Sally Says

Happy Halloween!

We carved our pumpkins last night.  Tommy's finally decided that pumpkin goo is gross.  It's funny how going to school every day can change their opinions of things.  Charlie couldn't decide if it was gross or cool.

And our scariest Halloween photo is after the jump.  It's pretty gross, so consider yourself warned.

George

George was a good little monkey, and always very curious.  One night, he got to sleep at our house, and he had a very good time.

 George got to see the snow.

But then he had to go inside.  It was too wet outside for a little monkey.  George watched the boys play from the living room window.

George watched a short movie in 3-D.  Tommy made sure his glasses didn't fall off.

George didn't really like his dinner, but he tried one small bite of everything.

George and Tommy defeated Daddy using wily monkey ninja tricks.

George wore himself out playing.

George had a cookie for dessert.  Charlie mistakenly believed that he had been invited to a 3-D superhero toga party, but settled for cookies.

George had a bath in the sink.

After a little spin in the dryer, George snuggled up to Tommy and Chester and went to sleep.  Munksters watched them from the corner of Tommy's bed.  Don't worry Munksters.  That other monkey has to go home tomorrow.

Good bye George!  We'll miss you! 

Tidbits

I've been way to busy for coherent writing this week.  Time for random unrelated paragraphs!  They save me every time.

It SNOWED today.  It started while Charlie and I were at Costco.  Charlie caught sight of the snow through the gigantic loading doors in the back.  He shouted "Snow!  Santa's coming tonight!"  All the grown ups surrounding us burst into laughter.  One lady summed it up nicely when she commented that I was in for a long afternoon of explanations.

Tommy's been loving the school bus.  He gets to ride it it home every day, and to school most days.  Charlie slept extremely late this morning, and I was having trouble getting Charlie fed and dressed in time for his school, so I let Tommy walk out to the bus stop by himself this morning.  I certainly didn't think I'd EVER do that, but it worked out fine. 

That's it for now!  Tommy's kindergarten class mascot, George the Monkey, is visiting us this evening.  He's going to get his very own blog entry tonight after I go to bed.  So watch this space!

Halloween Party Today

There was a halloween party at Tommy's school today, so Charlie and I spent all morning there.  It was a big success.  I don't have time to write much about it now because we have to go to swimming.  Here's a photo to tide you over.  I did a lot of planning and shopping and putting stuff together for the party, so that's partially why I've been MIA this week.  Busy, busy, busy!

Monday Mishmash

Tommy had a swim meet on Sunday and he did really, really well.  He came in third place for his heats in both backstroke and free style.  Go Tommy!  They gave the top eight racers in each heat ribbons.  I'm sure we'll find out how he placed in the entire group of 6 and under eventually, and I doubt he was near the top overall.  Getting a ribbon for his place within his particular heat was a great immediate reward for him though, and we're very proud of how well he did.  He seemed to know what he was doing and actually understood that it was a RACE this time and that he should try to go FAST.  That's a huge improvement over his first meet a few months ago.  At 5.5 years old, he's going to be racing in this same age group for more than a year, so there's lots of time for him to improve even more.

*******************

It's getting harder and harder to wait to buy Charlie a real guitar.  He carries the Guitar Hero one around all the time. It makes no sound, but he can pretend he's rocking out.  He tells me everyday, "When I'm a grown up I'm going to be in a BAND and play the drums and sing songs and have a beard and do lots of dancing exercises while people yell You Rock."

 

Car Trouble

The good news is that Tommy started taking the bus this week.  The bad news is that the rain seems to have cursed our vehicles

Charlie and I went to the grocery store after lunch.  We loaded up the trunk with tons of groceries, fastened our seatbelts, and discovered that the car wouldn't start.  It has power - the windshield wipers and radio came on when I tried starting it - but no starter spark.  We had 30 minutes until Tommy's school bus arrived on our block and no way home.  I called David and he said he'd start driving home right then and Charlie and I would start walking.  Hopefully, one of us would make it home before Tommy. 

