Play

As children we spend hours and hours playing, We have imaginary friends, eat fake food, drink fake tea, play tag, even just lay on our backs in the snow and watch the clouds roll by. As adults we work, we pay our bills, we "play" with our kids but when do we really play?

Last night the wife and I went to her company holiday party at this wonderful indoor activity center. She moaned and groaned for days about going to this party but like a child I begged and insisted. First was pizza... Imagine 60 people in a giant room chowing on pizza and soda anticipating the handout of our "2 hrs free" cards in the arcade. Let me tell you, I haven't seen a room clear out that fast since high school. 60 adults raided that arcade like children. We were running every which way, to stand in line for laser tag, go on the go cars, bumper cars, air hockey. For a passer by it was probably the funniest thing they had seen in awhile. We did this all with very limited arguing and everyone waited in line like civilized human beings (probably all remembering the lessons we were pounding in our children's heads.)

We all played hard, shot lasers at each other, rammed each other with bumper cars, played some full contact air hockey with friends helping us cheat. When our 2 hours were up, we trudged out with sore weary bodies to our snow covered cars and trudged back to parenthood. Once again we were leaving the fun of childhood behind a couple of doors, sad that it would cost so much to return.

Cost of returning to childhood Only available to the public on Wednesdays here :

40.00 for 2 wristbands that offer unlimited play from 4pm to close
20.00 for babysitter
20.00 f0r dinner and soda
5.00 for gas
==========
85.00

In return what we brought home was priceless. We came home refreshed, giddy, and ready to play some more. We spent the next 2 hours tickling our son, blowing raspberries on Mommy's back, tackling Nana, jumping on the bed, laughing until it hurt then laughing some more, tossing our boy at the bed and watching him bounce while he giggled. The whole family slept until 11am and when we got up everyone was in a good mood. Today was a day to play in the snow, make videos to mark the day the midget was introduced to the snowball, and to come inside all rosy and drink hot cocoa around the table listening to gibberish. We all wore our slippers and pj's all day long, no one brushed their hair and if bath's weren't so fun we would have skipped those too.

In the last 24 hours we remembered what it was like to be a kid again. And in going back to childhood we appreciated and enjoyed our child more. So tomorrow, or next weekend, take the time to have a lazy kid day. You'll be amazed at just how rejuvenating it can be and your kids will love you for it.

Sing me a song

Today Kaden is watching Curious George for the millionth time, and showing all he has picked up from the movie and me. I always sing the songs to him when we are snuggling and watching the movie. I even bought the sound track just because the music is so mellow and soothing. But today is different. I started singing the opening song in the movie and he was playing with my hair. Then he gave me the biggest hug. I was goo from that point on. Then he really threw me for a loop. In his little man jibberish he started singing to me while playing with my hair!!

I know that he imitates me often, but this just melted my heart. He now knows how to show affection in more ways than just a sloppy kiss. Our brief moment of tenderness was gone in a flash and it was back to chasing the cat and playing with his legos, with the occasional drive by hug. But it reminded me just how short his toddlerhood will be and I can't help but tear up thinking that the days of not wanting to be hugged and kissed in front of his friends are not nearly as far away as they seem.

And these are the days....

So here I am reading my favorite blog today and when scrolling down through her links, I find my blog linked. Well, feeling like a bum I realize that I was right when I said it was a humble attempt to blog. Its not that I don't really have time to blog, heck with my sleep schedule I could be blogging all night long. I just start things and then my mind starts running in some other direction and poof it is all but forgotten. Today however I realized that there is someone out there reading my thoughts and it gave me that lil kick in the butt to get writing again.

So where do I start my incessant rambling??? Hmmm... well Kaden is a teething machine now at 20 months old. I remember thinking he would never get his first tooth and he popped 2 at once. Then another 4, then 2 more.... now we are working on... hold on to your hat... 6 of the lil buggers!!!


While I am excited to see his pearly white smile without the gaps, I could have definitely endured only 2 coming in at a time. My smiley little boy has turned into a teething ball of early terrible twos. Not only do we get the whining that makes me want to climb the walls, the the chewing that is starting to put most puppies to shame as well as the temper tantrums, "No's" "mine's" and "maawwwww" (shouted at the top of his lungs whenever my wife or I are out of his sight for 20 seconds or longer)

So you may ask "How are you ladies handling it?" drum roll please........ We are going to start TTC #2 in March. As I read what I just typed, I wonder just how delusional this teething bout has made us. But all joking aside, we have decided that we do want our children close in age and seeing that Kaden seems lonely and mature enough in his little world to add another child would naturally be the next step.

I think that I above all must need a partial lobotomy for this idea. I am a SAHM already and there are days where I wish my boss was taller than 34 inches, wiped his own bottom, spoke English and wasn't always so demanding. I miss the benefits of being employed outside of the home. Things like vacation and sick time are a thing of the past. The work weeks are brutal and it seems that no matter how much I do in any given day, there are 10 more tasks waiting for tomorrow. And now I want to add to my dictator team???

