Tag Archives: kids

Neighborhood Watch

17 Apr

Who needs a busy body policing the neighborhood when you have a 4 year old?

Today, Nia made it known to me and the neighbor across the street that she disapproved of how he was dressed.  This “he” is a teenage boy who is constantly working on his car that has one of those deliberately loud mufflers on it  (speak of the devil – I hear the car now) and one of those “systems” that he decides to blare at odd hours of the night.

Anyway, today Nia announced out her brother’s open bedroom window, “Momma!  That boy who’s our neighbor is outside and doesn’t have a shirt on!”

I’m not sure if he heard or not and I really don’t care anyway.  I know I’m supposed to “love thy neighbor” and I keep telling myself that but every time I hear his annoyingly loud car I feel the urge to cuss under my breath.

Maybe I should get Nia to give him a piece of my mind.  The G-rated version, of course.
 

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A Trick of the Trade

2 Apr

Want to get the kids to come inside after playing outside for long enough?

There’s bribery – “If we go inside now you’ll get a treat after lunch.”  No takers.

How ’bout health reasons – “You are really sweaty sweetie.  I don’t want you to get too hot.”  Whatever mom.

Maybe you should just go straight to the big guns – Totally freak out (I’m talking screaming and bobbing and weaving) when a bee/wasp buzzes around you.

Yep.  That should get them inside real fast.
 

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Easter Fun 2008

23 Mar

Eggies!

Little Hunters

So Egg-cited

Nice Color!

Crazy Colorer

On the Hunt

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Off Broadway

21 Mar

We got the movie “Enchanted” this week and the kids love the music and dancing so much they feel compelled to reenact it.  It’s very entertaining to me and they’re getting pretty good at it too! Nate even tackles Nia when a bunch of bicyclists run over one of the characters!  I’m so proud!

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Didn’t Even Flinch

15 Mar

Not only is she growing up so quickly, she’s also super brave!  While we were at the mall today, Andrew asked Nia if she wanted to get her ears pierced.  I don’t think he ever thought she would say yes!

Pretty Princess Earrings

 

She asked if it would hurt like a shot and he told her yes.  She didn’t care – she wanted them pierced.  We walked into Claire’s and the very nice clerk asked her what earrings she would like.  She knew right away.  Who cares it’s the birthstone for October?  It was a pretty, pink, sparkly earring and it was her choice.

She sat on Andrew’s lap and watched as the clerk cleaned the earrings and put on latex gloves.  I thought that for sure would scare her. Nope. She didn’t even seem tense.

The clerk used extra care to make sure Nia didn’t see the piercing gun as she went in for the first ear.  The clerk counted – one, two, three.  That was it.  Nia’s tiny earlobe just had an earring shoved through it and nothing.  Not a deep breath, not a whimper, not a cringe, not a flinch, nothing.  We asked her if she was ok and all she said while smiling was, “It just surprised me a little bit.”  With that, she got her other ear pierced and then got to pick out other pretty princess earrings to wear later.

We are still in shock.  What a brave little girly girl with the pink, sparkly earrings. You amaze us every day.

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And then she started screaming, “Peanut Butter Crackers!”

15 Mar

Ever hear two little girls, ages 4 and 5, talk on the phone?  Nia’s friend Nicole calls her every couple of days just to make sure her favorite colors are still pink, purple and blue and if she’s changed her mind about who her favorite princess is.  It is a riot.  Tonight, I actually got some of the conversation (if you can call it that!) on camera and thought you might like to watch Nia act all grown up and stuff.  She even told Nate to go away because he was being too noisy!

After I stopped the camera, Andrew and I really cracked up.  Nicole asked Nia what she did at school today and  I told her to tell Nicole what she had for a snack.  Although Nicole had started talking about something else, Nia just started yelling “Peanut Butter Crackers!”  She kept yelling it because she thought Nicole’s “what’s?” meant she couldn’t hear what Nia was saying but really Nicole had no idea why Nia was shouting “Peanut Butter Crackers!” at her.

I think I’m going to try that next time I get an unwanted phone call. “Hello?” “Hello Ms. Va-yez?” “Peanut Butter Crackers!”  “Ah, yes, is Ms. Va-lez there?”  “Peanut! Butter! Crackers!”

Yep.  Sounds like a plan.

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Our Little Addict

14 Mar

Sometimes I don’t feel like the mommy as much as I feel like the “supplier.”  There are certain things that we just cannot let Nia have at her disposal.

