Car Conversations

Griffin's car conversations, when they don't drive me absolutely crazy, are the best ever.

Today:

G - "Mommy, why don't I have six fingers?"
Me - "Because humans have five fingers."
G - "But why not six?"
Me - "Evolution. Apparently 5 fingers was the most evolutionary advantageous number of fingers."
G - "But six fingers would be cool."
Me - "Then you'd have to buy new gloves."
G - "Yeah, I guess five is ok."

A few days ago:

G - "Mommy, why is the air up and the street on the bottom?"
Me - "That's a complicated question with a complicated answer. Let's just say it has to do with mass."
G - "What's mass?"
Me - "(sigh) Mass is kinda like weight, the more mass an object has, the more it weighs. Objects that have greater mass attract other objects."
G - "Oh, you mean gravity."
Me - "Well if you knew the answer why did you ask the question?"
G - "Because." (pause) "Gravity keeps us down, right? That's why we don't float into outer space."
Me - "Yes. Exactly."
G - "Can you turn off the gravity?"
Me - "Me personally? No. And well, no one can actually. Gravity is a constant."
G - "(sigh) That's too bad."

Also a few days ago:

G - "Mommy, why didn't your borned a boy baby?"
Me - "Because your sister is a girl and she's the last baby mommy and daddy will have."
G - "But I want another baby."
Me - "Sorry dude, but until you have a partner & the two of you decide to have a child, this baby is the only one you're going to get."
G - "Well you should have had two, I want one to take care of."
Me - "You help me take care of baby sister already."
G - "Moooooom (sigh) that's not the same."
Me - "I know dude, I know."

The Conversationalist

The G-Man is 5

It's that time again! Birthday questions! Here are G's 4th birthday questions, and his 3rd.

Without further ado, here are his 5th birthday questions:

1. What is your favorite color? Blue

2. What is your favorite toy? Um... my Mashables (he got them from my parents for his birthday, they're pretty awesome)

3. What is your favorite fruit? Bananas

4. What is your favorite TV show? Gravity Falls

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cheese and mustard sandwich

6. What is your favorite outfit? A long sleeved shirt and pants

7. What is your favorite game? Lego Batman 3 (pretty much the same as last year, just a new version of the game)

8. What is your favorite snack? Oatmeal bar (same as last year) 

9. What is your favorite animal? Lions (same as last year, interestingly enough)

10. What is your favorite song? The Imperial March from Star Wars (he actually said "like Darth Vader")

He's a Sith Lord

11. What is your favorite book? My 5-minute Marvel (a book with a collection of Marvel character stories)

12. Who is your best friend? Brandon, Rafa, and Dylan

13. What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops (same as last year)

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Jump on the trampoline

15. What is your favorite drink? Gatorade (which he was introduced to when he was sick earlier this year, he's now become slightly obsessed with it).

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My A's Monkey

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Um, fruit loops?! Why did we do breakfast again?

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pizza!

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A police officer

My big 5 year old, just lounging

And here he was at 5 minutes old:

Family Pictures

Today we go for our annual family pictures, which is something that Penelope and I enjoy but Bryan and Griffin participate in solely to make me happy.

I thought I'd go back and look at the last few years of pictures before today, and they made me cry, so I decided to make a post out of it.

But before that, quick updates. I'm 23 weeks pregnant, 118 days to go. Everything still looks good. Penny had her 1st Kinder parent/teacher conference and she's doing really well (on track in some areas, above grade level in others - everything assessed in Spanish). She's bossy and popular (she only gets one of those from me and apparently none of those from Bryan - or so he says). She's writing sentences in Spanish (unprompted) and is reading at a 1 grade level in Spanish (4th grade in English). She loves math and is quite good at it. She's still taking piano and still loves it.

She wants to be an astronaut or a jungle scientist, depending on the day - but she's very much into science and art and loves Harry Potter (we're in the middle of Goblet of Fire).

Griffin doesn't get p/t conferences in preschool, but we did get to chat with his teacher and he is doing well in school. He talks in both Spanish and English in class, often responding in English to a teacher's questions in Spanish. He's always singing Spanish songs at home and exclusively names his colors in Spanish. He, more so than Penny, is excited for the baby and he often talks to or "hugs" the baby. He wants to help me do *everything* - he insists on helping me put on my shoes so I don't have to bend over. He helps me cook, he helps Bryan with dishes, he helps sort socks for laundry.

The kids are only about a pound apart in weight. Sis is tall and slender (like her daddy) and Bubs is tall and solid. He's strong and can quite easily overpower his sister.

Work is fine - just got back from taking 7 girls to Washington DC for a student journalism conference. That was a trip (in all the ways that phrase implies). It's been almost a week since we got back and I'm still recovering. But it was fun - for all of us - and I'm glad we went.

