School's Out Day 35: Guess Who

My six year old sometimes exhibits behaviors that make me think she really needs more one-on-one time....so at some point in her Kindergarten year (last year) we started having "game time" for a few minutes before her bed time. Her little sister goes to bed, and then we make a big production of "faking her out" to think Ava is going to bed too and then we sneak downstairs to pick a board game (which is all for Ava's amusement, Maddy really doesn't care/realize that Ava is staying up!). So tonight I opened a new game called "Guess Who." Now first and foremost, I'd like to say to Milton Bradley, "Are you freakin serious???" I opened the box, and see 48 little yellow doors that have to be poked out of a plastic bracket, 48 face cards that have to be slid into each of those brackets and then the brackets have to be put on two game boards. (see photo of one of the game boards). Not only did this take forever, but the little face cards DO NOT stay in the little yellow doors. I am writing them a letter to tell them they should rename this game and call it: "GUESS WHAT....you can open this now but you won't be ready to play until sometime next week." In any event, I sent Ava to get her PJ's on, brush her teeth, brush her hair, rinse with mouthwash, lay her clothes out for tomorrow, and start her college applications while I assembled this game. OK, I hope I can explain this clearly... each player picks a person to be(see front yellow card...I was Jon)... and the other player has to ask yes or no questions to try and guess who their opponent is (through the process of elimination). So I go first (to model the type of questions for Ava) "Is your person a boy?" She says, "yes," so I flip down all the yellow doors that have a girl card because that can't be her mystery person -she's a boy. First person to guess the other one's mystery person wins. Get it? (I hope so, it's for 6 year olds.)

Our game went something like this.....what Ava said is in bold....

"Does your person have a mustache?"

"Yes and he has glasses" (that's what we call TMI in this game)

"Does your person have brown hair?"

"She has a hat on." (ok, now I know it's a girl and she has a hat, there are only 5 girl cards in the whole game and two have hats, so I am very close to winning after this one question)

"Does your person have dark skin?"

I reply, "Yes."

She doesn't do anything, just sitting there....I say, "So put down all the cards that have light skin because that can't be my person." So she flips down some doors.

Her very next question, "Does your person have light skin?"

Yikes. At this point I'm thinking -- is it too late to play Candy Land, it's already put together.

We start another game, she picks her mystery person card (who I am not supposed to see/know -- the whole point of the game) and says, "OH COOL, I liked this girl, she has pretty blue eyes." (I couldn't let her win if I tried!)

There were so many more examples of her cognitive struggles with this game and I am so mad at myself for not remembering them but I am too exhausted at this point and my wine glass is now empty which is effecting MY cognitive ability to blog! The long story short -- I let her figure out a lot in this game and I could see her "wheels turning". She got it eventually...but it was wayyyyyyy past her bedtime.

