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By Alyssa, February 10, 2011 5:38 pm

So I thought it would be fitting since my last post was a pic of my sweet, angelic little dudes to tell you how my day was yesterday.  I realized Tuesday night that I had a crap-load (that’s a lot) of errands to run on Wednesday and no one to watch the boys.  They were coming with me.

First stop, the Apple store.  Wait… first stop, the “Don’t even think about bringing a two-year-old in here” store.  I set up an appointment through the Genius Bar thinking I would not have to wait for long, but I guess in this Apple store it’s more like the Average IQ Bar.  After trudging through the leftover snow with purse, laptop, and my two bundled dudes, I waited in line by the Average IQ Bar and set about getting the little dudes to play video games a few feet away.  Bubba was so stoked.  Seriously, you just want me to sit here at this chair my size with my own iMac and play Diego??  One kiddo taken care of.  Zeke wasn’t so pleased.

You see right when we walked in he saw 30 lined-up, plastic silver balloon ball looking things on the floor and wanted to go back to them… NOW.  WHY the Apple peeps thought that three rows of ten two-foot plastic-like balloons was a good thing to put on the floor as decoration, but so obviously not to touch is beyond me.  I spent the next couple minutes running up to the front of the store to grab Zeke away from the “Ba-wooonns!” as he was screaming and praying that someone would call me up next.

Someone did finally help me.  I bought a cable adapter to hook my laptop up to the TV… an adapter that ONLY Apple sells so I had to go to their stinking, not kid friendly store to buy it.  About the time I pulled out money to pay, I realized Zeke wasn’t next to his brother playing video games anymore and, oh-by-the-way, the little black ball chair wasn’t there either.  It only took a second to search the crowded store to see that he had rolled that chair all the way to the front of the store and was determined to take it home with him.  Oh boy.  Shoving a bit of money in the dude’s hand, I dashed over, grabbed Zeke, and the cumbersome 3-foot foam ball chair thingy.  Returning the chair, I straddled Zeke on my hip and tried to take my change and the adapter as Zeke proceeded to kick off his boots.  Thanking the clerk for the item I grabbed boots, purse, wiggling two-year-old, mesmerized 5-year-old, and rushed out to the car.

I think it was about the time we made it to the car that I realized I left my laptop by the kid computers. REVERSE, held Bubba’s hand, Zeke’s squirming body, purse, boots, rushed through store, grabbed laptop, REVERSE with all items back to car.  Got to the car with everything and THEN couldn’t find Bubba.  Almost panicked before he popped out from behind another car he thought was our car.  It took a full three minutes sitting sweating in the front seat of the Camry with the boys buckled in to regain my sanity.

After that madness and a few uneventful errands, we stopped at Chick-Fil-A to celebrate being done.  The boys played in the play land, and I plastered myself in a booth thinking calm thoughts.  You may be asking yourself, what could go wrong in Chick-Fil-A?  Nothing did go wrong the first few minutes.  In fact, I even had a few minutes to myself among the chaos of Chick-Fil-A at noon to read a few pages of the Outlander series I’m addicted to and take a bite of chicken.  Then Bubba ran up.  Mom, he’s stuck.  Zeke is stuck, Mom!

Upon inspection in the play land , I found that Zeke was not stuck, but had been rather brave .  Instead of staying in the one story portion of the play land, he had ventured for the first time ALL the way up to the three story part.  I sent Bubba back up to retrieve him and almost started to admire the little dude’s spunk. Those thoughts vanished after cajoling, begging, then calmly instructing him to come down. I surveyed my options.  Squeeze myself through the maze of staired-tunnels or the slide.  I chose the slide.

I have to pause here and laugh… oh man, what was I thinking?  I had tights on under my jeans thus no traction, and figured that out around the second of three corkscrew turns.  About five minutes in and drenched with sweat, the claustrophobia hit as the only way I could maintain my ground in the bright yellow, monstrous slide was to press my back against the top of it and cling with my finger tips to the tiny grooves at the end of each section.  I yelled up that if one more kid tried to slide under me they would be sorry, muscled my way around the final curve with my arm, grabbed Zeke by one arm (thank goodness he was curious and had positioned himself at the top of the slide) and FINALLY made my way back down…Zeke headfirst and me scraping the last of the studded embellishments off my back pockets.

