June 14, 2012 ~ Cake

(I did not foget to post. Daddy had to beat his game, so I had to wait to use the computer. Better late than never.)

Well, the other day was a big birthday for someone important. Someone that doesn't really like cake, but when she does eat cake it needs to be the good stuff. So, I drove myself through baseball traffic. I drove myself through Sailabration traffic. Just to pick up the tastiest cake available in our fine city- Sugarbaker's raspberry amaretto cake with buttercream icing. Look, if you're going to have a milestone, you might as well celebrate in style.

This special someone came over on her birthday and had the cake presented to her here. She was kind enough to share some with a lil guy.

Billy has not had cake in a long time. Either early winter or late fall. Sometime in that range, which, given his age, is a very long time ago to him. So, I doubt that he really remembers what cake is like. He's had cupcakes at school. Not the same.

Well, the cake was so tall that one of the icing flowers was crushed against the inside of the box lid. This gave him the perfect opportunity to try some purple icing. At first he was unsure. Here's this blob of periwinkle goo sitting on cardboard and the adults are saying... "Try it!"

I put some on my finger and showed him that Mommy thought it was yum. (OMG yum!) So, he timidly stuck a finger into the goo. Then he examined it and took a small sample. You know what he did next? He stuck it in his ear! Just kidding. (see the post Going Strawberry Blonde). No. He tried to stick his whole hand into the top of the cake for more. I had to grab him quick before he ruined the cake. It was all I could do to keep him from attacking the actual cake as he devoured every last morsel of purple sugar on the lid.

Well, this special someone doesn't want to acknowledge the passage of time. So I won't talk about that. I'll just post some pictures of Billy and the cake!

Purple icing mayhem!

Getting that last morsel from the lid.

Birthday hijinks!

After dinner Billy got a slice of cake. He smushed all of it into his face. And when he was done? Well, in the great words of Great Aunt Peggy, "That tastes like some more!"

How could we turn him down? He actually said, "More, please?" Manners like that need rewarding, right? ;)

Drawn In Thursdays: Things Kids Do #8

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Fad du jour: The Dinner Hug

June 12, 2012 ~ Happy Birthday!

This is a personal message, going out to an awesome lady from one awesome little kiddo (and me!). Here's wishing you a wonderful birthday, a wonderful year and many happy more to come.

(Just a hint, I mention her sometimes here on the blog!)

Have an awesome birthday!

June 11, 2012 ~ Inundated With Helicopters

It has been the day of helicopters. No joke. I'm inundated, and frankly, tired of hearing them. It started just after lunch. Three helicopters buzzing overhead for hours. It's hard to concentrate in those conditions. Here's what was up:

That would be the massive 5 alarm fire burning right by my work. As I write they are still trying to put the fire out, and we're talking about lunchtime today that it started. I walked down toward the end of the day to have a look.

So just before bedtime I took Billy outside to look at the fireflies. They were out early in the shadow of our tree, which was lucky for him to get to see them. As we were pointing them out to each other (he's an excellent firefly spotter) a police helicopter flew by. Then it started circling right by our house.

I have no idea why they are circling. But they've been out there for about 45 minutes now. Billy got to see a real one in person, which was super cool for him. He loves his toy helicopters, but the real mccoy is always better.

I'm pretty sure it followed me home like a lost puppy from the fire. Dude, there's no room at the inn. Go on home and stop buzzing me!

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Oh yeah. Billy has changed the lyrics to his Pie-Duh song.

"Pie-duh itsy pie-duh pie-duh pie-duh sun pie-duh."

June 11, 2012 ~ Pie-Duh! Pie-Duh!

Last night we packed up the whole family and went for dinner to our friends' house. Billy was waiting with baited breath (read: whining all day long) to go see his friend, slightly older, that he admires greatly. The two of them have excellent adventures together.

Well, anyway, Billy was very chatty on his way over to see our friends. But Daddy and I couldn't figure out what he was trying to say. Strings of identical words in rapid succession. Then, when I looked back at him in his carseat, I saw his hand motions and suspected he might be singing.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

Sounds like a bunch of nonsense, right? Yeah, that's what we thought at first, too. But then I saw him twisting his hands together.

"Oh! Pie-duh!" You know. Pie-duh. Like the big black one that scared me poopless while I was gardening today. Pie-duh. Aka spi-duh. Yes, spider!

He was singing (in my clearly genetic out-of-tune fingernails on chalkboard way) Itsy Bitsy Spider. It was the hand motions that gave it away. But I got it!

So Daddy and I joined in, in unison-very Brady Bunch, singing along in the car to Itsy Bitsy Spider.

"The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the..."

