Good Night Little Jack

Establishing a routine with the kids is not my strong suit, however we have managed to stick to a fairly consistent night time routine.  This routine is typically bath, jammies, Sami brushes her teeth, I send Sami off to pick a bedtime story and crawl into bed, meanwhile help Jack get his teeth brushed (he fights with vigor so I have to practically tie him down and force the brushing), Jack and I join Sami in her room for story time, say prayer with Sami and then sleepy time....or not.  Well, sleepy time for Samantha, but not Jack.  Oh no!  The last few weeks he has been leading me through his own post nighttime routine routine.  I know...why don't I just be boss mom and toss him into his crib and call it good rather than draw things out??  Well, I'm a sucker and enjoy being humored by my son's custom crafted plan.  It is just sooo darn cute.  Now Jack's little routine also involves story time plus block building.  He has two sets of different blocks in his room and he takes me by the hand and leads me to the closet where the blocks are stored and we build towers until every block is used.  Then we tear the tower down, putting the blocks back into the appropriate container and then we build another tower.  We do this several times and it is very important that I participate.  It is unacceptable to just sit and watch him.  If I do, he will put a block in my hand and direct me to where to put it.  What I love about this routine, is that it seems to be his way of getting some quality alone time with mom.  The look of glee on his face when I get down on his level to play is priceless.  And while it may also be a means of him avoiding dreaded beadtime, I wouldn't trade these precious moments for anything. 

Shaken, not stirred.

At about 4am this morning I was awakened by Samantha, who was sick with a fever, asking for some milk.  She informed me, with suprising clarity for girl who was so sick, that she needed "cold milk with ice and you have to shake it."  Talk about a girl who knows what she wants!!

The other day the kids and I were on our way to Costco when Samantha said, "Mommy, I have boogers in my tummy!"

The Public Restroom Incident

I'm sure every mom in the world has a similar story and I would venture to say not just one, but dozens.  The setting is Fred Meyer on a Sunday afternoon.  Andrew was off browsing in the home and garden section so I was on my own with Sami (3) and Jack (18 months).  It all started with Samantha making her dramatic "I gotta go" announcement with the usual, "oh pee, oh pee, oh pee!!, and off I ran with Sami at my side and Jack bouncing on my hip.  Upon arrival to the restroom we see that the one larger stall was occupied so the three of us squished into a standard itsy bitsy stall.  I managed to help Sami properly situate her pants and underpants with one hand while holding on to squirmy Jack with the other.  Now when it comes to tiny female people and the typical public restroom toilette seat, getting the pee stream going in the right direction can be a bit tricky.  Proper technique involves getting the little bum as far back on the seat as possible and bending their little body in half prior to the start of peeing.  Sadly, I was not able to get Sami into position fast enough and the consequense was a very soaked pair of undies and streams of pee pee down to her ankles.  My one free hand sprung into action, slapping at the toilette paper roll to get a big enough wad to dab up the streams down her legs.  Fortunately, I had my mommy supply bag with me containing a fresh pair of undies. Oh the joy of being prepared! The challenge was getting them out of the bag and on to Sami while continuing to manage squirmy Jack who at this point in time was crawling up me and was practically standing on my head.  Retreive fresh undies - check; remove shoes and pants and wet undies - check, wrap up wet clothes in toilette paper - check.  Then on went the fresh undies and pants and shoes...phew!  Ok, next to the sink to get cleaned up and that's a whole other story involving Jack smearing soap all over the counter!

As I was eating my cereal Samamtha informed me that I needed to take smaller bites.  Hee hee.  I wonder where she got that?!!

Where did the pee pee go?

Last night Andrew was  getting Samantha ready for bed and when he put her on the potty to go one last time, she sat for a moment, but didn't have to go.  She looked down and asked, "Where did the pee pee go?"

Gotta have a sleeve!

Jack (16 months) was trotting around the condo with milk bottle in hand when he happened upon a Starbucks coffee cup sleeve.  Funny thing...he knew exactly what to do with it.

"Funny Sam"

This morning Samantha made numerous trips to the potty (she's been eating a lot of fruit here in Kauai).  After doing some business I asked her if she was finished.  She said, "no thank you mommy".  I responded, "You need to sit here for a while, huh."  She said "yeah" and then bowed her head and started snorring over and over.  She looked up at me with a coy little grin as I was cracking up and then said, "funny Sam".  :)  What a sense of humor!

Sami Quote

We are currently vacationing in Kauai and the other day I took Sami to McDonald's for an ice cream cone.  We were sitting down eating when Sami, looking at her cone said, "Ice cream, I missed you!"