Last Monday my sweet little Thing 2 started preschool. I have such mixed emotions about this event. Today I finally got a picture with her brother (Thing 1) as she left the car and totted off to school. They are growing up too fast.
There are a couple of things that my children saw that had never been seen before "to them"
One was snow. That is a new concept. They kept looking out side and saying "lOOOK it’s Christmas TOWN!"
So I had to let them go play in the fun five inches or so that they got that week.
Here is our Cally version of FROSTY.
He looks pretty warm 
and physically impaired! But he is ours!
Some of this….
Mixed with this (Red contact paper sticky side out Masking taped to the wall)
Usually at our house we are looking for ways to get messy. I found a cool website that helps mix things up around here without the true mess of everything.
You get this….
It was extreamly fun times.
The site I found this one at is www.familyfun.com
Today I am finding….
Little socks, finger prints, and smudges of unknown substances. I see little pants wadded into a heap forming two perfect circles where their little legs left them. Small treasures inserted carefully into the VCR opening. Shoes separated and haphazardly scattered. Bath tubs that are littered with toys. Kitchen rugs sprinkled with "Rich Chocolatey Ovaltine" so they can fill up the flat bed of the tractor with "DiRT". I see hersey kisses wrappers along side fishy crackers that have been ground into the carpet. One giant green bulb suringe, perfect for sucking out the noses of sick kids. I see the stack of diapers that have yet to be taken to the back porch for morning removal. Small doodles of things they want for Christmas on their letters to Santa.
Today I am hearing…..
"Stop Talking back there! Mommy is lost and she needs to think!" Me (driving in the car)
"Oh no If you are lost Mom that means I am lost too!! OH NOOOO! Don’t go the wrong way anymore OK?" Thing 1
"Mom, Santa has a strange voice. He says, "HO HO HO!" Thing 1 (In his deepest Santa-esk voice)
"You just gotta stop kissin me Mom you’re givin me the Hiccups" Thing 1 (For him Mom Kisses means you’ll get the hiccups. Thanks Higgley Town heros, for that one!)
"ABC DEFG HI JK TUV Now I know My BBCs Next Time won’t you sing with MEEEE!" Thing 2
Giggling finally from the Fish! He has been so bogged down with the winter plague he has lost all his little funny personality.
The other day I ran dead into a wall of reality. Just a small fleeting thought passed through my mind. "This is temporary." I won’t be doing this everyday?? This changes. Instantly I started sucking in those precious little hugs with tiny arms that only reach to my shoulder blades. Or the ones that squeeze the ever living love out of your neck. I want those everyday! Like I get them now. So now it is different, the focus, I mean. Now I am not staying up late to just remind myself what silence sounds like. I am resting so I can hear what my children’s cries, laughs, and conversations are like. Instead of reading my books I am listening to the kids read me their books. Sucking down every last bit of them while they are this little. And hopefully recording all the funny things they
Who knows the answer to "Mom just can’t I stay awake all night?" Maybe a resounding "You go right ahead!"
I am a Pen, organizer, journal, paper goods….Freak. Thing 1 his obsession is Trains. Sleeping trains, plays, and works on trains. I am trying to bring other aspects of trains into his line of site. He can tolerate trucks but there is nothing like Trains. He will watch anything with a train in it. His eyes light up and his voice goes up 4 octaves when he even sees track. Christmas is easy. Polar Express. Christmas trains. GEO Trax. And all things trains.
He just pulled all the drawers out of his dresser and lined them all up and is calling it his bedroom train. HELP. He is so sick with this Crupe/chest cold. He has been avoiding naps and going to bed to play trains.
La-La not so easy. She likes things but not to the extent that Thing 1. This year’s challenge is her gift.
Ok so Thing 1 easy for Halloween. Doesn’t care what he goes as long as he can go around and get candy. Thing 2 TOTALLY DIFFERENT story.
Let’s set the scene….
One Day Ago
6:34 am JD enters store to make costume purchases.
8:00 am JD Begins donning said costumes.
8:45 am The battle stills rages Thing 2 refuses to wear her Cinderella costume. Won’t remove Crown and earings.
