Today I had a parent/teacher conference with AJ’s daycare teacher.  Even though we see his teachers everyday it was still nice to sit one-on-one with her (sans kids) to hear her feedback on my precious 3 year old.  Honestly,  I always get a little nervous when it comes to AJ because he can be a bit of a wild man at times.  As I’m sure all 3 year old boys can be!

First thing was first: Potty training.  The boy is not showing any interest whatsoever.  Nothing is working.  We have a bag full of Matchbox cars with a Matchbox racetrack as the “Grand Prize”.  He is aware of the bag of goodies, he understands what he needs to do to get the bag of goodies, he just doesn’t want to do it.  June 15th starts water play at the daycare.  The plan is to have him in just his swimsuit (minus the Lil Swimmers) to see if it makes any connection for him.  I have put him in just undies and he pees in them and continues to play like he doesn’t have a care in the world.  Hopefully things “click” for him shortly because I’m getting ready to pull out my hair!

Other than that she said he is very social, he loves to tell stories and pretend he is Spiderman, and sometimes he plays a little too rough with the other children.  No shocker there!!

But she also told me a story which I have been laughing at all day!  AJ’s class is a mixture of 3,4,and 5 year olds.  On their way outside the one afternoon, the 5 year olds were in the front of the line.  Apparently, they were misbehaving, so she had them all move to the back of the line.  She then told AJ that he could be the line leader.  He started jumping up and down, then he hugged all his friends while yelling, “I get to be the line leader! I get to be the line leader!.” Finally, she said to him, “AJ, it’s not like you won a scholarship to Princeton. Just get to the front of the line!”

Just picturing him so excited brings a smile to my face.  Sometimes it’s the little things!

On a final note, she told me she thinks he would make a good politician because he tries to “pull the wool over her eyes” alot.  She’ll ask him if he is fibbing to which he always replies that he is not.  Then she pulls out the big guns and says she is going to ask Kiki when she gets to the daycare after school.  Then he quickly says, “No, don’t ask her!”   If he does run for office and wins, maybe he will jump up and down, hugging his friends, yelling “I get to be an elected official! I get to be an elected official!”

I can only hope it’s televised so we can all get a good laugh!

I’d like to share with you a picture of our light fixture in our master bathroom.

Alright, let’s start with the obvious.  It ain’t got no alibi, it’s UGLY! When we had the house built, we decided not to upgrade any of the light fixtures because we figured we would do that on our own.  Here we are 5 and a half years later, and it is still up.

Excuse me?  What’s that?  That wasn’t the obvious statement you had in mind? Oh.  Right.  So, when do you think we will change the light bulbs?  I have a pretty good guess.  I can picture how the whole scenario is going to play out.  It will probably happen in the middle of the night, when the kids are sick or in need of the bathroom. We will go to flip on the switch and …POW! Darkness.  And then I’m sure a string of poor language will be muttered as we wonder how this happened.  It will be memorable.

Can you imagine when we actually replace the light bulbs? There will be such bright light in our bathroom, I’ll need my sunglasses and some sunscreen.

Until then, I’m sure we will just wait out the life of our one last lonely light bulb.  Shine on, little buddy!

1. When socializing with the neighbors on a Friday night, try not to get too engrossed in the conversation that you lose track of your child.  AJ had been running up and down the sidewalk with another little boy.  After conversing for awhile, we noticed the little boy in his backyard “helping” his dad mow the lawn.  No AJ.  What followed next was chaos:  I pretty much barged into another neighbor’s house to see if AJ was in there, my husband hopped on his bike while Kim hopped on her son’s electric scooter to patrol the area, and AJ’s name echoed throughout our neighborhood.  When we found him, he was down on the other street because he was following Kiki as she rode her bike! Not only did I feel like a complete schmuck, but I’m pretty sure my heart had stopped beating momentarily.

2. When tucking the kids into bed at night, make sure to check their mouths for gum.  Kiki woke up yesterday and told me she was still chewing her gum from the night before.  By some miracle, it stayed in her mouth and did not get all over everything.  AJ, however, came downstairs not as fortunate.  He too had went to dreamland with gum in his mouth. But, there was gum stuck to his arms and fingers.  Thank goodness they didn’t choke!

3.  Most important lesson of the week: I will not be Mother of the Year any time soon!

For more lessons learned, head on over to Musings of a Housewife.

It was a wonderful Mother’s Day.  It started off by getting some time to sleep in while my husband tended to the kids.  He not only made me coffee, but a complete breakfast which included eggs, bacon and pancakes.  It was delicious! The kids gave me a shirt from PeaceLoveMom that says “Lucky Mom 24/7.”  I absolutely love it!  They also gave me a drawing that they made together. I’m not gonna lie; I got a little teary eyed! No shocker there for those of you that know me.

Then we met my mom and dad along with my sister and her husband for brunch.  Although we had to wait an insane amount of time, it all worked out in the end.  The food was good and I enjoyed the time with my family.

After that, it was off to my husband’s family for dinner and more family time. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and we enjoyed catching up with everyone.

It was a wonderful Mother’s Day!!

Below is a picture of me and the kids. Notice my shirt.

