The Dog

After Bear and I got married, we talked more seriously about having kids. I told him that I wanted kids. He said "lets get a puppy instead". So we did. Enter Cami. She was the only girl out of the whole litter of seven or eight puppies that were found abandon in a cardboard box and taken in by the pound. She had huge ears for a very young puppy and they used to flop down over her eyes. She was adorable.

Bear's master plan to put off having kids worked!... for a little bit.

Having a puppy wasn't enough for me. So we got pregnant with Monkey. Now we have a puppy (that Bear occasionally refers to as "failed birth control") and newborn Monkey. We thought that Monkey and Cami would be best friends and grow up together. Six years later, this is not the case.

Monkey likes the dog, but Cami tends to be "aggressively passive". She will live in your personal space bubble unless you force her out. Monkey likes her space.

Bug is the human this dog was meant for. They are two of a kind. Both full of energy, don't listen, and will eat anything. ANYTHING. They chase each other around the house. Cami playfully nips at Bug to get her going again and Bug lays on her and tries to ride on her back. They both have their tolerance thresholds, but they seem to be able to hold each other's attention much longer than anyone else in the family can. It makes for great entertainment watching them run around and wear each other out.

Maybe Bug is half dog and Cami is half Bug? Who knows. All I know is they make each other happy. And even though Cami is/was failed birth control, we all still love her. Most of all her kindred spirit, Bug.

Watering the Flower

Tis the Halloween season. There are lots of reasons to be out and about in costumes. This last Saturday night  we went to a church Halloween night with my parents. Bug was supposed to be a lion, but she refused to wear her hoodie with the tail and lion face, and Monkey was a purple flower. Monkey's costume is basically a purple, knee length dress with purple tulle flowers on the bodice, "petals" for the skirt, and green trim.

As we were walking to the car after the festivities were over, I overheard my mom and Monkey talking about her being a flower. My mom had a cup of water and was teasing Monkey that she was going to water her. Monkey was laughing and running away and playing with my mom about it. About a minute later, Monkey was walking in front of me and I couldn't resist. I threw the water that I had on her. She screamed. She cried. I laughed.

She was so upset. She went into insta-drama mode, crying and yelling at me. "Why would you do that?!" "That's not nice!" I told her that she was a flower and that I thought she needed water. Her response was fantastic:

"I'm not a real flower! I don't need to be watered!"

Bear tried to get her to calm down. He tried to explain to her that there was no reason to be so upset. She maintained that it wasn't nice of me to throw water on her and that it was mean of me to surprise her by doing so.

I didn't get her costume wet. She was wearing flip flops, so she didn't have to wear wet shoes or socks. She was dry within a couple minutes.

I knew that by doing that I was going to awaken the drama queen. At least this time I knew what I was doing. It wasn't a random crying fit because of some perceived slight against her. It was totally worth it.

I blame my mom for my sense of humor in torturing my children. She did it to me. I do it to my kids. And I am sure the cycle will continue. I also know that karma comes around, and I am only getting back what I gave my mom. That gives me confidence that one day my kids will find humor in the things from their childhood and not take life too seriously when they have their own kids.

The Social Butterfly

Monkey has been in school now for about three months. She has to go to before and after care (like school day care before and after school hours) because of my work schedule and Bear's school schedule. There are  kids in every grade from Kindergarten to at least 5th grade that are in before/after care. I like the idea of them all being in a social setting together because it is helping Monkey learn how to deal with kids a varying ages. She always comes home with stories about her friends and what they did before or after school.

This past Friday night, we went to her school for Fall Festival (also mentioned here). I dread social settings where I don't know anyone. I feel out of place and like I am forcing myself on someone if I do try to talk to them. This was important to Monkey though, so we went.

As we walked in the gate, Monkey was already yelling "HI!" to one of her friends. It seemed like every two minutes she was running off to be social with someone. The amusing thing was it wasn't just an "oh hey, ok bye" thing. She would walk up to them and say "Hi, *name*!" and give them the biggest smile and hug that should could come up with. She would tell them something she liked about them (ie: i really like your costume) or tell them how happy she was to see them. She would then introduce Bug to them, give them another big hug and run back to us to continue on with whatever we were doing.

