Eli's New Favorite Past Time

Eli has been a bit of a pain in the butt lately. My sweet, baby boy is turning into a devilish almost two year old. I'm not sure how to cope with this. I honestly entertained thoughts that he would be sweet forever. I was even willing to trade sleep filled nights for the next 15 years for the sweetness to stay. (In other words butt nugget still wakes up two or three times a night!!!) Hannah didn't really go through the terrible twos. She was a horrible three year old. It was at three years old that she decided she was an independent little being who didn't need her bothersome parents telling her what she could or could not do. I was more ready for her change. She was always a very independent child.

But why my Sweet Eli!!!???!! WHY??? I ask. He's my last baby! And of course his conformation to some other being is completely different than Hannah's. He has started hitting. Yesterday alone he hit me four times in the face. I gotta tell ya, I nearly lost it. I will not stand for being hit in the face. The Boy better recognize who he is pissing off, cause I'd like to know who else is going to get him a cup of milk at 1am and 4am each night!!!???!!! This may be just the little push I need to let him cry himself to sleep.

Ok, my moment of lunacy is gone. (:-) All Smiles!)

Along with the hitting, he has discovered tantrums where he throws himself on the ground. He doesn't really scream, but he does cry, and I have to tell you, The Boy is heavy. It is quite difficult to pick him up once he goes limp on you. In a few more months I won't be able to carry him anymore!

Yesterday Eli discovered something new. His nose, and how cool it is to stick his finger in it. Yes. Seriously. He doesn't pick his nose. He just puts his finger up there. While watching TV. While in the bathtub. While walking to the bus stop. Yes. Seriously. It is really gross. As my Mom said, "He is really ALL boy isn't he?" Yes....yes he is.

Eli watching Backyardigans. Notice the happy smile!

The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz was on television the other night. I have tried on several occasions to get Hannah to watch the movie with me. It was one of my all time favorites! Of course she had no interest....but when DADDY asks, she is all for it. WTH!! (Here she is all cuddled up with Daddy enjoying the movie.) She was enjoying it so much she refused to go to bed. I ended up putting it on the television in her room so she could go to sleep watching it. (I'm a push over I know.) And I actually bought it for her on Tuesday since it was on sale for $13. I couldn't believe how excited she was! Too funny.

Quote from Hannah

"Kids are good, but I'm the best."

Smart Butt

Hannah began a very interesting conversation with her Daddy this evening regarding girls and boys. It went something like this:

Hannah: "Girls like boys and boys like girls. Boys kiss girls and girls kiss boys."

Ben: "Only grown up girls kiss boys and only grown up boys kiss girls. Young boys and girls don't kiss each other."

Hannah: "I'm not young. I'm 4."

Ben: "Well I better not see you kissing any boys."

Hannah leans forward, kisses her Daddy on the cheek, and says: "I kissed a boy!"

I almost fell off the couch I was laughing so hard. Ben even broke a little smile. Her mind works so fast!

Busy Week and Weekend

This past week and weekend were full of activities. Each day I had a laundry list of things to do, places to go, and tasks to accomplish. I had filled all of our schedules to the brink, and each day I ended up moving uncompleted tasks to the next day's list till the list was simply impossible to complete. For this reason, the entire week is a blur. I know a few funny things happened. Hannah made a few funny comments. Eli started saying Hannah. But at this point....it is so blurred together that I couldn't even begin to tell a story about it or remember the particular details.

I am lucky that my friend Jennifer took a few pictures while we were at Chuck E Cheese on Saturday. Ainsley and Hannah are in the same Preschool class. Ainsley's Mom Jennifer invited us to Chuck E Cheese with them since the Back to School Bash had been canceled. And YES, I braved the crazy, insane world of Chuck E Cheese on a Saturday, with two mobile children, all by myself and lived to tell about it!!

All I can say is that I hope to do better this week with stories and pictures. Sometimes life is just so full that you're present in it, but not really in it.

Hannah's First Bad Day at School

I don't normally use this blog as a journal, or Mandy's Complaint Department, or as a platform preaching about how hard it is to be a Stay At Home Mom. The blog is named The Adventures of Super Girl and The Boy, not Please Listen to Me Whine.

But today, ah sweet today, it will be just that.

I had trouble getting to sleep last night. This small problem seems to be getting worse and worse this week. I'm not sure what I'm stressed about, but truly wish it would hurry up and resolve itself. I was awakened the first time at 2am. This is not really abnormal for me. Eli still wakes up at least once every night. I was awakened the second time at 5am and was quite upset at the interruption. By 6am Eli made it very obvious that he was done sleeping and was ready for me to entertain him. I was not in the mood. I am not a morning person. I am not a morning person at 9am after a shower and an entire Sunkist soda let alone at 6am in the freaking morning when it is still dark outside and raining to boot.

