I'm not exactly sure what norovirus is or how it works, but I hear it's going around, and the symptoms seem to be 24-36 hours of misery involving major bodily entrance and exit points. And a whole lot of folks seem to have it right now. I altered playdate plans today at Reuel's urging so we wouldn't go to the mall and have a better chance of picking something up before traveling on Monday (me and two little boys flying alone, even on a short flight, with any of the three of us having even one extra bathroom or change-of-clothes need is more than I'd like to deal with, ideally). Well, I won't spell it out, but let's just say that Asher went through about 10 diapers today. He was otherwise in fine spirits and nothing else going on. Hopefully it's not a full-blown case and the story will not continue to unfold throughout the night :P
In other news, I have just returned from the mall, and there is no hospital lego set*** in the store where Owen claimed to have seen it. I don't know what he was looking at and had his eye on. So, Santa acquired an adequate substitute and will attempt to explain to Owen via accompanying note why the elves were not making hospital legos this year. I am fairly confident the child will be unaffected by the substitution.
***Note to a certain grandmother named Janice: please do not go and search for a hospital lego set upon reading this :)
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Open mouth, insert words
Before I get too much feedback about being a grinch, as I fear I might after that last post, let me take a moment to share the fast evolution of Christmas practice in our house as of today.
It went like this...
Owen: [wailing suddenly] Oh NOOOO! Mommy and Daddy I forGOT! I forgot to tell Santa what I wanted him to GIVE me! He doesn't know to bring me a PRESENT! [continuing to be most distraught]
Mommy and Daddy: [flailing]
Mommy: It's OK, Owen, Santa was so busy today that I guess he forgot to ask you what you wanted, and I thought you told me you were too shy to want to talk to him.
Owen: But I WASN'T too shy after I got near him. I FORGOT!!
Daddy: Well, I'm sure he knows what you want! What did you want to tell him you wanted?
Owen: I needed to tell him I wanted a block set! [block set=legos that he saw his friend Nathan get for his 4th birthday last month] But can Santa get a block set? Will he go to the mall to the block store?
Mommy: Oh, I don't know if Santa goes to the mall. But I bet you will get a block set..no need to worry!
Daddy: How does Santa get toys?
Owen: He makes them. Can Santa make blocks?
Mommy: [realizing that the point of no return seems to have flown by a few miles back] Yes. I'm sure Santa can make legos. [shocked at the fact that despite having only ever referred to the 'story' of Santa, her child has quickly assimilated a trusting belief in his reality. Also considering that he must be quite muddled on the matter as evidenced by statements such as, "I don't like the mall Santa. I only like the Santa we just saw."]
Owen: But I forgot to tell him!!
[While conversation and reading with Daddy continues, softhearted mother goes to write a note to Santa on Owen's behalf with connect-the-dots letters for the words LEGO BLOCKS and OWEN, so that he can trace them. Stickers, addressed envelope and stamp are taken to child.]
Owen: [much relieved, completing letter to Santa] I will go put this in the mailbox by MYSELF in the morning! [pause] But how will Santa know that I want the blocks that make the hospital?
Mommy: He will know, don't worry about that!
[Daddy takes picture]
And so, don't consider me cruel. I still don't like living with this dishonesty. I don't like imagining Owen looking at me in a few more years saying, 'You LIED to me??' Ask Reuel, he calls me the compulsive confessor. I don't like the lie, even if it's for fun!! But I'm also softhearted, and Owen made his own conclusions...so, Christmas has been Santa'd. But the minute Owen asks me if he's real, you probably won't find me fibbing any more! ;)
Also of note for my record-keeping (brought to mind because of Owen's comment about putting the letter in the mailbox by himself tomorrow morning), this week was a very significant one...the first time Owen has come out of his room by himself in the morning :} I know that's shocking to many, but the kid has stayed in his bed every morning and waited for us to retrieve him. He also never gets out of his bed at bedtime. Some may think that he is an abnormally compliant child, but no! I think we are abnormally enforcing of rules surrounding sleep times :P But 3.5 was the magic age where he wondered to himself what would happen if he left the bed, and he tried it. Two mornings ago he came downstairs to the living room to find Asher and Reuel playing together, and this morning he came to our bed and woke us up. That felt very bizarre, but sweet. I quickly made a new rule...when you come down to our bed, the rule is that you have to snuggle with us for a few minutes until we wake up, not stand at the foot of the bed demanding breakfast!
A couple of other weekend pix:
Owen insisted that Daddy decorate the gingerbread house with him. This may be because as I was initially 'helping' him put the walls and roof together yesterday he commented at one point, "Mommy, this is supposed to be fun for kids! You need to stop doing all the parts and let me have fun!" Ah, too true. Owen and I compete for control of crafts :}
It went like this...
Owen: [wailing suddenly] Oh NOOOO! Mommy and Daddy I forGOT! I forgot to tell Santa what I wanted him to GIVE me! He doesn't know to bring me a PRESENT! [continuing to be most distraught]
Mommy and Daddy: [flailing]
Mommy: It's OK, Owen, Santa was so busy today that I guess he forgot to ask you what you wanted, and I thought you told me you were too shy to want to talk to him.
