Greg discovered a gray hair over the weekend, at the ripe old age of 28. It probably wasn't the most sensitive thing I could have done to burst out laughing and giggle, "You're old! You're soooooo ooooooold!!" I don't know whether we should blame it on the PhD or the kids, but in my mind the most likely culprit is a blonde little whirling dervish we call Evan.
I know I write about the terrible twos a lot -- it's hard not to when they are the bane of my existence. By now, the frantic crying and temper tantrums have gone on so long that they're pretty easily ignored most of the time (which tends to make us look like horrible, neglectful parents when other people are around). That doesn't mean that they're not annoying, or that we don't want to pull our hair out when he cries for orange juice and then screams because we give him some, but we've just kind of given up on the tantrums. Okay, kid, cry on the floor for ten minutes, have fun!
Lately we're dealing with the sort of toddler behavior that requires constant supervision, which of course is a lot of fun. Things like pulling all the DVD cases off of their shelves and then pulling the DVDs out of their cases. Or pushing a chair into the kitchen to climb up onto the counter and dump powdered sugar everywhere. Or knocking every book off the shelf in his quest to find the one he wants. Or grabbing anything within reach off of the kitchen counter.
Sure, he's been doing these sorts of things with minor variations for the last year or so, but I think it's important to record this stuff so that when he's a teenager, throwing tantrums about how horrible I am, I can show him this blog and tell him it's all payback for the toddler years.
We're going to my sister's wedding this weekend, and I'm not a religious person, but I am praying to avoid any kind of tantrums, at least during the ceremony. I don't expect he'll be able to make it through the reception without screaming, or pulling on a tablecloth and bringing everything crashing to the floor, or tearing open my sister's gifts, or biting his brother, or freaking out about some terrible thing we try to make him do like sit in a high chair to eat something. Or something. There will be something. But please God, let's make it through the ceremony with no mishaps or injuries. That's all I ask.
21 May 2007
more on the terrible twos
18 May 2007
friday photos
Between feeding my Lost obsession in anticipation of next week's season finale, reading Neil Gaiman's short stories at breakneck speed, and worrying about our upcoming moves, I haven't had much time for blogging. But I do have time to post some cute photos.
James trying to hide from the camera:
Mother's Day mini-golfing:
Evan's first try at mini-golf:
The boys posing on the putt-putt course (notice James' carefully-chosen golf-pro pose):
Evan at the children's museum -- I am really into mirror shots; it seems like I'm always posting them:
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
13 May 2007
happy mother's day!
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. May this be the one day out of the year on which your children are so wonderful that you don't desire to lock them in a closet or cover their mouths with duct tape.
My kids have made this a day to remember: James painted a picture frame at school, so now, every day I can look at the smirking face and flyaway hair of my darling firstborn. (It really is cute, but I just wish my kid could refrain from making ridiculous faces for even ONE photo.)Evan, instead of gifts, decided to surprise me by demonstrating some new talents he's learned. These include putting a DVD in the player by himself, emptying my sewing basket of its pins, throwing things in the toilet, throwing a cup of water around the living room (this was done on purpose, presumably to see how many things he could soak with water in one go), and moving a chair into the kitchen to reach the leftover Easter candy on top of the microwave and thus eat all of the jellybeans (this last one before I even managed to get out of bed this morning).
But we're going to play mini-golf, and I'm refusing to cook dinner tonight, so all in all it's not such a bad day.
Thought I'd share some mother's day links -- fun whether you're a mother or not:
- The Onion's Mother's Day page
- MomsRising -- a cool organization working to make life better for mothers and families, and thus, basically everyone
- TV moms! Trivia, a quiz, and a list of the best tv moms.
- The Mother's Day Proclamation, a pacifist hymn by Julia Ward Howe, and one of the early calls to celebrate Mother's Day in the US
Happy Mother's Day to you and your moms.
11 May 2007
friday photos
You know, I'm starting to realize what an inconvenient day Friday is for posting photos. Usually we do interesting things worth taking photos of on the weekends, so by the time I post them here they're already a week old. Which is not exactly a big deal. But, for example, tonight we're going over to the Lilac Festival, where we will probably take lots of interesting pictures (and possibly see Mike Doughty, who sings one of James' favorite songs ever: "Busting Up a Starbucks"). I suppose I could always post photos on another day of the week, but then I would lose my catchy alliteration.