So I put Eli in my bed with Blue's Clues to entertain him and headed for the shower. I honestly thought, "If he burns the house down, let's just pray that the fire department hurries and the Sunkist in the fridge is unharmed."

After my shower I peeped into the bedroom to ensure no flames were present and found Eli digging in the dresser and Hannah watching cartoons. Great, now both of the monsters were awake before the sun. The day was not looking very good.

The rest of the early morning was equally as frustrating. I finally drank my Sunkist. Prepared lunches for both kids. Got everyone dressed and ready with as much argument as Hannah could possibly think of. I was ready to quit by 7:45am.

At 8am we hopped in the car and took Hannah to school. 8:05am we were back home to feed Eli breakfast, and then back in the car at 8:20am to take him to school. I headed back home after dropping him off. You would think I would get to relax? Oh no, time to clean up the tornado mess of the mornings activities and then get myself ready for class. After picking up and eating a granola bar I am back out the door at 9:25am heading to my Biology class. My class starts at 10am. At 9:55am I receive a call from husband saying that he forgot a few tools in the garage and he needs me to bring them to him after my class. To New Orleans. About a 40 minute drive. "OK"

At 11:15AM I jump in the car, head home, call Ben, find out what he needs, grab it, get back in the car, run through the Burger King drive through (and I am SO sick of fast food), and eat while driving to drop off the tools. In New Orleans. A 40 minute drive with no traffic or accidents. I have to pick Eli up by 2:30pm. Plenty of time you say...ha! Not with my luck baby!

To add to my stress it was raining. Not nice steady rain. Intermittent torrential rain storms. The kind of rain that appears out of no where and it's like someone is dumping buckets of water on your windshield. Seriously. And then just as suddenly it stops. And the sun is shining. And then BAM the rain starts again. I can handle driving in the rain. Doesn't bother me. Every other individual on the road today acted as if their brain decided to turn off. Seriously. A gentleman in front of me, on the interstate, doing about 65 mph started hydroplaning. Not a huge deal if you stay calm and maintain control. Yeah, ok. This blankety blank SLAMS ON HIS BRAKES. Luckily I had the smarts to keep the area to the right of me free of other vehicles and simply moved over. I believe I saw a total of four wrecks on my way to Ben's office. Not a good driving day.

I dropped off Ben's tools and headed back to Slidell. I believe I arrived to pick up Eli at 1:55pm. Not too shabby. I decided I had enough time to complete my originally planned errand before picking up Hannah and headed to Sam's.

After arriving back home from Sam's, putting away everything, and then heading to the bus stop I receive the wonderful news from Hannah that she earned a RED MARK on her behavior calendar today. It was just the cherry on top of the wonderful day I was having. I don't want to rant anymore. Just read below.

For her behavior I made her write an apology note to the student, the sub, and her teacher. She was also punished from television and the computer. I will also be walking her to class in the morning (which will be difficult because Mrs. Holden has duty in the morning) to make sure she apologizes for her choice to misbehave.

A note she decided to write herself to Mrs. Holden her teacher.

Being a parent is so hard. My Mom always said she wished she had a time machine so she could go into the future and see how the decision she made right now affected us. I wish the same. How do I know what I'm doing is enough? Is right? Isn't too much? Ben asked me, "Is it really that big of a deal? What she did?" Honestly no, but I don't want her to think that her choice to misbehave is ok. I have tried all evening to emphasize that she is being punished for her choice to misbehave. I hope it's enough.

Bouncing Balls

We headed to Home Depot this morning to pick up a few things to finish the installation of our new front door. After finishing up there, we jumped in the car and were headed home...I thought. Ben, apparently having a mental lapse, by passes the exit out of the Home Depot parking lot and heads for Toys R Us. I thought maybe he just didn't see the exit. No, he's parking at Toys R Us. I look at him and ask, "Are you sure?" He simply leans back and explains to Hannah that she is not to ask for anything. I smirk to myself, but go along for the little adventure my sweet husband doesn't realize he's about to have.

We walk in the front entrance and while putting Eli into the cart, mind you we aren't even technically in the store yet, we hear, "Daddy, look at that beautiful elephant bag! Can I have it?" I couldn't help it. I giggled. Ben simply ignored her and we continued into the store. I followed his lead since I had no clue what we were doing in Toys R Us with two children in tow.

