When Dinosaurs Attack

Paul and Douglas

Unfortunately, Paul was sick most of this week and now I am coming down with the same thing. I am still at the point where I am pretty tired all the time, so I was not terribly happy Paul decided to wake up before it was light this morning. Of course, it wasn't his fault, since "Douglas was running around and around the room and yelling RAWR and woke me up!".

I'd forgotten how weather in the ArkLaTex is this time of year, especially compared to the relatively calm weather in the DC area. We had a normal (for this time of year) storm pass through the area, complete with ominous tornado watches, warnings, and mentions of "tornado signatures on the radar". Paul overheard and decided that "Douglas was too scared to sleep", so it was difficult to get him to go to sleep until after the storm passed over us. I can't say I really blame him, since the threat of a tornado warning while you sleep is pretty scary.

I don't really remember worrying too much about tornadoes until I was older and had to deal with tornado warnings in school. During tornado warnings, we would all grab the heaviest book in our desk, and quickly leave the room, in single file. We would crouch down in the hall, and lean against the wall, while holding our book over our head. And then we would wait for the all clear.

We had several tornado warnings the year I was in first grade, and I remember saving my money for a Lisa Frank trapper keeper (the purple one with the pink neon heart), so I would have something more substantial to put over my head than my Janet and Mark take home reader. I also remember having more than a few nightmares about tornadoes at night that spring, because we had to color these large cardboard eggs as big as we were for a downtown Easter display. In my nightmares, I would wake up, look outside the window beside my bed and see something like an F3 tornado. I would then have a panic attack, because my cardboard easter egg was downtown and I was not strong enough to drag my mattress to the bathtub. I don't remember when I outgrew that phase, but I still occasionally have that nightmare when the weather is bad during tornado season.

I survived Birthmas: Round 3

Paul working his mad scientist look, on Christmas Eve

Birthmas actually was much easier this year. Paul had a little surprise birthday cake at my grandparents' house, and everyone wished him a happy birthday on his birthday. Everyone also managed to resist the urge to buy him birthday presents, and large quantities of Christmas presents, which was a little surprising. Paul had a pretty good haul from celebrating Christmas at both of his grandparents' houses, and I think too many more presents would have been overwhelming.

Paul ended up with a backpack containing a tent, sleeping bag, and other "survival" tools and soccer stuff from Santa. He had also been asking for the stuffed Shrek baby girl. He was a bit confused when he found it in his stocking on Christmas morning. Apparently, he was asking Santa for it because Leia (one of our friends' 10 month old daughters) "told" him she wanted it.

He also ended up with a VSmile, a few games, a backpack, Backyardigans things, playdoh, a construction kit, some books, and of course, clothes. I think we were pretty close to the ideal number of presents, because he's been playing with everything he received. It's also less overwhelming for me, since I'm the one who has to figure out how to haul his loot back to Virginia.

Overall, it was a pretty good Christmas. Hope everyone else had a great holiday too.

In Case You Were Wondering…

Baby oil is great for removing whiteout from a toddler's face without scrubbing.

(Paul found a stray bottle of Liquid Paper at my parent's house first thing this morning and decided to "put makeup on!!!".)

Yay for Good Parent Hacks

I've always been a picky eater, and bread is one of the things I'm very picky about. It can't be toasted (unless it's cinnamon toast), because I hate dry bread. Paul isn't quite as picky, but he still won't touch the end pieces on a loaf of bread.

I saw the sandwich hack the other day, and decided to try it out at lunch today. Paul decided it was a "really good tasty sammich" and never noticed there was something slightly different. Now I can stop feeling bad about those pieces languishing in the bag :).

Argh, for the last time… IT’S NOT A PURSE!!

Seems like my husband and I have this conversation every few months. I started carrying a chain wallet my sophomore year of high school. My locker was on the opposite side of campus and ginormous purses were trendy. I felt kind of silly carrying a backpack, and a huge purse, since I didn't have the usual collection of make up, hairspray, and whatever else it is that girls carry in purses. My graphing calculator and whatever I happened to be reading fit just fine in my backpack.

I didn't mind carrying a bag until I became a mom. It was too easy to pack up a diaper bag for every single thing that might happen while we went to the grocery store. And later, Paul kept wanting to fill it up with whatever toys were closest. I guess it was sometime around 16-18 months when I gave up the diaper bag for good. My back wishes I had done it sooner :P. These days, Paul has a kid sized CamelBack, which is really nice. There's room for a couple of diapers, spare clothes, travel wipes, snacks, toys, books, and of course, water. It's also to small for him to really overload.