School's Out Day 32&33: Maine and Miss Morbid

Ok....all kidding aside, I need some advice. My six year old is obsessed with death lately! A few weeks ago she was lying in bed (which is when she seems to think about it) and she asked me what heaven was like and can you come back. Then we were driving to the park and she asked me "Mom, when you and daddy die, Maddy and I can still live in our house together!" She was actually pretty upbeat and happy when she said that, I thought maybe she was plotting something. Then a couple other comments here and there. Tonight...she was lying there in bed(we sit at the end of her bed for a few minutes) and she says, "Mom, do your parents die first or do you?" Ugh. How do I answer that one? So I say, "Well, you never know for sure, but most of the time everyone lives to be very old before they die." (which implies that parents will die before their children, but I didn't directly say so). She's quiet for a few minutes and then she's crying, "Everyone I know is going to die and I am going to be all alone. Just my friends will be here but not my family." Then, "Why do you have to stay in heaven?" I just don't know where this is coming from and what's worse....her fears are NOT something I can assure her about (this is not the boogie man under the bed)! She's right, everyone she knows and loves IS going to die and no one knows when. Does this ever happen in your house? Feel free to comment or email me privately! kldmay75@aol.com
On a MUCH lighter note....we went up to a friend's lake house in Maine this weekend (hence combining two days of blogging - you knew I'd slide yesterday in somehow didn't you!?!?) and so we were packing to leave in the morning. I am running around like crazy trying to pack in an organized way and not forget anything (beach stuff in one bag, PJ's and sleep aids together, lists to remember the important things: nebulizer, epi-pen, diapers) and hubs spends 30 minutes worried about ice and fitting everything in the cooler. I tell the kids, "Come upstairs, it's time to go!" Maddy replies, "No thank you Mumma." We hit the road at 9:15.....at 9:23 - you guessed it -- Ava has to pee. So we make a pee stop, mailbox stop, ice-coffee & gas stop... and then we're finally on the road. A few minutes later the questions start "What state are we in?" "What's a state?" "Are we still in America?" "How many minutes left?" The old "Are we there yet?" cliche came to life! Good thing we only have 3 or 4 more out-of-state road trips this summer!

School's Out Day 31: Friendly's

Welllll... I'm happy to say that the 2009 birthday hoo-plah is officially over. The 14th was Maddy's real b-day we had dinner and cupcakes, then the joint family pool party/BBQ Sunday, Wednesday was Canobie Lake on Ava's real b-day, yesterday was the Ava's "friend" party at Monkey Joe's, and today her gift cards (Justice and Friendly's) must have been burning a hole in her new pink purse because she wanted to use them TODAY. So after we hit the mall and I argued with Ava about what clothes she could buy and hubs chased Maddy all around the store telling me to hurry-up; the four of us went to Friendly's for dinner. We sat down and I said, "Wow, I think this is first time the four of us have gone out to eat!" And about five minutes later I knew why. We sat at a table for four and Maddy was on my right in her high chair trying to unbuckle herself saying, "Me out, me out." And to that I say in my most alarming voice, "No, NO....the lady's coming, the lady's coming, stay in your chair." (works like a charm). Ava was on my left asking me when her grilled cheese was coming and we hadn't even seen our waitress yet. Both of them were talking SO LOUD, it was insane. I have never heard Maddy talk so loud, everything she said - she was screaming! Rolly's across from me shaking the table with his leg because he was so antsy to get out of there! We're both saying, "SHHHHH!!!! SHHHHH!!!!" over and over. Then a pierced tattooed punk rocker type rebellious teenager (please God, spare me this experience, I beg of you) comes in and sits right in Ava's field of vision. Ava is STARING. Rolly tells her to color her place mat. No dice. She's STARING, mesmerized. We try to distract her again....not working. Finally I say, "AVA! Stop staring it's not nice!" And so she extends her arm and points in the girl's direction and yells at the top of her lungs, "I'M NOT STARING AT THAT GIRL I'M LOOKING AT THAT PICTURE ON THE WALL." We reply, "Well stop looking at it." "I'm JUST LOOKING AT THE PICTURE!!" as she points over there again. This go-around happens two more times. Then I feel the demons coming on....my eyebrows turning down, my voice getting low and raspy and I lean over to her and say something along the lines of, "So help me God -- look over there ONNNNNNEEEEE MORRRREEE TIMMMMEEE and I am going to put you in the car and we're leaving and this will be YOUR LAST TRIP OUT TO EAT EVER!!!!!!!!" Then (after what seemed like 6 months) the waitress came and took our order (she's two steps away from our table and Ava said, "Is my grilled cheese coming now?"). Maddy's playing with her straw spraying me with apple juice, then she figures out how to make a whistle sound with it. Rolly's cursing me under his breath, I can see it in his eyes. We give Maddy her toy cell phone and I tell her to call Papa, "Tell Papa where you are." (Meaning Friendly's) She says into the wrong end of the phone, "I'm right here Papa!" Which makes us all laugh -- which makes her completely crack-up with that awesome belly laugh. And then, once again, it's all good.

