who came to your house tonight?

There is a Fresh beat Ban episode where they graduate from music school.  This episode is by far my least favorite; it's tedious to watch them come up with stupid things to do as a career such as a singing fireman that puts out fires with bubbles or something ridiculous as this.  Anyway, after watching this show today, A. wanted to graduate too.  Since B. saved his cap and gown, I got it for A. and then got busy doing something with K.

Side note: B. saved this because he knew it cost $80 and he is convinced that he will save us money by saving his for about 30 years to allow our children to wear his.  Though I oblige in this ridiculousness, I highly doubt that they will be allowed to wear his gown.  I hope I am wrong.  In the mean time, A. can use it for dress up

Anyway, when I came downstairs with K., this is what I found...

 That's right, B. was cooking dinner in his cap and gown.  A. immediately yelled, "the graduationer is here!"

 After everyone had a chance to try it on, we asked A. what she would like to be once she graduates.  Well, my little one that is scared of everything, apparently wants to go to college to become a ghost.  I'm not exactly sure what you have to study to be a ghost, but she is going to figure it out.  So, then the ghosts came to our house.

If only this little happy guy knew he was about to be turned into a ghost by his big sister.  

K., Mommy really loves you and what a good sport you are to go along with your sister in all of her games.  You truly have the best nature and I'm so happy that you are a part of our family!!

Who came to your house for dinner?

now he hears!!

At every appointment for my little guy, K., the Dr. has said he has a lot of fluid in his ears.  Finally, at his 9 month appointment, they referred him on to the ENT.  Since his referral was for "chronic otitis media", his first visit was an appointment with the audiologist and then the ENT.  The audiologist agreed that he had lots of fluid and proceeded to talk into a microphone at different decibels and if K. looked up in response to his name, a monkey playing the cymbals magically appeared.  Lets just say that the musical monkey only appeared on 1 occasion and it was after the audiologist was screaming.  So, the $249 conclusion (literally, we got the bill) to the microphone test was that there was fluid in his ears causing him not to hear.  Then, we had an hour break and saw the ENT who, wait for it.... said K. had fluid in his ears.  So, now that 3 doctors had established this, he said we had 2 options, give him medicine for 3 weeks and come back for another $249 appointment, or go ahead and do tubes.  Since B. had tubes, and A. had tubes, we opted to go ahead and put them in.  Since that time, we've had a preop appointment with our primary (he said the fluid was still there) and another appointment with the ENT (the fluid, yet again, still there) before we finally had the 10 minute surgery today.

I have several thoughts on this...
1) I'm half excited that K. will be able to hear and half scared that my little chill guy will hear how much his sister talks and turn into a whining kiddo
and, on a more global scale,

2) Why exactly, did this kid have to spend over 2 hours in a waiting room, see 3 different doctors, and spend well over $3,000 for a culmination of 10 minutes. In fact, the surgery according to our Dr. usually takes approximately 5 mins and 22 seconds (apparently he times himself) but K. took longer because his fluid had thickened so much (EEEWWW!!)  So, I guess my question should be why does it take over 2 hours in a waiting room, see 3 different doctors, and spend well over $3,000 for a supposed 5 min and 22 second procedure?  Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate doctors being thorough and I understand the need to be careful when putting a 10 month old under anesthesia but there has to be a better way.  I guess if I knew the answer and felt like arguing about it for the next several years of my life, I could run for president. Since that isn't in my plans, I go to the follow up appt and pay another $249 to hopefully hear that the fluid is no longer there.

play schemes

I try to spend at least 30 minutes each day only playing with no interruptions.  No blogging, no facebook, no phone calls, no TV, no work, no cleaning, no cooking, just playing.  Unfortunately, it's actually time that I have to carve out.  But, as it's happening, I LOVE it and I think it's hilarious.  This segment of play was actually only over 15 minutes. 
A. was wearing her hat because it has "braids" with long hair which obviously makes her look like Mary.  The baby has a crown on her which obviously makes it a queen; in A.'s mind, it's a king.  Specifically, baby Jesus. 

Since we had Mary and Jesus, I had to be Joseph.  I used her tools as a carpenter while she put the baby down for a nap, in the hay/ toybox.  Then, she wanted me to feed the animals which just happened to look like shrek, the wonder pets, and Elmo.  As Jesus was sleeping, Mary miraculously turned back into A. and wanted to play with trucks.

