TJ is suddenly a huge bike fanatic. Now that he can get on, start, turn, and stop all by himself, he takes his bike everywhere. I love watching him. He is so proud! Bill is now on my case about how he needs a bike so that he and TJ can go bike riding (to call Bill's current bike a piece of junk is actually being complimentary).
Anyway...when my mom came over to get the boys yesterday morning, TJ asked her if he could ride his bike to her house. She said that would be just fine. Nolan then started insisting that his big wheel needed to go too. Again, my mom said that was fine. She was picturing putting his bike in the back of her car, as she has done several times before. However, that was NOT what Nolan had in mind. My mom glanced out the window a minute later and discovered Nolan past the end of the driveway and headed down the road. My mom never packed up so fast in her life. She threw the kids' stuff in the car, got Sam in, and took off after Nolan. She caught up with him quite quickly (he can't reach the pedals on his bike and scoots with his feet). She followed him the rest of the way, creeping behind my small boy on his big wheel tricycle. Every minute or so he'd peek behind him to make sure she was still there.
I am 100% convinced he will be my first child to break a bone. Sam will be the first child to accidentally blow something up.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Those Poor Birds...Part Two
On Sunday morning, Bill and I were standing in the kitchen talking awhile Sam sat on his stool eating breakfast. Bill was commenting on how much better it felt outside, as a cool front had gone through and relieved us of some very humid weather. Sam, as always, was listening closely.
Sam asked, "Mom, is today going to be hot?"
I told him that it was going to be cooler and not feel as muggy. He then went on to speculate, "So...it's a good day for birds."
I asked him if birds didn't like the heat, and he said, no they didn't. So I asked why, and he said, "Well, the birds turn pink."
Bill and I held back the laughter. I asked Sam if he had ever seen a pink bird, and he looked surprised and said no. So we decided the days must not be too bad for birds if none of them had turned pink.
I am not sure why Sam is so worried about the birds, but I just wanted to let everyone know that as long as they aren't pink, we have nothing to worry about.
Sam asked, "Mom, is today going to be hot?"
I told him that it was going to be cooler and not feel as muggy. He then went on to speculate, "So...it's a good day for birds."
I asked him if birds didn't like the heat, and he said, no they didn't. So I asked why, and he said, "Well, the birds turn pink."
Bill and I held back the laughter. I asked Sam if he had ever seen a pink bird, and he looked surprised and said no. So we decided the days must not be too bad for birds if none of them had turned pink.
I am not sure why Sam is so worried about the birds, but I just wanted to let everyone know that as long as they aren't pink, we have nothing to worry about.
Customers! Customers Everybody!
Saturday night, we had Ellen, Dan, Mandy, Owen, and Audrey over to celebrate Sam's birthday. TJ was very excited to have guests over. He really didn't care about Sam's birthday, he wanted to show off his new ability to ride a two-wheeler without training wheels. At one point in the afternoon, TJ said to Bill, "And I just can't wait until our customers get here so they can see me ride my bike!"
When Bill told me this story, I was confused as to why TJ would call our guests 'customers'. Bill said he was sure that TJ meant to say 'company'. Ohhhh. And TJ made the same mistake during dinner. He was telling our guests that Austin and Tyler could not come over to play that day because they had customers. Once again, he meant company. It made me laugh. It reminded me of the scene in the movie Cars where Sally is all excited about the customers coming to Radiator Springs.
He may be six, but he's not perfect. Not yet anyway....
When Bill told me this story, I was confused as to why TJ would call our guests 'customers'. Bill said he was sure that TJ meant to say 'company'. Ohhhh. And TJ made the same mistake during dinner. He was telling our guests that Austin and Tyler could not come over to play that day because they had customers. Once again, he meant company. It made me laugh. It reminded me of the scene in the movie Cars where Sally is all excited about the customers coming to Radiator Springs.
He may be six, but he's not perfect. Not yet anyway....
Friday, July 23, 2010
New background
My old background got deleted by 'The Cutest Blog on the Block', so I'm trying something bright and boyish. If it's too bright, leave a comment and complain. Otherwise, you are stuck with it, cuz I'm lazy.
I had another background I liked better, but it was dark, so I would need to change the color of my font from black to white. But I don't remember how to do that.... Anyone? A little help please?
I had another background I liked better, but it was dark, so I would need to change the color of my font from black to white. But I don't remember how to do that.... Anyone? A little help please?
Oh, TJ!
Today is Sam's 4th birthday. We had intended to take the boys to the Berlin Fair after dinner tonight to look at the animals. But today just did not go as planned. It didn't help that Sam pooped his pants 5 times today. I think he was constipated from being away from home (admit it...you all have the same issue!) and was just constantly feeling a need to go today. So, he spent a lot of time sitting on the toilet, being lectured, encouraged, etc... Anyway, it got to be too late, so we went to Meijer instead. Woo hoo!
