Mommathon

As many of you know I was planning on graduating in August. Well, it's not going to happen. I had to drop a class today. There are only so many hours in the day and I just couldn't make it work. I was going to need to meet with a student twice a week for this class, plus I am already working with another student for another class that I will be meeting with once a week, plus I go to class once a week, plus we are putting our house on the market, plus we are building a house, plus Colm is having surgery sometime this month, plus Sean is going to be out of town for a large chunk of February, plus I have to take a comprehensive exam in April over all of my studies thus far. I am only one person.

There have been many books written and many movies made about the social structure of girls and how there are leaders, followers, and for lack of a better word-victims. The bottom line is that girls can be ugly. I usually think of girls in junior high or high school. Today Liam came home from preschool and told me that Morgan is the leader of the girls. He told me this because Morgan wasn't there today and he said that the other girls didn't know what to do since she wasn't there. He said they just kept going around in circles. I am not sure what he meant by that and I can't decide if it is sad or just interesting.

Just doing a role call. Leave a comment with your name so I know who is reading. I love to hear your comments...it's like getting mail and I LOVE getting mail.

If you look up the phrase "terrible twos" in the dictionary you will see a picture of Colm. Next to that you will see a picture of me pulling my hair out. He is not the type of terrible two who throws tantrums. He does have an occasional tantrum, but nothing major. The problem is that he knows how to push EVERYONES' buttons and he does it with a smile! He will take a perfectly folded basket of laundry and dump it on the floor...and grin at you while he is doing it. That's just an example.

Also, I would say in the past four days I have been in public with him and at least three complete strangers have said to me something like, "Boy, he sure has a lot of energy." Yes, he does. I don't need to be reminded, and at this point if you say something to me about my child's behavior/energy level, I am likely to hand him over to you and wish you good luck.

Yes, it was a long weekend.

Colm started Kindermusik this month and he loves it! You know who loves it more though? Me! I love it because it is doing so much better this time than the last time we tried it when he was 16 months old. We are with a different teacher in a different room (the room we had previously was half the problem-it had a stage/platform thing they weren't supposed to get on...that didn't go so well...what kid doesn't want to get up on stage...we should have just had class on the stage) and he is older and actually "gets it" this time. The best thing about it is that he is one of the oldest ones in the class. Colm NEVER gets to be the oldest anywhere. He always has Liam telling him what to do..he is always the baby. Not at Kindermusik! He is the only kid who sings along with the teacher, he listens, he participates and he is having a blast! I am so glad I decided to try it again.

Let me start by saying this is not my favorite book. I even hid it from Colm so that I would not have to read it anymore...he found it at the library and so now I am reading it again. I figured it must have some redeeming value if he likes it so much and it does, I am just tired of reading it. It teaches kids how to count backwards from ten, it has farm animals in it and talks about what sounds they make and it has TONS of repetition in it which is why it is a great book for kids. Colm can practically "read" it on his own it has so much repetition (and because his mother has read it to him 10,000 times!)

I think in a past lifetime Colm lived in Mexico or some other part of the world were tortillas, rice and beans are a staple. We went out to one of our favorite Mexican restaurant tonight and he cleaned his plate! He finished off his quesadilla and then moved onto the beans and rice. He was having a hard time eating them with the spoon so he was using the chips to scoop them into his mouth. When the waitress came to take his plate, which for all intents and purposes was void of food, he told her he was not done. He was still using the chips to get every last bit off of the plate that he could. Another bit of evidence that I have about Colm's past life is that he and Sean go through chips and salsa like crazy. I have started buying two bottles of salsa at a time because they go through it so quickly. Oftentimes when Sean comes home from work he will have some chips and salsa while dinner is cooking. Well, of course Colm joins him and by the time dinner is ready Colm has already eaten his dinner...of chips and salsa. I think I am going to start calling him my little red-headed mijo. :)

Mom, did you get married so you could have a sweet little boy like me?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bggFBWn7YoI]

The snow we got last night was PERFECT snowman snow! Liam, Colm and some neighbors helped to create our first snowman.

