Feeds:
Posts
Comments

High Tech, No Tech

March 5, 2010 by lieslf

Would you believe I had a nice long post ready to go, and then some two-year-old did something to my computer and then my post disappeared! And so I thought I’d show you some pictures of the trip the boys and I took to the local children’s museum yesterday, and now I can’t find my camera cable. So instead I will punt to the time-honored “summary of things around here” post…

After the fifth snowiest winter on record for our area, and no guarantee we’re done with snow season yet, the sun has still managed to melt most of the snow we had. The big piles in driveways and parking lots are still quite prominent, however.

The boys have a new game. They pretend to be dogs, and I am their owner. Liam is a Golden retriever named Thunderbolt, while Kieran is a dalmatian named Lightning Bolt. They like to eat lunch from bowls on the floor (this is not easy with a grilled cheese sandwich, mind you!), and they have a code for different barks. One bark means, “I want to play fetch!”, while three barks means, “I love you.” It actually is an endearing game and they will play it for hours during the day, but I do have to watch Lightning Bolt as he has a tendency to bite his big brother when tempers flare. Yikes! Usually reminding him that dogs in this house do not bite is sufficient.

We are planning Kiri’s 3rd (!!!) birthday party – he wants a fireman theme. Liam had the same theme for his third birthday, and I remember I bought way too many favors and cups and things. They are going to come in very handy in a couple of weeks!

We are hoping for Spring. We may go to the shore tomorrow just to stand on the sand and pretend it’s warm…but truly the sun is getting stronger, daffodils are sprouting, and trees are budding, so it can’t be far off.

I’ve finally gotten back into my knitting. I’m working on a scarf I started a long time ago. It’s actually about halfway done, so I may in fact finish it soon.

Also on tap in the craft department is Liam’s tooth fairy pillow. He hasn’t lost any teeth yet, but he is six so I expect it to start happening soon. I’m making it out of part of a leg of Kevin’s old jeans so it’ll be made of soft, soft denim. I’m planning to applique or quilt some police pictures on it since he is still all about policemen and still planning to become one when he grows up. And I saved the watch pocket from the jeans to put on the pillow to hold his tooth for the Tooth Fairy’s arrival. Now I just need to find out what the Tooth Fairy is leaving behind these days….

That’s about it from the Menagerie House. I’ll be back soon with further updates, and hopefully, pictures!

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 15, 2010 by lieslf

It’s a lousy picture, I know, but I got it on the fly with my cell phone. Kieran had been asleep before dinner, and he was cranky and angry all through dinner because we woke him up to eat (and also to keep him from sleeping through the evening and getting up for the day at 4:00 AM). He really was a sight with his crazy messed-up curly bedhead, spaghetti sauce stained shirt, and a face tear-stained from a reprimand delivered for throwing food at the dinner table. We all ate quickly while keeping an eye out for flying tortellinis.

Any experienced parent knows those kinds of dinners – the ones where the best thing to do is end the meal as quickly as possible, preferably before someone gets injured by a flying fork. And tonight I really thought that we were going down the road to the Witching Hour in Chaos City.

Thankfully, I was wrong. And in fact, tonight turned out to be a night where it was just plain fun to be the mother of two small boys.  The fun was started by a surprise find during my weekly grocery shopping trip.

I went shopping this morning and discovered that our usually plain Jane grocery store had pulled out all the stops for Valentine’s Day. Flowers lined many aisles, and fresh chocolate-dipped strawberries and blueberries were available in the produce department. I bought a small platter of fresh blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, and then asked the produce clerk to add some of the chocolate-dipped berries. Anticipating happy smiles at a happy family dinner, I made my way home with the chocolates safely tucked up front with me instead of leaving it in the back where a falling milk carton could crush it.

Then, as is often the case with daydreams, real life intruded, this time in the form of Mr. Cranky, age 2.5 years. Our usually sunny and hug-crazy Kieran woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. He was cranky and touchy for much of the day, and to make matters worse, he decided that he would refuse most offers of food. By late afternoon he was tired, and a stop for a quick nursing session ended up as a nap.