Owen: But I WASN'T too shy after I got near him. I FORGOT!!
Daddy: Well, I'm sure he knows what you want! What did you want to tell him you wanted?
Owen: I needed to tell him I wanted a block set! [block set=legos that he saw his friend Nathan get for his 4th birthday last month] But can Santa get a block set? Will he go to the mall to the block store?
Mommy: Oh, I don't know if Santa goes to the mall. But I bet you will get a block set..no need to worry!
Daddy: How does Santa get toys?
Owen: He makes them. Can Santa make blocks?
Mommy: [realizing that the point of no return seems to have flown by a few miles back] Yes. I'm sure Santa can make legos. [shocked at the fact that despite having only ever referred to the 'story' of Santa, her child has quickly assimilated a trusting belief in his reality. Also considering that he must be quite muddled on the matter as evidenced by statements such as, "I don't like the mall Santa. I only like the Santa we just saw."]
Owen: But I forgot to tell him!!
[While conversation and reading with Daddy continues, softhearted mother goes to write a note to Santa on Owen's behalf with connect-the-dots letters for the words LEGO BLOCKS and OWEN, so that he can trace them. Stickers, addressed envelope and stamp are taken to child.]
Owen: [much relieved, completing letter to Santa] I will go put this in the mailbox by MYSELF in the morning! [pause] But how will Santa know that I want the blocks that make the hospital?
Mommy: He will know, don't worry about that!
[Daddy takes picture]
Also of note for my record-keeping (brought to mind because of Owen's comment about putting the letter in the mailbox by himself tomorrow morning), this week was a very significant one...the first time Owen has come out of his room by himself in the morning :} I know that's shocking to many, but the kid has stayed in his bed every morning and waited for us to retrieve him. He also never gets out of his bed at bedtime. Some may think that he is an abnormally compliant child, but no! I think we are abnormally enforcing of rules surrounding sleep times :P But 3.5 was the magic age where he wondered to himself what would happen if he left the bed, and he tried it. Two mornings ago he came downstairs to the living room to find Asher and Reuel playing together, and this morning he came to our bed and woke us up. That felt very bizarre, but sweet. I quickly made a new rule...when you come down to our bed, the rule is that you have to snuggle with us for a few minutes until we wake up, not stand at the foot of the bed demanding breakfast!
A couple of other weekend pix:
Asher meets the Santa monster
I swore I would not be one of those parents who pushes their kid to sit on Santa's lap. I mean, the whole Santa thing is *for* the kids...supposedly...right? So why in the name of a joyous season would I put a nervous child onto a strange man's lap when, let's face it, he's dressed bizarrely and to a toddler/preschooler, looks as likely to snack on him as to grant his wish for a present. I asked Owen if he wanted to sit on Santa's lap at the mall, and it was a firm NO WAY. Fine with me. But then I found out there was a wonderfully quaint, free, community-supported Santa picture session at the very beautifully restored Victorian original library building. I'd never been in there and wanted to see it, and I'd heard it was really a nice event. So....off we went to see what it was. It was lovely! But Owen still wanted no part of sitting in Santa's lap. I told him we'd just wait in line and watch the other kids and see how he felt when we got to the front. Eventually I could tell he really did want to do it, and would feel sad if he chickened out, but didn't want to, if you know what I mean. So I bribed him, and he did great and loved it. The member of our party who I thought would be no problem, ahem, the social one, thought he was being adopted by a monster and might never see his family again. So, I was *that* parent. Sigh. When we left the building, there were some dressed up cartoon characters outside where the line had formed, and Asher began crying on sight, thinking we were going to give him to one of them! How awful.
At this point it may be no surprise that I'm not big on the whole believing-in-Santa thing. I think it's nice as a story, and am not of the mind to ban Santa from Christmas, but why lie to kids to the extent that adults do? Why not just explain it as a fun seasonal tradition and leave out the intentional deception. Reuel is a bit more sentimental about the experience than that, so I feel I am treading always a shaky tightrope of trying not to offend Reuel's Christmas sensibilities, while not feeling totally disgusting with myself and parenting against my own. Ugh! So far, I just choose my words very carefully and let Owen draw his own conclusions. I've decided the most sensible answer is probably not getting too concerned about it either way as long as we focus on keeping the real meaning of Christmas at the center of our celebration.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Haircut!
Pre-haircut yogurt and green beans:
Post-haircut:
(Yes, those are chicken nuggets from McDs...guilty as charged :P )
p.s. seem to have been successful at kicking the round-the-mouth eczema so far with a 2x/day for 5 days treatment with 2.5% cortisone, then keeping his chin lubricated with aquaphor to prevent re-chapping. So far so good!
Post-haircut:
(Yes, those are chicken nuggets from McDs...guilty as charged :P )
p.s. seem to have been successful at kicking the round-the-mouth eczema so far with a 2x/day for 5 days treatment with 2.5% cortisone, then keeping his chin lubricated with aquaphor to prevent re-chapping. So far so good!
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