Some Etiquette Lessons are just Lost on Kids

Today is Nana's birthday, so Husband called to wish her a Happy Birthday. Naturally, the kids couldn't be left out, so they got to talk to her too. Bug's conversation was short & sweet, but Bird's was... amusing:

Bird: Happy Birthday Nana!!
Nana: something
Bird: How old are you now?
Nana: answers
Bird: Wow, that's a big number!!

Crossing a New Threshhold...

In case I ever had any doubt, my baby is definitely NOT a baby anymore!! She was quite excited by the whole thing, really. And here she is, fake smiling to show you.

Looking at this picture, I kind of wonder if I should change the sidebar of our pics over there. Nah... I don't want to take a pic of MY teeth!

How to Throw a Disasterous Birthday Party

My baby turned SIX this past weekend. (Ack!) Naturally, being the social butterfly that she is, we had to have a birthday party. She really wanted to have it at a local playground (yes! procrastinating deep housecleaning until summer vacation!), and for the first time, we were letting her invite friends from school.

She had fun, but it didn't exactly turn out as planned. So, if you wanted to know how NOT to throw a party, here you go:

- Pick the hottest weekend in May.
- Host the party at a playground with very little shade over the picnic tables. (Although this does make for some amusement when all the parents are huddled in the shadow of the bathroom building!)
- Ensure that the bathrooms do not have any soap in them. (Thank heavens Auntie R brought hand sanitizer!)
- Invite friends from school - the ones whose parents you don't know & don't have the decency to RSVP, so you can't exactly call them up & see if they're coming so you aren't sure if there will be 25 people coming to the park or 45. (I mean, really!)
- Invite friends from school - especially when they're still little enough bring their parents. (Because then, they can all huddle up and complain about the school. Ostracizing me, cause there's no way you'd catch me in that conversation. I'd like to keep my job, thankyouverymuch.)
- Put the cake in a shady spot - mainly to ensure the ants eat the cake before anybody else can. (Again, Auntie R to the rescue - she ran an emergency Publx trip for a replacement cake!)

Most importantly, Bird had a really good time, and I had other friends there that I could hang out with & talk to. (Yes, Mom I did the hostess thing & made sure I talked to all the grownups!)
Next year, though, I kind of want to talk Bird into someplace cold.

Mother's Day Mad Libs

Last year, I had an awful lot of fun reading what Bird thought about me... this year both kids had the chance to do some Mommy Mad Libbing in their classes.

My Mom - by Bug

Her hair is brown.

Her eyes are white. (It could have been worse. One kid said his mom had pink hair & orange eyes.)

She is 14 years old. (Well, at least an improvement from last year's 1500!)

Her favorite food is all the food. (Um....)

Her favorite color is pink. (No, but his is.)

Her favorite TV show is all the movies. (I had to laugh at this one. Other kids were naming actual TV shows. My kids don't watch live TV... neither do I, really so he was right.)

Her favorite thing to do is whatever she wants to. (How right he is. Husband couldn't stop laughing at this one.)

I love my mommy most when she plays with me!


My Mom is Special - by Bird

My mom is special because she cooks eggs. (My cake baking doesn't even hit the list. But the eggs I made for her once or twice... home run!)

I like it when my Mom plays with me. (I'm sensing a theme here.)

I like to make my mom smile by liking her. (Awww....)

My Mom is smart! She even knows that there's flowers in the cupboards. (Yeah, I don't get it either. Maybe it was supposed to be flour? Except that doesn't really make sense either.)

Happy Mother's Day!!

Her Memory Astounds Me

All I have to say about Easter is

- Bird was up early.
- She completely forgot that she was getting an Easter basket, so she didn't pester us to go look for it while we waited for Bug to wake up.
- Once both kids were up and we told them to go look for their baskets, she went immediately to the place where we hid her basket last year.

Yes, I have the child who can't find the shoes she wore yesterday, but if you need last years bag-o-treats, she's got you covered.

