01Aug
“Gracie,” I said. “Can we talk for a minute about your attitude lately?”
“Uhhh…okay.”
“Your dad and I are a little concerned about some of your behaviors. You haven’t been eating very much during the day, which means you’re waking up at night again. And you seem to be crying…like…a LOT.”
“Well, my mouth hurts, Mom,” Gracie said.
“That’s because you’re cutting teeth, Sweetums, but that doesn’t mean you need to be so…so…so…”
“Aggressive?” Gracie suggested.
“Aggressive? Where’d you learn that word?”
“Dad said I was aggressive.”
“He did?” I asked.
“Yep,” she said. “I was screaming one night and he said, ‘Gracie, you’re so aggressive when you’re angry!’”
“Oh,” I said. “Well, I wouldn’t really use the word aggressive. I’d say you’re more…um…well…”
“Pissy?” Gracie offered.
“Oh, Gracie! Don’t say that! You aren’t pissy!”
“Yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yeah, Mom,” she laughed. “I really am.”
“Well, if you know you’re pissy, then why are you pissy? Can we do something to make you unpissy?”
“Nah,” she said. “I’m not really pissy in my heart.”
“That’s good, I guess.”
“Yeah, I’m just pissy to get your attention. Cause I like you.”
“So, let me get this straight,” I said. “You’re pissy to let me know that you like me?”
“Yep. Well, and because I want you to know my teeth hurt. What’s the point in being in pain if you can’t let everyone around you know you are in pain?”
“Well, you have made your pain clearly known, my dear. So, do you think you could give the crying thing a rest?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “The crying thing has been working for me lately.”
“Yeah, but it is NOT working for me and your dad,” I argued.
“Okay, fine,” she sighed. “But I’m still going to do the waking up in the middle of the night thing.”
“WHAT?!?! WHY?!?!” I shrieked.
“Cause I like you, Mom,” Gracie said. “And I miss you in the middle of the night.”
“I miss you, too, Tubby, but you don’t see me crying and waking you up in the middle of the night, do you?”
“No…” Gracie said. “I guess not.”
“So, let’s make a pact that we’ll sleep straight through the night in order to make morning get there faster so we can see each other again.”
“Okay, Mom,” Gracie said sarcastically. “Whatever you say…”
01Aug
For the past month, Chris has been working night and day to prepare for the Target Family Theater Festival. It’s a festival that his theater puts on and that is sponsored by Target (totally coincidental, by the way…). The festival lasts all weekend and includes all kinds of outdoor activities for kids and then indoor performances for families. This year there were people from The Blue Man Group, magicians, singers, dancers, puppeteers, storytellers, and actors. And they all put on shows for kids!
Since Chris was working, my mom and Grandma came down to go with me and the kids. While I waited with the kids for them to arrive, we stood in a long line and waited for Bean to get his face painted. Thankfully, next to the line was a mini-golf set up, so Bean entertained himself by playing a quick round of golf.
When we got up to the face painting tent, I worried that Bean might get a little scared. They were painting kids to look like Spiderman and lions and tigers. Maybe it would freak him out? But Bean climbed up into the chair, asking for “Spidyma’am.” Rather than do a whole face, like they do with older kids, they just did a few spiderwebs for him. It was perfect and Bean was so proud of himself!
Shortly after, my mom and grandma arrived and so we headed in for our first show, Justin Roberts and the Not Ready For Nap Time Players show. He sang great kids music and must have been really popular because he packed the theater!
Bean ask Nana to take him down to the floor so he could dance, so the two of them sat front and center.
After the show, Chris stopped by and played for a while at the drum circle with Bean and our friends Dawn and Rob and their daughter, Claudia. The kids loved the drum circle. What could be more fun than beating things with tubes and shaking noise makers???
We had a really great day at the festival. As I walked around seeing all the kids and families enjoying the festivities, I beamed with pride in all the hard work Chris and his staff put into making it a special event. It’s been rough not having him around much this summer, but I’m so proud of him.
Now, let me pause and climb up on my soapbox for a minute. If you’ve never taken your kids to a theater production, then get thee to a theater! If you’re not a fan of theater, then take them to the ballet or the symphony or the opera. Most major arts institutions have children’s performances and I can guarantee you that the experience will enrich your kid’s lives. Music, acting, painting, drawing, dancing, or any other kind of art enhances a child’s creativity and gives them a view of the world that they might not normally see. A lot of people are hesitant to take their kids to arts performances because they’ve never been to them themselves, but think of it as sharing a new experience together with your kids.
So far, we’ve taken Bean to the ballet, symphony, and several different children’s plays. Sadly, through these experiences, we have learned that Bean does not have a gift for The Dance. But, we’re having fun finding the artist in him anyway!
02Aug
A few weeks ago, I had a bug bite on my leg and Bean saw me scratching it.
“It’s a bug bite,” I told him.
Now, Bean thinks everything that itches is a bug. He’ll be rubbing his eye and announce, ” ‘s a bug.” Or, he’ll scratch his ear and complain, ” ‘s a bug, Mom.” Then, the other day, we were in Target (naturally…) and Bean was scratching his head and he yells out, “It’s bugs, Mom!” The women in the aisle where we were standing gave me this grossed out look and quickly walked away from the kid with bugs in his hair.
*****
The other night in the bathtub, Gracie tooted and bubbles came up in the water. She sat there for a minute and then looked at me and giggled. Girlfriend is going to fit in just fine around our house…
*****
Bean has become obsessed with boo-boo’s. He thinks he gets them all the time. What he is really after, though, are the Cars 2 Bandaids that he gets when he has a boo-boo. The other day we were at the splash park and Bean got into the box of Bandaids I carry in my diaper bag. He proceeded to put about 10 Bandaids all over his legs. Later that day, we were at the grocery store and he started peeling the Bandaids off his legs and offering them to people as they walked by us. Mortifying doesn’t even describe it. I need a new word to describe how embarrassing it is when your two-year-old son offers used Bandaids to strangers.