He walked through a few aisles looking at this and that. Hannah right on his heels asking for this and that. I will admit overall she was very good. I think she kept the total "I want" down to four. Not to shabby. Ben finally told me what he was looking for. Those balls with a handle that the kids sit and bounce on. I showed him where they would be. He selected one for each kid and we were headed home.

And I will give Ben his credit due, the kids love the bouncy balls. Of course, Eli can't quite do it, but he enjoys hanging on to the handle while he kicks the ball with his legs.

MIA Turtle

This morning I walked into Hannah's room to feed her turtles. I found Jasmine right away (the bigger of the two), but I could not find Polka Dots any where. I dug through the dirt, took everything out of the cage, and still no turtle. I began to get nervous.

"Could Sky have gotten the baby?" No, the lid was still on the box. She couldn't have gotten in there without making a complete mess. Then the light bulb clicked....Hannah took the baby out.

"Hannah!!!! Where's the baby turtle?"

Hannah comes running into the room, "What Mommy?"

"Where is the baby turtle? I can't find her anywhere!"

Hannah says, "Oh, I had her in this cage (she points to her small, pretend shopping basket) but she got out."

Me, in shocked tones, "She got out? Where did she go?"

Hannah, in a tone showing that she thought this was a stupid question adding a shrug of her shoulders, "I don't know."

Me, again in shocked, angry tones, "You don't know? When was this? How long has she been missing."

Hannah, "Um, yesterday."

Oh Good Lord! You must appreciate my shock at this moment. The baby turtle, Polka Dots, is seriously about the size of a quarter. So, picture a quarter with four tiny legs, a head, and a tail. Cute right? Now picture that poor little creature lost in the disaster that is generally Hannah's room. I felt a panic attack coming on. Not only at the idea that there was a turtle loose in my house, but also at the idea that the odds of finding her in tact, not stepped on and crushed, were very much against me. I yelled for Ben, and we all started cleaning up VERY carefully.

Thank goodness someone was watching out for our little baby turtle today because within about two minutes of the cleaning process Hannah picked up a toy and Ben found poor little Polka Dots sleeping underneath it. She appears to be fine.

Those two turtles are put through some trials...I just hope that in the future their trials don't include a safari through my house!

Hannah's First Soccer Game

Hannah had her first soccer game today. It was a riot watching the completely lost and confused four and five year olds try to figure out what the crazy man with the whistle was trying to tell them. The game only lasted 30 minutes (you would have thought it was two hours with all the sweat she had in her hair), but the kids had so much fun. I will admit that within the first two minutes somebody knocked Hannah over and she had to leave the game. Turned out she was more upset at the audacity that someone would knock her down then anything else. After a few minutes, a short explanation that these things happen in sports, and watching others get knocked over as well and she was back in the game! We had a great time and I can't wait to see how much they all progress over the season.

Look how grown up she is!

Waiting for her turn back on the field after a short break.

The video is terrible. I was trying to watch her, cheer her on, and video at the same time and it didn't work out very well, but at least you can see her kick the ball.

Ben brought home an interesting toy he thought was for the cats, but Eli had other plans. It is one of those balls with a raccoon type tail attached to it. The ball rolls around by itself making it look as if the small animal attached to it is trying to attack the ball. Very cute. Ben figured the cats would love it. He didn't bank on Eli loving it.

Grandparent's Day

Friday was Grandparent's day for the Preschoolers at Hannah's school.  Hannah was so excited that Grandma Margaret was going to get to eat breakfast with her at school!  The Grandparents were all huddled together in the common area outside the cafeteria and the teachers brought the brought the kids through all lined up with "hand on lips and hips."  (The preschoolers walk through the school in a straight line with one finger over their lips to remind them not to talk, and one hand on their hip.)  The look on the kids faces when they walked through all of those people was priceless, not to mention the shock on Hannah's face when she finally saw Grandma Margaret.  I guess she didn't truly believe me that Grandma was going to eat breakfast with her.  It was a wonderful morning.  The PTA did a great job, and then even provided a picture.  I am really in love with Whispering Forest!

Bedtime Confusion

As I was editing the previous post Hannah came into the room (well past her bedtime) and said that she wanted to sleep on her mat.  I said I didn't care where she slept, but she was going to bed, NOW.  She scampered away and I continued with my blog entry.  Over the next few minutes I heard several bangs and a few other noises that could not possibly be good news.  Hoping and praying that she would settle down and go to bed I waited.  More noise.  Grumble, cuss, swear.  I get up with fighting words on my lips and aggervation with the constant bed time battle only to find my funny little one in her room with her princess blow up mattress trying to use the manual pump to fill it with air.  I deflated and felt like a total butt.  I leaned down to her level, apologized for not understanding that she meant her air mattress not her mat, and then explained that it was WAY to late to start working on this now.  Tears filled her eyes and I shrunk even more.  I hugged her and told her to go lay in my bed apologizing more times than I can count.  I promised her we would blow up her air mattress tomorrow and she could sleep on it.

