An Unintended Haircut

Me: Why are there strands of hair all over the carpet?

Chipmunk: (proudly) I cut my sister's hair!

Me: Bear, why did you let your brother cut your hair?

Bear: I didn't. He just cut it.

Me: (shakes head and mentally tells self to hide all scissors)

I Can't Believe You're Five

Five. I can't believe you're five years old.



It behooves me that you've already reached half of a decade. When did that happen?

It feels like just yesterday you were four years old and so proud of your birthday cupcakes.



And a moment before that, you were three.



I still remember when you were two and you were so excited to blow out your birthday candles...



...and even when you turned one and didn't know what a birthday was.



Five.

Please don't grow up too fast. I don't know if my heart can take it.

Holidays 2010

January has just begin, and December already feels like a blur. Before they blur from my memory, I thought I'd recapitulate the holiday festivities.

Christmas Eve


My sister's lemon tart


The annual gift exchange

Christmas Day


Christmas dinner...

5th Birthday


Bear's 5th birthday

Other Adventures...


A trip to the local park


A visit to the Exploratorium


A tour of a printing-publishing house

To see more pictures of our adventures during the holiday, click here.

Hope you all had wonderful holidays as well.

Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas! Hoping your day is blessed and full of love.

Chipmunk's Little Mysteries

Everyday is full of little mysteries.

Mystery #1: Where Did It Go

"Mommy, I lost it!"
"What did you lose?"
"I lost it!"
"Where did it go?"
"I don't know..."

Mystery #2: How Did It Get There?

"Mommy, look. Soap everywhere!!"
"Uh, how did that get there?"
"My sister did it."
"Did she really?"
"I don't know..."

Mystery #3: Missing Train

"Mommy, I put a train in the potty!"
"Uh, did you take it out?"
"I don't know..."

Mystery #4: Guess What I Ate

"Mommy, I swallowed something...get it out!"
"What did you swallow?"
"I don't know..."

Mystery #5: Who Broke It

Craassshhh!
"What happened?!"
"It broke, mommy!"
"Who broke it?"
"I don't know..."

Like I said, everyday is full of little mysteries. I just wish I didn't have to clean up after each one.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you're all counting your blessings today. I know I am.





Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

One of Those Days

It's been one of those days....one of those days when you can't decide whether it's you that's crazy or it's your child. You've had it up to here. You're patience is so thin you can see through it. Your brow is stuck in a furrow of frustration and you're afraid to open your mouth in case what comes out can't be taken back.

So you close your eyes, breathe in sharply, and exhale slowly hoping all your anger and worry will release with your outgoing breath. Your fists are clenched and your fingernails are pushing creases into your palms.

Helpless words escape your lips, "Help me, Lord." You feel the pressure building behind your eyes and the tell-tale tears are slowly pushing their way out despite how hard you try to suppress them. You are a bottled well of anger, frustration, feeling beat down and helplessly lacking control. You don't know whether to punch a wall or jump back into bed and hide. It's just been one of those days.

Then little flashes pop into your mind...and you remember. You remember the day you first held them in your arms. You remember their tiny little bottom lip pouting and crying only minutes after being born and just the sheer awe of knowing you love so much despite how you just met. You remember that first smile after weeks of colic that warmed you inside and out, melting away your weariness. You remember the first time they hugged you unprompted and said, "Yuv you," or the first time they sat in your lap wanting to be hugged.

And just like that, your frustration melts, your anger subsides, and you remind yourself that love is never easy, forgiveness is no small feat. You pick yourself up, prod yourself forward and do what you must whether it's cleaning up a mess or mentally revising how to approach the situation.

It's just one of those days...one of many to come...so you better find a way to cope, a way to right your spirits, a way to not let yourself be pushed over the edge, a way to make sure that when you put your head to your pillow at night you're not haunted by all the ways you could have been a better parent that day.

Halloween Aftermath

Chipmunk wailed as I was trying to put his costume on him. "NO, TAKE OFF!!!" He cried so much that there are tear stains all along his lapel.

It wasn't until the weather turned a bit colder and he decided that his long pants/long sleeved costume was finally worth wearing. I was almost afraid he wasn't going to wear his costume at all.



Chipmunk as Iron Chef Morimoto.

Bear was so happy in her Cinderella costume that she was prancing around and twirling at every moment she got.



She came up to me halfway through and was fighting back tears in her eyes. Apparently she took a turn in the jumper and tore her dress. Fortunately I came armed with safety pins (Learned from last year's costume). After I tucked her back in her dress and assured her that I would fix it the right way once we got home, she proclaimed, "I don't want to go in the jumper anymore."

No more jumpers for Bear...at least on Halloween.

Lapsus Linguae

After bringing home the new sewing machine...

