This is Cool...

This is a very cool way of showing baby name popularity throughout the years.

Benjamin is a slightly more popular name than I would have liked it to be, but not insanely so. (I don't really want him to be one of five Bens in his kindergarten class and be forced to go by Ben G. forever)

Other names we've always had in mind are even less frequently used, at least for the moment, so that makes me happy! :) I was so sad when I discovered that my most favorite girl's name of all time, Madeline, has gotten to be so overused and its nickname "Maddie" even MORE overused. Fads suck. I liked that name WAY before it was so popular. Bleh. So we headed back to the drawing board after Ben was born with regard to any future girl names...

Long LONG Day...

Tom has a work dinner tonight. I HATE work dinners even more than I hate golf outings. Work dinners mean I work a double shift and he gets a better meal than me. Not to be all "woe is me", but I definitely get the short end of the stick when it comes to Tom and these work dinners.

It's only 2:45 right now and I am already clock watching. This does NOT bode well for the rest of the day. We have been outside, torn apart Ben's room and the basement and are now watching Sesame Street STOMP for the fifth time...

My Husband Deserves an Award...

I have been a bit overwhelmed and tired lately and the house is starting to show it. There have been dishes in the sink for three days and the mountain just keeps growing higher and higher. If you know me, you know that this is not at all like me, nor does it make me at all happy. I get antsy just looking at cluttery messes! But I digress... so I just have not had the energy for this mountain of dishes, nor the energy to unload the dishwasher to make room for the mountain of dishes. My husband, though he is ALSO tired from a long day at work, is currently downstairs unloading and loading the dishwasher. He's been at it for about 40 minutes... yeah, it was that bad.

Also, I forgot to mention that yesterday was our 11-year dating anniversary. Ah yes, it was just over a decade ago when he wooed me during Loyola College freshmen orientation. (sigh) ;)

Cinnamon is the Devil...

After much experimentation, we have determined that Ben is rather severely allergic to cinnamon! It's not a huge surprise. I've read that it's a highly allergenic food and a pretty common allergy for little kids. But WHOA baby. I wasn't prepared for the diaper rash it created. We had an ugly situation on our hands last night with that AND we were out of diaper cream. Yowza!
Honestly, Ben has never HAD a diaper rash, (hush, I dealt with plenty of other issues, thank you very much), so I was a little clueless as to what to do. I found a packet of Johnsons & Johnsons diaper cream in our travel bag but uh... it must be different stuff than what we usually use because when we put it on him, he screamed bloody murder. I'm guessing it burned.

I wiped him off with a cold rag and let him run naked after he calmed down and I sent Tom out for diaper cream. He came back with LOTION. In all fairness, the package looks the same as the diaper cream... you know, except for the spot where it says "LOTION."

But by that time, Ben was calm, so we just put a diaper on him and put him to bed. Today it looks a little better... but SHEESH. Who knew innocent-looking cinnamon could do that much damage?!

Where Do We Sign Up?!

for this?! I would sign up Ben and any future children in a HEARTBEAT. Seriously... they only have 20 kids enrolled so far and they need 400. WHERE DO I SIGN UP?

I'm Here, I'm Here!

Between Blogger randomly deciding it didn't want to publish my posts and doctor appointments and having to pick up rent-a-cars, it seemed the world was conspiring against my blogging today. ;)

So yeah, I have a lovely rental car... it's a Chevy Cobalt. No complaints, really. But it's 3a.m. and I just realized I left it unlocked. I'm not used to having to manually lock my car. I sure hope it's still out there. I'm only half kidding. I had a similar car stolen from right in front of my house (and subsequently totalled) a few years ago.

Ben's ear tube surgery is scheduled for October 9th. Ack! Trying not to think about it much until the day of, really. So that's the last you'll hear about that for awhile.

Oh, and you notice I'm up at 3a.m. (almost 4 actually) again? My sleep is SERIOUSLY screwed up... if Tylenol PM didn't give me crazy drug-induced dreams about flying sheep and people chasing me, I"d take some. But instead, I'll just sit here with my cup of tea and blog about my insomnia while my family slumbers effortless one floor above. (sigh)

30 Months Old!

Ben is 30 months old today... not much to say except that he has been whiny whiny whiny all day long.

