Yada Yada... more vacation...

Ok... so even I'm bored with my vacation chronicles... but there is this one more bit of our trip that seemed worth it.

How terrible is it that it's because the kids freaked out again???

Ok... very terrible. I know. I'm sorry.

Do you see this very blurry little guy? Ok... he's big. And when he puffed out his tail and all his feathers at the kids, he was even bigger. And then he made his "gobble-gobble-gobble" noise and it was over. But allow me to back up a bit.

Things were going fine. We were walking around the 1700s farm they have at Yorktown. Animals were around and the same kids who talked constantly about how they would be chasing the turkeys again this time were very close to Daddy and Mommy as we walked around and looked and talked.

We were in the kitchen talking with a gentleman about how it all worked back then. Looking at the salt curing, the dehydrated fruit hanging, the eggs, etc, etc. Another little family with a 3-4 year old boy came in too. Then, at the other entrance, the Tom turkey (i.e. male with big tail and boy tendencies) made an appearance. Our two clung tighter to our hands and started to hide a bit. We tried to encourage them not to be afraid and to step around us and take a look at him. Just then, the other kid (not afraid at all) decided to run at the turkey... loudly!

This Tom was not afraid! At. all. Instead of moving on or backing away, he puffed up his feathers, spread his tail and "gobbled" over and over and over. You see... he was going to defeat this little kid and keep his honor.

The reaction inside the little kitchen? All three (my two and this little child who started the trouble) all screamed back and were doing their best to get as far away as possible. The Tom's response was to keep "gobbling"... making the kids cry and scream more... making the Tom "gobble" more.

I think you see where this is going.

Finally one of the "period dressed" ladies tried to holler over the screams to the children that he would keep doing it until they were quiet. Finally we got all the kids quiet and moved on. But the rest of our time there was tainted by them looking over their shoulders.

We did enjoy our time in the garden area looking at everything they had growing. That area is fenced off so the animals can't get in. :)


And for all our sakes I'm going to let that finish off the vacation chronicles. They are now officially logged for my future remembering! :) Thank you for bearing with me.

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:45 PM 0 Comments

Vacation Chronicals... part 4

We headed next, chronologically of course, to the ships. I cued him some, but Tornado let us know the names of those ships... the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. I will never ever not know those three ship names... it's one of the little facts that we went over and over.

Why?

No idea. But he knows them! It just happens that each book we read mentioned them by name. So anytime we were talking about the ships (and this is true even today as we were "traveling" on one during play time), we went through the names again.

Gratefully, nothing overly memorable happened on those ships. Some rude kids, but that's all. The kids steered, lay in the little beds, tried to ring the bell (that is tied up so all the kids won't ring it), and even got in trouble for Sweet Pea lifting her feet as she leaned over to see the water down below.

Did I say nothing memorable? That's because I'm blocking it out. I was so embarrassed. But what can I say? I was watching/ taking pictures of Tornado at that moment. (So embarrassed!) Somehow I just knew that "all feet on deck" comment was aimed at one of mine!


Once we "landed" in Virginia, we made our way to the fort. The kids rowed in a hollowed out canoe for a while, then we headed in. The chicken house is right by the entrance. Since we one day hope to have chickens of our own, we try to show these sorts of things to the kids. They loved it and Tornado was almost inside before the man was saying something. Ugh! Strike two for the day. He was worried about it being dirty. I guess we just would have washed up, huh? (I have 3 children... can you tell?) None the less... I didn't want him in there, so I guess I'm glad he said something. :)

Do you see this rooster?

He's the reason there aren't many pictures of the next 20 minutes or so. Except this picture that is. I had to get one of the culprit. I took it after the following story.

We saw him enter a building, so followed him in to show the kids. They were excited to see him (even if they were attached to Daddy... literally), but apparently the little guy worked himself into a corner while they were watching. Before any of us knew what was happening, he must have been a little nervous about being cornered because he made a big fuss and got himself out of that corner.

Honestly, it's all a little blurry. I don't know how much I actually remember and how much is painted by My Beloved's stories. He would tell you that he's not sure how Sweet Pea came to be sitting in his lap, but she was there. Both of them were screaming. And Tornado???

Where was he you ask?

By the time I made it to the door on the other wall to look out, Tornado was screaming and running near 20 feet away.

And I do mean screaming!

"[Torando], Mommy's right here baby." I was speaking calmly... in sort of a just letting you know where you can find me sort of way.

