Mommin' It Up!

January 20, 2010January 19, 2010

My Chatterbox

Sammy’s 21 months old now, and within the last month or so he has started talking so much, and it’s so much fun. I love his little voice – it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. His voice has so much inflection – when he sees me walk into a room, he’ll say “Hellllllo, MaMA!” I can’t really do it justice in written form, but it is cute – take my word for it!

He loves everything sports, and gets SO excited when he sees a game on tv. He can identify baseball, basketball, football (he’s always saying “Touchdown BUCKEYES!”), the St. Louis Cardinals and Albert Pujols (those of you who know my husband will not be surprised by that, I’m sure) and he’s always telling us he wants to watch a “ballgame with Dada.” Last Friday, Sammy knew we were going to the high school basketball game that night and he wanted to be prepared – he picked out his Cardinals outfit and Reds hat and insisted on wearing them all day.

He also loves his sister. For the longest time, he couldn’t say Kate, so he called her Sissy (which made me cringe, I must admit), but now he refers to her as “Tate.” He’s always asking us “Where Tate go?” when he can’t see her. Although it’s more like “Where Tate doh?” because for whatever reason his “g” sounds like “d.” Which reminds me of my favorite of his expressions – “Let’s DOH!”

Last night, he was saying goodnight to Daddy before I put him to bed. Andy told Sam he loved him, and Sammy replied “Love you Dada.” It was the first time he’d said that and it just about made me cry! He is such a sweet little boy.

I love being able to have conversations with him, and it’s so nice for him to be able to tell us what he wants or needs.

I love that little voice, and I love that little boy.
sammy reds hat

January 15, 2010

A Fool and His Money…

The other day, I heard Kate yell from the living room, “Mom!! We need to buy Wonder Hangers!” Then she came running to me and said breathlessly “We need to buy Wonder Hangers! You can hang FIVE shirts in the same space it takes to hang ONE on a regular hanger!”

Do you know what she’s talking about? These:
wonder hanger

Apparently they show infomercials on Nickelodeon.

Later, I was bemoaning the state of her room, and she reminded me that her closet would be MUCH more organized if she only had Wonder Hangers.

She’s also convinced that her dad is going to buy her a Snuggie for her birthday.
snuggie

A few days ago, she asked my grandma if she would buy her a BumpIt.
bumpit

Because every five-year-old needs a beehive.

And so it begins. We can’t really hold her responsible for her inclination to be interested in anything marked “As Seen On TV!” The poor girl comes from a long line of people who are suckers for infomercials.

Case in point: Yesterday I actually considered buying her a BumpIt. (And yes, I can see you all cringing.)

I was somewhat concerned about the message I’d be sending to her if I did buy one, though, so I sought counsel from my BFF Jess. I emailed her:

Kate’s the flower girl for the Miss Basketball ceremony at the high school basketball game. The other day she told me she wanted a Bump It and I’m thinking of getting her one for tomorrow night, to give her a cute little hair do. Is that ok or is that crossing the line into cheerleading wigs and high school breast implants??

I knew Jess would give me good advice, and as I suspected she stopped me from hitting the “Buy It Now” button with her response:

Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY THE BUMP IT! I think it’s a fantastic idea in theory, but those things are a piece of junk. I bought them and could not get it to work right and it looked so silly. You should try “making” a bump it by teasing her hair… look online or YouTube or something!

Crisis averted. I did not waste any money or risk taking the first step toward Kate’s debut appearance on “Toddlers and Tiaras.”

So as you can see, Kate’s predisposition toward getting ripped off is an unfortunate side effect of her genetic make up. Need more examples?

My dad is the proud owner of a Swivel Sweeper.

Andy’s mom has given us the Pasta Pro and the Moving Men (both of which we still use, I might add), and just this Christmas she was the happy recipient of a Perfect Brownie pan (I totally want one of those – I love corner brownie pieces!).

This little “issue” we all have goes back even further in the family tree – recently our grandma told Jenny she wished she had a credit card because they sell a lot of things on TV that she’d really like to have. I’ve made a mental note to keep credit card applications away from her and Kate.

Speaking of credit cards… where is mine? I really want an InStyler.

January 12, 2010

The Final Round

Tonight was the first night of my very last class. I’m working on a MA in instructional design and technology, and this is my final semester. (There’s also that minor detail called a thesis, but I’m sure they’ll be plenty of neurotic posts on that subject at a later date.) I’m in a class about human development that I think is going to be rather interesting. The professor has a “traditional” style, I’m told, and from what I can tell that consists of her lecturing and us taking notes. And blue book tests. Oh, how I love the blue book tests. That was the standard teaching style back in the olden days when I was in college, and it is a welcomed relief from the “Go outside and observe a tree for eight minutes” nonsense that I dealt with last semester. So anyway, I think it’s going to be a pretty good class.

However, it was when I got home that I remembered just how much fun “class night” is – I guess I blocked it out during the break. It’s after 7:30 by the time I get home from class, which means it’s almost immediately bedtime. I pretty much walk through the door on those nights and put Sam to bed – I hardly get to see him at all. After he’s down, it’s time to start the process with Kate, and most of the time, like tonight, that’s not easy. Because I just got home, she doesn’t want me to leave her room after stories and prayers the way I typically would, which leads to lots of tears and phrases like “Mommy I just miss you” and “Mommy I just want you,” which of course makes me feel quite guilty. Tonight I was extremely exhausted and just wanted to go to bed myself, and I didn’t have a lot of patience, which of course made the guilt even worse.

Jenny often reminds me that she was in kindergarten, like Kate, when her mom earned a master’s degree, and that she was not psychologically damaged and in fact hardly remembers it. I know this will be the case with Kate as well, and though it’s hard to have that perspective when she’s crying because she hasn’t seen me all day, I am trying to keep that in mind. And, it will be over soon, right?

One week down, 15 weeks to go.