Tag Archives: kids

Feelings I Feel

7 Feb
Every day the kids make me experience so many different feelings – it’s amazing how I can go from insanely happy to insanely angry with the toss of a toy.

What Makes Me Happy: (here’s where I sound sappy)

  • Making them laugh
  • Teaching them something new
  • Cooking for them
  • When they eat what I cook for them
  • When they actually like what I cook for them and they say “mmmm”
  • If I can get through a day without the boy hitting his head on something hard (although his skull is like steal)
  • If I can get through a day without Nia having a meltdown (her latest one involved not getting to watch her nightly dose of Harold and the Purple Crayon before bedtime)
  • Nia being a loving big sister by giving Nate hugs and kisses and getting toys for him that he can’t reach
  • Being able to make them comfortable/safe/cared for – just the simplest of things like putting clean sheets on Nia’s bed – knowing she loved the way they smelled – something about that made me so happy to be a mom

What Makes Me Angry: (here’s where I sound psycho and mean)

  • Having to repeat myself over and over and over again – example – Nate’s taking a nap and I finally have some time to get stuff done – I choose to use the opportunity to take a shower – I tell Nia, “Momma’s going to take a shower” –  she replies, “And then you play with me?”  (please know I’ve already played with her and read quite a few books to her by this point) – I say “Of course” – well I’m not even out of the shower yet and she peaks her head in the bathroom and says, “Now you gonna play with me?”  This continues as I get dressed and dry my hair.  I know it doesn’t seem that bad but after repeating the obvious over and over again everyday – it just wears on me.
  • “Come Momma!”  I hear this ALL DAY LONG.  She’s constantly telling me to come and see something.  I feel awful for getting upset about it – I mean she just wants Momma to see all the stuff she’s doing (her latest is dressing Prince Eric up in Ariel’s clothing).  It’s just – I have to stop whatever it is I’m doing to “Come Momma!”  At least I’m burning calories I guess.
  • Trying to teach Nate not to do something – I mean how many times do I have to pick him up, take him away from the dangerous/yucky activity and try to distract him?  He thinks it’s funny – I think it’s making me lose my mind.  The latest thing he did was tip over the garbage can – now every time he’s in the kitchen I have to keep the can from crashing down on the floor.

There are so many feelings I feel – it’s hard to write about them all.  I’m glad to say I experience more happy ones than mad – but then again, these examples were just from one day!

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“Boy Voice”

2 Feb

That’s what Nia called my voice today.  Since I’m sick my voice is much deeper than normal – I didn’t think it sounded quite like a boy but it must if she thinks so!  At least she didn’t say I looked like one too.

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False Alarm (Thank God!)

1 Feb

You know that smell of something burning?  I don’t think I ever really experienced it until today.

After smelling it, it took me a few sniffs around the kitchen to figure out what it was.  I unplugged our rechargeable flashlight and sniffed – nope.  I went over to the stove and made sure it wasn’t turned on – nope.  I smelled around the fridge – nope.  I then walked into the other room to see if it was coming from there (it was kind of like that game – you’re getting warmer and in this case I was getting colder).  When I turned around to point my nose back in the direction of the kitchen I SAW what was causing the smell – smoke was coming out of the dishwasher.

I was scared to open it – not only because I’ve watched too many movies that show a huge explosion happens after you open a door that has smoke pouring out of it but also because I had no clue what to do if there were flames behind the door.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to deal with that because it was all smoke.  The cause? Well, he’s about 20 pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes and always into something.  Apparently, the Boy tossed one of his clear plastic bottle caps into the machine and I didn’t ever notice.  It was nicely wedged under the heating element.

How'd that get there?

After it was all over with Nia gave me a suggestion to cool it off and stop the “yucky” smell – “Hey, I have a great idea.  Let’s put lots of ice in it.”

Put some ice in it.

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Man of a few words

23 Jan

He does not speak but yet he still finds a way to talk back to his mother. How in the world I’m I ever supposed to scold this little angry man when he is so hilariously adorable?!?!

Today, I caught him eating a cardboard block.

Block Buffet

When I saw him chewing it I gasped and said “NO SIR!”

He laughed.

That obviously didn’t get through to him so I lowered my eyebrows and pointed at him (like this was going to be less funny) “NO SIR! NO EATING BLOCKS!”

He pointed at me and said “SHA!”