Tykes' Tips - Floor Coverings

I'm sure Martha Stewart once said that if you don't like your current flooring, you can alter the look by using area rugs.

My kids' interpretation? We don't know what area rugs are, but we have all these blankets that folks have made and/or bought for us, and they'll work just fine!

Sound Byte

With Bug:

Bug: Okay, I'll be the baby and you be the Mommy?
Me: How do you know I'm the Mommy? Maybe I'm an alien? (yeah, I have no idea why I said it either!)
Bug: You're not an alien. You don't look like TE!!

How the child remembers ET when he's only seen him at Universal Studios is beyond me.

With Bird:

Bird: Mommy, what day is tomorrow?
Me: You tell me.
Bird: MONDAY!! Do we have school?
Me: Actually, no. Tomorrow is a special holiday.
Bird: Oh, okay!!

....

Bird: So who's going to come over?
Me: Erm...

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday

Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for these two turkeys.


(that's Bird on the left, and Bug on the right)

What amazes me is that they are almost 2 years apart, yet their hands are almost the same size.

Wordless Wednesday - Hiding

Bird: Smile Bug!

Bug: You can't see me!


photo courtesy of Bird

Modern Art?

"Mommy, look what I made!!"



Lovely, Bird, just lovely.

"Guess what it is?!"

This is always a dangerous game. I tend to see.... well, nothing that it actually is. (is it a house? no! it's you!) and then I have identity issues. (do I really look like a house?)

Thankfully, this time she took it easy on me:

"It's that thing that hangs in the back of your throat!!"



I can't wait until I hear about her using the word uvula in kindergarten.

Artistic Pumpkin Patch

If you've been reading here much, or if you just happen to know Bird, I bet you could pick out her pumpkin even if I didn't circle it:



I like to believe that she's an individual who likes to think for herself.

I already know she doesn't like being told what to do.

I love that she doesn't let common opinions sway her.

I do, however, dread her pre-teen and teenage years.

An Entry from Bird's Dictionary

Bird and Bug have been playing with their (really big) Legos this morning. So for the past 15 minutes or so I've been looking at all kinds of towers & houses. Then Bird came up with quite a winner:

"Here's my house Mommy! This is the part we live in, and this part is for tramping."
Ummm... whaaat?
"This is where we go tramping!"
What is tramping?
"It's what Mommies & Daddies can do."
(Now wondering what she's picked up at school....) Bird, I don't understand. What is tramping?

So, she came up right next to me (because clearly I am slow!) and whispers in my ear:
"When we go on vacation."

Ohhhh - CAMPING!!! She'd built a house with an RV attached!!

I'm Still Waiting for Hamlet

Since Bird has started Kindergarten, her interest in writing has increased to levels I didn't know existed. Mind you, there are plenty of times she has no interest in writing letters the correct way, but she's still writing all the time.

Considering she's 5, she doesn't really understand the concept of spelling yet. Therefore, she is really just writing whatever letter pops into her head. This past week, she's managed to write 3 words. Completely randomly:

ATOM
I'd love to say she's my little chemist. I wonder. She still tends to write all her numbers backwards though.

CAUTION
How is this statistically possible?! Yet we couldn't find anything in her room that she could have copied from!

DAMN
Even better, it was on the board in my classroom. Lovely.

First Day

The morning started off like many others - dark and quiet. I heard my alarm clock for the first time in a couple of months. Can't say that I liked it, but it was necessary or I never would have gotten out of bed!

By 6:15 I had woken up enough to see if Bird was up yet - by some small miracle (or is it Murphy's Law?) she was still sleeping in her bed. Naturally, I spent a moment watching her breathe (even though she's five, it's still as pretty as when she was an infant) before pouncing on her.

Amazingly, when she's waking up she still stretches just like she did as a baby. And when I whispered in her ear that "Kindergarten starts TODAY!", she was sunny side up in an instant.

