Happy Birthday

I am the gift person for our family.  Birthdays, Christmas, Weddings, Showers – the job usually falls to me.  Eric and I often talk about ideas and sometimes Eric buys something special, but the majority of the work is done by me.

However, there is one occasion that Eric always takes sole responsibility for.  Dock’s birthday. 

Eric remembers the date, picks and buys the gift, and {most surprisingly} wraps the gift  himself.  The gift is invariably some type of tool or instrument used for the garage.

Today our Dock turned 40.  Here is his gift.

In case you can’t tell, this gift was “wrapped” in Duct Tape and decorated with electrical tape.  The ribbon is made of some other type of non-sticky tape that someone like myself, who does not find the garage to be the most sacred room in the house, is not privy to.

I am not sure if the gift-giving job ended up in my hands because of these types of efforts…or despite them.

Happy Birthday Dock; we love you!

Using a Shopping Cart

We have had many journeys in these Target carts.  When Jack was an infant, he would ride in his carseat in the large back part while Owen rode up front.  As Jack got bigger he would sit in the front while Owen sat in the back.  Sometimes they switched places.  Sometimes the boys both sat in the back. Somehow, the majority of the cart was already occupied the minute we entered the store.  And because of this arrangement, most of our purchases end up on the lower section of the cart.

I never really thought much about this until today when Jack and I went to Target by ourselves.  Jack was chatting away, walking beside me, making random unnecessary stops(because he can now),  and helping me by putting things in the cart.

When we got up to the counter to pay, I looked in the cart, and there were only a few things there.  All of the other items had been shoved under the cart in one big form-fitting pile.  Of course, that is where Jack thinks they go.  Wouldn’t you after almost four years of “training”?

Lunch Notes

Owen loved the notes that I included with his snack the first few days of school, and asked if I would keep doing it.  “I don’t eat one bite of snack before I read my note,” he told me.  What a sweet compliment!

Unfortunately, it is a little more difficult than I originally anticipated.   While Owen is working on reading lots of words, and is quite successful, I feel that it is safer to stay with words that I am confident he knows.  I certainly don’t want reading one of my notes to be frustrating to him while he is so motivated to read.

This limits my notes to words with short vowels and a few sight-words that he has memorized.  So it gets tricky trying to come up with something interesting to say while choosing from a select group of words.

Thus his notes have gone from “I love you.” and “You make me happy.” straight to “This snack is yum-yum for the tum-tum.” and “Do NOT get bigger!” Luckily Owen finds it all entertaining…

Yesterday, while picking Owen up from school, I vaguely remembered that I had written a word in his note that I thought he might not be able to read.

Me:  Did you read your note today?

Owen: (Ferociously) I DID read it!  And it IS true!  And we ARE doing it!

Yikes!  Then I remembered that the word was actually words: Katie and Sarah. 

I was taking a risk using names other than Jack, Mama, or Charlotte.  But I should have known that reading Katie and Sarah’s names would not be a problem.

The note, and the promise were a hit.  Owen immediately took the note from his schoolbag and read it to our friend Gail.  Jack commandeered  the note at that point sensing that it had some kind of magic power. In the car, he tried to make the magic note work like he had seen Owen do.  Unfortunately for Jack, the magic only belonged to Owen.  None of Jack’s readings came true.  No various “poopie” objects, nor cookies, nor a cat appeared…

By the way, Owen DID read the note, and it WAS true, and we DID have lunch with Katie and Sarah at Qdoba.  We even let Jack join in on the magic.

Narcolepsy

When I was a young teen, I took many plane rides by myself.  It was a thrilling experience for me. I loved it.  I would get giddy with the anticipation of the ride itself and of the new destination – and then there was the excitement of being independent – I felt so grown up! 

Now this was way back in the olden days, when everyone could still walk all the way to the gate, even if they were not going on the plane with you. I remember chatting incessantly to my mom, or my dad, or my aunt, or my sister- even occasionally thinking to myself that I was a little over-excited. (Actually, with my sister dropping me off, I was usually just running through the airport rather than chatting – but that’s another blog…)

Each time I finally boarded the plane I immediately fell asleep.  I was out cold – missing almost all of the take-offs during that period in my life.  I never really understood what was going on.  I thought it was so strange.  I hadn’t felt tired 5 minutes before I fell asleep!?

But this mystery illness has now struck my entire family.  Jack goes to his “quiet time” in the afternoon and falls asleep immediately despite his strong desire to play with his toys.  He easily goes to bed an hour early, yet wakes up about the same time as he used to.  Even Own can sleep at the drop of a hat.  The other night he put himself to bed at 6PM and slept all the way until morning (except for 20 minutes at about 7:30 when he ate a bowl of oatmeal and then stumbled back to bed.)  Owen has also  taken several naps in the last few week despite a hiatus for a year or more.

Of course now I understand that emotional build-up can take a physical toll on your body.  But, that knowledge does not seem to impact my ability to control the phenomenon… I too can fall asleep at the drop of a hat – often napping when the monkeys are napping(or I put on Curious George to entertain the monkeys while I take one.)

After my teenage years, I no longer felt that giddy build up before a plane ride, and thus was awake for far more take-offs.

I hope that the three of us will also get through the excitement and newness of school, and can stay awake  for more of the day this school year…I just hope it takes less time than it did in my teenage years.

Update: I won…

 

But before you think I am a mean mom…

Jack: I look so fancy.  I am not going to take this sweater off today.

Mama: You might want to take it off in school when you get hot.

Jack: The school will be cold today.

Mama: Well, maybe if you paint.

Jack: You can wash it.

 

Fleece

Even though I really like to see my boys in jeans, they aren’t super practical for school for Jack.  He can’t always do the button up by himself.  Yesterday I gritted my teeth and bought some fleece pants for him at Old Navy.  I have heard other kids who refuse to wear any other type of pants – and I don’t relish that thought.  I had Jack try the pants on before bed, and he yelled, “I LOVE these.  I want to wear these for the rest of my life!!”  Great.

When I suggested he put his pajama pants on he cried and grabbed the waistband as though his life depended on the pants remaining on his body.  He wore them to bed.

He wore this pair today.

He only took them off to switch to this.

All of the fleece is now in the dirty-clothes hamper.  I wonder how that will go over in the morning?

Baby Book

Baby Carlisle’s arrival is an highly anticipated event in our house. Jack and Owen are happy to have Nana pregnant still…(that is pretty fun to impersonate)

…but I want to hold that little guy – and am so excited to watch him grow!

Today was Nana’s baby shower and I was excited to give her the scrapbook that I have been making for that little baby for his first year of life.

My friend Ali made a book like this for me when Owen was born, and I loved it.  I have tried to make a new one every year for each of my boys.    I wanted to remember some of the layouts to use on Owen and Jack’s book later this year.  The photos aren’t great, but I am really proud of the way they look (in real life). 

       

Happy first year Baby Carlisle!