Could someone please inform my mother that we are living in the 21st century?

And while you're at it, clue her in on the miraculous advances in medicine in the last 65 years?

I took Gavin to the doctor today for a weird fever/rash type virus. It turns out that he has Scarlet Fever.
Well, you woulda thought we were living in the 1600s and I just told my mother he had the Bubonic Plague. Here is a snippet of the conversation:

Me: Gavin has Scarlet Fever.
Mother: Scarlet Fever! Oh my...well, when you get home you better strip ALL the beds in the house and put new sheets on. And throw out all those sippy cups. They are always drinking from each others cups. And spray the whole house with Lysol...
Me: Well the doctor put him on an antibiotic and said...
Mother: (cuts me off)Well, what about Aidan and Ciara?? Shouldn't they get antibiotics too?
Me: ??? What? Why?
Mother: They are going to get it. I bet my life they get it.
Me: You're right, they probably will.
Mother: (getting disgusted with me now) And you didn't ask the doctor what to do to prevent it??

And so it went for several more minutes.
In her defense, I suppose I should reveal the fact that my father had Scarlet Fever when he was a toddler and nearly died from it. He was quarantined to his room and no one saw him or my grandmother for close to a month. They left food at the bedroom door for them and that was that.

But that was in 1939.

Now, you get an antibiotic for 5 days and you're good to go.

Oh, the wonders of modern medicine.

So true, so true

Who ever would've thought a sandwich could say so much?

You Are a Turkey Sandwich

Conservative and a bit shy, you tend to stick with what you know and trust.You are very introverted, and you prefer to blend in whenever possible.Though you may be hard to know well, anyone who does know you considers you a true friend. Your best friend: The Ham Sandwich Your mortal enemy: The Tuna Fish Sandwich

What kind of sandwich are you?

Oh, my scapula!

Thank you, Jimmy Neutron for introducing the word scapula into my 4 year olds' vocabulary.

I walked into the living room this morning and Gavin is sitting on the chair watching Jimmy with his brother.
"Mummy...(giggle, giggle)...you know what Shane just said?" (giggle, giggle)
"What did Shane just say?"
(giggle, giggle) "He said (giggle) 'ow! My scapula!'" (hysterical laughter ensues)

So, now they are running through the house chasing their little sister screaming "Oh, my scapula!" while breaking into more fits of hysterical laughter. What the heck is so funny about a scapula? And then it hits me that these are 4 year olds. They don't even know what a scapula is. But they have an idea. I just overheard them playing in Ciara's room, again exclaiming about their scapula. And then I hear Gavin say:
"Aidan....do you know what a scapula is? A penis!"

Ah, of course. What else would a 4 year old boy think it is?

The face of opposition

Don't let the adorable little innocent face fool you. Oh no. What you are looking at right now is the most contrary, stubborn little boy on the planet.


It does not matter what I ask Gavin to do or how I ask it. His usual response is "No" or "I don't want to do that" or "No thanks" (at least he is sometimes polite about it). Something as trivial as saying "Hey Gavin, let me put this placemat under your cereal bowl so the milk doesn't get all over the table" is met with "But I don't neeeed a placemat".


Here are other samples from my day:
"OK everyone, let's get our coats on because we are going outside." Ciara and Aidan scamper off to get their coats. Gavin says "Actually, I don't need a coat today".


Aidan: What are we doing today?
Me: Going to get haircuts.
Aidan: Yay!
Gavin: Not me. I don't need a haircut.


"Gavin, please don't stand on the chair like that, you might fall".
"NO, no I won't fall".
Falls seconds later and I must bite my tongue to keep from shouting "Told you so!"

There are a gazillion more examples but you get the general idea. No matter what I say, he must say the opposite. And heaven forbid he actually agree with me on something. You know, maybe it is just a normal thing that every preschooler goes through. I am sure that has something to do with it but I guess it doesn't help that he has a twin brother and little sister who are so compliant. I know you are not supposed to compare children but it is so gosh darn hard!

I ran across a quote once:
Children in a family are like flowers in a bouquet: there's always one determined to face a direction from the way the arranger desires.

That's Gavin. My little flower.

Baby girl

Three hours of our life are gone

And they were spent putting together these #@$% Playmobil sets. How was I not aware of the bazillion tiiiiiny little pieces that came with these? And to top it off, when the boys came downstairs this morning and found that we had put this together (did I mention it took three hours?) they were so excited. After the enthusiastic thank-yous however, the boys turned to each other and said "Want to go upstairs and play Spyro on Playstation?" and promptly ran off.