Ok, so pictures. I don't have all the years scanned in, so maybe I'll revisit this in a few days and add in the ones I scan.

2009: Penelope's 1st birthday and I'm 20-something weeks pregnant with Griffin

Also, one of just Sissy because it's adorable

2010: In my parent's backyard, not professional. We did end up going to JC Penny later, but I can't find those (probably because I hid them because I hate the way I look in these, but whatever. I had birthed two children in as many years)

2011: At a park in Sacramento, Griffin's 1st birthday pics.

Also, one of the kids together and one of Bubba separately, because they're fricking adorable.

And then one of my brother teaching Penelope how to blow a dandelion because it's also totes adorbs.

2012: I don't have digitally, will have to try and scan.
2013: Griffin's 3rd birthday, on the beach in the Aptos area

2014: That's today! 2015 pics will be after baby is born.

I love seeing how much bigger they get each year. Also, my husband is HOT (and apparently doesn't age).  ;)

Tax Day Ramblings

I haven't written in a long while because forces outside of my control (ok, not really) have conspired to keep me so busy I don't have time to vacuum my floors (unfortunately true) let alone blog.

But it is spring break, I've filed my taxes (ouch), and have had a celebratory glass of wine. My youngest child turns 4 tomorrow (cue tears) and I absolutely REFUSE to do any work (not true, I'm e-mailing people in between writing sentences for this post).

Griffin's birthday makes me sad because he is my baby and I have to face that there really is no baby left in him. He's a big kid. A very big kid... and I desperately miss the chubby cheeked baby stage where they actually FIT on your abdomen when they snuggle (G tries to fit... he does not). There are things from the baby stage I don't miss (say, teething... or the half a dozen wake ups from Sir Griff) but I genuniely like babies and I do miss the baby wearing (which really means I miss having complete control over their whereabouts).

Has anyone else noticed my propensity to use parenthesis as my inner monologue? Have I always done that?

Anyway. Kids.

Are big. LE SIGH.

Penelope is reading. READING. Like, all by herself! She reads everything you put in front of her and delights in reading to herself and to anyone willing to listen. It is, I noticed, mostly whole words with a generous sprinkling of phonics. I had assumed that early reading would be more phonics - but I'm not a reading teacher so what the heck do I know? All I know is that she is reading and enjoying it. Her "report card" was very positive this trimester and she still loves school... which is good.

Griffin loves to pretend to read and while he's warmed up to school, he still doesn't quite love it with the same enthusiams as his sister. His new obsession is Lego Batman (don't get me started, not my idea).

When discussing his obsession at lunch today he asked what "obsession" meant. My mom asked him "what do you think it means?" and he said:

"When you really want to do something and nothing else."

Yup. Sums it up quite nicely.

The positive is that since he can only play for a limited amount of time each day and he has to clean up in order to earn video game time, that the house has remained remarkably picked up over the last few weeks. So that's a plus.

Oh, softball! Penelope started softball and she loves it. Bryan is coaching and I'm the manager and I love it less than she does, to be honest. It's not the playing, it's the actual managing that is pretty much awful. I won't do it again. I'll chaperone, I'll even coach, but I will NOT manage.

I'm glad she likes it though, she's made some friends and her coordination is improving, so that's good. I think we'll sign Griffin up for T-Ball next year and keep her in softball... who knows. I guess it all depends on what they like and how much time Bryan and I have to shuttle them to various practices and games.

The rest of our lives are work, which is boring to talk about. I'm so thankful it's Spring Break because I needed it. My students did too. All work and no play makes us all a little loopy, so I'm looking forward to having some (hopefully) reenvigorated students next week. We really only have 5 weeks of school left before summer, which is practically nothing. I have to finish Romeo & Juliet, go through the Greek gods, and teach Oedipus Rex in 5 weeks. Eep! We'll get it done, I have some pretty awesome students this year.

Ok, time to sleep. Maybe I'll have the time and/or energy for a blog post before the school year ends (doubtful) but since I've already said I'm not teaching summer school I may actually get time this summer to blog (or, better yet, to finish the damn novel I started over a year ago).

Happy Jackie Robinson Day!

4th Birthday Questions with the Bubs

It's that time again - birthday questions! Here are Griffin's answers from last year.

1. What is your favorite color? Green and Blue

2. What is your favorite toy? Spiderman (his large Spidey figurine)

3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples

4. What is your favorite TV show? Ninjago

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Chips... and a jelly sandwich

6. What is your favorite outfit? (he points to the one he's wearing now, his Star Wars shirt that is graffitied to say "A Jedi Was Here") Pictured below:




7. What is your favorite game? Lego Batman (Of course. Le sigh)

8. What is your favorite snack? Oatmeal Bar

9. What is your favorite animal? Lions! (said with gusto)

10. What is your favorite song? Frozen. The Let It Go Song (again, sigh)

11. What is your favorite book? Go Dogs Go (we haven't read that book in weeks. The one he asks me to read all the time is Paper Bag Princess and The Marvel Origins book, which is a compilation of all the origin stories of the Marvel characters)

12. Who is your best friend? Dash (from preschool)

13. What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? The scooters

15. What is your favorite drink? Milk (same as last year)

16. What is your favorite holiday? New Years (his first response? Snow. When I gave him a list, he chose New Years... when I asked him if he liked New Years more than Christmas, he said yes.)

