Happy Day to Me

I began my day by attempting to breathe.

I have a cold, and it is a doozy on the sinuses.

Once I was sure that I would indeed be able to breathe for the day, I went to the gym to do a Body Attack class. Yay for exercise!

I then came home and we all got ready to go to the zoo. This included changing Miss Thing out of her pajamas and into some proper clothing. Just before I put on her shoes and socks I leaned over her and asked her if she knew what day it was.

She looked at me like I was crazy.

Then I told her that it is Mama's birthday.

She responded with a song.

It was awesome, unasked for, and the best birthday present from a little one. Here is a re-enactment:

Excellent, yes? Especially the "and many more" section.

The zoo was excellent, full of Miss Thing running throughout the place. Pei Wei was nice for lunch. The afternoon was relaxing and I spoke with some family.

Then we had dinner.

It was best summed up by Rocket Man:

"One day we'll laugh about that dinner."

I'll just leave it at that.

Dancin'

We had Mexican food tonight.

Margaritas were involved.

The dancing was a side-effect...

Draining the Bank Account

And so it begins.

I think that for the foreseeable future shopping will be a daily activity.

Since I don't really like shopping, this is not a good thing.

Since my daughter gets tired of shopping (who can blame her?), this is really not a good thing.

When we moved to Spain, we didn't really have a bunch of things to purchase. Sure, we bought some spices and a couple of things here and there...like a hand-held can-opener...but overall, we didn't have to buy a lot in order to live there.

On the flip side, we did have to make decisions regarding how much of our own stuff we would take with little to no indication of what we would actually need once we arrived. We knew housing came furnished, but there are varying degrees of furnished in this world, and who knew what we would end up with.

This move to Russia is much easier in some ways. For example, I really am not worried at all about selling the house because I know how that works now. I am also not all that concerned about what we need to take (of our own items) because there is company-maintained housing there and we literally have a list of what is in each place.

Plus, there are some very nice people over there responding to all of my silly email questions about strange things like are there bookshelves and how about trashcans...

In other ways this move is much more difficult. The main difficulty is that of the weather. Or, to explain it better, what in the world we should wear for the weather. I mean, we've lived in the land of many snowfalls (aka Virginia), but not anywhere that has arctic temps. ARCTIC.

We know nothing about it.

Nothing, Nada, Zilch.

This makes purchasing the correct clothing a little difficult. What complicates matters is the fact that we live in Houston, Texas. Our "winter" weather is their spring/summer weather. With the exception of August, when I believe they get warmer temps.

Even with all of that, things aren't soooo bad. I mean, I love to wear pants and loathe shorts (on me, they just feel wrong...unless I am working out), so I am actually quite happy that I will be able to wear them practically all year.

So what is so tough? Aside from needing rain suits and snow suits and all that goes with them (which I know little about), there is the fact that I have a young child.

You know the saying?

They grow like weeds.

That phrase should have an addendum: but who knows when!

I've been told to bring snow suits for when we get there and also that we need to bring all of our own summer clothes because they don't sell much there. Rocket Man and I can easily purchase these items and know they will still fit when we get there.

Miss Thing? Not so much.

In addition to clothing uncertainties, there are the other items we should bring: Curtains, bedding, food, craft storage, any and all toys/learning manipulatives/books that we want to be in English, skis ??!?!, and the list goes on.

Today I made a small dent: craft storage.

I made a trip to the Container Store.

I spent some money.

I came away with a six-drawer scrapbook paper storage unit, some stack-able drawers for yarn/craft storage and a small unit of the elfa closet organizer bins. Everything is on casters and will fit into closets if we want it to.

Tomorrow? I hope to tackle sheets, comforter set, curtains, and whatever else I can think of to get at JCPenney, since that is where we are headed!

Good-bye money, hello sanity!

Let Me Join the Masses

Up until this year, I've never been one to watch American Idol until they have culled it down to the top twelve. Even then I usually don't care to watch the first six or so get the boot. This year, however, we have been watching. I even watched the auditions.

Apparently they've changed things since the last time I payed any attention. Instead of two hours or so of so-embarrassing-I-can't-bear-to-watch-it programming, they managed to show people who actually had a shot. Yes, there were a few this-person-actually-thinks-they-can-sing-but-holy-cow-they-must-be-deaf moments, but for the most part I was only embarrassed approximately once each evening, which is saying a lot, since I used to not be able to watch it at all.

Really, how can these people not know that they sound awful?

Anyway.

I haven't caught up this week yet for a variety of reasons, the least of which is not the fact that we are moving. To Russia. Holy Smokes. Also - there's a thing called the Olympics on, and I try to watch what little of that interests me each evening.

