Darn you, Olympics! Why do you have to be on so late at night?

Imaginary Friends... or Fiends?

When Oo was little-er, her first imaginary friend was Chewbacca. And what a friend he was—always amusing Oo and trying his best to help Oo get her way. (Side note: Oo first saw Chewbacca on an old episode of The Muppet Show starring characters from Star Wars.)

Now that T is of the age of imaginary friends—ack! I still can't believe he's three!—he too has welcomed some rather strange beings into his private inner circle. The first of these is Green Cookie, and then there are the Zoo-Zooms. Unlike Oo's friend Chewbacca, I have no idea from where these creatures came. However, I do know this: their first appearances were in T's nightmares.

After a night of fussing and crying in his sleep, T told me all about a green cookie that walks around the bedroom whenever T can't sleep. The cookie is very, very big, and it has no face—the lack of a face is what scared T the most. After a couple more Green Cookie nightmares, T told me that the cookie was sad because it had no face. And so, T says, he drew eyes, nose and a mouth on the cookie and then the cookie was happy. (Sounds like the little guy is a lucid dreamer like his mom.) I was very proud of him for coming up with his own solution to his fear.

From what I can gather, Green Cookie (who only visits in the middle of the night) and T are now friends, and T will tell me about how silly Green Cookie can be. But Green Cookie is not a friend that I would pick for my child (as if we can pick our children's friends), because sometimes Green Cookie will pay a visit without his face, try to break T's feet, or try to eat T. And then the 2:00am tears start flowing. Yeah, I know. Some friend!

Now, as for the Zoo-Zooms, they introduced themselves in a nightmare but they are around in the day too. T hasn't been able to describe to me what they look like, but I do know that they move around really fast and that they change color from red to blue (a fact that disturbs T a great deal). Sometimes T laughs about "the silly Zoo-Zooms" zipping around really fast, but for the most part they terrorize him. And unlike Green Cookie who never ventures out of T's bedroom, the Zoo-Zooms tend to lurk about the house, usually behind the TV.

Hopefully, T's imagination will cook up some new friends soon—some that are more fun and can kick a big cookie's butt.