Shut up already, Heidi! On to the photos!
I don't remember what James was trying to do in this photo, but I think it's funny anyway:
A hawk has taken up residence in our neighborhood. He or she is very pretty and slightly scary:
Evan, asleep on the floor with his light saber:
The boys eating ice cream on the stoop on a warm evening:
Evan likes to choose and put on his own accessories:
Also, I can't remember whether I've mentioned our whole moving situation on the blog yet, but we found out that we were not given an extension to stay in our current apartment for a few more months. So this means moving sometime this summer and then again in the fall/winter! Yay! This means James will get to attend two kindergartens! Yay! I'd say more about this situation but I'm way too excited right now about all the moving and upheaval in my future. Wait, did I say excited? I meant irritated. Really, really irritated.
04 May 2007
my first meme + friday photos
Me at 17 -- the closest I have on the computer of me at 15.
5 YEARS AGO I
1. was a new mama to Sweet Baby James.
2. was taking a semester off of school to stay home with my baby.
3. was feeling pretty lonely being the only undergraduate mother I knew.
4. was really involved in LiveJournal. That's a little embarrassing to admit, now.
5. was alternately blissful and depressed, due to the whole new mama thing.
Me five years ago
2 YEARS AGO I
1. was 8 months pregnant and hugely, ridiculously enormous.
2. had an active 3-year-old who I was preparing for nursery school and for being a big brother.
3. was over a year into my full-time stay-at-home mama career, after graduating in December 2003.
4. was really, really impatient to have my baby.
5. you know, the pregnancy was really the main thing. I was SO BIG and SO IMPATIENT.
Me, hugely pregnant two years ago
1 YEAR AGO I
1. had recently been hired as a community assistant here in my neighborhood.
2. started playing ultimate frisbee again after a year and a half of laziness and inactivity.
3. had recently resurrected my book club, which is still going strong (if not all that frequently).
4. started a myspace page because I'm SO COOL.
5. was really pretty content with how things were happening in my life.
Me with my mom and Evan a year or so ago
1. sorted a crapload of baby clothes for our yard sale tomorrow.
2. went for a dress fitting and felt more confident that I won't look like a lavender whale at my sister's wedding.
3. made guacamole. YUM.
4. took the boys to a picnic in Greg's new building on campus (well, not his building, but the new building where he'll be working soon.)
5. baked a million mini-muffins for James' class.
TODAY I
1. assisted at James' school.
2. am ridiculously tired because I stayed up too late last night doing yard-sale prep.
3. should probably go for a run. But I might not (see #2).
4. had cereal for lunch.
5. need to do some gardening stuff.
TOMORROW I WILL
1. hold our freaking yard sale, and I will be SO GLAD when it is over.
2. go to a Cinco de Mayo party!
3. see my old friend Sean at said party.
4. hopefully sell all of our junk.
5. take everything that doesn't sell to the Salvation Army drop-boxes.
It was actually a little bit difficult to do this! Maybe because I'm so tired. But I actually had to go back through my blog archives to fill out the one-year and two-year portions of this meme. I have a terrible memory.
I don't know what to do about this tagging thing though. Karen is sick, Jessica just reviewed her last ten years in honor of her tenth wedding anniversary, Samay is lazy, and I don't know if Kim does memes. I guess that leaves Melissa and Emily. Tag! And if those of you who I excused above want to participate too, go for it! Even though I gave you rock-solid excuses not to.
01 May 2007
a conversation in lieu of a real post
[Heidi is rambling about possible career paths.]
Heidi: Maybe I should be a park ranger. I know! We could live in Yellowstone and I'll be a park ranger there. That way when the supervolcano blows, we'll be killed instantly instead of having to suffer through the aftermath for years and years.
Greg: Yeah, I can't wait to go flying through the air, being burned by hot cinders and probably suffocated by the gasses, then falling and getting smashed by gravity.
James: I don't like the dying part.
Heidi: James, what do you think Mama should do?
James: Mmmm... you should be a veterinarian.
Heidi: Oh yeah? Why should I be a veterinarian?
James: Well, you've been to the doctor a lot.