Have you seen the ice-dancers' folk music costumes??? CA-RA-ZY.

What is the point of this post? Oh, yeah. I actually have some favorites. Based on the little we have seen of them thus far I have a couple of the girls I like and definitely one guy. Will I vote? Um, no. I haven't ever done that, either.

One thing that bothers me is that AI chooses some of these people for human interest stories that we all get to follow throughout the audition process. The up-side is that if you make it, you probably already have a good fan-base who will vote for you. The down-side, aside from the obvious with those who do not make it, is that all of the people who don't get highlighted in any way are already at a disadvantage going into the "America votes" shows.

I know everyone signs a release and surely they know going into it that they might not win the lottery in this area but it all seems unfair to me.

Then again, life is hardly ever fair, is it?

I can say that my favorites have nothing to do with the home-life or any other extraneous information given through the highlights; rather, I like a few who had some really strong (in my opinion) performances during Hollywood week. And usually the judges and I agree, especially Simon.

You can hate him if you'd like, but dude knows what he's talking about.

[Except (apparently, because I wasn't watching) with Jennifer Hudson...]

Then again, there were some faces in the "Here's who made it" segments that I felt like I hadn't seen at all, so in the end the producers, etc. ARE deciding my favorites for me simply through exclusion.

Those who were left out certainly have a lot more pressure on them during these short all-girl and all-boy weeks...

Anyone reading this have an opinion about all of this?

Does anyone even read this?

Heavy questions, people, HEAVY.

Bombs Away

The sleepy-time Olympic training continues.

Today we had a short nap-time training run.

I am fairly certain that the event was ski jump.

Why?

Let me tell you!

Books read: check
Sound machine turned on: check
Dog, Lamb, Bear and Penguin accounted for: check
Blanket placed on top: check

I love you is said and out the door I go; off to sleepy town she goes.

Not so much.

Nope, I spend the next thirty minutes listening to a cacophony of communication, all emanating from, you guessed it, my child.

She talked to her animals in a high voice, a whiny voice, a demanding voice, a quiet voice, a shouting voice, a sing-song voice, and the list goes on.

I guess Olympic training is hard on the coaches, too.

It's amazing that they don't lose their voices.

As for me, I can only wish...

All of a sudden these voices change dramatically and turn into a real-deal the world is ending crying/whining/get in here quick voice.

I hear her call "Lamb!"

Except that the way she pronounces it, it is more like lame with a b on the end...and very dramatic:

"Laaaaaaaaaaammmeeeb!"

My, oh my what just happened?

Apparently in his quest for gold, Lamb has gone wildly off-course. He has jumped ship, or crib as it were, and is out of his coach's reach.

She is distraught.

I decide to rescue her and hopefully get a nap into the mix. I go in, save Lamb and take Miss Thing over to the rocker to read yet one more book. Then I put her back into her bed (amongst pleadings for "Out there") and listen to the muted crying. At least she knows that the crying won't change things.

It is so difficult to accept defeat.

Safety First

In an attempt to go with the theme for the month, I shall tell you a story that ties into yesterday's post.

Miss Thing has a Handy Manny toolbox. It talks and sings the Hop Up, Jump In song. While singing, the front row of tools moves up and down a la carousel.

Both of the screwdrivers, Turner and his pal Felipe, are located in the front row. I'll let you guess which is the flat-head.

This afternoon Miss Thing placed Turner into his slot and told him to "Buckle Up!" before pressing the button that makes them dance.

They're hammering in those safety protocols at a young age...

Snippets

I woke up to Miss Thing and Rocket Man climbing on the bed this morning.

At 10 am.

Whoa.

I woke up at 6:30 and again at 8:30 and then subito, it was 10am.

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If you ask Miss Thing to show you her muscles, she will hold both arms up, clench her fists and squish her face up in concentration. It is awesome. Must post photo or video soon.

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Rocket Man did a lot of work this weekend. Friday evening he finished submitting our taxes. Then we cleaned/organized our closets on Saturday (which included taking a very old, large, heavy television to Good Will). That evening he started cleaning the house and we finished together this morning.

Once he had worked out and so forth this afternoon he was complaining about being super sore. Oh, how his legs aches. Oh, how his back aches. He then says to me "Must have been all that work I did..." He meant: "...that you didn't do." Yes, he said it like that. On purpose. To get a rise out of me.

I reminded him that I gave birth.

Running on Fumes: +1; Rocket Man: -3,239,872,387

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Two minutes later he declared "Those shoes just do NOT like to be in the closet!"

He was referring to my sneakers.

Smarty Pants.