I'm certain there were lots of people wondering where in the world that child's mother was as he scrambled out of the building and down the way.

Poor kids... very traumatized!

And as if that isn't bad enough. We get them calmed down... then force them to come out and look at the rooster again. Kinda a getting back on the bike sort of thing. Then we headed over (quickly because it had already started) to see the musket demonstration.

They are already a little (read: a lot) concerned about loud noises. But then as we were making our way quickly across the fort, I saw something fly in, swoop down, and disappear behind Tornado. I wish you all could see this in my mind. Not knowing what was happening, he brushed something off. his. face., brushing it to the ground before even seeing that it was something... let alone what it was.

Moving around in the dirt was a reddish-orange cicada (read: very ucky bug) larger than a quarter! It took just a moment... then the screaming and crying came. Poor kid. They both have been struggling with fear of flying bugs lately... but this one really pushed him over the edge (especially after the gnats and rooster incidence.)

I am "sad" to report that many of these little glimpses resurfaced to bring quiet laughter the rest of the day as My Beloved and I relived them.

There were some more tears at the prospect of the musket firing, but I'm glad to say that we did have one kid get "back on the bike"...

Willingly feeding a chicken. He even reported afterward that "she didn't peck me, she just took the food!" That was a revelation!


Sigh... from there we made our way back and though we knew we weren't going to buy anything, Mommy just wanted to look in the gift shops.

Bad call!

In those five minutes the forecast thunderstorms arrived. We ran as fast as we could with two littles and a baby in the sling, but were drenched by the time we got to the car. It definitely helped end the day with laughing!!


Hey... there are still two hole days of craziness to share! To be continued...



(Note: It's so hard to "hear" the voice behind the stories on a blog... Just wanting to make sure you know that we had a blast and any and all of these stories are being shared with joy in the remembering. There's no "woe is me" here! :))

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 7:09 AM 0 Comments

Vacation Chronicals... part 3

With breakfast done, lunch packed and memory card purchased, we were on our way to the first stop on histories time line... Jamestown Settlement!

The saga does continue though and after watching a little video, and looking through the indoor museums, we headed back toward the parking lot for lunch. Jamestown is "settled" right on the water (makes sense, right?) and there were so many gnats everywhere. It was very annoying, but at some point during her sunny butter and jelly sandwich, Sweet Pea just snapped. She couldn't take the gnats flying in her face, crawling in her hair, or landing on her sandwich any. more. Major melt down! We tried to explain that they couldn't hurt her, don't bite, and will be gone if she could just eat fast. No go! Poor thing.

That behind us, we made our way back through the building and down the walking trail to the Indian Village.


We had so much fun! I love the Indian area. (Read: the homesteader in me likes to learn all I can take home!) We learned how to find natural fibers from plants around us and use it to make rope.

We walked in and around the homes.

Scraped hair off the deer hides.

Learned how the make those hides into clothing.

I even got some great recipes that I'll totally be trying out! (I'm so not kidding about the trying out... you can be the judge of the "great" part!)


One of the highlight/most looked forward to parts of Jamestown Settlement was this little thing. The kids remembered it from last time (read: the pictures of next time most likely) and were talking about it the whole week before.

They crushed corn at every home we stopped by. (There were 4-5 of them!) It was a big hit. My Beloved got over the "need a pic of every one" pretty quickly, so while they were doing it, we were looking around in the homes. Not far... but certainly not watching. Again. Perhaps I'll re-think that next time.

Before we knew it, Sweet Pea was screaming and Tornado was saying something like how it wasn't his fault... which told us that, of course, it was.

Long story short... Tornado was crushing and Sweet Pea wanted to pick some of it up. At the same time. Sweet Pea's little hand was underneath one of Tornado's down crunches.

Skin was broken on both sides of her pointer finger and we looked a long time to try to see if it was broken. My Beloved usually has his full EMT kit in the car, but for vacation (since I required a couple pieces of "for mommies convenience" baby gear), he put together a smaller pack... without the ice packs!

Once we established the story of what really happened, made sure she didn't need a hospital, and gave the "it's your responsibility to be paying attention" to my 4 year old, I walked over to one of the dressed up "Indian" ladies. Turns out, they keep some first aid stuff under the beds in the Indian homes. How funny it looked to see her pull a plastic tub of medical supplies out from under those animal skins!

Never a dull moment on one of our vacations!

More to come...