On one hand I have major anxiety watching her run off and talk to everyone. On the other hand, I am happy that she is confident enough start branching away and becoming her own person. Her teacher mentioned to us that she is generally a popular kid. That she always has at least 4 or 5 kids around her at recess and that the kids all love her. I can only imagine what will happen in the future. I wish what every parent does of course, I just want her to be happy.

Love Bug

Bug makes me crazy most of the time. But I know deep down underneath the tantrums and the trouble is one of the sweetest kids I know. In the last two nights she has shown me two different examples of her compassion for other people.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Friday night we went to Monkey's school for the Fall Festival. There were games, food, silent auctions, face painting, and even a petting zoo. We got tickets and went on in. One of the first things the girls wanted to do was get their faces painted. Monkey got a pink sparkly heart and Bug got a sparkly blue heart.
As we walked away from getting their faces painted, I was carrying her while we figured out what to do next. Bug looked at my face and said "Heart mom?" I told her that I didn't get one. She just said "Oh" and put her head down on my shoulder. After a few seconds, she lifted her head back up and the following conversation occurred..

Bug: There mom!

Me: What where?

Bug: *wipes her cheek on my shoulder* There go mom!

Me: Whats that?

Bug: Heart you mom! *big grin*

Me: Oh thank you baby! Thats very nice of you to share your face heart with me.

Bug: Uh huh! I love you mom!

She then gave me kisses and we continued about the night.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Tonight (Saturday) we went to my parents' church for trick or treating, games, and some AMAZING chili. After everyone was done eating, it was time for Trunk-Or-Treat time. For those of you that don't know, Trunk or treat is trick or treat around the parking lot. People decorate their cars and set up games. It is very fun and easily controlled.

Anywho... back to the story...

Monkey and Bug were going around to each stop with big smiles and lots of "trick or treat"s and "thank you"s. We got to one car and Bug got to the front first. She said her cute little two year old "trick or treat!" and grabbed two pieces of candy instead of the one that she was supposed to take. I started to correct her and tell her to take only one, but I stopped myself. She turned around to Monkey and dropped one of the candies in her bucket, and took the other one for herself. Then she said "Ok lets go!" and the two of them ran off together to the next stop.
_________________________________________________________________________________

I have to say that I am very proud of her and her love for other people. I hope that she stays as considerate and loving when she gets older.

Stink Baby

Bug is very particular about the stuff that goes in the car with us in the morning. Cup and blankie are the every day items. Shoes and toys are optional and vary. Today it was her cabbage patch doll.

Getting to the sitter takes about half an hour. About ten minutes out Bug proudly proclaims from the back seat "Diaper, Mom! Poop!"

Really?! I am not looking forward to dealing with a poopy diaper and rush hour traffic.

Me: Ok Bug. I'll change it in a little bit.
Bug: Ok Mom. I do it.
Me: Uhm... just wait.
Bug: I did it mom! Baby stink diaper done. I change it!

Oh! I Get it! I am so glad that "Baby" had a dirty super and not Bug. The rest of the way to the sitter and most of the way home, Bug talked about changing the baby.

Very cute and mature. She is definitely my lovey kid. Bonus: she's never stingy with the hugs and kisses.

Multi-Purpose Cream

As a parent, certain things raise red flags. Crying and loud banging noises, shattering glass or pouring liquid. However, the biggest warning sign of all is silence.

Despite the saying, Silence is NOT golden.

Everyone in the house was doing their own thing. I was sewing. Bear was reading. Monkey was watching TV. Bug was.... uhm.... unaccounted for. She wasn't making any noise. She was not watching TV. Bear and I had the parental spidey sense at the same time. As I went walking down the hall to find our wonderful Bug, I heard Bear already talking to her. He beat me to it by about 10 seconds. But we found her.

She was washing her hands. And brushing her teeth. And brushing her hair. She wasn't using soap, toothpaste, or gel. She was using a tube of diaper rash cream. For all three things.

