distraction

Kids in bed.  Reuel at a work dinner.  Me needing desperately to get my house in a bit of order and plan Asher's birthday party.  So what do I do?  Pick up a parenting book.  It is stressing me out so much because the experience of reading it is like, 'Exactly what you do every day is exactly what to not do as a parent, and every concerning thing you see in your child every day are exactly all the bad, overall life-ruining things that will result.  And here's our method that we claim will work, but is practically extremely difficult to implement, not to mention possibly quite desctructive if implemented *slightly* off of our exact description.'  So, I am running away from my problem and doing something more immediately enjoyable and less stressful.  I guess that means my parents didn't discipline me very well.  :)


Asher's top ten list of totally awesome things to do:
1.  Eat tidbits out of the trash can. 
2.  Try to put my hands in the toilet.  Preferably before it's been flushed while cramming myself in between the user and the fixture.
3.  Make a beeline and crawl FAST and wedge myself inside every time the refrigerator is opened.  Throw a major fit when I am removed and the door is closed.
4.  See #3, change 'wedge inside refrigerator' to 'crawl on top of open dishwasher door'.
5.  Throw toys.  All toys make great balls and it is absolutely hilarious when I throw them.
6.  Eat all things that are not polyurethane or wood off of the floor.  Unless the polyurethane is chipped, in which case I guess I'd eat that too.
7.  Climb on top of things.  All things.  Use anyone or anything sitting on the floor as a stepladder.  Laugh while diving off head first and getting caught by mom...totally freaks her out.
8.  Spit out all the healthy foods I used to love raspberry-style.  Or, pick them up, sniff and then smear them all over my face without getting any in my mouth.  Scream for fruit.
9.  Drag around a stuffed animal with me while I crawl.  At all times.  Unless I put it down so that I can eat something off the floor.
10.  Shake my head side to side when something is funny!

Here's a little movie from yesterday:  http://vimeo.com/13561169

Today we went to the pick your own farm and blueberries were ripe.  Next week is the last week for raspberries so we'll have to make another trip!  This year there are big signs posted everywhere...'Pick Your Own fruit is on the honor system!  You may sample one or two pieces of fruit, but 99% of what you pick should be paid for!'  Now, this is a hard rule for a grown-up, I must say, when there are gorgeous heavy-laden clustered ripe blueberries in front of your eyes everywhere you look.  But for a 1 and 3 year old...forget it!  I did my best.  Luckily Asher, who has the biggest blueberry appetite, was content with the high-quality windfall berries for the most part (mixed with a good intake of bark mulch and grass), but at one point I confess he did set himself right in front of a protruding low branch and proceed to steadily clean it of all its berries.  I figured that if I had not let him do it, they would have gotten a lot less of my money because we would have had to leave a lot earlier with a lot less produce.  Asher had his first experience of meeting a goat, and he thought it was a hoot.  He is a giggler...he was laughing when the goat came over to him.  So cute.