Can't Hold... Eyes... Open...

Why am I SO drowsy?! I have been like this the last four or five days... by noon everyday, all I can do is sit on the couch and watch Ben play. I don't know if it's the COMPLETE lack of caffeine (up until this week I had been having a cup every couple days or so) or what, but I just want to sleep...

But Ben has other plans, as usual, that do not involve napping.. so I'm making due as best I can with movies and laying on the floor playing Star Wars figures with him. I seriously need an adrenalin injection or something. Geesh.

35 Months Old...

A couple days late... but here's the official monthly chair pic. I missed last month because we were in Florida, but I did get a pic of him ON the monthday. I've decided I'll continue this for one more month, since he'll be three in the next one. Then maybe I'll do it every three months or six months. It has been a really cool thing to have, especially when I put all the pics together and you can see how he has grown and changed!



In other news, the potty training is coming along! I haven't changed a poopy diaper since my first post about his accomplishment. He hasn't had any other accidents either and is finally telling me on his own that he has to go. Another week or so and I think we'll call it official. (at least as far as daytime training is concerned. The nighttime thing is a whole other ballgame) :) I'm SO excited! (to have what? a whole two months off of changing diapers???) ;)

After Much Experimentation, I Have Come to the Following Conclusion re: Potty Training.,...

Going straight to underwear really is best.

We've used our fair share of Pullups and here's the thing... yes, they offer ME a certain amount of piece of mind when the potty trainee and I venture outside of the house. BUT, Ben knows he can pee in them and he won't really be uncomfortable (just "cold" as the package claims) and it won't go all over his pants. However, underwear? He is WAY less likely to just pee in. In fact, lately, if he is in underwear, he goes into a panic when he has to pee:

"I need a diaper!! So I don't pee pee in my underwear!" (this is our cue to say, "No, you need to go sit on the potty." And then he does, and he pees or poops, end of story.)

So, I've started just sucking it up and taking him out places in his underwear. I always make sure he has gone right before we leave and I remind him while we're out... but so far? It's been a total success. I figure the worst that can happen is he wets his pants and I change him into the alternate pair I carry around with me.

So there you go. Learn from my mistakes. I could have saved a ton by not buying Pullups from the start!

Snow Pics...

I discovered something funny yesterday. My husband doesn't know how to roll the snow to make a snowman. He thought you just kind of packed it into a ball. Turns out, they never actually BUILT snowmen when he was little, they just had snowball fights. Go figure! Here's a picture of him attempting to create the bottom snowball before I intervened. Note Ben's intense interest in helping build the snowman. HA!


Our My snowmouse. Excuse the nonsymmetrical ears. It was quick creation, as it started to rain just as I was trying to scrounge for things to make the face. ;)


He really wanted to eat the snow. So I let him give it a try once I moved him away from the spot where our neighbor lets his dog out to pee everyday.


Obligatory smiling snow shot for the photo album. "Benjamin - Snow - February 2007" ;)

Snow and Nesting...

More white stuff fell from the sky today. I was not exactly overjoyed by this, but decided to take the opportunity to freaky clean my kitchen.

It actually started innocently enough with me going up to the attic to dig out the box of bottles from amidst the pile of baby stuff. Then I needed a make room in one of the cabinets to put them and somehow that led to me emptying out ALL the cabinets and scrubbing them down from top to bottom.

Yes, I realize this is nesting... and a bad case of it. Read on. It gets worse.

