Just a thought I had today

This is the kind of stuff I think about when I'm not busy ranting and raving about something.

This thought occurred to me as I was battling 295 traffic on the way to work this morning: If they made a live-action Jetsons movie, don't you think Bob Saget would be perfect to play George Jetson?

Overwhelmed and underpaid

When I signed on for this whole "mom" gig, I didn't expect all the strings that are attached. For me, being a mom includes caring for our menagerie of fuzzy fiends, er, I mean, friends. Lately Monet has been a real pain in the neck with the barfing all over the place. She eats plants outside that she shouldn't and then goes around heaving up the aftermath for days on end. Yesterday we came home from work, and Milo announced that there was something gross in the hallway. Yep. Cat barf. It had been sitting there so long that it ate through the polyurethane on the wood floor and stained the floor. Hooray. She had also thrown up in our bedroom (not in our bed, thank God for small favors) and in several large areas in the basement. I don't know about you, but cleaning up that much animal vom is enough to make me exhausted just by thinking about it.

Before all of that even happened, yesterday morning I had to clean up a cubic ton of dog crap, thanks to Lily. Lily had to work out the parts and pieces to one of Milo's cars that she ate, so that meant when I went outside yesterday morning for poop patrol, I literally had to scrape crap from one end of the patio to the other. She even somehow managed to crap on the sump hose. DISGUSTING. I was somewhat thankful that it was warm enough outside to use the hose, because if I had to trek back and forth with my stoopid pitcher of warm water to rinse off the crud, it would have taken me all week. Again, all I had to do was take one look at that load of crap and I was promptly ready to go back to bed.

Not to mention that Milo pretty much pees all over the bathroom every morning because the kid's a firehose. I'm the only one that notices the pee lake, plus I'm the only one that smells it, so I get to be the one that cleans it up. Hooray for me!

We are having drainage problems due to all the rain. The sink is finally working in the kitchen, but now the french drains in the basement are all backed up. The sump is running nonstop again. I did ONE LOAD of laundry this afternoon, and went downstairs to discover wet floors near all the drain openings, and wherever there are cracks in the floor. Plus, the water backed up right where the laundry drains, so the laundry room rug is soaked. That burned my biscuits something awful. First of all, of course I have three more loads of laundry waiting to be done that I can't do, until the water situation clears up. The new washer and dryer are coming Saturday, and I won't even be able to use them. GAAAA. What's the freakin' point of having them, then? I know that eventually the drainage problem will get fixed, but right now I am having myself a good old fashioned freak out attack, because it seems like whenever I want to do anything nice for myself that I deserve, it backfires. Boooo freakin' HOOO! The basement is going to stink something awful because of all the moisture, no matter how much we run the dehumidifier. Not to mention the mold situation that is going to happen. UGH.

And Milo has a cold, and is wiping his boogers on everything and anything, including me.

Like I said, I'm a bit overwhelmed and underpaid right now. I don't often get in this much of a funk but this is just TOO MUCH AT ONCE. I need cheese and salty crunchy snacks, and I need them now!! In large quantities!

Homework

Next week at daycare is something called "Week of the Young Child." We participate by filling out forms that say why our kid is special, and attending some events in the classrooms. The first project we have to finish for next week was homework for Milo this week. We had to make a paper doll of Milo, portraying him and the things he likes to do. Of course, I got a little carried away, but we had lots of fun putting it together.


The basic doll that was sent home with Milo. Just a plain ol' brown gingerbread man!

And this is what we ended up with, after an hour or two of fooling around with different photos. Milo can't wait to take it to school tomorrow and hang it up! He says he looks like a rock star, you know.

My day is filled with joy

Okay, so let me just tell you up front: I have the most creative reasons for being late to work EVER. The stuff that happens to me in the mornings is real, I swear. Surely there must be someone else in the world that endures the same bizarro drama as me on a daily basis.

This morning's reason why I was five minutes late: Monet barfed in Milo's sneakers. Literally, as I was walking toward the shoes, telling Milo to get his sneakers on, Monet ran up and threw up in them. It was 8:13AM and we have to leave the house by 8:15 for me to have enough time to drop Milo at Lakeview and get to work by 9. I was disgusted by the cat barf in my kid's sneaks, and I had to frantically search the house for Milo's other good pair of shoes. We cleaned the house last weekend, so now I don't know where anything is. It took me a few minutes, but I did find the other shoes, slapped them on Milo's feet and we left. I had to deal with the barf when we got home, which by that time, had more added to it. Monet also barfed all over the basement floor while we were gone.

