"I don't have any green clothes to wear so I am going to go to Michigan where they don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day!"
-Amanda, yesterday morning, starting off our day with drama as usual
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
Kid Quote of the Day
Amanda: I love you!
Me: I love you too, baby!
Amanda: Mommy, I was talking to my Cheese-Its. But I love you too.
Me: I love you too, baby!
Amanda: Mommy, I was talking to my Cheese-Its. But I love you too.
The ED Factor
I've been wanting to write this blog post for months, but for some reason kept putting it off. It was one of those things that I wanted to share because it was funny, but also because she isn't going to do this forever and I wanted to capture it in writing before she grew out of it and stopped doing it and I completely forgot and wiped from my brain that it ever happened. There are so many things that Andy did when he was little that I swore I would never forget because they were so amazing and now I can't remember half of them. The longer I waited to post, the more I kept telling myself it was too late to write, but then the other day I noticed she was still doing it so now was the time.
Amanda has this strange habit of putting ED at the end of a lot of words. Sometimes they belong there, many times they don't. It's kind of like a foreigner who is trying to read English, except she is not a foreigner and she has no idea how to read (nor has any desire to because she thinks that I am perfectly willing to read to her for the rest of her life). The biggest example I can give you is when she says "eat-ED" instead of "ate". That one is almost understandable because she just doesn't understand how to say ate. Except I have corrected her numerous times and it is always "I eat-ED it".
There are tons of them. I wrote them all down at one point and had many examples except I got a new phone this week and right after I reset it to factory settings I remembered I forgot to transfer that list out of my old phone. Instead of "put" she said "put-ED". Where did you put your shoes? I put-ED them on the stairs. Instead of "sat" she says "sat-ED". Where did you sit? I sat-ED at the table.
Although completely wrong, it is cute. It helps remind me that she is still little and adorable and not always the evil four-yr-old that drives me crazy on a daily basis (I have yet to write my "I Hate 4" post). In the next year or so she won't be doing it anymore (hopefully) and then she'll start sounding like a big kid and it will be harder and harder to call her my baby. Which, as of late, I am totally okay with.
For now I just might rewrite that deleted list.
Amanda has this strange habit of putting ED at the end of a lot of words. Sometimes they belong there, many times they don't. It's kind of like a foreigner who is trying to read English, except she is not a foreigner and she has no idea how to read (nor has any desire to because she thinks that I am perfectly willing to read to her for the rest of her life). The biggest example I can give you is when she says "eat-ED" instead of "ate". That one is almost understandable because she just doesn't understand how to say ate. Except I have corrected her numerous times and it is always "I eat-ED it".
There are tons of them. I wrote them all down at one point and had many examples except I got a new phone this week and right after I reset it to factory settings I remembered I forgot to transfer that list out of my old phone. Instead of "put" she said "put-ED". Where did you put your shoes? I put-ED them on the stairs. Instead of "sat" she says "sat-ED". Where did you sit? I sat-ED at the table.
Although completely wrong, it is cute. It helps remind me that she is still little and adorable and not always the evil four-yr-old that drives me crazy on a daily basis (I have yet to write my "I Hate 4" post). In the next year or so she won't be doing it anymore (hopefully) and then she'll start sounding like a big kid and it will be harder and harder to call her my baby. Which, as of late, I am totally okay with.
For now I just might rewrite that deleted list.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Kid Quote of the Day
Andy: Wouldn't it be funny if Chuck Norris was a Mouseketool (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)?
Sarah: Who's Chuck Norris?
Andy: You don't know who Chuck Norris is?
Sarah: No.
Andy: He's just an awesome actor.
Sarah: Who's Chuck Norris?
Andy: You don't know who Chuck Norris is?
Sarah: No.
Andy: He's just an awesome actor.
Quitters and Knitters
A few weeks ago my friend, Renee, came into town with her family for a long weekend. We thought it would be fun to take the kids skiing while they were here. It has been a record year for snow and the slopes are amazing and we hadn't even taken the kids out this year. The girls I understand, but not even Andy who got a free ski pass this year just for being in the 5th grade. So, I signed all three kids up for ski lessons and we went to a small, but nice, mountain just north of Boulder.