By dessert time, Kiri was clearly a tired, tired, tired boy, and he barely managed a smile when we brought out the chocolate. He ate some of the fresh berries, and was about to start throwing food again when Liam handed him a chocolate dipped blueberry. He popped it into his mouth. His face lit up at the first bite, and the tears stopped. It soon became obvious that the usual sweet and huggy Kieran was back amongst us. After eating some more berries and a bit more chocolate his recovery was complete. He hugged his dog, and then turned to hug me. After that, he disappeared upstairs in search of more huggable people.

And now my children have learned a Big Important Life Lesson – sometimes a bit of chocolate and some hugs can dry more tears than can a box of tissues.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Everyone!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

Snowmageddon!

February 6, 2010 by lieslf

Or at least that’s what President Obama has named the storm that hit our area overnight. We ended up with maybe 10-12 inches here, but just a few miles south, the towns saw two feet, and in Delaware and west, three feet. We have had two of the five largest snowstorms ever to hit the area in the last three months. And it’s supposed to snow again on Wednesday!

Our birdfeeders were doing land-office business this afternoon when the storm died down. I think any natural food for the birds was buried.

The view out our toy room door. A lot of the snow had blown off the railings by this time, but you can see even so we had quite a bit of the stuff.

Out our living room window. Our street is normally a busy one, but very few people were out and about today. That is unusual, even for a snowstorm. The boys went out a couple of times – Liam was on a mission to set anew world record for the number of snow angels made by one boy, but he got too cold after about 15 or so…

Thanks for taking the snow tour. Hopefully I’ll be back soon with the more usual cute kid stories that normally occupy this space!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

Ccccccooooooooold!

January 11, 2010 by lieslf

Aaaaahhhhhhh…………..the sweet memories of last summer. We drive past that fountain every morning on our way to drop Liam of at kindergarten, and it has long since been turned off and drained. We have had some very cold days, and an unusually long string of them, too.

It did moderate somewhat today when the temperature climbed all the way to 29*. We were coming out of the grocery store when the boys spied some sheets of ice in the parking lot to slide on. Liam asked me, “Mommy? How is it that there is still ice when it’s so warm outside?” You know it’s been cold when 29* feels like a warm spell.

But at least we are prepared for cold like this – I feel sorry for the strawberry and orange growers in the South!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments »

Merry Christmas!

December 27, 2009 by lieslf

We had a wonderful, peaceful Christmas here at the Menagerie House. As we went through the various holiday rituals and traditions, I was reminded again and again how blessed Kevin and I are to be together for all these years now, and how blessed we are by having our beautiful, playful, and kind boys to raise. Life is so hard for so many in the world, and so we are truly lucky to have only a few problems in our lives.

Here are a few brief snapshots of Christmas 2009 at the Menagerie House:

A White Christmas is a rare thing in New Jersey, but we had one this year! The storm last weekend ended up giving us about 14 inches of snow, and it was beautiful.

Snow angels were made…

and there were sleigh rides…

When we woke up and came downstairs on Christmas morning, all these presents had appeared under the tree.

So we went to work unwrapping them all.

This is Santa’s big gift for Kieran and Liam this year. It’s  Geotrax airline and train system. Kieran had asked for the airport, while Liam had asked for the train, so Santa arranged a set up where the two lines could intersect and mingle. This toy has been a huge hit; both boys love it. If the interest holds there are lots of expansions sets availabale that could be fun for Kieran’s birthday in March!

Santa did not for get Casey, and even Houdini received a gift bag of raisins and Cheerios, a ferret’s favorite treats.

It was a fun but long day-even the gingerbread reindeer look a bit tired. I think next year I will make these guys a day or two before Christmas.

That’s the quick round-up of Christmas fun at the Menagerie House this year. Now we have ten wonderful days of family time together since Kevin’s company closes between Christmas and New Year. I will be back throughout the week with updates on our activities, and to check in on all my blog friends out there!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of my readers!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments »

Pre-Christmas Snowstorm

December 19, 2009 by lieslf

If you’ve heard or seen the weather reports today, our area is experiencing a major snowstorm. While we have only seen three inches or so at our house today, reports still say we will have 14 inches of the lovely snowy stuff by tomorrow morning. It’s rare to have a white Christmas in central New Jersey, so this is an unexpected bonus. Tomorrow we may have the big snow pictures, but for now enjoy this shot of Kieran getting hit by a snowball-Liam threw it!

