Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I want some baby kittens. And a star wars guitar. And I want my own video game thing.... Nintendo.

From,
The Babe


Dear The Babe,

I'm sorry but if you had read Section 5A Appendix C of Santa's fine print you would have seen that Santa does not give perishable items, live animals or anything considered toxic. Also, Santa is morally apposed to guitars and Star Wars. It has to do with his Amish upbringing. And last but not least, according to Santa's list, you already own your own video game thing..... Nintendo.

So we regret to inform you that you will have to settle for the presents Santa's Elves already made for you a dumb 100+ piece marble run including 20 marbles and neato spinning pieces that your father can help you put together.

Love,
Santa's Helper

PS Santa does not take returns either.

Losing His Edge

The hubby told me this story last night. It is so funny that I had to post it on here.

The Babe was supposed to be sleeping but he continued to get out of bed for one thing or another. The hubby was sick of it so he finally said,

"If you get out a bed one more time, I'm going to spank you."

The Babe looked at him and started laughing (in a cute non-smart-alecky way) and said, "Daddy, your spanks don't hurt at all."

The hubby's lost all his edge. He no longer has any leverage. I think it's funny because he only half-hardedly spanks him anyway. I could probably count on one hand how many time he has spanked him. But it's funny that the Babe thinks that way. LOL.

I'm the Cool Mom!!!!

Today the Babe wanted to go outside to play. I told him he had to stay in the backyard because the Little Lady wanted to go out. He said he wanted to play with (insert friend's name here.....we'll call him George). I told him he could run go get George but they had to come play in our backyard. So they came back a few minutes later but George wouldn't come in our backyard. I went out to see what the problem was and found that it was quite cold. So I grabbed the Little Lady to take her in and George said that his mom wouldn't let him leave their yard either. So I said ok, go play at his house no biggie. Well as George and the Babe were leaving, George says to the Babe, "Wow, you're mom's cool! A lot cooler than MY mom."

Yes! At last, I've achieved the ultimate goal of being the COOL mom. Too bad yesterday I was the worst mom in world when I wouldn't let him go out to play because he lied to me.

Things are Fine

This is a picture the Babe drew at preschool today! How fun, huh? I can actually tell what it is....can you?

Things are going well with us. Today the hubby had a genius idea. He wanted to open a grocery store that sells already blessed food. This of course would be so you wouldn't have to bless the food at every meal. Genius huh? Would you shop there? Just doing some market research. lol.

Conversation in the Car

The Babe, "Mom, guess who can fix our car?"

Mom, "Who can fix our car?"

The Babe, "Bob the Builder!

Me Laughing....

The Babe, "Do you have his phone number?"

Crusty Bread

A few days ago, the Baby and the Little Lady were playing outside together. The Babe came in and told me the Little Lady was hungry. I'm sure he knew that through telepathy. So I gave him a piece of bread and told him he could eat half and he should give half to his little sister. He took off and I watched from the window to make sure he was sharing. It was so funny. He went out and sat next to her and carefully took the crust of the bread off and gave it to her. Then he ate the good part of the bread. I laughed so hard!

The sad part came when I called the hubby to tell him this story. He said, "Well that's what little sisters are for." It's sad but true. I'm sure my big brothers gave me the crust too. The hubby's poor little sister for sure got the crust.

Halloween PIctures

This is our little chicken eating some chicken nuggets.

Parenting Issues

Today a serious problem with the Babe came to a head. He is in this phase where he has decided he doesn't want to listen to anything I say. I thought this didn't start until he was a teenager. lol. But the best way to describe his attitude is that he is apathetic towards authority. Meaning, I, being the parent, make the rules and he doesn't want to follow them so he doesn't. I don't mean that I'm making unrealistic rules, I'm just trying to get him dressed in the morning and feed 3 meals a day. He talks back like he'll tell me no, I don't want to. I thought that reasoning through things would work but it hasn't. I thought perhaps I was being too strict. So I decided to consciously pick my battle and let him do things in his own time. For example, my girlfriend told me that she wouldn't make her kids get dressed until they were ready but if they missed activites then it was their lose. So I tried that and it completely backfired. He doesn't care if he gets dressed. No, he can't go outside but oh well. So I understand that I need to change my parenting approach....but how? What should I be doing that I'm not? I hate this parenting. It's always changing. Why couldn't it just stay the same for a few minutes?

Fatness

Last night the hubby, the Babe and I were jumping on trampoline. It's fun to go out there and play with the kids. The Babe loves to put a ball on it and try not to get hit by it rolling around and try not to let it fall off. So I got on and was jumping with the hubby when one of the springs flew off! They are held on by a strip or tramp material around a triangle where the spring connects. The material ripped clean off.

At about the same moment, our backdoor neighbor came out. The Babe just had to announce that daddy had broken his spring on the trampoline. The neighbor said oh how'd that happen. The Babe then told him it was because daddy was too fat. That's when I crawled under the trampoline and died.

I promptly made the Hubby look at the tags attached to the trampoline to see if there was a recommended weight limit. He looked and it said something weird like only one person could be on at a time and they weren't allowed to breathe. So not 2 minutes later, the Babe was "reading" the "instructions" as he calls them. His instructions went, "Daddy's aren't allowed to jump on the tramp because they are too fat and they'll break this thing right here. And then they'll fly off because he's too fat." I reassured the hubby that he's not fat.

Painting Pictures

It's not very often that I will post a bad picture of myself on my blog, so feel special. Not very many of the pictures turned out. I got a lot of pictures a blue wall or a bathtub and you can't really tell what color the walls are. So here are the 3 best. They are good progression pictures. All 3 are taken in the Babe's new room.

