funforkids

  My 6 year old came home from first grade today with a boyish grin and a little story to share.  I just love when he gushes about what happened in school…I know that some day he will tell me NOTHING, so I am relishing every secret I get now.  Here is today’s story:

   “Hey mom–Can I tell you something?” 

    “Sure buddy–what’s up?  “

   ” Today at school Matthew fell”

    “Oh really, what happened… was he hurt?”

     “No.  But do you want to know what he did?”  He began to giggle and his face changed as if to signal that this was going to be a big one…  “He kissed Anna on the Elbow.”

     He looked at me for a reaction, and I was puzzled.  “Wait, who fell?  Anna?”

    “No Matthew I.”  he said

     “So why did he kiss Anna if he got the boo-boo?”

    “It wasn’t even an accident–He kissed her because he loves her.”

    I began to re-enact the scene in my head and I could easily picture a boy pretending to fall into a girl and kissing her on the way down.  Sort of like a Danny Zuko move when he pretends to be sneezing and moves his arm around Sandy at the drive in. 

“Oh really,”  I said.  hmmm.  “And who do you love?” I asked…thinking oh Gosh who is it going to be?

     “I only love you mom.” he replied

     I melted.  What a puppy he is… too cute.   ”Really?”  I asked with a smile.

    “He ran to me and planted a huge kiss on me and said:  “I’m only going to marry you mom–no one else.”

     I probably should have informed him AGAIN as I often do when he tells me he wants to marry me that he can’t marry his mom….. but for the moment.  I just rejoiced in the fact that his favorite girl is his mommy.   

     I thought to myself:   Man, this kid really knows what to say to the ladies and Wow, he is going to be a good catch for someone…if only he would learn to put the toilet seat up before he pees.

     I love you buddy. 

               Share your crush stories with me in the comments box.