I also threw out THREE bags of stuff and I didn't even clean out the fridge or the pantry! It all came from the cabinets! Empty bottles of cleaners, expired medicines, old sippy cups, coffee cups with missing lids... you name it. THREE. BAGS. I moved things around, organized, bleached the fronts of my gross white laminant piece of junk cabinets, alphabetized my spices, moved the fridge and vacuumed up some MASSIVE dust bunnies and cleaned the oven. Then I moved onto the standard kitchen cleaning that I do every week... counters, floors, windows, blinds, ceiling fan... blah blah. It took three hours! I wish I nested when I wasn't pregnant. My house would be much more organized. ;)

After that, my body was all, "Okay, seriously, STOP please!" and started with the Braxton Hicks contractions, so I laid down on the couch where I passed out for two solid hours while Tom and Ben watched basketball. I have a stupid sinus infection I've been in denial about that hit me like a ton of bricks this afternoon (just after the kitchen extravaganza) -- a result of the cold I had a week ago. Luckily, Tom got out to pick up my antibiotic before the snow covered the roads. Otherwise, I'd be in a world of pain right now. Instead, my head is only pounding mildly.

We took Ben out in the snow for a little while later. He was disappointed that he couldn't slide like last time. It's soft, wet snowman snow, not hard, icy snow. But we did build a little snowman!

Pictures coming soon. Of the snow, not of my insanely clean kitchen. I'm not THAT bad. :P

Tomorrow, maybe I'll tell you rivoting tales of organizing the linen closet! ;)

Hanging with the Periwinkles...

We met up with our friends the Periwinkle family at the children's museum today!

Lots going on there today...

Ben got to pet a pig, who was there as part of a chinese new year celebration. It wasn't a Golden Pig like Baby Too, but cool nonetheless... at one point, it was wearing pink sunglasses. I'm not sure what that was about.


Ryan also pet the piggy!


Before and after the piggy petting, there was a lot of running around that made for blurry pictures... like this one of the boys playing soccer.


Then we went to lunch! Here are the boys saying cheese! ;) Aren't they cute little buddies?

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Blog Posts for an Important Announcement...

HE POOPED IN THE POTTY!!!

And (it gets better)...

He said he WANTED to poop on the potty so that he WOULDN'T pee pee in his underwear.

Excuse me while I go pass out all from the excitement now.

Preschool...

We tried out the Gymboree preschool class today and...

... it went SO well. I wasn't even sure I was going to do it today because Benjamin got up REALLY early this morning and I was sort of expecting some mid afternoon crankiness. But after lunch, when it came time to decide, I asked if he wanted to go play with Miss Sue (the teacher) and he said "Yeah! I'll play Star Wars!!!" (big shock). He remained enthusiastic... so we went!

The setup is very VERY cute. The first ten minutes, the moms are in the room... we do puzzles and then this little routine with a rainbow rope (they use it to identify colors and do various other things... today we played a "freeze" game with it). Then, they blow kisses to the moms and we leave! Benjamin didn't even bat an eye. Then again, he was playing with three other little boys who have as much energy as he does, so he was in seventh heaven.

I have the option of leaving for the hour and half or hanging around just outside the room. Since I wasn't sure how it was going to go, I stayed... the teacher popped her head out twice to tell me he was doing wonderfully. He was listening to directions and participating in all the activities! Yay! I was worried for nothing... I did hear them telling him to sit down an awful lot, but I heard the other kids names called out for the same reason just as often. ;)

The other funny thing I heard was him yell out that "Palpatine" (it's a Star Wars thing) starts with the letter P. (the letter of the day) ::snicker::

There are three other kids in the class. One of them we know from our old class (Ben's little friend, Kenny), and his mom said most weeks she hangs out in the lobby too. Today she ran out to the mall for a little while but then came back and we chatted until the class was over.

At the end, we got the okay from both teachers for him to move into the class! :) So yay! I'm excited... this is the perfect transition to a more traditional preschool for next year. He is independent from me, learning to take direction from teachers and socializing without me there to intervene when gets tackled or gets a block thrown at him. (or when he does this to any other kids for that matter!) I think it's going to be a really great experience!

HOORAY!!! :) Another Water Drinker!

My good friend Mandy just found out she's pregnant!!! I almost cried when I realized the link she sent me the other day in an email was a pregnancy blog! They have been trying so hard for so long... :) HOORAY! And Mandy Jr. will only be five months younger than Too! :) YAY YAY YAY!!! Hrm... I wonder if anyone ELSE I know will turn up pregnant soon! (looking around suspiciously at one of my local readers...) Hee...