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As part of his workout, Rocket Man took Cooper for a run. When he returned, he removed Cooper's collar and left it on the rug in the entry.

Of course Miss Thing found it; it has shiny metal things that clink together.

She walked proudly into our bedroom with the collar around her neck. She admired the collar and the tags hanging from it.

She then took the belt buckle part of it into her hands and attempted to close it while exclaiming "Buckle up!"

It's Magic!

Scene: our car; in the drive-through at Dairy Queen.
Why: Oreo Blizzard, Duh.

Rocket Man: Do you have any cash?

Me: No...oh, wait, yes. In my wallet.

[rummage around in the diaper bag for my wallet, find it (score!) and open it to take out some cash to find a five dollar bill]

RM: Where'd you get THAT?!?! (ALL INCREDULOUSLY LIKE)

Me: Um, at that place, you know...the BANK? (ALL DUH LIKE)

RM: (laughs) Oh, there.

Me: No, I MADE it!!!! It's Magic!!!!

RM: Miss Thing, your mother is a counterfeiter; we're all going to jail.

Me: No way, not if it's magic!!

End Scene.

What say you, internets? If it is indeed magic (which automatically says it is untraceable, etc.), then are we going to jail?

Goodnight, Moon

"Mooooooooonnnnnnn!"

If we are in the car after it is dark out and the moon is up, Perpetual Motion cries out for the moon until she catches a glimpse of it through the car window.

Watch out if for some reason, like, I dunno - we are DRIVING somewhere and have to TURN - and therefore she can no longer spot her shiny friend.

Then there is much sadness and wailing for the moon.

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A friend came over to play with us today and Miss Thing did sooooooo much better than previous play-date events. She only took things a couple of times, and gave them back if I asked her to.

She also cried when they left because she was already missing them.

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For the first time EVER (aside from a few newborn moments), Rocket Man put the child to bed. She did her usual whine a bit about anything she can think of to delay bedtime routine, which doesn't ever work for her, so I am not sure why she keeps doing it...but aside from that, it was smooth bed-time-ing.

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We are supposed to clean out closets this weekend. That may sound like a strange thing to you all, but we tend to, um, store things in our closets. This storage is most likely to occur when we really don't need or want the items any longer. Therefore, cleaning out aka tossing a bunch of stuff, will greatly assist us in moving right along the we're moving to Russia track.

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Today it was about 60 degrees outside, though very overcast and somewhat chilly with the breeze. Yes, I am aware that most of my relatives have some choice words for me after that revelation. My point? We shall soon be the "It's sooooo cold...." winners because where we're headed the SUMMER months are what we experienced today.

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At least I can wear pants all year long. I hate shorts. They are awful. Skirts are okay, but pants? Awesome.

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I wonder how I'll feel about snow-pants. Looking and feeling like the Good-Year Blimp can't possibly be all it's cracked up to be. Actually, I've never heard of it being cracked up to be anything, so...who came up with that phrase anyway?!?

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Still no Doggy home. Poor Cooper. Flop, flop, flop.

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Goodnight, Moon.

POW!

• I love Cooper's floppy ears.  Flop, flop, flop, flop.  Every step gets a flop.  The faster he walks, the faster they flop.  It is the best.
• Three pairs of my shoes are upstairs in the living room.  Three.  Why?  No, really, please tell me.
• Miss Thing was fussy today.  With a loud, capital Yyyyyyyyyy.  It started when she got out of bed at 7:30 and never really stopped.  Perhaps there are some teeth moving around in there.
• Apparently she actually woke up by 6:45.  So.  Perhaps the fussy was a combination of "Get me out of here!" and "I'm hungry!".  Did I know?  Nope.  Rocket Man didn't tell me what time he first heard her until we were eating dinner.
• I'm tired, so tired.
• The search for new doggy-parents is still on.  We have one couple who aren't sure and that is about it.  There are some nice people from a Lakeland Rescue looking into things for us, so let's all hope we get some options there.
• Rocket Man gave Miss Thing a Minnie Mouse for Valentine's Day.  She complements her Mickey Mouse well.
• I don't know why in the Clubhouse show she is wearing all pink but in...um...real life?...she is wearing all red.
• Miss Thing doesn't care.
• Cooper brought his shoe to me and is playing the "I'm not looking at my shoe.  Shoe?  What shoe?  Did someone say shoe?  Oh, did you want to play with my shoe?" game.
• I wore an ankle brace to BodyAttack on Monday.  It helped immensely.  My ankle/tendons/whatevers were sore for a day and a half, but nowhere near as sore as they have been previously.
• Whatevers - I'm a real wordsmith.
• There's a woman in my BodyPump class who gets REALLY upset if anyone sets up their equipment/stuff in front of her.  And yet she ALWAYS sets herself up in the VERY BACK of the room.  This makes NO SENSE to me.
• NO, REALLY.
• Sometimes Miss Thing likes to stand REALLY close to the TV while watching Mickey or Manny.  Sometimes, like today, I let her.  This makes me a Bad Mom.
• Sometimes, like today, I don't care.
• Apparently men whose names begin with M are all the toddler rage.
• Of course, today, everything made my toddler rage.
• Not in a good way.
• Right now, she is practicing for the Olympics.
• In her bed.
• As much as she practices, she better win gold.