Let me first start by saying that Charlie took Andy skiing, well really Andy snowboards, at least 3-4 times last year. Andy is not thrilled by snowboarding, but we keep making him go back. His problem is that he doesn't like to do anything that he's not good at, and he won't even really give it a try. It drives us bonkers, and is the reason that the kids still doesn't 100% know how to ride a bike at 11 years old. You could say that we are making him learn because it's something that we would have loved to have learned when we were his age and we are living vicariously through him. Or we are making him learn because we know for a fact when he gets older he is going to be so mad at us if we don't make him learn. Either way I think we end up looking bad. Andy really doesn't like to go, but we don't care and we make him go anyway. The girls, on the other hand, have never gone and keep saying that they want to go, so it was really time to give them a chance.
So, here's how it went down. We put all three kids in lessons around 9a. They were all-day lessons so we weren't supposed to pick them up until 3p. In the meantime, Renee and our other friend, Marilyn, and I went to the lodge and Marilyn taught us how to knit, at which by the way I am terrible. I think I have major knitters block. Maybe that's how Andy feels about snowboarding. Anyway, right after lunch, around 1p I got a call asking me to come pick up Amanda because she refused to ski anymore. I went and got her and she said she didn't like it because they wouldn't give her poles and nobody would hold her hand and the hill was scary. First of all, they don't give any of the kids poles until they are so incredibly old. Poles only add to the confusion and slow you down. Second, why would anybody hold her hand while skiing? Third, the hill was the tamest barely a hill you have ever seen. Weak.
I took her to the lodge to hang out with the rest of us and refused to give her candy because quitters don't get candy. Seriously, what kind of a lesson would that be if I gave her candy while she waited for everybody else to finish? As soon as I quit, even if the day isn't over, I get candy. I don't think so. Meanwhile, Charlie went to pick Andy up after lunch and pulled him out of his lesson so that they could ski and snowboard together. Since Andy wasn't excited about the lesson we thought that would be a good compromise and make him a little happier. Except he fell and didn't want to snowboard anymore so around 2p Charlie called me to go get Andy so Charlie could ski a little bit more. Now I had two kids in the lodge with me wanting snacks. Never.
Guess who stayed in her entire lesson and even though it was hard wants to go back for more? That's right, Sarah. If you had asked me at the beginning of the day who would have been the first to quit, I probably would have guessed her. But she was a total trooper and stuck it out and spent the entire day out there. She still has a long way to go, but she did not give up. I am so proud of her. And so annoyed with the other two.
I know Charlie has been chomping at the bit to ski and Sarah wants to go back out so they are going again this weekend. We are making Andy go again as well, even though at one point he said he would rather stay here and help me remove wallpaper from the bathroom wall than go snowboarding. Mark my words someday that kid will thank us for all the stuff we refused to let him quit. Either that or he will be in therapy trying to get over the fact that we forced him into all these activities that he didn't want to do. And because he doesn't know how to ride a bicycle.
Let me first start by saying that Charlie took Andy skiing, well really Andy snowboards, at least 3-4 times last year. Andy is not thrilled by snowboarding, but we keep making him go back. His problem is that he doesn't like to do anything that he's not good at, and he won't even really give it a try. It drives us bonkers, and is the reason that the kids still doesn't 100% know how to ride a bike at 11 years old. You could say that we are making him learn because it's something that we would have loved to have learned when we were his age and we are living vicariously through him. Or we are making him learn because we know for a fact when he gets older he is going to be so mad at us if we don't make him learn. Either way I think we end up looking bad. Andy really doesn't like to go, but we don't care and we make him go anyway. The girls, on the other hand, have never gone and keep saying that they want to go, so it was really time to give them a chance.