Luckily, I had a stroller in the trunk.  I walked that 2.5 miles WAY faster than I thought I could, and turned the corner onto our street just as the bus arrived.  Whew!  Charlie and I were cold, wet and exhausted, but at least we made it in time to meet Tommy.  I'm so glad he wasn't stranded.  Of course we left tons of groceries stranded in our trunk.  Guess I'll be throwing out the meat and frozen stuff. 

In a freaky streak of bad luck, David's truck broke down too, while he was on his way home to come help us.  So he's stranded somewhere on Central right now waiting for AAA.  I have no idea what's going on!  We take really good care or our vehicles!  Maybe it's the rain.  We're just not used to it.  At least Tommy and Charlie and I are home safe and snug and sound with lots of popcorn and Halloween candy. 

So if you're driving around this afternoon and feel like doing us a huge favor, come by and pick up my keys and go get our groceries for us, will ya?  Thanks.

Some days you just have to give in...

and let the littlest boy sit in front of the TV all afternoon.

Charlie has a mild cold.  He's not very sick, but I'm doing the world a favor and keeping him home from school.  He's not happy about the sick boys must stay home rule.  He keeps telling me "I drank lots of juice, so I'm not sick anymore."  Huzzah!  All righty then.  If I'd known juice was the answer I would have tried that earlier.  Let's go to the library! 

(Actually, no, we're still staying home.  Nice try buddy.)

Can you tell he's driving me nuts a little bit?  On the plus side, he's asking for lots of snuggles.  A slightly sick Charlie makes for a less active Charlie which means more snuggles for me. 

On the down side, he won't nap even though he's wicked tired.  The sympathetic part of me understands that he's congested and probably can't get comfortable enough to take a nap.  That part of me runs and hides when he sits upright in his bed for 30 minutes shouting "FINE" at me anytime attempt to get him to lie down.  I don't think he understands the fine art of shouting the word "fine" in an exasperated tone.  He's got the inflection right -- he learned it from me after all.  However, in a perfect world he would shout it and then ACTUALLY LIE DOWN.

Oh well.  At least he's cute.

 

Pumpkin Patch 2009

We go every year, mainly because I love taking pictures of they boys surrounded by all that fall orange color.  I'm rather disappointed with the pictures this year however.  The sunshine and pumpkin colors were gorgeous as usual.  They boys weren't quite as obliging as usual.  Not wanting to sit still for pictures seems to be the new normal this fall.  I'll have to get better at taking sneaky pictures of them. 

 

Actually, Tommy the performer is always happy to smile for my camera.

 
 
Charlie's not quite so willing, which is why I find myself taking lots of pictures of them when they're trapped in the car.  At least this time we actually arrived successfully at our destination -- The Pumpkin Patch!

 

Hats are problematic

 

I must say we got the best pumpkins this year.  Having perfect pumpkins just about makes up for having less than perfect pictures. 

Civilized

Civilized...

If Tommy's standing in front of the TV, Charlie can calmly say "Please move Tommy.  I can't see." 

More Civilized...

We've finally established Friday night movie night.  Yes, we have to watch something animated and acceptable to the youngest viewer, but it's a BIG improvement in our over all quality of life.  Both boys new expect us to spend each Friday evening eating pizza and watching a movie quietly in the living room instead of rough housing and playing wildly with Daddy.

Most Civilized...

I'm spending the night at the Hyatt Tamaya Resort tonight.  It's not too far from our house and seems quite luxurious.  The boys didn't fuss a bit when I told them.  I plan to spend lot of hours reading, sleep as late as possible, order a room service breakfast, and maybe take a walk around the grounds with my camera.  Check out is a noon tomorrow and I plan to go to Where the Wild Things Are after lunch.  Then I have reservations at the St. James Tearoom with my friends at 4 pm. 

How's that for civilized?  

The Toothbrush

I just about broke Tommy's heart yesterday, and I couldn't stop laughing about it.  He's such a wonderful, quirky, sensitive little guy.  This time, the drama was all about his toothbrush.

