Conversation with a 2-year-old

Today we walked Tess to school, and on the way back home, Miles & I saw two boys in their driveway saying goodbye to their dad as he drove to work. 

Miles: they are saying "goodbye, Bryan!"
Me:  No, their daddy's name is not Bryan.  It's Ed.
Miles:  Oh!  Head?  Like Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes!
Me:  No, Ed.  It's short for Edward.
Miles:  Oh!  Short for head-bird?  There's a bird on his head!  Ha, ha!
Me:  Sure, Miles.

A Perfect Day

Today I had my first babysitting swap. A friend of mine is going to swap babysitting with me one day a month to go and do whatever we want, kid-free! (I hope to use my days to substitute at Tess’s school, but today was just a “whatever” day.)

It was a perfect day. I dropped the kids off at the sitter/school. Then came home and got ready in total silence. Next, I drove to Logan with my BFF. (I didn’t drive the mini-van; I drove the car. Yippee!) I listened (loudly!) to a radio station that I loved, not the children’s sing-along CD.

In Logan, I went shopping. For clothes. For me. With birthday money. Awesome!

Then we went to lunch and had yummy, fattening Mexican food, with real Dr. Pepper—not Diet.

While my friend had a class on campus, I visited a few old haunts. I ran into my “head teacher” from when I taught preschool at USU, and I had a good long visit with my aide from when I taught Kindergarten at Adams Elementary. Then I spent a few minutes people-watching on the quad. (Man, did you know that they let high school kids into college now? It was so weird; everyone there was about 14-17 years old, I swear!)

We finished the day with some frozen yogurt.
 Now I have more yummy, fattening Mexican food to look forward to for dinner. (Bryan is gone tonight so I get my leftovers for dinner!) I have already decided that after the kids are in bed tonight, I’ll read my new novel in a big bubble bath.

I cannot think of anything more perfect than today. What’s your perfect day?

Zoo-wall-ogy

When we got the "big bed" for Miles, we decided that we needed to redo some of his wall decor.  I thought his new bedspread had a bit of an animal print look to it, so I decided to decorate with some wild animals.  I looked for framed prints, but couldn't find stuff I liked, stuff that would cover a large enough wall area, or stuff that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg.  So, I remembered a trick that I learned from an old friend about putting fabric on the wall as decor.  I have done it in Tess's room and it worked really well, but the shapes were pretty small; the animals I had in mind for Miles' room needed to be BIG.  But I went ahead and gave it a shot with animals in fun patterned prints...it turned out great!  Here are the animals I did:

Mr. Monkey

 The King--Lion

 The Grrrraffe  (that's how Miles pronounces it, with a hard 'g' as in goat.)

 The Turtle and the Magonfly (again, Miles' pronunciation)

 The dangling snake...

 As you can see from this picture the animals are quite big.  Miles is really enjoying it so far; he even says "good night" to his animal friends before bed.  It's pretty fun.

Big Boy Update

Well, he didn't get out of bed and wander around; whew!  However, I was awakened at midnight by a big thud and much crying; oops!  He fell right out.  So, I dragged out the crib mattress and put it by the side of his big bed--then at least he'll have something soft to land on if/when that happens again!

Our Big Boy!

Well, we figured that it was about time to get Miles a big boy bed.  He's 6 months older than Tess was when we moved her to her big bed, and he's a lot taller than she was.  He was basically touching both ends of the crib, head to toe, so it was time.  But he loved his crib--he never tried to get out of it; in fact I have seen him climb into it before, so I know that he's capable of climbing out but he just doesn't have the desire.  Last night he actually was kind of sick before bed and threw up, so I was holding him and snuggling him because he had a sore tummy and he whispered up at me, "Mama, put me in my kib."  (Yes, it did make me a little sad.)

We knew he couldn't stay in there forever, so we went and got him a big bed today, along with some new bedding.  We surprised him with some Spiderman sheets and he was so excited about them!  He got kind of mad at us when we put on his bedspread because it covered up Spiderman.  Anyway, we just went in and peeked at him and he is zonked out, happy as a clam with Spiderman.  I hope that it'll take him a very long time before he can figure out that all he has to do is stand up and walk out of his room.  That is not a battle that I look forward to.  In some ways though, Bryan & I think that we may never have to fight that war like we did with Tess; he has such a different personality than her and he seems to not push his limits the way that she does.  So, here's hopin' that I'll hear his sweet little voice in the morning like I always do:  "Mom!  There's a 7 on mine clock!  Time a wake up!"   (And hoping that I'm not awakened by a little face, inches from mine, in the middle of the night....every parent has had that experience and it's quite terrifying.  You know the one--you're sound asleep, and your room remains silent but somehow you just know that someone is there, and then you open your eyes and see someone else's eyes boreing two holes in your head, just inches from your face.)  Although, I guess if it's this face, then it's OK...

Timp Cave

We hiked up to Timpanogos Cave this afternoon.  I had only been there once, as a kid, and Bryan & I have been talking about doing it for years now and we finally did it!  (We had reservations 3 years ago, when I was pregnant with Miles, but we had to cancel because Bryan & Tess ended up getting crypto from a swimming pool, which led to much barfing and pooping, but that's a story for another day!)

Anyway, we went today and it was wonderful!  The weather was not too hot and the kids did great.  We had the kid carrier backpack, but Miles didn't get in it at all on the way up, and on the way down he only got in for about 10 minutes before he asked to get back out and walk!  I was really impressed with both of the kiddos because it's a pretty steep hike.

Inside the cave is pretty cool (literally and figuratively!)  It was so interesting to see the rock formations, and to think about how slowly they form.  The guide told a story about a worker who started working there in the 50's who joked that he wouldn't retire until two certain rocks "kissed" (the rocks were called "Cinderella" and "Prince Charming" and they're only a few inches apart, one growing up and the other growing down.)  Anyway, this worker would measure the distance between the two rocks once every decade.  In 58 years, they only got 3/8 of an inch closer together!  Needless to say, he retired.  They won't "kiss" for a few hundred more years.

Bryan sneaked these pics of me with our critters on our way down.  Awwww...

I had to include this picture just because this is the hugest spider I have ever seen in my life (except for tarantulas.)  The finger gives you perspective.  I don't like spiders very much (who does?) and I would have been much too freaked out to have my finger that close, except luckily, the spider was dead and was currently being eaten by a whole bunch of ants.  (shudder...)

Kindergarten!

Tess started Kindergarten today!  A few days ago she was still not excited about school because she just wanted to go back to her old preschool, with the friends and teacher that she loved.  But we had "Back to School Night" a few nights ago and she finally got really excited about Kindergarten.  She went right in and found her spot at the tables and she didn't seem scared or nervous at all.  It's really weird having her gone and I think Miles is really missing his playmate; Mom just isn't as fun (or nearly as energetic about things like doing flips on the couch...). 

Here's Tess in front of the tree.  (They've both grown since last fall!)

Getting right to work on the 1st day.

On the way out the door on the first day--all smiles!