But all said we are very excited and actually came to the decision during an emergency diaper run after my babysitter used 16 diapers in 24 hours. Call me anal retentive but I know the approx. diaper consumption of my lil poo machine. I had it calculated out that I would need to replenish the supply on Friday or Saturday when I did my biweekly shopping binge. New Years Eve we went out for the last of our 4 nights a year at the bar. My dear friend Nancy took our lil guy for the whole night and next day so in his bag I packed 20 diapers not knowing what time I would rise from the dead. When I picked him up there were 4 left. I was stunned but shrugged it off. Then today came and as I reached for a diaper I realized I only had 1 diaper left.

Panic struck, I looked outside dreading the cold wind and knew I HAD to go to the store. So with a sigh I bundled myself and my wiggly tot up to go get diapers. He seemed to sense the importance of the trip so thankfully didn't protest too strongly. 2 hours 70.00 later I came home toting a case of diapers, a Lego dump truck, a tube of butt paste, a pack of wipes for the stroller, a new spider man place mat, some conditioner, female necessities, a Rockstar energy drink, and a new Curious George DVD. And this is why I save my shopping for Friday or Saturday. If I go on the weekend I am so annoyed with the crowds that I power shop and get out.

So being the naughty mama I am I fed the kid ice cream and french fries at the mall around 5 (much to his delight) and he didn't have his real dinner until his usual bedtime of 9. He didn't get his lil tush to bed until 10:30 tonight but wasn't crabby at all. I really think its because he thinks he has me trained so well.

Merry Christmas

OK so I decided that rather than lurk and read all the new (and old) Mommy blogs, I would start adding my 2 cents to the world of parenting within our community. Lets just say I am starting this with thoughts of aspiring to be a wonderful blogger and the best of intentions, but the realist in the back of my head is shouting "You are crazy woman!!! You really think you are going to find the time to keep up with your blog, take care of the little "caveman" and your wife, while still having time to solve the local problems in the neighborhood??"

So here it is, my humble attempt to rant and rave for the world to see. And when is the best day to start this??? Christmas!! Why??? Who knows...

Christmas was wonderful again this year. My son once again had a magical Christmas despite the typical financial woe's, family stresses and long car rides he will learn to associate with this time of year. Once again Nana and I pulled Christmas outta Frostie's magical hat. (And get this! Frostie wasn't even able to make it to our gala event due to a lack of snow.) But over the river and through the woods, to Grandma's house we went. More like down the driveway across, across the state with a truck full of junk we went.

I remember a little over 2 years ago Nana and I packed everything we owned into a Pink Cavalier and moved across the country in search of a new "calmer and warmer" life in FL. 2 months later we again packed all we owned and hauled butt back home just in time for New Years eve.

Why is it now that we own a Ford Explorer, and can't fit in everything we need for 2 days away from home? I swear my mother was fearfully eyeballing all of our "gear" thinking we were moving in. It took 5 trips from the truck to get all that crap into her tiny 2 BR house!! (6 if you count the kid.)

Kaden was happy as a clam to get to Grandma's. It seems at 19 months old, he has already learned to equate Grandma to tons of sugar, food, and games. He does his now standard routine of acting as though he is starved to death, never gets any attention and is the perfect angel. All goes great, the kid is eating way more sugar than any child (or adult) should consume. It seems that every time I look at him he has something edible in each hand and his cheeks look like those belonging to a chipmunk. There seemed to be a permanent river of drool that only changed in color based on what was in his mouth for the moment.

But this time Kaden showed some of his true self (although rather exaggerated), much to Grandma's dismay. Bedtime came and the undeniable battle of Kaden vs Bedtime ensued. Only this time one not in the house (and maybe some of us inside) were pretty sure the sandman was waiting in his bedroom with a spoon, attempting to dig Kaden's eyeballs out.

Normally this child goes down with a small battle. When I say small, I mean 5-10 Min's of whining, banging on his bedroom door, kicking the wall and letting me know how much he detests bedtime. Not this time though. At grandma's house it was more like 2 hours, 2 aunts, mommy, grandma and back to auntie Ishy and Finding Nemo before the sandman finally won. Nana just chose to stay out of this one all together, only once muttering (as I carried our sobbing baby from the bedroom back to the kitchen) "I knew I should have gone in there and taken over, you caved again." Which drew a "He has never cried like this" snappy retort from me.
Kaden finally fell asleep around 11pm only to wake up at 2 am. Lesson learned: Next year we will sleep at home and do the drive to grandma's on Christmas day.

Christmas morning was bliss though. Even after the long sleepless night, Kaden woke up at 7 am and wasn't the first to wake believe it or not. Grandpa was the first one up and when I opened my eyes he was at the table sipping his coffee waiting for all of us to rise from the dead. It was peacefully sad in a way because as I watched him sip his coffee alone at the table, you could tell he was missing the days when we were all young and he wasn't allowed to sleep past 5:30 am on Christmas morning. Now he was waiting to see all of us "kids" stumble to the coffee pot before diving int to the gifts.

Long story short, Kaden opened a few gifts before getting distracted and Nana and I had to open the rest and show him what he got. Kaden dined on a breakfast of cookies and milk after rejecting the oatmeal that grandma made him, and continued on that diet until 1:30 when dinner was served. He (and we) ate so much I was sure we would not be eating again today. Boy was I wrong when at 7pm I watched him inhale tortellini as though he hadn't been fed all day. We finally made it home from our Christmas stops by 8:45pm and Kaden went down with little more than a content sigh by 9. I sat here and got caught up on my emails, news reading and all other blogs I follow, and found myself here.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!