I wonder if you can tell there’s a lot of heat outside the window behind us?

Our first day in Idaho was Grandma Sherie’s birthday. Yellowstone Bear World was the first stop. Cidnie wasn’t going to get that close to her cousin’s house without stopping to pick her up. I think the two were in cahoots because Amy just happened to be playing hooky from school that day and was more than delighted when we showed up.

Taylor proved to be our entertainment on this trip. He was delighted watching the baby bears and his giggles became a bit infectious.

Then we moved over to feeding the fish and ducks where we missed a golden video moment. Taylor got right down between the railings to hand the swan a piece of bread and freaked when it reached up and grabbed it right out of his fingers. He jumped back screaming “Holy Crap!” several times followed by several “Did you see that?” questions and a final, “That was A W E S O M E!!” For future reference, swans have really long necks.

We paused for a bear picture on the way to the petting zoo…

Cidnie and Amy enjoyed petting the deer and feeding the animals. Taylor kept a careful distance between himself and most of the animals. Although he did get brave enough to get down to near eye level with one of the ducks and when it came to him for a handout he jumped up exclaiming, “It thinks I’m food!”

Our final stop was to let the kids play on some of the rides. Just when we thought Taylor couldn’t give us more giggles he put on his funniest show. He wasn’t too sure about any of the rides. He made the worker let him off the first round of the little roller coaster before deciding to go back later to stay on it. But the little lift ride left everyone within ear shot in stitches of laughter. You can see from the pictures how he has a death grip on the railing and when he started going up he yelled down to the worker “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!”

It was a fun start to our first trip to Idaho this summer. We got home to find Grandma had one BIG bouquet of balloons waiting for her. Taylor’s next highlight was sucking helium with Grandpa and singing Happy Birthday with chipmunk voices. It was so fun to be there with Grandma on her birthday. Wish we could do it every year!!

I’m not sure what I did for entertainment before my kids. I didn’t think there would be a drama bug that could rival his sister, but Taylor continues to give her a run for her money. Neither of my kids can just tell you something, they have to show you through extreme facial expressions, reenactments and voice inflections. Singing is a regular pass-time at my house for both. Cidnie starts every day with a strong voice, which typically insights some displeased comments and requests to stop from her brother. This pattern is repeated after school in reverse. While they both have their preferences for types and styles, they also both know each others well. Case in point, Taylor fell asleep in the early evening on Wednesday this week (the afternoon swim wore him out), when he woke in that groggy state on the couch he immediately started singing along with the words to the High School Musical 3 song playing on the TV at the time. We all busted up.

Now, Blake is a big culprit for helping feed the words and sayings that his kids might say incorrectly. He’s also recently been educating Taylor on the finer points of movies he missed out in the early 80’s like Flash Gordon paying special interest to the music. Stellar times for mom. Well, when Iron Man came out in movie theaters, the theme song became a regular at my house for a while. Its influence carried over into Halloween as Tay dressed up like him. However, when Taylor was learning the song he always added an “r” in the do-do phrases. Blake was happy to help feed this, so now when we all sing it we throw in a hick “rrrrr” so it comes out dur,dur,dur,dur….instead of do,do,do,do…

Last week Taylor came home with this:

There’s no question who it is or what song, complete with hick “r” is represented.

As I posted an article recently about the need for more education and manners with technology, this video find was too priceless not to share.

I read a funny saying this morning of how life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer it gets to the end the faster it goes. I giggled, thinking almost immediately about how fast the end of that roll really does go.

See, these are the types of things that are witty because everyone can nod their head due to personal experience. It’s the “funny ’cause it’s true” element. I always wish I could come up with stuff like this. You’d think it would be easy given the great abundance of general, funny things the masses will experience/relate to, yet I always come up empty headed. I think there’s a specific brain cell I’m lacking in.

So as I can’t come up with an original one, I started thinking of adaptations to this one:

Problems are like a roll of toilet paper, the closer it gets to the end the faster it goes.
Lies are like a roll of toilet paper, the…
Dessert is like a roll of toilet paper…
Sanity is like a roll of toilet paper…

And then I thought about things that work in reverse like laundry. Ever notice how no matter how much you do or how close you get to the end, it slows down? How about poison hour - that witching hour that you know you have to make it through to get to some relief? How come these things can’t be like toilet paper?

I was just catching up on a few friend blogs and when I read this one by my friend Jamie, I had to chuckle. Every parent has a good story or two and I’ve managed to keep one of our best/worst under wraps, generally speaking, for nearly a decade. But some stories beg to be told for posterity and I fear this is one of them. Oh the training this child came with! The lesson of this story is never underestimate what your child can pick up from movies nor the influence it can impart.

