"Doh! That will leave a mark"

My brother John loves movies. He LOVES watching and re-watching movies. He can have full conversations using quotes from movies. It is hysterical. Most of the time, I don't even know the movie reference. But he will use a line from Braveheart or any one of John Candy's movies. And he will do all of the voices. And so it goes.

I think Seren has picked up on some of this. Only her references are all from her books. Yesterday I said, "Got it Seren? We are going to go eat and then take a tub, Ok?"

She turns to me and says, "Aye, Aye Captain!"

Huh?

"Mom, it is from Lottie's New Beach Towel, remember?"

She often does stuff like this. She recently said she was not going to eat our Octopus stew. (We did NOT make Octopus stew). She got this line from a Halloween book. It is just the funny references that crack me up! You have to be in her world to understand it! I wonder what preschool teachers do with all of these kids and thier stories?

I actually emailed her teacher to express my sympatheis that either her dog or her husband was in the hospital (Seren told me both). The teacher wrote back saying, "HA! Neither! My mom had a doctor's appointment." She concluded, "I won't believe everything about home if you don't believe everything about school!"

I can only imagine what she says about our home life. Probably something about us forcing her to eat octopus.

Sharing a little bit too much with the neighbors

I have so many different things to write about. I have been feeling down for the past two weeks. It has something to do with the following factors. 1)Work hasn't been very rewarding 2) Our home is a construction zone with no sign of the end in sight 3)I return to work full time in December 4) My baby turns one in December 5) The holidays are coming which is overwhelming me 6) my parents have been gone and will be gone all month and 7) Just a sense of loneliness. So I have been doing a lot of crying at the oddest moments. Happy ones. Sad memories. Crazy! I associate some of this depression with the time change and everything just being in flux.

I have happy moments (time with my friend last week for dinner, a great visit with one of my best friends, laughing with the kids, hiking with the family, a fun 'tea' with colleagues etc). I will try to focus on those. Now that I listed them, I already feel better! I may try to explain some of my feelings in another blog post. Or I won't. :)

But I did want to share this gem. This past Sunday the kids and are were on a neighborhood walk. (My default when I get too tired of being cooped up inside). We walked down to the creek to check on the (non existant) ducks. Seren was sitting on my leg and I felt a litlte warmth. A tiny bit of pee had escaped and she said, "Oops! Gotta go potty!" So we turn to go back home. Just then our favorite neighborhood dog, Brown Sugar, said hi. So she engaged in a long chat with the dog. The owner came out of his home. We had never met directly so we said hi. I introduced my team. He was a wonderful grandfather like man. All of a sudden, I look over and Seren has pulled her pants down and is holding herself. What the hell? I look at her and say "Seren! What is going on!?"

I was mortified!!! I had JUST met this man. I just introduced ourselves and our family and told her where we live! And there is my little girl holding herself with her butt cheeks to the wind.

She said, "MOM! I TOLD YOU, I HAVE TO GO POTTY!"

With that, we set off running. Seren insisted because there was a tiny bit of pee, she didn't want to wear her pants. She pulled her pants down just so two cheeks would poke out and set off sprinting for our house. I said to the man, "Well! That's us! We certainly are memorable! Bye!" And sprinted after Seren. Seren was laughing like a hyenia and I couldn't help it but to just bust a gut. We tore into the house surprising Sam. Seren sprinted by him with her pants down and ran to the potty. Wyeth and I appeared later still giggling. Sam looked at me and said, "She just ran by here with her pants down! What is going on!?"

And THAT is being a parent. I haven't been that embarassed in a long time. I also haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Sweet Seren you are your own person. Full of humor. Life would just be boring without you!

Fall Leaves 09

Two of my new favorite pics taken on Monday:

"He's a hazard!" Wyeth at 11 months

Last week our Wy guy turned 11 months which means ONE is VERY close. I wanted to give a snapshot of our guy in action.

And let me tell you, he is a complete hazard. The walking ROCKS! He just walks now. No crawling. Nope, full on walker. His stance is so wide though that he looks like he just got off a horse. And he is so proud of his new found freedom. Mommy and Daddy on the other hand? Whew. TWO mobile children is quite the adventure.

