Quick, go play here to enter my fun giveaway!
***
Yeah. Sooooo we got Mister Man's school photos home in his backpack yesterday.
We're getting retakes.
No questions asked, we're getting retakes. But really, what was the photographer thinking taking the photo when he wasn't even close to smiling? *sigh*
What was your worst school photo?
PS That would be my mom doing his hair, etc. I was in the office at work on the day he had the photos taken.
Go check out my giveaway here. Another week to go, and you've got a great shot!
***
Not unlike so many of you, I'm exhausted. Completely. I wake up with circles under my eyes wishing for just a few more minutes (ok, hours) of sleep. I drag through my days, yawning away. And I hate that.
Since the time changed, I've made a conscious effort to get more sleep. By 9pm, I am finishing up whatever I'm doing and heading upstairs. I may read for a bit or watch a little Food Network, but I'm getting to sleep much, much earlier now.
And it's helping. A little. But I'm still tired even when I'm "sleeping" nine or more hours a night. Why? Eh, take a look below.
Top Ten Reasons I Can't Sleep At Night
10) Mooooooom, I can't find Snowy! When entering Little Miss's room, Snowy is on her bed, approximately nine inches from her body, which is approximately eight inches further than where she searched.
9) It's 4:40am. If I get to sleep now, I'll be able to have another hour and a half of sleep. Unless my husband's alarm wakes me up. Then I'd only get forty minutes of sleep. That's not nearly enough. Maybe if I start counting backwards. Ugh, what if I get to zero and am still awake? That would be really depressing. Then I definitely wouldn't be able to sleep again. Should I turn on the tv for a few minutes? Maybe not. At this hour, it's only infomercials, and I don't want to listen to those.... Yep, that would be my internal monologue.
8) Mom. Pssst. Mom. Mom. Mom. Do you want to hear about the dream I just had? It's really funny. Not at 2am, thank you very much.
7) Why am I so cold? Yikes! Oh. I don't have a comforter anymore. grrrr.
6) That would be a light shining directly into my eye. Why oh why did I place the bed in such a position that whenever my husband opens the closet door and turns on the light to choose clothing for the day (because it's impossible to choose clothing the night before), the bulb is exactly in my eye. I'm still debating rearranging the room to avoid this, but the window and door configuration make it a tad difficult.
5) Ummm, did you read this post?
4) Or this one?
3) YES! Go. GO GO! Awww, I can't believe he got tackled. HOW did he not manage to score there? I can hear that. Through closed doors. And from a floor away. This is not a fun way to be jerked awake.
2) Moooom, I have to go potty. Mooooom. Mooooom, I have to go potty. While Little Miss a) is perfectly capable of going potty by herself during the day, b) has absolutely zero interest in learning to stay dry overnight and c) is the most independent little cuss on the planet except when it suits her, if she decides she has to go potty, she insists on getting permission in the middle of the night. During naptime, she has no compunctions about getting up and going two or three times of course.
And the number one reason?
Mooooooooooom, I don't feel so good. Mom! Urp.
And if you'll excuse me, it's 8:58. I need to start shutting down my comptuer and heading upstairs.
Psst, I'm having a giveaway here. Go. Play. Enter. How is it possible that only one person has entered so far?
***
So.
On Saturday morning, I got an email from one of the parents in Mister Man's class. Apparently she'd been one of the Halloween party helpers the day before and left partway through the party with her son. Yep, he was feeling sick enough that he voluntarily left in the middle of a party. The mom wanted to let the rest of the parents know that he had swine flu and that she was really sorry and hadn't known about it before then.
No biggie. I get it. I've sent my child to school thinking he was totally healthy and then had him come home. And I know how fast the flu comes on.
A few hours later, there was a note from a parent whose child had tested positive for strep earlier that day. She noted that he had a low grade fever and a rash on his stomach but no other symptoms.
Another email arrived shortly after that one from yet another mom whose child tested positive for strep that day and who also had only a tiny fever and a rash on his bottom. She had him tested for strep against the doctor's wishes only because the boy's brother had strep earlier in the week.