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Octopus, because I love my pet octopus. (Which, for the record, is a stuffed animal that my parents bought him today at the aquarium).




18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? I already said Fruit Loops (obviously annoyed with my question)

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? I can't think... chicken nuggets!

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? An astronaut!

The Griff

There are some things about our Goofy 3.5 year old that must be chronicled.

Do not eat the cookies he decorates. You have been warned.

The child cannot be trusted around frosting. Or sweets of any kind. This holiday season he took to sneaking a candy cane off the tree and disappearing downstairs for a few moments to hastily cram the forbidden fruit into his mouth.

Of course, the moment he came back upstairs his sticky face and hands would betray his crime. Also, he would confess without even being asked a question. Do not tell him your secrets.

Too bad for him I won't actually let him play football while he's on our health insurance plan.

The child is silly. Like, seriously silly. Always. He has an overactive imagination that, on the one hand gives us this great game of Mama & Baby Penguin (explained below), but on the other hand contributes to his frequent nightmares and deep fear of the dark.

Mama & Baby Penguin
In this game (or reenactment, call it what you will), G rushes straight to his bed after his bath and curls up in a ball with his towel covering him. I come in and envelop him until he's ready to "hatch" and then he pops out of his "egg" and says "Hi Mama Penguin!" At which point I can now dry him off and he can put on his pajamas. This happens every night at our house and is partially based off of a book the kids have called A Penguin Pup for Pinkerton.

Mama's Boy, 1,000%

Griffin loves his Daddy, even though Bryan jokes that he's the last man on the totem pole with his son. But Bubby looooooooooooves his Mama. And I used to find that a smidgen frustrating when he was smaller and needier. But I no longer feel that way.

One day the scales will tip back. Mama is no good at throwing baseballs or playing tackle/tickle (his favorite game to play with Bryan), so I will take my dozens of kisses a day now and hopefully save the sweet memory of them until, many many many many many years from now, I get a grandchild who will love me with the same unconditional fervor. (Or a niece/nephew - hint hint Nic).

Speaking of kisses, G has taken to counting our kisses. I usually get 10 at a time. I think it's because he loves counting. LOVES. He counts everything.

I get flowers at least once a week.

If there is a flower on the grass, Griffin will pick it and give it to me. Without fail. Often, on the way home from school with the babysitter, he'll pick a few pretty weeds and have them in a cup of water waiting for me when I get home.

It is adorable. It is heart melting. It is awesome.

Little boys can be messy, dirty, and smelly. They can play rough. They often forget their own strength. They are quickly swayed by their emotions.

They are also sweet. And kind. And loving.

Because really? All kids are those things.

An overdue update

I haven't blogged since September 25th, which blogger promintely dispalyed on my login page, as if to shame me from being away for so long.

In my defense, work has been insane. Which is my fault - 100% - because I agreed to take on an additional class, which means I have no prep period, which means I have 5 academic classes plus Journalism (yearbook and the magazine) AND I was crazy and signed up to advise a few clubs (um, 5).

So I brought this craziness all on myself, and it's kept me busy. Really busy. In fact this weekend I finally finished grading essays that I had the kids turn in October 15th. Eep! I still have a giant stack of grading, but I feel good that at least those essays are done.

Finals are in two weeks. Le Sigh. I will enjoy Winter Break.

The good thing is that all of my students this year are wonderful. I really do mean this. Yeah, some of them are obnoxious at times, but they're teenagers. I do love being a teacher, even if the job is the most stressful job I have ever had.

The real reason of this post wasn't to talk about work, although that happens a lot with me lately. I can't seem to shut up about work... the point of this post was to chronicle what has happened in the lives of the kids since I took my unintentional blog hiatus.

Let's start with the youngest.

Griffin goes to school 3x a week and started to like it mid-September. His behavioral reports are always good and his report card for the 1st trimester (which I think is hilarous and adorable) was exemplary. He does well, he behaves well, he's energetic. Pretty much sums up the moster.

He's lost most of his lisp/stutter and talks up a STORM. Between the two of them it's a miracle B or I ever get to talk. Our dog, Harley-Quinn, is his very best friend, but I'm not 100% sure if she feels the same way.

The tantrums one normally expects of a 3 1/2 year old are becoming less frequent - which is awesome. Looking back, the Terrible Twos and Terrorist Threes were pretty tame compared to the stories I've heard of these ages. Insisting that he use his words to express his frusrtrations has started to bear fruit and he's much better and talking about why he's upset instead of just disolving into tears.

