Playing House with Potato Heads

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Connor came running in from the front room and got my attention. "Mommy come look at the girl potato head I made!"

Okay. I dutifully rose and looked at his girl potato head. "Oh nice! Great job, son!" I said as I walked back to the computer. A couple minutes later he called me back in.

"Mommy! Come look at the man potato head I made!" Okay. He continued telling me about his newest creation, "He's a construction worker."

Then he put them close together. "They're married. See, they're holding hands. And they're kissing!" Awww...how sweet.

"That's really nice, son. Great job!" I take the following picture.


Oooh...he liked that! He needed to outdo himself so he could get more praise and bring out the camera once more. A few minutes later he came running back in.

"Look Mommy! The construction worker and the girl had a baby! Shhh...they are sleeping!"


But since he is a boy, it couldn't stay all sweet and innocent for long. Soon he was pulling on my arm once more.

"Mommy come see! A dragon attacked the castle and went after the baby!"

It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Takes the Plastic Grapes

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"Let's watch a movie!" Honor announces in the front room.

"Okay" Mommy plays along and sits on the floor. Connor comes and sits in Mommy's lap as Honor turns the Sit 'n Spin over and "turns on the movie". Then she goes to the toy kitchen and "pops popcorn".

"Here's the popcorn!" she shouts as she sets empty air down in front of Mommy.

"Here comes Tinkerbell!" Apparently we watch a lot of Disney movies.

"Tinkerbell!" We all shout together just as if we are actually watching a movie. At this point Samuel realizes we aren't actually watching anything and leaves the room.

Ariana comes and sits down in front of Mommy. Connor and Honor are frantic, "you're sitting on the popcorn!" Ariana dutifully moves to the other side of Connor.

Connor starts gobbling down the popcorn two-fisted. Honor is horrified. "Connor you are eating all the popcorn!" She then grabs the air in front of me and takes it to the toy kitchen. She divvies up the air into four equal portions and redistributes it. Connor accidentally grabs at the wrong part of air. "You are stealing Mommy's popcorn! No more popcorn for you!" and she takes away Connor's air. Connor gets upset.

"You do realize it is just pretend popcorn, right? There is an unlimited amount of air in this room..." Mommy points out. Maybe her kids aren't as sane as she thought...


"Movie's over!" Honor announces. "Time to play a video game. I'm going to be Princess Percula. She's riding a motorcycle to go save people." Apparently Daddy plays a lot of video games. At least she wants to go save people...that's nice, right?

Connor removes the pretend grapes that had been sitting in the spokes of the Sit 'n Spin and slightly driving Mommy's obsessive compulsive side crazy.

"Connor! Put that back! It's the remote control!"

"No, Honor, it is a bunch of plastic grapes that were getting squashed in the Sit 'n Spin. He's trying to put them back where they belong." Why Mommy thinks giving the kids logic is going to work, is beyond me!

"No! It's for my video game. I put it in there so that I could play my game. Now I can't play my game!"

Mommy decides it is time for a distraction before things get out of hand. "Let's go watch the REAL TV."

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And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon

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At dinner this evening, Ariana's silverware had the following conversation:

Fork: Iana Go Home!

Spoon: What are you talking about?

Fork: Iana Go Home!

Spoon: No, you go home!

Fork: No, you go home!

Spoon: Are you sure you want to do that?


...and then they began muttering to each other. I think the fork ended up hitting the spoon...either that or it tucked it into bed, I'm not sure.

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Secrets

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In an effort to stall at naptime, Honor called me over to her, "Mommy...let me tell you a secret!"

Always happy to be in on one of Honor's secrets, I leaned down as Daddy jealously whined from across the room, "you can tell me a secret, Honor."

Honor very patiently shot him down. "No Daddy. Mommy was a good girl today, she deserves to hear a secret!"

oh.

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Hold Still Horsey!

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Ariana climbs up on the back of a patient Jasmine. Just before her full weight rests on Jasmine's back, Jasmine takes off, knocking Ariana on her bottom.