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:40 AM 0 Comments

Vacation Chronicals... part 2

The trip was relatively uneventful. We stopped for dinner about half way down, then back on the road it was. It was between 9:30 and 10 when My Beloved returned to the car with our room keys and we made the short drive to our building to unload.

It was when we were finally getting the kids into bed that I realized I had no memory card in the camera! They were just so cute. They jumped up and scurried under their covers to their necks... sheets and blankets still tucked in all the way up. Those high beds just seem safer if the covers are helping to hold them in. I loved it instantly and knew I needed a picture. I returned after a quick moment and they were out of bed already. In my (ahem) very patient voice, I told them to get back under those covers so I could take a picture. They willingly obliged. Then... no memory card. (Thus... no pics in these posts.) Ugh! I was so mad. But I determined it would be fine. We'd just have to fix that tomorrow morning!

Oh, and did I mention that My Beloved was sick... again! We can't go on vacation without that happening! It was so late, and he was so tired (especially after hefting all our stuff up to the 3rd floor by himself while I nursed) that we just went straight to bed. No audio book. No brownie. No hanging out. Nothing. It was perfect!

Now if only we could have gotten Little Man to sleep in! Not going to happen. Well, it may have, but at 5:30, I wasn't willing to risk the other two waking up to the crying... so I grabbed him. Fed him in bed. Let him hang out a bit. And put him back.

It was 30 minute after I cozied back into bed when I heard the door open. Tornado was up. It was 7am. My day was beginning!

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:16 PM 0 Comments

"It Just Happened"

I had already "lost it" several times since nap time began. I could tell it wasn't going to go well from the start. Little Man was already in there, screaming, when I brought Sweet Pea in, diapered her and tucked her beneath the covers of their new bunk beds. I took a few minutes to cuddle Little Man, helping him calm down. Once calm, I tucked him, too, into his bed. The crying resumed. I left the very noisy room with the reminder to Sweet Pea to stay in bed, quiet and still. And not to keep Little Man awake.

My hope (however unfounded) was that she would fall right to sleep and be long gone before I brought Tornado in a short time later. I joined Tornado beneath the cozy red blanket on the couch for our "reading lesson" (which is in fact a reading lesson... but it's the way he always says it no matter what, so it cracks me up). When we were done 20ish minutes later, we walked in to a fully awake Sweet Pea (and a sleeping Little Man). That is truly when I knew it was not going to go well. They do much better when one is asleep already. Otherwise...

The biggest deal here was that they NOT wake up Little Man. Have I mentioned that I'm sick? I worked all last week (a labor of love, but work none the less) caring for my sick family. Adding to the sick tolls each day until My Beloved was #4 come Thursday and Friday. Over the weekend, my body (despite fresh garlic, elderberry syrup, lots of herbal tea and all) finally gave to it all. And here I am... My Beloved is back at work (after last week's vacation) and I am here taking care of my sick self, two busy and still a bit sick kids and one still sick but oh so cute baby.

There now... with all the background. Next came my (several) blow ups. I got angry and I let it fly. I'm not proud... I'm not happy about it. But it happened. I think I may need a new 3x5 card... my old one died a curly death above the sink. And I really exploded in an open fit of frustration when they woke up the baby. I asked their forgiveness and hugs were given all around, but it still happened.

Then, while nursing (now awake) Little Man in the living room, I heard hysterical cries from the bedroom. Strange, not because it doesn't happen sometimes, but because it is usually preceded with some loud crash or bump.

Today... nothing.

Just crying.

More curious than worried, I grabbed up Little Man and we headed back to find out what would start such crying from both children. When I opened the door I had to hold back my chuckle. First I asked the question I always ask when I find something like this... "Are you hurt or scared?" I had to ask several times, as usual before I could understand the answer through the sobs.

Scared.

Ok, good. I can work with scared. And they should be scared... they just broke my curtains! As I came around to the side of the bed, I could see them both. Sweet Pea up on her knees hysterical... and inconsolable. Tornado, much the same on his top bunk, holding up half of the curtains on the rod. The other half of the rod was still attached to the window frame, curtains sagging low.

I took Tornado's half from him, laying it on the dresser. Then I decided to let loose... I laughed. I couldn't help it. Eventually Tornado was laughing too... really more of a laugh/cry. Sweet Pea was still sobbing. It helped her when I took down the other half of the curtains.

