Remember back to when I mentioned that Feburary was DENTAL HEALTH MONTH? Well, I had asked you to please warn me when POKE YOURSELF IN THE EYE month was coming? Remember all that nonsense? Well, I am so glad I brought it up. Because my friend, Beck, was the first (and only, I might add) to warn me that MARCH is, indeed, POKE YOURSELF IN THE EYE month!
Ah man. I am so glad someone told me.
So glad.
Here is how we celebrated:
She said, “Hey, this girl doesn’t even flinch… wow!”
I guess, technically, Izzy isn’t poking HERSELF in the eye. But, it was the best we could do.
Before having a boy, I never knew that the ability to transform everyday objects into guns was actually imprinted on the Y chromosome. But it is. About a year ago my son started shooting things. I was mortified. I am, afterall, a pacifist. A good pacifist, in fact. But, there he was using any and everything as a gun, blaster, pistol, bazooka, light saber, etc. The good news is is that until recently we have never actually ”stooped” to purchasing a gun-like toy and offend our peace-loving sensibilities. He has taken care of that all on his own.
Items that my son has transformed into an imaginary gun:
- Foot-shaped calcualtor
- A slice of cheese – bitten into the shape of a gun
- Clothes hanger
- Broom
- My flip flops (work great as over-the-wrist attack blasters… apparently)
- A pillow
- My $900 camera
- Toilet paper holder
- Vacuum attachments
- Baby bottle
- Socks
- Pens
- Soap dispenser
- His old leg cast
- Foam leters, particulary the “L” and the number “7″
- Sticks in varying shapes and sizes.
- Baby Monitor
- The headrest in the car
- A traffic cone
- A candy cane
- Breast Pump – seriously, this one stopped us all in our tracks.
- The car key remote
- Kleenex box
I keep telling myself that an active imagination is GOOD thing. And… I try to stay out of the line of fire whenever possible.
Check out my new PHOTO TALE at Me Ra Koh Photography today. My Photo Tale today is about how I handed my $9oo camera to my 4 year old… and what happened next. Click Here to read it.
If you are visiting from Me Ra Koh photography, welcome to my humble little corner of mommy-blog-land! I hope you’ll spend approximately 3.22 minutes checking out my site. Or, if you really like it and you have already poured your coffee, you can bump that number up to 5.11 minutes — either is fine by me. Thanks!
Look below and you can see a pic of Me Ra and me from 2007 when I attended her Seattle Photography Workshop. Don’t we look G.O.O.D.?? Enjoy!
Photo by Brian at Me Ra Koh Photography
In addition to teaching high school science, my husband coaches competitive year-round swimming.
This past weekend, Dave was at a swim meet all weekend long. One of the major drawbacks to the teacher-coaching gig, is that 1 to 2 times per month, Dave is gone for huge lengths of time at a swim meet. Like 10-12 hours per day. It is a drain on me at home. After going all week being “on” with the kids, it is absolutely brutal to go all weekend with no husband, only to face another week.
During the swim meet three weeks ago, I finally hit the wall at 3pm on Sunday. Every time I walked out of the room – -even to pee — I burst into tears. My texts to him started to take on a fatalist tone, “Someone is not going to make it if you do not get home soon!” “Did you get my last text?” “H.E.L.P.!“ Finally, I made that desperate wife phone call that I am pretty sure we all have made at least once and begged him to come home and, luckily, he was able to duck out an hour early. An hour that certainly saved my life and maybe even the life of a child or two.
So, prior to this meet, I tried to be a bit more proactive. My first approach was to call Grandma Bloo and get her over here! Then we made plans. To LEAVE the house. For a hermit-turned-recluse like me, it was a big moment. To consider taking all 5 kids out to lunch and… TO THE PARK… well, lets just say, the excitement was darn near brain-shattering. And clearly I would not try this alone. But, with Grandma in tow, I thought I had a fighting chance. Plus, she was buying.
When the sun comes out in the Seattle area it matters little what the actual TEMPERATURE is. The thermometer can read 33 degrees, but if it is SUNNY we walk outside with sunglasses and coats slung over our arms. I have seen bikinis in 50-degree weather because of the brilliant sun (I do not don a bikini even in 90 degree weather, FYI). And when the actual temperature climbs past the magical marker of 60 degrees, the whole city goes WILD.
Saturday was one of those days.
First stop: KIDD VALLEY for some perfect hamburgers.
If you have never had a KIDD VALLEY hamburger, get thee to an airport and fly thee to Seattle. It is worth it. Warning, you will have to set your feminist sensibilites aside.
Never been a big fan of putting a scantily clad girl atop a piece of meat…. but, when said piece of meat is a KIDD VALLEY hamburger. I am willing to overlook it. So are my kids. In fact, I just might put one of my kids on top of that hamburger if it meant getting one for free (that’s a free hamburger, not a free kid… which doesn’t exist).
Lily eating delicious hamburger!
Of course we brought kid #5 along and she got to eat her very first french fry… ah, she makes me so proud.
Emme and her First French Fry
Second Stop: Houghton Beach Park
Is this just not the MOST glorious place to put a park!?!??! That’s Lake Washington in the background. Oh, and ya see those big heavy winter coats that Izzy and Lily are wearing? … yeah, those are about to come off… in a hurry!
Kids at Houghton
Lily and Ty at Houghton
I think I am a Pacific Northwest SNOB, because this is the best place to live…ever… I think I am gonna have to buy Lily some new jeans,though,… her legs are getting so dang long!
Walking along the dock
Even Emme got in on the action and had fun people watching from the safety of her stroller.
Emme People Watching
All in all, a DARN good day. Way better than crying in the bathroom and praying that your husband will come home an hour early.
And, in true northwest style, the rain was back on Sunday. And then Grandma Bloo went back home. And Emme didn’t nap. And with two hours to go until hubbie came home, I started counting the seconds. And pricing pizza for dinner.
The next swim meet? In three weeks.