Weekend Fun...

Yesterday, we had a somewhat uneventful day, though we did drive to the D.C. area for a family reunion and someone's (my late grandfather's late father's late brother's wife... did you get all that?) 100th birthday. Kinda strange since we didn't really know the person who was celebrating their 100th, nor did we really know any of the other family there. But I did get to see my aunts, cousin and grandmother who I haven't seen in forever, so it was nice. :)

Today, Tom wants to go to the Italian festival. He found a sign for it while wandering through Towson. Should be fun. I'm just hoping I can find myself a calzone and and a canole. YUM. I see there is also a grape stomping contest and a pasta eating contest. Can't beat THAT entertainment.

There is also a Johnny Appleseed festival at the farm right by our house that I want to hit later. We stopped there for a short time yesterday to kill a few minutes before we got on the road to D.C. It was really cute... music, cider, caramel apples, apple picking a hay maze and farm animals for the kiddos to see. Adorable!

All this makes for a near-silent blogging weekend. Sorry! ;) See you Monday!

Three! Three Posts in One Day! Ah ah ah ah ah....

Have you seen THESE yet?!
I MUST have these... in fact, I want some so badly that I just might run out to the store so I can have them for dinner.

Three Toddlers, One Giant Bucket of Dough...

I had a little playdate at my house yesterday with the Periwinkles and the Redheads in attendance. Hannah, Ben and Ryan played mostly happily with Playdough when Ben wasn't busy being possessive with his toys. ;)



The babies amused each other and chewed on things. (Gracie left, Lily, right)


Fun times. And all the toddler Playdough fun helped me toward my goal of new basement carpet. ;) We need to do this more often!

Preschool vs. Mommy and Me... Smackdown 2006

So I have a confession... and I think I'll probably catch a little flack from some of you for it... a few virtual eye rolls and whatnot.

I pulled Ben out of preschool. Actually, to say I "pulled him out" is a bit of an exagerration seeing as the first day he was supposed to go was today...

Here's the thing. I LOVE the school. I trust the teachers. I don't think they'd ever do anything to harm any of the children. It's not like that at all. It's just well, a mommy thing.

You all know Ben is having a major case of separation anxiety right now. He even gets a little anxious on and off when we leave him with his grandparents. (doesn't get upset, just will ask on and off where we are and if we're coming back). In situations with people he DOESN'T know? It's a full-on, inconsolable screamfest that would ultimately end in throwing up if he were not rescued. There is no "settling down". Trust me. I know many of you are thinking that would be the case? But I know my kid and I know he won't just "settle down" in that situation.

Flashforward to this whole school thing. The first thing that got me thinking was something my sister-in-law's mother said. (she is a preschool teacher) She asked me if they had an open-door policy and said if they didn't, that was a red flag. Now, again, I don't think Ben's preschool has any "red flags" with regard to how the children are treated... but they do have a rather strict "clean break" drop off policy (parents are NOT allowed inside) and I was told I wouldn't be called if Ben were crying for a period of time. The teacher even said to me, "We had two kids cry the entire hour just yesterday!" (yeah, way to make me feel better...)

So that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Now, if they had said to me that they'd call me if he cried for 15 minutes... or even 20 minutes... I'd have at least given this first week a chance. But I have this vision of dropping him off and him starting to freak the minute the door to the school closes behind him and being trapped there for an entire hour. (2-1/2 hours on a normal day!) That just seems traumatic and completely unnecessary for me.... is that being unreasonable? I would have had no problem just giving it a try if they had only said they'd work with me...

You know... these teachers... they think they know how kids work. And for the most part? They do. They know all sorts of tricks I don't know yet. But NO one knows my child like I do and you know what? My mommy instinct tells me this just isn't the right time to be just dropping him off and running.

In retrospect, I probably should have sought out a preschool that was either a co-op or had a transitional "phase out the mommy" philosophy. But at the time I signed up, Ben could not have cared less whether I was there or not. I just feel like he's going through this phase right now and the best thing to do is just wait it out/put him in situations without me but where I have the ability to at least let him slowly transition into feeling comfortable.

