Tippy Toes and Tantrums

Fireworks Throughout

Fireworks are magical, especially when preceded by a Stanford football win.

Earlier, the kids were spooked by the smaller, pregame fireworks as the team ran out on the field, creating a rocky start for us.

Actually, my rocky start had already begun. Just as I feel confident in being able to handle both kids, even in crowded, stressful situations, the universe reminds me that I can't. It would have been fine if not for the gravel. Last year Rocket was in a phase where he'd flop his body onto sand and move around like a sea turtle trying to make his way back to the ocean. The sand ended up in uncomfortable places, but that didn't stop him. After encountering the gravel last night, it was clear he hadn't evolved much. A long food line in 100 degree heat is not the best place to flop in the dirt over and over again, from my perspective at least. A man walking by said that Rocket would someday make a great Stanford football player because he's not afraid to get down and dirty and mix it up. (We're going to need to get his SAT scores up to make it happen.) Kevin said Rocket will someday make a great pig, but I think he's already achieved that status.

Rocket left the game in the second quarter and our friends left after halftime. Surprisingly Clover wanted to stay, making "whole game, whole fireworks, whole home" her goal. As the fourth quarter crawled by, she revised her plan, acknowledging she was likely to fall asleep in the car - and she did - but before that we got to see some great football (which is always a nice surprise at Stanford).

His Classmates May Nickname Him Poopy Pants

Rocket had to be dragged out of his preschool preview. He proudly shouted out "MY SCHOOL!" in the car on the way there while doing an ape-like/Celene Dion-ish chest thump. I didn't have the heart to tell him it's only the mommy and me class, which means I'll be with him as much as both of us want it to be drop off.

After taking about two minutes to acclimate, Rocket tried out everything at the school, never once looking for me. There is one steep slide that Clover was finally brave enough to try after almost two years at the school - most kids ignore it altogether - but while I was chatting away, Rocket wondered over, climbed up and took off without a care. He landed a little awkwardly on the wood chips, but still stood up with the biggest, proudest grin. Mama's little dare devil. He ran over and grabbed my hand, taking me to see his new fete as he went up and down the big slide over and over again. Clover ignored him.

We left when it was clear to everyone in the room that Rocket needed a new diaper. Despite putting several fresh diapers in the car the other day, I couldn't find one today when I needed it. I would like to say that we went straight home, but poop or no poop, I really needed a frappuccino. Thankfully the smell of coffee and the general joy of being in an air conditioned store made the poopy diaper forgettable. I also bought an egg salad sandwich, but a few blocks away, I noticed the sandwich was missing. I pulled over and there it was on the roof of the car. Why must I always make the mistake of putting things on the roof of the car? I wish I could say this has happened only once, but I've driven off with a backpack, a French class folder and myriad other things on the roof, all either still there or completely recovered.

As we drove down our street, I faced a typical motherhood dilemma. Rocket fell asleep and while he does the car-to-crib transfer well, a diaper change would wake him up. I didn't want to keep him in the diaper, but we have plans later today, so I really needed him to sleep. I went with the nap. Hopefully his rashy fanny will forgive me.

Clicking

Trying to escape the kids for three seconds, I sat down at my desk and Rocket started mumbling on the ground next to me. I looked over, wondering what it was that he needed from me and saw him facing my filing cabinet while pretending to hand things to the cabinet person and take them back in his garbled conversation. I watched for a few seconds until he left the room for the dollhouse, also visible from my desk. Rocket started whining and I slouched, tired to hearing whining again (my kids are never short on complaints), only to look over and see Rocket playing with the grandpa doll and the son from the cat family dolls. Rocket was acting out a scene from home.

This kid blows my mind. I'm always stunned by his milestones. Most seem early to me (and many were - I found out he could roll at exactly one month of age when he fell off a bed. I felt awful, but I really had to pee and I had put him in the center of a queen sized bed, plus I felt sufficiently guilty, so lay off), but maybe they aren't. With Clover, I consulted books, so I knew when new skills would be coming and even though she was an early talker, I never thought much of it. Her milestones felt more like relief than rejoicing. I don't know if I am more easily impressed by him because he is my baby or if I expect less from a boy. To clarify, I expect him to be physical and I am proud when he picks up a football and zings it to his target across the room, but my heart explodes with pride when I see him sitting alone in his room looking at books or using imagination to play by himself. I know Clover did both of these things by his age, so why am I so impressed now? Shouldn't I be less impressed? Been there, done that?

The other day I was reading the news online and Rocket walked over, pointed to the screen with a picture of Barack Obama and Joe Biden and said, "Buuuhrack!" I called Kevin at work, wondering at what point we should contact Harvard. "I haven't talked to him about Barack," I said to Kevin, who was much less impressed. "I'm Barack Obama and I approved this ad? He's seen that," is what Kevin said. Sigh...

