25 Random Things

There is a little chain letter type thing going around on Facebook that asks a person to write 25 random things about himself and then send that list to 25 friends. Those friends are then instructed to write 25 things and circulate, etc. I have been having such a good time reading these lists. I have learned some really interesting things about folks that I have known all my life. I started thinking that it would be fun to make lists for each of the kids since this blog is supposed to be a virtual baby book or journal. It has been fun trying to come up with 25 random facts for each child.

Warning: This will be a long entry. If you don't really love my kids, it may be awfully boring, but it is my blog, so here goes. I'll start with my first born.

25 random facts about Evan:

1. His favorite games to play right now are "dinosaur" and "whale." Both games involve a lot of chasing up and down the hallway, catching, tickling, etc.

2. He has an extremely tender heart. The night before Christmas Eve, Pressley had a melt-down of epic proportions and pitched a major fit. Evan told his Aunt Kerry that night at bed time that he was worried that Santa might not bring Pressley any toys. So sweet to be concerned about his sister.

3. He is extremely smart. He asks really difficult questions and sometimes I don't know the answers. He is way too smart to tolerate made-up answers, so I don't even try that - anymore.

4. He is a big fan of milk. We're up to 2 gallons a week household consumption.

5. He started playing soccer last fall. We learned: 1) He has a very low threshold for being wronged (he may get that from me); 2) He is likely better suited for contact sports. Once a kid stole the ball from him and the next time that kid had the ball, Evan grabbed the back of said kid's jersey and threw him to the ground. Not such good sportsmanship, but he is learning.

6. His favorite t.v. show is Tom and Jerry. Go figure.

7. When he was little, he thought the color brown was called "brown shoes." So, everything brown became brown shoes. He has a brown teddy bear that we all call brown shoes to this day.

8. He only eats the tops off of broccoli.

9. He LOVES him some Moe's burritos and also loves baked beans.

10. When I returned to work after my maternity leave, my mom (GranNan) kept him for eight months. So, he was almost a year old before he ever went to day care. He still has a very special bond with my mom.

11. When he gets hot, his face turns BRIGHT red. People comment on it ALL the time.

12. He has a tiny scar under his left eyebrow where he got 4 stitches over a year ago after his friend Charlie pushed him into the top part of a tunnel slide at school. This was after Evan told Charlie (in a sing song voice): "You ca-an't push me down the sli-ide." Apparently he could. A mother should never have to go through taking her 3 year old to get stitches that close to his eye.

13. He learned to swim at his 4th birthday party after a girl from his class at school was swimming unassisted. He had told me that he would know how to swim when he turned 4.

14. He will not, under any circumstances, wear a coat in the car.

15. He had nurse-maid's elbow as a child - meaning he has dislocated his elbow twice.

16. He never, ever sleeps under sheets and/or covers. And he almost never sleeps with his head at the headboard.

17. In his short life, he has flown to New York at least 7 times. He has flown into at least 4 New York airports: LaGuardia, JFK, White Plains, and Newburgh.

18. His hair is so thick that if it gets too long, it is nearly impossible to get shampoo all the way to his scalp.

19. He is very good at puzzles.

20. He absolutely must win. He hates to lose.

21. Once when he was younger, his grandfather accidentally dropped a pen into his crib when tucking him in. When we woke up the next morning, his face, his p.j.s, his rabbit ("Hop"), and his crib sheet were all colored blue.

22. He is protective of his sister.

23. He was the most beautiful baby you've ever seen. I mean, gorgeous. Flawless even. Until we unwittingly let him sleep in the same position every night and the pediatrician pointed out that we had let his head flatten out on one side. It was a fairly easy fix, but we thought we had scarred him forever.

24. His name was going to be Carter, Conner, Colin, or Ethan. One night we were at a party and one of my law school friends said, "Remind me what your name choices are... I know Evan, but I can't remember the others." I said, "Oh, no. Not Evan. Ethan." Then we got home and I started talking about how much I liked the name Evan... and the rest is history.

