She's so Lady-Like

After nap, the kids like to go outside and play in the back yard. I love this too. Especially as we try to take advantage of the last bit of summer. After too long, the kids will be inside, in front of the tube, running around wildly, using outside voices inside, or all of those things at the same time.

The Girl came running in at some point to use the restroom. The Little Man wasn't but a few minutes behind her. He hates being outside for too long without her. I guess he needed to use the facilities as well. He didn't even bother knocking. He just burst right through the closed door, and into this conversation:

D: BRO!!! Get out of here! I am trying to go potty!
P: ME TOO! I have to go so bad, Wanie!
D: OK, I am done you can come in if you want. (Brief pause) But I don't want to hear about how disgusting it smells in here though OK?
P: OK
D: I'm serious, Bro, I really bombed it out in here, and I don't want to hear how gross it is, OK?
P: OK, I won't say anything.

Nice.

Baseball Banter

Thank goodness for a little Indian Summer weather! You don't have to know me too well to know that I have been soaking in every last ray. I am so sad to see the sun setting so much earlier each and every day. Truth be told, I don't get too crabby about the cooler weather until after the holiday season is gone, but I sure wish the sun would stay out longer. The shorter days kill me.

Since it was so gorgeous today, I had The Little Man out playing some more baseball this evening. I'm telling you, this kid can't get enough of baseball. It sure makes Daddy happy to see him so interested in sports, and baseball in particular.

After some warm-up swings with our Better Batter Tee (seriously, that tee has to be one of the best toys we have purchased), he was ready to go sans the tee . After playing a little while on his own, he realized that it was hard to be the pitcher, batter, and catcher all by himself. He was running himself ragged. Plus, with all that running around, it was hard to cheer himself on.

The Little Man has found that he likes to give himself little pep talks as he plays baseball. He says things like "SMMMAYACK!" each time he smacks the ball. Sometimes he'll say things like, "Get ready for my best shot ever!" Other times a "BAAYAM!" adequately describes how he feels when he really gets a hold of the ball. All this with the most serious, deep, even growly type voice. His face even has a slight furrow in the brow. The boy is serious. I thought it was cute when he tried to mix his interests a little and congratulated himself with a "Cachow!" from the Cars movie.

After all that banter had gone silent, from running all around and playing all three of the vital positions needed to get in some batting practice, he decided he needed to recruit some help. It was hard at first to understand exactly what he needed. He went around to all three of us, asking if anyone wanted to "Pway baseball with me". That was followed with, "I need to be da batter, but can you be da gluber?"

The what?

He wanted someone to play the "gluber".

Huh?

He ran off to get a visual aide. As he came around the corner, I knew instantly what he wanted me to do. He had a baseball glove in one hand.

"Come on, Mommy! I will be da batter and you can be da gluber."

Ah ha, he wanted me to be the pitcher/catcher.

With a glove.

Or when you are three, "a glub", and that position is called "The Gluber".

The Mall Is Full of Famous People

We needed to run some errands at the mall. I don't generally go to the mall all that often, so when I do, the kids think we are going on a field trip to a candy store. They love the escalators, or "Magic Stairs" if you are talking to The Little Man, and beg to ride them over and over as if we were at Six Flags. They also love the fountains, wide open corridors to run through, and the Pet Store. It's hard to keep them contained, really.

The Little Man must have had too much Star Wars on the brain today while we were there. Everywhere we looked there were characters from his new favorite movies. As we were driving in, The Girl thought she saw Obama entering the mall (there may be a bit too much of the Today show on in the morning or too many political ads running. (I'm going to go with both.)) She hollered out, "Mom! I think I just saw Barack Obama!"

I laughed and replied, "What? Girl, you are crazy!"

After a brief pause while she was more closely scrutinizing who she thought was Obama, she said, "Oh! Ooops! Nevermind. That's not Obama! That would have been crazy though because it would have been like 'WOW, we just met the president at the mall!' "

I was still giggling a bit and said, "Yes, that would've been crazy to meet Obama at the mall."

She came back with, "Well, that guy looked a lot like him, but ya, it would've been too crazy."

The Little Man wanted in on the conversation too. He rarely likes to be left out. He came back with, "Who are you talking about Wanie?"

She said, "You know, Obama. The guy who's trying to be the president...OBAMA!"

The Little Man said, "No, Wanie not the pwesident. He's on Star Wars. It's Chewbama."

Thankfully, she corrected him because I was laughing too hard.

Later as we walked down the corridor of the mall (OK I walked quickly because the kids were running at an Olympic pace), The Little Man stopped dead in his tracks in front of a gentleman talking on his cell phone. As I got closer I could hear that the gentleman must have had some sort of device in his throat/larynx/voice box because his voice sounded a bit on the robotic side. As I caught up to The Little Man, he remained still in front of the man on the cell phone. Finally, he loudly said, "Whoa! That voice is just like Yoda!"

Thankfully, he was still in a running mood because he scooted right along after that comment making it much easier on me to get out of there before I could really feel the embarrassment sink in.

Returning jeans has never been so amusing.

