Friday, March 19, 2010

Kids Say the Darndest Things

For those of you that have the privilege of being friends with me on Facebook, you know that 99% of my status' are whatever funny thing Dominic has said that day.  Since we brought Jessalyn home from the hospital, I've been keeping a journal for him about the cute (but mostly naughty) things he says and does.  I was reading back through it this morning as I was jotting down his latest entry and again I was struck by how funny he is (of course he gets his sense of humor from me):

Today as I was cleaning the kitchen I heard Dominic moving things around in the kitchen..."Mommy look!" 
I turn around to see him standing on his stool, holding his arms out pointing to his cup of chocolate milk sitting on the table. Shouting excitedly he said, "Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen!  Introducing my CHOCOLATE MILK!"  He was so cute, I had to clap.  Taking a bow, he then said, "Thank you everybody!  Thank you very much!"  

Yesterday while we were walking around in Meijer: "Gosh dammit all!  UGH!  I don't know where the stuff is...UGH!" (no idea where he would have picked that up)

Or a few weeks ago at Old Navy in the packed dressing room: "These pants smell like fart!"

"Ah cooma ah ta ta...it means no worries for rest of your days!" (he's a big Lion King fan)

" 'Ello Mate!" (in a Australian-ish accent, which he learned from Uncle Nathan)

" 'Ello Govn'r!" (in a British-ish accent that's pretty similar to his Australian-ish accent - I guess it's from Pirates of Caribbean and he heard Aaron say it once)

"Oh thank you, sir!"

When asked why he bit Jessalyn, he replied: "Because she smells good..."

"You're my best Mommy friend!  Jessa-trice is my favorite sister friend and Daddy is my best friend!"

"Clark Kent is Superman, Peter Parker is Spider-man, Bruce Wayne is Batman...and I'm just Dominic sometimes..."

"I'm the best kid ever!"

Remember his "Is it cool?  Is it awesome?  Is it creepy?" phase?

After looking at his superhero books, he said, "Wait a minute...what the heck?  Is that Superman's underwear?  Where are Robin's pants?" 

When he's frustrated he says: "Fudge!  This damn thing is pissing me up!"

And my favorite : "Mommy, you're my favorite Mommy sometimes...I love you though!" 


I wonder what he'll come up with next...




Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Growing Up Too Fast

My kids are growing up. I know that's what they are supposed to do, but why do they have to do it so fast? This past weekend we attended a first birthday party for our friends adorable son, Simon, who it seems like we were just visiting at the hospital after he was born (while I was 7 months pregnant with Jessalyn). I can't believe how quickly this past year has gone! He can't be 1 already because that means that Jessalyn will be 1 soon and Dominic will be 3!



It's hard to believe that my sweet, social butterfly Jessalyn is crawling all over the place, pulling herself up on everything and trying so hard to walk. We thought Dominic would keep us busy, but something tells me that Jessalyn has been (silently) watching everything for the past 10 months, perfecting all of Dominic's schemes and is just waiting for the opportunity to make her move. Watch out world, here she comes!




And then there's Dominic. Our bright, energetic, mischievous, hilarious, independent almost 3 year old. Every day he amazes us with all of new things he can do by himself.




We recently discovered that he can sit on the "big potty" all by himself - putting one hand on the counter, he places the other on the toilet and sort of swings himself up...now I just have to figure out how to convince him that he doesn't have to lift the lid AND seat, that it is ok to sit on the seat. "I don't need my little potty anymore Mommy, Jessalyn can use it now!" What happened to that stubborn toddler I started potty training last summer, who REFUSED to keep his big boy pants dry?

Oh and then there's the fact that he thinks he can take himself for a walk. That was actually pretty funny. We were over at Grandma and Grandpa's house recently, when I heard "Hey Vergie, Dominic is outside by himself..." I ran to the back room just as Dominic walked through the door with his boots on (on the wrong feet), and I asked him what he was doing and he responds, "What? I'm home now gosh!"

