The Dinosaur is Talking

The kids have been passing around a cold virus for the last few weeks. I actually had it last week, and I had the sore throat and post-nasal drip. I didn't think the kids were sick because their energy levels and activities were fairly normal.

Then, Thursday night, the Puppy came sneaking into our bed in the middle of the night. He quickly fell asleep, but when he woke up at about 2am, he sounded wheezy and gurgly. Obviously, he had developed a deposit of phlegm in the back of his throat.

He croaked as he spoke: "Can I have some water?"

I passed him the water bottle I normally keep on the nightstand.

Me: "Do you want to try to cough?"

Puppy: "Uh-uh."

Me: "If you cough, it will make you feel better. It will help clear that gurgle out of your throat."

Puppy: "NO!"

We laid in bed staring at each other in the dark listening to the loud wheezing coming from his body. I think he liked it because it kept getting louder. His eyes were big and dark. After a moment, he rubbed his stomach with his hand and said:

"I've got a dinosaur in my body. He's loud."

Me: "A dinosaur? A big one or a little one?"

Puppy: "A big one. He's trying to get out."

Hmmmm.

Photo by Pleo Dinosaur.

What the Duck?

We were playing Candy Land the other day and the Monkey drew the Candy Cane card which sent his little plastic guy tumbling back along the tracks and put him behind when he had been ahead. Then he said it.

Monkey: Duuuuuck.

Me: What did you just say?

Monkey: Duck.

Me: Where did you learn to say that?

Monkey: *shrug*

Hmmmmm.

We continued our game and as the excitement mounted as our players shifted position and it got close to the end, I heard:

Monkey: Oh duck! Oh duck! Oh duck!

Oh yes. Oh DUCK. Do I say something and bring more attention to it? Or do I leave it alone and hope he just forgets about it?

Unfortunately, I told Mr Puffles the story and now it's become one of our Isms born out of a Monkeyism.

Photo by dutch artist Florentijn Hofman.

DECAY

This morning while I was feeding the kids breakfast, the Puppy picked up his strawberry and said, "HEY! What's this thing?" I think he was looking at the green stem. The Monkey then piped up.

Monkey: If you leave it out, it will decay.

Wow. My four-year-old just used the word DECAY.

Me: How do you know that word?

Monkey: Sid, the Science Kid.

Well. Thank goodness for PBS.

My Princess

So, the Puppy is 2.75 years old. He will actually be 3 at the end of March. He is my middle child and is a happy, stubborn child who is in that age between toddler and pre-schooler. He's lovable and loving and the most likely to give away kisses out of my three kids.

The Puppy has been obsessed with princesses for the last year. It started with his 2nd birthday party. Until then, his favorite things had been dinosaurs and then horses. Then the Monkey had briefly gone through a period where he enjoyed checking out the Barbie Fairytopia movies from the video store. The Puppy suddenly started to love these movies as well and all the bright colors and pretty imagery. So, when we went to pick out his birthday cake at the local bakery.

I showed him page after page of Superman, Dora, Diego, Spiderman, Bob the Builder. We passed a page with the Four Disney Princess birthday cake. He was mezmorized. He was enamored. He was in love! He wanted that cake and there was no stopping him. When I told Mr Puffles about the Puppy's selection, he sighed and said that I encouraged him too much. But when his birthday came, the Puppy's face was ecstatic when we brought out the glorious cake.

The Puppy has sustained his love of Princesses all year. He's slowly acquired a collection of Disney Princesses and he took his baby sister's Halloween Fairy costume and transformed it into his "puffy" princess gown. He just loves all things princess and horses...well, pink princess horses. It's interesting because he's not interested in other girlie toys. It was a sole love affair with the idea of the Princess.

The other day, I asked him: Do you think you are a boy or a girl?

Puppy: I'm a PRINCESS.

Me: Can a boy be a princess?

Puppy: Yes. Boys are princesses too!

Hmmmm. Well, the Puppy has been using the potty on his own. He's actually been pretty good on days when he feels like it. It's sort of hit or miss. Some days, he's a champ and uses it. Some days, he doesn't feel like it and he'd rather sit in a diaper all day. When he is doing well, we often reward him periodically with a "Potty Prize". This is usually an inexpensive toy that he can earn after a few days of using the potty. Today, we went to Target to get him a potty prize and as well as let the Monkey pick out a toy with his hard-earned allowance money.