Her hands and the counter were covered in a moderate layer of the cream. We could not even see her skin. She had clumps and smears of cream on and around her mouth. And finally, she had her hair smeared straight up like Sonic the Hedgehog. I grabbed her up and swooped her away to the shower.

The shower was a pain all by its self. Diaper rash cream is water resistant. Lots of real soap. Lots of scrubbing with a hand towel, and still she came out of the shower a bit greasy.

I think I need to have my parent radar updated. It was a little slow on the pick up of the shenanigans of Bug.

Doing Homework

Bear recently lost his job. It has been a mixed blessing. On the upside it has given him the opportunity to go back to school. He can be a full time student and a part time stay at home dad. He is currently taking an art class. One of the projects he had to do was draw a picture that told a story. He chose to do a simple picture depicting trees and the changing of the seasons.

Monkey likes to do homework. She told Bear that she would help him do his homework. He politely declined. Because he has to turn this in for a grade, he didn't want Monkey messing with it. She asked again and said "but, I'm really good at coloring, Poppa." He again declined and this time told her that she couldn't help because his teacher wouldn't like it if someone else did his homeowork for him. She understood this and didn't ask again. Bear did draw up some circles for her to draw pictures in though. They sat at the table and drew and colored together.

These are the end results:

Bear's Homework



Angela's Picture

What Do They Say

Last week the girls and I were driving home from daycare. We had stopped off at the store to pick up a few things. One of the thinkgs that we got was a lion costume for Bug. It is a yellow pair of furry pants with a tail, and a puffy hoodie jacket. The hoodie has a lions face on the hood, and white on the chest/stomach area. So when she puts the pants on and zips up the hoodie, she looks like a little lion.

After we left the store, Bug was sitting in the back seat making lion noises. "RAWR!" This led into a round of "What sound does _____ make?" We ran through the usual suspects: cats, cows, chickens, roosters, dogs, lions, birds, and even fish. Then it got fun.

Me: "Bug, what sound do you make?"

Bug: "RAWR!"

Me: "What sound does Monkey (my daughter not the animal) make?"

Monkey: "Eeh Eeh Aah Aah!" (or however you spell the noise a real monkey makes)

Me: "What sound does Poppa (Bear) make?"

Bug: "Dinner!"

Me: "Poppa makes dinner?"

Bug: "Yup! At house! I hungee!"

Me: "What sound do I make?"

Bug: "No, Momma. No noise."

Monkey: "Tweet tweet!" (I'm Bird)

Monkey: "I'm done playing this game now mom, whats for dinner?"

Our conversation then moved on to dinner, chores, and what happened at daycare. My two year old helped me learn something new. Poppa makes the noise "Dinner!"

A Whole Different Kid

I like to keep my hair short. Usually it is just a bit longer than than the bottom of my ears. Monkey's hair has always been very long. We have trimmed the ends a few times but nothing more than an inch or so. Yesterday all of that changed.

I have been trying to grow my hair out. Haven't even trimmed it in about seven months. I have just come to terms with the fact that I just like short hair better. I decided it was time for a hair cut. I thought it would be good for Monkey to get her hair trimmed too.

When we got to the salon/shop whatever you want to call it Monkey said she knew what haircut she wanted. She wanted short like me. That was way too short for my comfort. I suggested we just trim it. That was denied instantly. As we looked through the haircut books we came to a compromise. Shoulder length with bangs.

I was worried that she would regret such a drastic change. My worries were quickly squashed. As the stylist cut her hair, Monkey stole glances in the mirror. Only on Christmas Day have I ever seen her so lit up and happy. She made her first big girl decision and she loved the outcome. I got a bit teary eyed at the milestone moment.

My Monkey looks like a totally different kid now. It is crazy how much of a difference a haircut makes.

"I Got You"

Yesterday after I picked up the kids from daycare, we had to go to the store to pick up a few things. I told the girls that they had to sit in the cart because I didn't have Bear with me to help keep an eye on them, and I knew the store would be busy. When we got out of the car I put both girls in the kid's seat in the cart. The cart was extra wide and could fit both of them up front.