He's grown a lot. In 5T and some of his 5T clothes are starting to get a little short. Which is insane because we just bought him clothes. He's not quite as tall as Sissy, but on occasion people will ask if they're twins.

He's still a big snuggler and asks for snuggles all the time. And while he does spend a few nights a week in his own bed, most nights he crawls in with us anywhere from 3-6am.

Penelope

She is growing up too fast. She'll be 5 on Thursday. She lost one tooth in October and another two are loose. She's in size 7. She reads. READS.

We had her parent-teacher conference a few weeks ago and she knows 34 of the 100 1st grade sight words - the words 1st graders are supposed to know at the end of 1st grade. Thirty four.

She'll sound out words and read signs, books, and my text messages. She would still prefer to sit upstairs and read (or color) rather than go outside and run around. She is defintely my daughter.

Her teacher also said that Penelope is a very enthusiastic learner: "Sometimes very bright children will get bored, but Penelope is always so excited for whatever it is we are doing in class, she loves to learn."

And she's really social - she knows the names of her friend's parents and will greet them when she gets to school or on the way out. She loves everyone, they're all friends she hasn't met yet. And her memory is crazy - she remembers what she wore to Griffin's brithday party in April. She remembers playing with friends she hasn't seen in over a year. She remembers things I promised and forgot (which, boo).

I am planning on having her do the 20 birthday questions - last years are here.

In other news, I ran my first 5K and didn't die. I didn't walk or throw up either. Woot! My time was something like 39 minutes, so I ran the slowest 5K in the history of 5Ks. My next scheduled 5K is in March, running it with my Journalism kids.

The back tattoo is in progress. I have the outline and a little over 1/4 of color done. It hurts, a lot, but I love it.

And I think that's it. I'm sure I'm missing a ton of things, but I should probably get to all of that grading I have. The pile is staring at me accusingly right now.

Potty time! Excellent!

You have to say that with the Bill & Ted accent. If you don't know what I'm talking about then we can't be friends anymore.

I had a rather whiny post written about work & stress. But it was boring. I bored myself writing it.

So now we'll talk about potty training, because that's what everyone likes to read about, yes?

Sir Bubs A Lot has been day trained since November. Which has been great because diapers are expensive and we've had a kid in diapers since 2008. So I was quite happy when he trained earlier than his big sis and with relatively little fuss. His daycare provider dealt with more mess than we did - and they were so amazing and helping us get him trained in less than 2 weeks.

That isn't to say we're completely accident free. He is, after all, only 3. But we rarely have accidents during the day. I cannot remember the last time he wet himself in the course of a normal day.

Night time has been another beast. He's still in diapers at night - for now. Pen was night trained 2 months after she turned 3, and Bubs just turned 3 - so we haven't pushed it.

But for the last week he's woken up dry 5 out of the 7 nights and we have less than a week's worth of diapers left. So the decision has to be made soon. Do we buy more diapers and wait until he's dry for a few weeks in a row? Or do we celebrate his last diaper with this box and vow to never buy a new one?

Airplanes

Three really gets a bad rep. Yeah, there are tantrums - but I know grown ups who throw tantrums. In fact, that's basically just the back row of a staff meeting. So whatevs.

Three is when they race down the sidewalk pretending to be an airplane, complete with airplane noises and their arms outstretched.

Three is when they jump over every.crack in the sidewalk and insist you jump with them.

Three is when they MUST walk on every parking lot bumper (I googled it, that's apparently what they're called) like they're on a balance beam.

Three is when they automatically reach for your hand when you're walking together. When they put their head on your chest just to hear your heartbeat. When they enthusiastically love and hate everything all at once.

Three is awesome.

It is especially awesome when your three year old sings the following song to you:

"There's no mommy like yooooouuuuuuuu. There's no mommy like yooooooooooouuuuuuuu!!!!!"
(to the tune of "No Day Like Today" from The Secret Garden play Penelope was recently in).

Love!

The party!

This past weekend was Bubby's birthday party. I know I've discussed party prep, but I figured pictures and a narrative were warranted.

Bryan and I spent the night before the party cutting capes. Which were time consuming, but not difficult. In the grand scheme of things, party prep wasn't too complicated, it just took up more time than I had originally anticipated. And we made too many capes, so I could have saved us at least an hour of labor if I'd made fewer adult sized capes. I had enough for all the adults, but not everyone was into cape decorating (which is totally fine, because pretending to be a superhero isn't for everyone).

But the end product was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Here we all are in our caped splendor:

I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted of people actually decorating capes, but people seemed to be having fun.

