Little Kite Girl

Mom-ergency Saturday

August 14th, 2010

So, over the last few weeks I have read some HILARIOUS/HORRENDOUSLY scary posts. Posts involving situations in which there is some sort of child-related emergency and panic-level is high, but the blog post afterward is good for some “Oh holy crap what would I have done?” chuckles.

So I thought I’d try to collect them for you and share them with you on Saturdays, while giving some of my favorite bloggers some link love, as well.

So, for your Saturday reading pleasure…

Mom-ergency number one from Fluent Brittish. The pictures are what really made it.

Thanks for reading.

Posted in Interesting finds | 1 Comment »

Auto-correct me not. Please.

August 14th, 2010

So if there is one feature the iPhone has that drives me insane, it’s the auto-correct. It’s great for when I’m trying to type (tap?) quickly and it’ll finish my words for me, but it has the annoying tendency of INSISTING on a word that I don’t mean.

Take for instance yesterday.

I had a rough day.

John texted me to ask me to go running with him last night, and I replied, “Probably not. I feel like hell.” And I wanted it to say hell. (Sorry for those of you who feel that hell is a bad word. Moving on.) But the iPhone kept auto-correcting it to he’ll. I’d erase, type hell, it’d auto-correct he’ll. We did this for a minute before I FINALLY typed Hell. Which was annoying, because for some reason I felt that it undermined just how tired and awful I felt to use the proper noun, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the right version of the word.

And for some reason, whenever I type I love you very fast, it always turns into “Internet.”

I think it’s a conspiracy.

Posted in Random unpleasant things | 3 Comments »

Because even on a good day I find myself hiding in the pantry sneaking cookies at 4:39pm.

August 10th, 2010

Today was a good day. I planned to take Cy up to a library a few towns over (up? down?) for their end-of-year Summer Reading Program party. The theme: Go Green! So I put him in a cute eco-friendly themed-shirt, he actually woke up from his nap right on time- and off we went!

I didn’t really know what to expect. I kind of accidentally joined their group. I had gone up there as kind of a fluke (I pass like, 3 libraries on my way to this particular library, but it’s in an area that’s nice to walk around sometimes) and the librarian said I should sign him up even though they usually started kids at 3. I was thrilled that someone seemed like they WANTED him to participate, and although we didn’t go back much in between I wrote down the books he read as we read them and got to put 29 stamps on the board for him today. He also got a prize (a few cheap cars, probably and ironically made from some cheap, breakable plastic)(HELLO SUSTAINABLE LIBRARY PRIZES?RIGHT?) which sent him over the MOON, but not as over the moon as the little concert they had for the party.

It was a guy and a guitar. And a slideshow with pictures of the earth and the planets and the stars, and funny songs about recycling and composting and dances for the kids to learn. And Cy ATE.IT.RIGHT.UP. He was busting a move, singing along and wildly pointing at the picture of the earth on his shirt

Bust a MOVE. It was pretty awesome, and I was so proud of his attention span, his apparent care for the environment (haha), and how he tried to sing along and participate. My FAVORITE part, though was when he leaned on my back with his head resting on my shoulder, his little body moving with the rhythm of the song, and reached around and gave me a cuddly kiss on the cheek. MW-WA. It was awesome to be rocking out with him, feeling his joy and affection and enjoying what turned into a total event for him. And me. It made my day today. It made me feel like a fun mommy and a good community member rolled into one. And when we left Cy waved and said, “Goodbye ‘body!” and laid his little head on my shoulder and went all limp as if to say, “SO tired.” So even if he’s big enough to dance it up at a party, he still needs me to carry him to the car afterward.

Which just reminded me of a post I’ve been meaning to write about how toddlers are a lot like college students.

But anyway.

Have a good night folks.

Posted in All About Baby, Books, Green Me, Interesting finds | 2 Comments »

The Quest for the Perfect Vacuum

August 9th, 2010

So. I’m a bit of a vacuumer. I like to have clean floors. All winter I think, “I can’t wait for summer so that the floors won’t get so dirty!” and then all summer I think, “I can’t wait for winter so the floors don’t get so dirty!” I think I’m realizing that floors just get dirty. Up until recently I used 4 (FOUR) devices in my clean floor quest.

First, the Carpet Sweeper.

