Pride goes...

I planned a great Saturday.  It was full of errands-things that could be checked off lists to make me feel Productive! and Efficient!  The only thing I wasn’t looking forward to?  Buying underwear.  I have underwear that has traveled to more countries than Sarah Palin.  Underwear that should be retired.  But clever me-I had a coupon for Victoria’s Secret!

We went to Textile Fabric to see the remnant sale first.  The only way I could keep YoYo interested was to steer him toward telling me the textures of the fabrics.  He LOVED that game.

I put off the mall until the end.  I hate the mall.  But I had checked so much off my list-this was the last thing!  We walk into VS, and I think, “It’s underwear-YoYo’s 3.  He doesn’t care.”  Sure enough, as we walk in, he points to a mannequin.  “What’s that lady doing?” 

“She’s not a real lady-she’s just pretend.”

“Is she wearing lady clothes?”  Hadn’t ever heard it put that way, but ok, I guess that makes sense.  They’re clothes (kind of), and they are on a lady (kind of).  It’s like I don’t see what’s coming next.  “Yes, those are lady clothes.”

“Is that lady pretend, too?”

“Yes, all the ladies in here are pretend.”  Now I’m actually a little smug, because I think I’ve dropped some kind of social commentary on my toddler.  He’ll be so sophisticated!

We get to the table thingy that has all the underwear in the little back room, and I’m safe.  We’re past photos and mannequins, and this room’s harmless—panties & bras. 

 So YoYo turns around to the Sale rack and goes into fabric store mode.  He does the fabric drill—touch it with your fingers, rub it on your cheek—and he says (so so so loudly), “Mama, this is AMAZING!  Are ALL these lady clothes?”  The store is suddenly so very quiet. 

I still have that coupon, if anyone wants it.

Uncle Fun

In the spirit of catching up, I'll share a bit about the phenomenon called Uncle Craig.  

Uncle Craig is a giant who lives in Boston.  The combination of his 6'5" frame, the fact that he rides a chair through the sky to see us, and his striking resemblance to the Baptist Sunday School Board Jesus of VBS days gone by make him the stuff of obsession for small children.  I think I mentioned in an earlier post that he actually eats babies.  

When Uncle Craig came for a visit a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't sure how YoYo would handle him.  We ride this wacky pendulum these days, swinging from, "I hear a grownup, but I'm not sure I care," to, "No, I will NOT acknowledge that grownup."  Ok, so maybe it's not so much a pendulum.  But apparently Craig is magic.  Legend.  A few months back, Craig gave YoYo some antique Chinese coins for Lunar New Year.  I really can't explain what that meant to me.  This time, he played with that little boy for hours at a time, and it didn't matter how stinky YoYo was to him, he would cram his body into impossible spaces, watch the same Clifford episode 30 times, lose at every single game imaginable (including head-on truck crash livingroom rally), and keep YoYo AND PaPa AND Shilo the puppygirl ALL mesmerized.  If he ever ever moves back to Nashville, we will hold him hostage.

What's the photo?  Typical stuff for the visit.  Craig somehow folded himself inside a Little Tykes playhouse (4 feet x 4.5 feet x 4.5 feet) and then lured both YoYo and Shilo inside.  Not that there weren't already two dozen stuffed animals in there.  And a plastic chair.  They were in there for maybe a half hour-by choice, mind you.

Thanks Uncle Craig.  I can't wait til Easter comes, and we use the old-school PAAS egg-dyeing kit and fill YoYo's basket with Uncle Craig's bag of treats.  I hope YoYo always knows how cool you are and how much you love him.   

Catching up

There's so much to tell-so many beautiful days and grumpy moments and fears for the future and sighs that things were easier than anticipated-and that was just in a few weeks!

So we'll start small for now.  The other night we had the lovely lovely Songer family over, and their 3 year old little man enjoyed an evening with our 3 year old little man while the parents ate and laughed and enjoyed as normal an evening as can be had-hooray!  I played "restaurant" for the boys (thanks Mr. Rogers for the idea).  The grownups had their own meal, but the boys, seated at YoYo's play table, were given menus with the evening's options in crayon--grilled cheese, hotdog, chicken nuggets, with apples, fries, or grapes on the side and milk or apple juice to drink.  They soooo loved it!  They chose the same things, and we used some really cute placemats that look like racetracks (thanks Mom!), and I even put some carnations in a cup on the table.  (I cheated there-we had the flowers already, because with the advent of Spring, YoYo has been in love with flowers and wants a bouquet every time we go to Kroger!).  