I'm not ready for them to grow up!  Pretty soon they'll taller than I am...

Friday, March 12, 2010

Picasso's New Medium

Yesterday afternoon was rough. Dominic got to spend most of the morning and early afternoon with Emily and the boys, since Jessalyn and I had a funeral to attend. He was good for the most part and spent a lot of time outside and was ready for a nap (he even told me "I'm really tired Mommy, I want to take a nap"). He threw a fit as I laid him down and after screaming for a half an hour I expected him to crash. Wrong. He screamed that he pooped, so immediately I ran into his room (given the naptime incidents the past few weeks I wasn't taking any chances). I really thought that we had gotten through to him. Wrong again: on his wall, shelf and floor I found another masterpiece. Apparently screaming that he pooped was his way of informing me he was done and wanted to be cleaned up. At that point I was so frustrated, because I was sick of having to clean up his creations and had no idea of how to get him to stop. We've taken the toys out of his bed, spanked him, threatened to put him back into a crib and nothing works.

Add to that a whiny 10 month old who thought Mommy had to hold her all day and you get the idea the way the rest of my afternoon went. From not listening to throwing tantrums, they were relentless and I was exhausted. I kept thinking to myself: now I understand how animals can eat their young...

How is it that after the day we had yesterday, the kids could wake up this morning adorable and in such good moods? It's like they're different kids today. If only they would realize when they cooperate we can have more fun.


So in an effort to stop his naptime art work but not completely thwart his creativity, I decided to encourage Dominic to explore other mediums. I'm pleased to announce that "Picasso" has recently (today) taken up finger painting! Much to my surprise, he loved it (we tried it a few times before, but he HATED the paint on his fingers). SCORE! I'm attempting positive thinking - this will work!




Monday, March 8, 2010

Learning the Art of Impatience

Anyone who spends time around kids will tell you there are days that whatever you say goes in one ear and right out the other. As a parent of an almost 3 year old, it seems we have those days about 6 days out of the week. It's actually quite amazing/scary how much kids pick up, even when we think they aren't listening.

Starting shortly before Christmas, Dominic had gotten into the habit of sleeping with his favorite toys. At first it was just his Elmo and his baby, but now it seems to be any toy that he played with that day. It wouldn't be such a big deal if he didn't have them all in his bed at once. I think he's up to 10 things and they all have to be in the same spot every nap and bedtime (the poor kid inherited some of my o.c.d.-ness). Seriously - there are so many toys that he "loses" them in his bed. When we put him down for naptime or bedtime and he can't find one of his toys he freaks out, calling and screaming for us to find it. The first time he calls, we go in, uncover the missing toy and inform him that if he screams again we will come in and take ALL of his toys out of his bed (that usually solves the screaming). Even though we go through this every few nights, it doesn't seem like he gets it...or does he?

Monday when he got up from his nap I went in to lay down with him (sometimes he needs a few minutes to wake up) and this was our interaction...

Dominic: Can I get up now, Mommy?
Me: Yes you may, but I'm going to take a nap in your bed, ok?
Dominic: Oh ok Mom, go ahead. Do you want me to pray with you? (as he pulls the blankets over me)
Me: Yes please...
Dominic (making the sign of the cross): Father, Son...Bless this sleep...AMEN! Ok, now you stay in your bed and don't get up until 4 o'clock in the morning - got it?
Me: Ok... (thinking to myself - he practically repeated word for word what we tell him when we tuck him in - I wonder what he'll do if I imitate what he does at bedtime, so I wait for him to close the door and then I throw his baby on the floor) DOMINIC! I dropped my baby!!!
Dominic (as he walks into his room): Oh, you dropped your baby? I'll give it to you this time, but don't drop your toys again. If you scream again I'm taking your toys AWAY! Do you hear me?
Me: Hear me... (again thinking to myself, he summed up what we usually say to him and repeating what he says when we say "Do you hear me?". Again I wait for him to close the door again before throwing another toy) DOMINIC! Come get my toy for me!
Dominic: Mommy, I told you that I would take your toys away if you screamed again! Lay down and GO TO SLEEP! I'm NOT coming back in here!

