That's Me!!!

The other day, we were watching the holiday episode of Handy Manny for the 3,267th time this week and one of the characters was talking to Manny about Hanukkah and what a menorah was. Norah perked up and said, "a Norah? a Norah! That's me! That's me, mommy! A Norah!"

Imaginations are a wild thing

Well who knew?
Elliott wanted his black froggie, but I was tucking him in bed. I asked where it was, and he replied, "in the cave." I said, "where's the cave?" and he said, "down 'dere." Because I wouldn't allow him out of bed, I never did figure out where "down 'dere" was.

A few days later, I called "NAPTIME!" to Norah and Elliott. I went upstairs and Elliott was nowhere to be found. I asked Norah where her brother was and she said, "Ellie in da cave."

Ok. Now I was perplexed. So I called him and out he came from under the bed.

THE CAVE! Silly me! Duh!

who said TV is bad for kids?

Today at lunch, Aidan said, "mommy, did you know that christmas is about being together and helping others?" Chris and I looked at each other and I said to Aidan, "wow. Very good Aidan. It sure is. Where did you learn that?", thinking he'd say that he learned it in school. Nope.

"I learned it from the Wonder Pets, Mommy!"

Ode to Napolean Dynamite

Yesterday, I hauled my non-morning self to Kohl's early in the morning to get the twinadoes some winter boots so that they would stop looking so sullen and would be able to play in the snow, like they had been dying to for the past 24 hours.
Much to my dismay and attempts to convince them how cool the other boots were, they picked the princess boots and the spiderman boots, both with flashing lights. Tackiness in its finest! (if you know me, you know how much I hate character wear on my kids, unless its PJs)
But alas, it made them happy. So off we went with the boots.
And I don't think they've taken them off since.
Their cousin Sara babysat for them last night, and when we got home, we were informed that yes, they were in bed with their boots on. When I went to take Norah's off, she woke up and groggily said, "no! da princess boots. da princess boots on." I've got to think that it can't be comfy?

I thought I was being a good mom by not letting my kids watch crap like Spongebob, Calilou, and Rugrats (no offense to moms who do, I just think its sassy and too potty-like for us), but low and behold, Aidan managed to memorize some lines from Shrek II. Guess I really need to screen and watch what we say!!!

Aidan: "mommy, whose your one true love?"
Me: "wha? Where'd you learn that?"
A: "Shrek II. Shrek is Princess Fiona's true love."
Me: "oh. That would be daddy and you, peanie and belly."
A: "Mommy, do I have thick, curly locks?"
Me: "well, you have thick locks, but they're not curly."
A:" Do I have a cute button nose and tight, ample buttocks?"
Me: " WHAT? Tight WHAT?"
A: "buttocks. You know, like on your butt."
Me: "nice. Maybe you should take a break from watching Shrek II so much."

All About Me

I did it! I made my first hat!!!! And I have two people who I really need to thank - Lynn, for being patient with me last week at Stitch n Bitch, when I was all f*d up and she set me straight, and Sheila, for showing me the video on the mattress stitch. Now hopefully Ryan will wear it and the matching scarf :)

She's a character, that's for sure!

Tonight, I was tucking her into bed, and I said, "goodnight, Princess." and she said, "I not princess, I Peanie." and was giggling hysterically. So I said, "goodnight, Peanie." And she said, "no, I a kitty." and added her purr and meow noises. I tell ya, this girl is 100% obsessed with cats. She's going to be like Angela on The Office who has the cat 'Hang in There' poster hanging up, along with all other cute cat paraphanalia. She'll be that freaky cat lady. Oh dear Pete, I hope not!! The other day, she was walking around, strumming her guitar, singing, "meow meow meow! meow meow meow!" Next thing you know, she'lll be singing "Smelly Cat", a la Phoebe Bouffay.

Oh yeah....you can just call her "fragile" Frankie Murman (of Seinfeld). He's the character who, when upset, runs into the woods and digs a hole and sits in it. Like Frankie, Norah, when upset, runs under a table and hides and cries.

