And The Living Is Easy

Summertime! Summer finally came to Seattle! Okay, so we've had some really beautiful weather throughout May, but the first two weeks of June were rough. Not entirely surprising, as it has been this way at least for the last two summers as well, but rough, nonetheless, when you can't wait to get to outside activities and kids start getting cabin fever, etc. So, to honor the gorgeous 70-something degree weather we had today (have I mentioned how much I adore summer in Seattle... seriously... gorgeous, but I digress...), we went for a hike/beach trip at Discovery. The boys were troopers and did mostly the entire thing by themselves (Caleb had to be carried once or twice just for a few minutes). And mom was a trooper, too! Re-injured toe and all. (Yes, a couple of days ago, I slammed my newly healed broken toe into a large metal hand weight that had been left in the middle of the floor, hiding under a blanket... living room forts are dangerous things). Anyway...

Not to mention, it was low tide, and I did the ultimately momly thing and trudged out through the muck and seaweed to look at cool things with my kids, touch detached crab claws, open up empty clam shells, and show them the difference between clams, oysters, mussels, and abalone shells. That's right, I AM patting myself on the back right now. It was one of those rare moments when somewhere in the back of my brain, all the seemingly useless trivia that I have stored up from years of animal planet, discovery channel, and various other facty tidbit shows and books all came together and I was able to sound really smart and amazing to my 4 and 2 year olds. Go, mom! Although, mom DID forget to bring a camera and consequently has no pictures to document said event. Oh well, you can't win 'em all, I suppose. And now I am off to sew a zillion tiny ties for Father's Day Keychains... Good times.

The Prayer of a Two Year Old...Boy.

Warning...totally inappropriate, and potentially sacreligious, content ahead.

My two-year old is obsessed with bums. Bummy heads, bummy bums, bum anything. Sometimes he just calls people bums for fun. They were at a friends house playing one night, and when I came to pick them up and I told him to say bye to his friends, he shouted, "Bye, bums!" (to a chorus of snickers and laughter, of course... everything seems cute when you're two, right?)

I don't think I realized the extent of the obsession until tonight's prayer before bed. Caleb has taken to saying his own prayers "by himself" before bedtime. Liam's often include being thankful for the house, the street, the parks, the parking lot, and all the people, and anything else he can think of in that moment. Caleb, apparently taking somewhat of a cue from Liam, said a prayer that went something like this:

Dear Heavenly Father,

I love to eat my food. (pause)

I love to eat...(pause, at which point he clearly lost his train of thought...I hope)

All the people's bums and parts and everything.

Yep. My little angel.

Just One Of Those Days

Thought I'd be a good mom today and take my kids to the zoo...spent the whole time being frustrated and playing "mean mommy". Thought I'd have some comfort food, but can't eat much of anything due to a sore mouth (my own fault from too many potato chips this week - lame!). Watching Cash Cab and realizing that I didn't know any of the answers...even the $25 ones. Talk about feeling not so smart... *sigh* Here's hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

Trying to catch up

Most of my recent posts are outdated already, but I am frantically trying to catch up on what has been happening of note lately. So today, it's Caleb's chin and stitches.

In April, Caleb fell while climbing on the retaining wall and split open his chin...on a Sunday evening about an hour after his doctor's office closed. It was a pretty bad gash and wouldn't stop bleeding, so after a brief moment to calm him down and look up online where the nearest emergency room was, we headed out. Horrific experience with my 2 year old crying and shouting "Don't hold me down, dad! I have to get up! Don't hold me, Dad!" By the time they were done with his four stitches, he was like a cornered animal...didn't want anyone to touch him or hold him or get near him. Cried his way out to the car, clutching his juice cup (which he would not drink...probably didn't trust me anymore, so didn't know what I put in it, poor guy).

The following night, he tripped on the stairs and hit his chin again. It pulled the wound a little more open, but not enough that we were going to put him through that again. We figured a little more noticeable scar would not harm him in life. The first of many, I'm sure...