And no one would have gotten in trouble for it either... I was going to let the fear be their consequence... until Tornado lied about how the whole thing happened. As if the curtains could just fall when no one was touching them... and he just happened to be fast enough to catch them before they fell to the ground.

Ah huh.

Right.


I returned to the living room with Little Man and could only think how grateful I am for my babies... even on days like these. If I didn't have all these little frustrations, it would mean I didn't have these precious ones to raise, train, and spend my time with!





116. Painting watercolors together for missionary friends

117. Tornado's duplo "garage with lots of doors" (his first "garage" by himself)

118. Some dry nights (for Tornado... mine are all dry)

119. Many 8 hour night stretches for Little Man

120. A wonderful time having My Beloved home last week

121. hours of work done by My Beloved around the house.

122. kids and husband that are feeling better

123. grace in sickness!

Labels: Gratitude, Have to Laugh

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 3:56 PM 1 Comments

When it "can't" get any worse

Don't let this little bundle of cuteness fool you. He can be a trouble maker just like the rest. And sometimes you just have to go with it... and let out a hearty laugh!

Lately, Little Man has been tending toward pooping while he eats. This makes it a little tricky to "catch" those poops in the toilet like I prefer to do. As soon as I hear evidence of this, we make quick work of getting to the bathroom... in the hopes of catching whatever may be left. Some days it works out that way. Other days....

I was talking to my mom this morning while dealing with a "situation" in the bathroom. "This couldn't get worse," I said through the phone. "Don't say that," she quickly advised.

This afternoon I was feeding while the kids ate their lunch. Before I new it, and only a few minutes into the feeding, there was that tell tale sound. Off we went to the bathroom to see what sort of damage had been done.

Yuck.

The second (of 2 I might add) diaper cover to be covered in poop today! Since we only have two, I try to keep them washed so that there is always one ready for such a moment. When they are back to back pooped on, I can only do so much! I took a deep breath, smiled at him, and moved onto clean up.

Where do I start? It was everywhere. This doesn't happen nearly as often as it did with the other kids when they were his age, but it does happen occasionally. I was on my second wipe when he started spitting up. Clear-ish milkiness oozed and dribbled, soon poring from the corner of his mouth. What could I do. I just let it happen. I'd get it in a minute.

I was working on my 3rd or 4th wipe when he began peeing all over himself, his onsie, and the mat. I let out my breath, thankful I had the disposable mat down over the bath towel I use folded up on the counter for padding. (Last week messy things happened there and I didn't have a mat down.)

Ugh. Oh well. I'll just clean that up in a minute.

Finally there was no poop to be seen. All clean. I debated whether I would set him on the toilet now. I usually would, but he'd already pooped and pottied, so there was probably no need. I paused to think of how to best get his soaked in potty clothes off of him.

Then I heard it.

The noise.

A gurgle.

Oh no.

There's no time.

It's coming.

I did what any experienced mommy would do. I lifted the bottom part of the mat to act as a backboard for this next activity. More poop... squirting. Puddling. Under him. All over the mat. Praise the Lord for the disposable mat. It really did it's job today!

More wipes. Now there truly was no reason to put him on the toilet, but I think I did anyway.

Sometimes there is no response but to laugh. Laugh and do the next thing.

Labels: As it happens..., Elimination Communication, Have to Laugh

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 4:20 PM 2 Comments

Homemade Cottage Cheese... recipe by my 3 year old!

Tornado: Can I have some cottage cheese please?

Mommy: We don't have any cottage cheese.

Tornado: Well, we could make some.

Mommy: We can't ma... I don't know how to make it.

Tornado: I know how.

Mommy: How?

Tornado: Just get the grinder, and put some yellow cheese in. It turns it white. So there you go.

Mommy: (Smile smile smile)


What more can I say... the kid knows how to do it.

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 12:48 PM 1 Comments

So much for super smart parenting

Tornado: I don't think they are calling for "T-showers" today.

I heard this come out of Tornado's mouth yesterday morning as he played on the floor in the kitchen. "T-showers" (and other things starting with "T") is the code Daddy and I use to refer to thunder storms so that Tornado doesn't know what we're talking about (he's afraid of them). Um... apparently it doesn't work. I asked him point blank what T-showers are and he answered... "thunder storms".

Oops. Oh well. I guess we're not all that bright after all.

Labels: Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:41 AM 1 Comments

"Mommy, why did he break our house?"