And then another one arrived, apologizing for being the one who introduced strep into the classroom early in the week. Again, she noted the few symptoms, which is why it had taken her so long to get tested for strep.
I smiled and deleted the emails. My children don't get strep. I've been exposed to it hundreds of times when I was growing up and never got it once. I'm sure my wee ones have the immunity passed on. Plus, they eat well, sleep a ton (as Melisa can attest to!), take Vitamin D daily, and are good about washing their hands.
While I was at work today -- in the office, my one day a week, of course -- the school nurse called and left me a message. I needed to come pick up Mister Man because he had a low grade fever. Oh, and his right lymph node was slightly swollen. I then had two voicemails from my mom, one letting me know that my dad was on his way to pick up Mister Man and the other to let me know that my dad had him and she was at bridge and unavailable.
I sighed when I picked up the messages and called my dad. Mister Man was totally fine. He had no fever by the time he got to my parents' house and was busy playing with Legos. I said I'd call the doctor and see what they said.
After explaining the swollen lymph node and epidemic of strep and mentioning that he was also complaining of his ear hurting him, she asked that we bring him in. Her only concern was the ear hurting him, at this point. Had I not said that, they were fine waiting it out and seeing if he got any worse.
My dad was able to take him to the doctor for me, and I got a call a few hours later saying that Mister Man had -- to the shock of the doctor -- tested positive for strep. He showed no other symptoms, so apparently we caught it early.
And that smile I had earlier in the week when I deleted those emails? It is completely wiped from my face. Now I figure swine flu is next. That or Karma is coming back to bite me for saying that I'm immune to strep myself.
Whee.
Oh -- and a post script to all this fun. My parents decided to keep Mister Man at their house overnight since I have two PTO-related meetings tomorrow from 9:30 to 2:20 tomorrow, so it's easier to do that than drag Mister Man around tomorrow morning. They filled the prescription and gave him his first dose.
A half hour after giving him the first dose, my mom called to ask me a question. Isn't Mister Man allergic to amoxicillin and penicillin?
Ummm, yeah, why?
Well, that's what the prescription he had was, and we just gave him a dose about a half-hour ago.
Oh. Great. Well, apparently now we'll see if the hives he got as a baby (while admittedly being introduced to several other foods and soaps and such at the same time) were related to the amoxicillin he got or whether he truly is allergic. Tomorrow morning I'm ensuring he gets a new prescription.
Reason #632,719 why I need to quit my job.
I'm giving away a three month membership to JumpStart here. Go. Play. Enter.
***
I have a great recipe to share, but before I do, I want to point you in the direction of a cookbook for a cause that a friend of mine's then five year old son has put together. So many people love to cook, and not only for themselves. I personally love bringing the wee ones into the kitchen with me and letting them help me out -- and they love it, too. Little Miss can already break an egg into the bowl by herself after a lot of practice.
So go check out the Kids Feeding Kids cookbook. It's a cookbook with recipes from various children, as well as some from celebrities, including Oprah and Chris O'Donnell. It's not only recipes they love to make, but also recipes they love to eat. For $20, you can get this adorable cookbook with over 800 recipes.
And that $20? It goes to support the Northern Illinois Food Bank. The proceeds from each book are able to buy 100 pounds of food for the food bank. With the economy the way it is, more and more people are relying on the food bank, and this is a great way to support it.
Hurry though. There are fewer than 500 cookbooks left, and once people get their holiday shopping going, I have a feeling they'll sell out quickly. (I'm pairing it with an apron to give to several children I know who love to cook -- and a few adults, too!)
In honor of the cookbook, I'm choosing a recipe this week that is one of the wee ones' favorites -- and one I enjoy too!
Kids' Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1/2 c whole milk (don't use skim)
1 t sugar
1/4 t vanilla
6 T rock salt
1 pint size Ziploc
1 gallon size Ziploc
ice cubes
Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag. Put the milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, then seal it. Place the small bag inside the large bag, and seal again carefully. Shake up the mixture until it is ice cream, about five minutes. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully and enjoy!