The good news is that just as I was having these second thoughts about the school, I found out from my neighbors about this local mommy and me program that runs through Deecember. It's only $35 and meets on Fridays, at roughly the same time the school did. I think we're going to that.... Ben gets to play and socialize and so do I.

I feel SO much better having made the decision. Who says a kid has to go to preschool when they are only 2 anyway? School can wait a year or even two! There is no reason to rush it... we have plenty to do and he spends plenty of time with other kids between Gymboree and our friends....

I'm sort of dreading talking to the preschool director later when she inevitably calls in response to my email. But I don't think I'll have any problem defending my decision. And the $485 that went toward the school? Can now to toward plane tickets for another Disney trip in January! So everybody wins... ;)

Just His Size...

One of Benjamin's favorite things in the world to do is to go to the grocery store with me and be allowed to pilot one of the child-size carts they have. I rarely let him do it because it's either too crowded or I have too many things to get. But when I just run out for two or three things, he gets to have his "baby cart" and he is just in seventh heaven. Today he even successfully steered it by himself with very little intervention from me.

I did have to stop from from "shopping" on his own because somehow, I realized we had ended up with a box of rice and a tofu burger mix in there, neither of which were on my list. ;) He was quite pleased with himself.

Then, to really seal the deal as "best grocery trip EVER", I let him scan the items at the self checkout and even swipe my card. OHMYGOODNESS, you would have thought I gave him the best gift ever. After that, he got to drive his little cart all the way out to the car. Oh yes... good times. Good, toddler times.

Strange...

I'm up at 3a.m. (Have you ever heard the quote from Charlotte's Web about not being able to sleep when your stomach is empty and your mind is full?* Yeah, that's me) Anyway, apparently, there is no one to talk to at 3a.m. No real-life friends, no internet friends, and none of the neighbors are out! Heck, I even have friends who live in parts of the world where it's morning and/or afternoon right now and THEY aren't even online to talk to. What's that about? But I am forced to sit here and tell my troubles to a box of (very delicious) graham crackers. Don't people know that 3a.m. is the new 6p.m.!? It's party time! Make a note of it and I'll see you tomorrow. Same time, same place. ;)










* here is the actual quote, by the way... "Wilbur's stomach was empty and his mind was full, and when your stomach is empty and your mind is full, It's hard to fall asleep. But eventually, sleep and Wilbur found each other. "

Why Ebay Rules...

(I tried to post this yesterday, but Blogger was NOT playing nice)

Bought a toddler 2T winter coat (brand new!) - $13.99
Bought size 7 toddler boots (brand new! In box!) - $5.99

Selling last year's Halloween costume... $20'ish! (if it sells for what all the other ones seem to be selling for)

Woohoo!

He's a Boy's Boy...

Yesterday there was a Ravens game on, or some such nonsense. As a passionate football hater, I really just try to ignore it all. But the toddler? He is into it. He asks who all the players are and actually WATCHES the game with his daddy.

They went outside last night and when they came in, Tom told me Ben (who was wearing his Ravens jersey) was running around saying, "I'm running fast like Brett Favre!" (who is not a Raven, to my knowledge) He also likes to declare, "I'm a quarterback! Like Steve McNare!" (?!)

Today he wanted to wear his (dirty) Ravens jersey again and cried every time I tried to convince him he needed to take it off so I could wash it. I gave up and he has been wearing it all day. (sigh)

So yeah... I think we have figured out our Halloween costume for this year...

Birthday Party!

Yesterday Ben and I made the trek out to Jen's for Ryan's third birthday party. It was really quite adorable... everything was a "Cars" theme. My personal favorite was the basket of fudge mini donuts with a sign on them that said "mud tires". YUM. ;) I also got to meet miss Emily Rose for the first time. I've met her mommy and daddy once or twice before, but I've only ever read about and seen pictures of Emily. All the kiddos were adorable and seemed to have a fun time. Thanks, Periwinkle family!

