I remember thinking that when I had kids of my own that there were some super lame holidays I just wouldn’t get sucked into…. and before we go all righteous on the religious meaning behind them…. you’re the people telling your kids fictitious characters come into their homes in the dead of night and leave them things…
… Santa I understood… he sees you when your sleeping… he knows when your awake… all that creeper stuff…. I get it.. besides I love Christmas magic… I really do… but let’s go over a few I don’t get…. the tooth fairy…. okay seriously disturbing… and I’m not the only one who thinks so… there are horror movies about it…. and beyond that… gross… what am I supposed to do with that tooth… I remember sneaking through my mothers drawer and finding them… eek… what’s she gonna do with them.. give them to me with my baby stuff…. “Thanks a heap for the rotting hunk of bone from my prepubescent mouth Mom! ”
… and of course the Easter bunny…. anyone wanna take a stab at explaining the sense behind this tradition and not make it sound lame? … good luck…. but of course by the time I had the small child .. I was not the only person with a vested interest in his up bringing… and MIL had known my plans to deprive him of this weirdness….. and blackmailed me with threats of trying to indoctrinate him into organized religion if I didn’t participate in her favorite holiday…. so… obviously she won…. he was almost two when we introduced this holiday to him…. he loved coloring the eggs…. he could have spent hours bathing those precious little cooked eggs in colors … and he left them in the fridge in his crayon decorated and stickered carton… went to bed happily chirping about eggs and them representing spring…. and the colors were so pretty… in the morning he awoke to a chocolate laden basket… with jelly beans… and stuffed bunny larger than his tiny toddler body…. the Easter bunny had come… and he ran to check on his eggs hoping the bunny had liked them… only to find the empty Carton on the kitchen counter …. his grandma and father were poised with cameras to catch the reaction of his first egg hunt…. I wish I had caught their reactions to his…. small child’s face skewed into the angriest most disgusted expression I had ever seen… then in a low voice spit out the words…”That damn bunny took my eggs! “…. shocked to say the least someone pointed out a hidden egg to him and suggested perhaps that bunny had just hid them…..(I laughed uncontrollably through the entire charade… muttering that damn bunny everytime he looked like he may have gotten over his fury… keeping his rage harnessed) … oh he found those eggs.. proclaiming the Easter bunny the “biggest jerk ” as he found the eggs one by one… until each of his beautiful eggs were back in the carton where they belonged… and then he ate that chocolate rabbit… it was in vengeance, biting those ears off angrily… for the prank that had been played on him….that damn bunny! the following year he drew scary faces on the eggs to try to scare the bunny off…. this year he is helping me make the basket for smallest child… and he still thinks the Easter bunny sucks …. I couldn’t agree more.
Traditional Green Eggs and Ham (Turkey Bacon in our case) for Dr. Suess’s Birthday!
Then to the track… I found my walking buddy… she doesn’t really so much walk
… Get him a free trial pair of contacts says Mr Amazing… Let him try them…. Look at those baby blues!
Last year I celebrated Dr. Suess’s birthday by having a grandchild! What better day to do it really!!! How cute is this lil one year old tiniest small of all!
Tell the story of trying to learn a new talent or hobby that you only pursued briefly.
I wanted to be the perfect mom!
Tall Child arrived half-way grown… Â She became my daughter when she was 12.. She came with only a few things to call her own… but one thing she did arrive with was a dufflebag stuffed with yarn…
I looked at small child… at his tiny little two year old self… and begged Tall child to teach me!
I wanted to give small child a blanket… a homemade mommy blanket… something he could pass on to his kids… you get the idea… I wanted to be the perfect mom… I wanted him to have everything…
I invested in some Crochet Hooks/Knitting Needles (Did you know these were two different things? I never did figured out what the difference was or which one I was doing) I chose two different colors of blue yarn… She taught me the easiest stitch… and after much cursing… and poking her with the needle/hook… I got the hang of it enough to do a couple of rows….
Then a couple more….
Then a couple more….
<sponge bob voice> Six Months Later
I finally handed small child his scarf…
He loved it!
He roped the dog with it while wearing his Indiana Jones hat… and swung by the banister with it doing his spider-man impression… he tied people up with it and returned as superman to rescue them…
Until one day it mysteriously disappeared and was never mentioned again…
because….fuck knitting!
Mr Amazing: Â This looks coolÂ
Mr Amazing:   It has a super nes emulator  & tons of games to download for free
me:Â Â Okay okay… Why would Nintendo let that happen?
Mr Amazing:  :  who is buying NES64 games? Plus minecraft is available
me: I want it! buy me it!
Mr Amazing: Â :Â Â lol
me:Â Â Not funny anymore!