When I got to work, my boss said, "Why are you late?" I told him, and he just stared at me with his mouth hanging open for a minute, and then he said "So I guess this is why you wanted to come back to work?" Uh, yep, pretty much, to escape the dark reality of my house! At home I am chief dishwasher and buttwiper, and not necessarily in that order. When I'm at work, at least I don't have to wipe anyone's butt! (or clean up their vomit)

Long story short: Anyone want to adopt an adorable tortishell 10-year-old kitty? I'm just kidding....sort of. Right now, after the vomit comet she unleashed today, I'd get rid of that cat in a second, if Corey would let me.

There's a little black spot on the sun today....

Yep, Milo has another favorite band: the Police. We listened to "King of Pain" three or four times on the ride home from work this afternoon. Actually, he knows most of the words to most of the songs on the "best of" Police CD we've been listening to lately. Another Police song that he likes a lot is "Do Do Do Do Da Da Da Da." He goes around the house singing that one sometimes. Why the Police is not "girl music" I don't know! I do know that every time I think of Sting, I automatically think of Popeye. Something about Sting just really reminds of Popeye as portrayed by Robin Williams in the 1980s. Is it the hair? The giant muscle arms? Who knows?!

King of Pain: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMxilbDGelU

Doo Doo: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SojAZ0X1e0

Happy Easter!

I hope you had a great Easter, however you celebrate it. We were all up bright and early this morning, having an egg hunt in the house. This was Milo's fourth egg hunt in the last two weeks; by now he must have at least 50 plastic eggs. It was still very exciting, except that Milo quickly discovered that all the hunting eggs were "duds," meaning no candy inside. (The Easter Bunny wised up and remembered that Lily lives here.) It was still fun searching for eggs; despite their dudness. Then Milo had to hunt for his Easter basket, which was hidden on one of the bookshelves. Those eggs were not duds....and two even had Bakugan balls inside! Wooo hoooo!!

Milo promptly ate three or four candies, and took some cold medicine, (yep, he's sick again, just with a runny nose though) so most of the rest of the morning he was bouncing off the walls. Most of the time Milo was in his room playing, so I was still able to get the house picked up and vacuum and all the usual housework stuff I do on Sunday mornings.

This afternoon Milo and I took the dogs out for a much needed run, and played and played outside despite the bitterly cold wind. Corey came home from work sometime around then. We took a break while I got the ham in the oven, and then Milo and Corey played Bakugan while I puttered around in the basement, clearing a path for the washer and dryer guys. The new machines aren't coming until Saturday, but if I didn't get stuff moved around today, it wasn't going to happen, based on how busy we are during the week.

We enjoyed our ham dinner (Milo even ate some ham! After I told him it tastes like chicken nuggets though. He wasn't very convinced of that, but tried it anyway, and liked it. We are on a roll with the eating of normal food!!) and did our usual evening routine of bath, stories, bedtime. Now Milo is tucked into his sleeping bag, listening to his Led Zeppelin lullabies, Corey is stomping around upstairs getting ready for his bedtime, and I am finishing up my little bits of chores so I can get my beauty sleep for the Monday morning rush. All is right with the world, as it should be.

A note on Milo and his sleeping bag: He started sleeping in it in his bed a few nights ago. It cracks me up, because I did exactly the same thing when I was a kid, except I liked to sleep on the floor. I was telling Corey how funny it was that Milo digs his sleeping bag as much as I used to, and Corey started laughing: Apparently Corey also slept in his sleeping bag (in his bed) for a stretch of time when he was a little kid. He said it was just like camping out. I totally agree. I can definitely predict sleeping outside in the tent this summer......I did that every summer pretty much until we got married :)

totally random thoughts

1. Did you know that at 3:30 PM on Good Friday, the party bus drops off the old people at the Shoprite in Bordentown? Old people are supposed to be back in their caves at 2pm, so they can get ready for their early bird dinners. That is the rule!! It was being blatantly broken this afternoon, much to my dismay. On the way home from work this afternoon, I stopped at Shoprite to do the weekly grocery shop, and was blocked in by old people every step of the way. Argh. It was very frustrating. I have serious issues with oldsters. I know I'm supposed to respect my elders and all, but it's difficult when there is one standing IN MY WAY in EVERY SINGLE AISLE in FRONT OF EVERY SINGLE THING I want to put in my own cart. I have to yell "EXCUSE ME. EXCUUUUUSEEEE MEEE!" at least three times, or if that doesn't sink in, I have to shove my way past them, which earns ME the dirty looks. I especially have issues when they're scooting around in those rental motorized cart things, and try to run me down because they're so desperate to get to the next sale item. ARGH!! In case you maybe didn't notice, patience is not one of my virtues :)

