Wednesday, February 21, 2007

WFMW: Protect TV Buttons from Toddlers

UPDATED to include a picture:













(Shush! Someone has to post the last tip!)

My tip tonight is something I read in a parenting magazine or maybe it was a blog, the point is it was a tip I actually read and used AND it WORKED.

To keep little fingers, the just-over-a-year-old kind, from punching the buttons on your TV, go to Walgreen's and buy a plexi-glass picture frame. One of the smaller ones will do. You know the kind I'm talking about: it's frameless and it props up by itself on a tabletop. OK, so you get one of those and...

...turn it on its back so the large part of it is face down flat. Slide this part under your TV as your husband is lifting it a millimeter or so high but acting like he is Hercules with The World on his back. Have Herc set it down so that the only thing showing is the short part of the frame, which is beautifully positioned in front of the buttons on your TV.

Yuck, I am thinking this WFMW is going to require a picture, which I don't have. And which would take me too long to accomplish at this late hour and I still need to waste some more time online and get this tip on Shannon's site before Thursday.

So visualize, people, and try it if your little ones like to turn off American Idol in the middle of Simon's latest barb or Ryan Seacrest's "out."

For more, and better and probably more useful tips, go to Shannon's and knock yourself out.

Monday, February 19, 2007

And Birthday Season Continues

You might think that title means there are several birthdays we are celebrating. Nope. Just one. Three times: at a restaurant on Saturday since that was his actual birthday, yesterday here at home with family, and tomorrow with his Mother's Day Out classmates. Ahhh, I love my son but he's starting to sing "Happy Birthday" in his sleep.

Yesterday, however, was the big shindig with the cake and candles. Lots of fun for him and since he's already gone through this twice, his third birthday was smooth sailing. It was nice, I have to say, to sit back and watch him open his presents instead of coaxing him, uh, more like screaming in his ear, to tear a sheet. Of course, his ever-doting Aunt R. was right there to do it for him lest he be in the least big perplexed about how to get through the paper to the bounty beneath.

So now the real, selfish reason for the post: the cake! Made by me! Without a plan or even a vision, I set about to make his cake and I think it was not too bad an effort:



(I know, I know, I have now divulged Son 1's real name. Just forget you read that and move on about your blogs...)



All in all, a great time for the birthday boy and his little bro, who really thought all the presents were for him. Hmmm, that could have something to do with the fact that BOTH sides' grandparents showed up with a gift for him, too.

Must be something one learns at Grandparents' School...

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Son 1 the Birthday Boy!

Today is Son 1's third birthday. This little man has brought more joy to our lives than we could ever imagine, and daily he amazes me in some way.

We are having a small family party tomorrow and today we're taking him bowling for the first time. We don't really know what to expect: he could throw two balls and say he wants to go home. Or he'll throw Son 2 down the lane and say "let's do it again!"

Happy, happy birthday, Son 1, with many smothering mommy and daddy hugs.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Flying Without a Net

Son 1 is going to be THREE YEARS OLD tomorrow. (I will save my sappy birthday post for the actual day.) I have been wondering, hoping, listening with utter envy to my other mom friends who have 2-year-olds who have been trained for months, and waiting for my son to "get it" and lose the diapers. Today may have been the turning point.

We left the house with UNDERWEAR on, not a diaper. (Okay, you know what I mean when I say "we," it's the "we" that means "he." You know...right? Okay, I just needed to clarify that.)

Yep, we actually got in the car, backed out of the driveway, and went places. Public places. Now, I have backup supplies my diaper bag has not seen since the newborn days: extra clothes, plastic bags, extra diapers in case I, uh, he needs to revert, and of course a fresh pair of underwear. None of these things were needed today! I must have driven the poor kid cah-razy with my "do you need to pee-pee" every 15 minutes. He actually did in the potty at our playgroup place and when we got home all was dry. Ahhhhh, what a victory for me, uh, him!!

I figure I will be cleaning up a few accidents along the way for sure. But I think we are one step closer to a one-kid-in-a-diaper family. Woo-hoo!!

UPDATE: Well, we didn't quite make it the whole day without a little accident. But Mommy has new strategies up her sleeve so not to worry!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Dead. Winter.

It is winter. I understand that. But puh-leeze, Lord, can you throw in an unseasonably warm day for me and the boys? We in the south are known for such anomolies and we appreciate them.

Until He says yes to my request, there's this to keep us going, 'cause even the beach in winter is still the beach.

Hope it's warm today wherever you readers are. But if it is I don't want to hear about it...

