Play Date

I'm not sure what has gotten into my kids lately, but they awful in public. OK, mainly Moose is awful in public and Bean makes minor infractions but the two combined are just way too much.

I took them to story time at Barnes & Noble yesterday. They happily looked at books prior to story time, but as soon as the bookseller arrived to read, they were having none of it. They continued to wander around, and then we chased Moose around the adult aisles. I almost asked for an application, but decided being there with my wild children was probably going to make a bad first impression. I thought they needed to burn off some more energy, so we walked down to a furniture store for a quick look around and then to PetSmart to check out the fish and ferrets and parakeets. Ferrets are so disgusting.

Later, they had checkups. They were rambunctious, to say the least. Bean is in the 97th percentile for height and middle of the road for weight. Moose is middle of the road for height and, umm, like 97th percentile for weight. They're both healthy and the doctor suggested multivitamins, but Bean's dependence on Ensure is no longer necessary. One tall and thin, the other short and fat. They both have referrals to eye doctors and Moose has a referral to speech. Bean wasn't up to par on gross motor skills, but I said we weren't that worried about it. Neither my husband nor I are extraordinarily coordinated people and tall kids are usually have a harder time with that sort of thing. I opted not to take the physical therapy referral - he'll get the hang of his body one day. Even if he doesn't, it's not like NOT SKIPPING will affect his ability to get a job one day.

Later, I took the boys to see Babies. It was showing at the independent theater downtown. Here's the scandal: It was PG for "cultural and maternal nudity." How silly. Neither of my boys blinked at the boobies or the baby penises. Bean, however, did not care for the baby pooping on its mother's knee and her wiping it off with a corn cob or the same baby chewing on a bone, which I think was meant for the dog. We had to leave 10 to 15 minutes early, because SOMEONE was making rounds shaking people's hands and screaming bloody murder if I tried to stop him.

I didn't find the movie particularly revealing - I guess I'm a bit crunchier (to use Courtney's term) than the average American mother. I did notice the NOISE. Despite the hut-living and seemingly meager existences of the babies in Namibia and Mongolia, it was so quiet there. Also, their interactions with the Earth were so much more natural. The babies in Tokyo and San Francisco had much more noise going on around them with the streets and the grocery stores and the organized play dates. Also, their nature interactions were pretty much the zoo and the family cat. The toy factor was also huge. I'm thinking I can strip my kids of everything but two toys, and they'll be fine, and I'll have a lot less to clean up :)

We went to another family's home for a play date today. She goes to the church and has kids slightly older than mine (6 and 7.5). It went well enough, but I always find play dates so awkward - especially those first few. Her husband is a professor and she is a high school teacher - both math/science people, very smart. The kids are also very well spoken. It was sort of like being at school over there and my kids neanderthal ways annoyed the older ones from time-to-time. ("He won't listen." "He doesn't get it." "He's not following the rules." "I already explained it.") Kids are funny.

Oh, my laundry detergent DID thicken up. I think I can easily just use 1/2 cup now instead of 3/4 cup. It's amazing, but I need more essential oils. Good sites for those?

A Little Bit of This and That

Yesterday, Bean came out of the bathroom and was bleeding from his chin. He was very upset. I suspected what might have happened but asked him anyway: "I was in Mama and Dada bafroom." I told him to show me what happened. He wailed some more. "I not go in timeout?" I said, "No, you won't go in time out, but it's important to tell me the truth." So, we walked into the bathroom and he showed me the razor ... he'd also wiped blood all over my new hand towel and had flung my hair straightener on the ground (and it's not a cheap hair straightener).

He tried to shave.

It was a brand new blade.

Luckily, it was just a small cut - very small. It could have been much worse.

I don't think he'll be doing it again.

Most importantly, my hair straightener was fine :)

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Bean gets his new glasses today. His prescription was upped. The eye doctor anticipates that he'll easily be out of glasses by 10. The new glasses are very cool - dark blue metallic rims. Umm, remember the money I was saving from Pantry Challenge? Yeah, they'll be paying for glasses. If he treats them as well as he treated the first pair .... the kid better not need braces, that's all I'm saying.

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I'm getting a lot of grief for Moose's hair lately. Yes, it's long. Yes, there's a lot of it. I'm just so not there yet. I shaved off all of Bean's hair, and I've been traumatized ever since.

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I'm signing up for a stained glass class! It'll be this Saturday and next Saturday! It's my reward for my husband heading to Vegas last weekend!

