A Passion for Purple

The boy has a sudden love of all things purple.  He's gotten a few t-shirts that are purple to mix up his spring and summer wardrobe and that's fine with me. I have no problem with him wanting to express himself with color. It's not like they are girl shirts he's trying to wear. So when his basketball sneakers grew a big ol' hole in the toe I was dreading the ultimate choice that would be made to replace them. I was trying to sway him with other options.  I was not too keen on the options out there when it came to purple sneakers for boys. I'd point out black and red like his old ones.  Black and gray ones or plain black. Even gray ones with blue soles and orange laces. No dice. He wanted purple. he saw the above shoes at Foot Locker one night and fell in love. The Man and I were not impressed and told him not to settle and that there were plenty of other shoe stores to find shoes hoping he'd find something totally different.  We searched and searched for acceptable replacements. Every shoe store and online store available. Anything he'd pick out was not available in his size. So after a week we ended up back at Foot Locker and bought these gems. After seeing some of the plastic, shiny looking shoes out there I actually like these ones and I'm pretty glad some of his other choices were out of stock. 

Purple. Oh well.. it could be worse and he could have wanted orange.

Mastermind or Evil Genius..

The boy's mind works in a way that I just can't grasp. Especially with games.

I want someone to teach him chess because I think he'd LOVE it.. I have no clue how to play so I'm useless.

I picked up a travel size Connect Four for him for Christmas. It was a more of a  "make sure the piles are equal" kind of gift. Well, that was a mistake. He wants to play anyone and everyone almost every day. And it's an off day if he loses 1 out of 5 games.

His mind can figure out how to set it up so he has 2 ways to win and you simply cannot beat him. He is 3 steps ahead with every play.  He has beaten us in 5 moves.. that's how good he is or maybe how bad we are. It's gotten to be a real competition for the adults here. My Mother plays him for money.  I play and sit there staring at the board before I make my *last* move.. It's insanity. Then when I lose I insist we play again, which is exactly what he wants to hear. He laughs his maniacal little laugh and says.. "I win.. again."

He plays this way with Blockus as well. I enjoy Blockus because at least with that I have a chance of winning on occasion. A very rare occasion.

He's like Rainman. I think I need to take him to Vegas in a couple years.

Note to self: find someone who knows how to play chess, get a chess board and have him learn.

From Baby to Big Girl...

How did time fly by so fast that she could possibly grow from this ..

To this…. 

in the blink of an eye. Have three years gone by already?  No wonder my womb is aching and yearning to be full again. It’s about this time that I’d be delivering again had we decided on a 4^th.  My Baby is no longer a baby and how I miss those days.  I gravitate towards all the new babies in my life like a parasite looking for a fresh host. I’m so glad my sister has accommodated me.  But she lives to far for me to get my fill often enough.

Alexa is at a great stage and yet I still miss those cuddly baby stages. She still cuddles but it’s usually at about 4 am when she climbs into my bed to finish her sleep off in my bed. Then she’ll wake up around 6:45 and ask for her chocolate milk. And if she doesn’t get it shortly thereafter her stubborn streak will wake the house up. She is a loud one. She's got some sass and a flair for the dramatic. She's got a style all her own and she is tough as nails. And then in an instant she can be sweet as pie. Even if it's only to get a piece of green gum.

She is so different from her brother and sister but wants to be just like them and grow up so fast while I try desperately to keep her little.  Two years from now she will be waving from the school bus and on her way to Kindergarten as I bawl my eyes out and wonder what happened to all of my chubby cheeked babies.

I don’t want to keep her from growing and learning but gosh in my mind if I let her do all the exciting things then she’ll just grow up faster and be gone in an instant. And as much as they drive me batty, I want my kids around me. Always. 

So Alexa on the eve of your 3^rd Birthday I want to wish you many years of happiness, love and adventure. Have fun because there is plenty of time to be serious. Believe me.  Be goofy and sing whatever you want and dance in the middle of the room and who cares who’s watching you.  Listen to your gut. If it feels wrong it probably is and if it feels right then go for it.  And every once in a while invite your old Mom on an adventure or two.. I could stand the fun. 

Happy Birthday Alexa Paige we love you lots and lots.

