Don't I smell beautiful???

This morning I was changing Bella's diaper while Carter was changing himself out of his pull up and using the potty. He came out of the bathroom slowly, watching me intently, looking a little smug. He inched up closer to where I was sitting on the floor with Bella. I knew something was up. Finally he said, "Don't I smell beautiful?" Uh oh. His hair looked wet.

Then it hit me. It wasn't a bad smell - just overpowering in a way that made my eyes water.

Instantly.

I asked him "did you put something in your hair?" A huge grin spread across his face as he nodded. "Doesn't it smell beautiful?" he asked me again.

"What did you put in your hair?" I asked, now a bit frightened for his answer. I began to recognize the smell though as I waited for his response.

"That spray stuff on the back of the toilet!" He inhaled deeply, his smile widening. Febreze berries and paradise air freshener.

Awesome.

"Wow, you sprayed the air freshener in your hair?"

"Yes, but that's not all..."

Oh crap. "That's not all???"

"Nope, I sprayed it here too." He turns around and points to his naked rear end. "Now I smell beautiful ALL OVER."

*sigh*

It's raining, it's pouring

So, I'm stumped. I've only been off of work a month and a half (if you don't count summer vacation) and already I feel like I'm running out of ideas for how to keep two active little ones entertained. When it was sunny out, we would go to parks, go jogging, play in the front yard, whatever. Now that it's raining, we're all starting to climb the walls a bit. We're tired of play dough, blocks, cars, coloring, cooking and keeping the TV turned OFF has become a constant struggle. So, my question is: what is something you have done with kids that A) doesn't cost much (any?) money, or B) doesn't require the use of an outdoor facility?

Gas prices are starting to come down a bit...I saw it at $2.85 a gallon and got really excited. Then I remembered that $2.85 by any normal standards is still expensive. So I'm trying to stay close to home.

Just to illustrate how frustrating it is for the kids to be sitting around the house, as I'm typing this, Bella brought me her shoes (although she's only wearing a onesie) and started whining and pointing at the door. I put her shoes on and went back to typing. Next, I hear more whining and then I look down and she's holding my tennis shoes (I'm still in my pajamas). I think she's trying to tell me something. Now if only I knew what it was...

In other news, we went to the zoo yesterday, dressed in our costumes for Zoo Boo. One of my favorite moments was when we were walking up to the aquarium and Carter looked up and said "wow! Look at all that shampoo!" Perplexed, I started looking for what Carter could have deemed to look remotely like shampoo, and realized, we were walking through a forest of bamboo.

Bamboo, shampoo...it's all about the same :)

I must remember...

As a general rule, if you stay up until 1 AM, your kids WILL try to wake you up at 5 AM. Good luck keeping up with them all day.

I need coffee.

NOW.

That's all.

The not-so-golden arches

McDonald's is forcing me to question my faith in humanity.

We took the kids there today after a doctor's appointment. It was a shrewd move, I know. Your kids are upset because they just got shots? Why not give them the gift of childhood obesity to calm their nerves? That'll clear up their clean bill of health in no time. But I digress...

We sit at a table inside the play area, which is PACKED. Kids are running around like maniacs, screaming. Parents are having casual conversation, completely ignoring their kids. At one point, I look up and there is a little boy (probably 2-3 yrs old) cracking up laughing as he is pushing someone else's baby around in a high chair. I'm sure that's what the wheels on the high chair were intended for, right? He was running full-kilter around the play toy, ramming the high chair into various objects and people. The baby was laughing, but all I could think is am I the only one seeing this??? Why aren't there two sets of parents jumping up to stop this inevitable train wreck??? And the kid just kept picking up speed. Finally, I see one parent, apparently the mom of the boy doing the pushing, look up and smile and say "not too fast now."

Seriously?

Next thing I know, the lady next to me starts SCREAMING at her kid. Now, I'm not perfect. I've lost my temper on many occasions when pushed hard enough. And I only have two kids. This woman had at least four. But this was exceeding the bounds of decency. I was already on edge, so I looked up without even thinking and then quickly looked away without making eye contact, instantly recognizing that this was not the right move. I could tell that she had seen my reaction though. The lady started screaming even louder at her kid(s), "Now look what you've done! That lady over there is giving me dirty looks like I'm some kind of trailer trash or something!"

Amazing. Although kind of funny that one would jump to that conclusion. Sounds kind of like a guilty conscience to me.

It kind of made me almost wish I had gotten a dirty look in. I don't know why I even go to McDonald's any more. I just walk out feeling dirty. And guilty. And maybe even a little bit angry.

From now on, I'm only going to eat at Burger King. (Just kidding).

Naptime Blues

I knew this day was coming, I just never thought it would come so soon. It seems that both of my kids have officially sworn off naps. Now, Carter, I get. He's four and spent a year attending preschool during his naptime, so his naps have been inconsistent, at best. But Bella??? She's only 18 months. We got a good solid three years of dependable napping out of Carter before he threw in the towel. I remember reading somewhere that sleep patterns go all haywire at around 18 months, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's just a phase.

So it is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I bid a fond farewell to my daily two hours of peace and tranquility. Naptime, you have been a dear friend to me for so long now. You will be sorely missed. As will my sanity.

That is all.

Soccer Mom

Carter had his first soccer practice today. I was a little worried because there were some tears shed when we went to register him a few weeks ago, but as soon as he got his new shin guards on, he was psyched and ready to go. The women who are coaching his team are SAINTS. It was mass chaos. Carter kept saying "I just want to make a goalie." I tried to convince him that what he really wanted was to make a goal, but he wasn't buying. When we got there, his coach was standing in the goal, having kids practice kicking it in. She would stop the ball and kick it back to them. Carter came up to me and said, again that he wanted to make a goalie and then, he turns to me and says "I better go tell her to stop kicking the ball back to me so I can kick it in."

I tried several times to video tape the practice, but I was laughing so hard, I didn't have much success. Carter did, in fact, end up making lots of "goalies" (some of them were even in the right goal!!) and he also found that he was really good at throwing himself on the ball and picking it up with his hands (which apparently is frowned upon???) while someone else was trying to kick it. Also running and throwing himself against the padded wall of the gym was a big highlight (he must have done it a million times, and at one point, he even ended up tackling the goalie who had picked up the ball he was trying to kick in. Although in all fairness, I think the goalie was really just getting in the way of Carter's attempt to throw himself at the wall directly behind him. I'm pretty sure no harm or malice was intended.

In any case, he was so thrilled with his first attempt at soccer that he has not stopped grinning all night long. I told him I was really proud of him to which he replied, "yeah, I'm pretty proud of me too."

First game on Saturday...wish us luck! I will try to get some decent video this time.