Addie's artistic depictions of All About Addie

We're off to Massachusetts!

To see Onkteb and Aunt Gail.  We'll also be meeting one of my online friends and her family.  

We won't be back until the wee hours of Monday morning, and then we have to go to work and daycare....so no updating til at least Monday night.

Wish us safe travels, through the rain, with a fully potty trained child (= extra stops along the way!), on  a Friday night.  :) Maybe the roads will be empty because everyone will be home watching the presidential debate. LOL

Bye!

Ben's bruise update

The black and blue has come for sure.  The bruise has travelled to his eye, giving him his first real black eye....

Well black and blue it is.  Obviously, it's traveled to his eye too.  His first official black eye. (Remember a while ago I was convinced he was going to have a black eye from some other injury he had acquired- that never happened.)

Most hysterical thing: All About Addie

Addie comes home from daycare with a book called "All About Addie" full of illustrations by her, etc.  The text is soooo funny.  Her teacher must've been rolling over, while writing exactly what she said.:

Favorite food: pizza with cheese and no mushrooms."

Favorite color: purple [which is a lie!! It's pink]

My family: "Hi, Mommy!" "Mommy, I love you." "I love you Daddy. I love you Ben. And hi to Daddy and Mommy and Ben"

"Hi to my house.  The chips are inside the house.  And the peas and the macaroni."

"That's my cat. I love you. And I miss you so much." [We have no cat!]

"The bowl is where you put the macaroni and cheese and chips and the cheese crackers.  I love food. To the dog, I love you."

"That's my favorite friend."

"Julianna, I love you.  Julianna, I kiss you a lot and a lot. I love kisses.  I kiss you too much. I pee in the potty with you.  And then there's toilet paper all over the place."

There are illustrations that go with each statement.  Oh my God, it's hysterical.  I'll scan the pics in some time, so you can see.  She drew a bowl and macaroni and chips, etc.  

When I questioned the dog comment, she told me that she did have a dog- it's what she used to play with  Muddy.  Then she told me her dog's name was Sparky.  She reminded me that Muddy used to play dog with her, but then I remembered that Addie didn't call her Sparky, but Scrappy.  

The bad phone call

When I see daycare's number come across my caller id, I know it can't be good. Yesterday they called to tell me that Ben had been on a riding toy and got pushed into the gate and his head lunged forward to hit the pole.  According to them, "there's a HUGGGEEEEE goose egg. It's black and blue."  He was tolerating ice well.  He cried initially but then didn't seem to be bothered. So he stayed at daycare until regular time.

When I walked in the door, each teacher I passed stopped me to tell me how bad it was.  I was starting to question if I should've gotten him seen by the doc.  When I got to him room, I said, "Ben, where's your booboo?"  He pointed to a scratch on his leg.  I knew he'd be ok.  It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would have.  Although then the teachers said,  "it's about 1000 times smaller than it was."

See for yourself:

Don't mind my goofy face, I was trying to get him to stand still for a pic.

Today it's much darker black.  I'll try to get a pic.

Official greeters

Watching a man move furniture yesterday outside our house.  I bought their Eagles gear on clearance at the end of last season and had to guess on sizes.  I did pretty darn well, I'd say!

You can see here that Ben got his hair cut on Saturday after gymnastics

Waiting for gymnastics to begin on Saturday morning (pre-hair cut)

Beating the system

Addie might have the community organizing gene in her soul.  She has mastered the art of navigating the system and getting what she wants out of it.  It reminds me of being in elementary school and having to write sentences with spelling words.  I distinctly remember realizing that a legitimate sentence for any word was, "What does  ____ mean?"  Ha! There, I used it in a sentence.  Eventually my teacher told me that I wasn't allowed to use that anymore.  Addie has achieved this at the ripe old age of 3.5. 

I can't stand the word stupid.  I think there are few words that cause more damage and heartache in children that word. I won't accept it being used and Addie knows that.  BUT all kids need the chance to be naughty and not follow directions or assert their autonomy. I get that, totally, believe me.  Addie's navigating comes down to this.  She'll look at me and say "Mommy." Then she'll pause and say, "Stupid" and then pause, and adds, "is a not nice word."  Every once in a while she'll whisper "stupid" randomly and then look at me, to see if I react.  Most of the time I ignore it.  Other times I'll give her a glance and she'll add, "is a naughty word." 

Isn't she a riot?! I mean, seriously, that's pretty damn smart of her.  Occasionally this leads into a long discussion of "what are some ____ words?"  The ____ could be love, happy, sad, family, sleepy, etc.  