The Saga Continues. and ends.

Jim saw the Dr. today for his mysterious itching.  It apparently is not ringworm or some other icky contagious disease. It's simply a bad reaction of overly dry sensitive skin to an overly chlorinated pool. So anti-climactic.

Get some lotion and come see me when you pick up something way more interesting.

Swimming disease part deux.

The Man has been itching like crazy since Sunday night. In other words. Since we got home from the pool.  The Dr. says "it could be ringworm". Which of course has me stripping beds and pulling towels and separating laundry. Telling him to not touch me. What!?  It can be spread by close contact and I don't want to take any chances in case that is in fact what is wrong with him.

I gave him from lotrimin and hydrocortisone to hold him over til his Dr. appt. on Monday night. Maybe he'll be magically healed and maybe not. We shall see after the Dr. has a look. All I know is I don't want the itches so stay away from me buddy.

The Boy.

Today was math test day. When I got home I took out his folder and went through his papers. Asked him how his day was and how his math test went.  He said his day was good and he did OK on the test. Got some wrong.  Which made me stop in my tracks.. How did he know he got some wrong? So I checked his papers. The test was in the folder. Some wrong ? um. yeah that was an understatement. But besides the point and also not the point of my posting today .

I am going over the test and looking at the markings which are in in green on blue paper. This makes it HARD to see her marks. Maybe she is one of those teachers that feels the red pen is too harsh for little kids? Who knows. All I know is that it annoys the hell outta me. Anyway. There are a couple questions on there that weren't even covered in the 7 page review packet which irked me a tad. But I digress because that is also not the point of this post. I see one marked wrong with the right answer written next to it.  He had to draw in coins 68 cents 2 different ways. The first was 2 quarters, 1 dime, 1 nickel and 3 pennies.. the next was 6 dimes 1 nickel and 3 pennies. So I'm not seeing why it's wrong.  I'm looking at it over and over.. and I show it to my Mom and she agrees it looks right. So I put the paper down for a minute to take care of Alexa.

While I was gone my Mother found out that The Boy added that last penny in on both AFTER THE FACT because he didn't want to get in trouble with us for having it wrong.  I about died. I looked at him and shook my head. He was in tears. I told him he can't change a test after the fact because I was going to send his teacher an email complaining about the mistake on her part etc. and so on. Then I went on to explain that as long as he tries his hardest that he shouldn't be afraid to show us his test.

I felt worse that he was afraid of OUR reaction than I was about him fixing the test. What the hell kind of parent am I that my kid is afraid of us and afraid of bringing home a bad grade??? I pulled Jim aside when he got home before letting him see the test to explain what happened. So he also had a talk with Aedan and we went over the test with him together. We were disappointed that there were a few things on there that we haven't worked on in homework or on the review packet. Seems to be happening with every test.

I told my Mom this was just the beginning.. soon he'll be a computer hacker charging kids to change their grades for beer money...

I did it all for the .. booze apparently.

About a week and a half ago I was in search of  my big wine glass.  As usual when I need something from the top shelf I had to climb to get it.  Got on the countertop as I have for the past 12 years and got the glass down. I jumped off he counter and landed on my leg/knee on the top of the open cabinet door below. My kids got a lesson that night that would make a sailor and /or trucker blush. My mother came out of the powder room yelling "what the hell happened!?" And then she sees me doubled over in pain crying and hopping around. The kids' eyes are bugged out because they rarely see me cry and they haven't heard those words before either.

After a bit the leg was pretty swollen.  A small scrape and a small bruise. I figured it would bruise for a while and then I'd be fine. I could walk, it didn't feel broken.

Well I was sadly mistaken. As the days progressed the bruise gravitated south and it was green and ugly.. After a day of getting in and out of my chair at work did a number on my knee. It would hurt like a mother.

So off I go to the Dr. Dr. gets an X ray. No fractures show on the X ray. So off I go to the Orthopedic Dr. to get it looked at. He orders an MRI.  Had that done today. Next step is to go back to see him and get my results.  I looked at the MRI CD. I didn't see anything sinister but hey I'm no expert.

All this excitement and money spent for a glass of wine. I've since switched to beer and cider. I keep that in the fridge. No climbing involved.