It was fascinating when young Clover would play with her doll house and reenact scenes from home. It fed my nosiness and narcissism as I felt like I was peering into a therapy session, getting her take on different family interactions. I felt relief as she would gently act out mundane situations and everyone got along. Woo hoo! I haven't screwed her up yet, I'd think. With Rocket, I was eager to get a greater glimpse into how his mind worked and what I learned was pretty straightforward. Cat boy wanted to go on a walk with grandpa, so they started off, then cat boy said "hold you" and the grandpa picked him up and they continued walking. Rocket always wants to walk places and he still says "hold you" instead of "hold me." I gave up on correcting him because I think "hold you" is cute, which, of course, has only reinforced its usage. We said "petza" instead of pizza in this house for awhile when Clover was Rocket's age, until I finally realized I was the only one still saying it.

As Rocket played I had one of those incredibly rare moments where I wished I had our camcorder nearby, only to notice it sitting on my desk. I was able to record Rocket playing, but his cut down on the dialogue when he saw the camera. Apparently my kids only like to put on a show while I am on the phone. A serious phone call always sparks theatrics in our house.

Since this new phase began a few days ago, his imaginative play has taken off. Last night he pretended to bake cookies by putting bean bags on the Lego bin lid/makeshift tray and placing them on top of the wooden Melissa and Doug pizza. When Clover tried to take a cookie, he brushed her off, warning "hot, hot!" Using his imagination to shut up his sister is a new trick. Two Cabbage Patch dolls were taken out on a car ride with us the other day and Clover so generously ("Aren't I being nice mommy? Isn't sister so nice?") let Rocket care for one, but he accidentally dropped her from his car seat. Clover was irate and started complaining about how he shouldn't have done that...blah blah blah and Rocket cut her off by putting his finger to his lips and whispering "Shhhhh! Seeping (sleeping)." It worked. Clover stopped talking. I was impressed, although I don't recommend dropping babies once they fall asleep. Letting them fall off a bed when you need to use the bathroom is okay though.

Our Last Free Weekend

This was it. It gets hairy from now, even though we still have more than two weeks before school starts.

Clover spent four hours reading library books on Sunday. It was lovely (for me). Looking at her outfit from yesterday makes me laugh that I'm worried the other kid may be color blind. Tie dye shirt with a floral skirt? The girl needs Garanimals.

Our gardener is meticulous. Anyone who only uses one mower is lazy. 

We've had some smaller, annoying issues with our DVR/Dish receiver and I've meant to call Dish, but haven't until today when our PBS station picture was off. I can deal with some inconvenience, but I've got two more weeks of summer here, so when they messed with my invaluable Super Why/Sesame Street time, they messed with the bull. They are working on it, of course, which is really not reassuring, but we are managing to soldier on anyway despite one major meltdown where Clover was fully incensed that despite always asking for ice in her diluted orange juice, we were unable to read her mind this morning when she did not want the ice. This lit her fuse and while she was at it, she exploded about her hate for diluted juice and then proceeded to throw a full glass of juice onto the carpet. She melted down again when she was handed towels and told to clean up the mess. Cinderella martyr she is not. She let everyone in the greater vicinity know she felt abused by this draconian punishment of having to clean up her own mess. So yes, I really need some Elmo time right now.

Hill Rolling at Stanford

Or a game gone horribly wrong. Two hours earlier near this same spot, an old man got ready for the pool. A parking lot is not a locker room, guy.

Always Pick a Dog That Matches Your Carpet

Randomness

Clover saw the Sunday New York Times and said "Is that Boy Champion? [Michael Phelps, as if I need to write it] Anytime Boy Champion gets into the water, U.S.A. wins!"

The girl has Olympic fever, practicing her dismounts off the couch. Even though she wobbles on the jump from couch to carpet, she still throws up her arms and boasts about her great "Olympic moves."

I saw my first McCain yard sign yesterday. A brave move around here. I wanted to say what Clover did the day before when passing by a house that had been T.P.'ed, "Wow! They are all ready for Halloween!"

Speaking of Halloween, I bought something that will either be the start of something awesome or insane. I bought on eBay an out of print pattern to make children's Star Wars costumes. I swooped in during the last seconds and got it for one dollar over the previous high bid. I know, you hate people who strike at the last second. In my defense, I only found the auction a few minutes before. Okay it was really 51 minutes before, but I needed the pattern. Really!

Rocket, Boy Wonder: Leafing through a costume catalog, points and says "Jack!" I look and it's Jack from a Nightmare Before Christmas. I love the movie and we listen to the music, but I don't recall ever mentioning the characters to Rocket. "What?" He said again, "Jack, mama."