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

WFMW: Kleenex Trash




If you have little kids, you have little kids with colds. And if you have more than one with a cold, the Kleenex trash can get a little overwhelming, not mention all those trips to the kitchen trash can (which I have to get to by undoing the child-proof lock...a real pain when you have to do it 57 times a day).


My WFMW tip is to use the old Kleenex box for used Kleenexes. I keep it on the counter with the new Kleenexes, CLEARLY labeled "trash" on each side of the box. When the new box of Kleenexes gets used up, it becomes the trash box and the old trash gets thrown away.


For more great Works for Me tips, visit Shannon.


Sunday, February 11, 2007

It's Almost Valentine's Day! The Two for Togetherness Meme.

(If you are unfamiliar with what "meme" means, check this out.)

2 things you compliment your husband on while in his presence.

His ability to get Son 1 to go to bed on a night when Son 1 forgets who is mother is.
His generosity.


2 compliments you make about your spouse to your friends.

The way he is so protective of me and the boys.
When, at our wedding, his best man told me "nobody doesn't like your husband..."


2 traits you married him/her for.

He was so fun on dates. And he still is!
The way he talks to people: sincerely and with passion.


2 days you cherished the most with your husband being together. (Skip the obvious--wedding/birth of kids--and come up with something else.)

Aruba. And Aruba. Oh, and Aruba.
San Diego when I was pregnant with Son 1. I think of that trip every day.


2 material things you could give your husband if you just inherited a fortune.

Tickets to all major sporting events. And a golf game on the day before. And a spa day for his wife during the major sporting events.

Running boards for his truck. (He's been asking for them for four years.)


2 things you would miss the most if she/he left for two weeks.

His smile. His arms around me. His arms around our boys. His arms changing diapers.


2 thoughts that crossed your mind when you first met/saw your spouse.

"Is he always this happy?"
"I can't believe how easy this is."


2 favorite dates

Dancing at my friends' weddings!
Kansas City Chiefs game; we were so cold but we had hot chocolate.


2 funny or odd things you love about your spouse.

I can only think of one but it's a good one: He makes concoctions out of leftovers in the fridge. Bless him, he will eat leftovers that are a week old. He'll mix them up in a pan, Chinese, Mexican, whatever's in there, and happily grab a spoon. I've told him, that's fine but you're not feeding it to our sons.


2 places you have lived with your spouse.

Upstairs and downstairs.


2 favorite vacations

Mentioned above, also Panama City Beach with my family before we were married. Atlantis, California, all so much fun.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

How to Ruin a Stranger's Day

(I should just title each blog entry "Sorry for the delay in posting..." and go from there.)

Today is one of two days every week when I don't have an activity planned for me and the boys. I decided to take them to one of those big gyms where they have huge inflatable toys. My little guys are 3 (next week, can you believe!) and 17 months: perfect ages for this kind of thing. But really, with the cold snap that doesn't seem to be ending, anyplace indoors they can get up speed enough to run would suffice!

Anyway, so Son 1 has a cold, the coughing kind of cold. I guess his running and hard breathing were what prompted a coughing fit in the middle of the (carpeted) gym, a fit so violent that it caused him to throw up. Twice. Or three times. They kind of ran together.

The place was kind of crowded with benches lining the walls, and we were, uh, lucky enough to be near one where there were three or four other moms happily chirping away. So I'm trying my best to keep a grip on Son 2 before he runs out the door or to the water fountain while trying to clean up after Son 1 and comfort him at the same time and struggling to decide which of the three tasks is most important.

I managed to flag down a staff member who brought some towels and a trash can and offered to take care of Son 2 while I worked on Son 1, who was really okay and had stopped coughing and wasn't crying, but did utter "you hold me" no less than three times.

Now here's where my hackles raise: the three moms on the bench??? They watched this all take place and continued to chirp the whole time. Three feet away. Not one of them offered any assistance to me whatsoever. Nothing. NO THING. One of them was pregnant but hey I've been pregnant twice and I was still darned agile and could have scooped up a toddler, if needed. Maybe these women were practicing their multi-tasking skills by exchanging babysitters' names and recipes while thinking to themselves "wow, glad that's not my kid..." I don't know, but I have never sat by and watched a stranger in need without helping. And absolutely not when there are kids involved. I gathered our stuff and headed to the restroom to wash the boys' hands, thoroughly disappointed in the behavior of my colleagues and vowing I would never make any other mom feel like I felt at that moment.

I've let the incident go, to be sure, I mean what else is there to do? People don't always have the same take on things as I do, I guess.

But I'm just sayin', those moms better hope they don't meet me in a dark alley without my kids.