They Just Continue to Feed the Addiction...

Those smartipants marketing execs at the Gymboree clothing store, I mean.

For some reason, we all got Gymbucks today at Ben's class. They do this every so often. I think it had something to do with some promotion they were running and that our monthly enrollment happens automatically now. (hence, why I know nothing about it)

Anyway, NOW I feel obligated to use them. Shoot. ;) I think I'll use them on Benjamin this time though... maybe a cute Easter outfit.

Too won't make it here in time for Easter, or, I have to admit, he/she would be the one to benefit from using said Gymbucks. Because truly... could you resist this or this?

My name is Erin, and I'm a baby-clothes-a-holic...

Too. Many. Kids...

Gymboree was total insanity today. When we first moved up to the level Benjamin is in now, the class only had two other kids in it. It was SO nice... the kids were calm and followed directions.

A few more joined as the months went by... but it was still okay. For the most part, they all listened and it was a controlled situation. Flash forward to today (seven months later)... THERE WERE SIXTEEN CHILDREN THERE. I believe that's the maximum that can be in a class. It was crazy. That is just WAY too many 2-year-olds for one teacher. And there are 3-4 who just refuse to participate and make it hard for the other kids to hear the teacher... it was just chaos.

I was going to wait and move Benjamin up to the next level (the drop-off preschool) in September. Technically, he can move next month when he turns three (actually, our teacher will probably let him move up now because he's only a month shy), but I USED to really like the class he is currently in. I told the teacher we were going to preview the preschool class tomorrow, and if it goes well, I'll probably switch him starting next week. That class only has FOUR kids in it (and two teachers)... a much better ratio! I just can't take the 16-kid craziness and Ben doesn't get as much out of it when it's like that. :( I wish they'd make the cutoff 10-11 kids, frankly... but I'm sure it's all about the money, money, money. (sigh)

Aww...

I just heard the news that my neighbor gave birth to a perfect and healthy baby BOY (her second) this morning. She didn't know what the baby was, but had been thinking girl all along, and most of us were thinking girl along with her. They are thrilled and excited but, seeing as they thought it was a girl, Baby Boy Neighbor has no name as of yet. I know one of her boy names is my absolute favorite boy name in the whole world that I can't use.... so here's hoping to find out later that he's a Liam!

This is quickly becoming a boy-dominated neighborhood. I wonder if Too will help to tip the scales the other direction or contribute to the majority? Hrm...

The Baby Human Family Takes D.C....

My husband had off today and as I have grown accustomed to, the day began with the words, "What should we DO today?!" from him. Now, I would have been perfectly content to run errands, clean my kitchen and start wrapping up the bathroom project I started last June and never finished, but that is not his idea of "doing something". So we bantered about various ideas... Port Discovery, the airport observatory... finally, we settled on the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

We took the Metro into D.C. this morning, which Ben thought was an adventure in itself... then we basically just ran around the museum, stopping at whatever caught his eye. We had some lunch, saw a few more things and called it a day around 2:30.
All in all, a fun day and Ben had a blast! :)

Playing with one of the flight exhibits


With Kermit. (some of the American History Museum exhibits are at the A&S now because the American History museum is closed for rennovations.


"That's a BIG space man!!"


Flying a Cessna


He could hardly contain himself when we walked into this exhibit... "R2-D2!! C3-PO!!! I want to touch them!!!" All the people around us turned around and giggled...


Waiting for the train to head home...

Who Needs a Sled?

Click the picture below for a short demonstration of the current "no sled required" conditions. ;) Benjamin had the best time this afternoon sliding down the hill over and over again! I just thought it was nice to be outside for a change!

Sick and Tired...

Actually, I AM sick and tired. Bleh.

But I'm MORE sick and tired of activities I pay good money for being cancelled simply because the schools are on an hour or two-hour delay. (FOR NO REASON... THE ROADS ARE FINE!!!) What's that about, anyway?! We haven't had Gymboree in three weeks... and Mommy and Me has been cancelled twice now. LAME and stupid, I say.