"NO!" Billy shouted.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

He wanted to serenade us with his very own rendition and didn't want any help. Just remember- pie-duh, pie-duh!

The Sunday Post ~ Fear of the Water

I used to think that I didn't want my son to be afraid to the water. That was a month ago. But after watching him run headlong towards deep water with no fear of jumping in, despite an inability to swim, I've completely changed my mind.

Yesterday, he fell in the baby pool. I was Right there when he tripped and his head went under just long enough to scare him. Suddenly, the fearlessness was gone and he didn't want to be in the pool anymore. Since then, he's garnered a healthy respect, if not blatant fear, of the water. I'm ok with this.

No fear of the water is a bad thing. Running headlong into deep water drop is a bad thing. I read a book last year, a true story, in which the one and a half year old (that's Billy's age!) wandered off to investigate a duck pond and drowned. Yes, a fear of the water is good.

Don't get me wrong, I want him to love the water- later- when he learns how to swim. And, you know, doesn't try to dive into the deep end because he knows it's over his head.

But now? I'm ok if the deepest he wants to get is on the first step and no further. Yep, I'm ok with this.

(Sorry for rambling or being incoherent- it's hard to write with a one-year-old attempting to rewrite your post while you're writing it!)

Every blog needs a Meme

That's Meme, not MeMe... not to be confused.

June 7, 2012 ~ The Toy Catalog

This morning Billy found a toy catalog in the trash. It's one of those Sunday circulars from a big toy store... you know, that big toy store. Ok, ok I'll just come out and say it was from Toys'R'Us. Sheesh.

He found it just on the way out the door for school and insisted on bringing it along for the car ride. Poor ChooChoo. Banished to the back seat. And poor Red BeepBeep, relegated to hanging out with outcast ChooChoo. Tigger? Well, Tigger got to sit in the carseat. Under Billy's feet. Feet pillow. Poor Tigger.

Nope. No other toys. He read that toy catalog cover to cover on the way to school. Then he walked into his classroom and triumphantly announced, "Bicockle!" Yes, this particular issue is filled with bicycles, affectionately known as bicockles to Billy.

Then this evening we had storytime. What book did he want? That damn toy catalog. We read all about his very own Green Piece of Awesome, now on sale. And let's not forget the terrifying tale of inflatable pools and plastic slides! Then there was the scary story about swings. The fearsome fable of water tables. The parable of the play house. And the legend of Power Wheels, the Ultimate BeepBeep.

And I bet you thought it was just a piece of junk mail.

Drawn In Thursdays: Hygiene Enforcer #8

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Dirt. It's a love/hate relationship.

June 5, 2012 ~ One in the Hand

When I picked Billy up from daycare today there was nobody left in his room. (No worries, he was in another room with kids and teachers). But we had to go in his room to gather his things.

"Mommy, oush-shide." He points to the window. Normally, outside means "I want to go outside", but today he meant "I want to look out the window."

These windows are up high, so I have to pick him up for him to be able to see out. He loves to look out this window and his teachers often pick him up so he can look at a dog (either it lives there or it's owner works in the building behind the daycare- not sure) and to look at the yellow truck often parked in the lot behind the daycare. Dogs and trucks...what more could a boy want?

Well, just as I picked him up a bird flew right at the window. Wait! This is not a tragic bird crashing into a window story. No birds were harmed in the making of this post. But Billy did want a closer look at the dive-bombing birds that was now happily eating on the ground beneath the window.

Unfortunately, the bird was just visible, but not really where it was in relation to the window. This irked the lil man, who really wanted a look at that bird. That's when I looked up. And sitting on the lowest branch of the tree right outside the window was a goldfinch.

"Oooh!" Billy said. "Birdie!"

It wasn't just a pretty bird. It was a pimping bird. He had two goldfinch gals hanging out eating dinner with him.

What an opportunity, I thought to myself. A colorful birds- to work on colors. AND, the male and females are right next to each other, which is an awesome science lesson (albeit for someone maybe a little older).

"Billy, what color is that bird?"

"Yay-yow!"

Here's where I explained about the boy bird being bright yellow and the girl birds being brown and trying to point out the difference and relate it back to toddler boys and girls in general (like that girls wear skirts, etc.).

His response?

"Mommy, isha birdie! Yay-yow!"

"That's right. It is a yellow bird."

(I would be proud at this moment, but he loves to say "yellow" and calls everything yellow regardless of color, even if he knows the difference.)

June 4, 2012 ~ (dramatic pause) No!

I can't help it. During some of his latest tantrums I just want to laugh. I should be serious, but really, it's pretty funny. For instance (an except of a tantrum from today):

My MeMe. Give!

Say please.

(dramatic pause) No! (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!) Give!