Drawers? OPEN EM!

Wood chips? EAT THEM!

Cabinets that hold breakable bowls? BREAK THE BOWLS!

Electric sockets? STICK WET FINGERS IN 'EM!

Cords to computers? PULL 'EM!

He is into EVERYTHING. I took him to Lowes on Monday and said to the sales associate, "I brought my tester. I need your aisle with baby proofing materials." Aisle 9!

He also is a complete hug monster! Wow! Can he hug! And they are LOOOOONG hugs where he wraps his little arms around your neck and just squeezes. The boy is part Hague (my maiden name), that's for sure.

He recently added 'Mama' to his vocabulary but it isn't like he calls for me. He just talks in my direction and says Mama. I think that counts! He continues to clap and he recently did his first sign for 'more'! Clearly, I am proud of my little man.

We went up to our good friends' house on Saturday night in CT. And my friend and I took all four kids to the park. It was my first time solo parenting two MOBILE kids on the playground. I think my heart stopped 3 times. Wyeth has NO sense of limits. Or consequences of falling. Or hitting his head. He thinks he is made out of steel. Seren is very protective of him. "Wyeth! No! That will hurt!" Which is very sweet to see. On the drive up there they held hands in the back seat for much of the trip which was very sweet.

Wyeth is also very clingy. He can't say "up" yet but his hand gestures communicate that he wants to be picked up. If he had his way, he would be held a large majority of the day. For the most part we oblige. He needs breaks from all of the walking afterall!

Another funny thing that Wyeth does is 'growl' when we vacuum the carpet or mow the lawn. He makes the same noise that the machine does which makes me giggle.

Feeding him dinner is a big struggle recently as he doesn't seem to like what we are offering. He would prefer to be a 100% fruitarian. And just recently the tub seems to scare him a bit. Particularly the running water.

So it is going well. All of it. I feel very excited as well as sad to celebrate his first birthday. I have watched him just grow up. And every day I think he is a little bit bigger when I get him from his bed. Wyeth continues to bring me such joy. But him turning one!? Nah....

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009 was...interesting! And fun!

It started, in my mind, early in the week with Mommy flat out on her back. Friday morning was the big parade! Sam and Seren left in costume at 9:00 as Sam was the classroom helper. Everyone was in place by 9:45. The kids all paraded in! Our little witch was VERY nervous because she was afraid that her hat would blow away! (it was windy, after all). So she was biting her nails and biting her hat.



I laughed so hard. The parents all stood by classroom so we could have a front row seat for the event when they came by and then performed. She lit up like a light bulb when she saw our faces. And I felt that pride that comes from watching your kids achieve something. Even if the 'achievement' is standing there, hardly singing the song and nervously biting ones' hat. I loved it! And I liked standing there watching all of the other kids in the class with all of the other parents. The parade, overall, was a trip. The younger kids (including those in her class) cried when they saw their parents. For a fun event, there were a TON of tears.



Seren and Sam stayed and Wyeth and I came back. His fever which at waking was a little one, was spiking. He went straight to bed. Then he woke up and puked. Oh no! Our "black cat" was sick! I ran around like a stress case trying to find 'feverall' which is a tylenol suppository. No luck. His fever was managed the rest of the weekend but no seizures yet (touch wood, touch wood).

The parade was done- we made it to Friday.

We had planned on going to my hometown's parade about 45 minutes away but my parents leaving on a big trip, my brother in town and our sick cat, we thought there was no way we could manage that one.

Saturday turned out to be an insanely poor morning. We had noble plans of finally carving our BIG (26 lb) pumpkin that we picked up at a local farm the week before.



We talked it up big time! Yeah! We would carve! With Wyeth down, we laid out the newspaper, gathered all of our supplies and opened our front door to get the pumpkin from the front stoop. NO PUMPKIN! Someone took it!! What!? Seren's immediate response was that someone was 'borrowing it at their house' and would 'return it when they realized it was ours'. HUH? Sam and I were about to go bat sh*t in response to the stolen pumpkin but the fact that Seren came up with a WHOLE story as to where it was and when it would come back made us feel better. Sam left to try to find a last minute pumpkin.

