The Royal We

Tonight Turbo pushed back on pretty much everything I threw at him. I said "one more book," and he countered with, "two more books." Etc., etc., etc.

The last instance of the evening warmed my heart. I was tucking him into bed, sure I'd be able to avoid climbing into his bed with him and he pushed the point again, but it's his carefully chosen words that got the corners of my mouth to turn up.

Turbo: "You come in my bed with me." (It wasn't a question.)

Me: "No, honey. You're a big boy and you can sleep all by yourself."

Turbo, whining: "Nooo. Sometimes we need someone in our bed with us."

I caved. I couldn't help it. And so he fell asleep quickly with Lightning McQueen in one hand and Sarge* in the other. And I was assigned Luigi* to hold while we snuggled.

And I loved every minute of it.


*Sarge and Luigi are cars in the Cars movies. Luigi is pronounced Leeg-oo-ee in our house, by the way. This is something you'll need to know should you come visit.

Mayor of Simpleton

This is a story about Mater and Lightning McQueen. Turbo loves these two characters more than any of this trains or other toys.

Here is a conversation I overheard last night:

Dad, being funny: "Turbo, I'm the Mater of this town."

Turbo: "No. You're the Lightning McQueen of this town."

A Bird Did It and Other Lies

One of my sisters, who shall remain nameless, has started teasing Turbo during dinners. We're not usually lucky enough to have extra family at dinner time, but in the past two weeks we've seen Auntie ----- twice.  Yeah!

During both meals my sister has stolen food off Turbo's plate and blamed it on a bird. The first time (at our home), Turbo noticed quickly when a tortilla chip went missing from his plate and looked suspiciously at his Aunt as she was the only other human at the table.

Aunt: "A bird ate it. You should watch out for those birds."

Turbo looked toward the ceiling and my sister did a great job of convincing Turbo that the bird was just out of sight, but to keep trying.

Not the actual bird.

Last Saturday we had dinner at Red Hook Brewery to get out of the house after a long, snow-bound week and my sister and brother-in-law joined us there. It was crowded and loud and perfect.

Smiley was pushing herself passed her bed time as the meal wound down, but mostly she was delightful as she poured quinoa and broccolini in her mouth and down her shirt and all over that messy high chair.

Turbo doesn't eat quite as well as Smiley. In fact, to avoid a fight we ordered him two side dishes: bacon and tortilla chips. Turbo was thrilled and not interested in sharing.

But my sister had different ideas. While I was wrapped up with cutting broccoli for Smiley my sister was at it again, teasing Turbo about some bird stealing his chips.

I only caught on when I realized my husband was in on it too. They even started whistling when Turbo was looking away and saying things like, "Did you hear that bird?" A wide-eyed Turbo was looking around, eagerly trying to find the non-existent bird.

At a hilarious turning point, Turbo looked alarmed and took action to protect his plate of food. While still searching for the bird, Turbo slowly took his plate and began to hide it under the table. The whole table burst out laughing and I was lucky enough to catch this moment so I could stop the plate from spilling out on the floor - although, to be honest, he had a pretty tight grip.

Turbo was a little confused by the laughter. I think he took the food theft situation very seriously. Bless his cute little heart.

I did the only thing a mom could do. I made an attempt to save him.  I pulled out my cell phone and called the bird and relayed the message to Turbo that the bird was now bothering some poor little kid at a table across the room. He bought it.

The bird made an appearance at our home again last night.

Turbo was playing with a little flashlight and accidentally pulled the top part of it off, leaving one piece of the flashlight in each hand.

Me: "Uh oh. What happened?"

Turbo: "A bird did it. It's the bird's fault."

Oh boy. Get ready for some fantastic fibbing, people.

Smiley's New Word

We recently got snowed in. I mean, way in. We were stuck in the house from Tuesday evening through Saturday morning. I ventured out into the snow twice with Turbo - lots of fun! But mostly we were stuck here with no fancy 4-wheel-drive to haul our butts out of here.

I'm not saying I picked a fight or two with my husband, but I'm not saying I didn't either.

In those cabin-fevered 3.5 days, Smiley started using some new words. She said "turtle" while pointing at our turtle night light. She said "outside" when I asked her if she wanted to go outside... and then she learned the one word that will serve her well in her life with an older brother.

She said "mine."

And she said it with gusto, usually while taking a toy from her brother's hands and running in the other direction, shrieking with delight at her new skill.

I'm rooting for her.

The Straight Answer

We've been on a search for Stanley and Percy for about an hour now, off and on. I asked the source one final time to see if he remembered where he hid these two trains.

Stanley is gray and Percy is the green train.

Me: "Where are Stanley and Percy?"

Turbo: "I hid them in a special spot so Smiley couldn't find them."

Me: "Where were you standing when Smiley was trying to take them from you."

Turbo, deadpan: "Right next to Smiley's feet."

Word Explosion

Smiley has been talking up a storm lately! It's adorable and we are eating up her cuteness with a spoon.