"Jasmine! Where'd you go? Come here, Jasmine! SIT!!" She shouts, chasing her under the table and around the living room. Eventually Jasmine sits once more.

"Hold still, Horsey!" Ariana commands as she once more climbs onto Jasmine's back. Jasmine gives me a look that clearly shouts, "do I have to put up with this?" She decides that the answer is no and gets up once more, this time diving through the doggy door to get away from her tormentor.

Ariana refuses to be deterred. "Jasmine! Get in here!" A moment later, she is knocked down once more as Jasmine dutifully dives back through the doggy door.

Ariana no longer wants a ride. She begins ordering Jasmine to take the rope bone. Jasmine complies. She then takes the rope bone back and starts running. Jasmine chases her as Ariana laughs with pure glee, holding the bone high over her head. Eventually she gives the rope back. Jasmine lies down in the corner with her rope bone. Ariana is a good mommy and gets her blankie from the couch to tuck her in, cooing at Jasmine that she is a good girl.

Wait. She is not tucking her in. She is putting on a saddle. Poor Jasmine.

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Ye Olde English

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I think it is adorable how Samuel says, "Thank ye" instead of "Thank you." I be raising me a proper young lad!

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I Am So Happy My Son Is In Pain!

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That probably didn't come out right. I am not happy that my son is in pain, but I am extremely thrilled by what is causing the pain...GROWING pains to be exact! For the last week or so, Connor has been telling us periodically that his knee hurt. You have to understand that Connor is always telling us that something is hurt for sympathy so it is kind of like the Boy Who Cried Wolf. He enjoys pointing out the individual bruises on his shins and receiving an "Oh no!" each time, so we don't pay much attention anymore unless he is really crying.

So, last night when Connor's light came on at midnight, we didn't know that there was anything wrong with him. My husband went in first to get after him for playing in his room when he should be sleeping, but when I heard him crying, I relieved Daddy--crying is a Mommy thing.

"What's wrong honey?"

"Myyy KNEEEEEEE Hurts!" he wailed.

So I took his pajamas off and examined his leg. No bruises, nothing unusual.

"Point to what hurts for me."

He pointed to his shin, his sobs subsiding slightly as he realized he was no longer in trouble. I remembered that earlier that day we had been playing at Aunt Steph's house and his little bare feet had been pattering around on their tile. Steph and I had even commented that it sounded like he was going to hurt himself stomping around barefoot (he had been trying to make the noise). I moved his leg around; pushed and pulled his little foot; and poked and prodded up and down both legs to make sure there was nothing really wrong.

With the "knowledge" that it was probably just shin splints (whatever it was didn't warrant a trip to the ER), I went to the bathroom and got some Vicks VapoRub, (which is my medicine of choice for the children) and rubbed a little into his leg. I figured it would soothe the ache and have the added benefit of helping him breathe easier (he is always slightly congested at night). By this time he was fine and went to sleep without any problems.

This morning I looked up shin splints in preschoolers online and found SEVERAL examples that were almost identical to what happened with Connor. Women writing that their 4 year old complained off and on that their leg hurt and occasionally even waking at night from the pain. All of the pediatricians answered that it was growing pains.

Since he shows no signs of joint pain, has not injured himself lately, the pain is not continuous, the pain shows up mostly in late afternoon and (as of last night) at night, there is no swelling, fever or bruising, and he is a very active boy; I am fairly certain that it is just growing pains. And I am ecstatic!

See, my son is short. I don't mean that he suffers from dwarfism or anything like that, but he is very short. He is over a head shorter than all of the boys that are the same age as him and almost a head shorter than Honor--who is a girl that was born only 5 hours before him. He is in the 4th% in height. When people first see him, they think he is just barely three. And Samuel is already within inches of him despite the difference of almost 3 years. Basically, he is VERY short.

He doesn't realize he is short...yet. He thinks he is superman and batman and spiderman and all the other superheroes and I am constantly telling him that he is strong and brave and my protector...and the protector of his sisters. He goes around telling everyone that he is strong and tough--all the "boy" things. And he is tough--at least until he wants sympathy.