Wow. At the point I stopped giggling and got up - game over. So maybe he does listen - a little too well. Not only did he have all of my usual responses down, he even mimicked my facial expressions and tone of voice. While it was interesting to see the whole routine from his point of view, I have to admit, I wasn't happy with the flawless portrayal of my part. Maybe I'm the one who hasn't been listening...to myself. I could definitely use a lesson or two in patience and unfortunately I'm not the only one who noticed. How am I supposed to teach him patience when he's learning the art of impatience from me?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Nap time = Art time

Is it just me or does it seem like everyone is starting a blog? I have to admit I've always wanted to have my own blog, but thought I would never have anything interesting to write about, well, nothing interesting to anyone else. The events of the past few days have changed my mind about that.

Life with two kids is fun and challenging, exciting and unpredictable - especially with an adventurous 2 1/2 year old and a curious 10 month old. Usually life is pretty routine here, but every once in a while something happens to throw everything off.

Take the events of this past weekend, for example: Rewind to Sunday - Dominic (our 2 1/2 year old) decided to create a masterpiece at Grandma and Grandpa's house while he was supposed to be napping, using the contents of his diaper (a month ago we had a similar issue - only then he made a "beautiful angel" on the shelf in his room). Fast forward to Monday - after already having a rough morning (I had deleted a couple hundred pictures from my camera, thinking they had been uploaded to the computer only to find out they hadn't) I decided it it would be an early nap day. Dominic had been in his room for about an hour and a half, quietly playing for a bit before falling asleep. All of the sudden I hear the familiar "MOMMY!" (his way of letting me know he's ready to get up). I felt confident that after the poop debacle from the day before we had made it clear that it was not ok for him take off his diaper and rub things on the walls, so I took my time before heading in to get him. I walk into his room only to discover he had found a container of Vaseline...and had smeared it all over his face, hair, legs, pants (which were on the floor along with his diaper), his blankets and bed, the side of his shelf, the wall and the floor in front of his bed. Initially I laughed and called Aaron in to see the mess, while Dominic felt the sudden need to explain himself "I put lotion on my butt!"


Once we were able to compose ourselves, we assessed the damage. Have you ever tried cleaning up Vaseline? It's not an easy task. The more you wipe, the more it spreads. We searched "Tips for cleaning up Vaseline" and found the best way was to use warm water and grease cutting dish soap (they failed to mention it is a wash, rinse, repeat process). After assembling our cleaning aids we got to work. Dominic was helping us clean until we noticed that he was having fun playing in the "bubble water", so we made him sit on his rug and watch us - every time we would look at him, he would put his head down, knowing we were not happy with him. When we had gotten up most of the mess, I threw Dom in the shower and scrubbed him down with dish soap. We weren't able to get it all out of his hair, but at least he'll have smooth skin!




You might be asking yourself why I would leave a container of Vaseline in a toddler's room. I myself keep asking the same question. In my defense, he's a little on the short side and I didn't think he could reach it, it was in the back of the top drawer - needless to say, anything that can be smeared on anything has been removed from his room completely. At least it was Vaseline and not a permanent marker ; )

All the while Jessalyn was sitting in her high chair in the living room munching on Cheerios, waiting for some attention. Poor kid - at 10 months old she's already figured out she's not always the center of attention, especially when you've got an older brother!

As usual on days like these, after the kids are in bed (ASLEEP) I look back at the day and realize it wasn't as big of a deal as it seemed at the time. The lyrics to Darius Rucker's song It Won't Be Like This For Long seem to fit best:

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl (boy) is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So, he's tryin’ to hold on
‘Cause it won’t be like this for long