Sometimes I think the sweetest thing in the world...

...is hearing Alex's music box come on in the morning. Before I hear his voice calling me. I picture him in there just enjoying waking up by himself. "Ahhhh, let me just have a moment before my lower half gets stripped naked..."

Good morning, peoples! Have a great day!

Shrimp-o-licious!

Ya'll have to check out this video. "Mom" is a parishioner at our church and yes, she really is that sweet a person.

(Someone please try this recipe and save me some!)

Which would YOU rather meet in a dark alley?

I really thought I had seen the scariest thing on earth when I read this article about a vicious, man-eating fish that can survive OUT of water for four days.

Then I saw this recipe from snooty-but-very-creative Food Network chef Ina Garten. Pecan Squares aren't usually scary -- unless the recipe calls for NINE sticks of butter. NINE. (Thanks for the link, LW). But I bet you could skinny it down by using only seven sticks and no one would notice.

Update: Those Pecan Squares have 25 Weight Watchers Points. Each. I believe I'd rather meet up with the man-eating fish.

Is it wrong to enjoy your son's bout with stomach problems?

Last night Mickey was up for two hours throwing up. Poor thing...yeah, I fired up the washing machine about midnight. So I kept him home today from MDO but took Alex (he has not been stricken, thank goodness).

He and I spent the day on the sofa. I got out of going to the gym and doing laundry and I got four hours of very quiet time with my oldest. We watched a movie, looked at a book, and played with his new walkie-talkies. Bliss.

He's better now and eating a little, but still just turned down several notches.

So next week when he's bouncing off the walls and Alex I'm going to tell him "remember last week when you were so calm and cuddly? That, please, only without clean-up..."

Lotta good my moms' group is doing me...

At a recent meeting of The Moms the conversation turned to behavior issues with our kids (big surprise). I asked the group of about six moms: what is the best response to Mickey when he's constantly updating me on Alex's actions. Like he'll say, "Alex is smashing his cheese..." or something else just as benign.

One of the moms had a suggestion...say something like "I'll take care of Alex, you take care of you." Sounds logical. This could work!

So I tried it today:

"Mom, Alex is smashing his cheese..."

"I'll take care of Alex and you take care of you, okay?"

"Mom, you have to take care of me, too."

Thanks, moms...what else ya got?

I'm four now. I don't eat birthday cake.

Yeah, so I made Mickey's birthday cake from scratch, since I have a thing about paying a bakery for a cake for anyone under 20 years old. I won't say I slaved over his 4th birthday cake, but it was several hours from start to finish, and one messy kitchen to show for it.

The finished product was sort of cool, though:

And Mickey's reaction to seeing it even cooler:

"Mom, I love it! I really love it!"

But when it came down to serving time: "Nah, I think I'll just have ice cream."

HUH?!

So the cake was served to the very few guests we had and eaten very slowly and lovingly by his brother, but Mickey managed to steer clear of the entire thing. The last little bit was scraped into the sink tonight.

Did I mention it had crushed Oreos between the layers?

What in the world could this boy possibly need in a cake?!

Wait, I know: AA batteries, an old cell phone, and a Ty puppy dog.

That'll do it...

Happy birthday, little boy

My oldest toddler is no longer a toddler. Mickey is four years old today. Happy birthday, little man.

Details to follow, including pics of the Oreo-laden chocolate cake that he wouldn't eat.

The test of a two-year-old

I mentioned the other day that Alex was getting ready for the first academic test of his life. His teacher and I sat down in tiny chairs at a short table in an unused room at his school to discuss the results.

I was just a little nervous about it. Yes. Nervous. Would she tell me she's worried about Alex's development? Would she not but should? Would she say he's too aggressive to the other kids (at which point I would just have to apologize for not warning her)?

For you people who have work to do and need the nutshell version of his results, here it is:

He is normal.