Just when it seems nothing too exciting is going on, something does. This past week the kids and I witnessed our landlord/next door neighbor hooking up a chain to one of the many trees on the hill behind our house. From experience, I knew this meant he would be hooking the other side of that chain to his Bobcat tractor and pulling the tree down. Like I said... I've seen it before. It all started when this happened. Then another came down only 8-10 feet from the kids room.

Sometime later, our landlord decided another tree should come down (deliberately), before it decided to fall in its own time. It was great fun as we all headed outdoors to watch him pull it down (in case it came toward our house again). And it came down great... no problems!

So when we saw him hooking up another tree one day last week, I knew how it would play out. At some point he would stop by and mention that he was going to pull a tree down and would feel better if we weren't in the house. We would get our shoes on, grab the stroller and head somewhere safe.

Well, that's exactly what happened... only his wife called instead. She wanted to make sure the kids weren't napping already or something. We gathered up shoes, stroller and camera and headed out to the "safe spot".

I snapped this just before he started pulling. You see the two trees on the left side of the pic? Take a look at the one on the right... about 1/3 of the way down the photo. You should be able (I hope) to see a chain around the tree, with the rest moving down from the tree at a diagonal. That's the tree.

This is 4 seconds later... literally. I checked the time stamp on my computer. I wish I had a pic of the roots... they broke right off at the ground. This tree was dead!

And this is 1 second beyond the other. Sadly, for time stamp's sake, I don't have the next picture of it laying on our deck! I'd love to know what the total time was... but it was 5 seconds from beginning to here. Unfortunately... once it crashed onto our deck, Tornado started crying hysterically. Loud noises are never good, and because I never expected the tree to fall so fast, I wasn't preparing him. I thought it would take several minutes still. I thought I'd take a few pictures... talk to the kids... take another picture or so... talk to the kids. Nope. 5 seconds... whole things was over.

Here is the view as we enter the back deck from the side of the house. Yes, that was our picnic table. All that "snow" you see is the shattered glass. The first thing our super-kind landlord said to me as I rounded the bend of our house was... "I owe you a new picnic table".

Other than feeling badly that he has so much work to do to fix the deck...

...really I find the whole thing pretty funny.

It helps that the solar panels didn't get hurt... that would have been very sad for My Beloved. But since they are ok... and no one was hurt. It's no biggie!

Still... hours later, Tornado was asking, "Mommy, why did he break our house?" No amount of explaining seemed to make the question go away. I think he was still so excited about it that asking the same question over and over and over again was the only way to keep talking about it.

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 7:06 AM 0 Comments

Potty Training, House Guests and the Single Bathroom Home

It was a seemingly harmless question really. "Would now be a good time to take a shower?" The question came from my brother in law, visiting our family for the next week. Yeah, now would be great! Go for it! I thought... and even found myself saying out loud. Just then I paused... then swung into action.

"Tornado? Do you need to go potty?" The answer I heard in return didn't instill confidence in me. I switched that to... "Tornado, I want you to go potty." Moments later, we were done, and Uncle was in.

It wasn't 2 more minutes (or so) when I heard the dreaded words... "Mommy, I have to poop."

He said it so calmly, so matter of fact. I almost just said ok. Then it occurred to me... ugh! I had a contingency for potty... he's my boy. We were just going to head out back. But that was not going to work.

So what did I do? I'm almost too embarrassed to say... I grabbed a bowl. I did... is that terrible? I helped my boy squat over a kitchen bowl right there on my kitchen floor... and boy am I glad I did... that would not have come out of those underwear easily.

And you see... this is a very important day. It is the third day without any accidents. The day that, should he complete it with no accidents, will earn him his new, "fun" underwear. I couldn't risk the accident!

Uncle and Daddy don't know yet... but the bowl is cleaned and just about put away. :) Can we just pretend it didn't happen???

What would you have done???

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 12:37 PM 1 Comments

"I'm just touching my face"

Yeah... sure! This is the answer we often get when asking Tornado if he is sucking his fingers, or when we tell him not to.

"I'm just touching my face (or eye or lips or whatever)" he says in reply.

"Well, don't touch your face," I tell him.

Seriously! He's 2... and it's hard to tell if he's lying outright (you know, in his own mind) or if he's saying what he's doing now, hoping we won't focus on .04 seconds ago.

Kids! They say the funniest things. Or is it that the things they say are funny because they are kids? I wonder about that more and more these days!

