Twas a Very Boogery XMAS

Ahh, Christmas with 2 sick kids...boogers and Kleenex flying all over the place. Kids overexcited, melting down...and yet it was still wonderful.

Santa, as usual, did his thing, the kids were (mostly) happy, and we had a nice day together. Because he was the sickest, Matthew took a 6.5 hour nap - he gets more sleep during his naps than I do at night! He woke up around 7:30 and we had a late dinner, and then made it until about 9 before going to bed.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. And of course it included a bit of conflict:

Oh well...

A Less Furry XMAS

Merry XMAS guys...we miss you dearly.

More fun than....

Update on 12-24-2008, a quick first ever attempt at partial b/w-ing of a photo...

XMAS lists

Ellie (who's 4) wants, and I quote because it's been the same exact things for 4 weeks, "a bear with mittens and a train with an alien that has one eye." Hey, I don't try to interpret, I just deliver the message.

It's too bad we shopped for her 5 weeks ago when the list was only "mittens for my bear and a train." What a big difference a few words makes! Oh well. We'll blame Santa.

Chinese Food

Matthew's fortune cookie from last night:


At least it's not to excess, right? I mean, he's only 2. He has plenty of time to develop a real problem.

Why did Susan flush Matthew down the toilet?

The other morning I was telling Sharon about a dream I had. The dream concluded with one of my friends (Susan, or "Mrs. O" as she's known to the kids) and I watching Matthew having fun swimming in the toilet by the grocery store checkout stand.

Did I mention the dream was weird?

Then Susan flushed the toilet while Matthew was in it, and I had to jump in (it was a big toilet) and get him out of the drain. All was fine, we checked out and I woke up.

The problem is that I told this dream in front of Ellie, who remembers and obsesses over things like nobody you've ever seen. And her brain works on these things even when she's doing something else. As soon as I finished the story, Ellie began asking, "Why did Mrs. O flush Matthew while he was in the toilet?" Uh oh.

Her line of questioning lasted from breakfast until I dropped her off at school, and resumed when I picked her up. In the couple of days since I told her about it, she's brought it up at least a couple of times each day. The funny thing is that she understands it was a dream, but can't figure out why Susan flushed Matthew.

Oh well...she can just add that to the list of things she describes to her therapist in 30 years, right?

Sick Kids and School

Matthew has the cold that apparently every other child in his class has. Apparently I am the only one, however, who won't take a kid who's THAT sick to school...judgmental a bit? Nah...

Anyway, I told Matthew this morning that I didn't think he was going to go to school today because he's sick. He freaked out and almost started crying (he is only 2, after all), and said "Nooooo! I go to school. I am a big boy!"

That's my boy! (we didn't go though...Home Depot and Costco had to do)

Do I really want to drink that?

How to get milk, by Ellie

"First, you look at the cow's bottom. And then you pull the cow's bottom softly. One of the cow's hoses. But not too much of it. Pull it a little more harder, but not too much. And then all of the milk comes out into the bucket. That's how you get cow milk."

Exactly What I Feel

This post really speaks to me - it could be about Ellie and me...

Little Girls

Ellie is turning into a little girl. And by that, I mean she's starting to squeal at anything that's either very good or very bad. And sometimes even just mediocre.

She came into the house after I'd brought some Christmas decorations, and she squealed - "EeeeEEEE! It's Santa! Hee hee hee!"

She saw a spider (well, it was actually a piece of dirt, but I swear I vacuum) downstairs - "EeeEEEE! A spider! Daddy, come get it! DADDY! Where are you!?!?"

She also likes to sneak up on me. It's fun to pretend that I don't see her coming, and then at the last second turn and scare her. "EeeeEEEE!" (makes funny face and runs away) "Daddy, don't scare me like that!"

Mr. "Me Too" (Matthew) has also taken to squealing, because of course he has to be just like his big sister. The greatest part about it is that he doesn't really understand when to do it. So when he thinks it might be appropriate, he looks at Ellie to see if she's going to do it. If she does, then he does (and he gets a big smile, too).