Yikes!

Thanks Andy! I got my "Invitational Entry" to the Boston Marathon today. It is pretty obvious that I will never make the 3 hour 40 minute qualifying time to earn my own number (I am hoping to come in respectably some time less than 2 hours later). I am going to make it official today and send in my check for (choke) $200. There is little that would keep me from doing it after that sizable of investment (incidentally it was $600 cheaper than the last number I heard about!). Thank-you HH for giving me the race number! It has been my dream to do the marathon since we moved here. So now it is time for a little less dreaming and a lot more doing!

If you would like a race number too click here for ideas. I would LOVE the company!

Why Not Shoplift a New Purse....Doh!

Of course I never meant to shoplift. It just was one of those days. After five days of being cooped up in the house, we finally got our happy mini-van back with it's new "tranny". There was no way we were going to spend the rest of the day stuck in the house, so I broke my own rule of no recreational shopping during the crabby hours. Actually, no one was crabby. We were ALL happy to be liberated and looking at nothing in particular. That is when I saw it. I have been thinking about a new satchel for awhile now. Something I could tuck a diaper in, but not much else. The whole idea of a great satchel for me is that I can't be encumbered. I just want a purse with a long strap, so I can be hands free, and not too much bulk, three kids is enough bulk. I have been carrying around basically a wallet on a string with back-up diapers and pants in the car. But, with potty training, there have been a few times that having a convenient pair of fresh pants would have been handy. I found one that fit the bill and wasn't too pricey either. I decided to swing it over my shoulder and let it audition. We roamed over to the toys and played for a bit. That is when I heard Abizella, "I'm too late! I'm too late Mommy!" Oh no. In my excitement to flee the house I forgot to run everyone to the toilet first. Too late now. I grabbed all the kids and did the march of shame to the nearest employee to request a mop. After that unpleasantness, I headed straight to the car, only to get a few steps from the store and notice I still had my potential new purse slung over my shoulder. Well it passed the test of me barely noticing it. After our soggy march back into the store to pay for said purse, I vowed never to leave my purse without some emergency pants again (thus rationalizing a new purse). Some of you may be thinking,"What a great idea, but a better idea is to throw a pull-up on the kid." That could save some grief too.

P.S. Here's your chance to leave comments like, "Why not acknowledge that Abizella is not potty trained?" and "Why not carry stuff around for your kids and stop using up my good supplies?"...

"Trot Trot to Boston"

Tadpole took his first train ride. Everyone was pumped to use this medium of transportation. We decided that Pops needed a lunch date. Thanks to help from his boss, Dana, we had a 1:1 adult to kid ratio which made for a surprisingly pleasant lunch (especially since Abizella was Dana's little buddy....hey don't feel too bad for him, he is a seasoned veteran, he has twin girls!). After lunch we roamed the streets of Downtown Crossing and chased a few pigeons.

The kids and I had a great excursion. The only real low point was getting from South Station to Downtown crossing, there are no less than 8 elevators! Between crossing the labrynth of platforms to get to the next elevator and having the door's of the train slam on my shoulder blades while trying to pull the stroller off the train, I think it is safe to say I will be leaving the stroller home next time. The kid's did great. Tadpole just grinned and grinned all day long and the kids were really good about staying close, and the only one who threw a tantrum was me (all those D@*#! urine soaked elevators!). I actually took great pride marching through the city with my little band of tots. I loved hearing everyone shovel all the compliments on my little kiddies. Everyone always ended with the same comment, "You've got your hands full!" Little do they know it is a lot less trouble to haul 3 kids into the city than leave them to their own devices at home...

Finger Lickin' Good!

Tadpole is a solid food champ! He REALLY loves eating like a big boy. I have started him on solids about 2 months earlier than the other kiddies, but I am motivated by my impending marathon and decreasing Tadpole's dependance on me is key. I find feeding babies to be messy and labor intensive, so I typically put it off as long as I can stand the doctor's badgering. I have to say that either Tadpole is a natural eater (finally I get a kid who LIKES to eat) or my expectations are lower. Either way, he is off to the races.

After Tadpole took so well to solids, I spent the evening making some baby food for the kiddo. It wasn't until I poured it into the ice cube trays that I realized that everything I picked was orange...from left to right, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash,. So much for eating the colors of the rainbow...