When we got there, I told Nolan he had to hold my hand until we got him in the shopping cart. TJ said, "Oh, boy! Are we getting the kind with wheels?" Bill and I laughed. Yep. We splurged and got a cart with wheels! I'm not sure what he meant by that question.
Sam got to help pick out a new fish to join the two we've had since last fall. Meijer fish are pretty durable. They selected a black mollie, so I suspect her name is Mollie. I hope Puka and Angie like her. We also got a snail, because I think they are cool. Sam got to pick out his birthday cake for tomorrow night. Bill and I selected a new DVD player since our old one is on its last legs. I got a gift card at work last week, so it was a free new toy for us!
When we got home, we saw our next door neighbors, the Goodwins, were outside with their brand-new baby. We had purchased an outfit for the baby, but hadn't had a chance to stop over with it. So all 5 of us trooped over there with the gift. I thought Stacey looked fantastic for having given birth only 10 days ago. TJ, however, took one look at her and asked me, "Is she having another baby?" I quickly tried to explain how it takes awhile for the Mommy's tummy to go back to normal. But Rob, Stacey's husband, had heard the conversation and was HIGHLY amused by TJ's statement. He filled Stacey in, and even she had to laugh. Thank goodness!
When we got there, I told Nolan he had to hold my hand until we got him in the shopping cart. TJ said, "Oh, boy! Are we getting the kind with wheels?" Bill and I laughed. Yep. We splurged and got a cart with wheels! I'm not sure what he meant by that question.
Sam got to help pick out a new fish to join the two we've had since last fall. Meijer fish are pretty durable. They selected a black mollie, so I suspect her name is Mollie. I hope Puka and Angie like her. We also got a snail, because I think they are cool. Sam got to pick out his birthday cake for tomorrow night. Bill and I selected a new DVD player since our old one is on its last legs. I got a gift card at work last week, so it was a free new toy for us!
When we got home, we saw our next door neighbors, the Goodwins, were outside with their brand-new baby. We had purchased an outfit for the baby, but hadn't had a chance to stop over with it. So all 5 of us trooped over there with the gift. I thought Stacey looked fantastic for having given birth only 10 days ago. TJ, however, took one look at her and asked me, "Is she having another baby?" I quickly tried to explain how it takes awhile for the Mommy's tummy to go back to normal. But Rob, Stacey's husband, had heard the conversation and was HIGHLY amused by TJ's statement. He filled Stacey in, and even she had to laugh. Thank goodness!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Campground Bathroom
I spent a lot of time in the campground bathroom last week. With Sam. He is still struggling with remembering to tell us BEFORE he starts to poop, so we made many, many treks over to the bathroom (which was thankfully just across the street) where Sam would sit. And sit. And sit.
Most of the time, we used the women's bathroom. Some of the time we would use one of the larger family bathrooms, but Sam latched on to stall #2 in the women's bathroom, and that was his preference. You see, the toilet in that stall flushes differently than the rest of the toilets. I have camped at Cran-Hill for 20 years, and never noticed this. Sam noticed this immediately, and loved it.
While Sam sat, he would either ask for privacy (I would stand just outside the stall and wait impatiently), or he had a million questions. In ONE bathroom visit, this is what we discussed:
Most of the time, we used the women's bathroom. Some of the time we would use one of the larger family bathrooms, but Sam latched on to stall #2 in the women's bathroom, and that was his preference. You see, the toilet in that stall flushes differently than the rest of the toilets. I have camped at Cran-Hill for 20 years, and never noticed this. Sam noticed this immediately, and loved it.
While Sam sat, he would either ask for privacy (I would stand just outside the stall and wait impatiently), or he had a million questions. In ONE bathroom visit, this is what we discussed:
- Why is that light broken?
- Why does this toilet flush differently?
- How do I (Sam) relax my muscles to push out the potty?
- What is a buffalo? (I pulled out my iPhone, googled it, and showed him pictures!)
- What bone is....(and he proceeded to ask me about his shoulder, collar bone, breastbone, ribs, all the bones in his arm...he was really testing my ability to recall anatomy class)
- Where does the water go when you flush it?
- Is anyone else in the bathroom with us?
I alternate between wanting to laugh hysterically at him, be totally in awe of the way his mind works, and wanting to scream in frustration because he just NEVER STOPS. He is never satisfied and always wants to know more. Half the time, I no longer have the answers for him.
Oh, and I would just like to share my two rules for campground bathrooms:
1. SHOES ARE A MUST! Sure, they clean it 3 times a day, but bare feet are out of the question! Yuck!!
2. SHOES ARE A MUST! To the lady who walked in from the dirt road, into the not-clean bathroom in just her socks...ICK! Where are your standards???