It is not that I think there is anything wrong with being short. In fact, I find his short stature endearing. But, I worry that as he grows he will get picked on...not to mention the fact that when he roughhouses with other little boys his age he gets easily smashed into the ground. The "mommy" in me doesn't want my baby to get hurt.

So when I realized he was experiencing growing pains, I got excited. Probably not the right reaction, but I don't care. I realize that growing doesn't cause pain so it doesn't mean he is actually "growing", but growing pains usually occur during a growth spurt so I have hope that he is shortly going to be catching up to his peers. Soon his body will catch up to his spirit! I hope he doesn't hurt anyone....



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Samuel Loves His Big Brother

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I have pictures of the kids hanging on the walls in the stairwell. When carrying Samuel down the stairs, he always points to the pictures of Honor as a 2 week old and says "ba-by!" Well, today I thought it would be time to teach him the rest of the names. I started with Connor (the first picture on the stairs going down) and said, "Connor!"

He surprised me by saying, "Con-nor!" VERY clear. I was so excited! I rushed to the picture of Honor. If he could say Connor so well, surely he could say Honor...after all, all he has to do is drop the first letter--easy.

"Honor!" I announced, pointing at the picture.

"mmhmm" was his response.

"Honor!"

"mmmhmmm"

So I figured it must have been a fluke with Connor, so I pointed at him again and said, "Connor!"

"Con-nor!"

"Honor!"

"mmmhmmm"

Different tactic. "Ariana!"

"mmmhmmm"

Okay. "Samuel!" I said, pointing at a picture of him.

"Ba-by!"

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Uh Oh!

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All the way to church Samuel sat in his car seat, in the very back of the truck playing happily with his sippy cup. What we could see was his little hand picking the cup up, lifting it high above his head and bringing it down quickly to his lap...where he picked it up and repeated.

What we could hear was:

"UmSpeeeeeeeeaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrr.... Grrraashhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... Uh Oh!"

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I Won't Grow Up Anymore...

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Honor put on a beautiful black dress with sparkles for church this morning (one of many hand me downs we've gotten from well-dressed girls at church...I can't tell you how thankful we are for all the beautiful clothes we've been given!). I took one look at her and got all nostalgic, "My little girl is growing up!"

Honor noticed my pouty face and decided to give her best effort into cheering me up. She squatted down low and announced, "don't be sad, Mommy. It's okay! I'll grow down now."

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Horton Hears a Who

We watched Horton Hears a Who for our family movie night this evening and I really enjoyed it! I must admit that I am one of the few people on the planet who has never read the book, although I did know a couple of the more popular quotes. The two quotes I already knew: Horton's, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one hundred percent..." and "A person's a person no matter how small."

There were just so many great messages in this movie: loyalty, perseverance, truth, faith...especially faith. I truly enjoyed Horton proving Kangaroo wrong: "If you can't see, hear or feel something it doesn't exist." Oh and another great quote from the mayor: "HORTON IS A GIANT ELEPHANT IN THE SKY! Don't bother looking, he's invisible..."

Steve Carell is just hilarious in whatever he does! And I must say I felt great kinship with the Mayor of Whoville with his 97 daughters and 1 son...some days it feels like we have 100 kids too!

I will admit, maybe I'm hormonal, I don't know, but I cried at the end. Any time I hear someone talking about "the little guy" winning, I lose it. Maybe its because Connor is a little guy...I don't know, but I cried--and then laughed at myself profusely for crying.

Anyway... a very good movie. One worth owning in my book! And I'll probably buy the book too...

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UNO!

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I played UNO with the kids for school today. It is actually very educational. They worked on colors and numbers (which they already know) and matching and sorting skills...not to mention learning how to win/lose gracefully. I took out all the wild cards to make it a little easier though. Honor and Connor were very excited to shout "UNO" when they were down to one card. However, Honor had a hard time remembering what she was supposed to say.

"Honor, you have only one card left. What do you say?"

"Um..........Diego!"

