JustJessie

Warm Fuzzies For Your Day

Megan showed me this video this morning.  I cried like a baby.  I hope it makes your day as well!

Captain Consonant

I think my little man is going to be in for a rude awakening when he goes to a normal school next year.  His class just had their fourth or fifth party this semester.  The theme to this one was "Captain Consonant and the Letter Pirates," and the kids got to wear their pirate garb all day long.  It was such a fun way to practice the letters, blends, and sight words they've been working on.  I don't remember anything half that cool when I was in school! 

The remaining month of school involves: hatching chicks in the classroom, kite day, field day, graduation (a luau theme), and a swimming party.  And the boy still complains about going to school.  Gimme a break!

Exercise: a stress increaser?

I've been trying to make changes in my life lately having to do with my health.  I am very good at monitoring my kids food and exercise, but not so much my own.  I know what's right to do, it's just hard to put into practice.  Anyway, one of the changes has been to work out every day, and the kids have been doing it with me, gladly on most days.  Not so much yesterday, though...

Me: Alright, y’all come on and get some energy out.

Grayson: Mom, do I have to?

Me:  Are you kidding me?  You are so full of energy you can’t stop moving your mouth.  If you don’t exercise that energy out, somebody is going to get hurt.

Grayson:  Oh, alright, but this is NOT going to make me stop talking.

Grant:  No, Momma, no!  I don’t wanna do those clappin’ things (jumping jacks).  NOOOooooooo!  Waaaaaahhhhh!  I want my sucker!!!  Where’s my sucker???

Awww, maaaan!  I missed those clappin things.  I wanna do clappin things.  I missed it… Waaaaaahhhhhh!

Me:  Hush! We’ll be doing them again in two minutes.  Stop crying right now, or go to your bed.

Okay here’s the jumping jacks, let’s do them together.

Grant: I DON’T WANNA DO THOSE CLAPPIN THINGS!  I DON’T LIKE ‘EM!  I DON’T WANT ‘EM! 

Awww, maaaaannnn!  I missed those clappin things again!   Mommy, you so mean!  You made me miss ‘em.  I want my sucker.

Repeat with every exercise for 45 minutes worth of working out.  Except for the power yoga segment where he rolled between my legs and sat on my back, etc. rendering it impossible for me to do the exercises properly.

I ordered this video yesterday, though, and I'm hoping it will be more fun for the kiddos. 

Does it really have to be Monday?

We had such a great weekend, I hate to see it end.  We spent Saturday morning working in the yard together, and then playing football when we finished.  I guess it would be more accurate to say Jeff was trying to teach Grayson and me the basics of football enough to play.  It was fun though.  I'm not a sporty girl, but Grayson wants to play flag football this year, and I want to be able to follow the game! 

Anyway, then we decided it would be fun to all go out together as a family.  We went to Surin, a Thai restaurant with the best sushi around, and to see Nim's Island.  As a non-violent way to get good manners out of our boys, we told them this was Mommy and Daddy's favorite date restaurant, and we were taking them there on a family date.  It was awesome.  I could tell Grayson felt so mature going to a place we usually don't take him.  Both of the boys tried "Squooshee" (that's Grantinese for sushi) and ate with chopsticks. I was very proud of my picky eater (Grayson) for trying something so unusual. 

*Excuse the look on my face... I think the empty martini glass may have something to do with it.

The movie was good, too.  It's always a gamble taking Grant to a movie.  The theater we went to doesn't charge for him to go, so at least if I had to take him out of the movie it wouldn't feel like such a waste!  He did great, though.  There was enough action to keep him interested, and I stocked my purse with enough Easter candy to keep him occupied when he got bored.  So, anyway, I guess now it's back to the real world...

Daydream Believer

This probably puts me in the mean mommy hall of fame, but I just have to tell you about Grayson's drama last night.  He had been in bed all of five minutes when I started to hear whimpering noises coming from his room.  Being the attentive mother that I am, I glanced up from the computer screen and asked Jeff to please go see what his problem was.  He went, and tried to take care of the issue, but I kept hearing the word "Mommy" in between sniffles and wails. 

So, I went back and snuggled up next to him, and asked him what was wrong.  For the next five minutes I struggled to keep a straight face as his story of woe unwound...