I thought about calling Haus after I had everyone back home tucked in for quiet time, but would he really believe me?  Sigh… that, my friends, was an absolutely true telling of yesterday’s errand day.

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By Alyssa, August 19, 2010 10:05 pm

Zeke discovers mascara and mineral make-up

Just after Bubba turned 2, my mother-in-law warned me of Haus’ terrible twos.  A bull in a china closet, she said.  Bubba, however, breezed through his twos as a sweet, complacent little boy.  With one small warning look, he immediately avoided trouble.  Bull?  Ha!  I remember thinking Haus couldn’t have been that rambuncious because raising Bubba as a two-year-old was pretty easy.

Then Bubba got a little brother.  A handsome, funny, stubborn little brother.  From the moment Zeke discovered his free will, he’s been using it.  Oh MAN has he been using it!  Loving my little bull Zeke can be trying.  I don’t particularly love when he spreads baking soda across the kitchen floor or squeezes a half a tube of A&D ointment down carpeted stairs or powders the master bedroom rug, sheets, and his p.j.s with dark purple mineral eye shadow.  Did I mention that was all in the last three days?  This kiddo splits his lip at least once a week trying to escape to the nearby park or mimicking big brother. Yesterday, I made my first call to poison control.  I stepped out of my three minute shower to find him chugging a bottle of children’s Benadryl.  How he got into the medicine cabinet and took off the “child-proof” cap in those three minutes is beyond me.

You’d think I don’t watch the kid.  How in three days could he possible spread more than three different substances on our carpet and swig Benadryl?  I think velcroing him to my body is about the only way I can guarantee he won’t get into something.  I recently laughed over the phone as a girlfriend described her solution to her curious second child.  She said she strapped him in a baby sling to her body whenever they left the house.  I’m just about there.  The kid laughs at spankings and uses the N.O. word regardless of the circumstances, even when he means yes.

Believe it or not, I love both of my sons equally.  They are very different, but that’s one of the main things I love about them.  Zeke is demanding, but he’s also a generous hugger.  He’s fearless, but my sensitive snuggle-bug.  I think God blessed him with soft blonde hair and those deep blue eyes because He knew with one little lopsided grin I’m able to forget his challenges.

So here I go into Zeke’s terrific twos.  My little fireball is turning two on Tuesday.  As I repeat to myself, he’s making me into a better mom, he’s making me into a better mom, I remain positive that Zeke and I are up for an amazing year.  Happy birthday to my baby boy, my crazy, independent, spirited little boy.  Oh and by the way, he survived the Benadryl… he’d spilled enough on his shirt that it’s only side effect was a very long nap.

Do you have a monster… ahem, independent kiddo at home?  If so, I’d love to hear about them!

Happy Birthday, Zeke!

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By Alyssa, September 21, 2009 11:44 am

Every night growing up my parents would search my room.  Was it for candy?  A great big chocolate bar?  I do love chocolate, but they weren’t checking for a late night snack. They scoured my room before bed for books.  Growing up I hid books and a flashlight under my pillow, my mattress, in between the sheets, and under the bed.  I can’t tell you the number of times I heard, “Alyssa Marie, you will ruin your eyes reading in the dark like that!”  I remember my first Roald Dahl book and staying up all night to frantically finish “Gone with the Wind.” I love books!

I could write for days about the books I love, but decided to just list my favorite children’s books.  Some are old favorites and some I recently discovered going to the library with Bubba.  Please comment with your all-time favorite children’s book if I didn’t list it here.

MY FAVORITE CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

Some Dogs Do by Jez Alborough

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

The Greedy Python by Eric Carle

And My Mean Old Mother Will Be Sorry, Blackboard Bear by Martha Alexander  (ALL the Blackboard Bear books are wonderful!)

The Day Jimmy’s Boa ate the Wash by Steven Kellogg

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Pierre (A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue) by Maurice Sendak

Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban

Miss Nelson is Missing by James Marshall

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

The Monster at the End of This Book (starring lovable, furry old Grover) by Jon Stone

I Just Forgot by Mercer Mayer

The Goodnight Train by June Sobel

Happy Birthday, Moon by Frank Asch

The Crocodile Blues by Coleman Polhemus

Dandelion by Don Freeman

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE!!  Amos, The Story of an Old Dog and His Couch by Howie Schneider

Now to call my parents for advice… I’ve caught Bubba reading past bedtime the last few nights!