25. He had the cutest little curl in the back of his hair when he was a young toddler. I loved it. But one night we were with Corin's law school friends and one person called it a rat tail and another called it a mullet (not in the same conversation). I knew the time had come to cut it. But I still have it in a little silver keepsake box that my mother-in-law gave me.

25 random facts about Pressley:

1. She hates to have her hair brushed and her nails trimmed. We literally have to hold her down to cut her nails.

2. She can spell her name, which I think is pretty impressive when you are 2 and your name is Pressley.

3. She loves her bitty baby doll and is very nurturing. The doll's name is Julia. We don't know why...

4. She loves apple juice. She rarely drinks anything else. I know, I know... that's bad.

5. She very much enjoys a taking a bath. I will be glad when she learns to keep the water in the tub.

6. She thinks she is a ballerina.

7. She is not nearly as finiky an eater as her brother. She has a pretty healthy appetite.

8. She likes all kinds of fruit, but grapes and bananas are her favorites.

9. She loves, loves, loves, books. She loves to be read to, she loves to "read" to anyone who will listen, and she loves to just sit by herself and "read" a good book. I hope she always will.

10. She is obsessed with putting on lipstick and chap stick. She got her own "lipstick" from her grandparents and from Santa for Christmas, but apparently that is just not the same. She still wants my lipstick and chap stick.

11. When she wakes up in the morning or from a nap, she sits up in her bed and yells, "Mommy!! (Sometimes Daddy)--It's not dark anymore!" over and over until someone comes to get her.

12. She can out-temper-tantrum any child I've ever met. She has the endurance of a marathoner when it comes to her ability to sustain a good fit. Lungs of steel, that one.

13. Along those same lines: she is as stubborn as the day is long. I guess both kids are. I have no idea where they get it. :-)

14. I'm not sure we can call it yet with 100% certainty, but all signs point to her being a lefty. My mother (also a lefty) is certain. The rest of us are just pretty sure.

15. She is terrified of all characters in costume, including Santa. You know that already if you frequent my blog and have read about Monkey Joe.

16. Like her brother, she will not wear a coat in the car.

17. She is the most manic child I've ever met. She is either ecstatic or devastated. There is no in between.

18. One of her favorite things to say right now is "all righty dighty." She got that from my dad. She says it all the time. It is very cute.

19. She likes to help me cook. Every time I get in the kitchen, she runs to get her little chair, drags it over, puts a new ding in the cabinets with it, and climbs up next to me to "help."

20. When Evan does his homework every Thursday night, Pressley has to do homework too. Evan cuts out pictures of things that begin with the letter of the week and glues them into his homework paper. Pressley just glues whatever you give her to a sheet of construction paper. She is always very proud of her work product.

21. She was a totally easy baby until she was about 8 months old. Many of you have heard me say that as soon as she became 8 or 9 months old, her inner diva kicked in and she was never easy again. Precious, yes. Easy, no.

22. She was supposed to be named Megan Caroline. When I was pregnant with Evan, we knew if we were having a girl she would be Megan Caroline. We had no idea what we would name a boy. Then, when I was pregnant with Pressley, suddenly Megan Caroline didn't seem right to me anymore. So, after about a 4 hour negotiation at the hospital after she was born, we agreed that she would be Megan Pressley. I still love the name Caroline, but it was not meant for her.

23. For a long time, Pressley's favorite saying was "not nice!!" She said it all the time. Apparently, her teachers at day care taught the kids to say that instead of hitting or biting. While it is better than hitting or biting, it was not ideal. Particularly the tone she used when she said it.

24. She used to HATE sand. She would not tolerate being put down at the beach. For the first two years of her life, we had to put her on a towel and a chair and then bring her things to keep her entertained. If we did not keep her entertained, the result was no fun for anyone. Shoes didn't help. She wanted no part of it. Thank goodness she has gotten over that.

25. She has beautiful natural blonde and red highlights in her hair. No, I don't highlight it. People have actually asked. What kind of mother do they think I am??