On the bright side, Benjamin and I had a lovely substitute outing with our friends Beth and Trey... we had breakfast at Panera and visited the free zoo and Target. (never gets old!) Trey and Ben are SO cute together... Trey follows Ben around calling his name and Ben follows Trey around calling him Han Solo. ;) It's really quite adorable.

I wish there was more to do... but it's just SO cold out. :( We're home now and just working on using the potty and playing.
I want a nap! It might have to be one of those days where I close us in Ben's room and nap in his tiny bed while he takes everything off the shelves...

Is This Not the Funniest Mental Image??

Came across this little gem over on Zoot.
"NikkiZ's class had a Valentine's Day party yesterday. It was gobs of fun once we started stuffing food in their faces. They “skipped” snack since the party was supposed to start within an hour of normal snack time. However, I was there early and the kids were UNHAPPY and frantically doing the signs for "EAT" meaning, "WE KNOW WE MISSED SNACK. GIVE US FOOD." We gave them goldfish to hold them over and when the parents all got there, we handed out the cupcakes and cookies and brownies and straight-jackets (for the parents)."

Can't you just picture a whole room of 1-1/2-year-olds signing "eat"? (hand to mouth over and over again) I'd be SCARED if I were those teachers. ;) For some reason, my brain compared it to the scene in Toy Story with the little squeaky herd-like aliens in the claw machine.

OOOoookay Yeah...

...so changing the topic from the silly news story that I totally missed the point of (and the last two minutes of) the first time I watched it... (don't I feel like a dummy)

Did you all make it out today? Because I didn't. That's two days in a row of being housebound. Ben and I had a fun day together though. We made our homemade playdough (way cool, by the way) and he actually helped and then played with it for a good half hour before announcing he was finished and going back to acting out scenes from Star Wars.

He really has quite the little imagination and memory. He has learned the lines from the movie (and no, we haven't seen it THAT many times... he seriously just has a really good memory) and tells me which character I am and what lines to say. So we did a lot of that... we also played in his little Playhut tent, filled up the bathtub and played in bubbles, and he helped me with some laundry. All in all, it was a very nice and relaxing (albeit, napless) day! :)

In other news, we both have colds, the boy and I. They came on rather suddenly, as in, sometime in the last 24 hours. While I'm just mildly annoyed by mine so far, I'm worried his is turning into croup... but only tonight will tell. I have a humidifier running in his room, so hopefully that will help. I have vivid memories of hot, steam-filled bathrooms from my croup days as a child... so if that's what it is, at least I know how to deal.

I am still hating potty training with a fiery passion. Yesterday was a dry day. (the first in over a week). But today, he had ruined his "streak" by 11a.m. and asked for a diaper. Oh well... someday... someday...

My neighbor emailed to tell me the results of her big ultrasound today (due in July) and she is having BOY! I'm so excited for her and her husband and big brother Trey! :) I was practically stalking them from my kitchen window waiting for them to get back from the appointment this afternoon! We're still waiting to see what our other neighbor is having. She didn't find out at the ultrasound, but her c-section is coming up next week sometime and I'm thinking pink! :) It's so fun that this batch of babies are all going to be the same age... even closer than all of our firstborn kiddos. When they get to be mobile, we are going to have our hands full!


What else... oh! My husband brought home two pints of Ben and Jerry's and ALL the toppings tonight for Valentine's Day. Is he the best husband of a pregnant woman, or what?! Of course, he had to go and do this the day before I have to go to an OB appointment and get weighed. D'oh. But c'est la vie... it's Valentine's Day! :)

Off to blow my nose again and somehow figure out how I am going to stay awake for Lost. Oh yeah, that's SO not happening.

File it Under.... WHAT?

Oh, just watch.

And when you're finished, come back and agree with me that the guy who wrote this ridiculous bill seems a little... well, I don't think women are his type.

The Sky Is Falling...