But so far he has been a big fan of the orange foods. He has a veracious appetite too! This particular day he drank PLENTY of milk, 2 ice cubes of sweet potatoes and half a bowl of cereal and then about 2 minutes later passed out in his chair. After transferring him to his bed he slept 3 hours. Gotta love those growth spurts!

We're not having as good of luck with applesauce. But the good news is that applesauce set me up to mimic my favorite photo shoot of all time. SK has a classic series of pics of AK rejecting her first meal. Here is Tadpole's take on applesauce. You will either find this really funny, or you will be submitting this as exhibit A to DSS.





Seriously, what kind of mom keeps shoveling it in and snapping photos while the poor infant wretches?

Fulfilling My Dream of Being a Puppeteer

This week was my turn to teach Superkid's pre-school and as luck would have it we are on the letter "P" in the alphabet. It was like all of the stars were aligning. What better "P" word than "Puppet"? I FINALLY had my excuse to build my own puppet stage. The kids and I went to a marionette performance of Cinderella performed by the Tanglewood Marionetts a few days after Christmas. The magic wasn't lost on Abizella (who dressed like a princess for the performance)

or Superkid who came home and made his own Superman and Batman puppets out of his socks.


Ever since the marionette show I too have been wondering how I could enter the world of puppeteering. We fashioned this puppet stage out of Tadpole's carseat box and covered it with some of S.K.'s tablecloth discards and WAH-LAH! Magic! The whole family got into the spirit by making puppets that were patterned after ourselves (notice the attention to detail on Pops' puppet).

Just for fun, Pops clicked some pictures of the kids and I rehearsing scenes from, "The Very Busy Spider" and "Knuffle Bunny".

I have to admit we are not purists. Abizella had a tough time sticking to the scripts. She insisted on throwing this ferocious shark into each show. She happens to be a big fan of the scary sea creatures. You have to admit that having a shark jump on stage and sending all of the other characters screaming away is pretty good comedy.

We're feeling pretty good about our dress rehearsals so we are ready for opening night. This week we will be showing Superkid's rendition of, "Itsy, Bitsy Spider".

Why Not Save The Planet?

And who better for the job than a super hero? That's right, Superkid is now in charge of all Toad recycling matter. I have been meaning to be better at recycling for years. This last year I have managed to get the cardboard recycled, but have struggled to do the rest. So yesterday Superkid got a crash course in recycling. We talked about how you can melt down metals and form them into new metals and how you can melt plastic and form it into new plastic. Superkid seized on this concept. He said, "Does that mean that the metal and plastic TRANSFORMS Mama?" Now for those of you that have been around here the last few months you probably know how exciting that is for Superkid! Remember that pile of cardboard I have in the basement? Superkid and I went down there and cut it into regulation size, all the while with Superkid making his best Transformer noises, "Kah Kah Kuck Kah Kush" as the card board "transformed". He also rinsed some bottles and cans to toss in the recycling box before we carried it to the curb. He is taking his new responsibility very seriously. I think this is where PBS has really shined. Somehow all of those cartoons he has watched have made him believe that "chores" are cool. He is pumped to have his "very own chores", and I am pumped to finally save the planet. It's about time.

Surf n' Turf

While I have been climbing the learning curve of my new computer situation I missed out on posting some fun activities last week. On the "Surf" side of things, we went to a pool party last week! It was in celebration of our friend S.Z. getting her cast removed. Congrats S.Z.! Your arm looks as good as new. To hear Superkid and Abizella talk, your pool party was the best thing going since Christmas! I had a great time too. I snagged Tadpole's little girlfriend ME and I was in ecstasy squeezing their cherubic thighs.

And on the "Turf" side of things, I finally got good pics of the kids playing in the snow. We got a good storm last Monday and Tadpole was cooperative and took a nap so the rest of us could go out and have a snowball fight and did a little sledding on the neighbor's lawn.

