Sunday, August 31, 2008

Marissa's newest little saying

Marissa has always entertained us with her little antics and sayings. It's not what she says, it's how she says them that's so funny, so it's hard to repeat for others.

But she's got a new one now she's been using for about a week that warms my heart.

"Know what, Mommy?" she says.

"What honey," I'll say.

"I like you a lot," she'll say.

I like to hear that one as many times as she wants to say it!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Recent Conversation with Lindsey

While we do our best around our house to keep the language child-friendly, every once in a while a choice word flies out (by BOTH parents, thank you), which inevitably gets "test driven" by an off spring.

So the other day Lindsey attempted to use the word "dammit." She mumbled an entire sentence under her breath. The conversation was eerily similar to ones I've had with my mother when I was the young one:

Me: “What did you just say?”

Lindsey: “What?”

Me: “Repeat what you just said.”

Lindsey: “What part that I said?”

Me: “Did you just say a bad word?”

Lindsey: “What bad word did you think I said?”

Me: “I’m not going to repeat it.”

Lindsey: “Then no, I didn’t.”

She’s smart for five, isn’t she? Little shit…

Student Driving


Yesterday as I was driving in to work I saw a sorry sight. The photo here is not it, but is a good representation of what may have happened had I watched this person much longer.

A car with "STUDENT DRIVER" plastered all over it (roof top sign, doors and trunk) on the on-ramp, trying to merge into bumper-to-bumper traffic on a major artery in the Twin Cities. The person driving was clearly having issues trying to look for traffic behind while driving the car straight and not losing too much speed. They were at an almost complete stop, making merging nearly impossible and backing up everyone on the merge ramp behind the car.

At least everyone in the vicinity knows it's a student driver and hopefully cuts him or her a little slack. And it got me to thinking of my relatives who live in Tracy, MN, population 2,000, who go to other towns to take their driver's test where there are NO traffic lights, no traffic per se, except for the occasional tractor. Those who figure that backing in and out over and over again to parallel park is "good enough." (You know who you are!)

I am pretty sure they would have flunked the test in the Twin Cities. Then again, they are smart enough to not even try to take the test here!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Elizabeth's last day!

Today was Elizabeth's last day for the summer watching the girls. We will miss seeing her every day!

She wanted to make today extra special, so she arranged to take the girls on a boat ride on the St. Croix River. They even got free candy from the vendor on the boat because they were "so cute."

And as he said that, Elizabeth looked over at Marissa to find her finger knuckle deep in her nostril.

Cute, for sure!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Another Marissa Story

Today Elizabeth came up from downstairs to find Marissa with a strange look on her face, like she was puzzled and hurt, while wiping her hand on her shorts. She said to Elizabeth, "I put my finger in the hole."

Elizabeth was concerned that she'd stuck her finger in an outlet. She asked, "Which hole?" Marissa pointed in the general direction of the other room. "There!" she said, as if that was perfectly clear.

Elizabeth said, "You show me."

Marissa marches over to Dax, turns him around and points to his butthole. "There!" Marissa says. "It was ishy."

And it was immediately followed with a 10-minute hand washing. Is there nothing this child won't explore?? I guess we never thought to tell her NOT to put her finger in the dog's butt...

NOTE: (8/20/08) I found out from Marissa this morning that she stuck her finger in her OWN hole. Perhaps she was just demonstrating on Dax what hole she meant. Maybe that's a little better; at least it was her own poop and she hadn't molested the poor dog.

Marissa, Destroyer of Insects

Finally have a good story to share, this one from Elizabeth.

Marissa is sometimes more boyish in her play, demonstrated by her love of tormenting bugs. She will pick up ants with her hands, squish them between her fingers, stomp on them at will, etc.

The other day she was "playing" with an ant and turned to say something to Elizabeth. By the time she turned back the ant had crawled into a crack and disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" she asked.

Elizabeth said, "He crawled into the crack."

Marissa looked at Elizabeth and very seriously said, "He is very lucky."

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Last week of summer

This feels like the last week of summer for us, because it's the last week that Elizabeth is watching our girls at our home. She goes back to school next week, which means our kids go to KinderCare next week, then Lindsey starts kindergarten the following week.

I in particular have been so spoiled by having Elizabeth here -- no big rush to get two kids dressed and out in the morning, no having to convince kids that they WANT to go to KinderCare, just stay at home and have someone come to us! I'll have to get up earlier again...yawn...

The good news is that we've decided to split up our drop offs. So I've flexed my hours at work back by half an hour and will be responsible for drop off in the morning, and Wayne will do the pick up at night. That'll help shorten their day a little bit so they don't need to be in their program 10 hours a day.

Lindsey is excited for kindergarten and has completed her "back to school" shopping. I asked her if she needed a new outfit for her first day, and she said no, she's got enough clothes! Okay...saves US some money, and she's totally right. I don't know how both the girls' drawers got so full of summer clothing, I didn't feel like we bought a lot for them. I think that Lindsey simply continued to fit into clothing she was wearing last summer; we didn't think she would, so we bought her some new and she got some as gifts. Marissa got Lindsey's hand-me-downs and also got gifts as well, so her drawers are really stuffed full of summer clothing. Unlike Lindsey, I suspect much of it won't fit her next summer, she continues to grow like a weed!

Wish I had some new funny stories. We have continued to be entertained by the peanuts but nothing I can think of now. My software that I use to download photos from my camera is on the fritz right now too, so no new photos. Sigh...guess I'm having a blogger's block.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Momzillas

FYI, there's a book that didn't even hit my "I am currently reading" posting on the side there. It is called "Momzillas" and I devoured it so quickly I didn't get a chance to post it on my blog.

Written by an Upper East Side mom of three, it's a novel that I suspect, if I knew the author personally, I would be able to understand which of her so-called "friends" she was basing her characters on.

It was an entertaining read, highly recommend it for any mom. Non-moms might not find it so funny, and if you don't know NYC very well, it might not make as much sense. (At one point the main character is mocked for buying a house east of 3rd Ave...even though it's still Upper East Side. Shocking!). I read it in about 4 hours.

Otherwise I've been extraordinarily tired and still trying to catch up on sleep after what turned into a four day business trip this past week. My flight back on Thursday night was canceled due to weather, and I got to spend two nights in a row sleeping on a 3-inch thick mattress on a roll-away cot, because our room reservations got hosed up.

So I'll have to write more another time...after my nap.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Blog subscription

I just added that sweet little feature that lets people "subscribe" to my blog. This allows them to see on their personal Google, Yahoo, or other such account page when I post to my blog.

My question is this:

If I subscribe to my own blog on my Yahoo homepage, does that make me a narcissist or a peeping Tom? Or just weird?...because I think I'm already that.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Lindsey's Sleeping Buddy

Many kids like to curl up with stuffed animals, blankets, little pillows, etc, when they go to bed.

Lindsey has taken to having our Boston terrier, Dax, sleep with her at night.

I encourage it actually, I think it's really cute, and Dax really likes sleeping with people so it works out pretty well.

However, every once in a while Dax gets kicked out of her room for being a bit too stinky. He (and Bostons in general, in case you're thinking about getting one), are known for their touchy digestive systems, which means that any time he eats anything out of his normal diet he gets the stinkiest farts you've ever smelled.

So last night she asks to have Dax sleep with her and immediately falls asleep with her on one pillow and him on the other. Both of them are sleeping on their side and Lindsey has strategically positioned a small baby blanket and pillow between herself and Dax's butt, which is now directly positioned in front of her face.

Smart girl.