(PS-Liam’s and Kieran’s GreatGrandmother, GiGi, is in the hospital in San Antonio. She’s been there a few days, but is now doing very, very well indeed and is planning on being released today or tomorrow. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers because if her docs tell her she shouldn’t leave, there will be an explosion big enough to take out the state, according to Gran-Gran!)

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Sex Ed – The Toddler Curriculum

December 13, 2009 by lieslf

One of my favorite things about being a parent is the times when I can listen to my children talk out a problem. I guess it’s the teacher in me that loves to hear exactly how a child fits a newly learned item into his understanding of the world, or just that I love puzzles of all kinds myself, but when I can hear my children talking as they try to figure out the answer to a question, I find the whole conversation to be quite intriguing. And many times, it’s also quite funny.

I read somewhere that children start to identify as a particular sex sometime between two and three years of age. That sounds about right to me because during the last couple of weeks I have overheard conversations or been directly quizzed about the differences between boys and girls. To wit:

I was in the bathroom enjoying a rare moment of daytime solitude when suddenly my daydreaming was interrupted by the invasion of a small indignant boy…

Kieran: “Why, Mommy? Why you lock me out of da bathwoom? You my best fwiend in da whole wide world!”

Me: “I didn’t lock you out, kiddo. You opened the door and ran in.”

Kieran: “Oh.”

He stared at me for a moment with a concerned look on his face.

Kiri: “Mommy!”

Me: “Yes?”

Kiri: “You poop?”

I shook my head.

Kiri: “You pee?”

I nodded my head.

Kieran: “Mommy, stand up! People stand up when dey pee!”

I laughed.

Me: “Only boys stand up to pee, Kiri. Girls have to sit down.”

Kiri: “Oh, no, Mommy, this is easy-peasy. You jus’ stand up and point your P@^#% into the potty!”

Me: “Girls don’t have p@^#%es, kiddo. We can’t stand up to pee.”

Kieran’s eyes got big.

Kieran: “Weally, Mommy?”

Me: “Yes, really. It’s true.”

Kieran: “But Casey has a p@^#%. And he be a dog! So you have one, too, Mommy?”

Me: “Well, yes, he does. He’s a boy dog. I’m a girl.”

Kieran (with big eyes, whispering): “Girl dogs no p@^#%es, either?”

Me: “That’s right. Only boy dogs have them.”

Kieran looked quite shocked for a moment, and then turned to leave.

Kieran: “No time to talk now, Mommy. Me got to go. Bye!”

Me: “Where are you going in such a hurry!”

Kieran: “Me have to tell Liam about boys and girls and p@^#%es. He’s in Kindergarten and he NEEDS to know this!”

And as quickly as he arrived, he was gone.

********

We were putting shoes on to go out on a playdate at my friend L’s house. L has three children-E, a 3.5 year old girl, A, a two old boy, and S, a 14 year old ninth-grader..

Kieran: “Tell me, Mommy, what was da baby’s name?”

Me: “His name is A.”

Kieran (smiling): ” Oh, yes! And da other one?”

Me: “Her name is E!”

Kieran: “Right! She be just like me!….But….no…she be girl…so she no p@^#%, right, Mommy?”

Me: “Right. She has no p@^#%, and she’s two years older than you.”

Kieran: “Oh, no, Mommy, me baby! So me like A?”

Me: “Well, yes, A is a boy and he’s a bit younger than you.”

Kieran: “And da other mommy? Her name?”

Me: “Her name is S, but she’s not a mommy. She’s a really big kid.”

Kieran stared at the wall for a minute, trying to reconcile everything he’d just heard,

Kieran: “No way! She too big for kid. She be another mommy! Where be her baby?”

Me: “Well, sweetie, she has no baby. She’s a big kid, too young to have a baby.”

Kieran: “You joke me? You not funny!”

He resumed staring at the wall, blinking in concentration.

Liam: “Mommy, I think Kieran is just confused.”

Kieran whipped around to yell at his big brother, who had unwittingly just taken him over the edge of sanity…

Kieran (crying): “No, Mommy! Me not confused! Me Kieran! Not confused! Me baby, me boy, me Kieran! ME!”

Liam: “It’s hard to be two, isn’t it, Kieran?