My daughter, Cid was a rather precocious and mischievous toddler. Her days were all about repetition of her favorite movie, game, or activity and of course a generous sprinkling of mischief throughout. When she wasn’t spilling uncooked spaghetti on the floor or painting herself and her cousin in peanut butter, she might be found dusting her room and cousin in Comet cleaner and using a full length mirror as a slippery slide. Or better yet, going for multiple bathroom makeovers with all of mom’s makeup or my chatting buddies all time favorite - buttering the dog! Oh the memories! But I digress.

One morning she toddled into the living room with her big tin box full of play dough and old kitchen items. She sat down, like every other morning, ready to play and watch Elmo. Except this morning she lifted the lid and quickly closed it. She turned to me and stated with perfect clarity:

“I didn’t poop in the box.”

Crap. (Little did I know how literally!) The rest of the conversation went something like this:

Mom: “Cidnie, open the box.”

Cid: “No thank you.”

Mom: “Cidnie.”

Cid: “Nope.”

Mom: (clearing throat and meanicing a wicked mom raised brow) “Cidnie, open that box now.”

Cid: “Okay.” (lifts the lid and turns and drops her head)

Inside the otherwise empty box was a single turd, perfectly positioned alone in the middle of the box. It couldn’t have been very old either.

Now, for those inexperienced in the parenting curve, let me explain the great quandary in this moment. It is one of the most difficult and truest tests for any parent. You see, your first reaction is critical. It sets not only the tone but the ultimate lesson the child will remember regardless of what you say later. Control is crucial, but the element of surprise is against you. It’s an internal war zone.

In my case, I was immediately inundated with two equally strong impulses: 1) laughter and 2) the vomit reflex. I credit the incredible shock of the situation for the necessary self control in the moment to simply look at my daughter, tell her we never poop in boxes all while making a mad dash with the box to bathroom where I could safely close the door to address both initial reactions.

With the vile thing flushed, box soaking in Clorox and face cleared of any trace of laughter’s tears, I collected myself to return and question my two and a half year old. She sat frozen to the floor in the same place and position as when I left, clearly waiting for the worst.

I asked her what on earth possessed her to poop in a box. Her response was as instant as it was innocent:

“It’s funny mom, like Dumb and Dumber.”

Now, for anyone who has skillfully avoided this most stellar movie *cough, cough* the reference my daughter is making is a cross between a scene where one character pees in empty beer bottles while driving, and another scene where the other has a disastrous diarrhea blowout in a broken toilet.

I called my husband at work. I told him his movie Dumb and Dumber had been permanently shelved. He asked why and I replied that it might have something to do with the fact that his daughter just pooped in a box and said it was funny like the movie. His immediate response of laughter rivaled his reaction to that stupid broken toilet scene, which incidentally made anyone near him consider the need for mouth to mouth resuscitation. And so Dumb and Dumber left my house that day never to return, although the smart little cross reference spirit remains just as vibrant today as she was nearly ten years ago!

My loving hubby just sent me this fun early birthday surprise. It’s a little video news clip explaining how for my birthday Disney will be making special changes throughout the park just for me. I had the video here for a while but couldn’t find a way to control the auto play feature and once is cute but several times every time the blog comes up, well…..so I took some stills of it today to use instead. It’s a fun idea!

The coolest part is the end. After Donald comes and looks at the march song exclaiming it’s supposed to say Donald Duck, Goofy walks away asking “if Holly doesn’t show up can I be in the song?”

I thought it was a little quiet yesterday afternoon. Apparently Taylor felt the need to ensure ownership of some ornaments this year…*giggle, giggle, snort*

Technorati Tags:
Family Funnies Sharing Motherhood Wordless Wednesday Holidays

Yesterday was a milestone for my son. He lost his first tooth.

He proudly told and showed everyone the remainder of the evening about his newest accomplishment. Mom still squirms a bit thinking about helping him get it out, but the smile was worth it. I’m glad I got a picture for him because it was the only thing that made it okay for him to go to school this morning. Apparently, having the tooth to show his classmates was a very big deal to him and although he was happy for what he found under his pillow he woke up sad that his tooth was gone. Having a picture of it was a wonderful solution to his new dilemma, he even proudly showed dad how the printed copy was the same size as his hand.

Now for anyone who has ever wondered the truth about the toothfairy, I share my son’s most logical reasoning from last night. I should preface that when I tucked him in he stated ever so simply how moms and dads put the money under the pillow. A little taken back I asked where he’d heard that and he just rolled his eyes telling me everyone knew that. So I was anxious to hear what Blake learned during his nightly hug. What he shared was classic. So without further adieu, from the mouth of a child here’s the real deal:

“The parents put the money under the pillow. The toothfairy takes the tooth to give to other kids who need it.”

Technorati Tags:
Family Funnies Sharing Motherhood