Meanwhile, Seren and I stayed home with the sleeping Wyeth. At one point she says to me, "Mommy, why is the chandelier all smoky?" What? I turn to the dining room and see the dinning room table IN FLAMES!!!!

I did one of those panicked "what the hell do I do first" things where you can't tell if you should run to the table or run to the kitchen so you just freeze for a second. I ran to the kitchen, filled up a big pitcher of water and threw it all over the flaming newspaper, tablecloth and table. WHEW! OUT!! (I think it started from a spark from the candle).

The story about the fire continues to go on. She just learned all about fire safety at school and had about 10000001 questions about the fire. "Why didn't the firemen come?"

"Well, because it wasn't that big of a fire. If it was a big, big fire, I would have picked you up, gotten Wyeth and we would have ran out!"

"No, Mommy, you should get us and sing the song so you know what to do. You have to 'drop to the floor and crawl to the door'."

"Oh, ok. I would have done that too."

"And you don't need to 'call' the firemen, you just say 'FIRE FIRE!' and they come!"

Later that night, when trick or treating in our neighborhood she had to tell EVERY neighbor about the pumpkin that went joy riding on Hawk Road and the FIRE.

My nerves were shot I tell ya. Shot. So, in recap: parades, puking, spiking fevers, stolen pumpkins, fire and oh yeah, the standard trick or treating. The trick or treating, by the way, was a complete BLAST. We spent time at my parents home AND at our home. Totally awesome. Happy Halloween 2009!

Lost a week!

There are so many things to write about but I don't know where to start! I had another good weekend with my family- a chance to relax, to pick out a pumpkin, to play together, to attend another preschool birthday party, a chance to go on a date with my husband. All very good things. We have had full weekends recently. This world known as "preschool" is all very new to me. There are parties to attend, newsletters to read, school pictures to take and most exciting, Halloween Parades! It is very different! And it is busy. But *I* seriously LOVE preschool. Seren is like a walking song. She has a song for everything. Cleaning up. Snack. Getting ready. She just sings and hums along. I love it!

I can't wait for the parade tomorrow!

But I was hit with a cold and fever that knocked my socks off this week! Man! It started with an allergy attack which quickly went into a fever that four days later, I still have! The doctor says I have an ear infection. I am having trouble hearing now but generally feel much better. I literally got in bed at 7:15pm Monday night and stayed there until the morning. And then took the day off and went back to bed! I haven't had that much rest in three years! Sam has been uberdad- doing it ALL while I secluded myself with juice, medicine and a Kleenex box.

Oh well, I believe sometimes our bodies just say 'Enough is enough' and conk out on us. Just really hoping that the kids don't get this cold/fever thing! That is all we need!

In other exciting news, Uncle John is in town! Yeah! We haven't seen him since May. He came for Seren's third bday party. Seren is very excited.

Wyeth is walking up a storm! It started in earnest on Friday and he hasn't stopped. It is amazing to watch! I can't get over it. We also just switched his car seat out. Goodbye infant car seat. Between the walking and the new car seat his early days of laying around on me seem long gone. This too makes me sad. Did I cherish it enough?

So with the cold, this week hasn't exactly gone as planned. But we are all hoping for a great Halloween. Seren is going to be a 'nice witch' and SHE wanted Wyeth to be her black cat. Which is better than my friend's daughter who upon announcing she would be Little Bo Peep tried to convince her mother that her younger sister would need a leash around her neck and could be the sheep! Talk about therapy bills!
I can just hear it now, "Well, doctor, I always felt as if my contributions to the family were not valued. It started really at birth. My first Halloween, I was made out to be my older sister's sheep..."

Happy Halloween!

Below are some recent pics of the team. Check out the fridge action.



And despite my worries that my baby is growing too fast, he still is, afterall, only a little guy.



Sigh. Life is good.

Phone Friday- Riding

It is fall. Some days it is hot. Some days it is windy and cool. This past week we took a little family walk around the block with the kids in the old Radio Flyer. There is something quintessentially 'family' about Radio Flyers, don't you think?