I've got some chock-o-lot in my pock-o-lot

Yesterday when we were at Michaels, I tried to sneak a candy bar into my purchases to help curb my chocolate craving. Unfortunately, Aidan saw me. I got off the hook by telling him he had halloween candy left at home and could have some after lunch.

So we're in the car, driving home, and he says, "hey! what's that smell?"
I said,"what smell? I don't smell anything."
He said, "I do. It smells like chocolate."
Meanwhile I am stuffing little pieces of Take 5 into my piehole.
Still in denial, I say, "Nope. I don't smell it."
Aidan said "Yes, I do. I smell delicious chocolate. "

All About Aidan

All boy.



Seriously?
Is this something in their genes?
I mean, WTF?!

If anyone is reading this and even *thinks* for a moment that my boy is going to be gay because he is feeding a doll, I will kick your ass. He is merely practicing his parenting skills early on. He will be a great daddy someday. Boys can play with dolls.









Friday morning we had our conference w/ Aidan's teacher. We got his report card on Thursday and were pretty pleased with it...it was what I thought it would be, for the most part. No surprises. So we went over that, then we went through an assessment she gives all the kids in Oct and in Mar. We got to see a cutting sample that she has them do in Oct/Mar and then also his "me" book....he draws a picture of himself and writes his name every month. He even narrarates it.
Overall, he's doing great...socially, he's thriving. He doesn't have favorite friends and can play with boys or girls and seems well liked by all the kids. He chooses his 'center' during center time by his interests instead of by the kids who are playing there, which is awesome. He's recognizing his numbers. Basically, doing everything he should be. The only issues we have is that he can't seem to answer more abstract questions. Like if she dumps a box of blocks out and says, "how many blocks are there, Aidan?" he'll just look at them and look up and smile. Since preschool, we've had some issues w/ Aidan following directions. Its like you have to restate what you're asking, sometimes showing him what you want him to do. After seeing this show up on the eval in several different areas, we all decided that he should be evaluated by the speech therapist for a possible processing issue. He certainly doesn't have issues expressing, but it would be on the receptive end. Oh well...better to nip in the bud....we can figure this out and how to deal with it. Frankly, I think he's just like his mama....half off in la-la-land 50% of the time.

And now I leave you with the words of a wise man...

Giddiyup!

November is Prematurity Awareness Month

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November is Prematurity Awareness Month.

Please....
Give Hope...
Watch Miracles Happen.

Every year, nearly 500,000 infants are born prematurely. That's roughly comparable to the population of Cleveland.

Preterm delivery can happen to any pregnant woman. And its happening more and more often. And in nearly half the cases, no one knows why.

The March of Dimes is taking on this devastating problem, to find out what causes it and how it can be stopped.
( from www.marchofdimes.com)


All three of mine were wanting out earlier than they were supposed to. Thanks to drugs and some wonderful doctors, Aidan stayed in. The twins managed to hang in there for 4.5 more weeks due to the same amazing doctors, awful meds, and a really uncomfortable hospital bed. They arrived on October 26th, at 30.5 weeks gestation, weighing 3lb 4ozs each.


Call your US Representative today and urge immediate action on the PREEMIE ACT.

BANDING TOGETHER! Purchase a virtual band in honor or in memory of a child who was born prematurely. Your donation will go toward life-saving research.

Good Luck, Baby Sean

We'll be thinking about you tomorrow, Baby Sean.

xoxox

aidan and the twinadoes

Ode to MOMS Club® International

Just in case anyone random out there is reading this, I would like to say this to MOMS Club_{® International}

Name Recognition

Norah drew this beautiful picture (a blue seal, or so she said) and Aidan asked me how to spell her name and I spelled it out for him. He wrote it!!!!! I am so stinkin' proud of him. He seems to be able to write out most of his letters with minimal help. KINDERGARTEN ROCKS!




Target.
God love the place. I guess we go there too much, because my kids know where it is ("Tah-get dat way!"), point out every Target we see, and every time we run out of something, I get the comment, "got to go to Tah-get and buy some more."