I have a neighbor who has a very interesting job. She has a masters degree in International Relations or something like that and she works for a company that monitors goods that are imported into our country. She has so much interesting information about products that I would have no idea about. This all came up yesterday when the guys who are finishing her basement installed some lumber on her stairs that was treated with formaldehyde. She called them and told them that she was not comfortable with that. They said it is used in all construction. She told them that with her job she has to make sure that the leather products that her company imports are not treated with formaldehyde because it is linked to cancer, asthma and upper respiratory problems. If it shouldn't be in leather, then she doesn't want an entire staircase treated with it. When she told him that he said he would fix it. Did you know there is lead on extension cords (especially the ones you use outside like for Christmas lights) and you should wash your hands after handling them? Also, if you see a message on a product that says something about California Proposition 79 (that might be the wrong number) that you should probably choose another product. That proposition is basically a warning telling consumers in California that is has cancer causing agents in it. I would assume that if the people of California have decided it could be unhealthy, then it might not be too good for me either. She said you will often see it on products at stores like Target or Walmart since they sell things nationally. Last, she was telling me she was investigating a factory in China for child labor and the person who was there investigating for her sent her a picture of an eight-year old girl working at a sewing machine. The girl's mother said it was a school holiday and that is why she was at the factory sewing. Likely story. And the coolest thing about her job is that she does it all from home. She gets to be a stay-at-home mom and work because most of the business she does is done during the hours when her kids are sleeping since she is dealing with international stuff. Cool!

Liam has always been a great sleeper. Even when he moved from his crib to his toddler bed he slept well and would not come out of his room even when he woke up. We would have to listen for him and when we heard him rummaging around in his room we would have to go get him. It never occurred to him that he could open the door and walk right out...until last week. That's right-last week. For the past, almost five years, we have been getting plenty of zzz's because our kids slept in their beds and didn't wake us up. Well, Liam discovered that there is no magical forcefield holding him in his room, so he has been coming and going as he pleases. A few nights ago I heard him tiptoeing down the stairs at 3:30 in the morning. I didn't get out of bed, but I listened to see what in the heck he was doing. When he came back up he told me there wasn't any Kleenex in his bathroom, so he had to go get some downstairs. The next night he crawled into bed with us at 3:30. He was promptly sent back to his room. So now we have a deal...the deal is that you can wake up whenever you want to and turn on your light and read, but PLEASE don't wake me up-especially at 3:30!!!

Somebody got big boy furniture today! Yep, that's right! Colm is sleeping as I type in his big boy bed. He also got a new dresser and a new bedside table. He went right to sleep tonight. I have a feeling the novelty of the new bed will wear off, but so far it is smooth sailing.

We have pretty much been inside the last few days because of the ice, sleet, snow and COLD! We have played endless games of tag and hide-and-go-seek. We also played a number of games today with a bouncy ball that Colm found. Yesterday we baked an apple cake which turned out super yummy. (It would have been even better if we had had some vanilla ice cream to go with it) and today the boys put on a finger puppet show.

(Thanks for the cool apron Uncle Patrick and Aunt Kate.)

There are days when I have to remind myself that I am an educated woman and that I have a brain and that someday I will be able to use it to its full capacity. I had a moment like that today when I said to Colm, " Honey, we don't color the dog. Please give Mommy the crayon. Thank you."

Today Liam and I were playing a game he got for Christmas. You get a topic and then you have to come up with one thing for each letter of the alphabet that goes with that topic. For example, if the topic was fruit, then you would say apples, bananas, cantaloupe, etc. Well, one of our topics was Things that Stink. Of course, being a boy, his first instinct was to say poop, then diapers, then old poopy diapers and then old, poopy, stinky, moldy diapers. He then went on to pigs, pig poop...oh the hilarity. We definitely got sidetracked from the whole point of the game. It was hilarious watching his little brain work to come up with more stinky things that were even worse than the previous example he had come up with and the delight he was getting because he was being so clever..and because it was super stinky.