I love that this is totally portion controlled! You can also add flavors -- put in some chopped up cherries or strawberries. Add a little honey (warmed with the milk). Try mini chocolate chips. Swirl in some caramel or some fudge with a spoon after it's turned into ice cream. Add a couple drops of peppermint extract. The possibilities are only as limited as your imagination.
And the wee ones can totally do this themselves. Whoo, more ice cream for Mommy. Is it wrong to use their innocence to my advantage?
Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!
Before I forget, new giveaway up at my review blog. And more to come in the next week or so!
***
In Halloweens past, it's been more fun for me than for the wee ones. While they were interested in trick or treating, it quickly wore thin, and they were done. The costumes were fun, but they didn't really get into it.
This year? Oh, what a difference a year makes.
Granted, Little Miss decided at the last minute that she did not want to be Tinkerbell (as she'd been demanded for the previous ten months) but instead wanted to be a goblin. Uhhh, yeah. Momma don't make a goblin costume a) at the last minute b) after spending money on a Tinkerbell costume c) because she doesn't know what a goblin actually looks like or d) all of the above.
She went as Tinkerbell after I promised to put two layers of pants on her and threatened to take away the opportunity to go trick or treating. And she loved being Tink.
The first really cool part about this year is that a group I'm a part of put together a gluten free / casein free trick or treating event so that Little Miss was able to collect candy that she could actually eat. Mister Man was also invited along as a sibling, which meant that he saw his best friend from his first year of preschool and had a blast.
That's also where Little Miss started demanding two layers of pants under her costume. Bad mommy, I didn't think about how cold it would be Friday night. She had bare legs, although we were only out for a little bit as "just" fifteen or so houses were participating in the GFCF trick or treating.
The good news is that the wee ones followed the trick or treating rules I laid out for them. I did have to add a new one: after you ring the doorbell, count to fifteen slowly. If no one has answered the door by then, move on to the next house. The little buddy who saw Mister Man and immediately screamed for us to wait for him and joined us on our trek for the neighborhood benefitted from that rule the most, I think!
We actually did our entire neighborhood, and the wee ones wanted to keep going. Of course, as we went along our neighborhood, the coats, hats and mittens came out of my backpack. We stopped at home twice to dump candy and get a drink of water. But they had so much fun, we went to the neighborhood that connects to ours.
Smart me? I drove to it. And we lasted about ten houses into that neighborhood before they were done. And when they were done, they were D.O.N.E. Fortunately, I organized our trick or treating so that we weren't too far from our car at that point.
And getting home quickly meant that they still had plenty of time to hand out candy at our house, an honor they practically fought over. Our grand total was 339 this year, far less than the 462 we had last year. Our neighborhood is still a magnet for those who live elsewhere and have ahhhh greater acreage than we do. I took a quick snap of one car driving into our neighborhood to drop off kids at the very beginning. Within a half hour, streets were completely filled on both sides with cars parked, trucking in kids to trick or treat in my neighborhood.
Yes. That really is the kind of car we see driving around in our area.
And yes, I did the candy sorting. We had the Snickers pile, the corn syrup pile, and the you can choose from this pile. And wow is it hard to find candy that doesn't have corn syrup in it. Reese's and Mister Goodbar, along with two bags of pretzels were the only ones that made the cut. It's possible others might, but boo to Hershey's who refers me to the website for ingredients and nutritional information when looking at the package yet refers me to the package when I go online.
We're already asking when Halloween is next year.
So how was your Halloween?
We've already started celebrating Halloween around here.
We're lucky in that a neighborhood somewhat near us had twenty houses participate in a casein free gluten free trick or treating experience. We were invited due to Little Miss's allergy, and it was a blast. Mister Man got to see a friend of his from preschool who he hasn't seen in too long. It was pretty cold, but they made it through with smiles on their faces.
Starting tomorrow though, we go by my rules for Halloween.
My Top Ten Rules for Halloween:
Rule #1: We go potty before we leave the house. I'm not begging to use a random neighbor's bathroom this year. So skeevy and gross last year.
