This week's highlights

I am unbelievably busy these days.  A lot of great things have been happening, but I haven't had much time to write them down.  So, here is my best recollection of the week's highlights:

• Everly didn't bite, hit, or kick anyone at school, and she didn't prevent any of her friends from taking naps by screaming.  Not that she ever did that or anything.
• Early in the week, when I was telling Cortlan to use his manners and be good (as I do every day as I am dropping him off at school), he said to me, "I will do what is appropriate, Mommy."  Seriously?
• I loved seeing the kids parade around in their costumes with their friends at school.  They got to trick or treat through the school, and Cortlan and his class got to go on a special trip to a local nursing home to sing a few Halloween songs.  (I especially loved that, and he did, too.)

• Thanks to DVR, we got to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  The holiday movies and shows are always on past my kids' bedtimes, so this is the first year that they will get to see any of them.  I really don't get that show, though, to be honest.  I mean, Snoopy flying around on his doghouse in a war, Charlie Brown only getting rocks in his bag, and the Great Pumpkin never showing up.  If you ask me, it is kind of a downer.  But the kids seemed to enjoy it.
• I ran 7.5 miles on Saturday catching snowflakes on my tongue.  It was my first run in the snow since those early track practices in high school, when we would occasionally see a few of the last snowflakes of the season.  This was some serious snow I was running in - big huge snowflakes with some actually sticking to the grass - and the surprise was that I actually enjoyed it.  My plan this winter is to continue running, but to only run outdoors.  So far so good.
• Our local grocery store really outdid themselves with the Halloween festivities.  They led us trick or treating through the store and gave us free hot cocoa, coffee, and cookies.  They took our picture (we still need to pick it up).  There was a fire truck and a petting zoo, and the kids could paint pumpkins.  Thank goodness the weather was kind of crappy or I imagine it would have been packed.  My two favorite parts: Cortlan asking the lady, "Can I get an extra one for my mom?" and him picking out a special piece of candy just for me, and Everly and I going into the petting zoo, where she fed a little pig out of a bottle all by herself and then chased the rest hollering, "Here piggie!!" hoping to give them some, too.

• Pumpkin carving was fun:

•  And of course, Halloween night is always awesome.  This year, despite the rain, was just as fun as ever. 

Happy Halloween!!

A music time capsule

I have always been a music lover, and despite my propensity for breaking windows because I am so out of tune and loud, I love to belt out a good song when it is playing on the radio.  (Remember Buffalo Stance?  I am sure my parents loved that I knew almost every word when I was a kid.)  Because of this, it comes as no surprise to me that my kids are beginning to do the same.  Last night, as we were driving to my parent's house, the kids named that tune in two notes - "The Princess Who Saved Herself!!" and when it was over, Cort said, "Mommy, did you hear?  I sang all of those words, even the part about the wicked witch!  Even when she said 'hate.'  I was just repeating her."  He loved the opportunity to say a "bad word," I loved that he was singing along and knew most of the words.  (No big deal that he thinks it says, "She had a bad stink" when the lyrics really are "She had a pet snake.")

We have had a free subscription to satellite radio since buying our new car, and channel 78 has been a favorite, for sure.  Kids Place Live was with us as we drove to two vacation destinations and back this year, and is what we listen to in the morning on the way to school.  Favorite songs these days:  "Chicken, Monkey, Duck" (Everly) and "Butterfly Driving a Truck" (Cortlan), which doesn't seem to be on YouTube, yet.  We also love the Weird Al song "The Saga Begins," which is sung to the tune of the classic "Bye Bye Miss American Pie." Kids Place Live is awesome because they also play songs like "Eye of the Tiger" and songs by artists such as They Might Be Giants and Barenaked Ladies.  But, channel 78 is certainly not the only one that we listen to.  Proof:  the whole family has been known to belt out the line, "Everyday I'm Shuffling," and I have to say, I kind of love it.