As kinder roundup draws nearer I have started to realize what a bubble my kids live in. They don't play with anyone except my friends' kids and the few other children that are in Liam's preschool class. They don't watch a show or a movie unless I know what it is about. What I am trying to say is that they are not exposed to much and they lead pretty...okay, very sheltered lives. Stupid, fat and hate are bad words in our house. Liam wouldn't know a "real" bad word if he heard one. Liam didn't know what a gun was until a few months ago when Sean was watching a show about WWII and Liam asked him what those things were on TV. I know Colm will grow up faster and be exposed to things sooner simply because he has an older brother. Kinder is a big, big leap into the "real" world. I hope I am ready. Yikes!

We went to Paradise Park today. We had never been there before and it was so much fun! My mom went with us and Grandmas get in free on Wednesdays, so lucky us. (Moms get in free on Mondays and they have coupons on their website.) Anyway, there was quite a bit to do. They have a water area, a play pizza restaurant, a dress up room, a toddler area, a pretend classroom, a climbing room, a building with blocks room, a paint your face area, an art area and a cooking class (where we made penguin cookies). There is also a restaurant in it so you can each lunch right there are keep on playing if you want. But they also have stuff outside that is open when it is warmer. There is an area to dig for dino bones, a fishing pond, a playground area, mini golf, go carts, bumper cars and probably a few other things I don't know about. Another thing is that it is SUPER clean. Not only did it just look clean, but you could see people cleaning the whole time we were there AND there were very few people there. It was not crowded AT ALL and another mother there said it is always like that, at least on the weekdays. We will definitely be going back when it gets a little warmer so we can explore all of the outside attractions as well.

This is the foam fun area. It costs more and it scared the hooha out of Colm...tears. :( These vacuum things suck up the balls and shoot them out somewhere else when you press a button, but it was LOUD! Liam thought it was okay. Next time we won't go in this room.



Painting a penguin

Liam the cat

My hubby is a techno-geek (love you, honey). He buys me a new computer when I don't really feel like I need one. He got me an iPod. Why? Because he appreciates the technology and he wants me to have one. He insisted that I get a Palm when I was completely happy with my paper calendar. Now I am INSISTING that I get the new Apple phone. It is an iPod, phone and e-mail/Safari thing all wrapped up in one device and it is SOOOOOOO cool. It does the most amazing things. Sean and I watched Steve Jobs' keynote address where he unveiled it, explained it and demonstrated how it works. It will blow you away. Start saving your dollars...it will be available in June.

It is that time of year again. The time of year when all moms start gearing up for the upcoming school year. Anyone who knows me at all knows I LOVE this time of year. When everyone starts calling, visiting, interviewing and checking out prospective schools for their little ones. Anyone who knows me also knows that I have run about twenty different scenarios for my own little ones for next year since Liam will be starting kinder and Colm will be starting school as well, but they can't be enrolled at places that have pick up and drop off at similar times since there is only one of me and I can only be in one place at a time. Colm will be attending a Montessori that he has been on the waiting list for since October, so I am not too worried about him getting in and Liam will be at the local kinder in the afternoon while Colm is at home napping. I think it will work out great. While Colm is at school Liam and I can go to the library and he is going to take an art class and maybe a gymnastics class. It will also give him time to have his violin lesson so he won't have to do it after school. Another part of this whole enrollment thing that I love (and it cracks me up, too) is the waiting game. Will they get in? How long is the waiting list? At some schools they make you wait in ridiculously long lines at crazy hours of the morning just to get on the waiting list...and then around late March/early April, everyone is breathing a collective sigh of relief. By that time everyone knows where they are going and we can all get on with our lives...until next year.

What have I learned so far? That building a house is full of little surprises...and not the good kind.

This was SUCH a good book. I rarely read two books by the same author back to back, but I really like the way this author writes. This book takes place in Wisconsin in the 1940's before, during and after WW II. This book is a fictional story of how war effects a town and those who are left behind to worry about the ones who are overseas fighting.

We started our New Year's celebration at Red Robin...

then we went to Nanny and Papa's house where Liam played with Tatum's Littlest Pet Shop and we also played Eye Spy Bingo, Lucky Duck and Zingo.


Ringing in the New Year (at 8:30)

Liam: Momma, do you love me?

Me: Yes, I love you.

Liam: Momma, do you love me so much your heart tickles?

Me: Yes (insert heart filling with all the momma love it can hold)