Coke vs Mountain Dew

My Son: Can I have a Coke instead of a Mountain Dew?

My Man: No.

Me: Why? What's the difference, they're both full of sugar & caffeine (frankly, I'd rather he didn't have either!)

My Man: Because Coke rots your guts.

Me: What?

My Man: You can only have Coke if it's mixed with rum. It cancels out the gut rotting stuff.

You gotta be kidding me, right? LOL

Personality Clash

My son drives me nuts. I mean literally bonkers. He drove me to take a 4 year old Xanax a few days ago (yes I still have them, I've hoarded them this long, I don't care that they are expired!).

Whenever I'm finally able to sit back and reflect, I can clearly see the reason we have such a personality clash is because we are so much alike. Of course this realization does not bring me comfort in any way - it only serves to annoy me more.

We got his blood test results back today. We had his TSH levels tested to see if he has a thyroid condition like me (his erratic moody behavior is reminiscent of my own). Turns out, his levels are fine, so that's not his problem! He has an appointment with his therapist this Saturday..and now that we have these results, I do think he will be diagnosed as ODD.

I have not been handling his moods that well this past week - I think a lot of it has to do with my own meds being adjusted. What a pain! It would be SO nice if I could just take a few days with a new dose to know if it's the right dose...but oh know, it's a 4 to 6 week process! Oy!

But I digress...

Our personalities are very similar. I think a lot of our hot buttons are the same. We both know exactly how to push each other's buttons (I swear I do not push his on purpose! If there was a way to avoid his horrible reactions, trust me, I would not push THAT button on purpose!). So here I am, a mom whose personality clashes with her 8 year old son's personality. Can we survive each other? Only time will tell!

Interview with a 5 year old

1. How old are you?
5

2. When is your birthday?
April 27

3. What was the best gift you received for your birthday?
my bike, sleeping bag and Hello Kitty clock

4. What didn't you get that you really wanted?
a unicorn stuffed animal

5. What is your favorite thing about school (day care)?
playing with Ryan & Paulie in the blocks

6. What is your least favorite thing about school?
nothing

7. Who is your favorite person in the whole word?
Grandma Sally

8. Who are all the people in your family?
Mommy, Daddy, Scratch and my brother

8. What is your favorite food?
carrots (the raw kind - she doesn't like them cooked!)

9. What is your favorite toy?
my new Pretty Pony toy

10. What is something mommy/daddy always says to you?
Mom: clean your room (we're such slave drivers!)
Dad: clean your room

12. What makes you happy?
watching tv & playing games

13. What makes mommy/daddy happy?
Mom: putting me to bed and reading stories
Dad: I don't know, I'd have to ask him.

14. What makes you sad?
Not watching TV

15. What makes mommy/daddy sad?
Mom: I don't know.
Dad: I don't know.

16. How does mommy/daddy do to make you laugh?
Mom: You make silly faces.
Dad: Tickles me. (she first said he dances around...but he's NEVER done that! LOL)

17. What were mommy/daddy like when they were little?
Mom: you liked your room and played in your room.
Dad: he liked to play in his room with his toys

18. How old are your mommy/daddy?
Mom: 8
Dad: 9

19. How tall are your mommy/daddy?
Mom: 59 (not sure what measurement we're working on here - but if she means inches, she's got me pretty good!)
Dad: 98

20. What do mommy/daddy do when you’re not around? (she asked, like when I stay at Tia's?)
Mom: go on a trip
Dad: go on a trip with mommy

21. What are mommy/daddy really good at?
Mom: making dinner
Dad: making dinner too, he's really good

22. What are mommy/daddy not very good at?
Mom: doing bad stuff
Dad: cleaning **snicker!**

23. What do mommy/daddy do for their jobs?
Mom: typing on a computer
Dad: he works in the warehouse with a bunch of people

24. What is mommy/daddy’s favorite food?
Mom: vegetables
Dad: chicken

25. What makes you proud of mommy/daddy?
Mom: cleaning
Dad: nothing

26. If mommy/daddy were a cartoon character, what would they be?
Mom: police officer
Dad: policeman

27. What do you do with mommy/daddy?
Mom: get cupcakes
Dad: go to the office

28. How are you and mommy/daddy the same?
Mom & Dad: we all have skin

29. How are you and mommy/daddy different?
Mom: our hair is different color
Dad: he's a boy

30. How do you know mommy/daddy loves you?
Mom: give me hugs & kisses
Dad: he gives me hugs & kisses too

31. What is one thing you would change about mommy/daddy?
Mom: nothing
Dad: nothing

32. What do you like about your brother?
he loves me & lets me come in his room

33. What don't you like about your brother?
he doesn't let me in his room

34. What do you want to be when you grow up?
police officer

35. What is your favorite TV show?
Sponge Bob

36. What is your favorite number?
10

37. What is your favorite color?
red

38. What is your favorite animal?
unicorn

39. What is your favorite time of year?
Christmas

40. What are you most looking forward to now that you are 5 years old?
kindergarten

Happy 5th Birthday!