YoYo totally got into it, and when the boys had been served and I finally sat down at the grownup table to eat with our friends, he called, "Excuse me, lady?  Lady?  Could I please have some more juice?  And we need some ketchup, please, lady."  I took care of them, and gave my best, "Will that be all, gentlemen?" and he chirped, "Yes, lady-thank you so much!"  He has been fascinated with a Mr. Rogers tape that I found at a used bookstore, and has watched that dear man visit a restaurant to order a cheese sandwich so many times that I KNEW he was thinking of the waitress in the video every time he called, "Lady?  Miss Lady!" (even though Mr. R. didn't do that).  So when he asked, after the second refill of apple juice and an additional side of fruit, "Are you the lady from the restaurant?" I answered, "Yes, just like the restaurant in Mr. Rogers."  He was so delighted that I am forced to admit my skill with the English language is not sufficient to do him justice.  His eyes absolutely danced and he laughed with so much glee and found so many tiny tiny reasons to call his waitress back to the table that Shane finally intervened to inform the young gents that their waitress was on break.  

I could only catch photos at the evening's end, when I realized that of all YoYo's friends, we don't have Corbin on our fridge.  Silliness ensued.

At least we got a nice normal photo in first. Mind you, the Vulcan death grip YoYo has on his young friend's neck raises concern, but they're both smiling, so that's a good sign.  The big thing I notice is that while Corbin is almost a full year younger than YoYo, they have changed places- months ago, YoYo was the taller one.  (A special shout-out to Reed here, who's totally responsible for the awesome Small Paul shirt YoYo sports-she keeps his cool side cool!)

There was a wonderful visit from Uncle Craig a week ago, and happy times with cousins Brandon and Erika in Indiana, but I must save that for later-I've got to get some sleep!

Day in the Life

Joy of joys, we are finished with the mega-antibiotic!

Today was a typical non-preschool day...

YoYo woke up around 10 am. I let him sleep in because this week Shane has been working on a set for the next high school play. He leaves every morning at 7 am, then returns around 10 pm. After a few days of that, YoYo begs to stay up long enough to see BaBa for a little bit before he goes to bed. Who am I to deny him that?!

I took care of my email before he woke up. Then we started our routine-fuss over breakfast, get dressed-he feeds our dog and folds napkins for meals. I do laundry and start cleaning house. I answer my voicemails (ok-3 of them before he starts clamoring for attention), help him with his projects (another installation, 30 min. of TV, some alphabet time), and then it's time for lunch. Ahhh, gyoza dumplings and noodle soup-a favorite!

After lunch we run to the grocery for a mid-week mini-list. When we return, it's time to read a book & take a nap. Mind you, I'm not detailing the cath times that have happened, the colostomy blowout and subsequent clothing wash, or the etsy & ebay items I listed this morning.

When he wakes up from naptime, it's just like any day-I'm mopping the floor while waiting for a guy to come pick up the 8 rolls of insulation I just sold on craigslist, and while Shane helps him load them into the truck, the nurse comes by to take our blood and urine samples for the life insurance folks. Of course we send her on her way afterwards with a box full of potted African violets, then it's time to go out for a belated birthday dinner, courtesy of Shane's parents (thanks, Jane!).

We're on the way to Chili's when we see a toddler and his mama by the road-their car broke down and she's held out for 2 hours for a ride because she doesn't think she can carry him AND her 3 bags of groceries 15 miles. No kidding. We shove them in the car & take them home, then it's back to Chili's for dinner. Oh wait-it's time for a cath again. Let's just use Chili's restroom this time. I hear a little girl say, "This bathroom's for little girls, not boys!" to her mama, and I realize I'm surprised that it's taken so long for that to happen. But then of course her mother replies, "Well, honey, HE still has to use diapers," and I think of all the things I don't want YoYo to hear me say to her. Ok, lady. Hope you savor that superiority.

After a lovely dinner, it's back home for birthday cake and an episode of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood as a family on the couch before we make our ways to bed. I read YoYo "The Little Engine that Could," and he points out that it's like the little boy we met earlier this evening. Ok, I'll buy that one.