For those of you who have nothing better to do:

Alex did a lot of what she asked him to do during the evaluation. There were also things I know he can do, but didn't do them for her. For instance, I know he can jump with both feet, at least that's what he does to get from the ottoman, sofa, coffee table, and third stair to the floor. I also know he can say a three-word sentence. Several of them. All day long, over and over and over until I cave in...

Then there were a few things he didn't do and that I know he can't do. Am I going to worry about that? Probably. And several of you out there are going to tell me I'm crazy and let the boy be a boy and don't push him.

Okay. Maybe.

...and french fries improve your wit

So Mickey pulls up his chair to the sink, where it should actually just stay the whole day because he usually has some sort of chore going on there. I was peeling carrots for a roast and I mentioned, as if it would help their reputation, that carrots are good for you and they make you grow tall.

"That's okay," he says. "I'll just stand on a chair..."

Hard to argue.

And the battle continues...

The angel. And the devil.

I'm really going to give the angel more attention this week. What about you?

Just because I love this...

Usher as Gene Kelly!

"Let me change your diaper, then we can study for your test..."

Alex is two. Not quite two and a half.

Next Tuesday he has a TEST at Mother's Day Out.

His teacher said she will be testing for "average two-year-old skills and abilities." Letters, numbers, shapes, etc., and I'm assuming motor skills. I think Alex will do okay, but if she really wants to see if two-year-olds are where they should be in their development, she should add the following evaluations:

How many seconds (minutes, if applicable) does it take the child let go if he has his teeth locked on to his brother's back?

From a seated position, how far can the child launch a french fry? Banana? Plate? Sippy cup?

What is the decibel of his cry when he is put in time out?

How fast can the child break your grip and run down an aisle in Wal-Mart? Target? Your neighborhood in general?

How many seconds does it take your child to notice a kitchen cabinet without a child lock?

How old was your child when he first broke a child lock?

When did he first slide a large bucket of toys (or a large firetruck, or his sibling) down the stairs?

When was the first day your son or daughter's older sibling ran to get away from him?

How many times a day do you get big sloppy kisses from your son and forget all about his "proper development"?

"And we had to float our checks two miles. In the snow."

So I'm in line at Wal-Mart (not looking for a purple shirt) and the lady in front of me was finishing up her order. Now because she was in the 10-items-or-less line and had at least 147 items, I think she got what she deserved:

Clerk: "Your total is $140.91." (Not kidding.)
Woman: "Here's my card. I don't know how much is in the account so I might have to write you a check."
Clerk: "Denied."
Woman: "Okay, I'll just write you a check."

Now here's where I'd have been sunk back in college. A check no longer "floats." If you haven't got the money in your account, it bounces like a Superball. Wal-Mart and other megastores now have the technology to see just how good that check is in a matter of seconds.

Clerk: "Nope, that check isn't going through."
Woman: "What?! I just deposited my paycheck! It should be fine!"
Clerk: "When did you make the deposit?"
Woman: "An hour ago!"

Newsflash! That technology doesn't go both ways. Pity the college kids these days...

Waiting for a match-up

The subject of our children's hands seems to be something we moms think about a lot. There's this beautiful post by Antique Mommy, and Shannon has such a way with words you wonder if your kids will ever do anything wrrrrrr...

It's these types of posts that made me look up from my chair in the living room the other night, when I heard Mickey say to Pete "...your hand's much bigger than mine..." Then "...match it up, Daddy."


"Match it up" means to put each other's palms together. Of course, Mickey's hand barely covers the palm of Pete's. They're still so small and soft (the latter is being helped along by the dirt pile in our front yard). In just a fleeting thought, I wondered how old Mickey would be when his hand was as big as Pete's. How much will he have accomplished with those hands by that time?

In the coming years I'm sure Mickey will request more match-it-ups. I'm sure I'll also remember the first time he did it and how little his hands looked.

And I'll probably wish I wasn't so anxious for them to match up.