"Just now, I was lying here, and I wasn't asleep yet, but my eyes were closed, and I was daydreaming.  I dreamed that you and Katie's mom and me and Katie met someplace to play together, and you said 'Grayson you and Katie go play, so we Mommies can talk.'  So me and Katie were playing, but then she got a really mean look on her face and pushed me out of the window and I was falling and falling, and when I finally hit the ground it was concrete, and I fell so hard I fell right through the concrete, and it hurt so bad.  Then when I was laying in the hole, hurting to bad to move, a poisonous spider climbed in and bit me and it was killing me, and no one even noticed me lying there!  Then you finished talking and you got in the car and you just left me there dying!"  At this point he dissolved into a puddle of tears, sniffs, hiccups, and snorts. 

I am proud to tell you that with a straight face, I looked him in the eye and said, "Grayson, Mommy could never leave you behind.  You have my heart, and if I ever left you I couldn't live, because my heart would be left behind too."  A couple of hugs and kisses later, he was just fine and ready to settle down to sleep.

Monsters Among Us

For whatever reason, Sugar Monsters seem to be a big hit with folks.  These guys are their close cousins, the Molar Monsters.  Their scary little mouths are a pocket for lost teeth, which they will guard until the Tooth Fairy comes to take them.  They also have a nice back pocket for whatever goodies the Tooth Fairy decides to leave behind.

I suppose a Sugar Monster could be used as a tooth fairy pillow as well, but really, isn't a Molar Monster just a lot more fun?!

Bedtime Snacks, Grant Style

Small Packages

I heart diapers

I've always heard it's easier to potty train your second child, especially if you have two boys.  The idea is that the younger one watches the older one using the potty and wants to be a big boy and immediately gets the hang of it.  So what's wrong with my family?

Until this weekend, Grant has shown no interest in going in the potty.  I've bribed him with Thomas and Mickey drawers.  I've offered candy if he poops in the potty.  Thanks to Chris we now even have a potty training anthem.  All of this has not mattered a smidge.  Then all of a sudden on Friday, Grant decided he was going to wear undies all day.  Wow.  I was shocked.  He came and told me every time he had to tee-tee, and he only had one accident all day long.  It's true, he still didn't poop in the toilet, but we were making progress.   

Fast forward to Sunday.  Grant and Grayson were playing Indians all morning, which of course involves being completely naked.  This worked out great for potty training purposes, because Grant could just take off running when he had to go and he didn't have to ask for help.  By afternoon he finally got tired of being nekky, and put on Mickey undies.  I think you know what comes next...

I was sewing in the den when I heard him tiptoe up in the hallway.  He stuck just his head in the door and said, "Mommy, I got poopy."  Oh no! 

Oh yes.  The poor guy had not only done it in his undies, he had tried to take care of it himself.  You can imagine what I found in his bedroom... and in the hall... and the bathroom...  I think we'll hold off on potty training just a little while longer.  I'm just not quite ready for it yet.

G-day

For the second year in a row Grayson, his Daddy, and his Poppy are on their way to the G-day game.  That's three generations of Keith men between the hedges together again.  The picture above is from last year's game.  It blows my mind how much Grayson has grown since then.  One thing is the same, though.  His favorite part about the trip is staying in a hotel room.  He called this afternoon, and our conversation went a little something like this:

Me: Hey Buddy!  Whatcha doin?

Grayson:  HEY MOM!  WE DROVE ALL THE WAY HERE THEN WE GOT TO THE HOTEL ROOM THEN I WENT PEE THEN WE PUT ON OUR SWIMSUITS AND WENT IN THE INDOOR POOL AND THEN WE CAME BACK AND I WAS JUMPING FROM BED TO BED TO BED TO BED TO BED TO BED TO FLOOR BECAUSE WE HAVE TWO BEDS AND A FLOOR BETWEEN THEM AND I WOULD  JUMP FROM ONE BED TO THE OTHER UNTIL I GOT TIRED OF IT AND THEN I JUMPED ON THE FLOOR AND DADDY DOESN'T CARE AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT POPPY THINKS ABOUT IT BECAUSE HE'S NOT IN HERE SO IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER WHAT HE THINKS BUT NOW WE HAVE TO GO EAT SUPPER MOMMA I LOVE YOU BYE!

Me: K.  Love you too. 

Gosh, I hope he's having a good time.