Forget snow. It's all ice pellets. Buckets of ice pellets.

And my crazy husband? Shoveled the walk this morning at 6:45, dug his car out and was gone for work by 8a.m. I tried to get him to buy into the local news winter storm drama and their "DON'T drive if you don't have to!!! Stay home!!!" propaganda, but he would have none of it.

(sigh)

So it's just the little Jedi and me at home all day again.

On the bright side, having to stay home has provided the perfect opportunity to work on potty training hardcore. Yesterday, I set a timer for every 30 minutes and when it went off, he had to try to pee pee. He went every. single. time. How is that even possible?! Val, you will be happy to know he FINALLY earned the right to take the red light saber out of its package. ;) BOY was he excited. Holy cow.

Tom says after this, when Benjamin's older, he's going to hear timers go off and suddenly feel the urge to pee. ;) Hehehe....

Obviously, the Time Has Come to More Carefully Censor What We Say....

Tom and Benjamin were watching a basketball game the other night... Duke vs. Maryland. (Ben was actually running circles around the living room and periodically sitting down to ask what was going on) Tom explained that the Maryland guys were wearing white and the Duke guys were wearing black (and blue) and that we like the white guys, not the black guys.

(you already see where this is going, don't you?)

Ben spent the rest of the evening explaining to himself, the cat, his Star Wars figures... that "We don't like the black guys, we like the white guys."

Yeah. Tom felt pretty dumb. ;) Luckily, Ben hasn't repeated it since... I'm sure he'll wait for THE most inopportune time to explain this to perfect strangers...

The Local Mommy Panic Might Just Be Worse Than the Local Toilet Paper Panic...

So yeah, there is some kind of frozen event coming tonight, tomrorow... maybe Wednesday too. I'll, of course, need to watch the 24-hour "STORM 2007!!!" coverage to figure out for myself exactly what it supposed to happen, but SOMETHING is definitely coming.

Know how I can tell? Well, not only is the local Target's ENTIRE milk fridge cleaned out (hello? Why? There is a grocery store RIGHT next door that has cheaper milk out the wazoo) but all the mommies were out today. Amanda and I took the kids to lunch and then walked across to the street to Petsmart, which you may recall I refer to as "The Free Zoo".

There, while banging on the fish tanks saying hello to the fishies, we ran into another woman and her little boy about Ben and Hannah's age. (he actually turned out to be exactly their age) I looked over and couldn't resist saying, "Spending some time at the free zoo like us?" She laughed and said yeah, that they had also just come from Target where they spent an hour wandering up and down the toy aisles (which um... we SO didn't do ... TWICE ... today. *cough*). She explained that she was so afraid they were going to be trapped in the house for the next two days that they HAD to get out today. Hrm. Interesting. That's exactly what we were doing. Incidentally, she was also pregnant and due June something. This Maryland water. It's potent. Want some?

Then, on our way to Target to wander the toy aisles buy stuff, we ran into another woman sporting a baby in a Bjorn. As we passed each other, we all simultaneously remarked that we were getting out while we could. The Target? FULL of Bjorned babies, toddlers, strollers...

Funny how we all think alike. And it's panic, I tell you... pure panic.

I was going to make a fort with Benjamin today under the dining room table, but now I'm thinking I'll save it for tomorrow when I'm wracking me brain for things to keep us occupied. I also have the homemade playdough recipe up my sleeve and one for peanut butter playdough too. And of course, we are armed with the entire Pixar and George Lucas arsenal... BRING ON THE WHITE STUFF!!! I just wish it meant Tom would be home too... but the man is DETERMINED to get to work no matter what the weather brings. You'd think he worked for the postal service or something. :P

When Mommy's Away, the Boys Will Play...

My husband, Ben's Uncle Taylor, Uncle Marc (the disembodied hand with a cup of coffee) and Pap (taking the picture) corrupting my not-yet-three-year-old... sheesh, I leave them alone for ONE afternoon. Next thing you know, he'll be drinking a beer.