As we walked through the parking lot, the cart bounced and jiggled because the pavement was not very smooth. Monkey said "Mom, I am so high up off the ground I think my flip flops might fall off."

Bug then reached over and put her left hand on Monkey's chest and said "I got you!"

Monkey started to tell Bug to stop touching her when I explained to her that Bug was trying to hold her back so she wouldn't fall. Bug translated what Monkey had said to mean that she was afraid SHE was going to fall out of the cart, so she was helping keep her sister safe.

We got into the store and Bug put her hand down and we went about our shopping. Once we got back onto the uneven terrain of the parking lot, Bug instantly put her hand back on Monkey's chest.

Sometimes my kids make me crazy, but its moments like this that I think matter the most.

Happy and Sad

This picture is one of the most telling pictures of my kids. Bug was only a month old when Monkey wanted to lay on the couch and snuggle her. I told her she could as long as A) Bug was on the pillow and up against the back of the couch and B) that Monkey didn’t lay ON her. As soon as Monkey laid down next to her, she draped one arm over her legs to half hug/snuggle her. Bug burst into tears. Monkey quickly backed off and covered her ears because she was so loud.

Two years later and I am still dealing with this scenario. Monkey wants to play, and Bug doesn’t and throws a fit. Or the other way around. They do love each other and about half the time they get along and play like BFF’s and other times… not so much. I do have to say though that I am both excited and terrified to see the relationship between my kids grow and evolve.

I guess all kids are half demon and half angel. Just gotta learn to go with the flow.

Just Like Momma

I have tattoos and piercings. Monkey has always liked them. From the time she was old enough to color on herself, she would mark on  herself and say "Momma!" Monkey likes to get temporary tattoos and put them on her arms. She has already told me she wants real tattoos. 

Bug has also started picking up a liking for them. I recently got a large tattoo on my side. Bug liked it so much she asked me for her own. "Tootoo! Tootoo mom! Me tootoo??" I asked her where she wanted it and she pointed to the same spot on her side that I have mine. I got a permanent marker and gave her her own "tootoo". She then ran around the house yelling "Me tootoo! Look poppa! Me tootoo!!"

Princess Glasses

Monkey recently got tested at school for her eyes and ears. Her hearing is fine, but she needs glasses. I knew this day would come for one or both of the kids eventually. Bear and I both wear glasses. Most of my family (immediate and extended) wear them, and a couple on Bear’s side do too.

After receiving this news, I posted on Facebook that she needs glasses. To me, not a big deal. I post lots of stuff about the kids on there. A couple of weeks after I posted that, Monkey came in to talk to me in tears. “Why did you tell all your friends I need glasses?!” I told her that I did not think it was that big of a deal. She continued to cry because she felt like by telling my friends that she needs glasses, that I was somehow making fun of her. I told her all the people I knew that wear glasses. Friends and family alike. We also talked about people she knew in school (all different ages) that wear glasses. She started to calm down when I remembered something my mom and I talked about a few days before.

My mom recommended that I make up stories about princesses needing to wear glasses. Monkey LOVES princesses and if they need glasses, it wouldn’t be so bad for her to need them.

“Monkey, think about it this way. If Cinderella had had her glasses on, she would have seen when her glass slipper fell off, and she could have grabbed it and not lost it.”

This was not the exact story my mom recommended… hers was better. It was if Cinderella had worn glasses she could have seen the floor better and could have cleaned it faster. But I couldn’t remember it in that moment and went with the first thing that popped in my head.

After my Cinderella story, Monkey looked at me and said “Mom, Cinderella had to lose her slipper because the prince had to find it so that he could find her. That’s the way the story goes.” Monkey then hopped down off the chair she was sitting on and went off to play.

I got shut down by a five year old.

P.S. the fact that I am posting this story again here after her getting upset that I posted on Facebook is not lost on me. :)

Nursery Rhymes with Bug

Bug is still learning how to talk, but she LOVES to sing. At daycare she has learned a few nursery rhymes. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, ABC’s, and Patty cake, patty cake are her three favorites. Most days in the car on the way home she likes to sing those songs to me. She cannot stay focused on one while she is singing though. She has created her own nursery rhyme mash-up.