Like Tyler

 And my parents certainly had fun posing in the capes

After we decorated capes, it was time for the scavenger hunt to find our Avenger friends. Bryan did an excellent job making the clues look like they came from Shield - and I wish I had taken a picture. The older kids loved it, but the younger ones had fun too. Here are some pictures of the kids on the hunt...

The clues were inside the house, the garage, the driveway, the YMCA, & the Library. It was a blast.

Once we had assembled all the Avenger figurines, it was time to get back to the party and defeat Red Skull! Some of my friends took better pictures, but I haven't gotten around to saving them onto my computer. Regardless, here's one of Bubs:

My Dad actually made the pinata himself. It looked great. None of the kids could bust it open (it actually fell off its hook, so my brother and I took a turn. Nic actually broke it open, but skinned his knuckled in the process.

Then there was cake!

Spiderman, old school X-Men, and The Hulk!

Griffin had a great time - and I think the rest of the kids did too. It was great. I'm so happy with how things turned out. :)

The next day was a trip up to the Boardwalk with my parents, my brother, his girlfriend, and her 5 year old son. Much fun was had by all. Here's a pic of Sissy & me.

So happy 3rd birthday Bubby!

3rd Birthday Questions - the Bubs

In Decemeber I asked the Penelo-potamous these 20 questions on her birthday.

And because I was mostly on the ball with Bubby's birthday this year, here are the answers to his 20 questions.

1. What is your favorite color? Blue

2. What is your favorite toy? Buzz

3. What is your favorite fruit? Craisins

4. What is your favorite TV show? Diego

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? A cheese sandwhich with mustard

6. What is your favorite outfit? Baseball shirt (totally not true, it was just what he was wearing at the time. His favorite thing to wear is actually his Superman shirt with the cape).

7. What is your favorite game? Pixar Pals (something he randomly chose from a pile of LeapPad cartridges).

8. What is your favorite snack? Wheat Thins

9. What is your favorite animal? Hippos (I had no idea and would have guessed whales)

10. What is your favorite song? Year 3,000 (Jonas Brothers, this one required prompting. I have a feeling it's actually Michael Jackson's "Bad").

11. What is your favorite book? The Best Nest

12. Who is your best friend? Joe (from Daycare)

13. What is your favorite cereal? Life

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my scooter

15. What is your favorite drink? Milk

16. What is your favorite holiday? 4th of July (total lie, I listed a bunch and he chose this one... it's probably Halloween or Christmas)

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My whale (very true, and that's why I would have guessed a whale as his favorite animal).

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal (that's IF he eats breakfast at home)

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Chicken nuggets

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? I wanna be Peter Pan (ha!)

The post where I describe party prep and you all tell me I'm crazy

Bubby's party is Saturday. It's Superhero themed.

We were originally planning on Thomas the Train, but he asked for Superheros and so we switched. And then I went slightly overboard for a 3 year old's party.

There will be three cakes. They're made but not decorated yet. One chocolate, one lemon, and one funfetti-style. All made from scratch (because my cakes are better than box cakes. Full disclosure: I made box cupcakes for Griffin's daycare party, because "'ain't nobody got time for that").

The chocolate cake will be decorated Spidey-style. Red frosting (also homemade, because why not), spider, webbing. I do guarantee it will look good. Lemon cake is Iron Man (he's the sour one), decorated as his mask. The funfetti cake is Captain America, mostly because that will be the easiest one to decorate.

I have blank masks, foam stars, planets, & paint. I'll get felt squares and fabric glue. Large pieces of felt will be cut into cape-shapes and we'll decorate our Superhero capes & masks. Ribbon will be used to tie capes on.

While the capes dry, we'll go on a scavenger hunt to find the Avengers. Because Red Skull is threatening to crash the party and we have to have the Avenger's help to defeat the bay guy. My dad is making a Red Skull pinata, so that when we come back from our neighborhood search, we'll defeat the enemy.

I also have a cardboard cutout of Captain America for pictures. Industrial strength bubbles to test our superpowers, and chalk - because who doesn't like chalk?

Normal hot dog/hamburger party fare. I'm not getting fancy on food. I may just buy a giant tub of macaroni salad because, again, make macaroni salad from scratch? 'aint nobody got time for that.

The party in my head is awesome. I just hope the party that actually happens is just as awesome. Or at least that everyone has fun.

The Bubs is THREE

You guys.

YOU GUYS.

Our baby is three. THREE. That's, like, 2 more than 1. TWO. Or one more than two. ONE. Or three more than zero. THREE.

We are all now collectively breathing a sigh of relief that I don't teach math.

It was three years ago today that my sweet, snuggly, loud, dirty, rambunctious, smelly, beautiful, adorable, happy baby boy was born.

Here he was then:

And here he is now:

Confessions of a Co-Sleeper

I have written a lot about sleep since I started blogging, especially since Griffin is a terrible sleeper in comparison to Penelope.