Husband: Are you happy you have a sewing machine again?

Me: Yup. It's nice.

Husband: Now you can finish all your crap.

Me: Crap?

Husband: I mean...CRAFTS. Not cra-ap. Cra-afts.

Me: Right. You mean like how you play Star-crap? Oh, I mean Star-cra-aft.

Monster, Monster!

Chipmunk has been a little obsessed with monsters...invisible monsters.

He'll point under a table or bed and yell out, "Aw, month-ter! I cay-ered(Ah, monster. I scared.)" Of course, he says this with a huge grin and laughs like it's the best joke he's ever played.

He'll don a blanket over his head and "Roooaaar!" after his sister declaring, "I a month-ter. I get you."

He will take his bear, knock over his sister's toys and say, "Month-ter, stomp your toys!"

Of course, he also decided to point at our server at a restaurant one day and yell out, "MONSTER, MONSTER!!!!"

Thankfully, she thought it was hilarious and returned to our table frequently to try to get him to do it again.

*Sigh*



What can I say? It takes a monster to know a monster.

What Autumn Brings...

So the leaves don't really change colors where we live...Our Autumn indicators are a little bit different...

First Days of School.





County fair food.



Soccer.



Then came the 100+ degree weather. Lovely.

It's a Wireless, Wireless World

Last night we went out to eat at a local restaurant and although we've been there numerous times before, this time they had portable touch screens, mounted on stands, available at each table. We didn't try it, but you could order your meals, watch movies, and even pay for your bill using the provided card reader. Our server, however, took one look at our curious, bouncing Chipmunk and showed him how to play an animal memory game on the device. Bear immediately came over and soon both the kids were happily matching zebra to zebra and lion to lion.

Matt then whipped out his smart phone and checked his email and sports scores.

I was left twiddling my thumbs with no one to talk to.

So I looked around the restaurant and let me tell you, it was quite a sight. At one table I saw a girl tapping away on her Nintendo DS next to her sister who was playing on the touch screen device, while their dad was typing away on his iPhone. At another table a boy was playing on the touch screen while his brother was watching a show on a portable DVD player. His father was chatting on his blue tooth ear piece and the mother, was reading on her phone. And it wasn't just at those two tables, it was a recurring theme throughout the restaurant. People were texting, checking emails, playing games, watching shows...it was hard to find people who were just simply talking to one another.

Is this what the future of dining out holds for us?

Granted, I'm guilty of pulling out my Nano to keep Chipmunk busy while waiting for our orders to arrive, and Matt has on many an occasion handed over his phone to Bear so she can doodle to keep her impatience at bay...

It was just such an eye-opening experience at how much more wireless our world is becoming. My mother mentioned watching a row of kids at a graduation where each kid had their own iPad to tap away on. I've read articles with suggestions for purchasing preschool age kids their own iPod touch to keep them busy on long car/plane rides. There are portable game devices for every possible age group, with many of them capable of connecting wirelessly in some capacity.

Hmmm...

I remember, as a kid, getting excited if there was a kids menu that came with crayons.

It's a different world our kids live in. I just hope that by becoming more connected with our gadgets and the internet, we don't lose the personal connections we have with each other.

Of course, as I'm typing away on the laptop right now, I'm thinking, "Gee, shouldn't I get off and go play with my kids?" So I'll quit my ranting and raving for now. Until next time...

Simple Prayers

Chipmunk, on giving thanks before meals...

Chipmunk: De-ah God. FOOD! Ay-men. (Dear God, Thank you for the food. Amen.)

Gotta love simple prayers.

Grandkids, the Tour

Out of seven grandparents (including great grandparents), six of them live on the other half of our state. Thus, when we are making travel arrangements for visits, we tend to make the rounds making sure that each grandparent gets their fair share of time with their beloved grandkids. Perhaps one day our two kids won't be the only grandkids available to them all, but for now, they're it.

Our tour began with Matt's family...While visiting we managed to catch a train ride. Now this was no dinky train ride. It was a real full-sized train. Chipmunk was in utter delight.



He was especially fascinated when the train had to uncouple for a bit.



We went to a local amusement...filled with fairy tale themed fun.



We rounded out the first half of the tour with swimming, rice krispy treat decorating, daily walks with grandpa, and seeing some friends.

The second part of tour was a visit with a great grandma. We went for dim sum. All was well until Chipmunk broke out in hives. Poor guy. Luckily there was a Walgreen's next door with a decent supply of Children's Benadryl. We think it was the shrimp.

The third leg of the Grandkids tour was with my side of the family. Of all the things we did, the zoo is probably what struck a chord with Bear and Chipmunk. They kept asking to see the elephants, which we did.