3. Did I mention that I have new work hours? I started working 9-3 Monday through Friday last week. It's working out great so far. Except that Milo has a love/hate relationship going on with getting picked up earlier from daycare. One day last week we stayed a little while and had afternoon snack with the other kids, and now Milo wants to do that every day. Before I had to talk him into going to school in the mornings; now I have to talk him into leaving school in the afternoons! Other than that, I love this schedule. It gives me time in the afternoons to do errands on the way home, and we're always home in plenty of time to make a decent supper.

4. Speaking of supper, you'll never guess what Milo had for dinner tonight: Our son ate salad, a hamburger and french fries. He actually asked for the salad himself. I know, Mr. I don't eat anything green!! Those kids at Lakeview are rubbing off on him; Milo ate a salad there last week and came home raving about how tasty it was, as long as there was no dressing on it. I bought a bag o' salad at Shoprite this afternoon, thinking "Here's $2.00 down the tubes" because I figured Milo wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, and I would end up having to eat it for lunch or something. Lo and behold, the kid ate it, with gusto! And the hamburger too! Again because of Lakeview. They eat turkey burgers there, and he likes those, so we just told him it was a turkey burger, and Milo ate it right up. Cool beans!

5. And the biggest news of the week: After much deliberation and teeth gnashing, I finally went to Sears and ordered a new washing machine and dryer. Our set of used stuff is hovering on the verge of just giving up the ghost altogether, so Corey and I talked it over and decided it was time to spend the bucks. We've been talking about it for over a year, but I've been reluctant to take the steps to purchase them. Mainly because I'm the one that has to use the dang things day in and day out, and if I made the wrong choice and they don't perform as I need them to, I'll be kicking myself in the butt for the next 10 or 15 years. My original intention was to get the high-falutin' new style washing machine with no agitator, to fit tons of laundry inside, but they are too big to get through our doorways. So I opted for a mid level set, that is larger than what we currently have, but not ginormous. I also went for plain old rotary controls, so I don't have to be bothered with pushing buttons and choosing fancy cycles. I can just spin the dial to "wash" and walk away. I basically just bought the 2009 version of what we already have, now that I'm thinking about it. They will be here on the 18th. Woo hoo!! To get ready for their arrival, Corey and I have to move all kinds of crap out of the way in the basement, but it will be so totally worth the effort.

Milo's first official Easter egg hunt

Corey found out about the Easter egg hunt that's held in our local park yesterday when he picked Milo up from preschool. The hunt was this afternoon at 1pm. Milo and I go to the park all the time to play on the playground, and we've never seen so many kids there at once! Milo had a pretty good time, especially because he got to see his friend Christian from school. I was a pinch disappointed at how quickly it was all over. I think it took 20 seconds for the kids to find all the eggs. It took longer for us to collect Milo's prize, which was a small chocolate bunny with those scary yellow eyes.

The Easter egg hunting field. The eggs were scattered far and wide over the fields. The fields were divided by age group, which was really great. It kept too many kids from being in one place at the same time, and also kept them from fighting over the eggs.

Milo and Christian chatting it up before the big hunt.

The Easter Bunny came by to say hi. Milo was completely freaked out by the walking talking rabbit, until I told him that it was just a girl in a costume. Then he was cool and gave her a high five.

And they're off!
Milo looking all dejected because he only found six eggs. He perked up a bit when I told him there was candy in each one.

The big prize! If I were Milo, I'd be more afraid of this rabbit. I do NOT understand why chocolate bunny makers insist on giving them those horrible boob-like eyes!!

The biggest surprise: A baby lamb came to visit! This little lamb is only three weeks old. The woman was walking her on a leash, along the outside edge of the park. I couldn't believe that the only kids that noticed the lamb were Milo and Christian. The lady was nice enough to let them bottle feed the lamb, and pet her a little bit. That is really cool, and a much better symbol of Easter than fluorescent colored plastic eggs. In my opinion, anyways.