So, yeah.  I am going to admit this:  I kind of went through withdrawal for about a week and a half when suddenly and without warning our free subscription to satellite radio expired on Columbus Day.  I fought the urge to call and subscribe, because who really needs to pay for radio?  But it got harder and harder as the CD that was in the player started to get a bit old after the 45th time through, and when I realized that I could hardly handle commercial breaks after not listening to a single commercial in about six months.  And I also realized that, on satellite, the songs aren't overplayed nearly as much as on the regular radio.  So, I broke down and called.  And I didn't subscribe.  And then two days later, I broke down and called again.  (Would you believe that I got THE SAME customer service guy??)  After a lengthy discussion, I was given an offer I couldn't refuse.

So now I am again living in musical bliss.  And so are the kids.  Because now we can again sing, "The Window" at the top of our lungs as we drive down the road.  (Ok.  Maybe I am the only one singing that one.)

So they say...

I read an article yesterday morning called "Little Big Moments" in the November issue of Parents magazine.  "Birthdays and graduations tug at our heartstrings.  But many other smaller milestones touch us in ways the big events sometimes don't," the article begins.  It then goes on to touch upon some of those milestones, such as a child's last night in the crib and when a mom has nursed for the last time.  I remember that one being big for me, especially because with both of my children I had no idea the last time would be the last time until it was already over and they refused to nurse ever again.  It was probably better that way, because although I was quite ready to have my body back, as any mom who has ever nursed can attest, it is a pretty special thing.  So, had I known that the last time would be the last time, I may have cried through the whole thing.  Or something. 

This article also mentioned "when they outgrow their cute little sayings" as a little big moment, and it reminded me of a conversation that I had Saturday with another mom at a birthday party.  The conversation stemmed from Cortlan being so excited that there was a "kinada" at the party, and me reminding him for the thousandth time that it is called a pinata.  "Oh, yeah.  Pinata," he replied, also for the thousandth time.  The other mom then told me a story of her daughter not being able to say "outside" and how one day she started saying it correctly and that they have never heard that cute pronunciation of outside again. 

For Cortlan, pinata isn't the only one.  He says "ginore" instead of "ignore."  And words that rhyme with door (like floor, more, store, and ignore) all rhyme with fur, or stir, when he says them.  He says, "May you please turn on the light" (or get me some milk, or whatever it happens to be that he wants you to do for him) so often that I forget it isn't right and that he should instead be saying "Can you" or Will you" instead. 

Everly is only two and a half, so a list of her cute pronunciations would fill the page, but some that I would love to hold onto include the way she talks about her "brudder Tort" (brother Cort) and how she sometimes asks him, "Whatsa madda, buddy?"  And the endearing way she says mama when she is trying to be sweet (mommy, or even mom, at all other times).  She also says things like, "You wanna heeya bout my day?" as we ride home from school or sit at the dinner table, and then she tells us everything, including that she tried to bite her "fren at skoo".  In public restrooms, she always asks about the toilet first: "Izis my size?" And she tells everyone who will listen what she is going to be for Halloween - a "jagin" (dragon). 

I am not the best at remembering to video (in fact, I took the video camera to the pumpkin patch the other day, carried it around the entire time, and totally forgot to use it), so writing this blog has to suffice for trying to preserve the memories.  I just wish I could have a little recording of every one of them, because it could be that Tort has already said kinada for the last time.

What's on my mind...

• Sometimes, you just have to let things go. As the quote says, "Holding resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." Think about it.  SO true.

• I don't like a lot of drama in my life. I typically avoid it like the plague. However, every now and then, drama keeps it interesting. And I am never opposed to listening to other people's drama.

• I like being a working mom. I don't like having to do my shopping at 9PM because there isn't another hour of the day that it can happen. 

• I have become an extreme multitasker out of necessity. If I am doing something, it is not uncommon for me to be doing at least two things. For example, I sort the mail while cooking dinner. I grade papers while making copies. This is not entirely bad, but I have made the recent realization that this multitasking is largely to blame for my clutter and disorganized state. I used to be able to start a job and work it through to completion, including any clean up involved. Now, I am constantly switching between and among tasks, leaving many unfinished until I get to them again later. Thus, the half sorted pile of mail (didn't want dinner to burn), the half graded stack of papers sitting on my desk (copies only take so long to make, and at least I got a few of those papers graded), and this blog (written in two minute chunks of time).