Chipmunk after a while gave his own impression of a wild animal.



All in all, a good trip. Lots of good memories and home once again.

Pancake Diving...

...or "The Things We Did in San Diego This Year"

Yup. Just returned. What a trip.



We saw some pinnipeds basking in the gloomy overcast and otherwise hidden sun.



We met up with friends and played in the local park.



We visited the beach and built sandcastles, also in the July gloom.



We found ourselves surrounded by millions of legos. Millions...and millions...



...and then there was pancake diving...oh boy.



For the video, click here.

Twenty Questions

Having Bear around is like a game of twenty questions, except there's no final answer and the questions just keep on coming.

Mommy, why do people get sick?

Lately Bear has been asking a lot of questions that I'm not quite sure how to answer without getting too deeply philosophical, theological or ontological.

Do ambulances help a lot of people in trouble?

Some questions I can answer, but she always follows up with a stumper.

Why do people die when they get hurt a lot?

You know that feeling when you're trying to come up with a reasonable answer and your mouth is hanging open and you're hoping that the right words will come out on their own? Yeah, that's me...except the only word that comes out is, "um."

What happens when we die?

There's also the moments where you feel like you're in over your head and the best course of action would be to just give a cop out answer even if it means fibbing a bit.

How do babies get in mommies' tummies?

Of course, does knowing that you fibbed to your child make you feel better in the long run, or would it be better to answer truthfully and risk the consequence of confusing your child or better yet, having more unanswerable questions shot back at you?

Why do people do mean things?

And you wish you could just maintain their childlike ignorance and shield your little ones from knowing about the dark side of humanity...you know, those things we read about in the news and feel a deep pit of ick in our stomachs while we read about it.

Why do I do mean things sometimes?

And you wish you could protect your dear ones from sadness and pain and ever having to feel regret or shame.

Mommy?

Yes, my darling little girl?

How much do you love me?

Now, there's a question I can answer. I love you more than I can express in words...much more.

4th of July

The first year we took Bear to see the fireworks, she fell asleep. This year, she excitedly yelled "Wow, that was a big one!" after every couple of fireworks.

The first year we took Chipmunk, he stared wide-eyed at the flickering lights while I covered his dainty five month old ears. This year he watched for about ten minutes then got bored and read his Thomas the Tank Engine book by the light of each pyrotechnic blast.

I see. I guess the Independence Day celebration just wasn't exciting enough to capture his attention. I just don't understand how he could pick cherries nonstop for three hours, but give up on twenty minutes of fireworks.



Oh well. Hope you all had wonderful 4th of July moments.

Hanging with the Fishes

I actually bought an annual pass to our local aquarium. At first I thought it was a bad idea, especially since the first time we managed to go, I spent the walk back to the car carrying a kicking and screaming 2 year old.

The next time we went, it was much better. Although we didn't get to all of the exhibits, it made the next ten months of having an annual pass not seem so daunting.



Maybe it was because we had friends to go with and extra time to run around the outdoor fountains. Whatever it was, I get the feeling that Chipmunk had a much better time on the second go.

Perhaps next time we'll get to hit up the otter exhibit.

Picking Cherries

"Pih-king Cheh-wreeeees...Pih-king Cheh-wreeees..."

Chipmunk wrote a little song this weekend that he sang for hours as he delightfully picked cherries.



It was delightfully fun watching him pick with such dedication. Speaking of which, I have never ever seen him so focused on one task for so long. He hopped around picking cherries for hours, only stopping to drink some water and brush the dirt off his hands. He even listened to directions when I told him not to eat them until we washed them later. Amazing.



Bear seemed to be having an equally good time. She danced around and "supervised" her brother's choices in which branches to pick. He didn't seem to mind. He just picked and continued to sing, "pih-king cheh-wreeeees!"



Before we knew it, we were dragging home bags and bags of cherries. Chipmunk didn't mind. He sat with his bowl of washed cherries and sang, "Eat-ing Cheh-wreees...Yum-my Cheh-wreeees!"

Mother's Day 2010

Sorry, this post is a bit delayed...I haven't really posted much lately. I hope the four of you who read this blog don't mind that it's a bit tardy.

For Mother's Day, we spent the day (and the next day as well) gallavanting through the "Happiest Place on Earth."



Chipmunk had fun with all the rides. Surprisingly, the wait time wasn't that bad.



The longest wait times involved meeting Fairies and Princesses (seriously, an hour and half to meet a princess?!?!)...which was deemed mandatory on Bear's to-do list.



I have to say, our kids were excited to meet all the over-sized characters...even Chipmunk.

Which was a vast improvement on an occasion two years ago...do you remember this debacle with over-sized theme park characters?



I guess two years makes a difference.