   Ever feel like things are just headed for disaster?  Some days are just like that aren’t they?  My son and I were having that kind of day yesterday.  Nothing was working out.   Although I woke up earlier than usual, somehow I just couldn’t get it together. I stared endlessly into my closet (which believe me is packed with clothes—maybe that’s the problem: too much to choose from) wondering what to wear.  Once decided upon I ironed everything.  Jumped in the shower—only to hear the screaming of the little one:   MOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYY!  You left me!   WAAAHHHH WAAAAHHHH WAAAAHH   Soap running down my face.  Trying to console him and still trying to rinse my hair.  Cut the shower short.  How do I blow out the hair now?  Not possible.  I hold him for a little while and he falls asleep again.  Onto the couch you go my little scooter pie. ssshhhhhhhhhh.    I got the hair and makeup done and was dressed.  Now let me get the other guy up and ready, make breakfast and sit at his side saying:  “C’mon buddy you have to eat something; you’ll get a tummy ache if you don’t” .  That continues for about 10 to 15 minutes.  He manages to eat a little and I rush him into the bathroom.  But before doing so I get jelly on my white top–yep right on the breast-not too noticeable.  I’ll try and wash it off.   Wet breast–very classy! Meanwhile:  “Mommy, could you brush my teeth for me?”  “You can do it yourself buddy.”  “But I love when you do it.”  Guilt swept, I sit him on my lap and look into his beautiful hazel eyes and brush his teeth.  He giggles and dribbles toothpaste on the not so white and oh so wet top.  MAN!!!! Trying hard not to get angry   (My new resolution is PATIENCE with my kids because they don’t see me much due to the new job and really all they want is my attention) I finish brushing his teeth, comb his hair and wash his face with a cloth.  “Thanks mom,” he says and I think:  So worth the toothpasted breast.  Then I look toward the toilet seat that we were just sitting on and see smeared toothpaste.  NOOOOOOOOOO!  I sat in toothpaste with my khakis!   Now I have to IRON a new outfit??  Not happening-no time.  I grab the washcloth and wipe the toothpaste off my pants and my top–came off pretty easily actually.  Now I just pray that it dries before anyone sees it.  Thank goodness for a long coat.   “Lunch money—shoot, I gotta grab your lunch money.”   The little one is up now and looking for loving and a “Warm hot baba (sippy cup) of milk”   Now I am starting to crack.  ”Buddy, get your shoes for me while I get your brother his milk.”  “Could you mom?” UGH.  ”Please pal–find them for mommy!”  The little one picks up my writing book and EVERYTHING falls to the floor–out of order; including my children’s story.   I yell at him and then feel bad that I yell–I am crying now and the five year old asks:  “Mommy are you having a bad day?”  Tears mix with laughter and I hug him.  The little one hearing BAD DAY begins to sing the hook to the song from Alvin and The Chipmunks:   “If you had a bad day.”  He only knows those words and I can’t stand how cute he is singing it.  ”So are you having a bad day mommy?”   ”Yeah, Pal, I am …but the good news is:  It can only get better right?”      ”Right mom.”     Cut to five minutes later, the two of them are playing with matchbox cars before we leave nicely on the floor and I go to my room to get a sweater.  I hear the beginnings of a scuffle and by the time I get to them they are wrestling together on the floor and the five year old is crying that the three year whacked him with a matchbox car beside his eye.  It is swollen already and I am on the verge of tears again.  How do you take a kid to school with a welt on his eye?  How do you take a kid to school who now wants to stay home?  He has missed so many days already–he has to go.  I put him in the car–we are now super late.  I walk him into the school.  “He needs a late pass” says the security guard as I hold the hand of the sad boy to my right.  Signing him in I tell the lady at the desk:  “His brother whacked him with  a matchbox car”, he’s okay but call my husband if there is any problem–all along I am praying that they believe me and don’t call Child Protective Services.  “Not a problem” they say.  I leave him feeling terribly sad and feeling like I am going to cry my eyes out.  I miss my usual bus but make the next.  There is bumper to bumper traffic all the way into the city.  We finally reach the city and I hear a woman yelling behind me.  “Joannie, Joannie—Oh my God…. Call 911….”   Someone was having a seizure.  I am sure there were some people who were annoyed that they would be late to work, but most of us turned white and just didn’t know what to do.  Most of us felt terrible for her.   The bus pulled over and the situation was addressed by her friend.  She eventually came out of it.  The bus driver just watched.  She was okay in the end but most of us on the bus were shaken.  She actually seemed more embarrassed than upset.  Which made me sadly realize that it happens to her often.   The bus driver– A@# that he was says to me at the last stop when it was just the two of us:  I am so glad that wasn’t worse; I’d be on this bus all day if she needed 911.  I said:   Oh yeah, that would really have messed up YOUR day—you’re right, it would have been a bad day for YOU.  I delivered the message happily with sarcasm and bite.  I hope he realized he was a real jerk.  Needless to say, that incident put the whole day into perspective for me.  Things can always be worse.  I am so thankful to God that I have my health and that I know how to put my chin up when it feels like my day is going down hill.   So when I am faced with a bad day again—and there will be bad days, I plan to just hold on tightly to what matters most.   Cherish every day.

For quite a few months now my almost 6 year old has been telling me he has a loose tooth, not because he had a loose tooth, but because he wants to start losing his teeth like his friends and due to the expectation of meeting with the infamous tooth fairy.  At least once a week he has been coming to me and saying:  “Mommy, I have a loose tooth–Feel it!”  Of course I humor him and feel around for a loose tooth but he has not had one, until today!  I saw him sort of pushing his tongue up against his teeth and he had a strange look on his face.  “Is your tooth loose?” I asked.  His little face looked at me as if he didn’t know.  I felt it and sure enough it was wiggling.  HE WAS SO EXCITED!  He ran around yelling my tooth is loose!  His happy dance was soon interrupted by my husband who proceeded to tell him that he needs to be careful when he eats and to make sure he doesn’t swallow it.  Suddenly his elation turned to fear.  He burried his face in my stomach and held me tightly.  “What’s the matter buddy?” I asked.  He whispered:  “I don’t want my tooth to fall out.”  He had sad eyes and I could tell that daddy had chosen the wrong words.   I remembered how I felt as a kid when my teeth were loose.  I HATED it!  The worst part is when they are holding on by a thin thread and you are afraid for that last piece to go; they twist and turn in your mouth and you just want them to fall out but you know that it might hurt and that it might bleed.  Maybe that is why I still have dreams where all of my teeth are falling out.  I knew if my husband said anything else that I would be in for a long couple of days as we wait for the tooth to fall out so I quickly turned the situation around by reminding him that after it fell out the tooth fairy would pay him and visit and he began to shout:  “The tooth fairy is going to come visit!  I’m going to get money! I’m going to be RICH!”     So someone please tell me, what is the going rate for a tooth these days?    