Sometimes we are so busy with our own unimportant matters that we miss what is really important to them.

Singing in the Rain

It began to poor down rain today around 3:15pm.  Eli and I walk to get Hannah from the bus stop at 3:20pm. 

Well, if you feel this blog has been lacking a sense of adventure lately, I guess you'll receive your dose with this entry. 

I waited an extra five minutes before leaving the house since generally her bus doesn't arrive until 3:30pm.  I grabbed three umbrellas and we headed out the door.  Once Eli realized that we were actually going out in the rain the umbrella idea went right out the window.  Oh he used it, but more as a bucket for catching the rain rather than keeping if off of his head.  Not to mention the joy of walking through every single puddle along the two block walk to Hannah's bus stop.  OH, and let's not forget the storm drain that is at the bus stop where all above mentioned puddles run too.  That was just a hoot and a half.

I'm being sarcastic for comedy's worth.  It was great fun watching the joy on his face as he walked through the puddles and stuck his tongue out to catch the rain.  Playing in the rain is one of the simplest things in the world, but children get so much joy out of it.

Hannah's First Big School Project

Monday Hannah received her very first project assignment. She had to create a booklet about our family. Pretty simple, right? Yeah! Now add a four year old to those steps you just went through in your head. Scratch that...add an opinionated, too smart for her own good, knows all the answers four year old and then you may realize the challenge this particular project presented me. And on top of that, it was due Wednesday, Hannah has soccer practice Tuesday night, which meant we basically had one night to do this. It is ok...I accept the challenge.

Hannah really got into this once I explained what we needed to do. We went through all of the pictures I have on the computer (which you all know is A BUNCH) and picked out which ones she wanted to use for her pages. She then cut them out, and glued them to their designated page. She then went through and drew pictures, and basically decorated each page to go along with theme. I made notes next to each picture to help Mrs. Holden out. I also made sure that Hannah understood what each page was about, and was able to explain each picture since she is supposed to present this to her class. I hope she can remember all of that information!! We had a really great time doing this, and I honestly look forward to similar projects in the future. The only gripe I have is that next time Ben needs to be home to help reduce the amount of "help" we receive from Eli. ;-)

Cover Page (written by Hannah)

Below the tea party picture is her drawing of our dinner table and where we all sit.
I'm not sure what all of these doodles are, but the bottom ones are flowers.

Her and Me happyily playing soccer. Not sure about the bottom doodle.

A happy face cause she "loves to wrestle Daddy." Chuck E Cheese rat is on the bottom left.

Not sure about these...she may have just been trying to add color.

Turtle Wagon Ride

This is a small wagon that I received as a plant vase when Hannah was born. Now, nearly four and a half years later, she uses it to take her two baby turtles for wagon rides. Don't you feel sorry for the turtles? (And yes those are baby dinosaurs keeping the baby turtles company.)

More of Hannah's School Work

I love the paper plate elephant. Very creative!!

Hannah's Pictures

Hannah took my camera the other evening and took about 50 pictures that were "for your blog" as she put it. Here are a few of my favorites. Keep in mind she took these all by herself. I wasn't even present.

Bigger House

A few weeks ago Hannah told me that "Daddy works so much so that he can save money to buy me (Hannah) a bigger house." Ben found that statement hilarious. Well, this evening she asked me why we live in a small house. I replied, "Because I don't want to clean a bigger house, so until you, your brother, and Daddy start cleaning up after yourselves, we will live in a small house." She asked, "You don't want to clean a big house?" I told her only if she was going to pick up after herself. Her response, "Um.....no."

Another Word Added to Eli's not so big Vocabulary

As we were leaving the grocery store this morning I asked Eli to say Bye to the cashier. I expected him to simply wave as he normally does, but today he shocked me! He waved and yelled "BYEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" I was so excited....he has finally added a new word to his so small vocabulary (ball, bath, juice). I think he got a kick out of how excited I was. He may even think me a little nuts, but that's ok, afterall I am!

They actually play together....