Stormy weather

Friday was a weirdly stormy day. A quick moving storm passed through right after I got home from work that afternoon. Between the angle of the sun, and the wind, the clouds were doing some pretty nifty things. I'm normally not into taking pictures of the clouds, but these were too interesting to resist.

Odd blue clouds! They were such a pretty color of blue; we've never seen anything like that before.

Creepy white cloud in the midst of black clouds. Talk about standing out in the crowd!

The tail end of the big storm cloud. All neat and roiled up looking!

I just like this picture because of the glow of the sun in the corner....it sort of looks like the sky is on fire.

Awesome projects!

Milo's lesson this week at preschool was about recycling, and how you can use old stuff to make new stuff. When I got home from work on Thursday, SpongeBob RectanglePants was waiting for me on the kitchen table, along with this rocket. The high school kids all brought in assorted "junk" and Milo came up with these ideas on his own. I love how he named the rocket the Mighty Explorer. No, he didn't write that on there himself, one of the big kids did that for him. Pretty creative, huh?

The Best Birthday Party EVER!

This year we made a monumental decision about Milo's birthday and decided to throw him his first all-friends party. We had it the weekend after his 4th birthday, and it was a total success. Good times were had by all: kids and moms and dads alike! We made our own party hats, had an egg hunt, had a "can you keep your egg on the spoon?" race, and a "who can roll their egg the farthest with a spoon?" race. We also played stick the s on Superman and of course, had cake and ice cream!

Milo and I spent the afternoon before his party decorating our hearts out. I used the air compressor to blow up the balloons. That was good fun for me, except I was a bit overzealous at first as to the amount of air I put in the balloons. I blew four balloons to smithereens before I figured out how to control the nozzle better. All in all, I think I blew up 30 balloons, and then we festooned the house with them. A little too much balloonage, in my opinion, but Milo loved it, and it was his party, after all. The theme was Wall-E, so we had the appropiate decorations for that, and the cake was a Wall-E cake. In the end, Milo said it was the best birthday party EVER. Yep, we thought so too!

Balloons and streamers everywhere!

The big Superman poster on the door was for pinning the S on Superman. That was a lot of fun!

Lots and lots of balloons and Wall-E danglers.

A bower of balloons over the kitchen table.

Jack putting on his DIY party hat.

Milo busily adding eggs to his egg hunt bag.

Milo pinning the S on the wall.

Autumn about to pin the S on Superman's chest.

Brody getting really close!

The Spongebob Squarepants style cake that Corey ordered up for me.

Milo's awesome Wall-E cake. Thanks Gina for making the cakes!
Milo and Brody bonking each other with the blowers.

Blowing out his candles.

Autumn, Milo and Jack, sporting their party hats and looking pretty darn tired from all the excitement.

Just for old time's sake

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P46bQNssQWQ

Just click on it, you know you want to. It will make you laugh, and then you'll think of me every time you hear it for the rest of your life.

Remember: I did the Batusi dance all by myself, in front of the whole world, at our wedding, and I loved every second of it.

A new and improved way to torture Milo

Milo has declared that he hates "girl" songs, especially Don't Cry For Me Argentina. We discovered this quite by accident the other night, when Milo was whining about something, so I started singing to him "Don't cry for me Milo-tina, the truth is I'll always love you, all through your bad dreams and your butt explosions...I keep my promises so quit yer bitchin." (The real words are: Don't cry for me Argentina, The truth is I never left you, All through my wild days, My mad existence, I kept my promise, Don't keep your distance.)

Milo freaked out and started crying harder. Corey came in to find out what was going on, and so I sang my version again...which sent Milo further off into the deep end. We got him to calm down and asked Milo why that song upset him so much. Milo said "It's a girl song and my name is NOT TINA." Much stifled giggling ensued, on our part, all the while reassuring Milo that we would never be such awful parents again.

Then we remembered that we have a punky cover version of the forbidden song, so we sneaked it into the CD player a couple of days ago, and called Milo in to listen to some awesome music. As soon as Milo heard them say "Argentina" he started bawling again. So please, don't ever take Milo to see Evita on Broadway, because he has some serious deep-seated issues with that song!

