All good things come to an end

Yesterday I had one of those RARE moments in parenting where everything went right. It was a nasty April day -- gloomy and spitting cold mist -- so what better way to spend the afternoon than bake cookies!

The mini-muffins were ALL about that (who wouldn't be??) so they helped me mix the batter cooperatively and nary an egg shell ended up in the bowl! They cheerfully licked whatever spoon or beater I gave them and then miraculously sat on the couch looking at an anatomy book I had recently bought for them.

Brennan was "explaining" the inner workings of the human body to Logan and Logan was in turn asking more questions. It was really quite cute and it took only a few minutes before I settled into a blissful state of semi-awareness. Humming to myself, I started the frosting, imagining the cutest spring-themed sugar cookies ever.

Moments later I heard

"I'm turning the page."

"No! I'M turning the page!"

whhhiiiine

"I'M turning the page!!"

louder whhhhiiiiine


RRRRRRIP

Thank goodness for the soothing properties of sugar cookies.

For Nana

Like most children of the male persuasion, the mini-muffins like cars. And of course they like sugar. So their Nana knew what she was doing when she sent Logan a car-shaped cookie decorating kit for his birthday. It just doesn't get better than that (if you're 3 years old).


Both boys LOVE to help make stuff in the kitchen. I'm convinced it's about the whirring machine and the opportunity to lick the bowl. Oh, and they really like cracking eggs.



For this project we had to mix up the bright, blue frosting. Luckily I caught Logan before his outstretched tongue actually touched the butter. It's also a little tricky keeping their hands out of the bowl, even when the mixer is on!



Next came the actual decorating. I coached them on spreading the blue frosting on the cookie cars, which they tried, but the knives spent WAY more time in their mouths than on the cookies!



All in all, it was a fun afternoon project with a very sweet outcome.



Thanks Nana!

Here's the poop.....

WARNING: For those with delicate sensibilities, please skip to the next posting (although it's not much better.)

Logan is getting closer and closer to being potty trained. Here's how I know:

The other day he and Brennan were outside playing in the back yard. They would go from wrestling in the grass to splashing each other in the pool, to eating a snack at the picnic table. Being with them is like being in the middle of a pack of LARGE puppies.

Anyway, I let Logan do all this naked so he can pee in the grass if he needs to go. I put a little potty chair out there but he'll have none of that, that BABY stuff. He sees his brother pee in the grass, so why can't he? He's doing pretty well with this, actually, and has asked to pee-pee in the potty a number of times.

So this particular day he kept pointing to his bottom saying "poop." As one might be when surrounded by a pack of puppies, I was slightly distracted and just trying to keep from getting bowled over. He kept saying "poop" and I kept saying "Yes, that's your bottom, that's where the poop comes out." All of a sudden Brennan said, "Mom! He's pooping!" And yes, indeed, there it was, making it's way out and towards the deck floor. I grabbed it in one hand, Logan in the other hand and RAN to the nearest potty. Logan was all for sitting down on it and I put the poop in the potty. I've been waiting and hoping for an opportunity to make a connection between Logan's creation and where it's supposed to go. This was it!!

He saw it and made all the happy, LOUD, exclamations that one makes when one is appreciating one's work, and then he wanted to flush. I told him to say "Bye, bye, poop!" like Joshua does in Once Upon a Potty, and he happily waved and said "bye, bye, poop!" He watched the water stop swirling, leaned WAY over to look in and said "It's gone!" I said yes. He said "I want it!"

Fortunately (or unfortunately, if you're the parent in the throws of potty training), there's more where that came from.

Round 3

This week the Mini-muffins and I have been battling yet more illness.

On Sunday, the day before ONO left for a 4 day trip to Baltimore, Logan got another fever. I predicted he'd have to stay home from school and he did. That evening his temp shot up to 105.5, and that was AFTER he had a dose of Tylenol an hour before. We spent the next 2 1/2 hours in "Convenient Care", which included a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. Thank goodness that was negative!

That night Brennan was up about every hour with a fever and crying about his ears hurting. Another day at home, another trip to the doc. When I complained to the doc about all the illness, she said it's either now or when they start public school, AND some kids have problems for a year! GEEZ! Yes, he had infections in both ears and is taking his first ever antibiotics.

The kids are on the mend, I'm back at the office and ONO returns today. But I'm starting to wonder if this child care thing is worth it.

Happy Mother's Day

Here's my Mother's Day haul:





Flowers and chocolate....what more could a woman ask for?



But really.....here are my true gifts:

I'm still here.....

Just really, really swamped with family stuff.....mostly.

Celebrating resurrection

It was fitting that we planted seeds today, it being the first day of Spring. And the sun was shining, which truly seemed miraculous. It's been a long, LONG, winter.



















I had lots of help, which I'm actually quite grateful for. I'm always wondering which kid (or kids) will carry on the green thumb gene.

Here's the finished product:



And this, my friends, is what gardeners live for.....



the miracle and mystery of rebirth.

I really DO love my children

So I'm heading out the door to the office and Brennan says "I don't want you to go to work." He says this to me more often than not and I patiently (usually) explain to him that I go to work so that we can afford his "warm hot chocolate" habit.

He's really insistent this time and ONO says "Maybe Mommy should be a full-time stay-at-home-mommy and never leave the house."

I look at him real quick, see that he's sort of smiling, breathe a sigh of relief and say "I would need a lot more drugs to do that. Lots and lots of drugs. Did I say LOTS?"

I do NOT like track running

Just so ya know.

I was looking forward to running yesterday when ONO got home from work. Twice a week I spend the entire day the mini-muffins, and by the time he gets home I need to run away (pun intended).

But yesterday, the predicted one inch of snow turned into 4 inches, with a sprinkling of sleet. I thought hard about it and I realized it wasn't a good idea to run outside. It's not the snow, so much, or even the sleet. It's the stupid drivers not slowing down, not seeing me, suddenly seeing me and then spinning out of control, right into me. Perhaps a little hyperbolic but entirely possible.

So, I opted for the U of I armory track again. Bleeechhh. There just wasn't anything interesting about it this time. And for some reason my legs felt blocks of lead. It might have been the generous plate of tofu Pad Thai I'd eaten only an hour before, or the shoveling I did before hand so I could get to said armory. At any rate, I felt slow. Slower than slow. Slow as molasses. In Alaska. Slower than a sloth in the Amazon rainforest. In summer. I think you get the picture.

And it didn't help that I was the oldest person on the track by say....25 years. OK, maybe 20. But still! I really psyched myself out by focusing on all the young, trim, fast college students lapping me. And it wasn't until about mile 3 that I realized I was doing that. Oooohhhhh. Riiight. This is why running is said to be a mental sport.

I finally stopped watching everyone else and started paying attention to my breathing, my form, my music.

And then I went home and had hot chocolate and a bunch of Oreo-Minis.