Happy birthday Aunt Gail

What a day

Our nights have been filled with dance parties and fun. Here's Ben from last night:

Happy Birthday to Heather's Katelynn! We're thinking of your whole family as K undergoes heart surgery in the coming days.

Sad to share that one of the men I have worked with over the years in a variety of projects passed away on Friday.  Ken was a person with some of the most complex, complicated disabilities I have ever seen.  His parents made sure he attended every function possible, over the years.  Had he been born to other parents, Ken surely would have been institutionalized.  Judy and Roy swore they wouldn't hide their son from society and ensured he enjoyed life to its fullest.  I will always remember Ken's smile, which was about the most definite expression of happiness.  

The best video ever

On the way to gymnastics..

The best video ever!!

Thank Goodness

that Mom Mom and Pop Pop have no recollection of what they have purchased for Addie in the past.  Seriously, I'm appreciative.  See, on Addie's second Christmas, when Addie was 18 months old, they gave her a Disney Princess laptop.  It was for ages 5+, but "she is really advanced," (their words, not ours).  Obviously, she had no clue as to what each activity was for or what she was supposed to do.  Then last year at Christmas, when Addie is 2.5 years old, she opens another Disney Princess laptop.  Exactly the same one, again for ages 5+.  They explain, "she's really advanced."  LOL.  Fast forward to today and Addie and Ben both have a pink Disney Princess laptop of their own.  Sometimes they switch.  No matter how you slice it, it's great to have two of anything in our household.  So this is my ode to Brian's parents' memory! 

Too funny

Addie and Ben are drawing on a sort of etch-a-sketch thing right now. Ben draws some unidentifiable picture, to which Addie says, "Mommy look!  Ben drew a bunny!" And then she turns to Ben and says, "Benjamin, when did you get so big?  We need to keep you little!"

Ahhhhhhahahhahahaahaha!

more gymnastics

Since those 3 were such big hits, here's some more.  And to explain: Addie loved her class.  She loved hopping on the trampoline run.  Ben LOVED running down the trampoline run and then stopping just short of jumping into the foam pit. I hope they both get the comfort to do that in the coming weeks.

They have all the right sized equipment for Addie's age.  She apparently grew tired of waiting for the teacher to spot her.  See if you can hear what she says when her teacher asks her if she wants to swing on the bar!

Gymnastics

Like my blog address says...

my life is so busy.  Not in a whining, complaining way, but geesh I'm always exhausted!

We got our new credit card on Wednesday.  Still no debit card, but that should be here next week.

We're in the midst of Hurricane Hanna right now.  Lots of rain all day, and more expected as the night goes on.  Tomorrow I'm doing a ropes course, a 7 hour long ropes course, for work.  For real.  In the freaking mud-soaked mud, because after all we will have had up to 10 inches of rain the day prior.  Woohoo.  I'm thrilled as you can guess.

We're going to go visit Onkteb and Aunt Gail in a few weekends.  Addie is very eagerly looking forward to a "sleep over with Onkteb and Aunt Gail."  They might have a guest in their bed that weekend. :-)

They started gymnastics today!  Lots of fun. It'll be a great thing to look forward to each weekend.  Yes, I have videos and pictures, but my camera is in the car, since I had to carry in a certain 22 month old (OMG, tomorrow=22 months!) since it was pouring.  Hopefully the videos will load this time with no problem.

One quick Addie story from this week:  on Labor Day we went to Muddy and Guppy's house and Addie put on her typical show, on top of the hot tub cover.  While she was busy entertaining us with her ballads, we requested a particular song, to which she quipped, "Sorry, that's not on my cd."  

We survived

and so did MomMom and PopPop!  Brian and I are back from our NYC trip, where we went to the US Open and then to see Wicked on Broadway.  Addie and Ben survived, although each have big booboos on their faces.  I think MomMom and PopPop have had enough Addie and Ben for a while.  

When we got home, their car was in our driveway, so we parked on the street.  In all the excitement to go into the house to see the kids, I forgot I had Brian's wallet on my lap.  I got out of the car, grabbed the bag and went inside.  At some point Brian did ask where his wallet was and I just shook it off and said in the car, I guess.  Well fast forward about 45 minutes and we get a phone call that someone has found Brian's wallet.  "I wasn't looking for nothin," etc.  He went and retrieved it from the person at the apartment complex behind us.  All the cash was gone and his credit cards were in different places.  So, he spent the next hour canceling every card in there. 

It feels really violating, to have someone take that from you.  I was relieved that at least the person called to tell us.  I've found someone's wallet before and called them too, so I guess it was karma.  Still sucks for us, because we have no cards, no cash, etc until all the new cards are issued.