1.  Her use of construction paper must be monitored.  Now, I’m not so bad that I hold all the paper and only give her a sheet at a time or anything.  (What fun would that be for either of us?)  But, if I let her have free reign over the entire stash of construction paper, we would need to restock it every day.  It can get out of hand real fast if we’re not careful.

2.  Tape.  Wow, does she have a passion for tape.  She wants to tape everything. Don’t have a hair clip?  Tape it.  Did a glass break?  Tape it.  She will cut up the tiniest pieces of construction paper and then want to tape them together or to other whole pieces of construction paper.  Glue won’t do.  Nope.  She’s gotta have the tape.  It appears as though she’ll keep getting her tape and paper fix thanks to her Aunt Sissy.  She recently sent us a nice supply so as long as I maintain control of how much Nia’s using, we should be good to go for awhile.

3. Flavored/Scented lip gloss.  She would love so much to be able to carry 3 or 4 tubes of it in her tiny purse and apply it liberally throughout any given day.  I would love for her to be able to do that but I can’t let her because she’s allergic to something in them. I feel so bad that I have to confiscate them from her when she gets them as a gift.  (If I don’t she will sneak away and smear them on her mouth over and over again until the gloss looks as though she was eating it as well.)  She always asks, “Can’t I just try a little Mommy?  Just a little?”  My heart breaks because I remember how much I loved those glosses when I was little but I just cannot let her get her grip on the gloss.

4.  Scented lotions. If she could she would use the whole bottle in one day. If she’s even alone with a small bottle for more than a few minutes she smells as though she just painted herself with it.

Ah, and this is only the beginning.  I’m sure it’s only going to get more interesting and challenging as grows up.

 

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A Little Boy and His Shoes

10 Mar

I wanted to get him a pair of navy blue or maybe tan/brown sneakers.  Ones that would go well with a majority of his clothes.  I’m not a fan of the crazy colored shoes or the ones with cartoon characters.

None of what I like or want mattered after seeing Nate’s reaction to these –

Special Shoes

He was so excited – smiling ear to ear, saying “Thomas Train!” over and over again.  We bought them and he carried the bag out of the store like a big boy.  Carrying them didn’t last long though.  Why do that when he could wear them and continue to point out his “Thomas Trains” as we walked from store to store?  It actually became a pretty awesome mood changer too.  When he would start to get fussy Andrew would ask, “Nate, where’s Thomas?”  That’s all it took.  Immediate happiness. I’m not sure how long it will last but I will certainly use the power of the shoe for as long as I can!

He even wants to wear them over his footy pajamas while he sleeps!  No, we didn’t let him curl up next to his dirty trains.  No, instead, we let him sleep with a hard plastic pull-toy Thomas Train that plays music.  When Andrew went to check on him before we went to sleep last night, he was hugging it.  His precious blankey (or “kay-kay” as he calls it) was way at the bottom of the crib.  We couldn’t believe it!

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The Cute Boy with the Cool Jacket

21 Feb

Nia was all smiles today when I picked her up from pre-school. You see, there is a new student in her class. His name is John.

I saw this John as I was waiting in the car line to get Nia. He walked out with her and their teacher and Nia was walking on her tiptoes, flashing her sweetest pretty princess smile.

She ballet-stepped her way into the car and immediately asked, “Momma, did you see John?  He’s the new boy I told you about. Did you see him? He runs fast. He’s a faster runner than me. I like his jacket. It has a map on it. It’s a cool jacket … ”  (It was a bomber style jacket and I’ll have to admit did look pretty cool.)

All I could do was smile and say a good bit of “uh-huhs” as she went on and on a mile a minute about John. I found out that he helped her clean up the kitchen set and that he sits at a different table and that he is nice and funnier than Will (another boy in her class) but he can also be shy. After all of that though, I still didn’t know what she really thought of him.

“So Nia, do you think John’s cute?”

“Ah (smiling) yeah!  John is cute.”

“Oh yeah? So you really like him huh?”

“Ah, (smiling bigger) I guess …  I think he likes me though.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because he helped me clean up the kitchen.”

OH! If it were only that simple! Our sweet Nia. I can’t believe how quickly she is becoming such a little miss. I just hope she will always be this open with me about boys! (Although I’m sure her daddy will disagree with me on that!)

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Too Cute to Correct

31 Jan

Instead of “Getting on my nerves,” Nia says, “Getting on my nerds.”
 

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