Everything about the day seemed bright and sunny to her. She even ASKED me to take pictures, rather than run from the room screaming "No more!!" A bit concerned over the size of her tote bag, she complained it was too heavy. I suspect the straps are still so new they are slippery, since I'm pretty sure she can handle carrying 10 pieces of paper.

It was very strange having someone in the backseat all the way to school, considering that normally I jettison the kids off partway. But it was nice having someone to talk to.

When we got to school they had the red carpet all rolled out and the music playing. (Really, they did! We try to celebrate the first day as much as possible.) The school mascot was out & roaming about, and we took our picture with him.

The elementary school has a tradition of starting the first day in the gym - it's the only place that will hold all the kids and at least one of their parents. It was neat - we pledged to the flag and sang a few songs together.

Eventually, they began dismissing everyone to their classrooms. They save kindergarten for last. Mainly because they ALL had parents, and we were all armed with cameras.

I was allowed to go with her as far as her classroom door. She had no problems waltzing right in.

I'm amazed at how one can feel joy, pride, and pain simultaneously.

If this is the Pings, I'm not so sure how the Throbs will feel.

Today I took my baby Big Girl to Open House. We brought her copiously labeled supplies to her classroom so she could meet her teacher and set up her pencil box at her table.

We were not going into the room totally uninformed - Bird's teacher sent a lovely postcard last week, so we (as in Bird & I) looked up her picture on the school's website.

Last year Bird hung onto her Daddy when she went to her preschool open house. This year, I showed her the door to her classroom, she stepped in, glanced around, and made a beeline for her teacher to go say hi. To say I was shocked is a bit of an understatement! Though it quickly gave way to warm pride.

Her friendliness did not extend to her classmates yet; she didn't acknowledge any of them, choosing instead to play by herself in the middle of them.

Seriously, when did she get old enough for this?! And how am I supposed to take her for real next week?!

Their Interpretation

BUG

Bug: Goodnight Mommy!!
Me: Goodnight Bug. (actually looking up from my book to kiss him) Bug, where's your pajama shirt?
Bug: I don't want to wear it.
Me: Oh honey, you might get very cold tonight without a shirt. Go put one on.
Bug: Okay! (runs off)

(a few minutes later)
Bug: Goodnight Mommy!!

I look up to see a boy in his pajama shirt, but now with no pants.


* * *

BIRD

Bird: What does my shirt say?
Me: Daddy's Little Girl
Bird: (incredulously) Daddy was a little girl???!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Spin

Uncle T is a very tall guy, which is what makes this game so much fun!

We Love Cows!!!

Two Fridays ago, two of our favorite places were giving away free food & drinks: 7-11 and Chick-fil-a. Naturally, the kids & I had to make the rounds!

7-11 was easy - all you had to do was go in and get your free 7.11 oz Slurpee (mmmm.... Slurpee). In order to get our free food from Chick-fil-a, however, we had to dress up as cows.



How do you like my tropi-spotted cows?! Funnily enough, the kids' costumes are from several different birthday parties. And yes, I admit that Bug's wearing puppy ears, but at least they were spotted. I think they count. As for Bird... she remembered how the cows dressed up like bunnies at Easter. There was no talking her out of those ears!!

And yes, we may have visited both places for lunch & dinner. Separate stores, of course!

A Camera in Dangerous Hands....

On our recent adventures I let Bird use my old camera on occasion. Most of the time, it was when we were in the car & she needed a little something to do.

It's kind of odd what a 5-year-old finds interesting.

There were about 20 pictures of her shoes. This particular pair is a set of the silver gilttery shoes you find at Target. They were already well worn & split by the end of the trip.

Also note the lacy socks - we must always look our best!



A shop display in Colorado (Manitou Springs). I'm not sure what she was trying to focus on.



Bug.


One of the 100 or so pictures of me in the front seat. At least here I look thoughtful, like I'm trying to solve all the world's problems.


And, of course, Bird herself. I think this one is my favorite.