Most of our parenting struggles with the Bubs have revolved around his desire to watch the moon track across the sky at night. The angriest I have ever been with him was in the middle of the night during a Sleep Suck (click the link above if that confuses you). But I have a confession.

I love cosleeping.

I know. Of all the problems we have had with his sleep, you would imagine that I would have sworn off cosleeping and would now be shouting from the rooftops about how it's best to sleep train your children as soon as they're born.

Only I don't think that at all. And should baby #3 happen in our future, I'll be advocating for another round of co-sleeping. Even though every single one of these things has happened in the last 6 months:

I've:
*been hit
*almost been given a black eye
*been kicked, in my surgery scars
*been peed on
*had the covers stolen
*been farted on
*woken from a dead sleep by snores (but let's be real, this happens when Griffin isn't in bed with us *cough*Bryan*cough*)
*gotten up to get water for a child who has been tossing and turning for an hour
*had a child roll over and sleep on top of my head
*had cold feet wiggled in between my thighs, pressed against my back, shoved into my belly

Bryan has experienced these as well, although has come to different conclusions about co-sleeping. Maybe that's because he gets most of the violence, and not as much of the lovey-side that comes with sleeping next to an almost 3 year old.

I wake up most mornings with a warm, mostly-sweet smelling child curled up next to me. Most mornings he turns over to see if I'm awake, then grins, wraps his little arms around my neck and whispers "I love you mama" in my ear. Most mornings he snuggles up next to me and we cuddle for a few minutes before he finally turns back over and says "can we wake up now mama?"

Then we get out of bed and he helps me make coffee.

What's not to love?

What's not to love about waking up in the middle of the night (which I do 10,000x regardless of who is sleeping in the bed) and having a warm body who wants to snuggle?

Co-Sleeping is not for everyone. And sometimes it's not fun. But I do love it.... and if we have #3, we'll probably get a co-sleeper so Bryan isn't so crowded, because he really does get the brunt of the boy-child's kicks.

I haven't posted in almost a month...

And so much has happened!

My parents moved from Sacramento to Scotts Valley (they are now 45 minutes away instead of 3+ hours), and before the move my mom lived with for a month until my parents found housing in the Santa Cruz area. It was nice having her here, the kids got to kiss Granny goodnight each night and Griffin really enjoying going downstairs in the morning to hang out with Granny as she got ready for work.

In the month of October Griffin reached 100% day-potty-training (wait, did I already cover this?) and we haven't had an accident in quite awhile. I must say, it is GLORIOUS not to have to change diapers. It is also wonderful to keep only an emergency pair of undies and pants in the car instead of carting around the diaper bag. In the last few months we've gotten rid of the diapers, diaper bag, and strollers, and it's been bittersweet. Mostly sweet.

G won't let us eliminate all vestages of baby-hood however. He's still in night-diapers and still wakes up once a night and crawls into bed with us. He quickly falls back asleep, although he HAS taken to trying to suffoate Bryan every night by sleeping on his head. It's something we need to work on, but neither one of us has the energy to tackle it yet. Maybe over Winter Break.

They're both doing well at daycare, Penelope keeps asking to go to school - and we're hoping to be able to send her to pre-school next year, but it depends on a host of factors. The major factor is, of course, cost. But we'll keep trying to figure out how to swing it. The pre-school I want to send her to is a Spanish immersion school, and I think she'd do well.

She's still dancing and Griffin is still in gymnastics. I do have some video of her last ballet class, but I need to youtube it so I can post it here. It's on my phone.

Squish is also making some pretty amazing drawings. She's better at coloring inside the lines than my Freshmen students (seriously) and her free-hand drawing is both creative and colorful. She'll literally spend hours at the kitchen table coloring/drawing.

As for me, work is good but hectic. I've taken on a lot this year and while I love a lot of what I'm doing, it takes a significant amount of time to get it all done. This year has also been my year for students-in-crisis. I've made 2 mandated reporter calls already and have spent a fair amount of time drying the eyes of some of my students. I'm glad they feel they can come to me, even if I loathe paperwork. That's what I'm here for afterall...

Ok, time to get back to lesson planning. I hope to be able to upload the videos I have later this week and post them.

Potty Training, part deux

I can't remember the last time I talked about potty training. I think it was last month... So I figured we're due for an update.

Penelope has been fully trained for almost a year. She started right before her 3rd birthday and was day trained in a few weeks, night trained 2 months after her birthday. I can't remember the last time she had an accident, but the child has a bladder like a steel trap. I'm pretty sure her bladder is larger than mine.

Griffin decided to start PT'ing midway through last month. Or rather, I sort of decided to start PT'ing. He had (yet another) rash and so we did undies at night, which turned into undies during the day. (Side note: while both kids did get the occasional rash when we were using cloth diapers, Griffin's rashes became much more frequent AND much more severe in disposables. Also? Diaper companies are increasing the size/visibility of the "dump the poop in disposables" notice on diaper boxes. Just another plug for cloth.)