Sad Times Ahead

It will be sad to leave our neighborhood friends here in the next month or so.

It will be sad that we will not have good HOT Mexican food (Tex-Mex, really).

It will be most sad that we have to leave our dog, our Chompy-Lones here in the states while we embark on our next adventure.

It just isn't fair to take him where we will have trouble exercising him and where our housing will be smaller, and the list goes on.

We have one person interested in him at this point, but it is just a maybe.

Hopefully we can find a home for him, because he is a good boy and has brought so much joy to our lives.

I think the giving away falls to me because Rocket Man has already told me that he does not think that he will be able to be there when the final hand-off occurs. Since Miss Thing won't understand it, perhaps she should not be there either.

I don't know.

It is just sad.

We Have Lift-off!

We made a visit to the passport agency in Houston today. It was slightly involved...mostly because we like to stress each other out for things like this - you know, just to make it fun.

Miss Thing's passport photo was "too far away", so we had to get that taken again. Then we had to wait for an eternity to a 20-month-old for them to call our number a-la-DMV.

All in all the process was fairly painless, somewhat expensive, easier than I thought it would be and to top it all off Miss Thing and I should receive our new and renewed passports within a week if not sooner.

Yup.

That's what I call expedited.

Russia, here we come!

Happy Vvvveeeeeee Day; Take Two

I am sure you are all waiting with bated breath to find out what Rocket Man and I gave each other for Valentine's Day.

It was a joint gift.

A clue, if you will:

BrrRRRZRZrzrzZRZZZrzrzrzrzzZZRRZRZRZRZRZRZZZzzzz

"OOooohhhhhh."


BrrRRRZRZrzrzZRZZZrzrzrzrzzZZRRZRZRZRZRZRZZZzzzz

"Oh, wow."


BrrRRRZRZrzrzZRZZZrzrzrzrzzZZRRZRZRZRZRZRZZZzzzz

"Oh, man does that feel good."


BrrRRRZRZrzrzZRZZZrzrzrzrzzZZRRZRZRZRZRZRZZZzzzz

"This thing really works!"


BrrRRRZRZrzrzZRZZZrzrzrzrzzZZRRZRZRZRZRZRZZZzzzz

"Ahhhhhhhh."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Electric toothbrushes, people.

'Cause that's how we roll.

Happy Love Day

There's this song I sing with Miss Thing. It is to the tune of the Oscar Meyer Bologna song. For those of you who know her name, here is how it goes:

My [first name] has a first name;
it's [spell her first name here].

My [first name] has a second name;
it's [spell her middle name here].

I snuggle with her every day,
and if you ask me why I'll say:

'Cause [first name] [middle name] is the best
with whom to S-N-U-G-G-L-E.

Lately she has taken to singing WITH me. As in, we both sing at the same time. While this may seem normal for all of you, it is a recent development here. She knows this song and will request it from time to time.

This morning, Rocket Man woke up with her and let me sleep a little bit. That is, until he attempted to go to the bathroom and thought that he could shut the door for some privacy. Miss Thing quickly pointed out his mistake and managed to wake me up in the process.

I tried to get back to sleep, unsuccessfully, and when I came out she was watching (who else?) Mickey Mouse. Watching him is apparently quite involved, so she didn't see me when I first woke up. She was on the floor and I came over to sit on the sofa. When she did see me, she got all excited and immediately climbed up to sit with me.

By with me I mean on me, of course.

Then? She did the cutest thing ever.

She leaned over and rested her head on me and said "Snuggle!"

So we sang.

Together.

Happy Valentine's Day, Mama.

V is for Vicious

Grammie and Pop-Pop sent Miss Thing a valentine gift.

It is...well...you can decide for yourself.

She enjoys it, but to the point that letting her play with it means that when she is done (read: we tell her she is done) she cries and carries on as if the world has ended. It is quite a lot to deal with.

The dog sees it as an imminent threat. We are all about to die, he just knows it. He attacks, although he isn't sure which end requires his attention, so he alternates between the two. That is quite a lot to deal with as well.