AJ looks a little silly in that last one so we tried it again.

Next is myself, my mom, and my sister.  Unfortunately, my brother and his wife were unable to come up for Mother’s Day but my parents will be going to visit him this coming weekend. So he will have some time with mom as well.

Finally, we have my husband with his mom and brother.   I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: One of the things I love about blogging is it reminds me to take pictures!

I am truly blessed to have had such a wonderful Mother’s Day and I hope all of you had a great one as well.

My poor Kiki. She has been suffering from allergies for the past two weeks.  Last summer, we had her allergy tested and the results showed that she reacted to pollen and certain weeds that are the worst in Spring and Fall.  Her eyes have been red and puffy and she sneezes constantly.  In fact, that is how I know she is awake in the mornings; she starts sneezing the second her feet hit the ground.

Unfortunately, nothing seems to be working to help alleviate the symptoms.  At first we were giving her a generic form of Children’s Benadryl.  That didn’t seem to do the trick  so we switched it up to Children’s Zyrtec.  It seems like pretty potent stuff since the directions call for one tablet in a 24 hour period.  That still has yet to make a dent.

Kiki is getting to the end of her rope I’m afraid.  The past two mornings she seems almost angry that she is still suffering.  I certainly can’t blame her.  I’ve been telling her that I think if she takes the medicine, as the day goes on she will feel better.  After repeating that same line to her again today, her response was:

“How do you know? You’re not me.  You don’t know what it’s like to be me.”

As she said this, her voice was hoarse from all the coughing and sneezing and her little chin was quivering.  It broke my heart.  She is absolutely right; I don’t know what it’s like to be her.  I haven’t been in agony for the past 2 weeks; she has.  But how does a 7 year old even formulate that thought? I will admit it does seem a touch dramatic.  But as I watched her slowly walk to the bus today, her comment was repeating itself constantly in my mind.  Now I realize, even at age 7, she is her own person.  I may have carried her for 9 months but she really is not mine. She is without a doubt, her own individual: with her own thoughts, her own realizations, her own sense of fashion, and even as a 2nd grader her own battles. Whether it is battles with friends, school work, or allergy suffering, she has to feel it on her own while I stand on the outside only able to guide her.  And the shocker for me is that based upon her comment from today, she already realizes this.  How did she learn that lesson before me?

Wow! If anyone needs me today, I will be in my bed, curled in the fetal position, crying like a baby!

Last Sunday, my husband and I went on a dinner cruise along the Delaware River with a group from our church.  We arrived at the church a few minutes before my in-laws.  I decided we should wait in the car because the weather was cold and rainy and I was in my “Sunday Best.”

“When we get out of the car, I’m going to go on your side and open the door for you,” my wonderful husband said.

What a sweetheart, I thought to myself.  I am one lucky lady.

And then, a glimpse of something shiny caught my eye.  I look out the passenger side window to see friends of his family pull up next to us…in a brand new BMW.

Slowly, the gears in my brain started turning.  Open my door for me…shiny new BMW along side of us. LIGHT BULB! His willingness to come open my door for me had nothing to do with being a gentleman or helping me out of the car in a dress and heels.  No sirree! It had everything to do with protecting the car next to us from my apparent inability to open a car door without slamming it into nearby objects.

You should have seen him when he did open the door for me.  He places himself between the door and the car leaving me with just inches to get out. Considering the fact that I am rarely in heels, he was putting me in a dangerous situation by giving me a tight space to maneuver in.  I could have fallen and broken my ankle,  but the “Beamer” would have been safe from any scratches.  And at the end of night, it’s all about priorities, isn’t it?

When we arrive back at the church after our dinner, he runs over to my side of the car again to open the door.  My sister-in-law notices his apparent chivalry and comments to her husband, “Look, he opens the door for his wife.”

“Do NOT be fooled,” I say.  “This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the precious car next to me.”

She looks over at the BMW and chuckles to herself.  I suppose I could have left that part to myself and just let her think that my husband is the ultimate gentlemen.  But she has known him longer than I have so she knows better than that! And frankly, let’s just call it what it is: There is a crazy, psychotic love that men have for cars and we women will never understand it.

• I learned that by the 4th day of rain, your mood can become very gloomy.  We need some sunshine around here ASAP!
• I learned that the best way to end a week is dinner at Applebee’s with my husband and children.  We had a such a nice time, we could have been one of the families in their commercial.
• I learned that no one can party like a bunch of 60 year old Greeks.  Don’t even try it, you won’t come close.  Unless, of course, you can sing Greek songs loudly on the back of a bus coming home from a dinner cruise while doing shots of Ouzo.
• I learned it’s great to see your neighbor again after a year of service in Iraq.  In some ways, I feel like he never left.
• Finally, and here is where a few of you may drag me through the coals, I have learned that people will over-react big time to the Swine Flu.  Earlier this week, someone twittered that a handful of people have the swine flu and everyone wears a mask.  Millions of people have AIDS and no one wants to wear a condom.  While the numbers there aren’t exact and the statement itself maybe slightly exaggerated, I think it speaks volumes.

For more of what I learned this week, head on over to Musings of a Housewife.