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I am about 100 pages away from finishing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I can't believe it's almost over.

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Once I finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I'll have read five books so far this year. Pretty darn good ... we're not even done with January.

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Moose stayed in the church day care for about an hour yesterday. He cried and cried. One of the workers finally picked him up and rocked with him. She said he snuggled in her lap the whole time. What a baby ...

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Moose got three shots yesterday. He's now up-to-date on everything except the MMR, which I'm putting off till I take him to Mother's Day Out or till he starts pre-school. You know, I realize I don't know a single person who has personally had an ill effect from the vaccine, but all the controversy around it does make me uncomfortable.

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The Rock is a much cooler name than Dwayne. I mean, really, Dwayne???

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I got bored in the first 15 minutes of Angels & Demons (the movie). My husband got through about half of it and then went to bed. So, umm, you know it's really good.

New Moon

Starting at about 7:10 last night ... we waited in line to go see New Moon (me, Mrs. House of Toys, and some others). Mrs. House of Toys and I skipped out for an hour and went to dinner, but then we were back ... and sat and sat. They let us in the theater around 9:30. Then we waited and waited till 12:01.

Oh, and then it was all worth it.

I can't say I'll be going to such lengths for the next movie (umm, I could go see it the next weekend and be just as happy), but it was fun to be part of pop culture history ... once.

There was about 30 minutes of previews before the movie. Let me go on the record and say that the upcoming movie Avatar both horrifies me in how terrible it will likely be, but I'm also quite intrigued.

Time Alone (Almost)

Our friends invited us out to the lake with them. They rented a boat and a cabin, and I have to say that I was really looking forward to it. Ultimately, though, I decided to send Husband and Bean alone and stay home with Moose. I really needed some alone time.

Anyway, Husband and Bean headed south this morning. After some hassles with the boat, the boys and our friends got a couple hours on the boat. Unfortunately, no one caught a thing. They were grilling that last time we spoke ... and it's probably for the best I missed all the boat hassles. I don't handle things like that well.

Moose and I had a great day. We met some friends for lunch (seriously, he has a friend, she's about two weeks older than him) and then played at her house for a bit. Then I dragged him to the post office and Hobby Lobby (no big purchase, just picking up some cardstock for my friend's baby announcements). We came home, he napped and I cleaned, then we went for a walk down to another friend's house. He passed out around 9:30.

Husband has actually never spent a night away from Moose - except Moose's first night outside the womb.

This morning, Husband reported that Bean said, "Dada, [Moose] smiles like this." and proceeded to open his mouth very, very big. Ha ha. So true!

In other news, we watched Slumdog Millionaire last night. I can totally see how it won best picture. It was tough to watch - hard to watch that sort of poverty and know that it is, indeed, really going on in the world. That said, though, I think it's a great movie and well worth seeing.

Our First 5K

A friend of ours is the executive director for our local CASA organization - a program that recruits, trains, and provides court-appointed special advocates for children in legal situations of abuse and/or neglect.

Husband and I decided to join their third annual CASA 5K this year. You can walk or run. We walked. We've been very busy the last few weekends and Husband's job and classes have been very demanding these past few weeks. At one point earlier this week Husband suggested, "They already have our money, do we have to go?" Greeted by a cold and windy morning, as the walk started, I suggested that we just veer towards the car when the walk got close to it (which some people did do). We stuck it out, though, and I'm so happy we did. Once we got moving, the wind let up, and the sun started heating things up. The last half of the walk was on a beautiful trail and when we crossed the finish line tons of people are there to cheer us on (as though we were actually breaking a sweat or something silly). I can't wait to do it again next year!

I didn't register Bean this year, because I figured he wouldn't be interested in running ... I was wrong. He was bummed he didn't get to do the 1K with the kids (which they run before the 5K), so I'll be sure to register him next year so he has that option ... and our local CASA will take in a few more bucks as well.

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Last night, Mrs. House of Toys was over and we watched Twilight. Our expectations were rather low, but probably not low enough. It was fun to see how some characters fit our visions (Carlise, Esme) and how others were way off the mark (Rosalie, Jacob). Also, Bella is so much prettier in the movie than in any of the promotional posters - what's with that? The special effects were terrible - very B movie, but we have hopes that future movies from the series will be better as the actors develop and the movie gains more funds for more technical effects. We'll see. I still need to read Books 3 and 4!

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Aside from the 5K, we've had a pretty lazy day. Napping, crafting, video games, TV, a little bit of yardwork, a board game. It's a much needed break.