This past weekend we realized the word she says most often is "mine." Or, at least, that's the very clear intent of the word even if it sounds more like, "mou" (as in mouse or mouth).

She wants everything her brother has and more. She'll happily read any book or play with any toy, but if her brother walks into the room carrying one of his cars or trucks, she points eagerly to the object, looks at me expectantly and says, "mou."

Textbook younger sibling.

I've been meaning to post for weeks now about how many words she has, and I so seldom have time to blog these days and her vocabulary increases daily. If I'd posted this a month ago, I'd probably have 5 words to share. Now, it's a total word explosion and she wakes each day with new ones.

I love a good vocabulary growth spurt.  Here are some of our favorites:

Backpack (sounds like pack-pack), dinosaur, mine, mama (my personal favorite), flower (sounds like wow-were), book, milk, wow, whoa, uh-oh (with each and every drop of an object over the side of her high chair), all done (which she repeats 3x).

She also babbles incessantly. She speaks in full sentences all the time, only we don't have the secret decoder ring to know what she's really talking about. She has a couple of signature sounds that she makes over and over again and I can't seem to come up with the right string of letters to accurately describe the sounds, so I better get my butt in gear and take some video before she wakes one morning to say, "Hello, mother. May I please have some toast and jam?"

Oh! And I almost forgot to add that she loves to say "hi" when she greets you, even if all you're doing is returning from the bathroom. Two days in a row last week (while 'sleeping' in bed next to me), she stood up after she heard Turbo on the baby monitor and said, "Hiiii, Turbo," while waving her hand.

What was her first word, you ask? Ball. As it was with Turbo. But, shh, don't tell my husband... he'll insist both kids' first word was "Dad."

Stand-Up Comedian

I think Turbo might have told his first joke today.

My husband and I picked up the kids a little early from daycare - snow accumulation made the school close early - and it was a pretty fun run home. It's so rare that the four of us spending quality time together... during daylight... on a weekday... unless you count the rushed and Cheerio-laden mornings, which we don't.

Turbo was waxing on about how well he'd listened to mommy by not running away from me as we walked to the car. Have I mentioned that this is a favorite trick? My only salvation is to tell him there is a treat in the car for him so that he makes a beeline for the car instead of the parking lot. It's working so far. No one's been run over.

I congratulated Turbo on having listened to me, "That's so great, honey! That makes mommy super happy."

Turbo beamed.

Then he told us that he followed directions from Miss Barbara today too, listening while she read a book about a snowman. Riveted, I asked him a question about the book.

Me: "Did the snowman say anything?"

Turbo: "Yeah. He said, 'I'm always the first to leave the party.'"

Happy Jolly Snow

It snowed here yesterday, and today, and Turbo got to play outside in the snow two days in a row. Total bliss to a 3-yr-old.

It's only fitting that the song he's currently belting out from the bathtub is Frosty the Snowman. Only, it's not the version you and I know. It goes a little something like this:

"Frosty the Snowman, was a happy, jolly snow... with a corncake on his back."

Staycation - Day Two Results

Tuesday turned out to be one of those emotional roller coaster days. Monday was full of clarity and focus, as I tackled just one major task and some quick easy wins, but with Tuesday I was facing a where do I start kind of feeling. I thought I knew what I wanted to accomplish this week, but for some reason I questioned my original plan and maybe that's where I derailed.

I do have to add that the sleep was totally crappy in this house on Monday night, so Tuesday morning began cloudy and grumpy for mom and dad. I know that being tired played a role in how my day unfolded. I was a bit lost at first, but then I found my way. Hooray!

And, when I regrouped, I realized my ultimate priority for this week was not to rid us of all clutter, not to organize and finalize every little decision, but rather to set ourselves up for ongoing, smaller improvements. I now have a vision of how we can get our house to where it needs to be. Having a manageable plan is making all the difference.

Accomplishments:

• Folded all the laundry in the house (this was no easy feat)
• Changed the lines on our bed - is there anything better than clean sheets?!
• Created 3 bags worth of stuff to take to the GoodWill - more to come, I'm sure.
• Set up toys to be rotated - finally, not all toys are cluttering up our living room at the same time.

Major Progress:

• New linen closet (sort of). I had a brilliant brainstorm yesterday whilst folding laundry. I was getting frustrated with how long our towels and sheets had been sitting in our family room. The leak in our shower (and the new hole in our linen closet) created this homelessness for towels and sheets. Seemingly unrelated, I have also been recognizing that our office closet is so very under utilized. Tons of random clutter and empty space... it's screaming for a makeover. Post-makeover, the office closet is now our linen closet. It's a start in the right direction and I'm hoping that very, very, very soon we make it a priority to get shelving into this closet - it has the potential to store a ton of stuff!

Before

After

OK. Laughing here... in looking at these pictures, the 'after' shot is not all that thrilling, yet it makes me so very happy. I alone know how much work and happiness went into this potential gold mine of a clutter buster.