I can't believe my baby girl is 5 years old! Of course, she turned five a week ago tomorrow - but today is was her official birthday party.

Not all of her friends could attend (probably due to my poor planning - I can never seem to plan enough in advance!) but she did have a great turn out.

We had 3 of her friends from day care (and 3 older siblings) and a neighbor friend. Instead of doing Chuck E Cheese again like last year (as originally requested), we opted for an in-home party instead. Gotta love getting an excuse to clean the house!

We had Noah's Ark come in to have the kids create their own "goody bags" - they stuffed toy animals - it was a lot of fun (even for the moms!).

Then all the kids played outside and then back inside for cake & presents. The cake rocked - it was an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins & it was in the shape of a pink purse - it was SO cute! The polk-a-dots were white chocolate buttons. I think this was definitely the cutest & yummiest cake ever! (turns out it was a Mother's Day cake)

Stay tuned for an interview with a 5 year old....

Home Rules

I think I need to make a sign for my house - one with a list of the House Rules. Here's a few of the ideas I'm having...

1. No Whining.
2. When you're asked to do something, "Why" is not an appropriate response.
3. When you're asked to pick up/put away something, "It's not mine" is not an appropriate response.

It just occured to me - why am I asking? I'll re-phrase - when I TELL you to do/pick up/put away something!

There, that's better. And remember, no whining.

(feel free to add your own...I need help completing the list.)

Ladies First

Here's another post I meant to post..and never got around to it...

Scene: Spring Break, walking my son into the YMCA for his all-day spring break camp. I'm holding the door open for him...and hoped that he would do the same for me with the next door....

"Hey Bud, you know you should always hold the door for someone when they do it for you. Have you never heard of 'Ladies First'?"

"Mom, that doesn't count for kids." He sits down to change into his slippers (it was pajama day).

"Yes it does, you still should let Ladies go first." I say. Just then a teacher walks by and says...

"Yes it's true, Ladies First".

(my boy does an eye roll here)

"Oh come on Mom, it's not like that anymore - that was the olden days."

"How old were those days Bud?"

"You know, it's not the 80's anymore."

(snicker, snicker. the teacher is giggling now too)

"Bud, it dates way back further than that!"

"Yah, well, Mom did you know that in the day of the Indians the women did all the work? They had to build the teepees and stuff."

"Yah Bud, did you know that women today still do all the work?" LOL

really, it's April?

Oy, has it really been that long since I made a post? It's not for lack of ideas mind you....

A couple of weekends ago My Man and I were painting the basement apartment. The weather was nice outside. The kids (in shorts of course) were outside playing. They decided they "needed" water from the hose. Little did they know that the outside water was turned off...from the inside. So as they look down the hose and hit it on the ground to get it going...My Man is standing just out of view...being sneaky and turning on the water....trying to get them wet....in the face. Are we mean or what?!

Of course I took pictures! Of course I haven't downloaded them yet to share!

So the next weekend it snowed. And yes, I took pictures of that too. And yes, they are still in my camera. (and yes, we were still painting that weekend).

So now, it's another weekend later. I finally started tackling the laundry again (after two weekends of just doing one or two loads and NOT folding them). Nothing too cute or funny happened this weekend (that I can recall...or took photos of), but it did snow again.

Oh, I lie....we did take the kids into the city on Saturday. Me & my BFF Fran and I took our three monkeys on the Metra train into the city (of Chicago) to...well, have a picnic. I know, you're thinking - but it was only 48 degrees yesterday! But yes, we did it anyway. We had too - I have a 10 ride ticket that expires on the 16th so we didn't want it to go to waste!

So we (well, Frannie did it really) packed a lunch and hopped on a train. We got to Olgivie Station (which will forever be Northwestern Station to me) in time to be hungry for lunch. We walked thru the building to the river and found a nice sunny spot to spread out the blanket (on cement - it was too cold to find grass). It was nice that it was too cold for bugs and the birds had NO idea what we were doing so they didn't pester us either.

After lunch we walked thru the underground Union Station track area to go see the "other" station. Unfortunately there was some big function going on so it was not as I had remembered seeing it before. But the kids still had a good time and we took some cool photos (NOT in my camera, my batteries died...of course).

Then we walked topside back to "our" station to catch the train home.

So it was a nice weekend...and I have no photos availabe to share. But at least I finally got a post in! :o)