Billy, just say please and I will give it to you.

(dramatic pause) No!

Do you want your MeMe?

(dramatic pause) No! (reaches and grabs for MeMe in a desperate attempt to get it back)


And it's when we get to this point in the tantrum that I want to break out my Inigo Montoya "I do not think it means what you think it means".

"Do you want a cracker?"

(dramatic pause) No! (shovels crackers in his mouth like a hamster)

He loves his dramatic pause. But honestly, he needs to fill that void or I'm going to end up filling it with laughter.

June 3, 2012 ~ Mommy's Lil Helper

So, the weather is nice and...holy crap, it's June!...so I am in full garden mode. It's pretty much entirely impossible to get any gardening done with a small person under foot. There are the really cool looking snippers, that look so appealing to cut off little fingers. Then there are spades and shovels and other sharp garden digging tools that are perfect for causing injury. And that whole, not paying attention to your toddler attempting to dash into the road to get a better look at a beepbeep... yeah, well. Gardening + toddler=No Go.

So, I've been working on my garden when Billy is sleeping. It's slow going, especially since the weeds have been growing since February. I think the new house is looking pretty sharp. I turned the grass-filled fire pit into a begonia haven. And I ripped out undergrowth to have an impatiens bed.

But those pesky weeds. Constant maintenance. What boy wouldn't want to dig in the dirt and kill plants? Whoa. We have a winner. I rip, he tosses. Then he rips out random non-flowering whatevers, even things that aren't weeds and I let him go to town. He's occupied. He's happy. I get to garden without major mishap. Win win.

Until he throws dirt in my underpants and Daddy laughs. It's not that I was sporting plumber's crack, but bent over the weeds there was enough of a gap for him to chuck a handful of soil into my pants, which quickly ended up in places I had hoped would never have garden soil associated with them. And, of course, since Daddy laughed, Billy took it as "do that again, but with more vigor this time." So, he threw dirt on my seven times. He got warned. He got 3 time outs. Then he got a 5 minute time out in hiss room- the first time ever to be sent to his room. And he STILL did it.

Here I find the perfect blend of boy fun and Mommy fun and Daddy goes and gives him a rotten idea. I think Daddy needs a time out. And I think I need new underpants...

The Sunday Post ~ It's the Small Things

It's the small things that make life with child easier. Getting to drink your coffee before it goes cold. A smile. A hug. 15 uninterrupted minutes to shower. You know, the small things.

Today the highlight of my day was to be there when he pooped. Ok, it's gross. But somebody has got to change his diaper and that's a very short list of volunteers, me being at the top. So, to be there when the disaster occurs means I can cut it off at the pass. Instead of major diaper destruction, there was only minor diaper duty. AND, I happened to be standing there for not one, but both bomb drops for the day. My day was just that much easier. Yes, this was the highlight of my day.

Like I said, it's the small things.

June 1, 2012 ~ Yeah, I'm THAT Mom

It's true, I'm that Mom.

If you're in the Mid-Atlantic, then you probably know about all of the storms and tornadoes that hit today. Serious weather, seriously. It was no joke- and the footage of all of the damage around the state just proves that.

Well, there I was eating dinner and catching up on my TV show On Demand. I have to say, and I'm not a huge fan of Verizon, that I was really impressed with FiOS today. While I was watching video on demand FiOS automatically cut off my show and switched it to a live broadcast station due to the tornado warning for my area. It didn't turn my show back on, but I was impressed that it tuned me into the news so that I could be informed. Way to go FiOS.

And here we go- I'm that Mom.

Yeah, I went and got the Go Crib. I had it fully dissembled from washing it, so not only did I have to blow it up, but I also had to reassemble the whole thing. (It comes apart to wash, but stores intact.) Then I put it in an interior space on the lower level and moved sleeping Billy to it with a bunch of his luvies.

I also gathered the camping lantern and telephone and locked Buddy down on the lower level with us.

But, look, here's the thing. Billy sleeps upstairs against an outer wall. The TV room is in a relatively safe place downstairs. If a storm had hit, I would not have been able to run up, grab him, and run back down to safety.

I am no stranger to weather and I don't take these situations lightly. If that makes me THAT Mom, then so be it. I have been caught on the water in open craft during squalls. I have sailed through two tropical depressions and ridden out a hurricane on a tall ship. I've been in a house struck by lightening, and seen lightening hit an object 100 feet from me and blow it up. And I've seen a tornado in person and seen one form over my head (and I don't live in tornado prone areas). Hurricanes? Old hat. I'm pretty cautious when it comes to weather after all I've seen. Better safe than sorry.

Billy slept through it all, even the move to the lower level and then back to the crib after the front passed. So, yeah. I'm that Mom. I'm ok with that.

