Monsters in the Basement

Tim and Casden were downstairs in the basement. Tim was doing laundry :-) Casden was playing. The furnace kicks on. Casden freezes, gets real quiet, and his eyes get real big. He asks Tim, "What's that?" Tim says, "That's the furnace kicking on." Casden says, "No, it's a monster." Tim says, "No, it's just the furnace." Casden, ever convinced it is, in fact, a monster, says, "I'm going upstairs" and hightails it upstairs. Tim follows behind with a laundry basket. Casden turns back and says, "Daddy, you can stay down here (with the monster)!"

The Magic Word

Tim was laying on the coffee table (of course!) and Casden came up and laid a bin of cars on his belly. Casden then demanded that Tim help him put them together. Tim and I both commented that this was not a very nice way to ask for help. Padget chimed in that he should "use the magic word". Casden looked at her and said quizzically, "Abracadabra?"

How can you be mad at that face?

Oh, Aidric...usually he's so good at bedtime and night-time, but last night was another matter entirely. It was dreadful. He screamed and cried much of the night. However, you'd go slamming in there all angry and he'd stop crying and just be all coos and giant gummy grins. It's so hard to be mad at those gummy grins, when his face just lights up. Sigh. It won't be gummy for much longer, as he's working hard on cutting those 2 bottom teeth. That may have explained last night's issues. So, I'll enjoy those gummy grins while they last, even if they are at 2 a.m.!

Our Little Elf

Padget had her preschool musical production last night. "Santa's Little Elves" Boy, that girl is a star--no stage fright, no fear of the giant crowd, just pure joy and animation. It was very cool to watch! And it helps that she is LOUD (like Casden!!) so she carried the girls' songs so we could hear even in the very back row. It was very cute, and we couldn't be more proud. I'd love for her to get into drama--a good way to focus her dramatic flair and I think it's a great way to get used to speaking in front of people. Yes, I know, I know, she's only 5, but I'm just thinking ahead (many, many years ahead!).

WTF??!!

After dinner this evening, the kids wanted to play "Tiger Tail Chase". They have this set of 4 different animal tails that go around your waist (imagine flag football, but with a zebra/tiger/monkey/lion tail for a flag). They wanted Daddy to play, but he was holding Aidric. Casden said, "Mommy can play." Padget replied, "Mommy's too old!" Yikes, really...this is what my 5 year old thinks of me???!! Daddy told Padget that actually he was older than Mommy, but I don't think she bought it. Anyway, I grabbed my lion tail and proceeded to run those kiddos ragged around the house. They were winded, hot, and sweaty--upon quitting the game, both kids stripped off their shirts and grabbed their water bottles!

Another funny thing was that after I grabbed my water bottle, Casden asked, "Mommy, aren't you hot? Take off your shirt." Immediately, my brain fast-forwarded 10-15 years...Casden saying to some girl, "hey baby, aren't you hot? Let me help you take that shirt off..." !!!

Loud talking and whispering

Maybe it's a boy thing or maybe it's a Casden thing. Casden has no "inside voice". He's so loud all the time. Whether he's talking, singing, humming...he does it so LOUDLY! And if you call him on it, he just gets louder. Poor Aidric takes the brunt of this because Casden gets all up in his face to talk to him. But it's so loud and so close, that you can just see this fear and panic in Aidric's eyes, like get this crazy, loud close-talker the hell away from me! I guess the plus-side is that Casden really loves his little brother :-)

When can you trust your child to whisper in your ear? I mean whisper, quietly. I still flinch whenever Padget wants to tell me a secret, because I fear that she is going to get in real close and then blow out my eardrum. I don't think I'll ever be able to let Casden tell me a secret!

Canine Hopes and Dreams!

First some background...Our yellow lab, Persy, was our first baby. We had him for a good 3 years before any human babies entered our lives. Persy used to sleep with us in our bed. For 3 years he did this--at first he was allowed to sleep with us at night and then as he got bigger, he was allowed to sleep on our bed when one of us was napping. When we moved to CT, we were disgusted with the state of our comforter and put the ka-bosh on Persy sleeping in our bed.

So, today, I am exhausted. I had a terrible night's sleep. Could have been the chocolate peanut butter cookies I ate at 9:00 p.m. or it could have been my inability to shut my brain off. Either way, I really didn't fall asleep until after 3:00 a.m. and was up at 6:30 a.m. Anyway, I pulled off the impossible task of getting all 3 kids down for naps AT THE SAME TIME! I decided to crawl into bed myself. As I crawl into bed and snuggle under the covers, I hear Persy get up off of his doggie bed, come over to my side of the bed, and look at me hopefully. Persy is now 8 1/2 years old. It has been 5+ years since he slept in our bed, and yet, there is a part of him that remains hopeful that today is the day.

Well, sorry, Persy, today was not the day! And thank goodness, because Tim pulled a tick off of him later this evening. Yuck! Just another reason that he is not allowed in our bed.