Working on his poker face...

Last Chance to Get Out!

Benjamin and I are meeting our friends Amanda, Hannah and Gracie for lunch this afternoon. I was excited before because a) we haven't seen them in forever and b) we're going to Red Robin... but now? I find out it might be our last chance to go anywhere until after Wednesday. What's this I hear about 6-10 inches of snow?!
Our plan is to hit Babies R Us and Target too while we're out. I pretty much always need something at at least one of those two stores... today it's paper towels and hangers for Too's closet. I suppose I should hit the grocery store too and buy the requisite milk and toilet paper. ;) (or rather, popcorn, hot chocolate and marshmallows)

On another topic. Morning chores. How many of you do them and to what extent? I feel like mine should be WAY simpler than they are... but it seems like every morning, I have to basically CLEAN the kitchen. (dishes in the sink from the night before, stuff on the counter, trash needs to go out, floor needs to be vacuumed...) The living room always needs to be picked up from the night before and often vacuumed (cat hair)... of course there is the typical bed making thrown in there. But I swear I feel like I spend the first two hours of every morning just doing these cursory wipe-ups and straightening and putting things back. That doesn't even include the days I actually have get down and dirty and clean bathrooms or wipe up the kitchen floor. It's just so nonstop... I feel like I never catch up and I certainly never get ahead... and I NEVER seem to have time for those little maintenance type things you are "supposed" to do like cleaning out the oven, scrubbing baseboards or wiping down the outside of the windows.

...is this what my mother always complained about?!

p.s. Lookie. I was able to copy the link to the heart bubbles guy! Isn't he cute?

Reaons to Be Happy Today...

1) The little Yahoo animated guy who I have to stare at while my email is logging on is blowing heart-shaped bubbles today. It's a nice change from him being chased by the ostrich.

2) I am sitting in an empty house. Benjamin and Tom are off to my inlaws' house. Tom is going play poker with his father and brothers and Ben is either going to annoy them all while they play or hang out with Nanee. Most likely the latter, but I'm sure a tad of the former.

3) ... but they'll be back late this afternoon so we can have dinner together and hang out. :)

4) Before they left, Tom helped me wash, dry, fold and put away EVERY bit of laundry in the house. I don't even have enough drawer space to put everything when all the clothes are clean at the same time. That's how rare that is.

5) Baby Too is making my whole tummy move right now... except for the kicking my bladder part, that's always something to smile about.

What We Do In Between Light Saber Battles...

Of course, he said he was painting Darth Vader so...

Gymboree, How I Love Thee...

... but how I HATE your stores.

(let me preface by saying that I have been SO good about not splurging on kids' clothes for the last year and a half or so... Ben's entire wardrobe has been Old Navy and Target. But I just couldn't resist getting Too some really cute coordinating stuff...)

Annnnnyway, I went into the Gymboree store at the mall this afternoon because last night I had picked out a few little things on sale for Too online but wanted to avoid paying the shipping charge.

I do NOT understand how a store that is 100% BABY CLOTHES is too tiny to even maneuver the smallest umbrella stroller through. And God forbid there are more than two customers with strollers in there. You can't move at all!

Then there's the fact that everything in the store gets picked over SO quickly. It's worse than Old Navy's maternity section. All that was left of the new lines were odd sizes... mismatched onesies and pants and whatnot. I needed newborn and 0-3 months and found NOTHING.

Back home, online, and armed with a 20% off coupon that came in the mail today, I found everything I wanted in ALL the right sizes and didn't have to try to cram my stroller in between a hundred thousand clothing racks.

It was *worth* the $10 for shipping. Sheesh.

No Double Standards in This House...

So, I was telling the readers over on my Baby Too blog the other day that I've reached the point in pregnancy where I occasionally pee myself when I sneeze.

You also may remember that Benjamin is potty training these days and we are rewarding him with Star Wars figures for the days he keeps his underwear dry...