School's Out Day 30: Threes about me....

Three names I go by (besides given name)
1. moooooooooooooom (nice and long and whiney)
2. Mrs. D
3. Dear (hubs calls me this....sarcastically. The other day I yelled down to him, "What do you want for supper?" and he replied, "Whatever you want..." And Ava quickly added, "DEEEEEAAR" just like he would have said it.

Three Jobs I have had in my life:
1. sub-maker
2. Gun toting United States Special Agent/Criminal Investigator
3. elementary school teacher
(in that order.....clearly you see the natural career progression there)

Three TV Shows that I watch
1. Deadliest Catch
2. Ice Road Truckers
3. Sports
(and by "watch" -- I mean sit in the same room and blog while hubs watches these "presumably boring-but-yet-you-can't-stop-watching them" shows.)

Three of my favorite foods
1. anything besides the left-over crust from my children's sandwiches will "do" these days

Three friends I think will respond
1. Who the hell made up this question? and.........
2. Why is it included in every one of these gosh-darn foolish surveys?
3. What does this imply about the friends you write here...and what about the ones you don't?

Three Things I am looking forward to
1. Finishing this survey
2. going to Stacy's camp....York Beach....NH Lake house and Storyland..... all in the next few weeks! Heck - I still have a whole summer's worth of activities left!
3. Finishing this survey.

Three Things that are always by your side
1. my children (I swear they would crawl back into my uterus if they could)
2. my arms
3. my friends (awwww, that was nice)

School's Out Day 29: Ava's B-day/Canobie lake

6 years ago today I was lying in a hospital bed feeling like I had been hit by a truck (thanks to a c-section)...but I was holding my precious little firstborn baby in my arms and it was a moment I had waited for my whole life. Today I brought that precious firstborn baby to Canobie Lake for her 6th birthday and nearly left her there until she was seven. With all the junk food she had, she still wanted more. Wouldn't go to the bathroom when we were AT the restroom..wanted to wait until we were 100 miles from it and then say she was going to pee her pants. (Does this happen when you take your kids out somewhere?) And then she whined all day to go to the Waterpark they have right there inside the park, so we finally went there. Changed everyone into their bathing suits (which is a project), walk over to the water and you would have thought it was liquid kryptonite and she was Superman's daughter because she was afraid to get wet/splashed, etc. Wouldn't stand next to the little baby water slides, never mind go on one. Drove my husband crazy. All of this aside, we really did have a FANTASTIC day....it was 70's and overcast (perfect! I want the sun shining on me at the beach, not when I'm walking around an amusement park!), there were hardly any lines for any rides (such a pleasant surprise!), Maddy was so patient --never cried once, never ran off, napped in her carriage for an hour, loooooved the kiddie rides...it was like a dream. But today was bittersweet as well. I have always wondered at what age do kids lose interest in the "kiddie land" type rides....and today I saw that this was definitely Ava's "last hurrah" in kiddie land. She was a good sport and went on many of them with her little sister (and had more fun then she'll admit - I think!), but she was definitely more interested in the "big kid" rides this time. How did that little baby girl I once held in my arms grow-up so quickly? Happy Birthday Ava! I love you, you stinkin lil' brat. ;)