We hit the toy aisles and the Puppy immediately spotted his pick. He held up a blue and purple, gauzy, sparkly princess dress. With WINGS. He held it up with an ecstatic smile. He hugged the dress. I could not deter him. He was not interested in other things. The only thing he wanted almost as much was sparkly pink slippers to match. We paid for the dress (luckily on clearance for only $9.99). He wore it all afternoon.

My little princess.

Running Low on the Brain Juice

I've been trying to read a lot lately. Just to keep my brain juice flowing. One day a few months ago, I had forgotten to do something for the Monkey after he had repeatedly requested it (Um. Like wipe his hinney after a poo).

Monkey said: Mommy, you aren't very smart.

Me: Actually, I'm VERY smart. But I gave you and your brother and sister all my brain juice while I was growing you in my tummy.

Monkey: Really?

Me: That's why YOU'RE so smart. Because I gave you all of my very SMART brain juice. So, do you think Mommy should have another baby?

Monkey: Hmmm. No. I think you should take a break to get some of your brain juice back.

So, I'm taking a baby break and trying to get some of my brain juice back. I've been trying to read more, but I had been reading a rash of fluffy mommy-lit type books (Books with titles like Mrs. Perfect, Odd Mom Out, The Friday-Night Knitting Club, etc.).

Books to have passed through my nightstand recently include: How to Talk To a Widower, The Other Boleyn Girl, Louder Than Words: A mother's journey in Healing to Autism, Swarm.

I'll let you know if I recover any of my brain juice.

Milk Delivery

I know it might seem like an indulgence, but we actually have our milk delivered to the door. We use a local service with local milk from a local farm. It's not cheap, but milk isn't really cheap these days anyway. Do you want to know HOW MUCH milk we consume at our house? Eh. I mean how much milk the children consume since Mr Puffles and I don't drink the milk.
The Monkey, the Puppy, and Miss Piggy drink 4 GALLONS of milk per week. Yes, folks. That's right. FOUR GALLONS. Admittedly, we don't keep juice in the house and they drink a lot of water during the summer. But, my children drink that much milk weekly. That's why we started having it delivered. We were perpetually running to the grocery store or gas station just to get milk. And those quick trips often led to other unnecessary purchases.

When our milk arrives on Thursday morning, our lovely driver drops off 8 red and white cartons of Smith Brothers Farm milk and any other extras I might request (they offer eggs, butter, yogurt, and many other dairy products). What is REALLY scary is that sometimes, we still run out of milk by the end of the week if we have guests who drink some of the milk or if I bring a carton over to my mom's house for the kids to use. We literally pour the last drop of milk into a cup on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Then, we anxiously wait for the milkman to arrive.

Maybe we should invest in a cow.

Thank You God

Since the Monkey was about 2 years old, I have been saying bed time prayers with him and the Puppy on the nights that I put them to bed. It started as a place to have that conversation about who is God and who is God to us. The boys don't really ask that many questions about it, but they sort of listened along. Generally, I said the prayer for the Monkey and it was often one of the standard children's prayers that go like "Now I lay me down to sleep" (although it IS a bit morbid for a child's prayer). Luckily, the Monkey never actually asked me why we were praying about dying before he woke up.

Anyway, in the past year, they have developed quite a gusto for praying at bedtime. They look forward to it and if I try to skip it to hurry downstairs, they often call me back to do it. Our conversations with God go like this:

Me: Dear God....

Monkey: Dear God. Thank you for Spiderman.

Puppy: Dear God. Thank you for my Princess!

Monkey: Thank you for my Transformers, my stickers on the wall, my bicycle, my storm trooper.

Puppy: Thanks for CAKE!! I LOVE CAKE!!

Monkey: Thank you for the Spiderman game, the Girl Game, Castle Crashers.

Puppy: Thank you for the stickers on the door.

Monkey: HEY! Those are MY stickers! Not your stickers!

Puppy: MY STICKERS!!!!

Monkey: NO!!! MY STICKERS!!!

Me: Okay. That's enough! We've thanked God enough! Good night!