Hear it for yourself, if you want: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uv0c9kMcf0

Another song that Milo says is a girl song: Lollipop by the Chordettes. We are only allowed to listen to it while he is actually eating a lollipop. Too bad I pretty much ignore that rule: I like this song a lot! www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oi79iS9jcE

Milo also seems to think that Harry Belafonte is a girl and can't stand Day-O or Jump In the Line, both songs that Corey and I love because they are from Beetlejuice, only one of the best Tim Burton movies ever made.

Day-O www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMTNT_BzkdA

Jump in the Line www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7zNlmzAo14

Meanwhile, on the list of music that Milo does like, AC/DC is his new favorite band. The kid was definitely born 30 years too late. We were on our way home last week, listening to 93.3 WMMR (Milo's favorite radio station, and here's why: "They play lots of GOOD rock n roll, Mom!") and Hell's Bells by AC/DC came on. Milo stopped short about whatever he was blabbering about and said "Mom, turn this up, it's awesome!" He proceeded to rock out to the duration of the song. Its over 5 minutes long, otherwise I would post it here for your enjoyment also. AC/DC has a new album out, and we happened to hear their new song on our way home from the doctor today, again on MMR. Milo made me crank up the radio this time too. He is a metalhead at four years old. Geez Louise, what are we in for??

I'm pretty sure this is the song we heard today, called Rock n Roll Train www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX2xbqWtyJU

PS: What's not to like about AC/DC? You can't go wrong when the lead guitarist's name is Angus! That name is almost as cool as Milo's. :)

Fava beans, anyone?

I think we've finally found the solution to Quinn's aggression and anxiety issues: a muzzle! When I took him to the vet last week, I had to muzzle Quinnie to get him out of the truck, and I was telling the vet about how nutsy Quinn is whenever anyone unfamiliar comes to the house, and that he will bite first and ask questions later. Just ask Jordan, he got nipped the other day because I wasn't fast enough in grabbing Quinn's collar. Anyway, the vet suggested a basket muzzle, which I never heard of before. I came home, looked them up online, sized Quinn up, and ordered one. It came today, and I already started training Quinn to accept it. It keeps him from biting, but Quinn can still pant and drink water, and eat a treat if its shoved through the cage bars. This way, he can be loose in the house when people are here so he can do his job of protecting me and Milo, without injuring anyone else in the process. Plus it makes Quinn look extra tough!

Aw Mom, can you think of anything more embarrassing to do to me? I look like Hannibal Lector!
Lily, get your damn man-hands off my face-cage. Gaaa!

Gee Quinn, why you wearing that stupid thing? Ha ha, I can bite you and you can't bite me back! Don't whap me with it, it hurts!

(As soon as I put the muzzle on Quinn this afternoon, he and Lily got into a fight. He quickly realized that he couldn't snap at Lily, but he figured out how to bonk her with the muzzle instead. I wish I had had the video camera running, it would have been the winner!)

Happy Birthday to us!

On Sunday afternoon, Milo and I went to visit Cranmom and Cranpop and Aunt Heather at my parents house. (Yes, I spelled those right, my parents have become cran-berries for some reason, in Milo-speak.) We had good fun, and Milo was wound up tighter than a spring because of cake overload. Aunt Heather gave Milo some very nice helium balloons that were the highlight of his day, along with some other gifts. She asked Milo as he was opening his presents, if he liked to get clothes as presents. Milo said "No way." So then I leaned over and told him that if he gets something he really doesn't like, it's polite to pretend that he does like it, and then just put that thing away for later. Lo and behold, Milo opened a box of new clothes. He said in his best high excitement voice "Oh wow, Aunt Heather, these are the best clothes I ever saw! THANK YOU." and promptly pulled out the tissue paper and played with it instead. The kid should be in show biz :)

Today we had to go to work and to Lakeview. Milo was NOT enthused about going to daycare on his birthday, even though he knew they would be doing something special for him. He spent the first 45 minutes of his morning being upset about it, until I reminded him that his friends would be at school also, and that we were bringing pudding to share so it would be an extra special day. Milo cheered up after that, and managed to earn his Monday sticker after all. We had to bring pudding because that's what comes in a factory sealed package and doesn't have any nuts or wheat in it, so nobody would have an allergic reaction, and it's not a choking hazard. Milo said that they did sing happy birthday to him, but they didn't give him any candles to blow out because candles just don't stand up in pudding very well, but he had fun anyway.