May 31, 2012 ~ Awful Breakfast

According to Billy, this morning's breakfast was awful. His word, not mine. Literally, awful. Now, he ate all of it up and asked for more, but it was still awful. He had it for breakfast yesterday and called it awful then too. And, he'll likely have it tomorrow and continue to call it awful.

Don't worry, I'm not torturing my little man. He ate it all up every time and despite calling it awful, actually really likes it. In fact, he also told me it was yum yum.

See, the problem is the name. It's just too hard to pronounce. He's mixing up his letters.

That's how waffle became awful.

Drawn In Thursdays: Things Kids Do #7

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Cribs keep waking babies in, but they also keep sleepy babies out.

May 29, 2012 ~ Busy, Busy, Dizzy, Dizzy

He must be feeling better.

Billy ran circles around the kitchen and living room all evening. He chased Buddy and popped his popper to his heart's content. He kazooed and sang and insisted that everybody "jump!" together. So there are Daddy and myself with lil man, jumping on command in the kitchen.

Picture Daddy in Billy in matching blue shirts. Billy decides to spin in a circle until he gets dizzy. So dizzy that he belly-flops on the floor in fits of giggles. Daddy decides this looks like a fun game and joins him. The two of them spinning in circles, getting dizzy. Then, after getting as dizzy as possible, chasing each other around the room as fast as they can without falling down (from being so dizzy). It was hilarious.

I would have taken a picture, but Daddy wasn't wearing pants. Underpants. No pants. So no photos. But go ahead and paint yourself that mental picture of Daddy and Billy spinning around the kitchen in matching shirts.

May 28, 2012 ~ Looking Up

Billy is looking up...to his friend T.

T and his parents came over today for a visit and to play with Billy. He's a little older and Billy looks up to him. Way up. When T laid his blanket down, Billy did the same. When T picked it up, Billy copied. T had a big boy cup, so Billy wanted one. Anything to be like T.

Now, just like little kids, they didn't get along the whole evening. There were the occasional spats over toys. But mostly, Billy wanted to do whatever T was doing.

And things are looking up for Billy in general. His breathing is much better and he is definitely feeling much better too. I couldn't take him to the pool, but he and T got to play with the water table, which was pretty cool.


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To all the troops and veterans- we would like to thank you for your service and for all that you mean to this country.

Happy Memorial Day

May 27, 2012 ~ Getting Better

Exhausted so I'm keeping it short.

He was super cranky and took two naps today, but is on the mend it seems- knock on wood. Breathing is much better. He's a lot older than when he had it the last time and is close to the threshhold where he's too old to get bronchiolitis, so here's hoping.

The Billy version of not feeling well:
Run around mad crazy. Then lay on the floor and pet his BeepBeeps.
Chase Buddy around the house. Then sit on hte floor and whine-cry for no reason.
Push his push cart around the house at top speed. Then lay down in my lap and ask for a nap.

I think he only has two speeds. Stop and go, go, go!

Billy's Second Trip to the Hospital

Sorry, I didn't post last night, but as you can see from the title, things have been a little crazy around here.

Around dinnertime Billy became exceptionally upset. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I made him sit in his room and read a book to calm him and I could hear something going on in his lungs. I held his shirt up and saw the all too familiar tug of the skin through the ribs. Bronchiolitis. The same thing that sent him to the hospital before.

I immediately called the on-call doctor at our pediatrician's office. Our regular doctor is out on maternity leave. The on-call doctor could hear his breathing through the phone and asked me to take him to the E.R. immediately. He was coughing and wheezing and having difficulty breathing.

So, just after bedtime we arrived in the E.R.

They checked him out and treated him with two nebulizers and a steroid. We had to wait several hours so they could continue to recheck his lungs to determine if he needed to be admitted or could go home.

Diagnosis? Bronchiolitis, pneumonia and probably asthma on top of his already raging ear infection and the cold that produced everything.

He hated the treatments, was a nervous wreck in the hospital and just wanted to go home. What he refused to do was sleep. He curled in my arms the whole time, crying sometimes, but definitely not willing to sleep.

We got home after midnight and he fell asleep in his own crib while Daddy and I took turns keeping vigil over him.

He is only at the beginning of this. We have another 40 hours to go in the danger zone before we can relax. It's going to be a very long, long weekend for sure.

Poor guy- he got to try out the pool yesterday and has been talking non-stop about going to the whanner (water). But I can't take him to the pool this weekend while he's sick.

Ok, he's sleeping now. I'm going to go jack myself up with coffee and pry my eyelids open so that I can care for the lil guy for the rest of the day and sit vigil over him tonight.