*****
When Bean is using the potty, I sit Gracie in her Bumbo seat on the bathroom floor so she can hang with us (sometimes we’re in there a while…). This morning, Lucy walked into the bathroom and stood about a foot away from Gracie. Because Lucy is so short, she was just at Gracie’s sight line and it was the first time that Gracie got a good, long look at Lucy. What Gracie was really fascinated with was Lucy’s tail. It was wagging right in front of her. Suddenly, Gracie lunged forward and grabbed at it – and caught it! Lucy didn’t know what to do and neither did Gracie. She just sat there staring at Lucy, holding on to her tail, not sure what was going on. Finally, I had to pry her fat, little hands off so Lucy could be free.
In Lucy’s world, you get ONE freebe. That was Gracie’s. Next time, the gloves are off.
*****
On Saturday when I took Bean and Gracie up to the festival at Chris’s work, I decided to make this our first outing in big boy underwear. Bean was super excited and I made a big deal about it, too. I was really worried about the car ride to the theater, which was a half hour drive. I kept telling Bean in the car not to go pee pee on Mr. Incredible and to wait until we got to Daddy’s office. When we parked at the theater, I was so proud of him for not having an accident and so I went on and on as we walked up to find Chris about what a big boy he was for having dry underwear. Bean got so swept up in all this underwear talking, that when he saw Chris, he yelled out, “DADDY! DRY UNDERWEAR!” and right there in the middle of the festival, he pulled his pants down to show Chris his dry underwear. I quickly pulled his pants up, but not that didn’t stop Bean from beaming with pride in his dry Mr. Incredible underwear.
03Aug
I have sat down to blog for three days now and been stumped. You know in cartoons when a bunch of people try to fit through a doorway, but they all get stuck because they try to go through at the same time? Well, that’s been my brain lately. There is just so much stuff going on that when I sit down to try and let some of it out, it all gets bottled up and nothing comes. So today, I thought I’d just let it all out a little at a time, very slowly.
1. My 10-year high school reunion is this weekend. We’re heading up to our hometown of Gulf Breeze, Florida to drop the kids with my mother-in-law. She’s going to keep them all weekend while Chris and I stay out on the beach at a condo for a little getaway. The events of the reunion will be out there, plus there’s the beach. So the kids will get a mini-vacay with their Grandmomma (who spoils them rotten!) and Chris and I will get a mini-vacay by the beach with friends. I am so excited!
2. The only thing keeping me from enjoying this weekend 100% is that this also happens to be the only free weekend we’ve had in a few months to work on the new house. Next week we are painting through Wednesday, then the new carpet goes in on Thursday and Friday. And we’re moving on Saturday and Sunday. Oh, and I start work again on Monday. It’s a busy, busy time and not the best planning to be out of town. But, somehow we’ll make it work.
3. Speaking of paint. We are trying to get the house painted on the inside before the carpet goes in, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. Picking paint has been a bit of a nightmare. For one thing, we just haven’t had any time. And when we do have time, we have the kids with us, so we’re rushing before they get bored and fussy. Finally, Chris and I decided last night that it is better not to rush and to pick the exact colors we want and just paint carefully after the carpet is in, rather than hastily choosing paint we’re going to be stuck with. Yesterday though, we did spend some time at the new house painting ceilings (so not fun…) and looking at paint samples we’d painted on the walls. I think we might have found our bedroom colors. We’re using that sand color in our bedroom with white trim and that steel bluish color in our bathroom with white trim. We found bathroom tile that uses both of those colors and we’re thinking about putting that in the bathroom to bring both the colors in.
4. I usually love having my kids around no matter what we’re doing. But having them around while painting and moving into a new house is sort of a pain. Most of the time, we only get to work on the new house in the evenings after Chris works, so that means we load up a bunch of stuff to keep the kids entertained at the new house, get to the new house, and only have about half an hour where everyone is happy. Usually then, someone starts to lose it and I spend the rest of the time there taking care of the kids (who are whiny and cranky because it’s bedtime) while Chris has to work on the house by himself. Nobody is happy and it becomes a rushed, hectic event. Not fun at all.
5. I have been out of work for almost five months. If you remember, it was about this time when we first moved down to Florida and I was staying home that I started to go stir crazy. Well, it’s happening again. I love my children and I wouldn’t trade one minute of the time I’ve had home with them, but I am not made to stay at home. I just don’t enjoy it at all, so I get snippy and irritable. That makes everyone else snippy and irritable, too. It’s just a mess around here now. There’s so much going on, and yet we can’t do a lot of it yet. So, I am with the kids all day feeling like nothing is getting done. I’m counting the days until we’re in our new house, I’m working again, and the kids are back in daycare. Which, coincidentally, all happens on the same day!
6. I have a pimple. I haven’t had a pimple in 100 years and now, the week of my reunion, I have a pimple. It really does feel like high school all over again.
7. I have so many appointments that I was supposed to make over the summer and now it’s almost the week before school starts and I am trying to frantically get in to the hair salon, the doctor’s office, and the pediatrician. Way to go, Katie.
8. I am now an official consultant for 31 Gifts. YAY! That means a few things for you guys: a) You can buy 31 Gift bags and accessories through me directly (I’ll have a website for that soon). b) There will be some awesome reviews as I try new products and want to share them with you. Kind of like how I shared about my diaper bag. c) There will be some SUPER FUN 31 Gift giveaways coming soon!
There. I think that’s everything. I feel better already. Thanks, guys!