Digging Out Day

Why is it that, that "day of rest" turns into a WHOLE Monday of digging out? I am up to my eyebrows in toys, dishes and laundry, and that is with Pops actually making some effort yesterday (no thanks to me). I spent 8 hours yesterday messing around with our new back-up hard drive and iPhoto, only to find at 11:00 p.m. that I can't even retrieve my pictures from iPhoto to post on the blog under my new current arrangement. Seriously, what is the point of having pictures if I can't broadcast them to the world? So this afternoon I am going in for my second in one week, much needed, "Mac Intervention" (no Andy, this is, once again, not my much needed "Mac Intervention" in the cosmetic world, I'll be sure to schedule you for that one!). So hopefully after an afternoon at the Apple Store I will come away with a "system" that works for me and a deeper love for iPhoto (which right now, my esteem can only improve). So once again, I ask for your patience, hopefully after a day of digging and training I will have the time and skills necessary to get into that back-log of posts I have planned!

Why Not Do SOMETHING About That Basement?

This Wednesday I had a far less desirable "Why-Not Wednesday" activity than sunning myself at the beach (in January!!!...I still can't get over that!). For those of you that have better things to do than read posts on house cleaning, please skip this one. But alas, if you have ever actually been to my house, and been in my basement, you would recoginize that ANY effort I put into making it habital is not only a step in the right direction, but worthy of a blog post.

I have a long, long past with creepy basements and a better part of my nightmares are from the creepy basement in the house that I grew up in. I consider myself a pretty brave person, but the day we moved into this house I nearly had to be resusitated when I thought I saw a whole bunch of creepy long bug legs poking straight into the air on the water heater in the basement. Pops, Andy and HH more than likely thought I was over-reacting but bug legs and basements (that I pretty much signed my life away to own) are THE WORST combination EVER!

My phobia of basements was nurtured at a tender age as my grandmother would sing a sweet little folk song about how when children run away in China they are tied up in rags and thrown into the basement where rats and mice would run all over them.

Returning to my childhood basement, it has been the backdrop of not only my own worst nightmares but my siblings as well. I don't know that anyone ever has seen the very back corner of the basement. And if I remember right, as you got to the back of the basement there were all these interesting different levels and at some points you have to crawl. I believe there was a little midget door at the back that let out under our back porch and undoubtlbly some homeless boogey man crawled in and out of at night. This is in addition to the side door, that the kidnapper used, that let out to the yard. There was also a door that led into the house that protected us from the boogey man and kidnapper by a $2 padlock (I'm sure the lock was not there to protect the yummy Doritos and Chips A'hoy from mirading invaders). Don't get me wrong, our basement was not messy. Bampa herded all of us kids together twice a year to clean the basement, it was just old and crumbly and very very dark. The scene in the movie, National Treasure where they are creeping under the church in the underground chamber and eventually find the treasure is actually stollen from my nightmares. I sware I have had that dream a million times where there is some secret passage in the basement that leads to a bunch of skeletons and for some reason I just keep going deeper and deeper.

So this "Why-Not Wednesday" I decided to make our basement a little more homey. Superkid is super scared of our basement, and I don't blame him. When I invite him down with me he tries to play it cool and say he doesn't like the smell (which is a ligitmate). We recently purged the basement of a lot of unessecaries so you can actually walk through it. So I decided to spruce it up even more by pulling out our new vacuum and taking it for its maiden run down the stairs. Can I just say that vacuum technology has come a long way in the last 20 years (the supposed age of our hand-me-down vacuum)? We just bought the cheapy wanna-be Dyson $69 vacuum and it blew me away....but then again, ANYTHING would have been an improvement. I am sure it would have made an interesting archeological study to go back through the layers of filth and divine all of the construction projects Pops has drug across the steps, not to mention all of the grime from the last 60 years.
I also collapsed all the fun packages that came in the mail for Christmas and they will be put out next garbage day.

