We need a bigger house

Allen came to work with me today. And he wasn't really feeling it. By 10:30 he wanted pizza from across the street. And was really annoyed that I couldn't make them be open and get him pizza then. By 1:00 he was over his toys. Apparently his dragons, Leapster, and cars don't have the same appeal at the shop. He wanted to play on the computer. So we did some stuff ... then we looked at an email from Aunt Kristen.

You see, when we go to Chicago (on the 25th), we'll be going to Shedd Aquarium. It will be great fun. But, the show is holiday themed, so Kristen wanted to let us know that. She thought that if we really didn't want to go, we could check this out. Well, once we visited the website of this awesome children's museum, it was all over. We had to go. But Allen also wants to go to the aquarium ...

Fast forward to bedtime. As usual, I laid down with Allen until he fell asleep. He was feeling particularly talkative. So we talked about the aquarium. He decided that he was going to get a pet whale, sea anemone, coral, and fish. Mommy would get a pet shark. And Daddy would get a pet octopus. And they (along with Bailey, our Beta fish) would live in a giant fish tank in his room.

I finally got him to settle down to go to sleep. Then he whispered,
"In the paradise, lions are going to be nice right?"
"Yup," I replied.
"I learned that from you I mean the Bible book I mean the Bible."
I asked him, "And, what do we have to do to get to the paradise?"
"Drive?" he asked?
I laughed, "No."
"Walk?"
(laughing) "No. We have to obey Jehovah. Now go to sleep."
"OK." (silence, then whispering), "I'm playing with your hair so you can feel better."

Five minutes later, he was asleep ...

xoxo,
AHC

PS Allen says, "a long long days ago" when referring to something that happened in the past. I love it.

Dragons and Snowflakes

I'm not sure why, but Allen has started waking in the middle of the night and wanting to come to our bed. So he was in bed with me this morning. The two of us were sleeping in after Daddy left, and Allen wakes up, and says, "Mommy. TBS. The Boss Stinks." For those of you who don't know, that's a commercial on the station TBS for reruns of The Office.

So that's the way we started our day. A little weird, but fun. He played with his Chuggington trains downstairs, and then suddenly showed up with his pajama shirt off. Evidently he antagonized the dogs because they appeared in the bathroom while I was getting ready. Poor Murphy curled up right at my feet, while Mia jumped up on the bed in hopes she'd be safe there (something about throwing his rubber alligator, lizard, and snake at them, I think).

We took Daddy lunch, and Allen got to see the office dog, Dusty. He wanted to take her home. Renee said he could. We had to intervene and explain that there wasn't room for him at our house. "We can put her in the trunk," Allen said.

Onto Wal-Mart where we had some groceries to pick up, plus some glitter for my craft project I wanted us to take on. Of course, we had to visit the Cars area. We found a car and moved on to other things. Then as we were getting ready to check out we went past the How to Train Your Dragon display. After me telling him that we'd already gotten a toy today and maybe we could get this another time, Allen said -- very seriously -- "Mommy, I think I'd like to put this toy back and get a dragon instead." Well, how could I argue with that? Such a grown up reaction. So I bought him both.

Well, with a new dragon and a new car, we had little interest in the craft project (making snowflakes). Mommy ended up making them alone. She had far more fun than she should have (I love glitter!).

Tonight, after dinner, Allen "needed something sweet." So he got cookies ... notice how he's "two-fisting" it with the bag on his lap ...

xoxo,
AHC

Weekend Random

Sorry, folks, no pictures. But I do have a few cute stories to share ...

Saturday morning was bad. Really bad. First of all, it was pouring out. Getting ready for service was challenging, as Allen couldn't find a certain car that he "needed." Crying ensued. We dragged him to the car. Then arrangements didn't quite work out the way we'd planned, or the way Allen wanted. So he threw a tantrum. In the middle of the Kingdom Hall. A foot-stomping, screaming, flailing tantrum. I dragged him to the car. After a talk (and discipline), he improved. We talked more at home. And everything was better.

Later, at Nana and Papa's, Allen came up to me and said, "Mommy, I want to have a talk in the living room about this car." I obediently followed him to the living room and knelt down to his level. "Mommy," he explained, "this car stays at Nana's." "Oh, did I put it in your backpack to take home last night?" I asked. "Yes," he replied. "I'm sorry," I said. Fortunately, he forgave me and all was OK.

This morning, he had to go pee-pee, and as he did, he let out a huge fart. "Now that's a fart," he stated. Then he dragged Murphy into the bedroom to play. Awhile later, Brian was coughing in the shower, and Allen, panic in his voice says, "Oh no! Daddy has the throwup bug!" It was so sweet.

Aunt Kristen, you'll love this! Before we left for meeting this morning, Allen looked at our calendar. He pointed to the 25th and said, "I know what we're doing on the 25th! We're going to see Aunt Kristen!" I'm not sure how he remembered that, but he did. And tonight he asked if we were sleeping in one of Aunt Kristen's guest rooms. I explained that we'd be sleeping at Uncle Peter and Aunt Eileen's. He said, "And then we'll go meet Aunt Kristen and Uncle Josh in the morning?" I think he might be a little excited about our trip.