Ben and Ryan spent a good bit of the party doing this together... ;)

First Day of Preschool...

Sorry these are such bad pictures. I couldn't really find an ideal time to take them while we were meeting his teachers, so I waited until we were leaving and Ben was REVVED up and didn't want to stand still!

Showing me his "back pack"


Tired of showing me his "back pack" and really wanting to play in the pile of giant legos that are hiding in the yellow box next to him...


Checking out "the hole" in the main hallway...


"Mommy, I want to jump OUT of the hole!"
(followed by me running over to catch him when he jumped)

;)

A Summary of Our Morning...

We went to the cubby conference. Ben ran in and started playing with the toys like there had never been a problem in the first place. (?!) He turned on the charm and talked to his teachers. They both look to be about 16. And that's saying a lot coming from someone who also looks about that age myself. I'm sure they are actually about 22-23, but SHEESH.

Anyway, they were both very nice. I asked about dropoff next week and apparently they are serious that I just open the car door, get him out of his seat, hand him off and drive away. No walking him in, no hanging around. Something about a "clean break" being easier on everyone and that having some parents hanging out while others don't might create jealousy among the kids and blah blah blah. I just hope Ben goes for it.

I asked what happens if he cries? Will they call me? Umm.. apparently the answer is probably not. (I guess only if he throws up because he's crying so hard or something) She said she had two cry the entire hour (the first class is only an hour long) yesterday. But she assured me eventually, he would calm down. MMMkay. If you say so, lady.

I had to practically drag him out of there, which was reassuring. I got two sort of lame pictures that I will post later.

Here's where my day gets fun.

On the way home, I managed to rearend someone. Oh and not just anyone either... I rearended the chief of anesthesiology for GBMC hospital (local hospital for anyone who doesn't know) in his silver Mercedes Benz. It was kind of weird how it happened... he was in front of me in a right yield turn lane thingy... he went, I turned my head to the left to check for cars, a car flew through a yellow light... after he passed, I put my foot on the gas and it turned out that the guy in front of me had stopped for the speeding car. Yep. Crunch. My right headlight, his left tailight.

Oh but the story does not end there. I called Tom since his office is right there. He came out and everyone was exchanging information. The guy (and his wife, who were BOTH very very nice) looked at the name on the registration and said.. "Tom Graff? I know a Tom Graff. He was my mentor at Johns Hopkins... taught me anesthesiology."

Yep. That's Tom's grandfather. Small world, huh? So there I stand with my dented, broken car and Tom and this guy (Mr. Garcia is his name) started exchanging stories about Dr. Tom. TOO WEIRD. I'd like to think God was looking out for me on that one. Thankfully, I didn't hit a crazy person who screamed and yelled at me. This guy could not have been nicer... he even said that it wasn't anyone's fault. (it was SO my fault)

All that resolved (but with the car still sad and wrecked), we headed to Target to get Ryan's birthday present.

Now happily at home, I would REALLY like to be napping, but Ben feels otherwise. (sigh)

I wonder how the afternoon will go?

Cubby Conference Day!

Today is Cubby Conference Day at Ben's preschool. We go in for ours at 10a.m. He gets to spend 15 minutes one-on-one with his teachers and they show him around, assign his cubby and give him a tote bag and tee shirt. I've been talking it up for months. We're no longer calling it school, btw, we're calling it "playtime". This is because the very mention of the word school sends him into an anxiety attack where all he does is utter the words, "Daddy will be back!! Daddy will be back!" over and over.

So he's very excited about "playtime". I just hope the fact that it's in the same room as "school" doesn't set him off as soon as we get there. I hope he gives it a chance. Next week, he goes for an hour with half the class (three other kids) and the following Friday, he goes ALL BY HIMSELF.

Wish us luck! I'll take some pics later if I can... :)

Rainy Day Activities...

Just trying to stay sane on this gloomy, rainy day. Thankfully, Ben just went down for his nap...