School's Out Day 28: hubs vacation day 2- rainy day

Today's rain came at a perfect time.....we hung out all morning with the kids in the playroom, set-up the toys, played with the toys (I think Ava beat Rolly in every sports game on Wii and he was not too happy about that) and cleaned up from the party mess. THEN, (here comes the best part), MOMMY got her vacation day....a few hours without the kids. While Daddy was at Chuck E. Cheese (hanging with all my "mommy friends" that happened to be there too!) I hit the mall, finally got to see the inside of the new Nordstrom's, perused Target - which is DANGEROUS -- not only because of how many things I buy, but also it looked like some of the letters from "Greatland" (which is being added to our local Target) fell off the building. I'm thinking "Why couldn't I have been here a little earlier to be gently grazed by the big 'G' as it fell", then I'd have some big G's. I also used my "vacation time" to take a class at the gym - I have to say it was nice to go to the gym when it wasn't 5 in the morning for once! Then tonight my friends came over and one of my friends just got back from a two week long Royal Caribbean cruise of Italy, Greece, Turkey and Egypt. I tuned-out right around the tour of Mt. Vesivius part, but then tuned right back in when she told me that men in Egypt try to trade their camels for the women tourists. One man offered 5 million camels for this other girl on their tour. SO I wanted to use this blog to put the word out there.....if you ever see camels in my backyard and you haven't seen me blog in awhile....alert the authorities ASAP because an international crime has occurred. Rolly's eyes lit-up when I told him this new fun fact I learned.

School's Out Day 27: Roll's vacay day 1 - beach day

Hubs is on vacation this week...I told him to pick what he wanted to do with the kids, because I get to do everything with them all summer. He decided he wanted to go to the beach today - which surprised me because he's not a "beach person"...but I guess he wanted to make today his annual trip to the beach. I even let him pick the beach he wanted to make his appearance at(because I didn't want to be responsible for all the belly-aching and complaining if I picked the wrong one). So we jumped on 128 and headed to Gloucester....pulled in Wingaersheek lot and saw the $20 parking sign, to which he said, "WHAT????? TWENTY DOLLARS!! are you kidding me? That's ridiculous. Nahant is $3." I thought to myself, "Here we go. Let the fun begin." I left Maddy buckled in her seat (aka: restrained and safe) while I sunblocked Ava in the parking lot (so much easier before they even get near the sand....but preferably done at home -for future reference) and Maddy was twisting and writhing and yelling, "sprinkle ME, sprinkle ME Mumma," as she wanted her sunblock on like Ava. As we lug everything down to the beach...Rolly is walking in front of me and I see him swatting frantically at the greenheads who have taken a liking to him. He turns to me and says, "If we don't have big spray, we might as well leave now, did you pack bug spray?" I replied, "Did YOU pack bug spray???" (Why is it always up to me to remember everything?) In any event, of course I packed bug spray....I am a three-time nominee for Mother-of-the-Year, how could I forget bug spray. (Actually, I keep a bottle in the car just in case). We set up the chairs, the umbrella, the towels, the cooler, throw all the sand toys down and five minutes later Ava says, "I'm boring (meaning bored) can we go home?" To which I reply, "Are you crazy? $20 to park, we'll be here till midnight. FIVE HOURS later (this is record breaking beach time for hubs) we packed the sandy, exhausted kids back in the car and headed home after a fantastic day at the best beach! Wingaersheek is so great for little kids! As the tide goes out, there are little pools of water left-over near the big rocks - we sat right by one of them, Maddy sat playing in that (questionably warm) over-sized puddle for like 2 hours. At low-tide you can walk out for miles and miles in the shallow water on various sandbars. There are crabs and hermit crabs, slush carts all over the beach, a snack bar, restrooms, and outdoor showers. If it weren't for the steep parking prices and greenies biting your ankles it would be THE PERFECT beach!

School's Out Day 26: B-day party bliss

Today's the kind of day that really makes me count my blessings. I have two happy healthy kids who are spoiled rotten (got bikes, nintendo wii, american girl doll, train table, table and chair set clothes, money, gift cards and looooots of other stuff) but don't act spoiled (I don't think!?!?). I was surrounded by my closest friends and family and the weather was spectacular. Did I spend all day yesterday getting ready? Yes. Did I sit down once today? No. Will I do it all again next year? Of course.