I basically had to forbid any sort of technological object to be turned on in the house and they finally played with it. And enjoyed it to boot. Who knew you could have so much fun with a toy? And you don't even have to plug it in.

A funny story

This morning we are all eating some nice fresh Scali bread which I picked up at our local Italian bakery. Every time I eat Scali bread I think of my nephew and niece.

As you know, we live in Boston. I am sure you may also be aware of the famous Boston accent although mostly when people try to "do" a Boston accent, they do a Kennedy-Boston-accent which is a totally different thing altogether. For a true Boston accent, just watch Matt Damon and Marky Mark Wahlberg in The Departed or The Depahted. (And yes, Mark Wahlberg is still always referred to as Marky Mark around these parts no matter how many Oscar movies he is in). But I digress...

My nephew and my niece are in 1st and 4th grades respectively and their teachers this year are not from the Boston area. My nephew and niece have noticed they pronounce their "r"s and say certainly words differently than their parents do. They have also taken to poking fun at their mother especially when she pronounces certain words. "Get in the cah" gets met with "Mom, it's carrrrr".

So, one day my sister-in-law asked the kids what kind of bread they wanted for their toast--American bread or Scali bread. To which they replied "It's Scarrrli bread, Mom". She was trying to explain to them that no, it really was Scali bread but they weren't having it.

So now whenever they see the bread in the house, they always ask for Scarli bread because they are sure their mother is putting her Boston accent spin on it.

The 5th annual Christmas card debacle

As all of you who are parents know, when Christmastime rolls around there is a rush to get that elusive "perfect" picture of your child(ren) to send out to friends and family who you rarely see. You want a picture of your child(ren) in all their shining glory so that said friends and family can ooh and ah over the photo for all of three seconds, place the card on their mantle (or wherever they display all their cards) and then promptly dispose of it the day after Christmas. Little do they know the pain and suffering all have endured to get that perfect picture. The threats hissed through gritted teeth, the begging and pleading for just. one. more. picture, the bribery. Oh, the bribery. (Which very rarely works by the way).

And so, for those of you who may not experience this each year, allow me to share mine with you.

It starts out nice enough.
But quickly goes downhill.
I called it quits for that day and took a few individual shots figuring I can at least make a card at one of the online photo sites using those.

I give it another try at a local gardening center. This place is always beautifully decorated and at midday during the week, there is hardly anyone there.

Unfortunately, things don't go much better there than at home.

My personal favorite reject:
And then you do get a good one. Not necessarily perfect but a pretty darn good one. And it just so happens to be the very first picture you snapped on this outing.

New camera!

I finally got my new camera yesterday. It is an early Christmas gift and I have been wanting one for at least a year. It made me a little sick to actually hit "complete purchase" when I ordered it from Amazon because I have never spent that much money on a camera. But, now that it is here, I am loving it.

The clarity! The depth! The ketchup on my son's face! It's all here.

No pictures, please

Wordless Wednesday

Are you sure you've got the right one?

With the holiday season fast approaching (or is it already here? Thanksgiving is next week!), my thoughts have turned to what to get the kids for Christmas. I can easily think of many things for Ciara and Aidan.

Ciara is 2 and big into Dora and Diego. However annoying they might be, there will most likely be one toy featuring these characters under the tree on Christmas morning. She also loves to sort things so there will be something along those lines as well.

Aidan has such an imagination, he could find entertainment with a rock and a piece of paper. Give him an action figure or two and some building blocks and he will create an amazing scenario and be entertained for at least an hour or two. And anything to do with art. He loooves his art supplies.

Now, Gavin...he's the one that is giving me trouble. When he's at home his main interests are his video game, his Leapster and the computer. I am trying to steer away from all things electronic and am racking my brain thinking of things to get him. When asked directly he'll say he wants a new video game, a new Leapster game and a scooter. Okay, the scooter is a good one but what else? Out of desperation I asked his preschool teacher what exactly he plays with at school.

Teacher: Well, he is always asking me to take down the pirate ship to play with.
Me: Really?? We have one at home he barely touches.
Teacher: Oh, and that helicopter. He loves that!
Me: Gavin? The helicopter? (neither of the boys have ever been the things-that-go type of kid)
Teacher: And the art supplies. He likes to sit at the desk and draw and cut with scissors.
Me: Really? Gavin? Are you sure you're not thinking of Aidan.
Teacher: (Starting to think I am a tad bit crazy now) Yes, those are the top three things he likes to do.