I threw myself into the project that always makes me feel like I've accomplished something when I do it -- cleaning "the office".
Nothing is more cathartic than throwing away my husband's stuff. ;)

I've been slowly trying to pare down the junk in there since eventually, it will be a nursery and we will have limited space to put all the STUFF that currently occupies that room. So today, I put away all of our cd's (we never listen to them anymore!) and Tom's Star Wars toys, and I cleaned a bunch of junk out of the closet. I also moved "The World's Biggest and Ugliest Mirror" out of there and into the hallway where hopefully tripping over it day after day will motivate my husband to figure out a way to get rid of it FINALLY.

The room is decluttered, dusted and very clean right now. And clean (happy sigh) is good.

What's Wrong with This?

So I'm watching Oprah. (hush, I'm sitting here just trying to relax) and her friend Nate just made over Eva Longoria's kitchen.

Eva Longoria is loaded. Why does she need a free new kitchen?

*I*, however, am NOT loaded and need a free new kitchen!

Oprah? A little help?

Just a Picture...

Even though he's watching tv in this picture, I love it. (I took it last week sometime) Tom says it looks like he's playing Nintendo or something. ;) I just like his little profile...

Seriously?!

Saw this Interesting new baby product on another blog. OhMAHgah.

Do I Trust Online Banking Anymore?

Honestly? I am not sure! I went to the branch today to try and straighten out the mess from yesterday. I ended up getting slapped with SEVEN overdraft fees at $32 each!

By the way, as it turns out, I am NOT crazy and somehow my bills were paid twice. (but they were originally paid and cleared when I THOUGHT I paid them... the week we had money in the account!) The very nice woman at the bank called someone about what happened and they said that there is no way the bills were sent twice unless I manually went in and paid them twice.

I do NOT remember doing this. And, just in case I am losing my mind, because I will not deny that that is possible, I just went in and looked at my web browser history and sure enough, I was NOT even on my bank's website the day they claim I went in and manually sent off my bill payments for a second time.

They returned four of the seven overdraft fees, just to be nice. They said they couldn't waive all of them because "it wasn't the bank's fault." (sigh) Tom is going to go up again another day and try HIS style of negotiating to get them back. I doubt he'll be successful because his style is NASTY. I remember working in customer service and, if it was situation where I had a choice in the matter? NASTY people did NOT get ANYTHING. ;)

Pics from the Weekend

Here are a few pictures from our marathon Cumberland, MD weekend...

We took a ride on a old-time steam train. Unfortunately, just after the second picture was taken, said steam train spewed steam and then whistled so loud that Ben was traumatized and wouldn't take his hands off of his ears for the next three hours. Other than that... oh, and the explosive diarrhea Ben while riding the train, it was very cool.





Ben got to spend some time with his second cousin, Delaney, who is exactly a month older than him. They had so much fun running around together!


And then we celebrated Ben's greatgrandmother's 88th birthday... the crown was SUPPOSED to be for her... but Ben laid claim to it.


It was a LONG and exhausting weekend. But we're happy we went and we had a lot of fun!

Note to my grandmother who is surely reading this and wondering when we are coming up for a marathon Great Cacapon, WV weekend. (seeing as we drove right by her exit on the way to Cumberland) The answer is SOON. We're thinking about sometime in October. Stay tuned!

That Kinda Day...

Woke up this morning to Ben screaming. Spent the next three hours cuddling with him since it appeared he was REALLY sick with the flu or something. (achy, tired, out of it, fevery) I called the pediatrician when I realized his heart was pounding and racing. (so hard and fast I could see it through his shirt!) An hour later? He was completely normal. We went to the doctor anyway, only to find out he is healthy, with the exception of a healing ear infection.

After that, we went to the store, since we didn't get a chance to go this weekend. Does everyone have the day off today or something? The store was as crowded as it is on Saturday. Crazy drivers in the parking lot.. the whole nine yards.

Home now. Ben napping.

Logged onto the bank account only to find I accidentally paid the bills this past Friday instead of this COMING Friday(as in on a NON payday). The bank account is negative a bajillion dollars. None of it has cleared yet, so I called Tom to transfer some $$ from our savings (it's packed away in some investment account only he has access to). Hoping it tranfers in before the bills clear. Otherwise? Oops.

