{NickMom Inspired} Kids Say of the Day

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One day, a long time from now, our kids will be old enough to be mortified by their embarrassing parents. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for them, they’ve provided us with an arsenal of stories about the times they humiliated us – paybacks are fair game! NickMom has a feature called “Kids Say of the Day,” and it brought to mind some of the crazy things my kids have said!

Before I get to my kids’ stuff, though, let me share with you this “Kids Say of the Day” that left me speechless.

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Yeah. My kids would so be grounded for all eternity.

So anyway, back to the ways my kids have publicly shamed me.

Let’s start with Kate.

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When Kate was about two, as she was in the picture above, we were walking through Target with my grandma. Kate was sitting in the cart, and my purse was stashed right beside her. So anyway, I’m walking around, minding my own business, not paying any attention to the fact that Kate is sorting through my purse, when all the sudden – to my horror – she pulls out two tampons. She started waving them around in the air and shouting “maracas!” at the top of her lungs.

As though that wasn’t bad enough, my grandma thought it was the funniest thing ever, and was laughing hysterically, adding to the scene we were causing. It. Was. Awesome.

Not long after that, Kate was in the midst of potty training and, you know how it is, we talked about all things potty a lot. At home. (Not so much on social media, unlike some people I know *ahem*Jenny*ahem*.) However, Kate hadn’t yet picked up on the appropriate times to talk about such things (or, evidently, anatomical terms) and one night we were out to dinner when Andy excused himself to go to the restroom. Kate piped up for the whole place to hear, “Daddy, are you going to go potty with your… with your… with your tail?!?!?”

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Andy would have liked the floor to open up and swallow him at that moment!

Though Kate’s gotten older, her flare for saying things at inopportune times is still going strong.

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When she was in the first grade, Andy and I went to her parent/teacher conference, expecting to hear nothing but lovely things about our girl. That was true, all right – her teacher was very complimentary. Toward Kate. At the end of our session, though, the teacher looked at me and ask if I had any questions about the homework Kate had been assigned. I was confused, and said, “Well no, I don’t think so.” Her teacher responded, “Are you sure? When Kate turned hers in yesterday, she said ‘My mom said this assignment is all jacked up!”

Oops!

Kate has said some doozies, but lest you think that she is the only child who has embarrassed me, let me tell you this story about Sam. This is the #1 takes-the-cake kids-say-the-darnedest-things story I have.

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I took Sam to his three-year well-checkup at the pediatrician’s office. When the doctor came in, he and I were commiserating about the early hour of the morning. The doctor said he could use a cup of coffee.

“Boys don’t drink coffee!” Sam piped up. “Boys drink beer!”

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I know I’m not alone here – I’d love to hear the stories about how your kids have embarrassed you! You know, the stories you’ve stock piled in your mind to use on special occasions like when he or she brings a date home. The ones you’ll tell for years to come. Let’s hear them!

And while you’re at it, click over to NickMom to read more “Kids Say of the Day” stories. Seriously, I cannot get over the one I showed you above… and there are more where that came from!

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5 Cousins Walk into an American Girl Store

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Sophie has been wild about American Girl dolls since she got her first mini-doll for her birthday last year. She also got a “big” doll, Marie-Grace for Christmas (I hit the big sale they had on Marie-Grace and Cecile.) and her BFF Cecile for kindergarten graduation. She loves the dolls and the books. She’s way into reading. So far we’ve read 3 Kit books, the Ruthie book, all six Marie-Grace and Cecile books and 4 Addy books. She even goes up to her room and reads by herself now! Sniff, sniff – a girl after her mama’s own nerdy reading heart!

Sophie’s birthday is this Saturday, and a few weeks ago I got the idea that Emily and I should take Sophie and Kate to the American Girl store in Columbus, which is fairly new and only 90 minutes away for us. Kate has several AG dolls and was quite excited! She brought her Emily (get it? LIKE HER MOM!) doll along on our trip. When my niece Murrin,who is almost 16, heard we were going, she asked to go too! I thought it was so sweet she wanted to accompany her little cousins. Murrin was the original AG lover in our family. She has Kit and e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g ever made for Kit, and plans to  hand her down to her own daughter. She took reverent care of her. Even though she’s spending more time with her iPod than her dolls these days, she’s not too old to play with her little cousins! 

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Murrin with Kit, Sophie with her mini-dolls Kit and Ruthie (she felt her big dolls would be too “big to carry” (my kid? Lazy? No way!) and Kate with her Emily doll.

Emily and Kate picked us up, then we picked up Murrin and then headed to Columbus! Once there, we quickly found our way to the American Girl store.

And it. Was. PACKED.

I was honestly shocked. I wouldn’t go near the place after Thanksgiving due to holiday crowds, but I really thought on November 9th we’d be ok! WRONG! It was crazy, crazy, crazy. We could really barely move, and no matter what you did, you were on someone else’s way. Clearly American Girl has a great bead on the Columbus market!

Nevertheless, we had a great time looking around. I must confess seeing all the dolls displayed with all their beautiful outfits made me want to buy every one! Sophie had $40 early birthday money from my parents, and set about searching for the Perfect Thing to buy.

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While she searched, I couldn’t help but notice the huge line for the doll hair salon and the cute little cafe within the store. It really was neat! I also noticed that the section for the historical American Girl dolls was much more packed than the section for the “my American Girl” section where you can get a doll that looks like you. This kind of confirmed my opinion that the historical girls with their stories are much more compelling.