If you are still with me... thank you for loving my kids enough to read all that. I promise the next entry will be shorter, but it was really fun to brainstorm all this stuff and it brought back some fun memories for me.

ABC...cheeeeeese

Scaling back

During these tough economic times, I think everyone is trying to figure out what they can do to feel a little more secure. We are no exception. I won't tell you that we are struggling. I've seen struggling and what we are doing is not it. Anyone who heard me say otherwise would look at the blessings we've been given and think I'm absurd or ungrateful. But, nevertheless, times are a little tougher than they've been and we are trying to be good stewards of our resources and scale back.

One of the most obvious ways to scale back is to eat out less. Especially if you are like us and, in addition to trying to be wiser financially, you are trying to make healthier decisions. I agree with all that on paper. Yes, eating out less would help us save money. Yes, eating out less would likely help us lose weight. I get that. I really do. But, you have to know that I don't love to cook. I do it. And, I like it more than I used to. But, I don't love it. And I really don't love deciding what we are going to have for dinner each night. Corin isn't a fan of convenience-type foods (i.e., frozen, pre-prepared, etc.). That's fine. He also (rightly) wants me to cook as healthfully as possible. But, his wishes are in direct contrast with the wishes of our children. So, to try to make everyone happy, or even just content enough to have a pleasant dinner experience, is a bit of an impossibilty. And, it is exhausting.

Evan and Pressley... well, they are four and two. They like something one day and don't like it the next. For example, Evan loves to go to Moe's. A Moe's burrito is just about his favorite food. So, the other night, I thought I'd make Moe's-like burritos for dinner, but healthier. I used smaller tortilla shells, brown rice, etc. At first, Evan told me the burrito was just as good as Moe's. SCORE! Then, he found a teeny, tiny piece of tomato from the salsa I used to flavor the chicken. All cooperation screeched to a grinding halt and he refused to eat another bite. These types of experiences contribute to my disdain for eating in. I know other moms of toddlers and pre-schoolers feel my pain. With rare exceptions, it is a somewhat universal problem of raising children.

So, while I am completely on board with the idea of eating out less, sometimes I just need that brief respite from planning and preparing meals for the family. Sometimes I just want to know that if somebody doesn't like something or doesn't eat something, it isn't my fault. Is that so wrong?

Double-booked

Last night, I realized that school would be closed today (I mean, I knew that all along, but it began to sink in) and Evan would be with us all day. Evan gets bored easily, so I decided I needed to plan an activity. I owed Charlie's dad a drop off play date. Last time Charlie's dad had Evan, I finished buying and wrapping all of my Christmas gifts, so I really owed him one. So, I looked for his phone number before dinner and couldn't find it. Since I had no phone number, I sent an e-mail proposing a morning play date if he got the e-mail in time. After dinner (and no reply yet from Charlie's dad), I got a call from Ethan's dad. Ethan's dad owed me a drop off play date because the last school holiday, I kept Ethan from 9 a.m. until about 1 p.m. so his parents could work that morning. Anyhow, Ethan's dad called an invited not only Evan, but Pressley too, for an afternoon play date with Ethan and Harper (who is Pressley's age). I quickly thought about it and decided to accept this play date in case the other one didn't materialize. After all -- I didn't want to end up with two bored kids and no plans on a school holiday.

This morning, my nephew, Will, called to say that my parents were going to meet he and Abby and my sister for lunch and thought we might want to come. I told him we had a play date at 1:00 and didn't think we could make it, but said that he should have his mom call me back when they decided where they were meeting and we'd see if we could swing it.

Then, around 9:30, I got the e-mail from Charlie's dad. "Charlie would love a play date. I hope it isn't too late!" Um, well, of course not! I looked around the messy house (and the kids still in their p.j.s) and quickly suggested that Charlie's dad meet us at Leapin' Lizards at 10:30 and the kids could still have about an hour and a half to jump together. And, we could still make it to our second (drop off) play date.