Rule #2: I carry the candy backpack while the wee ones carry their small trick or treat sacks. After every third or fourth house, the small sacks are emptied into my backpack. It keeps my hands free and prevents whining from the wee ones that their bags are too heavy or that they spilled all over.
Rule #3: The wee ones walk on sidewalks and driveways and don't run across yards. First, I want them to respect other people's property. Second, it's been raining way too much lately, and I'd prefer to avoid the mud and muck on their shoes and God only knows what else.
Rule #4: If they want to trick or treat, they do it properly. The ring the doorbell, then step back. They must say trick or treat. No grabbing allowed. After candy has been received, they must wish the homeowner Happy Halloween and say thank you. Again, it's probably more strict than most parents, but it's what I model for them, and it's the level of propriety I expect. And they know it. And while they need small reminders as we go along, they pretty much know what they need to do.
Rule #5: No running ahead. Our neighborhood is a magnet for ... nonresidents. Our streets are lined on both sides, filled with cars during the trick or treat hours. There are people and cars everywhere. While we have sidewalks, it's still not the easiest thing to keep track of everyone, and I refuse to risk it. And I'll go back to the polite thing. Mister Man's social aptitude has increased hugely, but norms aren't easy for him. Having the rules and understanding why they're there help him grow his social skills, too.
Rule #6: You don't refuse what's offered. I have to admit that Mister Man did this at one house tonight. He was polite and said no thank you -- then added that he didn't like it. It's trick or treating. People don't care if you like what they're handing out, and it hurts feelings when you refuse what they offer. Again, this is a bigger social lesson than trick or treating that I'm trying to impart.
Rule #7: Mommy has her own treat. In my neighborhood, the adults carry cups. At various stops, people will offer to refill what you're drinking. Some have wine, some have beer, and some have Jell-O shots. And really, what other reason than this do you need to be happy living in my neighborhood?
Rule #8: Trick or treated candy is used to supplement our candy bowl. Last year, we had 462 trick or treaters (my husband graphed it in half hour increments). The vast majority of these people don't live in our neighborhood. I can't afford to buy candy for 462 people. Little Miss can't eat dairy. Neither of the wee ones ingests corn syrup anymore (whenever I have control over what they're eating). That knocks out much of the candy they collect. We sort through it when we get home and take out the "icky" candy and place it in our candy bowl to recycle for the trick or treaters who have yet to come to our home.
Rule #9: The wee ones choose as much candy as they are old. We don't eat a lot of candy and sweets. And they don't miss it. They love collecting it, but after that it just sits there. We now have them choose the number of pieces that matches their age. That's what they get to keep and eat over the next week or so, and then we're done with the candy.
Which brings me to the most important rule:
Rule #10: Whatever candy is leftover gets donated. There are so many people who have so little for various reasons. And so many people who are so grateful for just some little thing. This year, Mister Man's school is collecting leftover candy to send to a second grader's uncle in Iraq. He then plans to share it with his entire unit. And you know what? We'll be contributing a pretty decent share to that shipment. I have a feeling we'll all feel pretty good about that.
So what are your rules for Halloween?
I love holidays, but I'm not one of those people who spends (in my mind) an inordinate amount of money on indoor and outdoor decorations. That's not to say I don't have some decorations. I have a few Department 56 houses. And I have static clings for just about every holiday (thanks to my mom).
Side note on the static clings: I had so much fun putting them up this year. They didn't want to stick at first, so I used my head. Technically, I used the wee ones' heads, I suppose. I simply took the stubborn clings, rubbed them on their heads like you do with a balloon and then stuck them to the front door. It worked really well.
My heart swells with my pride as a mom. (kidding, kidding)
Anyway, there are some decorations that I am sure to put out every year. And that collection grows each year. This year, I wasn't allowed to put anything out though. Mister Man decided he was in charge of it ALL (which is why it's all sitting on our table in the foyer instead of being mroe appropriately distributed throughout the house).
And really? I don't think I need any more decorations than these.
Every year the wee ones bring home at least one fun decoration per holiday, and I love it. This alone is worth the pain of childbirth, don't you think?
What are your favorite decorations to put up?
© Blogger template 'Solitude' by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008
Back to TOP
