Why?

Yesterday was the first day of the "Why?" stage with Joe. Need I say more!

Pink!

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, I have gone pink!

Please add names to my list of ladies to honor this month in your comments.

Donna Lindgren (survivor)- This awesome lady is my grandmother. She beat breast cancer a long time ago and is still going strong. All my love to her!

Katie Cetto- Katie lost her battle a few years ago, but her spirit lives on at Oak Park. She was always a happy face in our halls, and we miss her.

Trudy

So it has been a few days since we had to put our dog Trudy to sleep. We really miss her. I told Joe that she died and went to doggie heaven. He said, "But I love her, she my best friend." So that officially broke my heart. Of course being a 3 year old has advantages. Nothing gets to you for too long at that age. He seems to be fine with it now. Lynn doesn't seem to really notice, which is a problem because she is still throwing food on the floor. Biggest change with Trudy gone: We have to pick up all the food that lands on the floor. But really, she was the coolest dog ever. I am positive we won't ever find another like her. I know our cat Sydney hopes we don't find another. She seems to be enjoying being the only pet in the house.

So keep playing and digging in the trash up in doggie heaven Trudy! We love you!

OooOoo

Joe has a gorilla mommy and baby that he sleeps with. The mommy, at Joe's request, wears socks, blue socks. Tonight when I was on the phone with my mom, he started crying from his room. He never cries after he goes to bed, so I was concerned. Well, I debated going in, and when the crying continued, I decided I better see what was wrong. He was sitting in his bed, sobbing, holding up a blue baby sock. "OooOoo sock come off!" Yes, this was so distressing that it caused straight up sobbing. So, holding back the laughs, I put the sock back on, kissed Joe goodnight again, and all was well!:)

Social skills

So, I haven't been on here in awhile, because "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Right? So I had to start back to school a couple of weeks ago. Still not excited about that, but I can be positive and say that I like the kids and teachers that I am working with enough to not whine about it every minute of the day. My own two children are acting exactly as they should given their ages...also not a ton of fun all the time, but again they are healthy and happy, and might I add, cute as heck: their one saving grace most of the time. They are both in their own way learning some social skills that should come in handy out there in the big scary world...enjoy and laugh at them and me if you need to. I do.

Joe actually voluntarily said sorry once yesterday. He also said it when asked to say it on a separate occasion. Major improvement on the social skills! Don't know why he hit me in the face while I was reading a story, but hey, he said sorry! He is also starting to say "Okay Mommy," when I ask him to do things. I would say this is a good start for, "Yes, dear," that I will be teaching him in about 15 years.

Lynn has learned the art of "killing with kindness." Imagine: 19 month old girl in carseat, screaming randomly at top of lungs to annoy older brother. Father: in a tone that means business: 'THAT IS ENOUGH!' Cute as heck 19 month old grinning and batting eyelashes (okay, not really, but you can see the face I am talking about, right) in the sweetest voice possible: "Hiiii Daddy:)" Dad on cue melts. Mom on the other hand is already having nightmares about middle school with this one. But I won't have to teach her the "get more bees with honey" thing.

Gotta love 'em! Never a dull moment in this world of parenting that moves way too fast in my opinion!

Child Proof?

In the need to try to spin a positive out of this, I am going to say maybe my strong willed, entirely defiant two year old will grow up to be a very determined engineer. After he tackled his little sister yesterday for the 3rd time, Joe skipped the Time Out and went straight to his room with the "Child Proof" door handle "thingy." He hates that thing, as became very apparent a short time later. After a few minutes of loud banging and screaming coming from his room, there was silence. A few seconds later, I heard the door opening, and into my room walks a very proud little boy saying "HIIII!," with the biggest grin on his face. In all honesty, I was mad as heck, but I started laughing and asked him where the door lock was. He promptly walked into his room and pointed to the far corner of his bed, saying, "back there." So, not only did he thwart the "Child Proof"ness, he also went to the trouble to hide the thing from me. So, engineer? maybe, determined? yes! I would say that this is a good trait to have for life in general, so I am going to have to let it go that he is getting all of his practice on good ol' mom!

PopsiclePOP

Joe and Lynn had their first popsicles today. I stripped them down to diapers and took them out to the deck. I think how a kid eats a popsicle could be an indication of their personality. Lynn---Who needs the stick? I'll just hold on to the good stuff. Orange sticky drips down to the elbow, puddles all around, taking the biggest bites I can of this yummy thing. (Crazy and careless girl!) Joe---Two finger hold on the end of the stick, wiping up any drips as they happen, and cautiously licking the end of the popsicle. It finally fell of the stick, and he was finished. He wouldn't pick up the popsicle with his hands. (Neat, control freak!)

So anyway, a great first on a great sunny day. Dan and I had a good laugh and Joe doesn't want anything else to eat tonight. All he wants is popsiclePOP!

I'm a blogger...

I have a blog. Don't know if I will acutally do it, or on the other end, become totally addicted to using it and annoying you with my rantings.

Joe said that a book was "awesome" today. Awesome is my favorite slang word. I use it when things are actually awesome and when they totally are not awesome...."This is an awesome clothing sale!" or "Wow, you bit your sister, awesome:("

I am glad he picked up on the good use of the word and not the sarcastic way I use it most of the time. I don't know how I will react when he starts saying, "Oh, a time out, awesome."