I love this thing. I originally bought it because Cy was TERRIFIED of the vacuum cleaner. (He’s not anymore.) But I became addicted. It does a GREAT job on hardwood floors and short carpets. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s easy to clean up. I want to buy another one so I don’t have to bring the one I have upstairs and downstairs all the time. But that might be overkill. Maybe.

Second, I use a Stick Vacuum cleaner…

I use this in the kitchen, hallways, anywhere where dustbunnies accumulate and when I want to get up the million Cheerios left behind after breakfast. When I don’t to use the beast.

Which brings me to…The BEAST:

It’s great. Except that I actually sprained my diaphragm hauling it up the stairs one day. Not even kidding. It weighs 40,894 lbs. It worked well, but I always avoided using it and therefore used EVERY OTHER THING IN THE WORLD, including a old, broken -down version of one of these to do the molding, walls, ceiling and other cracks and crevices that I didn’t want to haul the big vacuum around for.

In short: it was a freaking hassle.

Until…this…

Oh the Dyson. The Dyson that has LITERALLY replaced everything except for the Carpet Sweeper, that cleans the floors and the molding and the ceiling and the mini-blinds and the STAIRS and even my child. Yes, I have vacuumed my child with this vacuum. That’s how good it is.

I even got a super deal on it. I saw it online for much less than it was in the local Sears…but I had read in Parenting Magazine about “bartering,” so I used the “I’d love to keep my business local, but unless you can do a price match I’ll have to get it online.” (Did you read that too?) And then I WALKED AWAY from the PERFECT VACUUM and mourned the shipping time awaiting me. And then the salesman found me and made a deal. And then I felt very powerful indeed.

I actually had a dream about this vacuum. It was PERFECT except for one thing…the wand kept me from being able to get up close to things with the hose. I was kind of put out…worried that it’d get cumbersome and I’d have to go back to the canister to get under the couch, etc…but then I had a dream that I could detach the wand part and just use the hose with the other attachments. I actually troubleshooted the problem in my DREAMS, and when I tried it it WORKED. And that’s how obsessed I am. And how perfect the vacuum is.

And that is the end of the story.

Except that now I have my eye on this:

Ahhh. Clean floors. Niiiceeee.

Nothing in this post was sponsored, but if anyone wants to give me free vacuums or mops after the fact…I’m always game…

Posted in Interesting finds, Rambles | No Comments »

Cy Prays

August 7th, 2010

Cy prayed all on his own tonight, with no prompting from me. And this is what he said:

OH FATHER,

Play! Park? Cars. Mac. Pop and Doc-her. Shurs and God. Tooth brush. GOOD DAY! Night.

Sheesh,

MAYMEN!

I will translate for you:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Play! Park! Cars! Mac (the character from Cars…I guess Cy would like him blessed). Pop Pop at the doctor (my Dad’s in the hospital with pneumonia. Yeah, not cool) Church and God (I guess because I was talking about going to church tomorrow? But he says it “shurs”. Tooth brush = gratitude for his new battery operated Thomas toothbrush, which pretty much made his year. Good day! Night. Sheesh = In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.

It was pretty awesome.

Posted in All About Baby | 2 Comments »

Choo Choo

August 6th, 2010

On our anniversary we rode a little train about an hour away from our house. The ride was about 10 minutes long, we went twice. Cy loved it.

Here’s a cute one of him with John.

Here’s a blurry one of him with me. The better to hide my bangs with, my dear. I cut them myself in the bathroom a couple of days ago. I was desperate.

I find it rather amusing that every single one of our anniversaries has had something to do with Cy. Our first anniversary we went and picked out an Atlas, went to dinner, and got Cy some books for our “paper anniversary.” I was 8 months pregnant. Our second anniversary we went to dinner (again) (we do that sometimes) and bought a blanket. That is now on the twin bed in Cy’s room. It was our “cotton” anniversary. This was our leather anniversary. Can I tell you how hard it was to find a leather item that was a) affordable and b) not an annoying piece of garbage? We settled on a leather bank shaped like an elephant, beautiful colors. Hopefully it’ll bring us luck this year. And I’m pretty sure Cy has tried to claim it a few times. I just like the idea of running across these items years from now an remembering a day spent looking for something that just felt right to commemorate another year. This year it was a red and yellow leather elephant bank. I wonder what that says about our marriage?

Posted in Day to day | No Comments »

Enter Someone Else’s Wittiness (Is that how you spell that?)

August 5th, 2010

I didn’t feel very good today.

So I’m not going to be witty.

But I shall pass on someone else’s wittiness. Good times.