The house is a pigsty beacuse of all the stuff we took on our trip is scattered throughout two floors.

I just want to curl up, take a nap and start the day OVER. Gah.

Away for the Weekend...

Just got back from a weekend trip with Tom's family. There was internet access, but it crapped out on me. We're home now but I'm too tired to tell you anything interesting. Check back tomorrow. :)

I Got Nuthin...

Too tired to form sentences. Will blog tomorrow... (zonk)

Ah, the ER... How I Have Missed Thee...

We got to make another ER run last night! Tom was getting Ben ready for bed... actually, Ben was IN bed and Tom was trying to get him to say prayers and was holding his arms. Ben was pulling away and throwing himself backward. The third time he threw himself backward he started screaming. I knew right away what had happened because he wouldn't move his left arm up past his chest and if he did, (or we tried) he screamed. Yep. Nursemaid's Elbow (again)

****A quick public service announcemt: THIS? Is why you should never EVER hold/swing your child who is younger than 4 up by his/her arms... or continue to hold onto their hand while they collapse to the floor in a tantrum, or pull on their arm to get them to hurry along. As we have found, this injury happens SO so so easily. (Both times Ben has done this it has happened in bizzare circumstances... the first time, Tom was holding his hand coming down the stairs and I guess Ben hung behind and his arm got pulled.)*****

Anyway, so the ER routine is SO old hat for us now, it's almost ridiculous. The first time we were freaked out. The
second time a little less so. This time? I sighed, got dressed, gathered the insurance stuff, froggie, binkie, sippy cup and a blanket and called to let them know we were coming. Even Ben wasn't all that frazzled about the situation once he stopped trying to move his arm.

Off we went. We got there and sat down. About five minutes later, Ben was asking to get down and walk around. I noticed he wasn't "guarding" his arm the way he had been. I asked him if he could put his arm over his head. He did. Then he jumped down and started climbing on chairs. Tom walked him around a few times and made him use his arm... apparently somewhere between getting him out of his carseat and the waiting room, the joint had popped back into place. (I think it was when I got him out of his carseat because, if you look at that nursemaid's elbor link up there, I made that same motion that they use to fix it when I pushed on his arm to get it out from under the carseat strap)

So! That was visit number three to the ER. (four, if you count the time we ran to the pediatrician's office w/ the first case of nursemaid's elbow) This time though, we didn't even get our souvenir bracelet. Lame. ;)

Naps Are for the Birds...

Yep. Ben has pretty much given up his nap. He'll still sometimes catnap in the car and some days he does pass out around 4:30 (and wakes up CRABBY!!). But for the most part? Yeah... no naps anymore. This will be GREAT for when we go to Disneyworld, or for various potential day trips with mommy friends! But... for the most part? It stinks.

I am having a BIG problem adjusting to this. It's screwing up my housecleaning routine and it's making ME need a nap. And painting? Forget it. I haven't been in there to work on that since this weekend. Maybe I should just figure out a way to work the hot pink into my decor?

Ears, Noses and Throats, Oh My!

We went to theotolaryn olantary Otola Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor this morning. The verdict? Tubes.

Ben didn't really make a good case for himself to NOT get them when the doctor looked in his ears and he had an infection ALREADY going on that we didn't know about!

On the bright side, the doctor was really REALLY nice. So if you are local and need an olantary otola Ear, Nose and Throat (and Allergy) Doctor who specializes in kids? I've got your man.

What Do You Think?

Too bright? Too bold? ;)

I call this color: Square One, or Jen Was Right (though not technically since it wasn't the COLOR of the old primer that was the problem)

In case you are still in shock and thinking I'd actually paint a room in my house this color... This is PRIMER. The red will go on top... and hopefully stay there this time.

How to Clothe Small People That Grow Every Three Minutes...

R*belle'spost this morning reminded me that I need to get on finding Ben a winter coat. Here's the thing. Last year? I bought him an adorable OshKosh winter coat... I hit Old Navy for snowpants, then I went on Lands End and bought him matching mittens and snow boots. He wore the coat maybe ten times TOTAL. (when the child doesn't fit in to the carseat in something, you are much less likely to put it on them, no? I always ended up just layering him an undershirt, regular shirt and pullover fleece) The mittens he wore a few times. And the snowpants and boots? Well, those he wore a total of maybe 20 minutes. (during the snowstorm in February.