So what hurts?
Last week, we were camping at Cran-Hill Ranch all week. The Tuesday before we left (5 full days earlier), Nolan started having some stomach issues. To be blunt, he had very loose stools. He was acting perfectly fine, he was eating fine, but he was having 1-4 loose stools a day. I thought perhaps he was teething, so I kept feeling his gums put his amber teething necklace back on him. Things did not improve when we left to go camping. In desperation, I smashed up 1/2 an Immodium before bedtime each night and gave it to him in applesauce. That reduced the messy diapers to one a day.
On Friday morning (day 6 of our camping trip), Nolan started running a fever. He was clingy, whiny, and unhappy. I kept asking him what was wrong and what hurt, and he just didn't know. He perked up enough to go to the beach with Uncle John and Uncle Nate in the afternoon, but crashed again after dinner. You know Nolan isn't feeling well when he turns down an ice cream cone.
Friday night was miserable. He cried in his sleep every 15 minutes or so, and woke up several times. In an effort not to disturb the rest of the campground, I got up each time he fussed to check and see if he needed me. I gave him Tylenol, which did nothing, and had to go digging in my parent's camper at 5 a.m. for the Ibuprofen I had foolishly left over there. They heard me, but knew what I was looking for, as Nolan was crying quite loudly at that point.
After I gave Nolan his Ibuprofen, I snuggled him and asked him if his ears hurt. He said, "No". So I asked him what DID hurt. He calmly pointed at one ear and then the other and said, "This one and this one." I was sooo tired, but I still managed to laugh at that.
By Saturday afternoon, I waved the white flag and took Nolan to to the ER in Big Rapids (best ER experience EVER! In and out in a half hour!!!). Double ear infection. Other than the mystery diarrhea, Nolan had no other symptoms that would have led to an ear infection (no cold, no congestion, no runny nose...). The fever was a bug, as both Sam and Charlotte picked it up, but no one else had ear trouble. As much as I dread the thought, I think it is time to investigate tubes. I am not one for unnecessary medical intervention, but I also hate having him on antibiotics all the time, and I hate seeing how miserable he is when he is dealing with an infection. We shall see....we follow up with the pediatrician at the end of next week.
On Friday morning (day 6 of our camping trip), Nolan started running a fever. He was clingy, whiny, and unhappy. I kept asking him what was wrong and what hurt, and he just didn't know. He perked up enough to go to the beach with Uncle John and Uncle Nate in the afternoon, but crashed again after dinner. You know Nolan isn't feeling well when he turns down an ice cream cone.
Friday night was miserable. He cried in his sleep every 15 minutes or so, and woke up several times. In an effort not to disturb the rest of the campground, I got up each time he fussed to check and see if he needed me. I gave him Tylenol, which did nothing, and had to go digging in my parent's camper at 5 a.m. for the Ibuprofen I had foolishly left over there. They heard me, but knew what I was looking for, as Nolan was crying quite loudly at that point.
After I gave Nolan his Ibuprofen, I snuggled him and asked him if his ears hurt. He said, "No". So I asked him what DID hurt. He calmly pointed at one ear and then the other and said, "This one and this one." I was sooo tired, but I still managed to laugh at that.
By Saturday afternoon, I waved the white flag and took Nolan to to the ER in Big Rapids (best ER experience EVER! In and out in a half hour!!!). Double ear infection. Other than the mystery diarrhea, Nolan had no other symptoms that would have led to an ear infection (no cold, no congestion, no runny nose...). The fever was a bug, as both Sam and Charlotte picked it up, but no one else had ear trouble. As much as I dread the thought, I think it is time to investigate tubes. I am not one for unnecessary medical intervention, but I also hate having him on antibiotics all the time, and I hate seeing how miserable he is when he is dealing with an infection. We shall see....we follow up with the pediatrician at the end of next week.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The Pool Saga
As mentioned in an earlier blog post or two, we bought a soft-sided above-ground pool this year. I fully accept the responsibility for the ensuing debacle, since it was my suggestion to purchase the pool.The easiest way to explain the drama is just to show you pictures. Here is the pool the day before the Water Boy (yep, that's the company name!) came and put $160 of pristine water in the pool.
Later that very same day, something (probably the neighbor's dog) put his paws on the side of the pool closest to the weeds in the backyard. This pulled the pool in that direction and started an ongoing tipping process we could not stop. The pool would lean, lean, lean, until enough water spilled out to correct it for awhile. Then it would start to lean again and start the whole process over again.But here we are, on the one night the water level was still pretty accurate and we were able to thoroughly enjoy it.