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Honor

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"Mommy! I need a tooshie!" Honor rides in the seat directly behind me in the truck so I had no idea what she was talking about. I looked at Daddy to see if he knew what on earth Honor meant by that. He did. "Honor's nose is running. She needs a tissue."

Oh.

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We received a box of belated Christmas presents in the mail yesterday from "aunt" Cindy. The kids LOVED them. Samuel got Winnie the Pooh and a little book. Honor and Ariana got a bunch of little princess action figures complete with outfits to dress them in. Connor got little Power Ranger action figures and a set of Cars. He immediately determined which were good guys and bad guys. I pointed out that the yellow one with the giant sword was a girl. A few minutes later I had to laugh when Connor complained that Honor had his toy. Only Honor would think to put one of the princess dresses on a fighting action figure!

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Sea Kittens

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I try not to steal from other people's blogs, but this is the dumbest thing I've heard in a while and just had to share. It made me laugh out loud when I looked at the actual site. Check out PETA's newest campaign to keep sea life safe:

Sea Kittens

I could understand their position if they were only referring to injuring dolphins (despite the ridiculousness of calling them “sea kittens”!), but they are referring to all fish—seas and lakes. I can just imagine what my dad and brother would say to someone who dared to encroach on one of their B.A.S.S. tournaments to tell them they couldn’t “hunt sea kittens." Hilarious!

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Samuel Says

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I hate taking children between 6 months and 3 years to the doctor. It is not because I hate seeing them get vaccinated--my kids are champions at getting their shots. No, it is because of the milestone chats. "Is he walking?" "Is he picking things up and putting them in buckets?" "Does he follow simple instructions?" "Is he saying at least 'x' amount of words?"

It is the last one that always gets me. With Honor I kept pretty good track of all the new words she learned. "She said 'hi' today!" was an exciting conversation phoned across long distances to grandma. Samuel's speech has kind of snuck up on us. He seemed to be talking without me realizing that he ever learned how. When the doctor asked me how many words he said, I stared blankly at him and couldn't even give him a rough estimate. Samuel usually plays quietly by himself, content to watch his older siblings. Of course I was able to tell him he says things like "get down" and "high chair" and the doctor was impressed--apparently it is early for a boy to say 2 word sentences. I knew my boy was a genius!


So in honor of the dreaded "is he saying 'x'" question, here is a list of words that I readily recognize that Samuel says everyday. I'm sure he says more and I just don't remember it right now....

• Cracker--his all time FAVORITE word. He chases me around the house yelling "CRACK-ER"...actually demanding would be a better verb than yelling...
• Amen--this was one of his first words
  
• book
• Wow!
• Woah
• Tickle, Tickle, Tickle
  
• What's That?
  
• car
• Yeah
  
• Yes--to be distinguished from "Yeah". "Yes" is an answer to a question. "Yeah" is a cheer. Both are favorites with him.
• Uh Oh
• Oh No!
• Water Please (although I think this is a Mommy only phrase...it comes out as wah wah pse, but I know what he means)
• Milk
  
• Thank you
• Ice--this is accompanied by him beating his sippy cup against my leg--another one of his "demands"
  
• sippy cup
• high chair
• get down
• light
• truck
• baby
• Mom--actually more of a "Mooooooooommmmm"
  
• Dad
• Hi There!
  
• Grandma
• Bye
• Stop--this is a new one he just added yesterday. This one is used when I try to open the gate to get him out of the front room for a diaper change. He pushes with all his might to keep that gate shut and yells "stop"--he is a strong little boy!
• chair
• more
• puffs
• tree
• ball
• doggy
• birdie
  
• phone
• nose
• night night
• bath
  

And that's all I can think of right now. I know he says more. Interestingly enough, he does not say "no"...at least not by itself. If you ask him a question he will either not answer you at all, or answer "yes" or an enthusiastic "Yeah!". That's pleasant. So a conversation might go like this:

Mommy: Samuel, do you want to take a nap.
Samuel: Yeah!

Samuel quickly crawls up the stairs turning and looking at me with a big grin on his face as he does the forbidden climb by himself--he understands what "nap" means. At the top of the stairs he turns and gives me one quick look before running full speed to Connor's space shuttle bed (they're not sharing a room yet). I follow him into the room and reach for him.