Needless to say, it spends a lot of time "hanging out" somewhere in the depths of our closet.

And it looks so innocent....

Has It Really Only Been Four Days?

This week feels like it has been two or three. Britn just went home on Monday, but is feels like she left weeks ago. We've had ear and eye infections, and now I'm getting that tell-tale scratch in the back of my throat that means high-grade congestion is about to set in.

We found out for certain that we are going to Sakhalin, RF, which means lots of good things are in store...as well as lots of pain in the neck items as well. Preparing to move is not the greatest, especially when you have to find and follow various rules and regulations, which are different every time you move. I am apparently going to be very adept at detailed inventory-ing for this move...as in every single box will have its very own inventory.

Awesome.

The last time we moved I was six month pregnant. I packed everything, labeled/inventoried (as if that is a verb?) everything, cleaned the apartment as well as moved furniture back to its original position. It was a lot of work. This time I will not be pregnant, but I will have to manage to do the same things with a child in the house, and since her idea of a good time is to move things out of clean, organized piles and spread them all over tarnation, we will be butting heads.

Awesome.

A childhood friend of mine is pregnant right now, and she recently declared that she is nesting. What a strange term. When we returned from Spain, no nesting occurred. Oh, sure, we bought some furniture and unpacked, and things like that, but we would have done that anyway. And yes, we purchased things for the child, but I am fairly certain that is required if you want to take your kid home from the hospital.

At no point was I overcome by an overwhelming urge to clean/organize/be ready and at no point did I in any way tell my husband that THIS HAS TO BE DONE OR ELSE or anything like that. I never felt that way at all.

Tell me I'm moving to Russia, however, and I want to get into every closet, dresser, drawer, cabinet, and crevice and THROW CRAP AWAY. When you know that you're moving, it is way easier to take a look at something and know whether or not you want to take it or store it or trash it.

Don't get me wrong, once we found out for real (Monday...feels like weeks ago), I freaked out and then did nothing. I finished reading a book, started reading another (both I had read previously, by the way), looked up a little info on passports for minors and then did nothing.

Nada.

Now? I am wanting to chuck things into the trashcans.

Hopefully I shall refrain myself a tad so as to not chuck something important. But all of that "important" stuff? If it is only pretending to be, it is gone.

We are going to get the tiny one's passport stuff taken care of on Monday, which means photos tomorrow. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAH! I expect that to go really well!

Have a fabulous evening, happy Olympics, and I'm out (chucking things in the trash).

What a Day

Jeepers Creepers.

Up early.

Fussy child.

Trip to store.

Lunch.

Nap - both of us.

Snack.

Call from Rocket Man; will be late.

This changes all afternoon and dinner plans.

Yay for single-everything-ing.

Pump It Up.

Dinner.

Bath.

Bed.

Add in putting cream into the dog's eyes three times today as well as eye drops every time I breathe and it has been an exhausting day.

On another note, I found out that my high school English teacher and I have the same favorite book series. How funny is that?

Not a Dry Eye in the House....

...or so we thought.

Cooper's vet trip today was a very costly one, as they tend to be when going for something other than the usual checkup.

Apparently he has dry eye; that is what the vet has on the top of her list. The dry eye issue has created an infection in both eyes and now we have an antibiotic cream that we squeeze into his eyes twice a day.

At least he doesn't seem to have an issue with that.

I have to call again by Monday with an update and then take him in for another tear test a little later than that. There is a tiny chance that he simply has an allergic reaction going on, but she doesn't seem to think so.

If the second tear tests come back on the low side we'll have to give him a medication for the rest of his life...which I am really hoping is not a cream in the eye type medication, but I have my doubts.

Other than that, the day was very full but normal I suppose.

I am tired.

We're Moving!

We've been hearing for a while now that Rocket Man will be changing positions at work and that it will require a move on our part. Since Houston is not Rocket Man's nor my hometown, this is fine with us.

That being said, this time will be much harder than the last in terms of leaving our neighborhood. We've actually made some friends this go 'round and we will miss them dearly...and hope to keep in touch with them.

I just wrote keep in tough with them...BAZOOKAS!

Yesterday we found out that we are for sure moving to Russia. More accurately, to an island off of the eastern shore of Russia called Sakhalin. We will live in/near a city called Yuzhno.

Google Earth THAT.

We will be very cold.

We will also be very close to Japan.

I told Rocket Man I want to go to Japan for my birthday. Yes, the actual day is the end of this month...but we hardly ever celebrate it on time, mostly because inevitably Rocket Man is out of town for work, so this time we'll just delay the celebration until we get over there.