  Since we can't just roll the trucks, we each had to "talk for the trucks"  This is the bain of my existence because I hate this game.  Oh well!  I was the green truck and she was the red truck.  Then, following her lead, they each drove over to the wall to the potty.  They each peed and farted and then went back to the truck where the big green 18 wheeler was the teacher and led them in circle time. 

To sum, my child loves to be the mother of Jesus and a farting truck equally.  I count that as a success in parenting. 

not me monday

Another confession, I am a blog stalker.  I stalk blogs to get ideas for my kids, I stalk blogs of people that I know, I stalk blogs of friends of friends, I stalk blogs of people I don't know and begin to find their families interesting.  I am nosy.  I'm ok with it.  One of these blogs does "Not me Monday's"  Though I won't do this every Monday, I think I have the perfect entry for today.

I would never set up a new area where the paint is accessible to my children. If I did, and I realized that having said paint out was possibly a bad idea, I would probably find a new place to put it.

 Maybe...  If not, I would definitely not allow my 3 year old to paint by herself.  If I did, I would probably keep my 10 month old away from her.  I would not allow her to paint all over him. Maybe...

If I did allow her to paint on him, I would at least stop her from painting on herself.  Maybe....

 I would absolutely not leave them alone because finding the camera is more of a priority than keeping them clean. 

  It isn't me because I think that their obviously happy orange and green faces were worth the clean up. 

My FAVORITE pic

play at home mom

I usually work on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursday evenings.  This is spectacular when it comes to 2011 holidays.  I've only had to work 1 or 2 days 3x during the weeks of Christmas, New Years, and now MLK day.  I have found that I LOVE it.  I actually find this surprising; I didn't think that I would like being home so much.  I worked really hard for my Master's Degree and have the student loans to prove it.  So, I will keep working but I"m savoring each and every day at home.  Revelation #2, I've enjoyed being home home rather than taking the kiddo's here there and everywhere.  When I moved from 5 to 2.5 days, I was worried about being home so much.  My boss actually laughed out loud when I asked, "What am I going to do with all of my time at home."  I thought I should join rollie Pollie, Gymboree, bible school etc. etc.  Instead, we have all started to back down on our activities.  A. even says, "I just want to stay home today."    A. still goes to preschool for the 3 days that I work and A. and K both go to choir for 30 minutes with Daddy one evening.  A. also goes to bible school for an hour 1 morning a week with a friend and swimming lessons 30 minutes one evening with Mommy.  OK so it sounds like a lot on paper, but we really are home most of the time. 

I've found that A. is becoming a lot more creative with her play and needs more than just her toys.  I find inspiration from lots of other mommy blogs but also just from watching her and building on what she starts.  On this day, she was using her colored water drops in her bath and mommy was cleaning with the baking soda.  I asked if she wanted to help me and we brought down a bin to the kitchen.  We made volcano's old fashioned style with vinegar, food coloring, and baking soda.  She was content for almost an hour until we had to stop because we were out of vinegar. 

Food coloring to cups of vinegar.  1-2 TBS per cup

adding baking soda, just enough to make them explode.  It was actually good because the baking soda expired in Nov. 2011

The explosion

She did have some colored hands for a few days

She was cleaning out her bin and decided to clean all of our silverware as well.  Don't worry, we washed that again

tidbits

I have been meaning to update about several of these things over the last week or so; I decided to just put them all together in one big bunch.
1. A. LOVES her preschool.  Some of the kids have come over from her old school so she has been with them from 10 weeks of age.  Some are new.  Her "favorite"friend is Josh.  Apparently she told him that he was her best friend and he said "no".  Her daddy is happy about this.  I think it's funny.  A. seems to not care about the rejection, he is still her favorite friend.  Josh likes the Ravens.  A. was cheering wildly for the Ravens on Sunday.  Josh is not winning over B.
2. I was trying to explain Martin Luther king day to A. We talked about how MLK was a man who wanted to treat everyone equal.  I could see her really thinking and I was really proud that she was understanding and contemplating.  I showed her his picture and continued with how we should help others on that day.  She finally interrupted me and asked why the picture was of a big man.  Confused, I said that was Martin Luther King.  Turns out, she was not contemplating the day of service, but confused as to why Mark and Lori King Day (Mark and Lori are our really good friends that we hang out with all the time) had a picture of a unfamiliar black man instead of 2 very familiar white people.
3. I read a blog recently about teaching young children about strangers.  Basically, the gist was to teach the little ones to plop on their bottoms if they get lost and not get up until their parents, someone that they know, or a policeman come to help.  If someone else tries to pick them up, teach them to scream, "That's not my Mommy, or That's not my Daddy."  I tried to teach some of these principles to A.  As I screamed, she again looked at me like I'm crazy (this is a familiar look these days) and then said, "but you are my mommy."  We obviously have a long way to go.  
4. K. has an affinity for balloons.  This was a balloon for Granny J.'s birthday but it is now K.'s favorite toy.  This has not left his hand all day.  He crawls with it, shakes it, bounces it on the wall.  Very fun and only slightly dangerous.