I thought it wasn't possible to put too much lemon juice in lemon bars, but yes, it is possible and I regret that last lemon I squeezed into it.

I finally filled out Rocket's preschool registration packet that was due, oh probably in June. What can I say? Second kid, I care a little less. They have our money, so our spot is safe without the paperwork. Anyway, the forms are repetitive, with some required by the state that feature a whole series of questions about bathroom habits. "What is the word used at home for a bowel movement? What is the usual time?" What? I'm sure when I filled these out for Clover, back when she was an only child, I filled out each question thoroughly, thrilled that they wanted to our word from home to describe a bowel movement to make Clover comfortable. God forbid they asked her if she needed to have a bowel movement and confused, she pooped away in her pants because we say poop at home and she had no clue to what the teacher was asking. I'm temped to write something cutesy, like "poopsy," just to see if the teachers would say it, but then they won't need to because this is only for a mommy and me class, so not only will I be there with Rocket, but he will be wearing a diaper and pooping away freely regardless of the time.

S'more Camping

Moms and Kids Camping Year Two was great fun. The kids played, the moms talked, it was nice. Some of the kids brought lightsabers and they all chased each other around for a few hours a day. Using a lightsaber while playing hide and go seek may not have been a smart decision on Clover's part.

This second time around, we hit our stride. We had everything we needed and we talked about more improvements for next year. Most improvements centered around improving cocktail hour(s). One thought was to assign international nights and put people in charge of making sure the food and drinks fit the theme. I said that this whole thing is going to eventually end with us all buying RVs and another mom chimed in that it will end up with us leaving the kids behind and heading for a spa. Sounds good.

But it wouldn't be our annual trip without an animal fight and sure enough what we think were two wild boars fought it out on our campsite. Clover woke up during the squeals and until she fell back asleep, I repeated in my head "please do not ask to go to the bathroom." 

Clover had a migraine the second night, which was awful, so we missed roasting marshmallows one final time. I decided to make some at home this weekend, which was quite easy in the oven: heat oven to 300 degrees, put down on a cookie sheet (I lined our sheet with aluminium foil, but it was unnecessary) decided number of graham crackers with a marshmallow on top, put in the oven for four minutes, pull out and top with chocolate and another graham cracker, let sit on warm cookie sheet for two minutes, eat. I used little peanut butter cups instead of plain chocolate because that is all we had available and it was even better. Kevin said he prefered only chocolate, but I think that is because the peanut butter cups came from his private candy stash.

Product Review: Trip Flix

Things got a little behind here and I've been sitting on this DVD since it was sent to me in early June. Since I needed Clover to help with the review, getting it done wasn't as easy I thought it would be, but she finally had a chance to watch it yesterday and it was a hit.

Trip Flix is an interactive DVD showing different touristy places across the U.S., for example the Alamo, and explaining some of the history or lure around the destination. It was designed to be watched while on a roadtrip or to help with planning a trip, but it works almost as well at occupying kids while at home too. It's set up so that the viewer picks a route as if they are on a road trip with beginning and ending regions and the two hosts, Alex and some girl (okay, Emily, I looked it up), visit stops along the way. My college roommate and I went on a three week cross country road trip between our junior and senior years - I will need a strong lorazepam prescription if Clover does this, two girls camping...alone at sometimes sketchy campsites - and we stopped at many of the places highlighted (hello four corners!), which made it fun for me to watch with her.

Clover liked the DVD, she thought Alex's goofy humor was funny and she enjoyed seeing the different sites. The interactive elements didn't quite work for her because she has no idea how to work a remote, which made answering their trivia questions impossible. Trip Flix is perfect for staycations (I hate that word and I hate myself for using it). Clover sat on the couch, but saw the U.S., all while I made dinner.

Product Review: The Banana Splits are Back

The Banana Splits are somehow familiar to me even though I was born after the Adventure Hour went off the air. Reruns maybe? I don't know, but when I watched some clips from the forthcoming show, it felt familiar. The songs and animals, especially Fleegle the dog were reminiscent of my 70s childhood. And now they are back, with new shows beginning next month on the Cartoon Network.

I watched some of the previews and at first I thought it would appeal to younger kids, closer to Rocket's age (two years) as an improved version on Raggs, but after watching more, it was silly in a way that would appeal to kids Clover's age (five years). The press materials say the target age is 4-7 years and that does seem about right. It's a fun variety show for the little ones and it's waaay better than Raggs, a show I rank slightly above Caillou.

The website has music videos that even I found entertaining, plus secret code word puzzles and tons of jokes. It's a cute, safe website for little guys.

The show maintains its 60s vibe, which is fun, but it also adds elements, like during the music videos, that are definitely updated with a whimsical feel closer to They Might Be Giants.

Anyway, I liked it.