The next night, TJ and my nephew Clark swam in the pool. You can see the pool is leaning further towards the weeds and the water has been spilling out. The part nearest the gravel is very, very saggy. The water level was down significantly from just the night before:
And so, we watered the lawn with $160 of water after just four days of having the pool assembled:
Then Bill removed all the sod from a neighboring location, leveled it out with a level, and the relocation process began. We figured if we put the pool on a completely flat surface, we wouldn't have spillage issues:
Then, because we were NOT willing to pay the Water Boy $160 to come back again, we filled it with water from the hose. Check out how yellow it is! It took 6 days of cleaning the filter every few hours and adding lots of chlorine before the water was clean enough to swim in.
Since then, the kids have been able to enjoy swimming in it several times. It still isn't perfectly level, but we aren't constantly having the water spill out. Bill isn't sure he wants to do this pool again next year. We may have to upgrade.The entire process has still been worth it, though. TJ has loved swimming in the pool and after his first swim, told me it was the "best day of his life." That alone made all of the headaches and expense worthwhile.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Sam the encourager
Sam is full of it lately. I am not sure what's gotten into him, but I spend a lot of time chuckling at him.
On Saturday, we made our annual trip to Illinois to visit with family and eat too much food. We visited briefly at my grandparents' home, then headed over to New Lenox for supper with Bobbie, Mike, and crew. On the drive over, the boys were commenting on EVERYTHING. Oy. That makes for a long, yet amusing ride.
At one point, TJ said, "Hey! A helicopter!"
Sam immediately responded with, "Good eyes, TJ!"
For those of you who are wondering how the potty training is going, we are making progress. Still no potty accidents, and he is slowly doing better with pooping on the potty. Right now, we are working on having him tell us that he needs to go BEFORE he starts to push it out. He'll have a great day, then he'll have a lousy day. Once we conquer this, I need to figure out how to teach him to push it all out at once, so he doesn't need to go 4 or 5 times a day....
On Saturday, we made our annual trip to Illinois to visit with family and eat too much food. We visited briefly at my grandparents' home, then headed over to New Lenox for supper with Bobbie, Mike, and crew. On the drive over, the boys were commenting on EVERYTHING. Oy. That makes for a long, yet amusing ride.
At one point, TJ said, "Hey! A helicopter!"
Sam immediately responded with, "Good eyes, TJ!"
For those of you who are wondering how the potty training is going, we are making progress. Still no potty accidents, and he is slowly doing better with pooping on the potty. Right now, we are working on having him tell us that he needs to go BEFORE he starts to push it out. He'll have a great day, then he'll have a lousy day. Once we conquer this, I need to figure out how to teach him to push it all out at once, so he doesn't need to go 4 or 5 times a day....
Those poor birds!
We are in the midst of a warm and humid stretch. Yesterday was the 4th of July. Our official high was 92 degrees. Now that we have central air, I'm not minding the heat much. The boys seem oblivious to it and play outside for long stretches. I just have to slather them with sunscreen occasionally.
Being obsessed with weather as they are, the boys usually know the daily forecast. On the way to church yesterday morning, we had a conversation that went like this:
Sam: "Mom is it going to be hot today?"
Me: "Yes."
Sam: "Oh. It's not a good day for birds."
TJ: "What? It is too a good day for birds!"
Sam: "Mom says it's going to be hot."
TJ: "So? The birds can still fly!"
Bill and I snickered quietly through that conversation, but did not interrupt. Later in the day, the topic was picked up again.
TJ: "I didn't realize it was going to be so hot today."
Sam: "It is not a good day for birds."
Bill: "Why isn't it a good day for birds?"
Sam: "I don't know."
TJ: "Sam, you can't just say 'It's a bad day for birds' unless you are going to tell us why."
That was the end of the conversation as Sam wasn't quite sure why it was a bad day for those poor birds.
Being obsessed with weather as they are, the boys usually know the daily forecast. On the way to church yesterday morning, we had a conversation that went like this:
Sam: "Mom is it going to be hot today?"
Me: "Yes."
Sam: "Oh. It's not a good day for birds."
TJ: "What? It is too a good day for birds!"
Sam: "Mom says it's going to be hot."
TJ: "So? The birds can still fly!"
Bill and I snickered quietly through that conversation, but did not interrupt. Later in the day, the topic was picked up again.
TJ: "I didn't realize it was going to be so hot today."
Sam: "It is not a good day for birds."
Bill: "Why isn't it a good day for birds?"
Sam: "I don't know."
TJ: "Sam, you can't just say 'It's a bad day for birds' unless you are going to tell us why."
That was the end of the conversation as Sam wasn't quite sure why it was a bad day for those poor birds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