Sophie finally settled on purchasing Argos, Marie-Grace’s dog, and the Saige movie. Saige is the 2013 Girl of the Year and won’t be around for long. Sophie and I have watched the Samantha, Molly, Kit, and McKenna AG movies together and they are all great, so she was excited to get the Saige movie. And eve more excited to have a Marie-Grace’s furry friend.

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Kate settled on purchasing a matching American Girl hat for her and her doll, and Emily and I got in the h-u-g-e line to pay for our purchases while Murrin escorted the girls as they browsed some more.

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This is us pretending to be excited about waiting in such a long line.

We thought we’d be in line for an hour – it was THAT long. Part of the trouble with browsing was that the line was so long, it was coiled through half of the historical girls section. And there were 4 or 5 black-clad security guys to make sure no one got cray-cray! (Or stole something, I imagine.) It was also pretty warm, and we had dressed warmly because it was cold outside. We were wishing we’d brought some bottled water! Whew! Fortunately, the store had LOTS of cashiers and the line moved pretty fast. They did a great job getting everyone checked out, and we actually *only* waited 30 minutes.

It was worth the wait, though, to see this! Sophie was excited to make a purchase with her own money.

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Sophie with Argos, Marie-Grace’s dog. Her purchase with birthday $$ from Grandma and Grandpa!

We were all thirsty and starving, so we headed off for lunch and then treated ourselves to the delicious and legendary Jeni’s Ice Cream with our girls.

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Despite the crowds (I was really proud of myself for not having a claustrophobic attack!), we had a great time and a great day full of cousin bonding! The girls watched the Saige movie in the van on the way home and Emily and I enjoyed just talking, which we haven’t had time to do in awhile.

We can’t wait to go back again…on a weekday…in the spring…when the crowds are elsewhere.

Have you ever been to an American Girl store? Apparently the Columbus store is much smaller than the rest of them. What was your experience?

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Old Man Winter can KISS MY GRITS

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So, YESTERDAY. Was not my favorite. We lucky Ohioans woke up to a light blanketing of snow and temperatures in the 20’s. BEFORE Thanksgiving? NOT OK! Actually, I am never a fan of snow and ice, EVER, but I found yesterday’s timing to be especially obnoxious, because we’re not even half way through November yet!

Tuesdays are already my least favorite day of the week because Jonah has to be at his little toddler speech class at 8:30. I always get up at 6:30 to get the big kids off to school, but on Tuesdays I have to also try and get dressed and get my makeup done at the same time, so that I can get Jonah up, fed, and dressed as soon as the big kids leave at 7:20. I ALWAYS have to wake him up on Tuesday; it is the one day he chooses to sleep in without fail (he usually is up by 7:30).

Since it was snowy and butt-freezing cold, I used the remote start on my keychain to start my van at 7:55. We needed to leave at 8:20 so that was plenty of time to get the van defrosted and warmed up.

Or so I thought.

When Jonah and I got outside, I hit the remote button to open my sliding van door and nothing happened. So, I made sure it was unlocked and tried again. Nothing. After we trudged across the lawn, I tried to open by actually using the door handle (like in the stone ages, remember that?) but it wouldn’t budge. Tried the other door, too – same thing! The driver’s door would open so I climbed in and tried to open the door from the inside. No luck.

Jonah is, in the meantime, crying out in the snow, BECAUSE IT WAS FISHING FREEZING of course.

So, I grab him and head back into the house. He’s still crying. What the crap, mom? You said we were going bye-bye to school and now we’re not? I AM ENRAGED!! I knew I was going to have to spend some time outside to get these doors open, so I turned on a tv show for him to keep him sage and stationary while I headed back out. Then, I called his class coordinator to let her know we’d be late. (And she was less sympathetic than I thought she should be, HONESTLY. I don’t know if she thought I was making it up or what. We’ve NEVER been late before.)

Then I headed back outside to the frozen wasteland to do battle with my van doors. It took me 7 or 8 more minutes to get the driver’s side van door open. What finally did it was me pulling from the inside as I simultaneously pressed the button to automatically open it. Whew! By the time I got it open I was sweating like a horse and cursing like a sailor.

I ran back in to grab Jonah, but by now he was fully engrossed in Elmo and didn’t WANT to go bye-bye. I hauled him out to the van kicking and screaming.

He tantrumed the whole way there.

And for the first half of class.

And only cooperated for snack.

It was SUCH a waste of time and so emotionally draining. He had done really well at class the two weeks prior to this and I wish we had just stayed home. He only has 4 classes left until he turns three and goes to preschool, and I really wanted to make every one count. But thanks to Old Man Winter, our rough start to the day had totally thrown him out of whack.

I seriously barely kept it together during his class. It. Was. Awful.

So, thanks to the weather, my morning sucked big time. And I hear we are going to have a rough winter this year. I really don’t know if I’ll survive, cold weather is my mortal enemy! I may need to raid Emily’s stash of happy pills before it’s over.

At least the 8:30 class is over soon. Preschool starts at 9:10, I don’t have to STAY there with Jonah so if he acts coo-coo, OH WELL, and if he throws a fit on the way there, I can go get myself a salted caramel mocha for therapy on the way home and then watch What Not to Wear on Netflix for a couple hours before I have to go pick him up again. Right?

I mean, as long as this winter isn’t one long SNOW DAY.

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