Then we came home and had pizza for dinner and Milo opened his gifts from us. Corey and I had pizza for dinner, actually, Milo didn't eat until later and when he did eat, he had one french fry and two bananas. Milo's favorite present was something called a Bakugan ball, which is a tiny ball that transforms into a robot when you place it on a magnetic card. It is a pretty cool toy, and apparently they're all the rage these days, like Pokemon used to be.

As far as my birthday went, it was great: I got cheese!! My sistah gave me two packages of specialty cheese, and my hubby gave me lots and lots of different yummy cheeses. If I were to say I love cheese, that's a tiny bit of an understatement. What a perfect way to turn 35! (at least, according to me.)

Behold the power of cheese! There's American, provolone, cheddar, swiss, muenster, some kind of pepper jack....all the kinds of cheese I like the best!

Random bits and pieces

just a couple of random pictures that don't fit anywhere else.

The end of an era: Milo and I dragged his tiny climber out to the side of the road one day last week. We had gotten this for him for his first birthday, and Milo decided that he is too big for it, and that some other kid should have a chance to play with it. So out it went. Nobody picked it up; then a girl from Corey's work said she could use it for her kid. We delivered it to her house this afternoon. It was a little sad dropping the climber off at her house. Of course, Milo is taller than it is, at this point, but still. Our little boy is growing up too fast!


Yep, that's Lily sleeping with her tongue sticking out. Even with all the noise I was making while I was taking the picture, what with the snorting and giggling, she didn't wake up. What a goofball, even when she's conked out!

Milo's birthday celebrations begin

Around here, you don't just get one birthday, you get to party all week long. At least if you're Milo, anyway!

On Friday, Milo went to Mrs. Heiss's preschool and was treated to a surprise party thrown by Mrs. Heiss and all the big kids. They organized the whole thing, cupcakes and all. We donated brownies to the cause. Milo came home with an awesome hat, a gift from the big kids and a goody bag with bubbles and crayons in it. The gift from the big kids was a Spiderman activity book with lots of things to do. He was so excited and happy about the surprise party, Milo just couldn't stop talking about it yesterday. I was really impressed with how nicely organized the party was; the big kids made sure that all the little kids got a goody bag and that they all were able to share in the fun.

Then today, the fun continued with Grandma Carolynn and Grandpa Bob. I delivered Milo to their house around 11:30 this morning, and they were off to an amazing adventure at the Freehold Mall. They took him out to lunch and then.....Milo got to build his own robot!! Holy moly, the kid had a blast. He is so proud of his robot! The robot's name is Planet, and he came from Saturn. Planet even says "My name is Planet and I belong to Milo." That is totally cool beans!

While they were out partying, I was here having a party of my own: washing the truck and cleaning out the interior whilst listening to Buffett. Corey came home from work a little early; Grandma Carolynn and Grandpa Bob brought Milo back in time for supper, and we ordered Chinese food and had good cake.

Tomorrow the fun continues!


Checking out the options at Robot Galaxy. So many bot bodies to choose from!

That's it! That's the one! Milo's awesome hat came from preschool. He wore it all day today, pretty much, even when we went to the vet this morning with Lily and Monet.

The nice girl at the robot store helping Milo put together his custom made robot.

And this piece goes here....

Now plug that in there....

When the robot is all assembled, apparently they go up into some sort of space pod to Saturn, where they get programmed. When he came back down the robot looked like...

This!! Dig Planet's space guns and jet feet with booster rockets!

Taking Planet for a stroll in Grandma Carolynn's backyard.

Milo looks like he's having a little too much fun being an axe-wielding maniac. You know, boys will boys! (Grandpa Bob had a HUGE tree cut down in his yard, and of course, Milo wanted to get in on the action of being a tree guy.)

Mmmmm, cake. Check out the spooky ghost hand in the background. That is an official objet d'art....it says so on its base. Grandma Carolynn and Milo dressed it up ages ago with a tinfoil watch and ring; it's still wearing them. At times I am tempted to paint its fingernails, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Progress Report: Daycare

It seems that Milo is starting to accept the fact that he has to go to Lakeview three days a week, whether he wants to or not. Last week we started a sticker chart. For every day that he goes to Lakeview and doesn't pitch a fit about it, Milo gets a sticker stuck to his coat at dropoff time. If he gets three stickers in a row (one for each day), then on Fridays we do something special. We only did the stickers two days last week, since Monday we were home sick, and on Wednesday, for the first time, Milo actually smiled as he was going through the door into his classroom. His teacher emailed me that evening and said that Milo had had a really good day and was in a great mood all day long. That was very encouraging. Milo's special treat last week was lunch at McD's.