Mommy: Samuel, time for bed.
Samuel: OOOOHHHH NOOO! Stop!

I pick him up and put him in his bed regardless. He stands up and throws his lamb over the railing in protest. I leave and listen as he blows kisses at the closed door and talks quietly to himself before falling asleep.

Awwww...contentment.

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Connor Amazes Me

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I am so impressed by my son. He wrote this entirely on his own...well, I told him what letters to write. I have never showed him how to write any letters except the letters in his name...and even then he didn't learn when I tried to help him. He is a very visual learner and as long as he could see the letter, he could "draw" it.

This letter goes out to all of his grandmas for their wonderful Christmas gifts (it took 45 minutes to write...I don't have the patience to make any more today!). We are so blessed to have wonderful grandmas and great grandmas that love the children so much!

The original letter is going to be sent to his biological great-grandma who sent a generous gift check for the kids for Christmas. I will also be sending a few of our Christmas pictures to her. I hope the grandmas that get to see him a little more often will forgive me for not having him make an individual thank you note for each of them.

Side note: I tried to have Honor make a thank you note also, but she gave up after Dear Gr and started scribbling out the rest of the note. Hers was much longer than Connor's!

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Samuel Uses a Spoon Like a Pro...

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...and it only took 2 weeks of Daddy screaming "Eww gross! YOU'RE cleaning him up! Why did you let him make such a big mess?"

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Dinner

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Connor: What are these on my sandwich?

Mommy: Those are called sesame seeds. It is a sesame seed bun.

Connor: Oh. I like Stephanie seeds.

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For some strange reason, Honor is VERY adverse to getting dirty. Oh, she'll dig around in rocks and get her little fingers tipped in dirt, but if the dirty thing happens to also be wet, watch out! This evening, we ate egg salad sandwiches on buns. I filled Honor's a little too full.

"Aghh! I spilled" she screamed in terror and froze. She refused to move an inch as she stared down at the offending egg salad on her leg and continued to scream. Mommy hurried in to rescue her.

Now, Honor really likes egg salad sandwiches so she didn't want to waste any of the egg salad. She sat the sandwich down on her plate and studied it from all angles. She realized that no matter how she picked up the sandwich, egg salad would inevitably fall out. Finally she asked for advice.

"Mommy, can you help me learn how to eat my sandwich?" she asked very seriously. So I leaned over and showed her how she could use her spoon to eat the smooshed out sides. She liked that, but it wasn't good enough. So she took her napkin and wrapped it around the sandwich. I don't think I've ever given her a sandwich in a wrapper before--I've always taken it out of the wrapper before handing it to her. I thought it was pretty ingenious of her myself...


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Samuel/Ariana Doctor Visit

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I took Samuel and Ariana to the doctor today--Samuel's 18 month appt. and Ariana's 3 year appt. Both are very healthy and did fairly well with the doctor. Well...Samuel cried any time they came near him with any kind of medical equipment, but other than that he did well.

Here are their stats:

Ariana
Height: 36.5" (33%)
Weight: 35 lbs 3 oz (84%)


Samuel
Height: 34.75" (97%)
Weight: 28lbs 12.5 oz (84%)
Head circumference: 19" (64%)


As always, I can't help but remember that when we first got Ariana at 4 months she wasn't even on the chart percentiles weight wise! Her 6 month percentiles were: Height 22% and Weight: 3%...she's come a LONG way!


They each got 1 shot...Samuel got his Hep. A shot and Ariana got her flu shot. Both took them like champions--barely any crying at all!

I was slightly concerned about Samuel because he drinks and pees a LOT and I read on the internet that could be a symptom of Juvenile Diabetes. The doctor wasn't too concerned, but thought it best to test him just to be on the safe side. This consisted of taping a bag around his genitals and waiting for him to urinate. He didn't like that very much. They gave him 45 minutes in the office to go and he didn't. So they finally suggested that we head out to lunch (with the bag still on him) and bring him back afterwards to give them the sample. So we did.