We also want to see some of China and hopefully we can manage to cross the equator in the dead of winter a time or two...since the dead of winter lasts for months over there.

Our move date is officially in March, but we are fairly certain that we won't make that because of this and that (read: paperwork), so we're hoping for May.

We can go to Japan for Perpetual Motion's second birthday as well. Woot!

It is a difficult assignment and we are absolutely certain that there will be many challenges that are far more...challenging...than when we lived in Spain (the language being the least of them), but we are choosing to be positive about this and will attempt to reap from it all that we can.

And now, for a bedtime story:

Last night Rocket Man went to bed before I. A couple of hours later as I was crawling into bed and moving the sheets, etc., he propped himself up on one arm and looked at me and the following conversation took place:

Rocket Man: "Do I have mountains?"

Me: giggle, giggle, snort, giggle "What?"

RM: "Do I have mountains?"

Me: SNOOOOOOORT, GIGGLE, GIGGLE "Do you have mountains?"

RM: laugh, laugh

......

......

......

......

and then said in an I'm making myself clear now tone: "Dirt!"

Me: AAAUUUGGGHHHAHAHAHAHAHA! "What???!?!?!"

RM: "Never mind."

End Scene with Rocket Man going swiftly back to sleep. Today, when I asked him about it, he only laughed because he remembered nothing.

I am way off on the theme today, so if anyone can manage to tie together our move and RM's night-time questions, feel free to leave your ideas in the comments!

Well, Poop.

As you are aware, Perpetual Motion has been suffering from a bit of congestion.

And leakage.

See yesterday's post if you are confused.

She slept past 7:30am for the first time in five days; it was nice not to be woken up at 6-something this morning. She seemed so much happier this morning and Britn and I both commented on how she must be feeling better.

We got everyone ready and then dropped her off at school. From there, Britn and I went to the airport so that she could finally get home. I made it back to the house and managed to eat some breakfast and throw some laundry in when I get a phone call.

It is the school.

Well, poop.

Miss PM had been not acting herself all morning and was pointing to her ear and telling her teachers that it hurt. Since she is no prone to ear infections and usually only tells me about things that are bothering her if they really do, I decided to call the doctor's office.

They have no appointments available, so the receptionist transfers me to the nurses' desk.

Well, poop.

I described the situation and she tells me they can squeeze me in later in the afternoon. PM eats some lunch and then I give her meds so that she can breathe a little easier during her nap.

She woke up earlier than usual.

Well, poop.

We head off to the doctor's office and manage to get in to an exam room fairly quickly. We wait awhile and the Doctor comes in...so Miss Thing cries.

Well, poop.

He diagnoses her with not one, but two ear infections.

Well, poop.

We leave the office and make our way through rush hour traffic to the pharmacy. While waiting for them to fill the prescription I find items that the nurse informed me we would need in two to three days: white bread and pedialyte. Oh, yeah, her medication will cause her to have really runny poop.

Well, poop.

As I am checking out, PM starts to get upset and tells me "Shew-eeee", which means she needs to poop. Since she hasn't done so all day, I imagine so. Apparently it is traumatic, so I hide her face while she passes some excellent gas.

Well, poop.

We finally get what we need and head for the door when it begins to pour outside. We went from 71 degrees and mostly sunny to 53 and pouring in no time flat. My shoes get soaked on the way to the car and both of us are dripping by the time we manage to shut all of the doors.

Well, poop.

By the time I get us home it is almost 6pm. I rush to make a dinner for PM and just when I am about to put her in her chair to eat, I notice that she has indeed finally pooped. So I take her into the bedroom to change her diaper. I lay her on the bed and as I am taking off her pants I notice that there is a huge smear of something on the sleeve of my sweater. Whatever could that be?

Well, poop!

Oh, yes. It was on my sweater, our comforter, inside her pants and on her shirt. Excellent indeed. I get her changed, change my shirt, scrub everything, and finally she eats her dinner. I mange to give her the first dose of medication, which she takes fairly well. Then it's off to get ready for bed. Once her pajamas are on, we go upstairs to talk to Guga and Papa Jim on the web cam. After a short talk we say goodnight and I am about to take her into her bedroom to read books when I notice that she needs her diaper changed yet again.

Well, poop.

After that stinkeroo, we read books and she goes to sleep. I clean up a few things and head downstairs to start the dishwasher when Rocket Man comes home. We talk a bit, he changes clothes and we come upstairs to eat and I see some dark spots on the floor. You've got to be kidding me!

Well, poop!

That's right, chompy-lones has pooped on the carpet. 'Cause he couldn't come tell me that he needed to go outside. Oh, no.