This week should be interesting. Nana and Papa leave tomorrow for Pennsylvania to pick up Gigi. So Allen and I are manning the shop together on Tuesday and Wednesday. Fortunately, we have the Leapster and the help of the "girls" so I'm optimistic that it won't be horrible. Tomorrow, I think we're going to make snowflakes and put them up on our windows. And do laundry ...

xoxo,
AHC

Italian Nursery Rhyme

As long as I can remember, my mom and Grandmom have shared an Italian nursery rhyme with us (and therefore we share it with all the children we love). I can't begin to spell it out in Italian, but in English, it basically says this:

Meow

The little cat got married

She made some cookies

She wouldn't give me any

Meow Meow Meow

Allen has been a fan of the nursery rhyme on and off since he was born ... and tonight he was asking me to to do it ... here's a video so you can see/hear how it goes ...

And here's Allen's version of it ...

I'm not sure which version I like better :)

xoxo,
AHC

Winter Break Kick-off!

The official story is that to kick off Allen's Winter break, we had a sleepover. But the REAL reason is probably more like ... Mom's been sick since Monday night and she finally got to eat a real meal tonight after a late-ish evening with meeting and then we had to get takeout because she forgot to get anything ready for dinner and the meal made her feel nice and full and happy and snuggly and sleepy and it's already 10:30 and her child is still awake playing and doesn't want to go upstairs and go to sleep.

But whatever ... yay Winter Break ... and here's a cute picture of him asleep in our bed. Look at that mouth!!

xoxo,
AHC

Mean, Nasty Bug

Shortly after I finished Allen's scarf and posted those pictures, the little man woke up vomiting. And it lasted until about 6:45 this morning. Talk about hurting Mommy and Daddy's hearts. Allen's only thrown up a handful of times since he was born, and never like this ... so we really felt bad for him.

And as weird as this sounds, I was so proud of him for how in tune he was with his body. Other than the first incident, he woke up in time and was able to avoid any messes. Of course, it helped that Mom and Dad were barely able to sleep and were very aware each time he became restless. We read his signals ... the loud breathing; the thrashing around; the moaning ... and were propping him up with the bucket in front of him in no time. Sorry if that's TMI. It's an odd thing to be proud of, but I'm happy with how well we handled it (I've always had visions of huge messes and the "sympathy factor" coming into play).

Of course, his bed is not remade so he's sleeping with us again tonight ... so I can't be too proud of my mad motherly skills :) I like to keep myself humble.

In crochet news, I've begun my third (yes third!) project. "Wristers" (aka fingerless gloves) for Aubrey. I'm sort of making up my own pattern here, so I hope she likes them. Then after that comes a scarf for Mommy, Brian (my first project was OK, but he'd like one a little more masculine), Daddy, and me. Then I'm taking requests :)

xoxo,
AHC

This is crocheting ... on Steroids

Literally ... with my most recent illness combined with an arthritis flare-up, my doctor put me on Prednisone.  I'm a wreck ... and very quick with a crochet hook.

Here's Allen's scarf:

He picked out the yarn himself :)

xoxo,
AHC

Isn't he too young?

This morning on our way to school, Allen informed me that a boy at school (but not in his class) was knocking him down at recess. Through the discussion, Allen explained that this boy did not want to be friends with him -- had no interest in that -- he just insisted on knocking Allen down. He also told me that if he and one of his friends were playing together, they were able to knock this boy down.

I explained that he should tell the boy he couldn't be friends with him if he kept doing that. And that it wasn't right for he and his friend to push him down. That we should treat others the way we want to be treated.

He didn't quite seem satisfied. He proceed to ask me to come to his class with him and come with him to recess so I could see this boy.

I did stay in his class for awhile as he showed me several works. Once he seemed comforted and secure, I left. His teacher and I had a brief discussion, and she assured me that she's aware of the situation. And when Nana picked him up from school, his teacher assured her that he had a good day.

But then tonight at bedtime, he told me that the boy pushed him down again. I asked him if he told him to stop, and he said no. Then he said that I should come with him to school all day, so that I could help him (and protect him) from this boy.

Boy does the Mama Bear in me want to give this child a piece of my mind! But I know that's not the solution. What do I do? How do I handle this in the way that is best for Allen? Help!!

xoxo,
AHC

PS Photo from here.

Tonight's bedtime convo

"Mommy, will you sing to me ... do you remember when you sang those songs to me when I was a baby and two and three ... and I'm going to be bigger and bigger as big as the house ... I don't think worms have families ... I'm whispering in case you're asleep so I don't wake you up .... Love you love you blanket Mommy."

This was pretty much the way the entire afternoon went, too. Didn't stop talking for more than about five minutes all day. He also fell out of his bed before we laid down to go to sleep. Scared the bejeebers out of him ... but he recovered nicely and quickly ...

I'm off to start on Allen's scarf ...

xoxo
AHC

My first crochet project

It didn't turn out nearly as well as I'd hoped, but I guess it could have turn out worse. It's going to be Brian's, but because I'm, oh, a foot shorter than him, the angle of the pictures I took were "unflattering" so I have no pictures of him modeling it ....

What do ya'll think?

The promised photo ...

That would be Yolonda surprising the heck out of me for our anniversary gift. She and Tony and the kiddos rock!

xoxo,
AHC

An Inconvenient Illness

I have another sinus infection ... or maybe I didn't get rid of the first one ... anyway, once I'm feeling better I'll blog that awful picture of me with my mouth hanging open.

I promise ...

xoxo,
AHC