Down Time:

• I didn't take much 'me time' today, but that's all right. I did manage to squeeze in some movie/tv watching while I was completing other tasks. I'm happy to say I'm all caught up on Top Chef (go, Nyesha), ready for tonight's new episode. And I watched the first episode of Project Runway - All Stars (go, Mondo). I know. Try not to be jealous.

Pedometer: 6,388. Not the greatest, but then I didn't leave the house all day, so maybe it's pretty good, considering.

Staycation - Day One Results

Accomplished:

• Put up 2012 calendar
• Took down Christmas wreath from front door
• Unclogged bathroom sink
• Swapped purses - I got a new from from super good friend L from California. :)  There is just something so lovely and organized with moving from one purse to another. I also made it so I can easily swap purses out on a daily basis. I've never been good at that, but I'm learning.
• Set an appointment with a contractor for our leaking shower
• Cleaned out coat closet; organized hats, gloves, scarves, coats.

Major Progress:

• Office clutter! I made huge progress on clearing out my office/desk area. I started the day with bags labeled, Shred - Recycle - Trash - Give Away, and the rest remains because it's either needed or I haven't gotten to it yet. At the end of the week, I'll post before and after photos... not done yet, though, and don't want to spoil the surprise.

Down Time:

• Started off the day by reading in bed
• Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks
• Watched some crappy TV
• Walked around the block, breathed in fresh air, counted my blessings

Pedometer: 7,909 (it was probably a bit higher, but I didn't think to put it on first thing in the morning)

On Syllables

I've been fond of Turbo's strung together syllables, where he can slur a 3-syllable word into a single syllable. Last night I noticed that Smiley does the exact opposite. Here are some examples.

Turbo:
Curious George --> sounds like, "Cures George."

Smiley:
Hi --> sounds like, "Hiii-eeee."
Whoa --> sounds like, "Whoa-oh."

Staycation - The Beginning

I have a really good job at a really great company. In this economy, I know I'm blessed. However, with my job comes the responsibility of working during what most people experience as a Christmas break. It's our busy season, so we work.

Now that our peak time is over, I am taking a week off. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!

I wanted to call it a staycation (stacation?), but in looking up the definition, it appears as if I should be sitting in or by a pool, drinking and reading all day long. That's not my plan.

I plan on tearing this house apart, and putting it back together. And I'm going to call it a staycation because it's my time away from it all (the job, my wonderful husband and kids), and it's just for me. I am thrilled to put away the clutter that is piled up next to this keyboard, and the stack of I-don't-know-what's sitting on all our bookshelves.

This unhappy clutter is distracting. This house needs some organization and I'm the type of person who loves organizing, so I'm gettin' 'er done.

First order of business? I sat in bed and read for 30 minutes. I also plan to have a beer with lunch in a pub at least once this week, and to catch a movie while the rest of the world sits behind a desk.

It's all about balance.

Now, onto that pile o' clutter sitting next to me!

You're Feeling Well?

I've mentioned before that Turbo loves to have one of us in his bed as he falls asleep. I have come to love those cuddly moments (most of the time), although I can remember a time when putting Turbo to bed was the hardest job in the house. My husband and I spent many a night fiercely debating whose turn it was or wasn't to suffer that task.

But it's all good now. And yet I have to admit that I sometimes long for those movie scenes where a parent tucks a kid in, kisses their forehead and then walks out of the room as the kid drifts quickly and peacefully off to sleep. I am very curious if this will ever happen in our house.

At times when I've not been sleeping well, those cuddly, going-to-sleep evenings with Turbo usually end with me falling asleep in his bed. I find it annoying when this happens because my only alone time in a day is just after Turbo goes to bed and just before I hit the hay myself. Sometimes I allow myself 5 minutes, sometimes 50 minutes, but it's my time and I can do what I want. Plus, it's really hard on my sleep rhythms to fall asleep two different times a night. Ick.

To try to recapture some of that 'me time' I had to break the habit of falling asleep in Turbo's bed, which meant also breaking the habit of getting into his bed in the first place. It was easy enough to accomplish when I came down with a small cold.

As we walked into his bedroom, Turbo asked (as he always does), "Mom, you're coming in my bed?"

Me: "Not tonight, sweetie. I'm not feeling well." - I repeated this for a couple of nights, and then the habit was broken for a week or so. I sat outside his bed as he drifted off to sleep, clutching a Lighting McQueen car in each hand.

Tonight, Turbo asked again, "Mom, you're coming in my bed?"

Since I was in a cuddling mood, "Yes."

Turbo turned around and smiled, "You're feeling well?"

I laughed. "Yes, baby, I'm feeling well."

Hexagons

Tonight Turbo and I did a little coloring before bedtime. He began with a red crayon, making a big shape covering about a third of the page.

Me: "What shape are you making?"

Turbo: "A hexagon."