Then this week started. Monday morning Milo moaned and groaned about going to daycare, but didn't put up too much of a fuss. He cried a teensy bit when it was time for me to leave after helping him with his coat and such, but other than that, Milo was okay. Then Tuesday morning, Milo decided he wasn't going to Lakeview. First he cried and moaned and groaned for a half an hour or so after he got up, and then when he realized that wasn't getting him anywhere, Milo said: "My tummy hurts and I'm having trouble with my butt. Oh well, looks like you have to take me to the doctor instead of going to Lakeview." Corey happened to be home, and heard him say it too, so I knew I wasn't hallucinating. When I said "Nope, sorry, still going to Lakeview," that threw Milo for a loop. He calmed down by the time we got to daycare though, and it finally dawned on me that maybe we should do all our hugging and kissing goodbye in the hall before Milo goes into the classroom, so I could then just hang up his coat and take off. (When we hug and kiss goodbye, I tell Milo that I'm filling him up with enough love for the day, so he doesn't have to miss me. Milo tells me to keep his hugs in my pocket so I can feel them whenever I need to, and that I need to do my best not to miss him, cuz it's hard, you know.) It worked like a charm; Milo was totally fine, no tears or anything.

We went through the same routine again this morning, except this morning Milo did not just have tummy troubles and butt problems, he also had a sore throat and a fever and maybe a rash. Once again, I refused to fall for it, and he was okay by the time we got to daycare. We did our goodbye shtick in the hall again, and Milo was all smiles by the time we opened the door.

Because he earned his three stickers, this week's special treat will be a trip to the playground. I hope the effects of the sticker chart last, and that the same things work again next week. I just can't wait to hear what ails him on Monday....

By the way, Milo is just like Norm from Cheers. As soon as he opens the door to his class, everyone yells "MILO!" That right there would be enough to make me want to go back everyday, but Milo just thinks it's par for the course, since he gets treated the same way wherever he goes.

My new name is....

Mrs. Nesbit! Milo called me that last night when he was taking a bath. He offered me a cup of "tea" and said "Enjoy your tea, Mrs. Nesbit!" At first I was laughing hysterically because I didn't know where he got that name from, and just thought it was funny as heck, and then I remembered that's what the mean kid's sister in Toy Story calls Buzz Lightyear when she's playing with Buzz and having a tea party with her dolls. Buzz is slightly off the deep end at that point and is wearing a flowered hat on top of his astronaut helmet. That made me laugh even harder, because it's one of my favorite scenes in the movie. A few times today Milo called me Mrs. Nesbit instead of Mommy, just to make me laugh, and it worked every time. So feel free to call me Mrs. Nesbit. I might announce that its' my new name tomorrow at work, just to see if A) anyone blinks an eye at it, and B) if they can figure out where it came from.

Feelin' better

Almost back to 100%! Woo hoo!! I had more energy today than I have all week...so I pretty much spent the day doing laundry. check that, I spent all stinkin' weekend doing laundry! Between sheets, towels and my boys, the hamper is never empty.

Milo is feeling better also. He is over his rotavirus, and appears to be quickly on the mend from a cold. Maybe we'll have a day or two of nobody being sick!

I got to experience the pooping in public bathrooms joy for myself yesterday. We were at Shoprite doing our once-a-month giant grocery shop and Milo announced that his tummy hurt. Finally after another aisle or two, he said he needed to go to the bathroom, although he had refused up to that point. We were in the bathroom forever. First he had to take off most of his clothes because it was a tall toilet (we were in the handicapped stall so we had more room; I hate being crammed into the tiny stalls when Milo is in there with me), and then it took forever for the kid to poop. It was a lot of poop and it was STINKY. I spent a large portion of this time gagging and retching, while Milo was saying "What's the matter, Mom? I think it smells fresh!" I pity the poor souls who came in and out of the bathroom while we were in there, goodness only knows what they were thinking. Once Milo was finally done, and got his clothes back on and got washed up, he said he felt all better. I'll bet; I think he left half his body weight behind!

Now I have much more sympathy for the poor girl who had to take Milo to the bathroom the other day :)