I did a bunch of cleaning yesterday, and one of the things I did was gather up everyone's old toothbrushes and set out new ones.  I'm not very diligent about such things, but it just seemed like a good idea to start cold and flu season with germ-free toothbrushes. 

I made the mistake of asking Tommy which color toothbrush he wanted.  He looked at me with shock and horror and let out a strangled "gurp!"  Then he quietly asked me, "Where's my old toothbrush.  The green one that I love.  I've had that toothbrush for as long as I can remember."  (Actually he's had it since May.  I remember buying new ones after our horrible bout of Stomach Flu last April.)

I told him that it was on the kitchen counter and that I was planning to throw them away because we all needed new ones.  He lost it.  I don't know why I was surprised.  I rolled my eyes and told him to pull himself together.  Sometimes I'm just heartless. 

As I want to put the new ones into the bathrooms, I heard him scurrying around.  He sneaked into the kitchen, snatched up his old toothbrush and hid it in his bedroom.  That's when I realized I was probably going to lose this particular battle.  I told him to go get it.  He thought about disembling, but sheepishly went to retrieve it.  I agreed to let him keep it (for now) and boiled it for 1/2 an hour to disinfect it. 

It's likely to disappear sometime in the next couple of weeks.  Maybe I can find a replacement that's exactly the same and sneak the old one into the trash.  What he doesn't know won't hurt him, and continuing to use the same toothbrush for years might.  Some days I'm willing to just put my foot down, but yesterday was not one of those days.  It's so not worth the drama.

Belated Balloon Fiesta Update

Well, we made our second attempt to attend the balloon fiesta on Sunday.  We made it out the door super early.  We left right at 6 am and were parked and on the field by 6:15.  It was cold and windy.  We had some breakfast and the sun was just starting to come up when they announced that the ascension was canceled.  It was too windy.  Tommy was SO disappointed.  I guess it just wasn't meant to be this year.  Too bad we skipped sleeping in both weekend days for nothing!

 

What We Did Today

How's that for a thoughtful and insightful entry title?

Our plan was to go to the balloon fiest this morning.  Unfortunately, it's been years since we tried to go on a Saturday.  Weekends are VERY different.  This is all we managed to accomplish.

 

We spent an hour in the car and just managed to arrive at the parking lot as the last of the balloons were taking off.  Too slow and too late!  We turned back, drove around a few barricades, managed to avoid paying anything, and went out to breakfast.  We'll try again tomorrow, and this time we'll be out of the door by 6:15 am at the latest.  No piddling around!  Charlie kept sadly saying "the balloon fiesta was locked" all day.

We took the boys to the zoo for a consolation outing after breakfast.  It was a beautiful day for it and the zoo was quite empty of people.

 
After lunch at home, David and Tommy went to swimming, Charlie took a nap, and I cleaned up a bit.  Then my cousins, who are visiting here on vacation this week, took us out for a lovely dinner.

 

 
 
 
   

It's been October for a while now.

I haven't managed to post any pictures for you in a while, so here you go.  They're rather unrelated.  Oh well.  

Tommy can spell well enough to type "ZZ Top" into Youtube.  That's very helpful to me, because it's the ultimate answer when I get sick of hearing Charlie talk non-stop about BEARDS and GUITARS.

He does occasionally nap.  This happened Sunday night 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave for a birthday party.  It's exhausting being two-and-a-half and trying to fight THE MAN (AKA Mommy).  If THE MAN would just comply with each and every request, then there would be no need for exhausting temper tantrums and battles of will.  Charlie wishes he was THE BOSS of THE MAN but he's NOT.

Tommy's very interested in sports all of a sudden.  I blame his P.E. class at school.  He wants to keep up with the little boys in his class who already know the names of all the different balls and who can throw and catch proficiently.   

You would be so proud of me.  Tommy asked me why football is called football when you don't kick the ball.  I explained field goals to him BY MYSELF and then took the boys outside to kick some field goals BY MYSELF.  David got home a little while later and took over the instruction, but still.