“Tinkle tinkle star

How-uh, how-uh, how-uh, how-uh.

A B C B A B A B

Patty cake, patty cake

Roll it. Pat it.

BABY! MOMMY! YAY!!”

Sometimes she adds other family members to the list after Baby and Mommy. That list has extended to include: Monkey, Bear, Cami (our dog), grandparents, uncles, aunts, her cousin, and friends from day care. She is very generous with wanting to share her cake with people.

Love our Soldiers

This one is not so much a story, but love for our soldiers. A lot of my family is military. Monkey got a kid size uniform from my brother. She liked it, but didn't want me to take a picture and thats why she has the sad-ish face.

Nap Time

Bug likes to take care of people. She is very affectionate. She gives away kisses all the time. She also likes to make sure that people are comfortable. About a month ago, on a Saturday, she decided it was my nap time. She grabbed my hand, walked me into my bedroom and stopped at the bed. I wasn't sure what she expected me to do, so I just stood there. She walked in front of me then pushed me back on the bed. After putting her hand up to me and very clearly saying "Stay mom" she ran out of the room. A minute later she returned with a blankie and a sippie cup. "Nap Mom. Nigh nigh" she covered my feet with the blankie. After making sure the cup was upright and stable, she turned off my bedroom light and closed the door so I could take a nap. I tried once to come out of my room and she came screaming down the hall " No! No! Mom! NAP!". Bug shoved me back into the room and slammed the door so I couldn't get out.

Teamwork

Bug likes to color. In fact... she likes to color ON EVERYTHING. Recently this included her white bedroom door meeting a purple crayon.

I took away her crayon and got after her about coloring on the door. I told her she made a mess and had to clean it up. I went to the kitchen and got her a scrubbie and set her to work.

Monkey came along and asked what was going on. Somehow Bug convinced her to take over the cleaning project. It reminded me of Tom Sawyer convincing other kids to whitewash the fence.

There is no way that this was fair so I went and got Bug another scrubbie and made her help her sister.

They "cleaned" for about half an hour. At the end of the day though, the only thing that is really going to make the purple go away is a fresh coat of paint. At this point... that is going to have to wait until Bug ends this habit of drawing on the walls, doors, and tiles in the house.

The Conversation

Monkey is in kindergarten now. For the first few weeks we let her buy breakfast or lunch once a week. She decided that she liked it so much that she would just get lunch/breakfast whenever she wanted. This is the problem...

My husband or I pack her a lunch every day. On the off days that she is allowed to buy, we give her money. So, when she was getting lunch when she wasn't supposed to it created two problems. First, she wasn't eating what we packed for her. So in some cases, the food was getting wasted. Secondly, they weren't denying her the lunch or breakfast. Instead, they fed her (can't deny a hungry child) and she basically created a tab at the school. Now I owe the school money and look like scumbag parent for not giving her lunch or money.

Needless to say, when we found out, my husband and I were less than happy about her choice. Her rationale was that it was "free" because they would give it to her without her giving them money. We talked to her about it, she said she wouldn't do it again, and life moved on.

The very next week she did it again.

This time our discussion involved losing toys and such if she did it again. She said (again) that she wouldn't do it.

Three weeks later...

Monkey and I are sitting at the dinner table finishing up our meals. Bear and Bug are already done and off doing their own things. Monkey set her fork down, laced her fingers together, set her hands on the table and said "Mom I want to have a conversation with you." I asked her what it was about and she said buying lunches. I called Bear into the room and told him Monkey wanted to have a "conversation" with us.

It went like this:
"I would like to have a conversation with you about buying lunches again. I have been very good at doing my chores, not buying breakfast or lunch when I am not supposed to, and I have been behaving in school. I was wondering if I could start buying lunch once a week again"

It took every ounce of self control I had not to laugh. Not because it was funny, but I was just blown away at the level of maturity that she was showing. She isn't even six yet! I took a deep breath and told her that as long as she continued to do all of those things, she could buy lunches again. She said "Okay, thank you" and left the table to go play.

If these are the conversations we have with her at the age of (almost) six... I am scared already for the future.