Diva in Training

Mama: "Sissy, are you ready to put your book away and get tucked in?"

Sissy: "No, I am having 'ME TIME'!!"

Mama: Inwardly cursing herself for all of the times she said those words outloud.

He went "at himself"....

Bubby was invited to a birthday party this past week. The birthday boy was a younger sib of one of Sissy's classmates. He and this boy will be in Kindergarten together in the fall, so I encourage the friendship now, to give him some familiarity later when school starts.

When told that Mama wouldn't be at the party, and asked if he still wanted to go, he exclaimed, "I will go AT MYSELF!" proudly. I was shocked, thrilled, and yes. A little sad. There is something both exasperating and heart warming about a little boy that doesn't want to leave Mama's side. Those apron strings audibly snapped that day as I watched him scamper off with all of the other little tiny boys to play.

(Just so you don't feel too sorry for me, 7 year old Sissy was practically in tears over me leaving the party and sat glumly until I returned. Apparently my apron is still snugly tied with this one.)

Nothing says good morning like......

garlic salt spilled all over the kitchen floor. The glorious reign of my beautiful, magnetic spice canisters has come to an end. Smoky, while leaping for the top of the fridge, knocked a bunch down and some broke. This isn't the first time that many have fallen during a wild, kitty chase. They finally just started breaking.

Back to the drawing board. I do love a good organizational challenge. Even when it's feline-induced.

Stay tuned....

What is this kid watching?

"Mama, I *love* the Wizard of Odd." said Bubby.

Exasperation, Sissy-Style...

I bought a white, woodframed chalkboard for the kitchen wall. It's for me to write grocery lists and reminders. The kids, of course, had to try it out as soon as I hung it up.

A little later on, I was dancing around the kitchen, listening to my MP3 player. I was getting down with my bad self. I'll admit that I was being totally obnoxious. I looked over at the chalkboard, and in small, childish handwriting was written, "Kut itout For the Love of pet"

(I yell "for the love of Pete" in exasperation quite often. I guess it's caught on...)

Mind-altering candy, Anyone?

Next door neighbor came over with goody bags for the kids on Valentine's Day. Each night, they go through the bags and decide which piece to choose. (This process takes longer than one might imagine.) Being the lazy mother that I am, I told them to eat the candy that we know to be gluten free first. When that is all gone, I will check out the other stuff online to see if they can have it.

Each evening when the goody bags are out and the candy is strewn all over the living room rug, intense negotiations are happening. "Have this one!" "No! THIS one!" "Is that one gluten free?" I kept hearing something about "funny" and "laughing", but again, if no one is on fire or bleeding, it takes a lot for me to ask what is going on.

There is a great deal of excitement each morning for Bubby, thinking about how he gets to choose another candy later in that day. (The daily life of a preschooler is simple, yet so full of serious things to ponder.) This morning, in the van, (our best conversations always occur in our van) he said, "Mama! I want to try the candy that will make me giggle! Will you check to see if it is gluten free???" I was perplexed. I said, "What candy???" I had no clue what he was talking about. He just kept insisting that there was this candy in that bag that would make him giggle! He was very, very excited about trying this! I was suggesting different candies that I knew he had in the bag and enjoyed very much. "Nerds?" I asked. No. "M&Ms?" No. I was stumped. Finally, a lightbulb went off in my head. "Laffy Taffy???????" He said, "YES! Mama! LAFFY TAFFY! It will MAKE YOU GIGGLE!" He was totally serious, Folks.

Quick! Alert the media! WillyWonka candies is now manufacturing MIND ALTERING candy for our youth. (It's really the parents that need it. I need to have a secret stash for those really rough days at home with the kids. I will eat it and just sit in a chair and giggle uncontrollably for hours! Sounds like a plan.)

Effeminate "piggies"...

Bubby and Mama enjoy storytime on Thursday mornings. Today's story had something to do with fingers and piggies. I can't explain it better, because I wasn't paying any attention during the story. I was staring, half-dazed at a light fixture across the store. (The sheer excitement of sitting quietly with no child demanding my attention put me into a sort of stupor.)

Craft time is Bubby's favorite part. The craft always goes along with the book-of-the-day's theme. Today, they were to trace their handprint. Cut out handprint. Glue handprint onto construction paper. After that, they were to color pre-drawn piggies. Cut out piggies. Glue piggies onto fingertips of handprint. The end.

It's not that Bubby can't follow directions. He just had to put his own interpretive spin on the project. He needed to draw a pig freehand, and cut and paste that pig too. (The pre-drawn pigs just simply weren't going to be enough for him.) I hadn't bothered to oversee what he was doing. I was now staring blankly at the chair in front of mine. (If no one needs my immediate attention, I sort of get set on "hibernate mode", like a computer. I am still turned on, but not in use. I am conserving electricity.) It came time to cut out all of the various objects and glue them on the paper. Bubby kept insisting that the predrawn (and his freehand pig) not be ANYWHERE NEAR his handprint. Whatever Dude. Just finish your project already. When he finished the fun with his gluestick, he presented his page to me. My son drew fingernail polish on his handprint. Not just *one* shade of "polish", mind you. TWO different shades, artistically applied the same way to each of the "nails". I was trying not to laugh when he proudly showed it to the storytime leader. She looked at it and then quickly at me. I shrugged. She smiled and told Bubby how beautiful the picture was.

Later, in the van, he was talking about how much he looooooooves his art project. I said, "Yeah! I really like how you put nail polish on your fingers!!" He was quiet for a moment, you could almost hear the wheels spinning in his little head. "Mama, those are *YOUR* fingers....." Um, yeah. Sure. Nice save, Kiddo. What can I say? My boy likes things to be embellished. Even "piggies".