Wesley the Comedian

It’s not just that he half-wears his sister’s black ballet leotard while scootering around the living room.  His original joke has always been to say “no” to any request with a really big smile (his smile, not necessarily Mama’s).  Yesterday, he made up a completely new joke that had us both giggling for a long time.

Mama:  Wesley, we’re going swimming later.  We’ll go to the pool and swim.

Wesley:  Pool. [Thinking about it—we haven’t been for a few months.] Pool….hot tub. 

Mama:  Yes, we’ll go in the hot tub!  I’m surprised you remember the hot tub!

Wesley: Hot tub.  Hot tub. Hot tub. [Getting a sly grin on his face.] Hot…dog!  HA! HA! HA!  Hot dog, hot dog!

Mama: Wesley, did you tell a joke?  Hot dog?  Hot tub?

[Wesley’s giggling too hard to respond, and soon Mama is, too!]

* * * * *

And this is Kyla performing a daring circus act.  She laid two benches on the ground, covered them with a blanket, called it a cannon, and shot out of it on the count of three. Ta da!

The Plunge—7,000 Virtual Words

According to the camera, it was 12:59 when the first shot was taken.  It was also 12:59 when the last shot was taken.  It felt longer. 

I am not going to tell you why I did it, mostly because I’m not sure myself, but if it’s ever 57 degrees and sunny on another New Year’s Day, I’m going in again!

*  *  *  *  *

Due to a myriad of circumstances (that is, we didn’t give ourselves enough time to park & Dwayne left his cell in the car…you know, the usual), the kids didn’t get to cheer me on.  Kyla was as disappointed as I was so she and I did our own Polar Bear (toe) dip.

Proving she may be the brains in the family, Piper kept her clothes and rain boots on.

 

And because it was so balmy on January 1st, the girls set us out a picnic for afternoon snack.

 

This, coupled with approximately three hours of yard work (once my toes thawed), made the first day of 2012 quite excellent. 

 

Happy New Year, Dear Reader.  I mean, Mom!

End of the Year Review

I reviewed  my posts of 2011 and chose the bits that made me laugh.

 

1. And besides, I love doing these sort of projects. Unlike parenting, it was fast, uncomplicated, and I did a pretty good job.
2. Best laid plans of mice and moms…and all that.
3. I swear my kids have to start off brilliant because the best we can hope for is that by the time they are school age, they will be down to normal intelligence.
4. We don’t raise no cowards here at the ranch. Not much in way of manners, either, but no fear.
5. If I ever get a Facebook Page, which will happen about the same time I stop self-medicating with dark chocolate, my status will continually read:

Cleaning the Kitchen

1. But then they stopped cold turkey, like “clean up” was a drug they needed to purge
2. So it was about 3 o’clock or so, after giving up on Wesley’s fifth naptime attempt that I screamed—within 10 feet of all three children, not behind closed doors—“This day SUCKS!!!” This is not a word I want to input into their vocabularies, but occasionally I like to share feelings with my children. It helps them remember I am not just a robot slave programmed for their convenience.
3. St. Dwayne eventually came home with Valentine’s gifts for us all and the day finally ended, as all days are wont to do if you give them enough time. 24 hours, to be exact.
4. One of the (ahem, few) advantages of young children is that they don’t follow the calendar
5. “Fixing” looks similar to “breaking” in the Need household….
6. Wesley and Stephen are learning that sand is not just for eating. They are considering the ramifications of such an idea.
7. He got his pants soaked through the first minute he was near the water. My brothers might uncharitably, but truthfully, mutter under their breaths “just like his mother.”
8. (Did the fearless gene completely override the intelligence gene? Yes. Yes, it did.)
9. If I can take a moment to say that, currently, Piper’s endearing habits are much fewer than her infuriating ones. That’s neither here nor there for you, the reader, but it’s making a big difference in the pleasantness of my days.
10. Once he has had his lunch, Daddisaurus needs dessert, preferably a plant-eater.
11. But November isn’t all about waiting for plants to die.
12. Let it not be said that our home is quiet, or that our children are smart enough to do 3-man wrestling on a carpeted surface. Because neither would be true.

Ending Well

We had been looking forward to an NYE party at a friend’s house, but with Piper and Wesley just finishing the croup, Wesley half-way through medications for a severe ear infection, Piper on the first day of medication for a similar infection, and Kyla vomiting a few times over a few days—in addition to the runny noses they’ve all had—we ended up spending the last evening of the year a little more quietly and solitary than we had wanted.

My beloved knew I was disappointed, so he made a plan to cheer me up by making a very special dinner. For us, he made lobster tail, Kyla asked for and received steak and peas, Piper shrimp and corn. We had crème brulee and dark chocolate truffles for dessert.

 

Okay, it cheered me up perfectly.

 

We did get out of the house a bit.  Bellevue Square had a special New Year’s edition of Snow Flake Lane.  The SnowStorm is a new addition this year. They know exactly how cool they are!

Winter Break at the Zoo

To celebrate the last day I can go across the 520 bridge without tolls, I took the kids to the zoo today.  The warm rain kept crowds away, and we had an excellent time! 

 

The Willawong Station was open and I had exactly $3 to buy three seed sticks.  I love this and it’s even more fun to see my kids so excited—and simultaneously terrified—to feed the birds.

(This is the peppermint candy scarf I made for Piper.)

I came up with a new game that the girls got into.  On a notepad, I wrote the letters A-Z.  Then we tried to find as many animals with corresponding letters as possible.  We were only there a few hours, so only got about half the letters, but we’ll bring it next time, too.  Hopefully the zoo has an X-ray fish somewhere!

Regression

Kyla hasn’t pulled this since she was two, but she took almost everything from her bedroom, brought in things from out of her bedroom, and in one hour, managed to do this:

She said she had made a fort and was decorating it.  Although I hung up the dresses for her, she had to clean up the rest of it herself.  It took her two hours.

New Clothes

The girls got some new clothes from Christmas and they are so darn cute how they were them.  Kyla’s favorite color is purple, in case you didn’t catch that.

(Kyla started the scarf project by wanting me to knit her a scarf.  She chose purple, of course.)

 

Wesley got some 2T clothes (which is wonderful!), but even though he will be two in 23 days, he won’t be big enough for these for a long, long time.  But his scarf fits!