I'm So Tired a Real Title is Eluding Me

WHEW! It's been busy again! We just got back into town from the mountains. We spent some time with our church at a retreat focusing on reconnecting. It was great! And I would say pretty successful.

Right now, all I can think about is reconnecting with my own bed, but I will share some fun from the last few days:

1. The kids did fabulous in the room we shared. They both got to sleep on the top bunk which amused them to no end. I thought for sure we would have problems through the night with bad dreams, night terrors (no they are not the same as bad dreams), falling out of bed, and all things that would not allow a mother or father to sleep. But no! The kids both slept well. So did the hubby. I however, waited up most of each night waiting for something to happen. Anything really.

2. Taking a nap in the middle of the day doesn't sound like much fun, but it is. I thought we would be missing out on a whole bunch of fun going on during a "free time" by forcing our children back to our room for a much needed nap, but really we so needed it, and it helped make our evening go just that much smoother. Plus, not having to do in by myself was nice too. Hubby and I read our books, and also caught a few Z's ourselves.

Yes, I just listed taking a nap as a highlight of our weekend. It was awesome.

3. S'mores. Enough said.

4. Changing leaves in the mountains. Beautiful.

5. Bringing my own food into the Y's dining hall: Yummy and SO necessary. I think it played a pivotal role in the weekend going so beautifully.

7. Our dog having such a good time at our dear friend's home this weekend that she didn't want to come home. It's hard to leave your dog behind when you think she could be difficult for the caregivers because she can be quite needy. Especially when you are hoping that the caregivers will still want to be your friends after watching the needy dog. She did amazingly well, and I was sad to have to make her leave. They assured me though, even though she was well behaved and their kids liked having her around, that it wasn't possible for them to keep her.

Shucks.

It's time to reintroduce myself to my soft comfy sheets, and my warm and cozy bed.

I am sure as soon as my head hits the pillow tonight, all those things I posted back in #1, that I waited up for all weekend long, will actually happen just as I shut my eyes.

Clearly, I have a busy night ahead of me and I should get started.

I'm Trying to Slide That Last Part Right Past You

Seems like we (hubby and I) are trying whatever we can to keep The Little Man entertained while sister is away at school. He seems to be very clingy, lovey, and needing a lot of extra attention. It has been nice to have him all alone and get to see what makes him tick.

I found this to work quite well...

It really is one of his most favorite things to do, even after the 10th time.

Hubby has found another way...


I am sure he is thrilled that he is up on my blog without a shirt on.

Also, today I thought it would be fun to get my nose pierced.

It was!

If You Can't Say Something Nice...

Playing outside before nap is always a toss up. You just never know if The Little Man will be too tired to play, but not want to admit he's too tired, and then throw fits over small things. Other times, he does great and will tire himself out for a good nap. Which is obviously why I risk taking them out close to nap time in the first place.

Today, he did well...for about 20 minutes. Then he was pooped out. He started getting whiny and grumpy. He didn't want to play nicely anymore. It's a frustrating transition because you can't tell right away what the problem is. Once you've got it figured out, you're already frustrated with the bad behavior. There are many times that I want to lose my patience and just let him know how annoying his behavior is, but I know that isn't going to help the situation. Then there are times when I accidentally slip out an opinion or two...I try to forget that those times have ever happen, but I am trying to be authentic here.

Today was a day I was able to keep my thoughts to myself, but The Girl was not.

me: Little Man, go get your motorcycle and bring it into the garage
P: Moooooommmmmy! (followed by an overly exaggerated sigh)
me: Come on. You can do it. It's your motorcycle and you got it out. Now it's time to put it away
P: (another audible sigh)(followed by whimpers) I just can't do it, Mom!
D: If I hear you say you can't do it just one more time, I am really going to get ticked off!

Hearing those words come out of her mouth made me realize the importance of keeping my opinions to myself.

We are Prim and Proper Here

Having a 3 and a 5 and a half year old leads to a lot of potty talk. I try to keep it to a minimum, but alas, my children have been caught many times saying words that most moms don't want to hear their children saying unless they are in the bathroom. Every time they are caught, they are remorseful, but still end up doing it again. They do try, though...

While we were watching some Sunday night TV, a commercial came on with Michael Phelps. Apparently, he will be on a talk show giving an interview. I am thinking that this talk show isn't of the serious journalistic variety, but more of the silly type as the question that they chose to advertise was one that asked if Michael has ever peed in the pool.

With that, The Girl turned and looked at me wide eyed. I just looked back at her like, "What?" I was trying to not bring too much attention to it. She just kept staring at me with big eyes, and finally said, "Mom! You probably should have muted that, don't you think?"

Still not trying to make it too big of a deal, I said, "What do you mean?"

That's when she leaned in close and spoke only out of the very corner of her mouth. Her teeth stayed clenched and her voice was very low and deep as she very condescendingly said, "That man said 'pee in the pool', Mom. That's kind of gross don't you think?"

The audacity of that Journalist!

Doesn't he know that young children are trying to enjoy some clean, fun, Sunday night TV?

The Girl would never be caught speaking of such things.

She saves that kind of banter for her brother and their farting contests.