Also: I’m half jealous I’m not at BlogHer.

Posted in Day to day | No Comments »

For Richer, For Poorer

August 3rd, 2010

Another year later, and we’re still waiting for the richer. ;)

Reading through my August posts from last year I noticed that a lot of things have changed in one year. Nothing consequential, but a few things. My vacuum quest has ended, which I’ll be writing about later. I’ve learned to love those AI2′s or pocket diapers that were so mysterious to me a year ago, apparently. Our child now sleeps through the night, although he did wake up last night all stuffed up and coughing. And he still woke up a little after 7. So some things change and some things stay the same.

More than that, though, we’re still here. We’re still together. We’re still moving forward with our life plans and getting degrees and enjoying our beautiful son. Once again, I don’t think anyone plans on living with their Mom and Dad (or Mom and Dad in-law) on their 3rd anniversary. But I find myself in the unique position of being grateful for where we are, who we are with, and the challenges and blessing we’ve experienced in the last three years. We’d still like John to be able to find a better job. And I’d like for all the things I’ve been planning to work out in September. But you know, all in time.

As for what I think we’ll do today…I’m really not sure. I only learned last night at about 5pm that John had a personal day, allowing him two whole days off in a row. Also: we’re not really rolling in the dough. Each year we’ve tried to get something that goes along with the anniversary gift calendar thing…our first year, the paper anniversary (I was 8 months pregnant) we bought an Atlas for driving across the country and two books for our impending child. Last year on the cotton anniversary we bought a blanket that started out on our bed and has navigated itself to Cy’s bed. This year is our “leather” anniversary. John was saying something about getting tattoos last night. Maybe we’ll do that. Nothing says leather anniversary like etching love affirmations in our flesh. My guess is we’ll go for something a bit different.

No matter what we do though, 3 years later has found us still working towards some common end, surrounded by people who love us and our son. Good times.

Posted in Holiday! | 1 Comment »

Little Accomplishments

July 30th, 2010

I think I seriously wore my kid out today, which is always a good thing. We read all of our library books TWICE. (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.) We had a great playdate in the morning with a little boy we met at Music Together and his Mom- and it was just really…relaxing. It was also the first time I’ve seen Cy actually play with another child for an extended period of time. Up until now it’s been parallel play all the way, but these two boys played in the sand together, played in the rock garden with dump trucks together, played on the sliding cube together…they talked and laughed and Cy cracked up so hard at one point he fell backwards out of his cube onto his head. And was tuckered out by lunchtime.

But happy, as you can see.

He’s been talking SO MUCH today. I had a bandaid on my foot, and he kept saying, “Mommy toe hurt?” until I assured him that I would be ok. And he insisted that I put on a “Dadgum” bandaid. Because nothing heals a hurt toe like Mater the Greater. He’s also saying “I hungry” now instead of signing for food. I wondered when he’d make that switch. He also says, “I love you” now. And that just feels good to my soul.

And, the most important achievement of the day…

He built this ALL. BY. HIMSELF. I left him on his own to play while I got his room ready for bed, filled up the humidifier and got a fresh cup of water, etc. We had just finished “clean up clean up” time and all the “bocks” were broken down and in the container. When I got back he held it up and said, “Hair-pane!” Translated, “Airplane!”

I was impressed. Even though it was bedtime we set it up to take a picture, and I told him I was so proud of what he built and he pointed at his chest and said, “I build!” Then, as I was taking a picture with my phone he said, “Cheeeesseeee!” as if I were taking a picture of him. He’s a good one. For sure.

And one more wee memory to share…

I covered broccoli in cheese and called it “trees” to try and get him to eat some. When he heard me say “trees” he looked out the window, looked down at his plate incredulously, leaned his ear in close, sat up and asked, “Birds?”

Poor kid.

He didn’t eat any broccoli.

Posted in All About Baby | No Comments »

Baby Boy and New Shoes

July 29th, 2010

Someone’s getting older. And bigger!

I find it amusing that I kind of bought the same shoes twice. In different sizes. From different brands. And to be true…La La bought these shoes. I got the one pair I went to the store to get. She got two more because she’s La La. Here’s a pic of Cy in his favorites.

Oh yeah, light up firetrucks.

Also, he’s all about eating at the big boy table now. Great for the cute factor. Not great for the concentration/actually sit and eat your food factor. Ah well.

Posted in All About Baby | 1 Comment »