Scarlet O'Hara

Padget is getting antsy about decorating the inside of the house for Christmas. I'm not quite feeling the Christmas spirit yet so to appease her, Tim brought up the kids' Christmas trees. They have little trees for their rooms, and each year I take them out to pick out an ornament. Anyway, they were so excited to have their trees in their rooms. As Padget and I were finishing hanging up all her ornaments, she looks wistfully at her tree and declares, in her best "woe is me" voice, "I wish I had a star for the top of my tree. (dramatic pause and sigh) I guess I'll have to ask Santa". The only thing missing was the hand to her forehead as she said this! She's just too much.

Nicknames...

It's amazing how many different names we have for our kids. I'm reminded of this as I hear Tim upstairs calling Casden "Caz-man-doooo"! I guess you never know what their name will morph into when you name them. For example, we named him Casden James so that we could call him C.J. Never once have we called him that! He was Caz and Buddha so early on that C.J. never entered the picture. And Padget has been P. forever--I remember my brother cringing that I was calling my daughter Urine--I was like um, no, as in P the letter. Not PEE! Oh well, it has stuck!!

Here's the undefinitive list...

Padget:
P.
Miss P.
Peapod (of course!)
Padge (I HATE this one--Pop Pop uses it among a few others!)
Pumpkin
Princess
Monkey
Boo
Bunny
Bug

Casden:
Caz
Buddha
Bood
Boody
Buddha-Budda
Caz-Man
Caz-Man-Doooo
Monkey
Big Guy
Doody

Aidric:
A.J. (Nanny and Granpa and Padget)
Chunker Munkers
Babers
Little Guy
Big Guy
Angry Aidric

Sweet Girl (and she knows it, too!)

Oh, my dear sweet Padget. Sometimes she says the most endearing things. But now, as a 5 year old, she knows when she's going to say something that will pull on the heart-strings. It's hard to tell if she is being genuine or if she is doing it just for the big hug and kiss that she always gets when she says something sweet.

For example, this morning, she walks into the bathroom, bats her eyelashes at me, and declares, "Sometimes having our family is the best gift of all. Isn't that right, Mommy?" And as I look down to answer her, I am met by a set of big, pursed lips waiting for their kiss! Like awe, aren't I just the sweetest and I deserve a big kiss for that sweet sentiment!

Why's Mommy Laughing So Hard?

Casden and I were in his room to get him dressed and ready for the day. As I was taking off his diaper, he started to pee. I exclaimed, "You're peeing" in a shriek which scared him and he stopped peeing. After the shock of being peed on by my almost 3 year old (this hasn't happened since he was a baby!), I asked him if he'd like to go on the potty to finish what he started. He obliged. (By the way, this in itself is a big deal, as I can count on one hand the amount of times he's gone on the potty!) After we get back to getting dressed, Casden is telling me all the things that Aidric will do when he's bigger.

[(C) = Casden (M) = Mommy]

(C) "Aidric will go pee-pee on the potty"
(M)"Uh huh, maybe you'll help teach him"
(C) "Aidric will play with my cars"
(M) "Yes, he will"
(C) "Aidric will sleep in a bed"
(M) "Yep, when he's out of his crib"
(C) "Aidric will pound on my balls"
(M) Hysterical laughter!

To put it in context, Casden had been playing with his Discovery Toys ship that you use a hammer to pound the balls in before we were getting him dressed. However, I'm sure that when my boys are bigger, there will certainly be some "ball-pounding" as they wrestle their ways through boyhood and into young adulthood! What a good laugh! (and all the while, poor Casden is staring me like why's mommy laughing so hard?!)

Sally and Oreo and Fisbee, oh my!

The weather was so nice over Thanksgiving weekend that Tim decided to do the outside Christmas decorating. While out doing some Black Friday Christmas shopping, I came across 2 motorized 3 ft tall lighted reindeer. Tim has always said he wanted reindeer for the yard. The deal was quite good so this year, I complied.

He put together and set up the reindeer in our front flower bed. He went on to hanging the Christmas lights, with Padget and Casden intermittently playing and "helping" him. Next thing you know, the reindeer have piles of hay and corn to eat. And they have names--Sally and Oreo. Padget's handiwork, of course, with some help from her little tag-along brother, Caz.

In other news, Padget is quite the tattle-tail (tale?) these days. It's somewhat helpful and somewhat annoying all at the same time. In a previous post, I mentioned Fisbee, our elf on the shelf. Padget is now telling on her friends to Fisbee. "I have to go tell Fisbee that Brianna said 'Stupid'. That's a bad word to say." She then expects that Fisbee will go tell Santa that Brianna was being naughty!

A random Tuesday...

Casden and I were in his room, looking to get "dressed and ready for the day" (as I always say). I was rifling through his closet and he says he wants to wear Mickey. He has these Mickey corduroy overalls that he's never worn before. They are hand-me-downs from my step-sister's kiddos. Anyway, they don't have a matching shirt so I am trying to find something that matches, and I find this button-down shirt that will work. As I'm putting the shirt on him, he takes one look at it and declares that it's a "doctor shirt"! Maybe I should dress him up a little more often ;-)


When Casden is cold (and usually when he's getting dressed), he says he's "freezing like ice cube"!

Another one of Casden's sayings is "What the heck?" I'm not sure if it's Tim or I that says it, but he picked it up.

Grams was laughing at Caz the other night because when he gets angry, he scrunches up his face in this way that makes his eyebrows nearly touch.