The first week of PT'ing was a laundry-fest. We (meaning Bryan) did a load of laundry every day... the second week was much better. Third week we were having days with NO accidents (woot!) and this week has been quite good. The biggest challenge was getting him to poop on the potty - yesterday he finally told me that his "butt hurt" and then pooped on the potty. So I'm hopeful that in the next few weeks I'll be able to say that we're fully day-trained - possibly right around the time of his 2 1/2 "birthday" on the 16th.

He did wake up dry this morning, but I won't hold my breath for night-training anytime soon. Maybe after his 3rd birthday. But I am so happy to be done with diapers during the day.

This is one of the remnants of childhood that I will not be sad to see pass. Potty training and teething are two things that I can leave happily behind me, even as I mourn for other baby-related stages we won't see again.

Stuff I posted on Facebook but feel the need to document on the blog

The other day I talked about the possibility of starting potty training for the Bubs.

Well, his rash necessitated a naked/undies night which necessitated a lot of jellybean bribing in order to keep the carpet dry. And that lead to an undies morning - which lead to an undies day - and the whole thing snowballed into a now-I-guess-we're-really-potty-training-someone-get-me-a-drink.

He did throw an epic tantrum this morning when deciding whether or not he was going to wear undies or a diaper. Hopefully we don't have anymore like that. But now that we've started we're not going to stop...

There were at least 3 accidents at daycare today, he still doesn't tell us when he has to go. BUT he was dry from 3pm until bedtime and went potty every time we asked him, which is good. He gets a jellybean each time he goes, and I am soooooo not above bribing.

I would LOVE it if he was PT'ed (at least day-trained) before his 2 1/2 "birthday." I'm not holding my breath, but that does give us a month - which is doable.

In other news, Penelope has a new imaginary friend. His name is Phineas, he's 3, and a robot (he can remove his head, pretty cool, huh?). Pen holds his hand around the house, talks to him all the time, they sleep in the same bed, he eats right next to her, and she likes to narrate his every move. It's cute, although slightly obnoxious because Phineas is very needy.

Oh, the Squish is also sick, poor thing. Just a runny nosy and fever (for the most part) so hopefully the OTC meds we gave her tonight will mean she wakes up feeling better. She's a much better patient than the Bubs, so hopefully he doesn't get it.

And now for work. I'd much rather be sleeping, but duty calls. I have sub plans and a Rite of Passage assessment to write. Fun fun fun!

Potty Training

Other than teething, I don't think there's anything I hate more than potty training. And I may hate PT'ing more than teething, but they don't happen at the same time so it's difficult to truly gauge my level of hatred for each.

As I navigate the ever-deeper waters of parenting, I may very well find something I despise more than teething AND potty training. These things just tend to escalate - otherwise no one would ever become parents. Imagine recovering from childbirth only to find your newborn sneaking out of the bassinet to go to a cast party dressed as a slutty Kardashian sister (note: all of them dress like hookers... this is where the feminist in me recoils, but being a feminist doesn't mean I have to condone silly, vapid people dressing like sexy halloween kittens in May). The human race would never survive.

Anyway. Griffin has a rash. Another rash. He is the rashy-est (rashiest? rashyist?) child I have ever birthed. Which, comparatively doesn't really mean much, BUT he's rather rashy for any child. So I guess that would have been a better way to start.

He's just very rashy.
(note: spell-check doesn't recognize that word. Spell-check was invented by the childless)

His skin has always been sensitive, and his rashes have gotten worse since he's been in disposables, but cloth isn't an option with our daycare and since he's almost 2 1/2, part of me is seriously considering potty training - especially since he asks to wear underwear (although he doesn't tell us when he has to go, only after and only sometimes).

Only I loathe potty training.

At this point it's almost an irrational loathing, like the one I have for pregnancy... because Penelope was actually rather easy to PT (took a few weeks, handful of accidents, night-trained in 2 months) and both my pregnancies were a breeze compared to what many (most) other women experience (no serious morning sickness, no cramping, very little heartburn, only one episode of sciatica pain, few stretchmarks, short labors). So one would think that with relatively positive experiences with both pregnancy and potty training, that I should be rather positive when it comes to both.

One would think that, and one would be wrong. Very, very wrong.

I honestly have no idea where my intense feelings regarding potty training come from. Maybe I've repressed memories from my childhood that are currently haunting me in adulthood (childhood trauma is also why I refuse to iron, hate blow drying my hair, and refuse to vacuum stairs. And by "trauma" I mean "stubbornness"). But I'm pretty sure my potty training was relatively uneventful. I mean, I'm assuming my parents would have made some comment about it if it had been horrific.

So I'm left to speculate about the origins of my fierce hatred for all thing potty training.