I remember this stage from when Liam went through it. It’s better this time because not only do I have have living proof that Kiri will eventually figure these big questions out for himself, but Kiri has an amazing big brother right there beside him to help.


Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

Thursday Morning Drive Time, Sibling Rivalry Edition

December 3, 2009 by lieslf

I’m  running around trying to get some holiday things done, just like everyone else right now, and so I haven’t had time to finish my Thanksgiving Round-Up post with party pictures and such-hopefully I can get to that this weekend?? Who knows…

Anyway, in the meantime, a conversation from the ride to school this morning:

Liam: “Hey, Mom and Kiri, I have a really fun pretend idea!”

Me: “What’s a ‘pretend idea’?”

Liam: “Oh, you know, like when you imagine something you could do if you could do anything you imagine? There’s a word for it…ffffaaa…ffffaaa..”

Me (after repeating that first sentence several times for my own interpretative benefit): “Hm, you mean ‘fantasy’?”

Liam: “Yes, that’s the word! I have a really fun and cool pretend fantasy idea! Do you want to hear it?”

Kieran: “Fantsy, fantsy, pantsy, fantsy-pantsy….”

Liam: “Mommy? Do you want to hear it? Kieran, stop it!!”

Kieran: :”Fantsy-pantsy, underpants…..under..fantsy…”

Liam:”Mommy? Make him stop! He’s totally ruining my pretend fantasy idea!”

Me: “Kieran, please stop talk…”

Kieran (with great 2-year-old pride): “Fantsy-pantsy underpantsy, fantsy-pantsy underpantsy!”

Liam: “Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!”

Me: “Boys! Freeze! One at a time-Liam, what’s your idea?”

Liam: “What if everything you touched except what you want to keep turned into chocolate?”

Me: “Ooohhh, sounds good, could I turn my steering wheel into chocolate?”

Liam : “Yes, but only after you drop me off at school. I want to play with my friends this morning.”

Kieran: “No!”

Liam: “No, what?”

Kieran: “No chocolate! Only lollipops! Me say lollipops!

Liam: “No! Chocolate only! No lollipops. It’s my pretend fantasy idea and I say chocolate!”

Kieran: “Waahhhh! Mommy! Liam say no lollipops in his fantsy-underpantsy!”

Me: “Well, how about you both have your own ideas?”

Liam: “Well, whatever, Mommy. I just want to turn most of the world into chocolate.”

Me: “I think that sounds delicious, sweetie.”

Kieran: “Turn the whole Earth…lollipops!

Liam: “Well, guys, the Earth is pretty big….how about we turn part of it into chocolate, part of it into lollipops, and the rest can be a nice place for all the people and animals to live together and eat treats?”

Kiri: “Mmmmmmm, treats!”

Me: “Mmmmmm, treats!”

Liam: “Mmmmmmm, treats!”

If only real-world conflicts could be solved so easily!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

Thanksgiving?

November 28, 2009 by lieslf

Well, let me tell you a little tale about a pair of anxious parents-to-be. They had waited months to see their sweet little baby boy, to count his toes, to count his fingers, and to gaze, enraptured, at the the thought that a tiny, tiny, bit of Mommy and a tiny, tiny, tiny, bit of Daddy had danced together and finally joined. And they had waited to see all these things as the tiny piece of Mommy+Daddy (that shall for our purposes hereonin be called “Liam”) grew and grew and grew and grew. Then one evening , after all those months of waiting, something happened.

With a splash and a shriek and a very confused look on his face, Liam emerged from his Mommy’s tummy, all cute, and shiny, and wet, and angry at having fallen out of his nice cozy dark watery world into this place the rest of us call “The Real World.”

Liam wasn’t angry for long though, because the friendly OB standing by Mommy’s feet caught him with warm strong hands, wrapped him up in a soft warm blanket, helped him expel some particularly bothersome strands of mucus and gunk, and then handed Liam to his Mommy, who promptly nursed him for the first time ever. Judging from the look on his face as the first squirts of warm colostrum slid down his throat, all of a sudden being ejected quite quickly from the only watery world he’d ever known did not seem to be such a bad thing after all.

All that took place on Thanksgiving Day 2003, and so for Liam’s proud parents, Thanksgiving took on a whole new richness since this wonderful little boy had come to live with them on Thanksgiving Day.