I held my hand open so he would bring me the block.  (Can you believe he did?!?!)  I pointed at the part now missing color and said again, “No eating blocks! YUCK!”

Nate's Snack

He again pointed at me and said “SHA!”

This continued for some time – I think I just wanted to see how many times he would keep pointing and “SHA”ing.  It was so funny.  At one point I hid my face behind Nia because I couldn’t keep from laughing.  He was so serious and so determined to tell me how he was feeling,  Even when I hid the block behind my back he squatted down to try to see it and again pointed at it and said “SHA!”

I guess he told me, huh?

Block Eater

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But I Don’t Wanna Play Princesses!

22 Jan

From the sound of the title you might think I’m going to write about Nia throwing a fit but nope – that is my whine and the guilt of feeling this way is eating me alive.

It’s just , from where I look at it, I play PLENTY of princesses during the day.  If you put a time limit on it, I would say I  sit down and enter princess world for like 10 minutes of every hour.  In fact, I just had to put a ponytail in Ariel’s hair.  I know, it sounds awful – I mean all Nia wants to do is play with me and I love to play with her – I just want to play something other than princesses!

Sometimes I can’t believe this is what I complain about now.  I used to complain about reporters going over their allotted time for a story or about others who didn’t want to do their story.  Now I find myself acting like a 3-year-old when I’m asked to play princess. I’ve actually BEGGED Nia to play something else.  “Please can we play blocks or color or how about we read a book?” I haven’t resorted to the really tempting stuff yet like eating cookies or drawing on walls.  Honestly, I don’t think those will work either.

I guess it’s my own fault.  I’m the one who kept letting her watch all those princess movies and I’m the one who sang all the songs to her over and over again.  I just feel so bad for feeling this way.  I know she’s going through a big change now – she used to have kids to play with everyday – now it’s just mom and her little brother who destroys her toys at playtime.  It’s actually kind of funny, especially when it happens while we’re playing princesses – I pretend Nate is a monster and everyone must run for their lives to get out before the castle is tossed on the floor.  Nia thinks it’s hilarious – we all do – but I can see how that could become very frustrating to a little girl who is serious about her princess playing.

Princess Player

By the way, so far during this blog entry not only have I had to fix Ariel’s hair but I also had to change her clothes and tell Nia how beautiful she looks.  I think it’s so awesome how Nia can play pretend by herself – she’ll sit there and make Ariel and Snow White go shopping or have dinner – she makes Ariel’s mom sit at a little computer and “pay bills” and Ariel’s daddy is usually taking a nap and there’s always a little brother around. When I was little I loved playing pretend with Barbies – now I’m so terrible at it.

I know this time will pass and then I will be sad because she won’t want me to play with her anymore – she might not even want me to talk to her.  I know I should cherish this time and make the most of it – I am trying – I just hope we can break into another playtime phase sooner than later!

Loves Her Princesses

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That was awkward

22 Jan

Kids say the darndest things right?  Wasn’t that a TV show or something?  Well, it’s pretty funny to hear, even when your kid is the one being brutally honest to strangers.  Some recent awkward moments include:

– After STARRING at a teen boy with pierced ears standing next to us in line at the grocery store, Nia seems to yell, “boys aren’t supposed to wear earrings!”   What am I supposed to say to that? He obviously heard her and doesn’t think it was very funny – he must be thinking what kind of narrow-minded parent are you to teach your child that only girls can were earrings!  Well, it’s hard trying to explain the complexities of life and the freedom of choice to a 3-year-old!  I mean, I want to tell her – trust all police officers, they will help you when you need it – but then the realistic side of me wants to add – but even then some people will only pretend to be police officers to fool you and steal you away from mommy and daddy!  I think she’s smart and all but that would really blow her mind.  I told her (very loudly so the boy would hear) “that’s not true, your uncles have earrings.”  Not sure if that really helped the situation, but I had to try something!