K.'s other favorite pastime, looking at us from upside down between his legs.

5. A. is starting to read some sight words.  "I, it, and to"  Yes, I saved this for last because I'm sure everyone has stopped reading by this point and I just wanted to document this date so we'll remember it in the future.

Cheers!

pretend

As I've mentioned before, A. is fearful of many, many things.  Her list of things she doesn't want to "get her" before bed is at least 9 things deep and still contains ghosts, witches from Halloween, King Herod from Christmas, and randomly, "things that go ahhh".  She is now afraid of things she has seen on TV in the 1-2 shows that she watches daily.  For instance, the lady "deep freeze" that freezes all of the people on Fresh Beat Band until they figure out that she just can't dance so she doesn't want any one else to dance either.  The ridiculousness of the story is obviously lost on her.  Anyway, A. is afraid that this woman is going to come freeze her. B. had this conversation first and tried to explain that she is pretend just like we are pretending to be someone else in the bazillion times a day that she says, "Mommy, can you talk for my doll?"  or "Daddy, can you make that bear talk?"  She looked at him like he was crazy.  He tried to talk about how the Berenstain Bears are pretend and just in a story and she calmly disagreed and said that they just live in Bear Country far away. 

I tried later to say that the people on TV are called actors and they are just playing just like when she plays dress up.  She countered with what about the Redskins and the "turtles" (aka the Maryland Terrapins).  I was going to go the route that the Redskins are really just pretending to play football but I didn't think that would really help.  B., seeing that I was getting nowhere and really wanted her to be able to sleep said that the deep freeze lady can't get out of the TV so she obviously can't come freeze A. 


So, for now, our child believes that people live in the TV and can't get out.  I by no means think that this was a parenting success.  But, I'm at a loss of how to explain it.  So, any suggestions?

Until then, I will keep encouraging her to "pretend" as much as possible.  Not a hard concept since she wears a costume on a daily basis including each and every one of her Halloween costumes from year one.

The ladybug and the redskin using their Deere mowers

Ming Ming Duck in the grocery store

another first

I have been keeping a calendar of all of K.'s firsts.  First bath, first smile, first giggle etc.  This first, however, is blogworthy.  On Dec. 18th, K. had his first tootsie roll.  This is not the sticky chocolate that would probably kill my child, it is dried beef with a center filling.  It is a family tradition that you must love to be a true Wiseman.  I believe the story was that my grandfather enjoyed these little bites of goodness at a party when he was part of the secret service.  He then asked my grandmother, Mommom, to get the recipe.  She did and we have them at every family function.  We even had a batch at our wedding and one of my favorite wedding memories was B. and I having our first "married tootsie roll" with my brother. As my grandmother got older, the taste was a bit, um, stronger.  Now, my cousin Heather, has taken on the task and she is doing a fantastic job! 

K. is definitely a Wiseman because he ate 2 and would have continued if I wasn't selfish and wanted a few for myself!

"Maybe too much Worcestershire, no, it's good"

My uncles looking on at this very important event

Here is the recipe in my cousins terms:
1 lb of dried beef
2 8 oz blocks of cream cheese
6-8 dollops of Texas Pete or Hot Sauce
6-8 dollops of Worcestershire
2-3 tsp of Garlic powder
1/3 ish cup of Horse radish
1-2 shakes of Onion Powder

Spread on dried beef, roll, and refrigerate over night before cutting

Jason says cutting is not essential but it is recommended by Bryan. 

This hangs on the side of my refrigerator and makes me smile when I catch a glimpse of it from time to time.

K. I'm glad you are now a true Wiseman!