I knew immediately when he urinated at Subway. His little face scrunched up and he looked down there, wondering why he was all of a sudden swimming....then he tried to pull his diaper and bag off through his pants. I hurried back to the doctor's office to give the poor guy some relief--and they were ALL out to lunch! Even the receptionists!

I took him into the bathroom, changed his diaper, took the bag off and kind of folded the top over to keep the urine in. Then I clumsily finished the diaper change one handed and carried him and the bag of urine back to the waiting area to...wait (Ariana walked). While we were waiting, three other families came in to wait--the first appointments after the lunch hour. So I stood in the midst of all these other parents and children, with a bag of pee in my hand. And it was obviously a bag of pee. It was a clear bag with yellow liquid. And I refused to touch Samuel despite the fact that it was now almost an hour past his naptime and he really wanted to be held.

Finally after standing there for 20 minutes, the nursing staff exited the eating lounge and began their normal tasks. I held up my bag of urine and they came running over to remove it from me...then told me to wait a minute. The minute turned into 10 and still no one returned. I saw our doctor and asked him if they could call me with the results. He was surprised I was still there.

So all that to say, no one has called--which is a good thing. Apparently the test only took a few minutes and he told me before I left that they wouldn't call unless there was a concern. So Samuel is probably fine.

Lesson: Don't try to diagnose your child over the internet...especially when said child is overall a VERY healthy little boy who doesn't act sick and is capable of beating up all of his older siblings. It only leads to holding a bag of pee for a long time in a waiting room for no apparent reason.

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Last Words

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Daddy was roughhousing with Connor. He got him down on the ground and in his best evil villain voice he announced, "Argh, I have you now! What are your last words? What shall we put on your tombstone?"

Connor replied in a sweet little voice: "I went poopie and ate lunch!"

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Cheap Breastplate

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We got Connor a box of armor for Christmas: a breastplate, shield and a sword that lights up and says "kkkching". I had anticipated he would love it--after all, he constantly ties his blankets on as capes and builds Lego swords claiming that he is Bibleman. When he opened up his present, I anticipated him saying something along the lines of "it's the armor of God!" which he thinks is literal armor despite explaining it over and over again. Instead, his first words upon seeing it were: "Lord of the Rings!"

We have been unable to separate him from this sword since Christmas. However, Samuel can, and does frequently. Then he chases Connor around. Today, Ariana chose to make one of the toy screwdrivers a sword. Connor put on the breastplate and Ariana chased him around with the screwdriver. They began a "sword fight". Then Samuel came up, stole the sword and beat Ariana over the head with it (it is plastic--doesn't hurt, but is VERY annoying). Daddy intervened, but couldn't resist a good sword fight.

He gave the sword back to Connor, but took the screwdriver from Ariana. The sword fight began. Connor's excellent skills were no match for Daddy's superior strength. In one final lunge, Daddy jabbed the screwdriver at the breastplate...and it went right through.

Connor was HEARTBROKEN. He started sobbing. "My breastplate!" Daddy tried to console him and did his best to control his laughter, but he failed miserably. He even told him he would buy him a new one, but that didn't help. Finally he thought of something that made Connor feel better.

"Look son. It is better now than it was. It has battle damage! That's cool!"

Connor is quite the mood shifter. Immediately his eyes lit up, tears dried and he beamed from ear to ear. Then he came up to Mommy to show me his cool breastplate, complete with battle damage.

My little champion.

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The Greatest Compliment

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Connor chases me around all day making funny faces; putting random, strange things on his head; jumping around and falling on the ground; saying things he thinks is goofy...all to hear these four words...the greatest compliment you could give him:


You're a silly boy!

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They DO Get It!

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Honor was playing in the front room by herself and required Mommy's assistance. Walking in there I heard a "crunch" as I stepped on something, but didn't think too much about it. A few minutes later, Honor reached down and picked up a toy trolley, but couldn't put the lid down. She handed it to me and I could easily see that I had accidentally bent in one of the sides and cracked it a little. COMPLETELY uncoached, Honor said the following:

Honor: "That's why we shouldn't leave our toys lying all over the floor."