8:59 am JD throws two year old Cinderella into car to drop off at Preschool Halloween Party.
9:03 am Thing 2 sees fellow preschooler dressed as Belle. All hatred for costume dies and life is grande.
Seven Hours Ago
I refused to battle the same dress battle.
4pm a fight between Thing 1 and Thing 2 breaks out over spectacles. I was at my wits end. What do you want to be? Small girl big glasses. Here is what we came up with. Last minute mind you.
In my head This was to be this….
this was to be this 
Ok I am so excited for this post. Cause it means somewhere I did write it down.
The Dethrowning of Thing 2
We are all sitting around the dinner table eating. Thing 2 is eating out of a bowl that Thing 1 wants. So he is pushing her out of her seat.
I told him to get his bowl and sit in the seat next to or across from her. He proceeds to pat the seats of the other two offered chairs. Turning up his nose at the first chair he states,
" No Mom that is too HARD!"
He proceeds with care to the next chair and quickly rejects the second chair and says,
"No Mom this one is too SOFT!"
Then he goes over to the chair his sister is in and says, "This one mom is AHHHH JUST RIGHT!"
One more thing….
My small boy loves to avert bedtime. Stories, Books, more prayers, something to eat, drink, toys, monsters, more stories, are all the "postponers" he likes to use so he can put off going to bed. One night he was at the top of his game. And when he had exhausted all of the excuses he pulled out a new one….
"Mom do you want to Talk? Let’s just talk."
Backfire and Empathy
I could be called a control freak. But in this case I would like just a little control back. For the last week I have had a sinus infection. Sneezing, coughin’, and blowing my nose, all sent my legs pinched together running for the nearest toilet.
My Band who is normally a sensitive and kind person when others are suffering, would laugh and taunt me while I ran.
One evening I was running and the Band started to laugh and taunt. Behind me I heard little thing 1 hollering "What happened? What happened?" My Band quickly informed him that "Mommy peed her pants."
He looked at me as I sat and emptied my bladder. And then in his best Mother imitating voice he said, "Oh, Dat’s awe wite, Mom dat is OK."
You see my potty training model has been "No stress and no Humiliation tactics". The model title has been a montra for me mostly. When he has an accident I say. "Oh ok we can try again in the potty next time" all the while I am thinking "oh man that is more laundry, he just peed in the carseat, that is more laundry, he just peed the bed , that is more laundry". Durring the Christmas break he has been neglecting to go to the pot at all. And he strips himself down and says "MOM, I peed in my pants. But It’s ok mom, it is easy to go in my pants. That’s all right!"
My no worries attitude has officially come back to bite me. Now we are trying shooting cereal in the toilet approach. More fun, more times to go on the potty. It is working but, he still prefers playtime instead of pee time.
Between the two of us the pile of underpants is huge every night.
Body parts that are HUSH HUSH.
I was getting into the shower and noticed I had forgotten my towel. Running to get one I was stopped by Thing 1 who had a question.
"Mom, is that your bo*bies?" (Pointing to the extra round belly of mine)
"No that is Mommy’s tummy, there is a baby in there"
"These are the bo*bies."
He looked thoughtful and said, "Oh you have two bo*bies? those are big, those are too much bo*bies!"
(My sentiments exactly) I have gone from negative A to a full sized D cup. And I haven’t started breastfeeding yet. I don’t even know what comes after D. I am really pretty nervous about nursing bras. For someone that didn’t need a training bra until sophmore year in High School this is completely foriegn soil to me.
Don’t we all
Instead of saying "hold me" Thing 2 in her small little voice says "hope, hope!" I guess it is a combo of hold and up. So today I heard her say to her dad who was napping. "hope, hope, hope!" then exasperated says. "I need HOPE!"
I am pretty sure I don’t know who had more fun. Thing 1 who’s favorite things are trains and tractors. We were thrilled to ride both.
We got Pumpkins off the vine, ate carmel apples, and saw farm animals including piglets. We couldn’t have had a better day.
Here were some highlights……
TheScrapbookingCricut.com