There's no need to write anymore about today because a picture speaks a thousand words. This is Ava meeting her long-awaited American Girl doll.....and in the background is her dad who just got the American Girl bill. ;)

School's Out Day 25: professional party planner

It was only moments ago, and I was lying in bed drifting asleep thinking how a day WAS going to go by without a blog and I was finally willing to accept it. And because I was so tired I didn't feel like getting up to take my allergy pill, but I was feeling like I really needed it. I heard hubs in the hallway and asked him to get me my pill and gave very specific instructions: "It's in the cabinet next to the sink, green cover, says 'Zyrtec', just one pill and bring me a splash of water please." He comes back a minute later, not only empty-handed, but BULL-SH*T....because instead of grabbing MY bottle of Zyrtec, he grabbed Maddy's....which, of course, is liquid. He tipped it over to pour the pill into his hand and instead poured out half the liquid Zyrtec all over the counter. And it's MY fault HOW you ask? Because, according to him, my bottle is not in there, and I have misguided him. SO, I get up and go to the same cabinet....and, are you ready for this...I hope you're sitting down, I MOVED SOMETHING, and shucky-darn there it was, just as I had suspected. (see "inner voice/outer voice" blog for more on this "hubby can't find things" topic).
Since I'm up, I might as well tell you about my day. It was exhausting craziness.....getting ready for girls' family b-day party at the house tomorrow. Hosting parties is SO MUCH work! The house is spic and span until the first 5 people arrive and then everything is a mess again and you have to clean it all up again after the party! And every year, when a) it's raining and we're all stuck in my house or b) I'm knee-deep in the after-mess - I say "NEVER AGAIN! Next year we're going to Chuck E Cheese!" Yet I always swore I'd never go the "Chuck E. Cheese" route either -- but let me state for the record: there is SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR THAT! Places like that set-up, they clean up, and the kids have a BALL! And I also think it ends up being less money too! This year we're doing both....pool party at home (and the weather is finally going to cooperate!) and a kid party later in the week at Monkey Joe's.....so we'll see if I can finally make up my mind about this once and for all. You're sitting on the edge of your seat, I know. Sorry to leave you with this cliffhanger.

School's Out Day 24: the AC monster

Nothing to blog about yesterday? HA!! I should have waited a little longer -- there would have been plenty to blog. Forget the midget on the uni-cycle, bed time is like having a circus right here at home. You know Maddy -- the kid who squashes ants and spiders with her bare hands, climbs UP a 5 foot slide like she's scaling the side of a mountain, jumps off the side of the pool when you're not even ready to catch her, goes down the flight of stairs in one straight shot on her belly...yeah, that kid -- afraid of the air conditioner in her bedroom. Screaming crying, "NO LIKE IT, take out, NO LIKE IT, take out MUMMA!!" I shut it off...NO, she wanted it OUT of the room. She was pointing her finger out the door, "take out, take out." Now, obviously I'm strong enough to lift that thing out of the second story window with one finger and throw it around like a rag doll.....but I can't let Hubby realize that I am capable of lifting/moving that sort of stuff. I have him carrying laundry baskets up and down the stairs for me and I'm just not willing to give that up. If he were to catch wind of my strength, he may even want me to bring the trash barrels to the curb and back. Anyway, I wasn't about to remove the air conditioner from the window...which made for a rough night.
On another note, Ava finished her week of "Let's Play Sports" camp today. We're trying to introduce our hip-hop, gyrating girly-girl to sports. Just when I thought we'd made some progress with sports camp, she informed me that today they taste-tested cereal.... and she liked "serious toast crunch" and "raisin bread" (meaning raisin bran) the best. I'm not sure what that had to do with sports camp....so then I asked her, "SO what was your favorite sport this week?" She said, "Ahhhh, I think 'across" and "air hockey'" (and by that she meant lacrosse and floor hockey). oh man. Why do I bother. Our last hope for sports will have to be Maddy...Rolly was thinking of "learn to skate" as a prep for hockey, but now we have the zamboni and the air conditioners to worry about.