After the past few days of rain, I decided we had to get out of the house this afternoon if only for a few minutes, so we decided to head to the front yard and trim a few limbs off our trees. Surprisingly Hannah was eager to help, and Eli followed tow. As I trimmed the limbs off, they dragged them to the mail box and laid them in a pile. I secretly watched in amazement as my two children not only willingly helped with a chore, they were actually working together and night fighting. Astonishing! After we had nearly ten limbs in the pile Hannah jumped in. I began to protest fearing that she would get a limb through the leg or some other terrible injury, but as I opened my mouth Eli jumped in the pile as well. Hannah was saying, "It's ok baby bird. I'll get you some food." Next thing I knew she was running around the yard, flapping her arms, and tweeting like a bird.....and Eli was following her with a huge smile on his face. She ran all around the yard pretending to be the mommy bird and then "landed" back in the "nest" with Eli right behind her giggling the entire time. I just couldn't stop them. It may have been the sweetest moment of my Mommy Hood to see my two kids playing so nicely together. I was the proudest I have ever been of Hannah in that moment. She really does love her brother. You could really see it in how well she took care of her baby bird. A WOW moment.

Arrest in my Near Future

I need to precede this entry with a sharing of the knowledge that I have never "beat" my children. They have both received the occasional swat on the bottom, and there have been several times where I think a spanking was warranted, but I just can not do it. Our main method of punishment is the Time Out chair.

Now, with that said....this morning we headed over to Neil, Patrick and Michael's house to pick up a couple of tennis rackets (side note: I'm going to start playing one morning a week). The kids had a great time the few minutes we stayed torturing their beautiful cat Ivory. Neil's house is by no means Eli proof so we left after about 15 minutes or so. Once outside Hannah became antsy, and during her impatient dance around my car kept knocking a plastic container she was holding against my car. After the third loud bang, I lost my patience and said in a most disapproving tone, "Do I need to beat you?!?!" Patrick, who was helping me wrangle my two crazy children said, "I didn't think you could beat kids anymore?" And Hannah, with all of her knowledge, and smug little attitude looked him straight in the eye and very seriously said, "SHE does."

Please refer to the first paragraph of this entry again.

Eli's First Mommy's Day Out

Wednesday was Eli's very first day at Mommy's Day Out. For those of you who don't know, I have started back to school taking a couple of classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. Luckily, I found a church that has a preschool and Mommy's Day Out program that allows me to put Eli in the program just on Monday and Wednesday from 9am to 2:30pm. I'll admit, I was a little nervous about how he would handle it. He was in day care as a newborn and young infant, but since then has been by my side practically 24/7! Basically, he's a Momma's Boy 100%. I dropped him off (of course he was the first to arrive, I am habitually early) and snuck out while he wasn't looking. I went by and checked on him around Noon and he was actually sleeping. I was very pleased! I picked him up at 2:15pm trying not to seem over eager, and he was the last child there!! The teachers said he did very well, although he didn't eat much. I thought what else is new! She also mentioned that she really enjoyed his talking. I said, "Oh, you mean the Eli speak?" She laughed and said yes. Below are pictures of his first day's report and his work. Too cute!

Ice Cream is Good, Honest!

Eli's food issues are getting ridiculous!!! I almost don't know what to do with him anymore. A perfect example is tonight. It was Hannah's school fund raising night at the local Sonic, and since Ben and I both are sick of fast food we decided to cook dinner at home, but go to Sonic for ice cream to still help support the school. Anyway, when I arrived back home with the ice cream Eli refused to even taste it!!!! Finally I chased him down, sat on him, and put a small bite in his mouth (I know it's extreme...I really wanted to do this with the fresh green beans I had made for dinner, but some how I don't believe it would work as well). He kept shaking his head back and forth for a few seconds, but then once that ice cream was on his tongue he stopped, and you could actually see the light bulb go off in his head that this was really good stuff. I felt like I at least accomplished something in the area of food today, even if I did teach my son that Ice Cream is good, at least I got him to try SOMETHING other than gold fish, grapes, apple slices, and pizza!!!

Hannah's First Soccer Practice

Tuesday night was our first ever soccer practice. We were all very excited, most of all Hannah. She decked herself out in pink from her shirt all they way down to her soccer ball!!! Prettiest Tom Boy ever if I do say so myself. (and the most color coordinated) Her actual coach was sick with a virus, so his wife volunteered to run the practice if another parent would help, so I volunteered. I still can not believe how much fun I had. The kids, yes including Hannah, listened so well. And it turns out that you really don't need to know too much about soccer to teach four year olds how to play. I am really looking forward to the game on Saturday, as is Hannah....unfortunately her uniform was not with the others so she is going to wear just plain black shorts and a green t-shirt. I don't think she'll notice though.

Modeling her soccer getup.

Very excited that Daddy is home for her first practice.

Eli was all into it as well.
Smiles!

Eli didn't bother anybody since he found the biggest sand box EVER! (You should have seen the sand in my car!)

A few pictures from the actual practice.

Hannah kicking a goal.