Now, the thing that gets me is we have ALL these things at home. The helicopter sits gathering dust on the shelf. Aidan plays with the pirate ship and whenever I try to encourage Gavin to he says no. And any time I have tried to do an art activity at home, he participate for all of 5 minutes and then announces "I'm all done with this".

I suppose playing with things at home and at school are different. At school, you have 8 other kids to play with. Maybe that somehow makes it more exciting than playing at home with your brother who has been your constant companion for the last 4+ years.

The voice of reason. From a 4 year old.

Gavin has only asked for about 3 things for Christmas. One of these being a scooter. My husband was trying to convince Gavin that maybe it might be better to wait until his summer birthday for the scooter. Getting a scooter in the winter and not being able to ride it until the spring might be a little bit of a downer.

But then I had a great idea. I said "Well, if Santa brings you a scooter maybe you could use it in the (long, uncarpeted) upstairs hallway*." I may as well have suggested he ride it on the highway during rush hour.

He turned to me with an incredulous look on his face and said "No. No I could not do that. I might fall down the stairs."

"That's right, Gavin" said my husband nodding proudly at his son for rejecting his mother's dangerous suggestion.

Thank goodness one of us has some common sense.

*Of course I would be supervising to make sure no one fell down the treacherous stairs. I'm not that stupid.

I hope they are always this close

Wordless Wednesday

A very pitiful Shrek

Perhaps ogres don't like lollipops?

Boo!

Wordless Wednesday

The boy can dance...

Yesterday we went to a Halloween parade. I didn't know such a thing existed but Sean's friend invited us to his mom's house where the town has been having this parade for 53 years. This was the first parade for the kids and they *loved* it! They sat and watched the whole thing for about 90 minutes. Of course it didn't hurt that they threw candy into the crowd and the kids all scrambled to get it. They had a blast. Aidan in particular loved the marching bands as evidenced by my short little clip here. That boy has got some rhythm!
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

It's the Great Pumpkin!

Wordless Wednesday

Sabotage

Gavin is not into picture taking lately. If I try to get a photo of the three of them, he makes a face or won't look at me or sticks his tongue out. In general, he does anything he can not to be cooperative.

In this first picture, Gavin is holding a spider in front of his face. I have about five pictures like this. When he finally removes it, he replaces it with a puss face.

This one's going to be trouble when he hits adolescence. I can feel it.

A Pet Peeve

We were at the park this morning and there appeared to be some sort of mom's group there as well. The mothers were all sitting at one of the picnic tables, coffee in hand, muffins laid out on the table having a good chat. The kids--I'd say ranging in age from about 18 months to 3 or so--were doing what kids do and running amok on the play structures. Now, I am all for moms getting together and talking about kid and non-kid things. You need that adult interaction and that "thank goodness I am not alone" feeling.

But please, for the love of Pete, pay attention to your kids. Do not ignore them and pretend that someone else is watching out for them.

I swear, at least three children almost got smashed while running in front of the swing I was pushing Ciara in. If I hadn't grabbed Ciara mid-swing, the kid (s) would have been really hurt. And none of the moms even looked up. Then there were city workers there building a new sandbox and shelter and the kids, of course, were watching all the action and going in and under the 'Caution' tape they had put around the area. The guys were being good sports about it but again, none of the moms came over to tell their child to be careful or to leave the men alone, etc.

The last thing that really got on my nerves is that there was a girl about 3 or maybe 4 who was sitting on a swing and wanted a push to get going. Now, the swings are across the playground from where the picnic tables are. I was standing near the tables pushing Ciara in the toddler swing and I could hear this girl shouting "Mommy, could you push me please?.....Mommy!....MOMMY!!!!" for at least 10 minutes. Now, if I could hear the girl then the mother could also. Not one mother even stopped talking or acknowledged the girl in any way. I was so tempted to butt in and say "Does that little girl belong to any of you? Because she wants some help." I don't know how anyone can just tune out their kids like that. Even if I am in a conversation with someone, I always am aware of where my kids are. If I hear any kids yelling for their mom, I always look to make sure it is not mine .

Ooooh, it just gets on my nerves when people don't pay attention to their children!

Adore

Wordless Wednesday