• Though I still regularly fly by the seat of my pants, I never regret taking the time to meal plan and/or prep the crock pot. The pay off is always there. 

• Sometimes, homework assignments are awesome. Like when Cortlan was assigned to collect fall leaves for a project at school earlier this week, which meant that we had to go for a walk on a beautiful fall day and look at all the beautiful, colorful leaves on the trees and on the ground and pick the ones that were just perfect. This assignment took a while to complete. Darn.

Why I hate sidewalks

I was running through the park one day a while back and even through the music on my headphones I heard someone yell at me from their car window to "try the sidewalk!"  It really pissed me off. Yes, there was a sidewalk I could have been running on.  And yes, I was running on the road.  But the road was PLENTY big enough and I was running so close to the edge that part of my foot was practically on the grass - on the opposite side of the road from the car. 

Though I am a huge proponent of putting sidewalks everywhere in our community (particularly down the half mile stretch of main road that I am forced to run on from my neighborhood to get anywhere else), and I do choose sidewalks over a busy road any day, if I get the chance to safely run on the road, I take it.  Why?

1.  The asphalt road is about two and a half times softer than the concrete sidewalks.  That makes a big difference on your knees and ankles and hips when you are logging many miles.

2.  Sidewalks are often uneven.  And though you may have a ton of reflective gear on so that cars can see you while you are running in the dark, that doesn't mean you can see the road/sidewalk in front of you very well.  Which means you might trip and fall due to that uneven sidewalk.  And then you might be glad it is dark so that there aren't many people able to see you fall.  And you might be glad that you were able to at least get your hands up so that your face didn't hit the ground.  And then you might have to think about whether you should run home to clean your wounds, but you will probably decide to finish the run and shake it off.  And then it might happen that when you are looking for a Band-Aid for your bleeding hand, the only one you find at the moment is a Donald Duck one.  And then your daughter might see it and get a little mad that you took "her" Band Aid.  And after the ensuing "conversation", so you might curse running on the sidewalks even more.




It might happen.

A rainy fall weekend

Despite the rain that hasn't stopped since about 8 AM Saturday morning and the temps that dropped a little too low for my tastes, the weekend was a pretty good one.  At least on a working mom scale.  The highlights:

• Pizza, wine, cookie cake, and chips with the neighbors.  Gotta love Friday night health food and great friends.
• My first October run that I can ever remember.  The best part?  I got my 6.5 miles in just before the rain started on Saturday.
• Our nephew's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.  Ok, I know some people would lose it if they found out they had to go to Chuck's on a Saturday morning and spend time and money while crazed kids ran around and a large rat occasionally appeared out of nowhere.  But, I actually enjoyed it...from finding my zone playing Shrek pinball (I miss having a pinball machine in my basement like I did when I was growing up) to watching Cort throw the skeeball overhand across two other lanes (seriously, it is hard to believe there aren't more head traumas from skeeball), I have to admit, I enjoyed myself.  And getting to see family was pretty cool, too.
• A shopping trip to Kohl's.  Woo hoo for a 30% off coupon and a running jacket that was on sale...among other sale and clearance items for the fam.  I love a good bargain.
• A four-mile Sunday morning run in the rain and cold.  Why is this a good thing?  Because I did it and now I know I can bring myself to do it again.  I am on my way to easing into the winter runs that I have never before attempted.  (Thanks, in part, to the aforementioned new running jacket.)
• A very cool Heroes and Villains exhibit at the Andy Warhol Museum featuring the comic book art of Alex Ross.  Granted, due to an infringement on nap time, we had to drag Everly out of the place kicking and screaming (literally), but it was fun while it lasted.  And the kids got to silkscreen a tote bag with fun "Bang!" and "Pow!" comic book designs.
• A lazy, rainy, Sunday evening spent removing too-small clothes from the kids' drawers and decorating for fall, topped off with a pot roast dinner.

Perfect.  But that's just my opinion.