Labels: Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 1:20 PM 1 Comments

Alone in a tent

A two and a half year old left in a tent alone... before falling completely asleep... can cause all sorts of trouble. You can't tell as much on the right page, but he totally got my sudoku book. And the puzzles weren't done yet. It was very tricky to finish those puzzles with scribble all over them.

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:46 AM 2 Comments

Fireworks

Our township does a firework show for it's anniversary each year. In the 4 1/2 years we've lived here, we've never been... that is until this year with a 2 year old who is afraid of everything and a 1 year old who is afraid of thunder. If you can't call me a good mother, you can at least know that I was showing love and submission to my dear husband. He *loves* fireworks, but only from the front row. In years past we've completely passed up the chance to see fireworks from afar... "there's just no point".

This year we thought we'd take them for the hay ride and fireworks. Hayride? Very fun! Fireworks... interesting.

Waiting for the fireworks was tough, though we killed some of the time by sharing an order of fresh cut fries. Then we just sat and sat and waited and he wasn't aloud to run around and "come back here" and such and such and such. Then, all of a sudden, without warning, we saw a speck of light shoot from the grassy field in front of us, into the air. We had very little time, and not enough time to alert Tornado (who still had no idea what "fireworks" were) to what was about to happen. He was standing in front of us, back turned to what was happening, Sweet Pea on my lap. Concerned with what Tornado would do, I didn't have the time or thought to think of what Sweet Pea would do. Before we knew it the first firework was exploding in the darkening sky... and my two year old was freaking out!

The darkness was making it increasingly difficult to see around us, and I wasn't sure which direction Tornado would run in his panic, so I was out of my chair and rushing toward him in very little time... whisking a screaming Sweet Pea with me.

What? Earplugs, you ask?? Yeah, that would have been a good idea. Where were you Saturday?

With Tornado's arm in my hand and screaming Sweet Pea over my arm, I retreated to my chair and thrust Tornado into Daddy's lap where he could calm down and watch the show with Daddy's hands pressed tightly over each ear.

I proceeded to hold Sweet Pea against me, pressing one ear into my body and holding my hand over the other. She calmed down... Tornado didn't... ever.

After a moment of listening to his hysteria and calls for Mommy, I moved from my chair to the ground beside my sweet husband and took on Tornado also. The transfer was comical for sure, as we were careful to keep his ears covered the whole time. It was a bit of a juggling act, but eventually he did stop screaming. He wanted to see them, but wasn't happy about the noise. He made continual whining noises, I imagine because it echoed in his head with his ears covered and drowned out some of the sound.

At any rate, it's all he's talked about today... "Are we going to see more fireworks tonight?" he asked me this morning on the way to church. He remembers how scary they were, but he doesn't seem to care.

Whatever!

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:01 PM 1 Comments

The beginning of the expressions era

It's the beginning alright. Replies to just about everything I say get either an "I don't know" or an "oh" or an "ok". Sometimes they are combined. Like some of the following...

..."Oh, ok."
..."Oh, I'm sorry."
..."Oh, (I don't remember this last one, but it's cute!)

Then there are some other favorite expressions, like...

"That sound good?"

and...

"Let's goooooooo!"

and...

oh golly, I'll have to keep you updated, I can't think of more, but I'm sure he'll say them again.

Labels: Have to Laugh, Little Moments, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:54 AM 0 Comments

Exactly how do you get potting soil out of a 1 year old's mouth?

Really, I'd like to know.

I suppose it's one of those "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" moments, but too late now.

She's clean now... and just to finish the job I pushed the rest down with a sippy cup. What doesn't kill her will just make her stronger, right? I hope. :)

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:55 AM 1 Comments

The bedtime prayers of a 2 year old

Dear God,
Thank you for this food... for this day. Help [Tornado] and [Sweet Pea] sleep good. Help [Tornado] stay in bed. Fix Doggy's (stuffed dog he sleeps with) nose and toes and tail. ...long pause... In Jesus Name [with a bunch of other words after it that we can't make out yet], Amen.

I hope I never forget little things like this!

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Little Moments, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:46 PM 1 Comments

Monologue

Last night Tornado had the following conversation with himself: (My Beloved was staking out the closed bedroom door to make sure he stayed in bed and heard him through the door.)

Tornado: Hey Daddy are you in the greenhouse?
Tornado: (being Daddy) Yeah.
Tornado: (as himself) Can I come out?
Tornado: (being Daddy) No.