Mommy: (proud of her insight) "Mmmhmmm. I'm sorry I broke your toy."

Honor: "That' okay. It was an accident. I forgive you."

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Jasmine Rolled in the Grass...

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...and came in through the dog door covered in dead grass.


Honor: (in her most commanding voice) "Jasmine! Go outside and wash yourself off right now!"

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It's a Wonderful Life

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I had myself a wonderful day today! Honor and Connor had a "Mommy Day" while Daddy stayed home with Ariana and Samuel. We went to see "The Tale of Desperaux". I thought it was interesting that when I bought the tickets and asked for 1 adult and 2 children, the cashier gave me a free sample of Advil...was that supposed to be a hint?

I dutifully took them potty before we went into the theater. Of course I made the mistake of letting them have water during the movie. About 45 minutes into the movie (after 20+ minutes of previews!), Connor started fidgeting in his oversized movie chair, which threatened to swallow him whole any time he sat too far back. So I gathered both of them up and took them to the restroom amidst loud protests from Honor about missing the movie.

They both peed quite a bit and then I practically ran back to the theater. This time I noticed that outside the door there were booster seats. I scooped two of the booster seats up, carried Connor and pulled Honor back to our seats. We had missed some important plot line because Desperaux was now at a trial, but I wasn't sure how he ended up there. Oh well.

I pulled out the fruit snacks I had brought and gave a package to each of the kids, preparing to sit back and enjoy the rest of the movie. They ate their fruit snacks and handed me back their wrappers. 20 minutes later Connor started fidgeting again. There was a lot going on in the movie so I leaned over and hissed, "Connor, HOLD STILL!"

"Mommy, I have to go to the bathroom."

"HOLD IT!"

"I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!" The pained look on his face convinced me that he really had to go. The child goes one time all morning at home, but put him in front of a movie screen that cost me almost $20 and he'll have to go every 20 minutes--during crucial plot points.

Grumbling internally, I picked him up and grabbed Honor's hand, practically running out the door, dragging Honor behind with even louder protests about missing the movie. This time I just had Connor go. Apparently he really did have to go. We didn't waste time washing hands--that's why I have antibacterial hand gel in my purse at all times. I yanked up his pants, picked him up football style and ran back to the theater, thankful that Honor can run fast.

We missed something else. Somehow the mouse had gathered a new friend while we were listening the rushing of a waterfall in the bathroom. I was thoroughly irritated. I debated asking the older couple next to us what we missed, but then thought better of it because they were probably already angry that we kept getting up and walking in front of them every 20 minutes.

The movie ended shortly thereafter. All-in-all it was a very cute movie about honor, integrity, and forgiveness. Desperaux reminds me a lot of Connor--he is tiny, with big ears, and he is brave, noble, strong and intelligent. The kids also enjoyed the movie and I was very proud of how quiet they were--except when Connor had to go potty.

After the movie, I took the kids to BK for lunch. They think it is a huge treat whenever they get to eat inside the restaurant--and an even bigger treat when I go all out and get them a toy! We waited in a long line and then, just before it was our turn, Connor started doing the potty dance.

"I have to go potty!"

I got out of line, rushed him into the bathroom and had him go first--another waterfall--when did he drink all of that water? While I washed his hands, Honor went potty. I had Connor put his hands in his pockets while I washed Honor's hands and then we got back in line. Luckily this time there was only one person in front of us. The nice cashier even gave us three crowns for the fun of it--which I dutifully wore, much to my husband's embarrassment when I got home and he realized that I had actually worn it for over an hour in public.

All-in-all, we had a really good time. They enjoy the extra special time together--2 to 1 is a much better ratio than 4 to 1--and I find that hanging out with my kids is a lot of fun the older they get. We can actually carry on semi-intelligent conversations about germs; flies on the windows; why the moon is out at 2 pm; and why an apple fry is not a fry, but actually an apple even though Connor insists that I call them apple fries because that is their "name".

I can't wait until my next Mommy Day!

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