On the way to Leapin' Lizards to meet Charlie, my sister called back about lunch. I told her that we were now booked with back-to-back play dates and would have to take a rain check. When I got off the phone, Evan complained bitterly and tried to convince me we could squeeze in lunch with the cousins between the play dates. I had to nip that in the bud.

At Leapin' Lizards, Evan had a blast with Charlie and Pressley did her Pressley thing. We went home for a quick lunch and a quick pull-up change and back out the door to the second play date. I got to go to the grocery store ALL ALONE, which if you had told me five years ago would be that exciting I would have said you were crazy. But, there it is. I get a little high from going to the grocery store alone. I chuckle to myself as I walk past the obnoxious buggies with the cars and spaceships built in and I grab a normal buggy. I feel for the moms (though today it was mostly dads) who are telling their children to put that back and don't touch that and leave your brother alone....and I don't have to fuss at anybody. It is a truly wonderful thing.

We came home from the play date and I made a meatloaf and rice/lentil pilaf while the kids napped and then I came to the office to check e-mails and blog. When Evan woke up, you want to know what were the first words out of his mouth?? "Um, Mommy... When am I going to have another play date?"

Are you kidding me? Never, never enough.

Evan and his buddy, Charlie

Pressley on some sort of inflatable swan

Charlie (and Evan's arm) coming down the slide

Evan coming down the slide

Three little angels enjoying a refreshing drink after all that jumping

There's a dance

Despite the fact that Pressley refuses to use the potty, she will sit on the potty from time to time. Yesterday, she was willing to sit on the potty and we happened to be upstairs. So, she used the potty in mommy and daddy's bathroom. The potty in our bathroom is one of those annoying sorts of potties that has all kinds of sounds and songs and silliness. I left her sitting on the potty to go get her clothes and I came back to find her doing a dance to the potty music and watching herself in the shower door. Luckily, she was willing to do it several more times so I could capture it on video for your viewing amusement. She will no doubt kill me for this when she turns 13.

A caveat: This is the first time I have used my regular camera to capture video (on purpose) and I filmed it with the camera at a vertical angle. I finally figured out how to turn the image upright for viewing, but when I do, the sound and the picture are not synchronized. So, my apologies for making you watch Pressley do the potty dance on her side, but I think it is more entertaining when the "soundtrack" is in sync with the image. I promise to do better next time.

Captain Underpants

A kid in Evan's class has told him about some supposed super-hero named Captain Underpants. Ever since, Evan has been intrigued by the idea. Last night after we got home from dinner, Evan wanted to play Captain Underpants. In fact, he had his pants off before we even got upstairs. Corin was looking for a blanket to fashion a cape when I remembered that we have actual capes in the dress-up bin. So, a new game evolved. When Pressley saw Evan running around in nothing but his underwear and a cape (and flying through the air, complements of Corin), she had to join the fun. Since they couldn't both be Captain Underpants, Corin dubbed her "Captain-refuses-to-be-potty-trained." At some point in the game, she got confused and mixed up the two names, calling herself "Captain-under-potty-trained." Well, considering the events of a couple of days ago, that is an understatement if I've ever heard one...

They had a ball, though, and here are some photos to prove it:

A new low

I must admit that I pretty much stopped wearing make-up when I left my job last year. I do still wear it from time to time. Mostly just powder and blush and lipstick. If I know I'll be seeing people I know, I might add a smidge of eye shadow. On a really special occasion (e.g., church, dinner with the girls, a date with my hubby, etc.), I'll wear eye-liner. If you see me in eye-liner, I've really gone all out. I might even have some foundation on on those days. I'm not proud of this. As I get older, I need make-up even more than I did in my youth. Funny things happen to your skin pigmentation (and don't get me started on pores and wrinkles) when you get older. But, today, I reached a new low. I put newly washed and dried hair into a ponytail. I usually reserve ponytails for the gym. Most days, I blow-dry my hair and use a flat iron. Sometimes, I put the curl enhancing stuff in it and use the diffuser so it will be curly. Today, though, I got out of the shower, dried my hair in a hurry - without brush or diffuser - without straightening it or making any attempt to make it curly - which left me with only one option: the ponytail.