All I can say is that it's a good thing Britn went home this morning, because I do not think that she would have enjoyed the remainder of the day one bit.

Not even a tiny one.

Well, Snot.

My new black sweater.

Rocket Man's workout clothes.

Britn's pajamas.

Miss Thing's Dog-Dog and Lamb.

My jeans.

Rocket Man's sweatpants.

Britn's blackberry.

Miss Thing's blanket.

...

...

...


...Read the title and figure it out...

And yes, she's a little under the weather today.

I've Got Nuthin'

For reals.

We got up.

We played.

We ate lunch.

We napped / read a book / worked on email, depending on who we are.

We had a snack / or not.

We went to the ZOO!

We saw lions and tigers and bears.

Oh my!

We ran around like a crazy person / looked at animals.

We picked up dinner.

We ate dinner.

We ran around "Nakiiiiiiid!" / corralled the wild child.

We put pajamas on the wild child.

We talked on the web-cam.

We went to bed / read books / watched TV.

And the only thing I can think of for the theme?

I tied my shoes today, people.

And when I took them off, I untied them.

Things That Make You Go...

• Saying the following: "Ready, Set, Go!"

• Sitting on the bottom step and sliding off onto the floor.

• Daddy pushing you around the house in your car.

• Swings

• Slides

• Climbing on your poofy chair and taking a "step" off.

• Climbing over the arm of your poofy chair and onto the floor.

• Climbing from the sofa onto your poofy chair.

• Sliding feet first off of the sofa onto the floor.

• Daddy or Britn swinging you in the air.

• Riding your zebra bouncy toy.

• Turning onto your belly and sliding down the stairs.

• And apparently, if you are the Daddy, this:

I am sure you can figure out what ties all of these together by listening to the video...

What Ties All of This Together?

Britn is visiting us this week.  Today we went to the Children's Museum of Houston.  We had never been there before, so I didn't really know what to expect.  It was CRAZY, but in a good way.  It reminded me of the Port Authority Children's Museum in Baltimore.

There were many things in the place that made Miss Thing go "oooohhhhh".  I have no idea what the large orange thing is in the above photo, but she really liked it.

We attempted to go to the Tot Spot, which is an area for children under three years old.  Unfortunately, the icky rain made for a crowded museum and the line just wasn't moving.  We decided to head down to Kidtropolis because we had seen a grocery store there where Miss Thing could do some shopping.

We shopped and shopped, although only in the produce section.  Well, until she needed a baguette...which was over half her size and a tad bit difficult to carry around.

And the strawberries?  We had a minor meltdown when we realized that we had to put it back and leave.

Step away from the produce...

We went down a floor after the grocery debacle and found some older kid activities that PM could entertain herself with.  One of these was a light/color station with colored shapes and buttons.  She had a lot of fun telling us the colors and which were squares, circles and triangles.

 

The last thing we played with was the widget wall.  As you can see above, there are PVC pipe sections that have magnets on them so that you can line them up and drop wooden marbles down, through and into a cup.

  

It was a lot of fun for her to drop the balls.  There may have been an inclination to hoard all of the balls, but eventually we got through that and enjoyed ourselves.

 

She may also have been obsessed with the "Seat!" on the wall.

This afternoon, after a nap cut short, we went over to Pump It Up for some bouncing and sliding. We had a great time, as can be seen here:

And to answer the question in the title of this post: FUN!

Let's Hope This Does the Trick

Where does that phrase come from, anyway?

I've been suffering from some ankle issues since I began my exercise classes. I am not the only one.

Unfortunately, this past Saturday caused more than just a little soreness. I didn't do anything specifically to my left foot/ankle/calf, but as soon as the bodyattack class was over it was a-hurtin'.

It has been bothering me ever since; the worst part is that it aches during the night. It must be a ligament/tendon thing because my foot and lower leg begin to ache a whole lot more if I lay on my stomach...which bends my foot forward. Or if I lay such that my foot turns inward at all.

Anyone out there ever had that and know what the problem might be?

Oh, Dear, what can the matter be?

I think it is feeling a tad bit better today; I have skipped classes thus far this week, which makes me feel like a total slacker not to mention icky. I am hoping to at least go to a bodypump class sometime before the week is over.

I went to Academy (sports! and outdoors!) today to look for an ankle brace that ties up. I used to wear one all the time when I played basketball, so I think that it will help me with the attack portion of my workout.

And in case you missed that, I said I wanted an ankle brace that ties up. I found one although I am not sure that it is the correct size. We shall soon find out. I also had to purchase longer socks so that my leg doesn't get rubbed raw.