The Twinadoes at Turbo Three

Stats:
Norah
Height 37.5" (60%)
Weight 29.5# (36%)
BMI 18%

Elliott
Height 36" (15%)
Weight 28.5# (15%)
BMI 32%

Healthy as larks, declared Dr. Dorothy!
Elliott is having a hard time with his 3rd year of life (he needs a lifetime supply of cheese to go with his whine), but its all normal.
Potty learning? Fuhgeddaboutit. They want nothing to do with it and I have no desire to push it. Buying diapers sucks ass, but its certainly convienent. Hell, I am still dealing with changing Aidan's sheets several times a week because he is "too tired to get up and go pee pee." Nice. NOT an acceptable excuse, bud.
But I digress. We'll hang onto the dipes for a bit.

And we'll hope that the whining winds down a tad.

Birthday kiss, denied!

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet!

The kids had a great time trick or treating this past Saturday. Surprisingly, it was my first ToT I've spent with them (bedrest-vacation-vacation), so I've never seen just how nuts the neighborhood gets. People and libations everywhere!
Norah and Elliott got much further than I thought they would. At first, I wasn't sure they'd make it, because they were trying to go into people's houses and were dejecting certain types of candy given to them, demanding other kinds in the bowl instead. They would also sneak a handful while the treater was sticking a treat in their pumpkin. Little stinkers!
Aidan and Taylor took off running and were gone till they could get no more in their buckets. You could say they had a good time.

Lance Armstrong Jr she is not...

Houston - we've achieved biking! WOO!

Now we just need to work on the breaks....

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left to their own devices, take II

This morning when i got home from my run, I spotted some lollypop wrappers. I asked Aidan about them and he said, "I just gave some to Peanie and Belly when daddy was in the shower."
Thanks, bud. Awesome way to start the day. Kickstart my morning by feeding your brother and sister and yourself a dose of sugar.

Maybe it was the sugar that caused them to do it? Maybe not. But an hour later, Norah and Elliott were caught red handed by Aidan, who came running and tattling to me. They were filling up the upstairs bathroom sink and it was about to runneth over. By the time I sprinted up there, Elliott had gotten the hell outta dodge and Norah was hiding in the shower.

Inheriting daddy's sweet tooth

They're into everything these days. Just yesterday, I was downstairs changing the laundry and came back up to the dining room to find that Norah and Elliott had pulled Elliott's chair over to the buffet and climbed up and gotten their hands into the thing of jellybeans.

Additionally, I was gone yesterday and daddy was outside putting the storm windows on the house and came in to discover that the kids had found the suckers that I use to bribe them. He figured Aidan ate at least 3 and Norah and Elliott 2 each. Yikes.

This morning, I was in the shower and it was way too quiet. I came out and found Norah and Elliott digging in my purse, hastily shoving their hands in their mouths. Apparently they found the open bag of PB M&Ms that were in there.

Left to their own devices, they sure can get into stuff.

Too much of a good thing

Milk party, anyone?

They crack me up. This was a much more enjoyable thing to see than to hear one of their hourly rounds of,:
Norah: "don't talk-a me!"
Elliott: "i weeeell talk-a you!"
followed by a shove to elliott from norah.

Sibling love.

Growing Up

Oh how I was so not ready for this. I hate potty humor. Hate it. I didn't think it would enter our house this early. Yet here it is, live and in the flesh, streaming loudly from my son's animated mouth. So *this* is what he's learning at school? How to substitute the words "poop" , "butt", "testicle" and "pee" into songs, rhymes, and sentences so that he (thinks he) sounds funny? This is truly something I can live without.

On the flip side, it seems like he's old enough to start using as slave labor. Is that a bad thing? He's enjoying it, really, he is. He loved talking about how only boys can paint and how boys are strong and how he needed to help paint his sister's room. While I was happy to see him excited to roll up his sleeves and pitch in, I am not quite sure how to handle the 'boy' comment. That ain't gonna fly in this household.