Mr Amazing: Â Â I no longer want it
me:Â Â LOL! Â I WANT IT!
Mr Amazing: Â Â smiffbib
me:Â Â Bratface!
Mr Amazing: Â it has a SNES and NES64 emulator
me:  I want it all Every Effing Mario Game since the dawn of time!
Mr Amazing: Plus you download ANY game & try it for free even the $50 games
me:  Want want want NEED
Mr Amazing:Â Oh Kerry
… Donkey Kong 64
… Paper Mario (the original)
… Mario Party
… Diddy Kong Racing
me:Â Â PAPER MARIOÂ I JUST DIEDÂ AT MY DESK…Â Coffee saved me
Mr Amazing:Â Super Mario 64
me:Â Â Buy Buy Buy
Mr Amazing:Â It is being released June 2013
me:Â Â We could give it to the smalls for their birthday!
Mr Amazing:  lol here kids
me:Â Â and then steal their birthday present and play it
Mr Amazing:Â now get the FUCK out of my way
me:Â Â ROTFLMAO!
Mr Amazing: seems disingenuous somehow
me:Â Â It wants me to buy it
Mr Amazing:Â I want to spend $1200 on a security appliance for home
me:Â Â A security appliance?
Mr Amazing:Â Yes, with IDS, content filtering, and anti-virus and anti-phishing built in
me:  doesn’t sound like a lot of fun
Mr Amazing:Â It would make it so we could control where are kids go online and verify they never download crap they aren’t supposed to
me:Â Â <yawn>
me:  paper Mario
Mr Amazing:Â Â and it would make our wireless signal awesome
me:  paper Mario… paper Mario… PAPER MARIO YAY
I claim several as mine … But I’ve had the opportunity to name only one…
Small Child’s Father and I decided the second we found out …
Girl = My Choice
Boy=His (Mostly due to a family tradition of naming after the grandfather)
Ultra-Sound technician let us know at about 17 weeks that we were having a girl … I was a high – risk pregnancy … I was having non stress tests and Ultra – sounds weekly… Week 18 … Yep! a girl… I bought fairy wall stickers… I named her after a Russian Princess… I had the nickname all picked out… I was buying clothes like a mad woman… Cute pink clothes… Week 19…. Week 20… I couldn’t make this up you guys… honestly… “See this pearl strand is his spine… ” The cursor moving over the screen… “You mean her”… “No… you are having a boy” …. “NO… they said a girl”… cursor moves over the appropriate area “That is either the biggest Clitoris I have ever seen… or you are having a boy”…. I stared at the monitor… That was definitely a boy….
(Have I told this story before? I can not remember, and I am not going through 200 posts to see… That’s right… I hit the milestone of 200 posts… and 1 year… Woot… okay on with the story)
Tearfully returned all the pink… and the fairy… threw away the custom stitch diaper bag with the MOST BEAUTIFUL NAME in the whole wide world on it… replaced it all with tigger and pooh bear…
In the hospital .. about to deliver … Small Child’s father begins to panic… “I don’t know anyone named Keith that has ever amounted to anything” …. “You fathers name is Keith!” … “I want more for him” … and he went to every office in that facility and took a tally… the most common name for a Doctor at that time… in that place… it was a good name… and when he arrived it fit him perfectly… we signed it on his birth certificate … and I have threatened the life of anyone that tries to shorten it… those doctors plaques did not read John.
My miracle son…
Inspired by this weeks writing prompts- Â Share how you came up with your kids names!
The first thing that came to mind is WHY? Who would want to see my kitchen!! I know… It is to judge my hard water problems… or organizational skills? Because really I do not need your opinion (Unless you have a magical hard water remedy)
And then I thought that perhaps it was to judge my junk food… (It is two weeks before the Puppy/Super bowl!!) … I guess no one is buying the “I just have a slow metabolism” routine again.
All kidding aside… I realized this is the room where the magic happens… Whoa! not that magic! We keep that in the bedroom… for the most part.
(you are wondering now aren’t you)
This is the heart of my home… this counter… this is where we roll out Christmas cookies… and color… serve play dough pizzas… homework…pancakes on the weekends… This is where we have Settlers of Catan show downs … wrap birthday presents … discuss our day while dinner is being prepared… it is where the cat lounges in the sun… Toddlers are set to put on their shoes … multiple parties and holidays along with their appropriate food spreads have been set out here and surrounded and picked at by the people I love… jokes told… laughter filling the room…. kids running around it with Nerf guns and princess dresses… tea is prepared … served… sipped… It really is a magical place.
(Also- I get that this isn’t really wordless.. but there are pictures… and it is Wednesday)