My poor husband. I'm sure he had no idea how far I would let myself go when we had children.... I vow to do better. I must.

Potty Training H-E-double-hockey-sticks

Pressley was supposed to start potty training at school in January. I'm trying to get on board with this whole idea. The Frazer Center basically trained Evan for us, but since Pressley is only there two days a week, I'm going to have to do more than just the pee-pee laundry this time around. So, when she came home from school today, I decided to put her in big-girl-panties. Then I followed her around the house with a beach towel making sure she didn't sit on any furniture. While I was on the phone with my mom, she came into the living room to play. Shortly, she went back into the other room and came back with the beach towel. She proceeded to lay out the beach towel on the hardwood floor in front of the fireplace, apparently with a plan to stand on it. Before she could stand on it, she stared fussing. "I peed! I peed!" So, we ran into the bathroom and cleaned her up, put on a new pair of panties, and got a new beach towel. It suddenly dawned on me that perhaps she knew she was about to pee and was trying to pee on the towel. Am I training a puppy or a toddler? I don't know. I'm just askin'. When asked, she said that was indeed what she was trying to do, but she often humors me by agreeing with me when she doesn't really know what she is agreeing to.

We've just had our third accident since 3 o'clock. (No further attempts at peeing on the towel, though, which makes me think that was a coincidence.) I'm thinking maybe we're not really ready for this, but I want to give it a fair shot. I keep thinking that eventually something will click and she will figure out that there is a more pleasant way to go about this than peeing in her panties every time. If not soon, we shall put away the panties for another day. And when I say another day, I mean another week... or month... or more.

Update: The above entry was typed around 7ish. As I was finishing it up, Lil' P. had her fourth accident. This time not just pee. I think we're done with this little potty experiment. We'll just send her to college in a pull-up.

Monkey Joes, Take 2

Some of you may recall our last trip to Monkey Joes was not much of a success. But my friend Julie invited us to go play at Monkey Joes this week and I just couldn't bring myself to tell her that we can't go to Monkey Joes because Pressley is deathly afraid of the monkey in the costume. Plus, I wanted to chat with Julie and I thought Evan would enjoy playing with her daughter, Ella. So, I decided to accept the invitation. I knew it might be a disaster, but I was prepared for that. I told the kids we were going jumping. I didn't say where. When we were about 5 minutes from Monkey Joes, Evan started asking lots of questions about which jumping place we were going to. The Little Jumping Bean? No. Leapin' Lizards? No. Then, Pressley chimed in: "Monkey Joes?" she said, voice trembling.... "Yes," I said enthusiastically. "Won't that be fun.?" The wail started out low and then started to grow. "I don't like Monkey Joe!" I assured her, "I know you don't like the monkey, sweetie, but the place is lots of fun. You'll see."

I spent the next 5 minutes talking her off the ledge. I thought Evan and I had her almost convinced until we made the turn into the parking lot. Then she burst into tears. "No Monkey Joes, Mommy! I want to go to a movie!!" (There is a theater in the same parking lot.) I reassured her again. I carried her inside - at her insistence - wondering if I am indeed the worst mommy ever. I asked the lady working at the counter if she expected an appearance from Monkey Joe this afternoon. She assured us that Monkey Joe only comes out for parties. Once she figured out what was what, she assured Pressley that Monkey Joe was sleeping today. After about 15 minutes of Julie and me taking turns holding her, Pressley finally got down to jump. She only freaked out once when we accidentally got too close to the giant inflatable Monkey Joe. Oh, and we had to get ice for her eye when a big kid bonked heads with her exiting a jumpy thing. Other than that, she had a really good time. I swear. Until she decided it was very important to her that she go into the boys' bathroom, which I would not let her do. That produced a tantrum of epic proportions, but considering what a disaster the outing could have been, I'm calling it a success.