Speaking of David, the satellite ships out in FOUR DAYS.  Freedom!  No more weekend work.  No more late nights.  No more 18 hour days.  Or at least he won't have to do any of that until the next satellite comes through. 

Hooray for fall!

The Wishy-Washy Cold

AKA The cold that is so mild you can't get out of doing stuff, but which is still strong enough to make you feel yucky

I'd rather have a wishy-washy cold than a Serious Ailment, of course.  Actually, I'd rather not have a cold at all.  Maybe it will go away eventually.  

Meanwhile, here's what Charlie did today...

1.  Hit Tommy with a toy teapot (probably accidentally) and then got mad when his "sorry" didn't make the pain go away immediately.

2.  Had to spend 30 minutes in his room because he wouldn't say "thank you" to me for the new book I bought him.  He was really impolite when I opened the package, screaming that it was "terrible" and that he didn't want it.  Nope.  THAT'S not going to fly.  All he had to do was say "thank you" nicely.  He didn't even have to read it or touch it or put it in his room.  He didn't want to, and then spent 30 minutes in his room refusing to do so.  He eventually got lonely and said "I'm ready now.  thankyouforthebook.  I love you!  Can I come out now?"  You would have been so proud of the way I calmly kept my cool throughout.  

3.  Swallowed a rock.

It's been a long day. 

Sum Up

I've had a cold, so things have been rather unfocused around here.  It's a very mild cold.  Tommy and Charlie have probably both had it too, but it's almost impossible to tell when they're only mildly sick.  They're not complainers.  I AM.  Therefore, we only really know that a cold is going around the family when it reaches me.  Then we can look back over the previous days and say things like, "Oh, maybe Charlie wasn't feeling well when he freaked out at preschool drop off on Thursday" or "Oh, maybe Tommy was crying about stupid little insignificant things last week because he had a sore throat."  One of these days the boys are going to be old enough to know that they're sick and use it to their advantage.  For now, I'll probably just continue unknowingly to send them off to school with the very mild version of the plague that they always seem to get because of their awesome immune systems, only to realize days later that they were probably sick when I get the more serious version of the illness thanks to my sucky immune system. 

Hmm.  That last one was a very convoluted sentence. 

Anyway, let's sum up the last few days, shall we? 

We went to the Greek Festival Saturday night.  I knew I had a cold by then, but everyone else was FINE.  I'm perfectly capable of washing my hands carefully and had no sneezes, coughs or snot issues (my colds are internally miserable and not noticeable to observers) so I went along too.  We didn't stay long.  We just ate some yummy food and listened to a bouzouki performance.  Actually, David and I listened and Tommy and Charlie danced...all by themselves...in front of lots of people...with very little actual skill.  They are definitely not self-conscious.  Tommy really went to town with his version of Greek dancing.  There was a lot of throwing himself dramatically onto the floor and foot slapping and awkwardly attempted jumping spins.  Charlie danced when he forgot people were looking, and was obsessively focused on the music.  Now he's asking for a bouzouki non-stop along with his requests for a guitar, a big drum kit, a violin, a concertina, and a BEARD.  The bouzouki player had a big waxed mustache (almost a beard!), so he was doubly cool in Charlie's eyes.

I was feeling pretty horrible Sunday and yesterday, so I tried to do as little as possible.  David and the boys did most of the housework on Sunday (making me look really bad when they got tons done in very little time).  Charlie had a birthday party to go to Sunday night, but he fell asleep at 4:30 pm and woke up CRANKY.  He and I stayed home and David and Tommy went to the birthday party instead.  They watched balloon fiesta fireworks from David's truck after they left the party, so they got home pretty late.  Charlie moped around and demanded soup for dinner and watched Toy Story 2 until bedtime.  I sat next to him and read whenever he forgot that he didn't want me to be reading.