So, here's how it went down. We put all three kids in lessons around 9a. They were all-day lessons so we weren't supposed to pick them up until 3p. In the meantime, Renee and our other friend, Marilyn, and I went to the lodge and Marilyn taught us how to knit, at which by the way I am terrible. I think I have major knitters block. Maybe that's how Andy feels about snowboarding. Anyway, right after lunch, around 1p I got a call asking me to come pick up Amanda because she refused to ski anymore. I went and got her and she said she didn't like it because they wouldn't give her poles and nobody would hold her hand and the hill was scary. First of all, they don't give any of the kids poles until they are so incredibly old. Poles only add to the confusion and slow you down. Second, why would anybody hold her hand while skiing? Third, the hill was the tamest barely a hill you have ever seen. Weak.
I took her to the lodge to hang out with the rest of us and refused to give her candy because quitters don't get candy. Seriously, what kind of a lesson would that be if I gave her candy while she waited for everybody else to finish? As soon as I quit, even if the day isn't over, I get candy. I don't think so. Meanwhile, Charlie went to pick Andy up after lunch and pulled him out of his lesson so that they could ski and snowboard together. Since Andy wasn't excited about the lesson we thought that would be a good compromise and make him a little happier. Except he fell and didn't want to snowboard anymore so around 2p Charlie called me to go get Andy so Charlie could ski a little bit more. Now I had two kids in the lodge with me wanting snacks. Never.
Guess who stayed in her entire lesson and even though it was hard wants to go back for more? That's right, Sarah. If you had asked me at the beginning of the day who would have been the first to quit, I probably would have guessed her. But she was a total trooper and stuck it out and spent the entire day out there. She still has a long way to go, but she did not give up. I am so proud of her. And so annoyed with the other two.
I know Charlie has been chomping at the bit to ski and Sarah wants to go back out so they are going again this weekend. We are making Andy go again as well, even though at one point he said he would rather stay here and help me remove wallpaper from the bathroom wall than go snowboarding. Mark my words someday that kid will thank us for all the stuff we refused to let him quit. Either that or he will be in therapy trying to get over the fact that we forced him into all these activities that he didn't want to do. And because he doesn't know how to ride a bicycle.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Birthday Boy
Yesterday was Andy's birthday. Charlie's mom called to wish him happy birthday and while I was talking to her she said, "Can you believe you are the mother of an 11-year-old?" Nope, not really. It's a strange sensation. It seems like he's been with us forever, since the start, yet the last 11 years have flown by. There are so many things that I swore I would never forget that are long from my memory and can only occasionally be brought to the forefront by someone asking me if I remember that one specific detail. My memory stinks anyway, so even that doesn't work all the time.
I really wish I had known about blogging back then and had done it from the very start. I would have been so vigilant with my first born and written down everything. Stuff that now I say I'm going to write down but the day gets past me and I've been in the car so long that I can't even remember what was so funny. I took a million pictures of him and everything was a new and amazing experience. Kind of how it is for my friend, April from New Jersey, who is always so poetic about how much she loves her little boy. I'm pretty sure I was like that once upon a time.
But now Andy is so big and we have less time left with him than we've had him. He's really coming into his own and even though he still picks his nose and never ties his shoes I don't really get to tote him around and make all the decisions for him. In fact most of the decisions I do make for him he fights. But I love him anyway and am so proud of the amazing kid he has become.
I expect great things from him, and even if he doesn't deliver I know whatever he end up doing he's going to do it well.
I really wish I had known about blogging back then and had done it from the very start. I would have been so vigilant with my first born and written down everything. Stuff that now I say I'm going to write down but the day gets past me and I've been in the car so long that I can't even remember what was so funny. I took a million pictures of him and everything was a new and amazing experience. Kind of how it is for my friend, April from New Jersey, who is always so poetic about how much she loves her little boy. I'm pretty sure I was like that once upon a time.
But now Andy is so big and we have less time left with him than we've had him. He's really coming into his own and even though he still picks his nose and never ties his shoes I don't really get to tote him around and make all the decisions for him. In fact most of the decisions I do make for him he fights. But I love him anyway and am so proud of the amazing kid he has become.
I expect great things from him, and even if he doesn't deliver I know whatever he end up doing he's going to do it well.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
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