If only I'd written out all the funny things he has said this last week... I'm sad to have forgotten so many little things!

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Little Moments

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:03 AM 0 Comments

"Carrots"

Tornado and I took a quick break in our morning activities today to watch a big township truck (with some of those orange cones on it) drive by our house. I could tell he was lost because of his slow speed (we are toward the end of the public portion of our road), but that makes it perfect for us to watch.

After it had passed and we could see the back of the truck out our side kitchen window, Tornado said, "Carrots!"

I just love free association!

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 11:58 AM 0 Comments

Are we having fun yet? or Motherhood or There are no pictures... you'll thank me later

I really couldn't decide on a title for this post... can you tell? There are so many others that kept running through my head last night as I changed my two year old's sheets for the 4th time (we don't have that many sets of his sheets, and ok, My Beloved did most of the linen changes since I was bathing and changing our son.

You guessed it... at about 10 last night (only about an hour after he fell asleep) my toddler woke up crying... and it was more than just an "I'm awake" cry. I headed down the hall to comfort my little one and to put him back to bed. In a hope that he wasn't all the way awake, I didn't turn on any lights.

As I bent down to feel my way to him, I felt something moist. YUCK! I thought. I stood and returned to the hall to flick the switch on. With light on my side, I returned to the scene of the crime to find my suspicions confirmed. Vomit! A big puddle of it next to my very upset boy.

I took a closer look at my guy before picking him up and holding him to myself to dispense comfort. Yuck! Off came the shirt. I picked him up carefully (not in a comforting way) and took him to the bathroom, turned on the bath water and grabbed a washcloth to start the wipe down. It was then I noticed that it was all over his hair. (Note: encourage child to chew zucchini in the future.) He was very upset and loudly crying through all of this process. Once the initial wipe down was done I let him hug me and cry while the bath water filled. He did not want to take a bath.

As I was putting him in the tub (against his will), My Beloved came to join us, very curious about what was wrong (having been on the phone when the whole thing started.) I did the fastest bath I could so I could let Tornado out of the bath and hold him till he calmed down. His little body trembled the whole time. Poor thing. Once clean and calmer, we set out in search of a new diaper and clean clothes for him to sleep in. Meanwhile, Sweet Pea was now awake and Daddy worked on the bed. Yuck! I owe that man dearly! Everything went into the wash... the sheet (after being shaken outside), the teddy bears, the blankets, the under sheet thing (whatever it's called)... everything!

Bed made new and kid calm and clean, we tucked him in (with new "animals" and blankets) and turned out the light. My Beloved headed for the kitchen to do a thorough cleansing of himself while I worked on getting laundry moved over so I could wash the mess!

Not 10 minutes later, and before the washer was finished filling, it all started again! Thankfully a bath was not necessary this time (or the other 3). A wipe down of face and hands and a change of shirt, sheets, blankets and animals was plenty. Then back in bed. The sheets we used were one of ours folded up smaller. The last couple times we got away with only changing his shirt and sheets.

Poor guy... He kept asking "what Tornado (of course he used his own name) do mommy?" He asks that a lot, but it was pretty sad this time. He is better this morning. We are hoping it was a reaction to dinner and not a virus that Sweet Pea will get. That sounds like even more fun!

Check this one off the list... first stomach bug!

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:37 AM 4 Comments

"Man sleeping Mommy"

How do you explain death to a 2 year old?

We were at the funeral on Friday (husband of a dear older lady at church). We didn't necessarily need to have one last look at dear J, but we did need to greet his widow, give her a hug, make sure she knew we were there, let the kids smile at her and give her hugs. These things were important.

I knew that I had no idea what to tell Tornado about the lifeless body in the fancy box at the front. I thought about it and nothing came... so I said nothing.

We weren't even at the front yet when Tornado spied him from half way across the room where we were standing in line. "Man sleeping Mommy," he said.

In the next couple seconds I thought of all the things I could say to him. He's dead, Sweety. J is in heaven now with God. No, my very literal 2 year old would struggle with him being in heaven when he is definitely *right there*. Nope... this is definitely not the age and day to delve into doctrine and death with my little guy.

I smiled, chuckled right along with My Beloved and the couple people standing around us and said, "yeah, that's right."

He said it a number of times between that spot in line and the front (next to his family). I wonder if that is why he wanted to lay down on the chairs during the service. And I thought he was just tired. Hmmm... I wonder.

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 10:18 PM 0 Comments