Scientific Inquiry

Ever since Superkid was a wee little guy I have enjoyed watching the wheels in his head turn. I claimed early on that he would be an engineer as I have watched his insatiable desire to figure out how things work. Often Pops and I commented that we couldn't wait to hear what he was thinking about. As he learned to talk, we found that most of the time it is about super heroes and robots. Occasionally we get a good conversation about something else. Friday Superkid and I were sitting on the couch watching cartoons. He turned to me and said, "Mama, why does the earth turn around in circles?" I have to admit, I wasn't really paying attention so he asked again and this time he looked reflective and nodded as he answered his question, "I think it is because of gravity." Now he had my attention. I said, “Oh really? Where does the gravity come from?” He said it was from the sun. I was very impressed with his statement and super excited to be holding a scientifically intellectual conversation. Then he thought for a minute more and said, "Maybe the earth spins because the moon goes in circles around it and the wind from the moon turns the earth." Sounded like a reasonable thought to me, especially from a 4 year old. Then he put a little more thought into it and said, "Maybe Jesus made asteroids and robots that...." and then he was off into his favorite world again. But I have to respect a kid that questions the world and comes up with his own hypotheses.

Earlier in the week Pops and Superkid watched a NOVA special called "Absolute Zero" it was about cold. Superkid was fully enthralled. It took me a couple of days to figure out why, but he started experimenting with cold. While brushing his teeth one morning he told me he was going to make, "toothpaste ice cream". He spit his foamy toothpaste remains into his cup of water and put it in the refrigerator. I found it later and tossed it. He was very mad at me for tossing his experiment and insisted that he needed to do it again. So for most of last week we had a cup of "toothpaste ice cream" in the fridge that he would check on throughout the day and occasionally sample. He would also grab a little chair to stand on and open up the freezer and stick his head inside. When I would question what he was doing he would say, "I'm checking out the cold mom!"

Saturday Pops was making Mac and Cheese for lunch and he added some salt to the water. Superkid asked why he did that. Pops explained that he wanted to make the water boil faster so the salt would change the boiling point. He asked Superkid if he knew what happened to the water molecules as they got warmer. Superkid said that the water expanded. He is our little genius. He must get it from Bampa. I remember when I was in high school he tried to stump me with this zinger that he heard on Jeopardy, "What is the molecular make-up of ice?" I said (and I am sure with no sarcasm), "H20". As he pulled his jaw off the table he said, "How'd you know that?!"

January Reprieve

This week's "Why-Not Wednesday" actually started with a trip to the beach on Tuesday. With record temperatures in the high 60's I just couldn't ignore the tide calling my name. What a gorgeous day. Abizella, Tadpole and I grabbed some Mickey-D's and Superkid from Pre-school and headed to the beach. The tide was as high as it gets (without a storm) so we started our frolicking at the playground. Tadpole took his first ride in a swing alongside Abizella while Superkid and I played "cube baseball". This is another great idea of Superkid's. Basically I pitch 3 Legos, hooked together, to Superkid and he takes a swing. The exciting part comes when he smacks to Legos and they explode like shrapnel across the park. From past baseball outings I wasn't too worried about Superkid hitting too many of my pitches but he had a pretty good batting average. In the end I couldn’t ignore the stink eye from the fellow parents who were shielding their children from the fire; we abandoned the game and went down on the beach to scurry around on the rocks. It just felt so great to be in the sun!




(Notice my photo-genius. I caught the "cube baseball" after pitching it and before Superkid hitting it on my camera phone.)

So after a day of sun worshipping I was ready for the Spring. So why not bring a little Spring into the lilypad? Today I dug out some bulbs that I saved from planting this fall and the kids and I threw them into this fun glass pot.

I got it last year at Costco with some tulip bulbs that had been forced. I love this pot because you can see the roots, the bulbs, the stem and the flower. Being the nerdy science type I am REALLY into this. Now I can bore the kids as we watch the bulbs grow little by little each day. Only problem is that they have to be placed in the dark cold basement for several weeks to simulate winter before they will flower (should have checked my resources a few months ago). So much for my instant spring! I might have to keep my eyes peeled for the Costco pot again.

Post-Christmas Blues

I thought getting over Halloween was tough (not that I am STILL not answering questions about when we will next go trick-or-treating and practicing our best scary faces), but Christmas is going to be a high hurdle. First there was the taking down of the Christmas tree a couple of days after Christmas. Superkid was almost in tears (which is better than last year's real tears) as I removed the ornaments. But things got ugly when it came to the tinsel. As I pulled it strand by strand, Superkid was beside me complaining, "Mama, you are un-shining our Christmas tree!" After getting sidetracked by a dirty diaper, I came back to find Superkid, "re-shining" the tree. We had a talk about how wonderful it is that Christmas had already past and now all of the toys were opened and we can play with them, But Superkid is undeterred. Since he could tell that he wasn’t getting the action he needed from me, he took matters into his own hands. The next day a couple of his friend's came over to play and Superkid slung his frog backpack over his shoulder and stuffed it full of toys. He then proceeded to hand out toys to all of the happy children, all the time belting out the deepest, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" he could muster.