Tommy went to school yesterday, and I really didn't feel up to entertaining Charlie all day.  I decided to take him to his first-ever movie theater movie.  There's a short-run double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in the theaters right now, so we tried that.  I knew he's prefer Toy Story 2 since he still watches that DVD at least once a week, but it didn't start until naptime.  Toy Story is also one of his favorites, but he really only likes the first part and the theater showing was in 3D.  Charlie enjoyed buying tickets, and finding the right theater, and buying popcorn and watching the previews, but he only agreed to wear the 3D glasses for about 1/2 the movie.  He was pretty twitchy for the 2nd half of the movie - probably because watching it all fuzzy without the glasses isn't very fun.  He did really well though, so I'm sure we'll try a new theater movie that's not in 3D someday soon.

So that's it!  I'm now sitting around drinking tea, and both boys are in school.  Hopefully neither one of them actually has the cold that I have.  It's so hard to tell with them. 

Why yes, he is MY child.

When I was in Tommy class on Thursday, I stapled together their Friday homework packets.  On top of each was their mid-term progress report.  It's a list of all the things they are learning this term, and check marks indicate areas for which they could "benefit from additional help at home."  For example, Tommy knows all his numbers 1-20 and can write them proficiently, so that section was not checked on his progress report.  (I tried really hard not to look carefully at anyone elses report.) 

His teacher said something about how happy I would be when I saw his, because he's doing really well.  Sure enough, there were almost no checks on his progress report.  There were three though -- knows birthday, address and phone number.  Now, I'm happy he already knows all the other stuff BUT he does know his birthday, address and phone number.  It only took me a couple of days to teach them to him and he can rattle them off without a hitch.  I suspect I taught them to him just a few days after he was tested.  That's one of the perils of having a last name early in the alphabet.

I tried to keep my mouth shut.  I really did.  However, I just had to mention to his teacher before I left that he does know those three things.  I can't help it.  It's just the way I am.  She smiled and said it would show up the next time they do that testing.

Tommy got to see his progress report last night.  We were very proud of him and our intention was to make a big deal about how well he's doing.  The first thing out of his mouth?  "Hey!  I do know my birthday, address and phone number!  I even wrote them down for Ms. F!  How come she thinks I don't know them?"

That's my boy. 

Obsessions

The obsessions of Charlie at two and a half year old are exhausting.  They're so repetitive and must be verbalized.  Tommy used to obsess just as much - if not more - but they were very internally focused.  Charlie needs to TALK about his over and over and over again.  It wears me out, I tell you.  I'm a much more patient person now than I was one, two or even five years ago, but it takes a lot of energy for me to manage his current obsessions.  It doesn't help that 75% of them start with the words "I want..."  I answer "no" and "later" and "someday" over and over and over, but it really wears me down.

"I want to grow up to be a grown up.  When will I have a spiky face?  A beard.  That's what it called.  I want that.  When I a grown up I will have a BEARD."

"I want a Princess Pea costume.  Then I can be a Super Reader.  When will the mail man bring my Princess Pea costume?"  (Answer: Tomorrow!  Hopefully he'll stop TALKING about it once he can wear the pink, frilly costume whenever he wants.)

"I want to be a One-Man-Band.  I can wear ALL the instruments.  A piccolo.  A concertina.  A BIG DRUM.  I'll sound like this [sounds I can't spell].

"Is it payday?  When it's payday we can buy all the things I want.  It will be payday next week...no, in two minutes...no, it a few days.  Is it payday now?"

"I want to make Dora cupcakes.  We'll put MILK IN THE BATTER and stir it and stir it and pour it in the pan for mommy and me.  Then we'll make the hair out of CHOCOLATE and the triangle mouth out of FRUIT LEATHER.  I want to do that.  Can we do it now?"

"I want to see the Wiggles again.  They're in Australia.  Please may we go to Australia.  It's not too far away anymore."

"I want a drum set.  It's on my Christmas list.  Is it Christmas yet?"

"I want a guitar.  It's on my Christmas list.  Is it Christmas yet?"

"It will be Christmas in two days."

"I will be a grown up as big as Daddy with a spiky face in two days."

Whew!  Two and a half is HARD.