****By the way, I found a cute page for kids sponsored by Colgate—click on the link for coloring pages, games and even a link to request a letter from the tooth fairy!  It’s really cute.

http://dentistry.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=dentistry&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.colgate.com%2Fapp%2FKids-World%2FUS%2FHomePage.cvsp

First Grade–what a wonderful time in young child’s life.  So many new friends, so many new experiences, so many new things to learn.  I love that my son is growing up.  He is reading books all by himself, it no longer takes an hour and a half for him to write a sentence as it did in kindergarten, and he actually realizes that there are consequences for doing the wrong things and tries to do the right thing–most of the time.  There are a few things that he has learned since his entrance into first grade, however, that I know his teacher has not been responsible for teaching him.  Here is a list of the wonderful things he has learned from his classmates  (some of which are a bit off the mark, but what do you expect from a first grader):

Wet toilet paper thrown up high and hard enough will stick to the ceiling.

Hannah Montana is now a Hottie rather than a nice country girl.

Raw and Smack Down should now replace Noggin and PBS KIDS =( 

Playdates have now been labeled “hanging out with my peeps”

When you are finished with a juice box or juice bag you can use the straw to blow it back up and then jump on it to make a loud pop!

Ketchup packets are also very fun to pounce on.

John Cena is a hero  (yes, I probably spelled it incorrectly and proud of it!)

Everyone sings and dances their way through HS like Troy and Gabriella.

There are boy toys and girl toys and boys should only play boy things and girls should only play girl things.  Except for Power Rangers–then its okay for the girl to be the pink one and the yellow one.

It is very easy to make someone cry–you just have to tell them they can’t play with you.

Being the class clown makes your friends laugh–and that’s cool.

If one of his classmates says to do something, he should do it.

If one of his classmates says they have something or are getting something, he should have it/get it too.

If one of his classmates says something is true, it must be true.  For example “James says God is not Real, and Jesus is not a king, and that he is going to be a police officer and shoot me someday….oh and he also has a real mystic ranger morpher that can change him into a real ranger.”  TRUE STORY!   

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST–MY LEAST FAVORITE LESSON THAT HE HAS LEARNED:

It’s not cool to kiss your mom goodbye at the gate (when your friends are looking).

I must say, first grade is a bit upsetting to mommy.  =(

The leaves are beginning to fall.  It’s that time of year again; time for the boys to chose their Halloween costumes and then change their mind about what and whom they’d like to be the minute you get the costume home.  Once again it’s time to rake endless piles of leaves in the yard that will either be blown away by the wind or scattered by the small bodies of my children before I can even bag them.  Once again, it is time to plan our yearly trip to WhitePost Farm in Long, Island, NY where we will pick out our pumpkins, go on a hay ride, sing along with the cowboys, take train rides, and end the day picking out new Halloween decorations, caramel apples for the boys and some pie for daddy.  Once again it is time to go trick or treating, to stop by the houses of our favorite friends, family members, and neighbors for special treats.  Once again it is time for moms and dads to go through the day’s treasure when the kids aren’t looking and throw out, stash, or eat half of it.  Once again it is time to practice the phrase:  “You’ve eaten enough candy for today.”  Some day all of these moments will be  memories of years gone by and I will miss them.  Some day I will look back on them with a tear or two of nostalgia, but for now, it is Autumn again and things couldn’t be sweeter.   

This morning in an attempt to get some actual housework done, I let the boys play in my closet.  My closet is located under the stairs and therefore creates a wonderful dark crevice in which boys can play many discovery-type games.  Armed with two mini flashlightsnthey went exploring and found “a treasure map” (an old bill for my wedding photos) and “treasure” (a box of old pictures).  They put on my winter hats and then told me they needed to dig for more treasure.  “Where’s my axe?” the eldest said.  Good Lord, now I need to go unearth the old costumes and find his fireman axe.  I took a minute and stopped folding the laundry to help them find some exploration tools.  WE came up with a pirate watch, and a box of wooden tools which included a hammer for each of them.  As I folded the laundry outside the door I listened to them hammer and talk about what treasure would lay beneath.  It was so cute to listen to them using their imaginations and playing so nicely.  Little guy following his big brother’s every direction just like a true first mate.