It has now become his favorite game. Yesterday I caught him creeping up Abizella's playhouse and stuffing the chimney full of toys.


Abizella has taken to re-living her favorite part of Christmas, opening presents! Yesterday we went to Target and Abizella got to redeem her potty training chart for her pick in the dollar bin. She chose a purple pair of princess shoes. When we got home I pulled them out of the bag and started to open the box for her. She got upset and pulled the pink heart wrapping paper to insisted I buy and told me, "No Mom! I need it to be a surprise!" So we wrapped up her shoes. All day long she carried around the package. She and Elmo chatted about her surprise. I was wondering if the package would ever get opened. My curiosity was put to rest when Pops came home. Abizella ran and got her, "surprise" and opened it for Daddy. She was right, he was the perfect adoring audience. He even helped her slip them on Cinderella style and then held her up in front of the mirror!

"Thanks, I'm All Set"

That happens to be my favorite New Englandism. I think the attitude is espoused anywhere, but I love how New Englanders sum it up, "Ya, I'm all set". I like to joke around and say it. I like to say it and mean it too (but I always laugh in the back of my head when I do). To me it basically means two things. #1 I don't want your help and #2 I like being stuck in my rut. I have to be honest with you, that is pretty much how I feel most of the time too. But being as it is a New Year and in the spirit of self-betterment I am going to turn over a new leaf. Thus I introduce to you, "Why-Not Wednesdays" (yes, I realize it is now Thursday, but the idea was born on Wednesday, plus it just sounds better). This is going to be my day of week to pick one thing that I normally would not do and actually do it, you know; live outside the box a little. I am not going to promise that everything I pick will enhance my life. Sometimes we might just sit at home all day in our jammies and eat junk to be different (wink).

For my "Why-Not Wednesday” kick-off I would like to touch on both aspects of the, "Ya, I'm all set" attitude. As much as I like to play Superwoman, occasionally I find myself in the humble position asking for a favor, and so it was on Tuesday. We were on the road to Pop's boss's New Year's party. We quickly stopped for a tank of gas only to find that our car would not start back up. So we were stuck. Sadly my first reaction was to call the tow company and pop out the stroller and start walking home. However if you were in these parts New Year's Day you know that it was pretty inclement. I called my good friend the Ascoa Widow to give us a lift home. Without even taking a breath she not only offered to pick us up but also insisted that we take one of their cars for the week. To myself I thought, "Thanks, we're all set. Just the ride please." I sat there trying to come up with a convincing argument why the Toads didn't need to accept their kind offer so I would be prepared when they came to pick us up. Surely the Toads could live without a car for a few days. We could hang at home and walk down to the mechanics to pick the car up when it was ready. In the end I didn't labor my friend with my list of reasons I didn't need to accept her generosity, but still wrestled with feelings of guilt for taking the car and spent the rest of the night trying to come up with a good way to re-pay her kindness. Does anyone else struggle with this? Why is it so hard to accept help? The Ascoa Widow is my friend; I would do the same for her. I am EXTREMELY grateful that she and her husband rescued us. So this week's "Why Not Wednesday" is Why not accept a little help?

And it turns out the car problem was a dead battery. Doh! I am pretty happy not to be ringing in the New Year with a hefty car bill but it seems a little stupid to have the car towed for a new battery. So after being the proud owner of a driver's license for more than half my life now, WHY NOT just break down and get a set of jumper cables? Now I realize there are MANY MANY of you out there who have come to my aid over the years to give me a jump and are hitting your forehead in despair that it has taken me so long to come to this conclusion. I am sure there are those of you who would be willing to come give me a jump when the occasion next occurs, but WHY NOT have my very own cables? Now I REALLY will be "all set"!