And I do SO enjoy speculating.

Although that will have to wait for another post, since I wanted to discuss Bubby.

So blog-world... if you had an almost 2 1/2 year old who asks to wear undies, doesn't tell you before he pees, gets horrible diaper rash every few months, and who has an older sister who potty trained at 3 - would you start serious potty training?

I have a ton of witty things to blog about

But considering my short term memory has gone to hell since school started back up, you won't get to hear any of them.

Most of them had to do with the kids, something funny about parenting, or just me being my normally hilarious self. So just pretend I amused you and then read this.

Griffin has recently entered the "F-You Mother" stage of being 2. It's like the teenage "F-You World" stage, only 80% of the time it's directed at me, and he's still cute so it's mostly amusing. Also, it's only a part-time stage (unlike the teenage stage) and so he's still willing to give me hugs & kisses, and still demands to be held on occasion. These are the reasons why he's still living with us and hasn't been shipped off to toddler boarding school or sold to gypsies (excuse me, Romas).

This stage has three important steps that define it:
1. Refusal to do any simple task which he would have gladly performed last week
2. Crossed arms when mommy counts to three and a look that is intended to kill, but only makes me laugh
3. A loud and indignant "I will!" just as I reach the number 2, barely preventing him from sitting in a time out

There are secondary characteristics, but they're too numerous to mention. Although he did attempt to distract me from his inappropriate behavior in the car the other day. As we were driving and he was spitting on himself (yes, you read that correctly) he loudly proclaimed "look mama, a bus!" and pointed out the window just as I had finished scolding him about spitting but before I could start counting.

Granted, he did voluntarily relinquish his sippy when I asked him "do I need to take your sippy away so you stop spitting?" And that shows a considerable amount of self-awareness for a 2 year old and actually made me quite proud of him.

He's also started to get rather possessive of things - namely his sister. "Dat's MY Delpi!" (read: That's my Penelope) or "No, my dit-dee" (read: No, my sissy).

While he can also be possessive of Bryan and I, odds are he's more concerned that people understand the Pen is his, so keep that in mind you dirty sister stealer.

Perhaps I am exaggerating. But I rarely do that.

The kids are still amazingly fond of each other, and I am amazed at how well they get along. Granted, they will still fight, but they stick up for one another, generally play well together, and are quite affectionate. I wish I wasn't too lazy to upload one of their latest hugging pictures... but I AM too lazy. Perhaps later. Once school is over.

Speaking of school, I must say that I love my job. LOVE. But this year is already exhausting. At the beginning of the school year I told myself that next year, after BTSA is over and I've cleared my credential - and after evaluations are over and I've gotten tenure - that next year would not be so completely and utterly draining. I was lying to myself. Next year, and every year that I work in education - will be exhausting. I'll rest when I'm dead, n'est-ce pas?

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Today, on a lark (can you tell I've been watching too much Dr. Who?), we decided to take the kids to the Beach Boardwalk, which is arguably one of the most famous places in the Monterey Bay Peninsula. I haven't been since high school (I think?) and Bryan's only been once. They have some kid friendly rides and it was supposed to be a nice, warm-ish day, so we thought it would be a nice change of pace. I'm getting rather tired of the Aquarium - all the kids want to do is play in their fun-for-kids-but-boring-for-grownups area.

Anyway, it was the kids' first time at an amusement park and on "roller coasters". Following are a TON of videos of the kids (and us) on rides. Some of them are long (3 mins) but most are shorter. I honestly don't expect anyone other than my parents and Bryan's parents to watch them all. But in case you do, here you go. Underneath is a short blurb on each so you can decide which of the videos you'd like to see :)


Length: 3:42
Penelope on her very first ride!


Length: 2 minutes
This is G's first ride - we're on racecars that swing you wildly on the turns. It's Poe's second ride, and she has become quite adventurous. She's on it alone, G had to ride with me since he was a smidge too short to go solo and not nearly as brave. I had a hard time getting into this one. My legs are too long for kiddie rides...


Length: 3:25
G's second ride, P's 3rd. We went on this one as a family since both kids needed a "chaperone". It goes forward & backward, which did a number on B's stomach. The video is shaky, but considering that our videographer was on the ride, it can be forgiven :) Penelope had a BLAST. Griffin had a ok time... she says some pretty cute things.


Length: 3 minutes
Penelope on the Dragon Ride. Griffin wanted to go, but not with Poe and not alone and not with me or B, so he didn't go.... and threw a fit. It was close to naptime and he was being wishy-washy about rides.


Length: 21 seconds
G & I on the Pepsi caravan ride. He did NOT want to go on this ride, but had a good time after the initial tantrum...


Length: 2:16
Squishy on the boat ride!


Length: 46 seconds
Griffin on his only solo ride of the day!

All in all it was a fun, albeit exhausting, day. Next year we might invest in season passes...