Okay, background out of the way, let me relate the following conversation that took place in our house recently:

Me: AAAAAACHOOO!!! Oh shoot...
Ben: Mommy sneezed!
Tom: Yeah. SHE'S not gonna get a Star Wars figure tonight...

Tired...

Benjamin has 100% worn me out today... I feel like I have been chasing him all day, picking up one mess or another or saving him from certain death. He is ALWAYS into something, but today was an especially ornory day.

Earlier, I was playing with him in his room and he disappeared once again because he had to "go get something!" A few minutes later, I heard what sounded like him jumping on a bed... I peeked around the corner and he had climbed into Too's crib and, sure enough, was jumping up and down in it like it was a trampoline. The funny part? He STILL can't climb out of that crib, even though, right now, the mattress is at the highest settting. (he never mastered it when he was a baby either, thankfully) The funnier part? He had stopped to take his shoes off before climbing in. Heh. At least he's considerate. I helped him out and then THAT became a game. Climb into the crib, jump into my arms, back in the crib... you get the idea.

At one point, we also did pony rides through the upstairs. I can tell you this much. The body of a woman six months pregnant is not meant to be giving a three-year-old pony rides. Ouch.

We also drew with markers and painted... with many colors... he enjoyed that for awhile, but not TOO long. He gets abruptly VERY much "DONE" with artsy craftsy stuff. Here's hoping Too enjoys that sort of thing a little more because I have a HUGE box of preschool art entertainment supplies that I've put together. :(

I did get a break late this afternoon when my mom and brother watched him so I could go get my hair cut. That was nice... but now we are back home again and I am ready to pass out. Luckily, so is he, so we are watching a movie together on the couch.

I'm going to dinner tonight with some neighborhood friends, so I'm hoping a second wind finds its way to me soon!

News!

My friends Josh and Jenn found out today they are expecting a little girl who they are naming Faith Leah. Hooray! :) Luke will have a little sister!!

First Trip to the Dentist... Sorta...

I had a dentist appointment today and I had my mom come along with Benjamin so he could get a feel for the place. At first, he sensed the medical atmosphere and had a minor flipout. But then, halfway through my cleaning, he joined me in the chair and got to ride up and down and fill up the cup with water. After that, he even opened his mouth and let the hygenist count his teeth. (!!!) They gave him stickers and a new toothbrush and let him pick a toy from the treasure chest. On the ride home he said, "I want to go back to the dentist!!"

So yeah, THAT went better than expected. So well even, that I made him his own appointment right after mine when I go back in August. Yay!

Grumble... Snow Day!

**update**
Went to Starbucks and got myself a mocha, which I am now regretting. Gag. Hurl. But at least it was warm. Ben had a chocolate milk and pretended the empty tables were spaceships.

Came home and suited him up to play in the snow, which he kept insisting was actually sand. Once outside, he acted out desert scenes from Star Wars. (Ah... suddenly the "sand" insistence made sense.) I decided to let him play until he wanted to come in, which lasted approximately a half hour. Snapped a picture or two since it really might be the only snow we see this year! I'll put them up soon... I LOVE it when kids are so bundled up they can't bend their arms. Cracks me up everytime. ;) I tried to ge thim to lay down and make snow angels, but he was too busy being C3-PO.

---------------------------------------
As I predicted, schools are, in fact, closed today. Grrr... which means no Gymboree, which means I am one step closer to losing my sanity. So much so that I'm toying with the idea of taking Ben to the Chuck E. Cheese germpit, so you know I am desperate.

I'd call Jen, Amanda or one of my other local SAHM friends to see if they wanted to play, but I have a dentist appointment right in the middle of the afternoon that kinda messes with any plans I might attempt to make.

So for now, I will just grumble. Maybe we'll go out to Dunkin Donuts and hang out with with the senior citizen regulars. I do need a couple things at the mall, but I'm sure it will be crowded thanks to the aforementioned school closing.

I can't decide if it's too cold to take Ben out to play in the "snow". (seriously, it's an inch... MAYBE an inch and a half...) But I guess that's an option... Hrm...