On another note, my child "Scooooop!"ed her succotash up and into her mouth this evening with a high rate of success. Considering that neither corn nor lima beans are very good at sticking to the spoon, I count this one as a major accomplishment.

She can finally feed herself, people.

It should be awesome.

I Would Have Knots

This evening, much like every other evening that he is home, Rocket Man and Perpetual Motion played for a bit. The difference this evening?

The laughter.

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

It almost sounds like she is choking on it.

For your reference, when she points it is in reaction to him pointing at her...and then he stomps over (which makes it sound like the house is COLLAPSING). This game usually has the "He's coming!", "Oh no!" and "Watch out!" quotes interspersed...but apparently this evening she was consumed with the laughing...as you can see.

What in the world does this have to do with "Ties"?

She's clearly in stitches.

Butterfly!

As I stated in the last post, the theme for February is Ties. I am going to attempt to follow it; though the rules state that you can or not depending on your mood. My first one is a simple one, though very cute!

Miss PM wore a new sweat set this weekend. The pants are pink and the zippered jacket is a darker pink with hearts drawn all over it. She loved pointing out the hearts to me...although she likes to call the darker pink colors red. I suppose that in her world it is closer to red than the light pink that we usually encounter and tell her is pink.

Ah, the shades of gray of the world...I imagine we'll get to the real parenting when we have to address all of those...

Now those will be deep, meaningful posts. The likes of which are rarely if ever found here.

ANY. WAY.

The (light)pink pants had a fake drawstring on the front of it in the form of two pink shoestring-like ties. And I am referring to real shoestrings, like we had as kids, not these new things that are more like ropes. These are flat; therefore they stay tied together.

Unlike those other ties that I am sure someone thinks are more fashionable...or cooler.

Can you tell that I had a P.E. teacher as a parent?

One who worked in an Elementary school and dealt with the kids who knew how to tie, but due to the restrictions and/or very specific physics requirements of those newer shoestrings couldn't get their shoes to STAY TIED FOR THE LOVE OF PETE?!?!?

I may have run into the issue a bit in my days as a music teacher.

In an elementary school.

Where despite our requests and demands (made in a school handbook 'cause that's how we role here) kids showed up on music day in all sorts of inappropriate footwear. Like flip-flops (which I personally think should be banned from Elementary school), heeled sandals (ditto) and the like.

Yeah.

Um, we do this thing called MOVEMENT in our classes. Lots of it. And your "shoes" are hindering us. A LOT.

I guess it bothered me a bit.

HA.

Moving along, nothing to see...

So these fake ties on the front of Miss PM's sweat pants...it was either let them hang loose or tie them. Hanging was not a good idea because she knows
a)what they are: "Striiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnng!"
and b) what to do with them: "Puuuuuuuuuuuullllll!"

That would not have gone over well because they would not have pulled even a tiny bit since they are fake. I chose to tie them. TIE.

She watched me tie the strings in your normal shoe-tying fashion, and when I was done she most certainly declared:

"Bul-ler-lllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

Best Quotes

It is January 31st. I've made it the entire month with a post every day. I am amazed, aren't you all? The theme for the month, as stated on NaBloPoMo, in case you didn't notice, was BEST. I just made them up as I went along. Next month's theme is TIES...and I am not sure how I'll manage that one or if I even want to. I guess we'll see how the mood strikes me. In the meantime, I leave you with the month's best quotes. They are all by Miss Perpetual Motion herself, unless otherwise stated.


"Tickle, tickle tiiiiiiickllllllllle!" In the highest pitch toddler voice imaginable.

"Oh, gross..." Said by Rocket Man tonight upon opening a diaper.

"Okaaaay." Said after asking for something, we repeat to be sure we understood, and she says okay as if we suggested it in the first place.

"He's coming!" "Oh no!" "Watch out!" to instigate play where Daddy 'gets' her...whether he is here or not.

"W, X!" Where W is dubuluuuuuu and X is EXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX! while singing the alphabet song.

"Try it. Mmmm. It's good" while having her Dog-Dog or lamb pretend to eat the food on her plate.

"Five, six, SEVEN" While counting.

"Meooooow; ooo,ooo; tweet, tweet; bawk, bawk; woof, woof; mooooo; ooh, ooh, aah, aah; roar; riiiiibiiiiiit" When reading books about animals, seeing them outside, or on the television...and there are more, like the attempt at an elephant that ends up as her blowing air out of her mouth.

"Onioooooon" Said in the grungiest manner possible.

"Avocadooooooooooo!" Said with eyes wide and eyebrows raised.

"Tequila!" We are in for it.