In Liam’s first  years, we would celebrate Thanksgiving in NJ with GiGi, sometimes Uncle Bob, and Gran-Gran and Pop-Pop. It was  fun-a typical American Thanksgiving complete with lots of food, hugs, football, chatting and sometimes even a long walk in the evening after the kitchen had been cleaned up.That was a lot of fun, and I will always treasure those memories.

But the times, they do change, and things happen and so sometimes even long-standing traditions have to change along with everything else. Almost three years ago, Gran-Gran and Pop-Pop moved to Texas. Since then, we who stayed behind in the Garden State slowly started doing some things on our own to build a new set of holiday traditions, but were largely unsuccessful, mostly because it’s hard to have a traditional feast with only Mommy, Daddy, and one, and then two, little boys.

This year, however we are doing things differently. Our plan was to have a nice Thanksgiving Dinner here at home, and then a long walk on the canal with friends. Then, over the weekend, we would head for the Poconos, where there is a lodge-style hotel complete with an indoor water park. We would drive up in the morning, play in the water all afternoon, and perhaps for a bit after dinner. Then we would go to our room for some reading or a movie. The next day we would splash away the morning, have a good lunch, and return home in time for bedtime and Liam’s birthday celebration at school on Monday.

Well. well, so the first part didn’t quite go as planned, but we are rallying and continuing on with the  first year of of our new tradition. You see, I woke up Thanksgiving morning with a migraine headache. I haven’t had one in a couple of years. thankfully, but I was completely unprepared for this one to strike. By noon yesterday, Kevin and the boys were driving me to the ER. The helpful people there were able to get me some relief quite quickly, which was welcome, but because of all the H1N1 caution, the boys were not allowed to stay in the ER with me. So Kevin had to take them home. It was not the day I had envisioned where I would be cooking goodies for my family and playing with them. On the other hand, though, I did get some much-needed rest as I spent 4 hours waiting for the radiologist in Australia (certain services are outsourced on holidays, apparently) to read my perfectly normal CT scan. Kevin and the boys bounced back and forth between home and the hospital, and at one point one of the nurses came back to tell me that there were two cute boys sitting on the floor out front amusing the receptionist with knock-knock jokes and eating M&M’s. So apparently the boys had a decent time themselves. Poor Kevin, who had to manage these active little ones, was a bit the worse for wear as the hospital didn’t manage to release me for 6 hours.

However, I am proud to tell you that I was fine yesterday, fully functional, and was able to put together smaller version of Thanksgiving dinner. We did indeed take our walk on the canal and spied many treasures such as rocks, colored leaves, sea gulls, and a heron or two..We were accompanied by Liam’s friend K and her parents. K’s Mom and Dad and I first met singing in a local choir. K was born about a year after Liam, and has grown up with him. They are fast friends, and it was to our great surprise and honor that K was placed in Liam’s Kindergarten class this past September She is now one of Liam’s favorite Kindergarten classmates. We all went out to lunch, and then returned home.

While eating our delayed Thanksgiving dinner last evening, we announced our travel plans to the boys, who were very much in favor of the trip, as you might imagine. They had a bit of trouble getting to sleep last time as they are quite excited about our trip coming up in under two hours now.

I’m on my way to pack now, but I think that our trip today will be nothing less than wonderful. So with that, I bid you all good day and a happy weekend. The lodge does have wi-fi so if I have time I may post a few pictures and tell some funny stories.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my readers!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 25, 2009 by lieslf

Yes, we had Liam’s sixth birthday party here this weekend. It was a lot of fun with friends and family spread all across the house for most of the afternoon. As soon as I’ve managed to post more pictures I’ll show you some from the party, but in the meantime, here’s a bit of Thanksgiving conversation from the boys.

Liam: ” Kieran, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day!”

Kieran: “YAY! MOMMY, LIAM SAY SANTA CLAUS COMING!!!!

Liam: “Oh, brother! Kieran, Thanksgiving day is for giving thanks for the good things we have around us.”

Kieran: “Oh, I See. I thankee Casey……….”

And with that he was off to hug his favorite dog:

Happy Thanksgiving from The Menagerie House To You!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

Older Posts »