This first is a terrible picture of me so try to focus on the wall.

The next is the 2nd coat where the Babe is "helping" for the 2 seconds it took to take the picture. Don't worry, there isn't any actual paint on his roller. And me in the same clothes I wore for the entire week. We'll get there in the 3rd picture.

Now the 3rd picture is the Babe acurately describing what me, the hubby, my 2 children and my mother (who graciously watched my children all week) felt like at the end of the painting week.

Tomorrow perhaps I'll have my house in shape enough to take some moved in pictures which will show the colors of the walls also. But no promises this time.

Dietary Breakthrough

The Babe has made a breakthrough in his picky eating! He has sucessfully eaten a corndog (including the hot dog part) for 2 days in a row. This is exciting because he doesn't eat meat usually. I guess you could consider a hot dog meat. But come on, what kid doesn't eat hot dogs? We are thrilled! Perhaps tomorrow we'll try something green.

Success

The swimming lesson today was pretty much successful. There are 6 kids in his class 3 boys and 3 girls. One of the boys and one of the girls (who are friends) are completely out of control and the teacher spent most of the time trying to keep these 2 from drowning themselves. The Babe spent most of his time hanging on to the wall. But the neat part was, I could see the teacher show him something, tell him good job when he tried and then he would just light up at this praise. It was a very sweet mommy moment.

The success part comes this afternoon when we went swimming in our pool. I took him out there while the Little Lady was sleeping just before Daddy got home from work. And I encouraged him to do some of the things that they taught him at class and he did them! He successfully kicked across the pool while holding onto a noodle (unassisted) and he jumped off the side while holding my hands. He also went all the way under the water for a few seconds (in hopes of grabbing a penny off the bottom....motivation). This wonderful swimming session ended after I left the Babe with the hubby. Apparently, the Babe almost drown. Well probably not but it scared the hubby and the Babe. So we'll see how excited he is about going to lessons tomorrow.

Swimming Lessons

Tomorrow the Babe is starting swimming lessons. How scary?! I called the place to register him and to ask how it works. I ask if I was supposed to get in the pool with him and they assured me that wouldn't be necessary. Then I ask if I was supposed to stay at the pool during his lesson. The lady told me I could run errands (for the all of 30 minutes during the lesson). Then I ask, "what if he drowns?" To which, I got the response that they would be with a lifeguard. You know he's your first when you ask stupid questions like that. I should have ask if he drowns do I get my money back?

The Babe is super nervous about swimming and I'm guessing that he'll come home telling me he's not going back because they made him do something scary like put his face in the water and blow bubbles. But that's the beauty of paying someone else to teach him to swim, I don't have to force him to do that.

So we embark on a new adventure tomorrow. The adventure of carting kids around to various "lessons." Everyone told me how exciting this would be but somehow I'm not feelin' it.

Lack of a Driver

Today we had a scary experience for the Babe. To explain, I must give you a little background. In Vegas, there are tons of car washes all over town that cost $3 and there are guys who scrub your car a little before you go through the fun car washer with all the funny things that slap against your car and the spiny things that hit the sides. With a 3-year-old, we would frequent the car wash near our house. It was his little treat for being good at the store or library. At $3, it was cheaper than ice cream and hey I got my car cleaned too.

And. then. we. moved.

Here there are no neato car washers with guys who scrub your car. There are those places where you have to get out of your car and use the brush to scrub your own car and you actually pay for it. And we have yet to find one of those old fashion ones at the gas station that just have the neato spiny things that get the sides.

Today we were so excited when we saw and a place called something like Super Duper Car Wash. We pull in and it looks like the places we are used to, it smelled like the places we were used to but sure enough it wasn't the places we were used to. First, I was a bit upset at seeing their prices start at $6 and go UP from there. And that was for the exterior only. I begrudgingly agreed and went to pay the nice man when he told me I needed to get out my car and take the money inside.

Get out of the car??

I had my sleeping 9-month-old and overly excited 3-year-old in the car. So I asked the man if I could leave my kids in the car for the 2 seconds while I ran in to pay. He said sure. *insert bad mother comments* Well I paid, came back out to find my car was gone! GONE! Apparently, they take the car through the washer for you. Well my 2 kids are in there. ALONE! I go back in the place and there are huge windows where you can watch your car go through and me I could watch my kids. I could see my son freaking the heck out in my car. As soon as the car came out, I notice a man get in the drivers seat and drive the car off. Again, I have lost my car. What is with this place?

They drive it over to a drying station where the nice men dry it off. I run over there to find my 3-year-old of course freaking the heck out. I thought he was just upset because it was loud, or dark, or mommy wasn't there, or scary. But he was freaking out because the car had gone through the car washer without anyone driving it. LOL! Of all the things he could be scared of. I guess that's an important one on his list.

Booki Baaki

The Babe is fascinated with making up his own words. His latest is Booki Baaki. When we were moving, he told me that Booki Baaki was moving with us. I thought it was the beginning of an invisible friend. But since then he's named everything Booki Baaki. The hubby told him that we might get a cat when we move into our new house. He then asked him what he wanted to name the cat. The Babe doesn't get the concept of naming animals. So he was confused. But the hubby came to the rescue and told him we should name the cat Booki Baaki.

Now every day we talk about Booki Bakki and whether (s)he will be moving to the new house with us. I think he might be sad to realize that Booki Bakki isn't a real cat. It was just an idea.