This year, of course none of them fit as he has grown one clothing size at least and TWO shoe sizes. So now I have wised up and am searching for a winter coat and accoutrements on Ebay. No luck yet... there is also a really nice consignment store near Tom's parents' house that I need to hit.

On the bright side, all of the 18-24 month pants and the 2T shirts I bought last year thinking he could wear them, actually fit THIS year... (actually, they are still kind of big around the waist, so now we are on the hunt for toddler boy belts) YAY!

A Summary of Today So Far...

It's pouring.

Ben has a cold.

He was up until midnight last night.

Not because of the cold, but just because he wasn't tired.

Yeah, we don't know what's up with that.

The bathroom? ALL the paint came off. Except for a few stubborn patches that TOm is currently sanding down to dust. So we're starting from square one. Want to know why? HOME Depot gave me the wrong primer the first time around. GRRRRrrr...

Just Another BlogThing...

i felt a little weird taking/posting this one... but I thought the result was cute and thought you all might enjoy taking it too...
So here you go!

People Envy Your Compassion

You have a kind heart and an unusual empathy for all living creatures. You tend to absorb others' happiness and pain. People envy your compassion, and more importantly, the connections it helps you build. And compassionate as you are, you feel for them.

What Do People Envy About You?

Yitsach Perlman Jr.

Lest you think I am some nutty mother who is making her 2-year-old take violin lessons, here is the story behind the teeny tiny violin.

It was last year's obsession... he saw one on a Baby Einstein movie and would freak every time it came on the screen. He even made up his own baby sign for it. (this was prewords, obviously)

Then he started finding violins in his books. (there are a lot since it is usually used as the "V" word in alphabet books.

Then, I had the bright idea to get out MY violin. That just sent him over the edge. So for Christmas this past year, I got him his own... so he'd stop asking me to dig mine out of the closet.

His is 1/4 size of a regular one. I only just two days ago gave him the bow to go with it. But the deal was, he had to show me he knew how to use it and wasn't going to just go around chasing the cat and hitting golf balls with it. Imagine my surprise when he held the violin under his chin and bowed away!

It's a little hard on the ears right now though. I may try to teach him Twinkle Twinkle Little Star just so he'll stop the random screeching. ;)

No, he's not wearing pants in that picture. Moments prior, he had announced, "Pants off! Take pants off!" and left them in the hallway. I don't know what that was about!

Happy Friday! :)

Hooray! It's payday Friday!! ;)

So, there was a slight mishap with the red paint last night. I went to peel off the painter's tape at the ceiling and strips of red paint and primer came off in sheets like big Colorforms. Aaaa!!! I grumbled and talked to myself, then realized the window was still open ("hi neighbors!"). Then decided it was best to walk away from it for awhile because I was getting that "It's ruined! All my hard work is RUINED! This is a sinking ship! Let's just sell the house and buy a new one! " feeling. Yeah, I can be a bit of a pessimist. But that always happens at least once with every project I do... SO...

I shut the door and walked away... had some pizza and spent some time with Tom and Ben. (who didn't want anything to do with us since he took one of those crazy 5p.m. naps, woke up TICKED off at the world at 6:30 and wanted to just sit and watch Baby Einstein until bedtime... as in "Don't' touch me. Don't talk to me and I REALLY hope you don't think I'm actually going to eat any dinner. Growl growl...")

And it's a new day! Thank goodness. I have a plan of attack for the bathroom that involves first sanding and fixing the peeled spots and then taping off again, but removing the tape while the paint is still wet. It will be a pain, but it will eventually get the job done.

Ben and I have some errands to run this morning. Target! Yay! Petsmart! Yay! And then? Who knows... it's nice not to have plans. I'm kind of thinking we'll set up his little playhouse in the basement and play fort and watch Blues Clues all afternoon. Would you think that was cool if you were 2-1/2? I think I would! ;)