  • The next awkward moment happened at the same grocery store on the same day.  The nice older gentleman was helping us take our groceries to the car – he was even loading them up in the trunk for us.  Well, I was trying to make small talk with him but he was really hard to understand because he had such a strong accent.  I would just do the thing most people do – smile and say uh-huh – Nia though – doesn’t yet grasp the concept of politeness and says not once but twice “he talks silly huh?”  All I could think to say is “honey that’s not nice, he’s a nice man.”  Her response?  “But he does TALK SILLY!”
  • I’ve saved the worst for last – it’s the worst because it happened in church – as I was taking communion (or the Jesus cookie as Nia would call it).  I was carrying Nia and it was my turn to quietly take the “body of Christ” from the well-dressed, short man at the altar.  As soon as the wafer entered my mouth Nia says, “He’s little huh momma?” All I could do was look the man in the eye and try to apologize with my facial expression.
  • I’m now trying to teach Nia about why it’s not nice to say certain things to people – yes it makes for very memorable, awkward moments – but I just would hate for her to shout out something really horrible.  Like when she points at the people who drive those carts with the baskets on them and says “look momma they have a funny buggy.”

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More Nia Quotes,

18 Jan

“I’ll be right back Momma.  You take care of the baby (Nate) ok?”

“That was so cute, huh, Momma?” (Said right after the previous statement.)

“You are my best friend.”

“Shake your booty.” (Said while bending over and looking in department store mirrors.)

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Silly Things I Say During the Day

10 Jan

They are only silly because they so very pointless to say – like a 3 year old and 1 year old are really going to listen/understand.

“Don’t make a big mess.” (Said right before they manage to tear apart 3 rooms – with toys/objects spread throughout the house.)

“Try the food mommy cooked for you, you might like it.” (Usually said when I cook something like stew.)

“Nate, don’t give all your food to the doggy!” (Meanwhile, the dog is in heaven and the boy is smiling.)

“Stop pushing your brother down on the floor.” (Said as Nia is chasing him around the house – both are laughing hysterically.)

“Can we please stop screaming?” (Usually said right after the previous silly statement.)

“It’s night-night/nap time.” (Right after this one Nia begins to freak out about how she is not tired and doesn’t want to go to sleep.)

“Do you want mommy to lose her mind?” (This one comes after a really trying day.)

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Kitchen Cabinet Playground

23 Dec

Almost everyone has one in their homes – a cabinet/area where Tupperware and other plastic containers are stored.  Some are pretty neat with lids organized by size and bowls stacked nicely within each other – others are filled with mismatched bowls and lids that fall out of the door every time it’s opened.  I am an anal person and have always tried to maintain a very tidy cabinet – I did, that is, until the kids discovered it.

At least twice a day after the two of them tear through the cabinet, I have to collect all the pieces off the kitchen floor  and sometimes other parts of the house.  It is a pain but allowing them to cause such a mess allows me to finish dinner or do the dishes.  Tonight though, their time in the cabinet involved more than just tossing piece after piece out – tonight’s toss-out was a little more creative.

Nia and Nate had taken just enough out so they could each sit inside the cabinet.  The door in front of Nia was closed – the door in front of Nate was open. I would hear Nia say something like “Da Da Ba Da Ba” and then a lid would whiz past Nate and land in the pile they had already started.  They would hysterically laugh each time this happened – it was tons of fun for all of us and made me wish for a moment that I was small enough to fit in there with them. It also made me think how funny it would be if I go visit them when they’re older and living on their own just so I can destroy their cabinet – then I remembered- they’ll have kids of their own one day!

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So I Never Forget…

15 Dec

So far, mommyhood has already given me many sweet memories – moments I don’t want to forget. Since some of them have faded from my memory, I want to share some of the ones that have happened since we’ve lived in the “new” house (as Nia keeps calling it).

– After about an hour of bouncing back and forth across the room and tearing into the boxes I was trying to sort through, Nate makes a turn my way to crawl under my arm and wiggle into my lap so he could cuddle up next to me letting me know – hey mom – I’m worn out – can you put me in my crib now?  The warmth I felt from his affection was so amazing – he never acts that cuddly – he’s usually such a fighter and tough guy – I guess he has a soft spot after all!

– Nia telling me “I love you a lot Momma.”  Or the day she told me I had a big heart. I’m not sure if she meant because I’m bigger than her or not – it really doesn’t matter – it was so precious and innocent.

– The first time Nia did something cute/funny with her brother or the dog and told me “Take a picture Momma.”

– The giggles I heard when Nia put on Nate’s Flounder Halloween costume and used the nose to bump Nate’s head.  Why this was so funny I don’t really understand but she did it to him like 20 times and he kept laughing out loud every time.

– Right now, as I’m trying to type this Nia is sitting on my lap and moving the mouse around and trying to push buttons (I mean she .is pushing buttons) ..this means it’s time to make more memories away from the computer!

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